Chapter Text
It was supposed to be just another ordinary day, with an ordinary mission into a hollow to clear out some ethereals and secure stolen goods. Unfortunately for Asaba Harumasa, what was supposed to be an ordinary day just couldn't stay that way.
He had just wanted to go home and sleep. That morning, he woke up with a pounding headache and a crushing pain in his chest that he had seen fit to ignore for the moment. If he didn't go to work today, his teammates wouldn't be able to complete their mission into the hollow, since today was meant to be out in the field.
He knew he should have skipped today. He wished he had decided to call in sick the moment he felt slightly unwell. If he had, he could have avoided ending up in this incredibly weird situation.
The morning started out okay, he simply took his medications and prepared himself a cup of coffee before going off to work. He had actually gotten a good seven hours of sleep the previous night, far more than usual with his nightmares typically preventing him from getting more than a couple. He went in to work, thinking nothing of it, and got briefed for the mission in Section 6’s office, as usual. He never complained about hollow operations, as it was far less boring than the intense monotony of paperwork that made him want to rip his hair out.
Tsukishiro would give him some grace with his paperwork, surely. He really wasn't feeling well enough to get through any of it in the next few days. He had already determined that he would likely be unwell tomorrow and have to call in sick.
As long as they think that he's just slacking off, they won't bother to come and check on him and see his sorry state. At least, that's what he had thought at the time—but now, it's not even possible for him to call in sick tomorrow because of his current predicament.
Continuing on with how he arrived here, surrounded by unknown monsters in a foreign looking place.
This particular mission had required all of section six to enter the hollow, in order to split up and cover different areas. Asaba had paired up with Tsukishiro to cover the far side, closer to the back entrance of the base that contained the stolen goods.
He was scouting out the next area and he had only taken two seconds to fire an arrow and clear out 5 ethereals with one shot—when, all of a sudden, a fissure opened beneath him.
It was so unexpected that he didn't have time to react—the last thing he heard was Tsukishiro yelling, “Harumasa!” before he began falling.
…
And keeps falling.
Seriously, though, is there any bottom to this? He wondered if he would keep falling forever.
And then the wet mud and fresh smell of rain knocked his breath from his lungs as he hit a forest floor. Hard.
Pain bloomed in his head and he saw he must have hit it on a rock. Surely, that is why he is hallucinating right now. Because there are no places like this in New Eridu. That is the only logical explanation.
And so here he is, in his current predicament. This reminded him of those films where the protagonist ended up in a strange other world.
He must be dead. Or just dreaming. Either way, this couldn't possibly be real. Or maybe it was, because who was he to be certain of where a hollow could or couldn't take him?
The sudden pain he felt made him almost certain that this was real, however. Though, to be fair, he usually feels pain in dreams too, so he wouldn't be able to tell as people typically do by pinching themselves.
Then, his body recognizes the danger he is currently in—he is in an unknown land, surrounded by unknown vegetation, and some weird creatures (mushroom-shaped monsters? And weird wolf-like ethereals?) are rapidly approaching him from all sides, shooting projectile attacks at him.
When did they show up?
Before his mind could catch up to what was happening, he was already firing off three arrows, shooting down the weird mushroom looking creatures and some weird wolf-like creatures.
After he took down a few, though, more showed up in their place. They seemed to be somehow multiplying in number, as if coming from a bottomless pit—he quickly realized that he was in no position to take care of all of them on his own.
Especially not in his current state, with his lack of knowledge, debatable cognitive function, and no one to call for help.
At this point, he assumed he was done for. Not exactly the way that he expected to go. He knew he didn't have much time left, considering his terminal illness and current age, but he thought that he would at least die in his own bed, in his own home, in peace. Or, if he was unlucky, end up as an ethereal and have to be killed by one of his teammates. Either way, dying in another world was not on his bucket list, nor had he ever even considered it as a possibility.
And yet here he was, surrounded on all sides, alone and injured with no visible way out. If only he was familiar with these creatures, he may have been able to take care of them faster and get out of here. But even if he did, he realized that there was no guarantee that he'd be able to return to New Eridu anytime soon, and he didn't have enough of his medication on him to even survive that long. So once again, he resigned to his fate, expecting a quick and unavoidable end.
But suddenly, when he thought all hope was lost, an arrow cut through his fatalistic thoughts. He didn't have any arrows left, so he knew it couldn't have been his own body acting out of self preservation—someone other than himself was there, and they seemed keen on rescuing him from his impending fate.
