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Mondstadt was a place for joy, celebration, and freedom. One would enter the city gates, only to be swept away by the hustle and bustle of the citizens’ chattering - a song would waft through the air, sung by one of the cities’ famous bards, while the smell of meat, dandelions, and a soft scent of alcohol lingered in the air. These aspects were amplified by ten during Windblume, one of the most beloved traditions in the city. Walking in, one would find themselves greeted by the knights themselves, and find the ever beautiful city surrounded by many flowers.
Kaeya was due for his fifteen minute break of managing one of the Windblume stalls, and was thus wandering the city lazily, taking in the festive air. In the distance, he could hear a familiar voice in front of the fountains, surrounded by a small crowd.
“Well, back then, there was no singular Windblume flower,” Venti said cheerily, as the kids surrounding him gasped, “ - as the flower existed only in dreams. So, dream up! When you hear the words “floaty”, what do you think of?”
“Ooh! Ooh!” Chloris raised her hand. “Philanemo Mushrooms, of course! I mean, uh, they literally have anemo in the name? And they grow up super high!”
“What? Mushrooms can’t be a flower, silly.”
“Can too!”
“Busy with a history lesson, huh?” Kaeya strode towards Venti, book in hand, while the children devolved into petty squabbles. Venti turned around and waved, moving forwards to distance himself from the children.
“Greeting, our beloved cavalry captain! How’s the new stalls going?”
“Same old, same old. The new combat event is going well, at least. Our dear Honorary Knight is testing it to the best of her ability, and I haven’t heard any complaints yet.”
“Venti!! Oh, hi Mr. Kaeya!” Finn waved, and Kaeya waved back cheerfully. “We decided on the best Windblume flower!”
“Oh? Is that so?”
“Yeah! Cecilias! Because, uh, they only grow when the wind is super strong! And it has a bunch of super cool stories that you told us!”
“Cecilias are an excellent choice. However, the fun thing about Windblume is that there is no single choice! Each Windblume is personal - for me, it can be cecilias, but for Chloris, it can be a philanemo mushroom, and for our Mr. Kaeya, they can be something completely different as well! Think about what you like, and what resonates with you.”
“Personally, calla lilies are my pick. Quite fragrant.”
“See? Different choices for everyone!”
The children murmured, and scattered rapid-fire nods were seen. They devolved into yet another discussion, seemingly regarding ‘hey, you can’t have that, that’s my Windblume’. A little counterintuitive, but it’s the spirit that counts.
Kaeya stretched his arms. “I should be heading back to my post. See you at the tavern tonight?”
“Oh, for sure. What’s a festival without buttloads of drinking?” Venti winked.
“And may Barbatos himself sign off on that. See you around.” He took a few steps forwards, but a child’s voice rang out through the crowd.
“Venti! How has the Cecilia on your hat not died yet? The ones I bring home always die in a month…”
“Well, that’s because this one is fake, and Cecilia's thrive in very strong winds. That, or strong bursts of anemo.”
“Woah, it’s fake? No way! It looks so real, where’d you get it?”
“Hm… A gift from an old friend, so to speak.”
Kaeya turned around. “Very interesting, dear bard. I distinctly remember you telling our Honorary Knight that it was a real flower.”
Venti winked. “Just preserving the magic for our dear guest, of course”
Kaeya laughed. “Of course.”
And he did not think more of it for a while.
-
The Angel’s Share was Mondstadt’s favorite tavern. Packed full to the brim every night, with the staff recognized and praised by every bar-goer on sight. The Knights often visited, chatting away at the front of the bar, while Diluc would serve them drinks until he deemed it to be too much [a frequent occurrence]. On most days, Kaeya, Venti, Rosaria, and Dahlia would be up front, with occasional cameos from Eula and Lisa depending on the week. This week, they were joined by Bennett, who was happily sipping his cup of non-alcoholic apple cider.
“ - and then everyone waved me and Bennett home! It was quite a blast, I’m very pleased. Natlan is always super fun to visit.” Venti giggled. He had finished recounting his tale of his last visit to the area, and mentioned Bennett’s story in passing after much interrogation [and much dismay from the youth]. Kaeya was listening with rapt attention, as one of his future “alcohol-appraisal” visits involved the nation.
