____________________
They were the same as I remembered them.
That soft beautiful face…
Those vibrant green eyes....
That gentle heartwarming smile…
They are as vibrant as the day I last saw them.
*****
For countless ages- by the dawn of spring - numerous birds from all across Liyue fly off the land and begin to travel northward. For generations they've followed the same path, trusting their instincts to guide them towards their sought-after nesting grounds.
And it is through this unchanging natural migration that the people of Liyue, for generations, used as basis for commemorating the passages of the seasons especially spring which heralded the arrival of the new year in the Liyuen Calendar.
And with its arrival, the people too began their own 'migration'.
A migration guided by divination. Revolving around the notion of seeking the most opportune path for new opportunities, hopes and aspirations, not only for themselves but most importantly for their own nation.
But unlike the birds that flew high up in the sky, the people rely not on their instincts but rather they seek guidance from the one who laid the very stone of their nation.
He who forged the very first contract.
He who gave them the right to rule themselves.
He who has guided them for more millennia.
He who had raised mountains and parted the valleys...
.....
So many titles they've given me that I seemed to have lost count of them all.
Thus every year, at the break of spring, all of Liyue gather at the very heart of the nation to witness the descent of their lord, their emperor, their god and to hear his divine decree for the upcoming year.
The Rite of Descension.
.....
For countless ages, I've done my duty. To this day, I continue to do so.
Guiding the people to a path that leads them not only to prosperity...but also towards safety.
This was the very first contract I've ever made.
And one of the very last promises I've ever kept...
My final promises to her.
....
...
But humans, as she once said, are not children, and no matter how much one wants to shield them from harm - from the truth - they will always grow up, they will always ask questions...and they will eventually make their own choices.
They have the right to do so, and it is a right that I've respected and honored ever since the very first foundational stone was laid in the banks of the harbor.
....
.....
They have the right to do so....
Humanity.
That's the first word I've learned when I was born/created.
For countless years since my birth in that realm, 'He' had always 'ingrained' to me and my kin the notion of 'love' towards humanity.
'He' showed us their potential. Their capacity to adapt, to learn, to create, and most importantly to love.
From above, I've seen them toil and flourish, observing them as they came out of the 'Ark' and began repopulating the world that 'He' and his Archangels had conquered and repurposed.
All for the sake of Humanity.
Soon, humankind began to flourish, forming small knit communities then villages and eventually kingdoms. 'He' then appointed several of my kin to serve as their leaders and envoys, all for the sake of guiding them towards the path that 'He' had envisioned.
This was how he showed his Love to them, for 'He' claimed to have truly loved them.
And yet, when some of them began to question his authority...
When some began to deviate from the laws he had laid for them...
When some began to seek the path that did not align with the order 'He' had made...
He responded back with cold reason and destruction.
So many had perished.
So many had been cast into the flames of his nails.
Yet when I asked 'Him' why? 'He' simply answered with the word...love.
'He' loves them so much that 'He' himself cannot afford some of them to stray away and jeopardize 'His' vision for humanity.
'He' loved them so much that 'He' would gladly 'purge' those who would threaten to tarnish that said vision.
'He' loved them so much that 'He' would use any means necessary to ensure that the rest of humankind wouldn't be blighted by the sins of the few.
That was the nature of 'His' 'Love'...'His' 'Reason'. The directive that he had made.
And we - his creations - followed.
.....
For a long time I believe in that reason.
I've seen the cycle continue: 'rebels' fall, nations rise and order reestablished. Peace and prosperity would then follow.
That was how I saw the order that 'He' had established.
That was how I saw the world.
.....
....
But more than 6 thousand years ago, my view on that order...on that world changed.
From the moment I met her, everything changed.
Naively I followed her, thinking that she was a human - the first human I've personally met. Yet over time, through our travels together around the different nations, I've slowly come to realize that the world and humankind as a whole was far more complex than I've initially thought.
She taught me a great many things about humanity, about the world and those beyond the firmament. Things that 'He' and my kind had never taught me.
