The explosion caused at the site was massive, so much so that the Fatuus stationed at the heart saw it.
The commanding officer immediately rushed there with the rest of the soldiers.
The journey wasn't the easiest nor the shortest, the explosion had caused the surroundings bridges to collapse, so they had to use a inconvenient method to get there.
By the time they arrived, Vlimir was dead, his body burnt black, and Boris was knocked against a cliff, unconscious, bleeding out.
Half of the soldiers stayed there with a few researchers, while the commanding officer alongside the rest of the crew took Boris with them to the heart.
A hydro user managed to clean him off before one of the doctors inspected him.
It seemed that he had internal bleeding, a broken hand, three broken ribs, severe burns, a severe concussion, several deep cuts, and most of his organs were damaged. He also lost alot of blood.
It wasn't something an average healer could heal at the moment at this place.
Nonetheless, they couldn't afford to take him to their camp, so they had to make do.
A healer got to work and healed his wounds enough so that the bleeding would stop, using the resources they had, the healer dressed the wounds and covered Boris in plasters, but because of the Internal bleeding, the healer had to constantly stay with him, as he didn't have enough knowledge on how to stop it completely.
Regardless, the research continued, what they were discovering was far too important for them to abandon it for him
The heart continued to beat.
Slow. Thunderous. Steady.
Like the pulse of something long dead remembering how to dream.
The commanding officer stood silently, arms crossed, eyes fixed on the crimson glow that poured from the walls like veins. Even with everything that had happened — the creature, the explosion, the loss of Vlimir — they couldn't stop. They wouldn't.
He turned to the chief researcher, a stern woman named Dr. Kreslav. Her hands were covered in crystallized residue, her eyes glowing faintly from exposure to the shard's energy.
"This place…" she muttered. "It's more than just a corpse. It's an interface. A conduit. Whatever Durin was — it isn't gone. Not entirely."
"What about the shard?" the officer asked.
She pointed to a containment box where a smaller fragment pulsed violently, like it was trying to break free.
"It's reacting to him," she said, gesturing toward the unconscious Boris. "It was completely dormant until he got near it. Now, it's unstable."
"Why him?"
"I don't know yet," she admitted. "But if we had left him there, we might've lost the entire site."
The officer looked over to where Boris lay.
A makeshift cot had been set up near the edge of the inner cavern. A hydro user sat cross-legged beside him, gently manipulating orbs of water over Boris's body, drawing out internal blood while the healer worked to stabilize his core. Every few minutes, Boris would groan — a sound halfway between pain and nightmare.
The healer looked up and shook his head grimly. "He's alive, but... barely. He needs real treatment. This patchwork won't last long."
"But he still hasn't woken up?" the officer asked.
"No. His injuries are no joke, any other soldier would've died instantly, he probably won't wake up for a few days."
---
Inside Boris' Mind
The snow was falling again.
But it wasn't real snow — it was ash, drifting through an empty sky.
Boris stood alone on an endless expanse of scorched ice. The horizon was fractured. The stars above were red and shifting.
In front of him stood Vlimir.
But not whole.
Burnt. Hollow-eyed. His coat fluttering in a wind that didn't exist.
"You let me die," the figure rasped.
Boris stumbled back. "No. I— I tried—"
"You were weak," Vlimir said, voice warping into something wrong. "And now they own you."
Behind Vlimir, the abomination rose again — but this time, it was larger. Made entirely of crimson shards, stitched together with memories.
A voice echoed in the void:
"Wake up, Boris. It's not over."
He looked around — the voice was familiar. Warm. Female. One he hadn't heard in years.
"…Mother?" he whispered.
The world twisted. The creature roared.
---
In the real world.
Boris was still unconscious, his breathing and blood flow was now steady, and the researchers continued their work.
But, owing to what happened in the actual story, the Outlander, the Descender, the Traveler, arrived.
And of course, she decimated the Fatuus just like what happens in the game, the researchers fled, some soldiers were dead and some were unconscious.
Ofcourse the healer didn't have a chance to run, she was but a young girl, didn't have enough strength to carry around Boris and flee the scene.
Lumine spotted the healer outside the cave and started walking towards them.
The healer gritted her teeth, "Please- Please, he is in a critical condition! I can't let him die! He is just a young stupid boy who works with the wrong people! Take me but please help him! He will die soon without treatment!"
Paimon hovered closer to take a look, "Traveler! It's the jerk Boris!".
Lumine stopped her in tracks, "What?" And then hurried over to the healer and looked down at the unconscious Boris and then at the healer.
"What happened to him?" She asked in urgency.
"He got caught in a exploding after fighting some abyss monster- Please, you need to help! We must take him to get real treatment, there's only so much I can do." The healer said in a scared and hurried tone. She was barely 5-6 years older than Boris himself.
"Ok! Paimon, help the girl, I'll get the brat out of here." With that, she gently lifted up Boris using her obvious super strength and sprinted towards Mondstadt.