“Always?” Rosaria questioned. “You’ve gone multiple times? Man, I want a vacation..”
“Ah, just once or twice before. As a bard, shouldn’t I travel to new places?”
Bennett frowned. “But, uh, Venti, none of the people there seemed to know you at all!”
“Natlan is quite a large place, you know.”
“Oh yeah… you’re right.”
Most people would have shrugged off that interaction, but Kaeya sat there, idly stirring his wine, and started to think. A little strange to have visited a place many times, yet to have no acquaintances - especially for someone as sociable as Venti. After all, one visit to Liyue, and Mika was already describing how much the townspeople liked Venti - so much so that Jean decided to send him for the poetry festival yearly. Kaeya put down his drink, and turned towards the group.
“When else were you in Natlan, Venti?” He asked.
“A few years ago! Wayyy before the whole war incident - can’t quite remember the year.”
Rosaria snorted. “You can barely remember what you ate for dinner.”
Venti put his hands up. “Caught.”
If it was a few years ago, he would surely have friends there. “You said you met the pyro archon, right?”
“Mavuika! She’s super chill, and also a heavy drinker. Honestly, she’d have a blast in Mondstadt.”
Bennett nodded. “She’s really nice! Helped me a lot, too. This was the first time me and Venti met her, and she agreed to help us despite that!”
“First… time?”
Venti giggled. “Well, Natlan is a massive place, after all!”
Yeah, something was definitely up. Kaeya mentally conjured up a list of possibilities, and started ranking them how he would rank mission intel for the Knights.
Option A: Venti was lying. Likelihood: High. Reasoning: He loves lying. Like, deeply loves it. Not even he could match up how much that bard liked to weave his little tales.
Option B: Venti was telling the truth, and solely visited the parts of Natlan the citizens did not go to. Likelihood: Low-Medium. Reasoning: Why would he do that? Upgraded Likelihood: Medium. Reasoning: Venti does strange things sometimes.
Option C: Venti was some sort of long-life species. Likelihood: ? Reasoning: Well, the story would make sense that way. But Venti did not give off that vibe… actually, he was rather odd at times, and spoke often using archaic terms.. Maybe the likelihood should be bumped up a notch.
Option D: Venti’s sheer presence had caused every single Natlani citizen to get turned into alcoholics, and thus develop subsequent memory loss.
Well, that should narrow it down, at least.
There was a secret Option E. One that he’d been thinking of for a while - well, it was more of a joke than anything, but there were some days where it felt all too real.
But surely a god wouldn’t…
What was he kidding? It was Venti, he could do anything and Kaeya wouldn’t bat an eye.
“What’s on your mind, dear Captain?” Venti asked, with a singsong tone. His cheeks were flushed, a sign that Diluc would likely be kicking them out within the next half-hour or so.
Kaeya laughed. “Nothing, really. Next time you go on a lovely vacation, make sure to take me along. Especially if it involves alcohol.”
All of them clinked their drinks together. “Hear, hear!”
And, well, he did think more of it for a while.
-
Storms rarely passed through Mondstadt. On occasion, they’d get some heavy rain in the fields mixed with mild lightning, and Dragonspine was a different case entirely, but for the most part, the main city was filled with sunshine, light breezes, and the most delicate of rain; enough so the plants grew well, but not any more than that. Sometimes, however, they would catch him off guard - light rain as he was walking back at night, causing him to do a slight jog to try to get back home or to the headquarters.
This was one of such days. He took solace under the statue of Barbatos, waiting for the rain to pass. It usually did after an hour or so, anyways - he’d just sit down, and fill up some forms to try to pass time. The more work he got done, the faster he could solicit Jean into giving him another day off, after all.
“Oh? What are you doing here, Kaeya?”
He looked up, and saw Venti peering down at him, a curious glimmer in his eyes.
“I could ask you the same thing, dear Bard.”
“Uh uh! I asked first, y’know.”
Kaeya laughed. “Alright, alright. I stayed late at the headquarters to try to get some paperwork done. Got caught in the rain, so might as well sit here and do the rest. Don’t want to get my bag wet - Jean would kill me if anything happened to these files, and I really don’t want to face her wrath and then ask for a vacation.”