Chief among them is the concept of 'choice'.
The choice to accept the path laid before you or to forge one for your own.
The choice to follow or to deviate.
The choice to live as one wishes.
She also called it 'Free Will'...and 'Freedom'.
And to her, this is the most fundamental right that any living person - whether they be human or divine - should possess.
She called the Love that our Ruler had imposed on us as a 'curse' disguised as a blessing - an absolute order that forced individuals to follow 'His' fabricated path and reason.
At first I was aghast with her views, especially towards the very heaven's concept of absolute reason. In my tampered mind, her words were nothing but the venom but through her relentless insistence...and through her own genuine compassion towards me and the people we've met along our journey...
I started to see the cracks within 'His' plans.
The flaws in 'His' being.
'Morax is that one god who had descended from above and naively followed the orders of Celestia. 'Zhongli' on the other hand is that one companion that I have who had genuinely opened up his heart and embraced the beauty of this world. He is my dependable Travel companion. My Best friend!'
Zhongli. She had bestowed upon me that name.
A name that represented the breakage of the shackles that were bonded to me.
A name that symbolizes the dissolution of the curse of false love that was imposed upon me since my creation.
A name that she had forever sketched in her own heart.
It was at that moment of finest clarity that I made my most solemn choice - my most solemn vow - unknown to all, even to her.
A choice...to genuinely love her with all my heart and with all my soul.
I began to love her, from the moment she opened my eyes and heart to the truth.
Yet, I kept those feelings hidden away, for with that love I also came to realize the notion of fear.
The fear of being denied, of being cast aside by the very person of whom I've come to love the most in this world.
.....
But that didn't stop me from showing her how much I cared.
Thus, throughout our journey together I made sure to always stay by her side, protecting her from any harm and ensuring her safety and wellbeing.
Lang-Gan, Delphi Phyto, Ys, Sal Vindagnyr, Arcadia, Hyperborea - we visited them all along with so many other places, each one flourishing with its own unique culture and people. A reflection of the boundless diversity of humankind.
We've seen wonders, battled monsters and gone through so many adventures and misadventures together that some people began to call us by the moniker 'the Traveler and her Companion'.
Heh, what a fitting title. I don't mind at all that I was the one designated with the vague title of 'companion' as long as I stayed by her side, I'm content.
Years went by as if they were mere months and soon the wanderlust that had initially driven us to journey all across the world began to subside.
We've seen so much, experienced so many things and soon she began to realize that it's time to settle down and build our own home.
The decision happened so abruptly, just right after we found an abandoned egg in the middle of the forest just south of Sal Vindagnyr.
It was the first time I saw her act so...motherly. She'd cradle that egg all day, shrinking it to a more manageable size with the use of her spells.
She'd sing songs to it, hum lullabies and would occasionally poke it with her finger as if playing with the slumbering creature within.
The pace of our travel slowed down considerably as more of her focus and attention now shifted towards the egg, and to be honest, I didn't mind.
I found her maternal gestures and actions to be...endearing and quite beautiful.
Then one day, while we were sitting down at a riverside, we saw a human couple and their 3 young children playing at the shallow parts of the river.
Their joyful laughter and warm smiles of affection had somewhat touched her heart, and I couldn't help but notice the profound look of yearning in Ria's eyes. Her hold on the egg tightened and I could feel her gaze shifting between the family and the egg she was cradling.
As I sat there holding my fishing rod, my mind began to wander, imagining a different life...
...a life similar to those mortals.
'How wonderful would that be.'
Later that night, in the midst of the campfire, she finally told me about her decision. A decision that would have lasting consequences for years to come.
She wanted to settle down, to find a land where we could start a new life. She wanted to re-experience the life of an ordinary person once more.
She wanted to re-live a simple life. The same life that was snatched away from her so many years ago back in her own world.
The prophesied Hero.
The Bane of the Gods.
The 'Magician'.
The Supreme Sovereign.