—
Collei had just received her first solo assignment as a fully fledged forest ranger. She was no longer just a trainee, and would finally be able to patrol and help out on her own.
The area that she was assigned to that afternoon was one where high levels of elemental energy were detected. Some scholars were in the area and detected that instability and determined that it may attract more monsters than usual, which could end up putting many non combat trained passerbys in serious danger, and even those who are combat trained or have a vision may struggle to fend off the dense concentration of monsters in the area. So it was her duty to protect anyone who may need help, as a forest ranger.
She clears out a few areas that are densely populated with hostile fungi without running into any people. Which is not exactly odd, since this was an area of the forest with few travelers anyways, but that meant that it was all the more dangerous for those who wanted to pass through, since monsters were able to gather unchecked. It was her job to prevent them from clumping together in big groups that would be difficult to fend off.
She is trained to listen for any sudden sounds and watch out for sudden movements to immediately detect dangers or potential casualties in need of help. Because of this, the sudden thud she hears behind her is quite unexpected, since she knows that with her abilities she should have noticed the cause of that sound before it occurred. She still can't see where it came from, though.
Turning around, she hears—but doesn't see—three arrows, flying through the sky, taking out 5 fungi each before several more shots are fired and she hears the cries of rifthounds fading away. She still hasn't located the source of the sound, so when the arrows cease firing, she is immediately filled with worry.
Either all the monsters had been cleared out, or the one firing the arrows had been unable to continue fighting—and she couldn't risk leaving them in the case of the latter possibility.
Quickly, she charged up an arrow with dendro energy, looking around and preparing to fire. Once she spotted the source of the monsters, she fired several shots to destroy the portal before finishing off the remainder of the enemies. There was no time to hesitate. She was a forest ranger, she simply had to protect everyone that she could and ensure that people remained safe.
The battle went quickly after she destroyed the source of the enemies, something that whoever was firing the arrows earlier had clearly not known to do. In finding the portal, she realizes that the other archer had clearly lacked the awareness, ability, or knowledge to destroy it first, and was likely in much greater danger than she had first anticipated.
She was glad that she had acted fast, or things may have ended much worse.
Regardless, now that the enemies were gone, it was her duty to go find the other person and ensure that they aren't seriously injured and are checked over by a medical professional. She would have to act as the first aider, for now.
She walks towards the clearing, passing through the thick bushes she had hidden behind when she shot her well-timed arrows. It wasn't long before she saw the man, lying on the grass, likely late teens to early twenties if she had to hazard a guess. He seemed dazed and confused and was drenched in sweat, and she could hear him panting heavily.
She approaches him cautiously, so as to not scare him off, since he may be in a state of shock after this near death monster encounter. She really had no clue what he had endured before she arrived, so she would have to proceed with care.
“Hello! My name is Collei, I'm a forest ranger,” she introduced herself, clearly and directly. “There were a lot of monsters here that had to be fought off, are you okay? Would it be alright if I checked you over for any injuries?” She would first need to make sure he was fully aware and present, before getting permission to take further care of him. He didn't seem to be doing well, but she couldn't make any assumptions. Even if he declined being looked over right there and then, she would likely have to bring him back to Gandharva Ville to be checked over by Master Tighnari anyway.
The man looked at her, and then looked through her, his eyes glazed over. Not a good sign. Clearly, he was out of it, and currently wasn't in a state fit for conversation.
“If you can't talk right now, that's fine!” She assures him, “Just follow me, I'll take you back to my village so that you can rest. My master should be back in a couple of hours, he can check you over then. For now, we can just walk back. Can you stand?”
She didn't expect a response, but then the man? boy? spoke, which was a relief to know that he could at least verbally communicate with her.
“...I should be mostly okay, I think. Maybe a concussion and a few broken ribs, but what else could I expect after falling from the sky…”
Falling from the sky? What could he mean by that? If that wasn't a weird revelation, she really didn't know what was. And Collei has seen a lot of weird things. Though, she supposes that would explain the sudden thud and the reason why she didn't notice his presence sooner. If he fell from some sort of portal, it would also explain why she found him lying there, unaware that the monsters he was fighting were coming from another portal out of his view. She supposes she'll have to take his words at face value, at this point, because she can't think of a better explanation for the way she had currently found him.