“Wow! Our illustrious captain is working hard as ever. Don’t worry, the skies should clear up very soon. We don’t want our knights getting sick in the rain!”
“It’s fine, I really don’t mind. After all -” Kaeya rummaged through his bag, and pulled out a green-tinted bottle which appeared to be suspiciously half-full, despite it not being so this morning, “ - I have a very handy tool for getting through every situation.”
Venti put a hand over his heart. “Spoken like a true Mondstatian. Well, have fun, and get home safe!”
“I shall, I shall. Wait, where are you -”
And Venti was off, strutting through the rain, humming a tune.
Kaeya stared at him retreating, and then shrugged. He had always been one to wander, after all. He focused his attention back to the page below him, which was some sort of file for a captain that was caught delivering illicit substances to a Fatui merchant [Lohen had “taken care” of him. Kaeya, despite his own methods of dealing with criminals, was ever so slightly afraid of that man.] He began signing off names, and trying to piece the files together.
A particularly large flash of lightning struck near the statue [when the hell did it start??], and his quill flew from his hand, only to roll a couple inches forward in the rain. He stared at it with dismay.
“I think this is a sign telling me to go home,” He muttered, to no one in particular, “Maybe if I sprint, or shield myself.”
He stepped forward to pick up the pen, and picked up his things. The sky was clear, and -
Wait, what?
Kaeya looked up. The sky was entirely clear. It was almost as if the rain had never passed through in the first place. Usually, rain in Mondstadt continued throughout the night, and stopped only when the sun rose in the mountains.
There was a nagging feeling in Kaeya’s mind that told him to pay attention to events that had transpired five minutes ago. However, his mind was tired, and he decided to just praise his luck and run home.
The skies were quiet the whole while, not even a hint of rain to be felt. He fumbled for his key, opened the door, and stepped inside, ready to crash on his bed.
It started pouring.
Kaeya stared outside. He opened the door.
The rain stopped.
He closed the door.
It started pouring again.
“It is 1 AM, and I am too tired for this.” He declared, and vowed to process this in the morning.
And if he heard a faint giggle from a location that seemed vaguely… above, he chose to ignore it as well.
-
He was out in Wolvendom, slowly making his way up north. Jean had reported an abyss attack around the parts, and Kaeya and Lohen were both dispatched for intel - Lohen to round up some suspicious people roaming around the city, and himself to figure out clues regarding the abyss contaminant itself.
“It appeared all of a sudden,” Jean had said, sounded more stressed than usual [truly dire], “And we don’t know what the source was. I sent out someone to figure out what’s going on, and you and Lohen are going to do the rest.”
And thus, their work was divvied up, and off he went.
Although, it was strange. Abyss attacks were of massive consequence, yet nobody was hurt. The person who claimed to see the abyss monsters was babbling on about how they got thrown back by a sight breeze, which was highly unusual for the creatures that were reported. The corrupted lawachurls usually put up a much stronger fight. Unless they were already weakened, which didn’t seem likely for a surprise attack..
Kaeya glanced around, frowning. The area seemed clean, with no real signs of abyssal corruption. What was going on?
He made his way to Andrius’ Lair, and started circling the enclosure. If an attack happened, this was the best spot for him to not get caught off guard. Examining the Wolfhooks, the grass, the trees - anything that could lead to some clues; unfortunately, all led him to a dead end.
Whizz.
He bolted up, alert.
Looking around, nothing seemed to be amiss nearby. Could this be something underground? The surrounding lay unchanged; the grass moving, the weather still the same sunshine that normally eclipsed the nation, and not a trace of anything amiss in the foliage nearby. Yet, the sound was unmistakable.
He cautiously took a step forward.
Everything hit at once - three creatures, distorted, smothered in purple residue charged, seemingly appearing from nowhere. He drew his sword, trying to fend them off. Arrows started firing, from god knows where, and he stepped back to try to gain some distance - the stench was overwhelming, loud roars were emanating from the creatures, the sky seemed to shift to a faint purple tone -
The slightest breeze wafted through the area, and it was almost like they were no more.
Kaeya blinked. Was he in heaven?
No, the monsters were just laying on the ground. Everything had returned to as it was before, and you wouldn’t even be able to tell anything had occurred. The only sign that a mishap transpired was Kaeya, clutching his sword and heavily breathing, trying to convince himself that that was a real event and not several days’ worth of sleep deprivation kicking in all at once.