The Prime of the Fae
She no longer wanted to bear those titles.
She just wanted to be herself. To be the person she truly wanted to be.
She just wanted to be Altria.
And so I honored her decision, going as far as to even solemnly vow to her that night that I will forever stay by her side....
…..
She just laughed at me and told me to go find a wife.
Oh Ria. As long as I'm with you I care not for another, for in my eyes you are the only one that matters.
Soon we travelled southwards, back to the place where she first arrived here in Teyvat. There we found a natural harbor facing the vast eastern sea with a large mountain just a few miles inland.
It was a perfect spot.
I immediately began to work. Lifting the earth and rock to form a seawall, and carving out an estate from the hill facing the ocean.
I was careful, meticulous even, for in my mind I was not building a temporary shelter, no, I was building a home...for me, for her and for our unborn egg - our child - the one we decided to call as Alatus.
It took me well over a day to finish but soon we have our home. Our own hidden paradise away from the rest of the world. The only thing that was left is for our dear Alatus to hatch.
The days that followed were peaceful. When I'm not out hunting boars and deers, I would emulate Ria's affectionate gesture of cradling and talking to Alatus. He then would respond by wiggling inside as if he could hear me!
I love my partner and I love our son!
Those days were the most blissful of my entire existence!
And soon something unexpected happened.
While I was scouting the nearby forest, I came across a group of... refugees, people who fled or were exiled from their home.
Some came from the petty kingdoms that surrounded Arcadia from the north. Others from the west, from villages destroyed by monsters.
Upon seeing my person, they immediately went down to their knees and wept.
Hunger, fear, and desperation...the look in their eyes was one of pure despondence.
At that moment, I suddenly found Ria standing by my side. She too had sensed the presence of people near our home and came out to investigate.
The people, ragged and thin from starvation, were on their knees before us, kowtowing…begging for our help. Some, namely the ones with children in the group, even went further and bowed themselves in prostration.
"Please great lords, have mercy upon us!"
"My children are starving! Please have pity!"
"We have nowhere else to go!"
A wave of emotions surged through me as I heard their cries. I was no longer the naive indoctrinated puppet who saw the suffering of humanity as a deviation to the laws set forth by 'Him' who sat upon the throne of heaven.
No, I'm now more than that.
I looked to my side and saw the woman that I love with an expression of profound sympathy as she gently knelt in front of the poor people, offering her hand and gently lifting one of the weeping mothers up.
"We will take them. We will take all of them!" She cried to me, tears of sorrow were streaming down her face as she saw the wretched state of the people before her.
I turned to them and in turn offered them the very first contract that still holds to this day.
"Follow us. We will grant you a home and a sanctuary. But in exchange you must tend the land and work together as one. You will become our people, and in turn, we will become your protectors."
...
Thus the very first contract was made and soon our home became the center of a small fishing settlement we later named Liyue.
As the years passed, our people, our home and our family continued to grow and flourish. More and more people came seeking refuge, seeking shelter and we welcomed them all with open arms.
Because of the influx of refugees, our village soon grew and became a town.
A simple harbor was then built to accommodate the ever growing number of fishermen that were going out to the sea each day bringing the various bounty that kept our town growing.
Due to her background as a ruler, the very first laws of Liyue were penned down by Ria herself, and a council consisting of the foremost men and women from the different families and occupations was formed to help govern the land. These systems would later serve as the foundation of Liyue's Qixing and governance that continued to exist until this day.
For my part, I taught the people the ways of the earth. I taught them how to mine the nearby hills, what minerals to look for, and what uses they have. Metalwork and mining prospered under my guidance and soon trade to neighboring towns particularly Lang-Gan began to emerge.
Together, the two of us led our people towards prosperity and abundance, and we came to realize that we had inadvertently sown the seeds of a civilization....a nation.
Every night since then, we would talk about the possibilities of what our little home will one day become.
Will it be as sophisticated as Arcadia?
Will it be as religious as that of Lang-Gan?
