Chapter Text
Most days passed like a blur for Diluc Ragnvindr. All he could feel was the burning within him and the fire that roiled beneath the black armor that covered his body. He heaved his sword, cutting down the enemies in front of him, over and over again, leaving a trail of ashes in his wake. It was hard to focus, everything around warping him from the waves of heat he gave off, but every so often, as the sun set and the last rays of light disappeared behind the horizon, his body cooled.
He groaned as he stared up at the stars above him, his body still trembling in the cool night air. Marks of signed foliage surrounded him, but he ignored it, lifting his hands until they were in front of his face. They were scarred, additional fresh marks of injuries that must have been from several months ago now still marring the skin. Turning his hands over, he inspected his fingernails, finding them no longer than the last time he’d seen them. Running a hand across his chin, his nose wrinkled as he found budding stubble. At least he wasn’t dealing with a full beard; he couldn’t remember the last time he’d shaven.
Pushing himself to his feet, he dusted off his clothes, frowning at the dark coat he was wearing. Where had he even gotten it from? It was heavy and furred, clearly meant for colder weather. But he didn’t mind, finding himself strangely cold without the heat of his flames.
Stepping through the undergrowth of the forest, Diluc frowned. Something about this place seemed familiar, but he couldn’t put a name on it. Hopefully there was a town nearby... while he had the chance, he wanted some food and somewhere to wash up. The smell of burnt cinders clung to his body like a heavy musk.
He didn’t make it very far before he heard a crash of plant life, a dim light dancing through the trees. As the will-o-wisp approached, he reached for his weapon, only to grasp the empty air. Right. No flame.
The light brightened and he stepped back, shielding his face. As his eyes adjusted, he finally recognized it as a lantern, noticing the girl holding it up to look at him.
“Greeting, strange yet respectable traveler!” Her voice was cheerful, as if they weren’t standing in the middle of the woods after nightfall, but the warning grew in her voice as she continued. “There’s been abyss activity around here lately. It’s dangerous to travel in the dark.”
He gave a mute nod, something about what she said almost seemed to tickle some faint memory, but it slipped away before he could fully grasp it. “Is there a town nearby?” He finally asked, surprised by the sound of his own voice, deep and rough.
“Just through the woods, to the west,” the girl said helpfully.
Giving a grunt of acknowledgement, Diluc turned away from the light, starting to make his way toward the direction she had instructed.
The light flicked behind him. “Please be careful,” she called out, “There’s been a sighting of the Scourge Knight not too far from here.”
He only raised his hand in a wave in response. That was the one thing he knew he would not have to worry about. At least not until daybreak.
After a few minutes he could make out the glimmering light of the town. It looked like a pretty small place, most of the townsfolk heading home in the growing darkness. The perfect to lay low for the night.
In the dark light it was hard to make out the details of the buildings around him but the familiar feeling returned, as if he was walking through a dream. A part of him wondered if maybe he had actually died and was now trapped in some nightmare after death, but as one of the hunters by the town pond stopped and stared at him, whispers passing between him and his drinking buddies, he knew that he was awake. This was Springvale.
He was back in Mondstadt.
There was little he could do about that now, he tried to argue to himself as he pushed himself toward the inn. All he wanted was some warm food and a place to rest. If he was lucky, any rumor of his appearance would be dismissed as just some drunkard’s rambling.
“Five hundred mora,” the innkeep told him, staring at him just a little longer than he was comfortable with.
It took him a moment to remember where he had even kept his money and then several more as he tried to count up the loose change.
The innkeep eyed him as he struggled to find enough mora. “It’s close enough,” the man grumbled, taking the coins and replacing it with a key.
Diluc took it without complaint, hurrying down the hall toward to find his room before the innkeep changed his mind. Once inside, he immediately stripped, removing the heavy coat as he started drawing up a bath. The water was a comforting warmth and as soon as his body slipped below the surface, he felt his muscles relax, his eyes threatening to fall shut. He wanted to stay there until the water turned cool and his fingers wrinkled, but he reminded himself his time was limited.