Well.
The sun had set, and he had long since returned back to try to debrief with Jean. He’d gotten the samples of the creatures for Albedo, and the other Knights of the investigation team were on the case. Based on the whispers, it was a case of rogue experiments gone wrong - he was sure Lohen had given the perpetrators a nice scare, and permanent brain damage. Terrifying, that one.
“- And they just keeled over. The previous victim was right. It really was just a small breeze.”
Jean seemed much less confused than he thought she would be. “Right, right. Thank you, Kaeya. Really. Go take the rest of the day off.”
He saluted. “You don’t have to tell me twice. You sure you’ll be okay? Dear Acting Grandmaster surely deserves a break too.”
“I’ll be fine. I just have to deal with some paperwork.”
“You always do ~” He replied, and started to step out of the office, when another familiar face stepped in.
“You called? I’ve dealt - oh, hi Kaeya! I’ll meet you at the tavern later.”
Now, there were many things that Mondstadters didn’t know. One such fact was that the Cavalry Captain position was largely a front - the actual horses, God bless their souls, didn’t need much managing, and currently they were absent - thus, the Cavalry Captain position often went to what most others would describe as counterintelligence. And as the head of Favonius Counterintelligence, Kaeya prided himself on being able to piece things together relatively quickly.
Which is why, staring at Venti’s smiling face and closed eyes, he started to piece things together.
-
“So.” Kaeya planted his foot forward, trying to block Venti from any of his convenient escapes. “I have some questions.”
“Want a drink first?”
“... Yes.” He conceded, “You sure know your way out of situations. An admirable trait, really. I could learn a thing or two.”
“Oh, you flatter me! I’m just a simple bard, and I thrive off of situations. After all, how else would I get material for a new song?”
“Right. Speaking of songs, you once said you knew every song. Surely you don’t mean every one?”
“Well, who’s to say? Maybe I just know one more song than you do.”
“See, I was going to chastise you for speaking in riddles, and then realizes that I would be a hypocrite if I did so. So I’m going to mentally chastise you instead, dear bard.”
Venti giggled. “Much appreciated!”
“I do have one question for you, though. As a bard, surely you have heard many stories?”
“Why indeed! Stories all throughout Mondstadt, old and new, of dragons and stories and ballads and brews. I can recite many!”
“Then,” Kaeya leaned forward. “Do you happen to know anything about Barbatos?”
“Oh, why, of course! The illustrious archon, yet not seen in a few hundred years. Who knows where he is?”
“Truly. Have you heard of any rumors, Venti?”
“Hmm. Well, there was one that said he actually turned into the flowers throughout the land, and every flower you pick up is actually Barbatos’ flesh.”
“That’s morbid. Was that supposed to be, like, relaxing? I don’t think we should be celebrating skinning our archon every time we go flower picking.”
Venti was giggling intensely. “Well, I thought it was cute! Although, now that you mention it…”
“Personally,” Kaeya drawled, “I heard a rumor he was taking up a new form. One that no one even knows of. Who’s to say he’s not in the city right now?”
“Who’s to say indeed! Although, if Barbatos himself was in the city, surely we would notice him?”
“You’d think, right? But what if he, say, was really good at disguises.”
“Like you!”
“Like me, indeed. Thank you.”
“Mm-hmm. Well, then that would be a problem. We wouldn’t know who he was!”
“It would be a problem. How do you propose we’d go about handling it, then?”
“Well, do you even want to handle it?”
“Hm?”
Venti leaned in closer, and started whispering. “What if, after centuries of mortal corruption, Barbatos turned evil? What if he started eating children?”
Kaeya stared.
Venti stared back, mouth wobbling in a desperate attempt to not laugh.
“What if Barbatos started eating children? Yeah, great question, Venti. What if? How would you propose we deal with that?”
“Sorry,” Rosaria sat down, just having entered the pub. “What the hell are we talking about?”
“Barbatos has been eating children.” Kaeya and Venti said in unison.
“... I’m ordering a drink..”
-
He’d wrack a confession out of him someday. He just needed a plan.