Will it be as glorious as Hyperborea?
So many possibilities yet through it all I had not forgotten what Ria truly wanted.
She had already experienced a lifetime of rule lasting for centuries, and now, after such a long journey, she only wanted to live a simple life.
Driven by that commitment, I urged her to remember what she truly wanted in life. That led us to utter a solemn vow to guide our people yet to promise ourselves that when the time comes when they can already stand on their own, we would step down and let them govern themselves.
To give them their freedom, as well as ours.
Ria smiled at me that night after I said that, and before I realized it she pulled me into an embrace, a very deep and warm embrace.
It was perfect.
A moment that I wish would last for an eternity.
The only thing that was missing was for our child to hatch, and everything would have been complete.
I would later voice my concern for our still unborn child, yet Ria assured me that the little one just needed a little more time, and I naively agreed with her.
.....
Unfortunately, time wasn't on our side, and just a few seasons after that memorable night, the whole world was plunged once more into a period of unfathomable discord.
The Primeval King [Nibelung] who once ruled this world, came back from his journey across the sea of stars, and had brought with him a corruption the likes of which the world has never seen.
Now stained by something so dark, the once benevolent ruler had returned to reclaim what he considered to be rightfully his.
Soon, the three moons that guarded the skies above Teyvat were turned into weapons, their respective deities cast down into the unknown.
The remaining sovereigns and their kin who survived the 40 year long war ages ago, emerged from their hiding. They answered the call of their now returned ruler and began to wage war on the established order once more.
Everything was in turmoil and to make matters worse, the rulers of the Golden City in the far North - She who is the first of the angelic race, and her Betrothed...people of whom we had befriended during our journey - began to raise the flag of rebellion against the heavens.
The world were thrown into utter chaos, and the established order answered in kind.
'He' who sat upon the throne of Celestia rallied his forces. Reason, Life, Death, Time and Space - the fundamental laws that govern the world marched forth with their legions to meet up and do battle with the invaders and rebels.
That was 'His' terrible decree against those who threaten 'His' order.
And so the Funerary Year had begun.
The very sky was torn open, exposing the world to the horrors lurking in the stars.
Armies clashed against another painting the once verdant land in crimson blood and iron.
Dragonkind, oppressed for millennia, exacted their vengeance against gods and humanity, slaughtering and eating some of them. The tragedy was particularly horrific in Natlantea wherein the dragons destroyed the Leylines and devoured the angels who protected it, causing the humans living there to regress into barbarism.
The cosmic filth [the Abyss] from afar brought by the Dark Dragon King, began to spread across the land, consuming and corrupting everything in its path.
In response, 'He' cast down several Nails of Retribution from above, decimating several regions and cities!
The first to fall were Sal Vindagnyr and Tys...
Delphi Pytho and Lang-Gan soon followed...
Aracadia and its petty kingdoms were swept away...
And after so many had fallen, and countless people dead, the Heavens turned its gaze towards Hyperborea and the ones who led them.
Hubris and desperation would later cause that very realm to disappear in the face of this world, and the very land where it once stood would be covered by an unending storm of ice and snow.
No place in this world was safe.
From the smallest village to the most bustling city, all will eventually serve as fuel to the raging fires of war.
Liyue only survived due to our intervention, with Ria casting an invisibility barrier around our small town and sending everyone to a deep slumber in order to protect them from the ravages of war.
We did not hide.
We tried to save as many as we could, while stymieing the advance of the Abyss across our region.
Yet the wound brought by the war to the planet itself was too much for Teyvat to bear and in less than a year since the onset of the war, the leylines began to falter and the very fabric of the planet began to tear apart....
The world was dying.
...
It was at that moment that Ria decided to personally intervene.
Without even informing me, she went away, ascending to Celestia and confronted the One who sat upon the throne.
I have no knowledge of the discourse the two had with one another.
Did a battle occur between them?
Or did a negotiation took place?
I do not know.