Finally pulling himself out of the water and scrubbing clean the rest of his body, he redressed, pulling his hair up into a loose ponytail. He wanted something to eat, but he had spent the last of his mora getting this room... hesitating for a moment longer, he walked back out into the tavern area of the inn, scoping out the other patrons there.
Begging drunkards for food was not the most dignified choice, but it wasn’t like he had any pride to save. His stomach rumbled, dissuading any lingering hesitation. But as he found a seat, he was offered a hand of mercy.
A fresh bowl of creamy tomato slid across the table, the innkeeper giving him a nod. “Looks like you could use a meal.”
Diluc barely mumbled a thanks before diving into the food. The taste was sweet and rich, the broth spiced with garlic and herbs, the tang of salt leaving him craving more. He knew it was a mild dish, probably just something the innkeep had left over, but he found the flavors almost overwhelming, his eyes starting to water as he scooped as much of the dish into his mouth as he could.
His bliss was broken by the door crashing open, a feminine voice gasping before her voice rose in a disbelieving question. “Diluc? It is you...”
He froze for a moment, a strange mixture of emotion rising for a moment before he swallowed. Setting down his spoon, he wiped his face, glad his back was turned as he recomposed himself. The footsteps hurried over and he could feel her shadow looming over him. Finally looking up, his mouth was tight as his eyes focused on the face above him.
“Hello, Master Gunhilder.” His voice came out harsher than he expected, causing his eye to twitch in irritation.
Jean’s expression drew back in confusion as his greeting, lingering somewhere between concern and offense. “Ah, I see... Master Ragnvindr...” she said slowly, correcting her own choice of address. Diluc winced hearing that name in reference to himself. It wasn’t right.
“Just Diluc,” he blurted out before he could stop himself and his teeth grinded against each other in regret. That was far too familiar.
“Oh.” She slowly sat down at the seat next to him, her posture stiff as if ready to leave if he asked her too. As if his glare wasn’t enough of a statement he wanted to be left alone. “Where have you been?” she finally asked as the silence stretched out between them.
Diluc didn’t answer for a moment. He took another spoonful of tomato soup, trying to forget about the person next to him and just savor the creamy sauce, but when his eyes looked up, she was still there.
He sighed, closing his eyes. Oh how much he just wanted to return to his room and fall into that bed, soft and cushioned. He wanted to rest. But he knew the dawn would come.
“It would be best if you could forget you ever saw me,” he said bluntly.
She blinked, his words drawing worry out of her expression. “Are you safe? Is someone after you?”
“No, nothing like that,” he told her sharply before giving a heavy sigh. “I’m leaving in the morning. You won’t see me again.”
Her hand seemed to slip from the edge of the table, slowly falling into her lap as she understood what he was saying. “I’m sorry...” her voice was quiet, but he could hear the emotions she struggled to hold back. “You disappeared without a trace that night- no one knew what happened-” she stopped as she was met by his glare. Pursing her lips, she said, “We were so worried about you. Keaya-” his breath caught, a deep ache bubbling up from his chest at that name “-Kaeya hasn’t been the same since you left.”
“Is he safe?”
“Yes, but-”
“Then nothing.” Diluc stood, picking up his empty bowl, “It's better for both of us if I stay away.”
She moved to chase before falling short, “You’re always welcome in Mondstadt. Please...” her wish never made it past her tongue as she apparently thought better of it. There were tears in her voice as she told him, “Wherever you go, I hope you find happiness.”
He almost laughed. Happiness. As if he was just traveling the world, eventually looking for a place to settle down and call home. As if any of that were possible anymore. All of this world... it was just ashes under his fingertips.
“Don’t try to find me.”
He left her in the silence, slumping against the door when he finally reached his room. His chest was tight with emotions that he didn’t want to deal with. Stumbling over to the bed, he curled up into the bedsheets. His eyes shut, but as tears ran down his face, sleep never came.
When the sky began to lighten Diluc was gone before the sun rose. As bright reds and oranges flared across the sky there were only seared ashes at the end of his trail.