Plan A: Corner him and ask him about Barbatos. Chance of working: 10%. Easiness: 5/5. Results: Inconclusive. He gave away a lot of hints, and he might eat children? Pretty sure he’s lying about this, but who knows.
Plan B: Try to ask someone close to him. Varka, or Jean? Chance of working: 10%, which rises up to 60% depending on the inebriation level of the grandmaster. However, Varka was busy with the expedition, and thus the plan would have to wait an indeterminate amount of days. And there was no way Jean would say anything. Maybe if he helped her with half a stack of paperwork…
Plan C: Try to get him to use archon powers. Chance of working: ?? He needed to figure out what archon powers were.
That is how he ended up in the library, in front of a slightly puzzles and slightly amused looking Lisa, who had just returned from her daily tea break.
“Hmm, anything that talks about Barbatos’ powers would be difficult. Not because of the lack of information - heavens, no, there’s so much of it. But a lot of it, well, is of… questionable reliability.”
Right. Of course. “You wouldn’t suppose to know which ones are really authentic, would you?”
“Well, I can harbor a guess, of course. Some books are collections of stories, such as A Drunkard’s Tale, but I wouldn’t count those as reliable, unless you believe the anemo archon invented wine as a concept.”
“Well, this is Mondstadt.” If Venti invented wine, he would personally mail him a thank you letter.
“A lot of the ones’ over here are a matter of trying to decipher them. Skyward’s Atlas has over a thousand odes, and yet some of them are bound to be true.”
“It seems fate has hours of reading for me today, then. Truly unfortunate.”
Lisa laughed. “Not unfortunate for a librarian at all. I’ll help you in your quest, cutie, provided you tell me what you need. Is there a reason Barbatos’ power fascinates you so, especially during this time?”
See, the first thing about gathering intelligence is that sometimes the truth was outrageous enough that telling it was better. Either the opposing party believed you, and you gained their trust, or they scoffed, and you got away scot free. In this case, a similar strategy was used. “I’m trying to see if my friend is Barbatos. We’re using the process of elimination, really.”
To Lisa’s credit, she showed no sign of skepticism. “Duly noted. Don’t worry, this is one of my favorite subjects as well.”
Two hours or so had passed. Kaeya found himself getting quite engrossed in the tales - Mondstadt’s history was fascinating, especially any mentions of the four winds. However, the dilemma persisted. Descriptions of Barbatos’ power varied from “he can conjure up a small breeze” to “he could probably create a Tevyat-ending black hole”, with variety throughout that spectrum. From depictions, Barbatos seemed to be both skin to a common vision wielder and an all-omnipotent creator at the same time, which wasn’t very reassuring. He knew Venti carried around an anemo vision. Actually, had he ever seen him use it?
He stood up, ready to grab the final book from the shelf, nestled all the way in the back. Stories of Earth, Wind, and Fire, located in the archon history section. The title seemed promising, yet it had an author who he had never heard of, with a vaguely Liyuan name.
He reached up to grab it, but the book knocked over. Oh, dear. He was glad Lisa had left a few minutes ago to grab some books from Jean - otherwise, he was sure he’d have gotten a scathing stare.
He moved to grab the book. It moved away.
Okay.
“Venti. I know it’s you. You can try to hide all you want, but I know it’s you.”
The book lay there innocently on the ground. He cautiously moved towards it again, and managed to pick it up. A resounding success. He went to open the book, only to find every page conspicuously blank.
“Genuinely, how.” He muttered out loud. Surely the anemo archon didn’t possess reality altering powers? How else could he have possibly done this? Unless the book really was blank, and he was going crazy.
Lisa stepped back into the library. “How are things going?”
“Stellar. Hey, come over here for a second. Can you read this?”
Lisa walked over lightly, and frowned. “Uh, yes? It is in plain Tevyatian.”
He looked back. All the words were still there.
“ Actually, I just remembered I have to take care of something real quick. Thanks for your help as always, dear Lisa.”
“Of course, cutie. Good luck on your crusade ~”
Yeah, he wasn’t going to stay there any longer.
-
“You’ve genuinely got to be fucking with me.”
Venti took a long sip from his drink. “Hm? What could you be talking about?”
-
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about. The anemo archon is not present in Mondstadt - however, his divinity still remains, and he is with us all regardless of location. Praise be, Barbatos.”