But what I do know is that after a few days, she returned and we were reunited at the very fields we had first met.
Her flowers - the Glaze Lilies - were still blooming strong after so many years. I saw her standing near the edge of that meadow and I ran towards her. Immediately embracing her as I let out a sigh of relief, extremely at ease to see that she was unharmed.
...
Yet little did I know...
That would be the last moment we would both share an embrace...
The last lingering warmth I would feel from the only woman I ever love.
When I pulled away from our embrace, I saw something in her expression that made me dread.
No words can best describe what I saw that night. She appeared to have the face of someone who had bitterly accepted a dreadful task...
We sat down in that flower field that night, leaning to one another, heads resting next to each other.
She told me...things.
Secrets that weren't meant to be uttered.
She never disclosed what happened back in Celestia....
But she did told me about the consequences...
And after the last words of her decision had left her mouth...
My whole world seemingly collapsed.
.....
I...I...I wept.
I wept so bitterly.
I wept for the first time in my life.
I wept not for myself nor for the world.
For I wept for the only woman I've ever loved.
I could not accept it.
I was nearly inconsolable during those moments as she too silently cried alongside me. We couldn't bring ourselves to embrace one another... unable to fully comprehend the act...the sacrifice that was about to come.
I then screamed at her, telling her...
Begging her to go....to flee this world!
To go away!
To save herself!
Yet she refused for the decision was already sealed - an unbreakable vow made between two beings whose will exceeds that of the world itself.
In the midst of our tears, we made three promises to another. She insisted that they were contracts....I for one could never bring myself to call them that.
First, she made me promise to continue to look after our people once she's gone. The spell that she had cast upon our home and people would continue to hold on for many more years....decades or centuries even. She made me promise to safe guard Liyue until her spell finally breaks and the people reawakened.
They will need someone to guide them when that time comes and to reassure them that.....nothing was amiss.
Second, she made me promise to take care of our unborn child, Alatus.
Tears were streaming down her eyes as she uttered those words, telling me how she deeply regrets not being able to see our child hatch.
She made me promise to raise him to be a just and noble person...and...and...
If ever the time comes that Alatus will inquire about her, I am to tell him how she lived her life to the fullest..
But never to ever mention her name.
For the price that she was about to pay would entail the complete erasure of her existence from the very memories of this world and everyone who lives within it.
She will be forgotten by the world.
And she doesn't want anyone who is near and dear to her suffer any consequences for remembering her...consequences that 'He' might impose.
Yet, I refused! CONSEQUENCES BE DAMNED!
I grabbed her by the arms at that moment and told her that no matter what happens , even if the world forgets...I will always remember her!
I will find a way, and not even 'He' will stop me from doing so!
That was the third promise...my promise.
And I made sure of it.
For as she prepared to fulfill her end of the bargain, I used everything that I've learned from Celestia and from her teachings to transfer all of my memories till that point unto a single pendant that I hid in my pocket.
A pendant that I crafted from the very first cor lapis bearing the still image of the two of us during our travels...
It was the very first gift I gave her. Given to her in the very first year of our travels.
She had left it in our home when she disappeared to Celestia and I made sure to keep it safe.
.....
As she unleashed her full power that night, I could feel my memories of her slowly fading away. I tried to hold on to them as I continued to look at her.
Powerful winds ripped off the surrounding forests. Gales created by the swirling vortex of golden fire that had begun to encapsulate her very form.
I could feel the very fabric of space and time bending around her as I continued my desperate attempt to firmly hold on, to remain standing from where I stood.
Then as the golden flames were about to reach their peak, I saw her face for one last time...
I saw those verdant gentle eyes and that tender smile...
I saw the face of the woman I love looking at me for one last time.
She opened her mouth and uttered a single sentence. Her final words.
"Coinnicheamaid a-rithist latha nuair a bhios an saoghal mu dheireadh aig sìth agus duilleagan na craoibhe a' crathadh anns a' ghaoith gus fàilte a chuir air an earrach."