_ _ _
As the dawn light filled the sky, Kaeya Alberich made his way through the forests just east of Springvale. For the last week he had been tracking down any information he could about the fabled “Scourge Knight,” an abyssal warrior that reportedly left nothing but destruction in its wake. At first it had seemed like any other creature of the Abyss, wrecking indiscriminate havoc, but looking into the attacks, there was a very clear pattern. It would strike with the Abyss Order- but not against people- no, it seemed to actually target other abyssal creatures. When it did attack people, they were almost entirely treasurer hoarders, bandits, or other types of criminals. There were a number of Fatui strongholds found burnt to the ground that were suspected of having been targets of the Scourge Knight.
He’d been following its movements, tracking it as it passed through the Stone Gate in Mondstadt. When he’d seen it was heading toward Springvale, he sent a message back to the Knights, asking for their Outrider to survey the area in case of danger. He hoped that she would be waiting in Springvale with some clue to what was going on because he found himself stumped.
About half a mile from the town the Scourge Knight’s tracks stopped. The creature was not difficult to track, the pyro energy strong enough to leave a clear trail, visible to anyone with a Vision. But all that fire stopped, going out like a light. He made a circle around the area to make sure he hadn’t missed anything, but there was nothing. There was a path of disturbed plants, probably from a person or animal passing through, but it was definitely not the Scourge Knight.
He sighed, shaking his head in defeat and headed toward the town. He was relieved to see Amber already there, perched at the outskirts. Her head perked up as she saw him.
“Captain Alberich! I scouted the area last night as instructed, but I didn’t see any sign of the Scourge Knight. Should I make another check with the daylight?”
Kaeya shook his head, “It’s known to have distinct bright flames. If you couldn’t spot it during the night then I doubt the sun will make any difference.” He hummed for a moment, still stumped. The earliest reports of the creature had mentioned it more frequently attacked during the day, but since then there had been little discrimination in time of day.
Had it simply teleported through the Abyss? It was a creature of the Abyss after all... but that left him with nothing to show after all the time he’d spent tracking it.
“Jean was helping last night but something came up and she had to head back. She told me to tell you there’s something she needs to talk to you about.” Amber added.
Kaeya shrugged dismissively, “Ah, doesn’t she always? I want to do a bit more investigation around here before I give up.”
Amber nodded, “I did notice there’s a hilichurl camp to the north of here. Some of the hunters said they’ve been causing trouble recently.”
That was interesting. On their own, hilichurls usually only attacked if they felt threatened, but if they were causing trouble that might be a sign that something might have disturbed them.
“Thanks for the tip,” he told her before setting out across town in the direction she’d indicated.
As his hand rested on the hilt of his sword, he felt a small tremor of apprehension at the prospect of facing the Scourge Knight. When he’d left, he’d promised Jean that he would not engage the creature alone... It wasn’t like this would be the first time he’d broken a promise.
There was something about this abyss creature that had piqued his interest. It wasn’t by chance that it had managed to survive this long without some hunter managing to take it out. It was strategic- intelligent- he wasn’t dealing with a hilichurl. And, most importantly, it didn’t appear to have ties to the Abyss Order. There was the potential that the feared Scourge Knight, might be one of the last of his kin.
The hilichurl camp wasn’t far. Several smaller hilichurl gathered around a campfire, while a mitachurl kept guard. So far nothing out of the ordinary...
There was a sudden spike of elemental energy as a cackle echoed behind him. Shit- he whirled around to find a pyro abyss mage, its elemental shield wreathed around it. Shaking its wand at him as it cried in forgotten language, “Intruder! Vile repugnant desecrators, kill it where it stands!”
So this was the cause of the riled up hilichurls. He supposed since he was here, he might as well take care of it. No need for Jean to send a whole company of knights for something so small.
The mitachurl roared, grabbing its axe and charging toward him. Kaeya rolled out of the way of the burst of flames, a shield of ice forming on his right side as the mitachurl’s axe swung down. There was an ear splitting crack as it shattered apart, but it had given him enough time to dodge away. As his eyes scanned the camp, he realized two more abyss mages had appeared, hydro and cryo aligned.