He supposed the nuns wouldn’t know much about this. “Yes, of course. As a fellow… deeply pious citizen, I simply want to know everything there is about our Archon.”
Victoria’s face softened, and she looked quite pleased. “Of course, of course. Thank you for asking, Sir Kaeya, and thank you for your service to Mondstadt. I would be happy to answer any questions.”
Nothing of value was learnt, unfortunately, but Victoria did go on about how blessed the Archon was for around half an hour. He admired her spirit.
“Has any citizen ever claimed to be Barbatos? Even as a joke?”
Her face soured. “Quite often. These drunkards will say anything, even if it means defiling our Lord’s name! Why, lately - oh, my apologies. I shouldn’t badmouth a common friend in front of you.”
“No, no, please badmouth a friend. I appreciate your honesty as always, fair maiden.”
“You make me blush, Sir Kaeya. No, it’s just… your friend Venti, bless his soul, has always helped us out around the church. However, he has a recurring joke where we’d ask him to join, and he’d say no, and we’d ask why, and he’d just go ‘Well, because I’m Barbatos, duh!’” She put on her best mockery of the bard’s voice. “It isn’t good to joke about things like that, as it is disrespectful to our Blessed Archon. Sir Kaeya, are you alright? Do you have a headache?”
“I cannot believe he is getting away with this,” He said, holding his face in his hands. “There’s no way he’s just getting away with it. No way.”
“Quite right! Truly blasphemous. I wasn’t aware you cared so much about the sanctity of the archon as we do, Sir Kaeya!”
“Oh, I care about the sanctity indeed..”
-
“So your current theory,” Rosaria drawled, “Is that Venti is Barbatos, and he’s been fucking with you this entire time?”
“Yes.”
“Hm. I buy that. Should we order more wine?”
“Definitely.”
A beat of silence passed.
“You know, I didn’t know his name was Barbatos. I thought it was Barsibados.”
“Aren’t you a nun?”
“In theory.”
-
The abyss attacks started again. He’d been sent out to a different spot this time - there were suspicions of it being a coordinated attack by disgruntled treasure hoarders who’d been pissed that their previous sting operation had been caught. The problem was that the power of the abyss was far too much for those ordinary people to handle; they’d keel on right over and pass out, and then the abyssal creatures would get loose and wander the nation. Jean was pissed, and Kaeya did not pity what would happen to those poor treasure hoarders when they got caught.
The setting was similar to last time. Albedo had figured out what was going on - the treasure hoarders had found themselves a concrete ball of abyssal energy from Natlan, and that ball stored enough power to corrupt anything in a five mile radius in front of them. However, since the ball was contained, only the essence of the abyss leaked through; enough to corrupt the creatures, but not the land itself, until the creatures were close enough to detect. This also gave them somewhat of a boost, but they were much more prepared for that this time.
He traversed Brightcrown Mountains, looking for any disturbances below. Likely too high to see, but just in case the land started terraforming, he knew where to run.
Something was off this time, though. Previously, everything was still alive. This time, the trees were slightly off color, and he couldn’t detect a hint of noise - no birds chirping, no sounds of the stream, no faint breeze in the sky. The closer he wandered to Stormterror’s Lair, the uneasier he got.
He blinked, and the landscape descended upon him
Right there, in the gap between the lair and the canyon, were countless abyssal creatures. Close to a hundred, all opening their mouths, yet no sound was coming out. He then realized that they were all dead, and that what lay there were their bodies, the bright purple that defined them slowly decaying. In the distance, he could make out a faint shape.
The shape zoomed over. “That should be the last,” It whispered into a small device. The reply back was inaudible.
The shape looked up.
Kaeya looked back.
Barbatos, the anemo archon, waved.
Kaeya waved back.
“Sorry, I have to go!” Barbatos - who was, to put it lightly, unmistakably his good friend Venti the bard, bowed and zoomed away. He was quite speedy. Maybe the four hundredth and fifty second ode that said he could ‘run faster than light, and flee faster than wind’ had some merit to it after all, despite Lisa giggling when she told him about it.
-
“So.”
“So.”
“Do you, or well - did you, actually eat children?”
“Who’s to say?”
“Cheers.”
“Cheers!”