They were spoken in a tongue different from the language she had taught me, the common tongue of her Homeland, yet they sounded so familiar...like a dialect of sorts.
I never knew what they meant, but I made sure to remember them, etching them onto the pendant that I now held in my hand.
Then finally when all was said and done, the luminescent vortex of fire that she had become, burst into a large golden pillar of light that shot straight towards the sky!
Its width expanded for miles as it tore through the firmament. Innumerable filaments then began to shoot outwards from its sides flying towards all the cardinal directions: north, south, east and west.
The entire night sky of Teyvat was suddenly illuminated by what I can only describe as a magnificent golden tree made of pure light!
And the whole world, tethering in the brink of collapse, suddenly began to stabilize.
The several rifts in the land, torn upon by the machinations of war began to close, sewn shut by many of the golden luminescent filaments that began raining down all across Teyvat.
Earthquakes subsided.
Forest fires were snuffed out.
Storms and gales calmed down.
The very fabric of the world began to mend and the advance of the Abyss was pushed back, and eventually halted.
Teyvat was saved.
She had saved them all.
Yet as the final embers of her sacrifice shot out past the firmament and vanished into the void, so too did my memories faded.
...
...
I remember myself kneeling at the edge of the Glaze Lily fields, looking towards a large scorched patch of land that stretches for miles up north....
And I remember the feeling of not knowing why I was there....
There was...there was a sense of profound emptiness...
I tried to recall yet I could not...
I remember wandering around the Glaze Lily fields for hours, each step that I took somewhat aggravating that unexplainable sense of longing within me!
I couldn't bear it!
Have I forgotten something important?!
Have I forgotten someone important?!
As my frustrations neared its breaking point, I suddenly felt the sensation of something round and solid gripped inside of my right fist.
My loss of sense had temporarily clouded my mind that I never realized that I was holding onto something this whole time.
I opened my hand and I saw a pendant.
A pendant made from Cor Lapis.
It then glowed, and soon every single Glaze Lily in that field also began to glow, then my whole world was bathed in complete whiteness.
....
At that moment, in my mind, I saw a face.
I saw her face, and I remembered everything.
It felt like hours had just passed by when in reality only a fraction of a second had passed.
I blinked and found myself back in the middle of the field, now filled with blooming Glaze Lilies...
And stared into that Pendant before my eyes unleashed a torrent of tears, as I cried for another time that night.
I could not remember how long I shed my tears.
I cried for her death.
I cried for the unfortunate event that had happened.
But most damaging of all, I cried for the fact that I had almost forgotten her!
...
I spent the next few hours inconsolable in that field, right until the sun rose from the eastern horizon.
After spurring myself from my grief, I decided to go back home to fulfill the promises I made to her.
Our home still stands.
Our people were still there.
And our child was waiting for me.
____________________
I thought it was all over but unfortunately, Fate seems to have a cruel way of testing one's conviction.
For at the very moment I neared the bounded field she had casted, I noticed something was amiss.
I noticed a small gap near its edge, small enough for a grown man to slip through.
Terror had once more overtaken my very being.
The barrier that had been protecting our home for the better part of the war had been breeched!
Someone had entered!
Thus I rushed in through the gap and ran past through the streets, past through the homes and the slumbering form of my people.
My destination was our estate and my mind kept screaming at me to hurry!
"ALATUS!" I remember screaming at that point not even bothering to modulate my voice.
I soon arrived and much to my horror, the entire house was in disarray.
Furnitures were thrown across the rooms. Broken pieces of clay jars and pottery scattered across the floor.
Someone had deliberately broken into our home.
I rushed towards the last room at the end of the hallway.
Towards the nursery.
And to my false relief, the entire room was mostly untouched...
Except for one object.
The Egg.
The egg that contained our unborn child!
It was gone!
I screamed in utter despair as I flipped every single object inside our home, hoping...praying that maybe our child was just placed somewhere else!
But no!
The Egg was gone!
What soon followed took me years to complete.