“Do you mind telling me your name?” she asks, though she doesn't want to be rude if he doesn't wish to tell her. Archons know of all the social faux-pas she has made from not knowing what was polite in different places of teyvat. The man looked to be Inazuman, but she knew better than to make any assumptions, and she didn't know what kinds of questions were acceptable there anyway. Fortunately, she doesn't seem to have said anything too wrong, because he does give her an answer.
“I’m Asaba Harumasa, resident slacker of HSO’s Section 6,” he replied. So she was right, he was likely Inazuman based on his name. “Though, based on where I currently appear to be, I assume that such a position means nothing to you. Ah, it doesn't matter regardless. I only got accepted into my current job because chief Miyabi took pity on me,” he finished.
He spoke way more than she expected him to. She would admit, she was a bit lost based on what he said, but she understood the main idea that he was telling her where he currently worked. Still, that confused her even more, since she had never heard of this “HSO”. Maybe it was some organization in Inazuma? Regardless, she would still have to convince him to follow her to Gandharva Ville, which, based on her experience with scholars who thought they knew better than the forest rangers, was easier said than done.
“Anyway, you said you'd take me to a village? Well, come on then. Lead the way.”
Huh. That was a lot easier than she expected it to be. She had honestly expected him to protest more, like the many arrogant scholars she had unfortunate encounters with as a trainee. Maybe being a fully fledged forest ranger came with some prestige that people took more seriously.
“Ah, I uh, have no clue where we currently are,” he said, as if reading her mind, “I kind of have nowhere to go if I don't follow you.”
Well, that answered one question. She may have to spend more time than she expected trying to return this unfortunate unintentional traveler back home. If he was from Inazuma, it could be a while before he could board a boat to return home. If she was right about him being from there, that is.
She realizes that she has been silent for some time, so she finally (and nervously) answers him, “Ah, sorry! I didn't mean to not respond to you. I was listening, I promise! I just get lost in my thoughts sometimes. I only recently became a full forest ranger, I've been a trainee for what feels like forever, and I'm already messing up… Sorry!” She starts walking towards Gandharva Ville and motions for him to follow her.
“Don't be so nervous around little old me, I'm not one to judge. Ah, you remind me a bit of someone..” he says suddenly, and they continue chatting along their walk back to the village.
“O-Oh-kay! Uh,.. if you don't mind me asking, what were you doing when you ended up here?” Collei hesitantly inquires.
“I was on an assignment with one of my coworkers, when a fissure opened up beneath me and sucked me in before I had a chance to react. .. My companion is probably seriously worried about me right about now, aha!”
“Hm… Well, for now, there isn't really anything that can be done about that. So… uh…” she tries to respond. She really has no clue what to say to this man right now, but she doesn't want to be too awkward… she's spent too long trying to learn effective communication in social interactions to fail here, when it actually matters…
“It's fine, don't push yourself to try and continue a conversation if you don't know what to say. I can speak enough for the both of us, if you’d like,” he offers, very obviously trying to make her feel more comfortable. She appreciates what he is trying to do, because she really has no clue what to do.
Her nerves are probably really obvious if he is noticing them in his clearly concussed state… Even though he is speaking clearly, he still seems quite out of it in the way he is moving, as if he is hiding an injury.
If she were anyone else, she may not have noticed—clearly, he has somehow gotten really good at wearing a mask and hiding his feelings. She knows she shouldn't pry into that while he is still virtually a stranger, though. She can simply take comfort in the fact that he probably understands how she feels right now, needing to pretend to be competent.
It isn't long before they arrive back at Gandharva Ville, only about mid afternoon. The sun, still shining in the sky, has moved marginally lower, casting longer shadows behind the trees. It shouldn't be too long now before Master Tighnari returns from the work he needed to get done in Sumeru City.
He didn't tell her exactly what he was up to, but she realized it was probably important. He wouldn't tell her when she asked, and she knew it was likely none of her business, but she hated that she was still sometimes left out of the loop and treated like a child. For her own sake, she has to stop assuming that when she isn't informed of something, it's because she isn't trusted. In all likelihood, it's probably just something that doesn't involve her at the moment and so she has no reason to know. She is a bit tired of the secrecy, though.
Once they reach the actual village, she sends Mr. Asaba into one of the medical huts. “Just head in there and rest,” she tells him, “My master should be returning pretty soon, and he should be able to check you over and treat you fully for injuries.”
“Got it, chief! Or.. forest ranger? Thanks for walking me back here, I don't know what I'd have done without you.”
From there, she leaves him be for the moment to take care of her other duties. From this point, they would just have to wait.