He cursed, seeing the one that matched his own element. Why did this have to be more difficult than it needed to be?
A bubble of water was lobed toward him and he ducked behind the pyro mage, watching the flaming shield sputter as it was extinguished. Before the creature could recover, he drove his blade through its body, diving away as the mitchurl swung back around with another attack.
Swiping its heel, Kaeya ducked around the monster, ice coating his blade as he lunged toward the hydro mage. It was frozen solid within its bubble and he threw the creature toward the mitachurl. It roared, slashing through the ice with its axe and cleaving the mage in two.
The temperature dropped around him as Kaeya drew on the full power of his Vision. Ice solidified into a glistening dagger slamming into the mitachurl one, two, three times before it finally collapsed.
As he fought off a hilchurl, his eyes scanned around him, searching for the last abyss mage. Something flashed on his right side and he swung his head around to see a sharp crystal of ice flying toward him.
Before he could react a wall of fire raced across the ground, melting the cryo in a second. A black shadow tore through the flames, a burning sword hissing as it sliced through the mage’s shield of ice and buried itself in its body. Black and red fire curled together, turning it to ashes.
The rest of the hilichurls ran and Kaeya found himself taking a step back as he looked up at the figure stepping toward him. The abyssal figure was over eight feet tall with a masculine physique, dark black armor covering skin that glowed hot with fire and flame. A dark helmet covered its-his face, only the red glow of his eyes visible as he watched him. A massive sword hung from his hand, the blade shattered half way down but no less deadly as flames wreathed the dark metal.
Kaeya swallowed, small in the might of such a creature. “Greetings, Knight of Khaenri’ah. Thank you for your assistance.” Though his native tongue had developed a foreign accent over the years, he had done his best to keep himself from getting too rusty. He held open his hands, showing that he was no threat. “Kin, let us speak together and be at peace.”
The Scourge Knight stared at him for a moment longer before the flames around them started to die. “I have no quarrel with you. Speak.” His voice rumbled, rough and harsh. The way he pronounced the words sounded closer to the dialect that hilchurls and abyss mages spoke. Kaeya supposed that’s what happened after centuries without anyone else to talk to.
He nudged the ashes of the mage, “You seemed to have a talent for taking care of monsters. I admire that, I really do...” Kaeya paused, looking up toward the knight. “However, I'm afraid not all my colleagues might agree. They don’t understand the nuance between a Khaenri’ahn and one of these creatures. But I don’t want that to get between us.”
“I’m aware of how I appear,” The Scourge Knight shifted back, but lingered at the edge of the camp. “I prefer to stay away from humans when I am hunting.”
How interesting. Not only was he lucid, but he was conscious enough to avoid the potential dangers of interacting with civilization. It was as he suspected then, somehow this Khaenri’ahn knight had found a way to avoid the erosion that had driven most of them to madness.
Tilting his head, he took a small step forward, trying to gauge the Scourge Knight’s reaction. Seeing that he didn’t flee nor grow defensive, Kaeya asked, “Perhaps we could come to an arrangement that would allow you to do what you do best, and avoid the Knights of Favonius trying to interfere.” The knight remained silent, glowing eyes watching him as he waited. “I can let you know what I hear of the Abyss Order, you take them out, and everyone is safer. It’s a win-win.”
“Fine.”
Wow. That was far easier than he’d expected. It seemed even some denizens of the Abyss could be reasoned with. If only people could be so easy to deal with... His eye lingered on the flaming sword, finding the way the flames curled around the blade all too familiar. The Scourge followed his gaze and, noticing the way he eyed the sword, extinguished the flames.
“Well, then... I look forward to working with you,” Kaeya said, with a smile. “Before I was working on your case, there was some Abyss Order activity near Dragon Spine...”
The knight gave a grunt and nod, hefting his sword up onto his shoulder and trudged off through the trees. Kaeya watched for a moment, making sure he wasn’t heading toward Springvale before finally letting out a sigh of relief. It seemed all his hard work hadn’t been for nothing. And Jean would be none the wiser, just the way he liked it.
He returned to Mondstadt, a small hop in his step. All he needed to do was write up a reasonable explanation regarding the Scourge Knight, hand it over to Jean, and then he was free to spend his evening in the Angel’s Share. If all went well with the Scourge Knight, he would probably have more time for the tavern in the future.
Crashing in his office, he sat back in his chair for a moment, looking over all the paper and pens sprawled across the desk. His eye landed on the pyro Vision, holding down a stack of reports. Today it was grey. He had long since gotten over the panic of seeing it drain of color without explanation. It would sometimes flicker back to a warm red but recently he had rarely seen it brighten.
Sometimes he wished he could shake that Vision like a ragdoll and beg its holder to just stop. Whatever he was doing was clearly not good for him. All he wanted was to know he was safe.
With a sigh, he focused back on the task at hand. This paperwork wasn’t going to do itself. He filled in the report, scribbling down something about making sure Scourge Knight would not be a future danger to the nation. Just as he gave a hasty signature of its validity, the office door opened.
Jean peered in, surprise across her face as she saw him, “Oh, you’re back! I was hoping I could talk to you-”
“I have my report right here,” Kaeya said, picking up the paper and walking around the desk toward her. “Thanks to Amber I was able to track down the Scourge Knight. Evidence shows him heading toward Dragonspine. I will continue to keep an eye on him, but it looks like we were all worried over nothing.”
She stopped, opening her mouth for a moment, “Oh, that’s, um, great. Thank you for your work, but that’s not why I’m here.”
Kaeya blinked, his momentum tumbling to a halt. “It’s... not?” He paused, before giving another smile, “Oh, if this is about the incident with the treasure hoarders the other week, I promise I followed standard Knights of Favonius protocol-”
“No, it’s not that.” Her face was serious and he found himself growing quiet as her mouth pursed for a moment and then spoke, “It’s Diluc.”
As if on instinct, he glanced back, checking to make sure that the Vision sitting there hadn’t turned clear, but it was still a lifeless grey. Turning back to Jean, he struggled to keep his voice level, “What about him?”
“He’s okay. Or at least... he looked fine,” she said, fumbling for a moment as she found the right words to explain.
“You saw him?” Kaeya's voice raised, shock running through him as he glanced around the room, as if expecting the redhead to jump out from behind his desk. “Where?”
“Springvale. While I was helping Amber scout the area, she said she saw a strange red haired man and I thought it couldn’t be- but it was. He was there, alive. Seemed to be fine, but...”
Springvale? That must have been last night- Diluc might have been there in town. Had he seen Kaeya- had he avoided him? “What was he doing? Did he say anything about-” he cut his question off, unsure if he wanted to know the answer
Jean pressed her lips into a firm line, her eyes shifting away. “Kaeya... he didn’t want to talk to me. I... don’t think he has any intention of coming back.”
His mouth hung open, taking the blow for a second, before a hot anger bubbled up inside him. After all this time, why would Diluc show up now? Was here to explain why he’d disappeared without a trace? Kaeya might not have cared, but he’d seen the worry and stress that had tormented Jean. The Knights had searched for any sign of him, only to find nothing.
Or was he here to reveal Kaeya’s secret to everyone?
Kaeya swallowed, quiet for a long moment. “Springvale... he must have spent the night in the inn. Someone must have seen him as he left- that red hair is striking enough...”
“Kaeya...”
He tilted his head to face her, “Tell me, did he seem like himself?”
She paused, biting her lip. A clear admission. “No, but-”
“What if something’s wrong?” Kaeya countered. “You know what he’s like; If he’s gotten himself caught up in something dangerous, the last thing he’ll do is ask for help. I bet he’s trying to push us away, thinking he can take care of it all on his own.”
His reasoning seemed to make Jean falter. She frowned, “I just don’t know... It’s been four years. He might have just... changed.”
Kaeya let out a long sigh, turning away. “Give me some time. I’ll find you some evidence.” His gaze fell on the grey vision. Diluc thought he could move on from the mess he’d left here, leaving everyone else behind, but Kaeya wasn’t going to let him get away so cleanly. One way or another, he would get to the bottom of what Diluc was doing.