I left my home, and began to search ceaselessly for my child all across the ruined landscape of Teyvat.
I searched every ruin, every mountain, every forest and every cave.
I never slept.
I never ate.
The war was already over yet I continued my search!
I never once faltered in all those years of wandering.
For the sake of my promise to her.
For the sake of her final wish.
For our child.
I endured....
That was until I came across a scorched ruined fort hidden amongst the towering cliffs of the western shores.
.....
What I saw inside left me so utterly devastated that it finally broke me.
Burnt remains of what look to be pieces of ceramics yet upon closer inspection they were in fact egg shells.
Teal colored egg shells....
.....
My child's egg shell devoided of any signs of life...
...
.....
I barely remembered what transpired next other than my mind going completely blank...
And the next thing I knew I was already kneeling in the middle of a newly carved out gorge near the coast that stretched for miles inland...
My divine spear, the Vortex Vanquisher, carelessly laid out before me glowing.
I can only assume that I lost myself during that moment.
.....
I retreated from the world soon after, already utterly embittered and broken.
I...
I didn't care anymore...
'He' along with the rest of his minions can go straight to the deepest pits of the abyss for all I care!
Their damn hubris...
Their damn war...
HAD TAKEN EVERYTHING FROM ME!
If....if....IF ONLY I WAS STRONG ENOUGH!
IF ONLY I HAD THE POWER TO END THE WAR MYSELF!
THEN SHE...
THEN SHE AND OUR CHILD WOULD STILL BE ALIVE!
....
I wandered aimlessly across the land until as fate would have it I stumbled back into the very first place where she and I had met all those years ago...
Back into the Sea of Glaze Lilies.
Anyone who might stumble upon that place might regard it as natural aberration, a lone garden in the middle of a desolated grassland.
But for me however, it is one of the last few remaining places in this entire world that bears witness to her existence.
....
Celestia might one day see this place as an affront to their established norm and might soon even try to erase it...
I will not give them that satisfaction!
Hence, using my very own authority, I created a subliminal space cut out from the rest of the world using the folded dimensional quadrant shift technology of my former home - a place where not even those damned gods in Celestia could easily interfere or see.
A realm that is cut off from the rest of Teyvat.
I then transferred what is left of her priceless field into my created domain and from there I tried to recreate the moment when we first met.
I set the flow of time inside that realm to be constantly at night then I filled its sky with moving replicas of the stars to make sure that the flowers will forever bloom.
Afterwards, I set out to expand the field by trying to recreate her flowers, yet my creations were but mere imitations compared to those that she had cultivated. Nevertheless, they would do.
And after several days of toil, I was nearly finished. I went back to the very center of the field and created a small slab of rock placed on top of a small mound.
On it I craved down the words she shared with me during her final night as we comforted one another before she ultimately departed.
Mae fy nyfodiad i'r byd hwn yn ymadawiad mewn gwirionedd a dim ond dychweliad yw hynny, yr ydym yn ei alw'n ymadawiad.
(My arrival in this world is really a departure and that, which we call departure, is only a return.)
…
Y rheswm pam ei fod mor brifo gwahanu yw oherwydd bod ein heneidiau wedi'u cysylltu.
(The reason it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected.)
…
O, mor lwcus ydw i i gael rhywun fel chi sy'n gwneud ffarwelio mor anodd.
(Oh, how lucky I am to have someone like you that makes saying goodbye so hard.)
…
Felly os gwelwch yn dda, gadewch i ni'r ddau wenu ar y diwedd oherwydd ni waeth ble byddaf yn mynd, byddaf bob amser yma gyda chi.
(So please, let us both smile at the end for no matter where I'll go, I will always be right here with you.)
Finally, after all was said and done, I decided to simply remain inside of that domain, secluded from the rest of the world.
____________________
For countless years - centuries even - I stayed amidst the field of Glaze Lilies, either sleeping or simply staring at the starlit sky and sea of otherworldly flowers, numbly reminiscing about the past.
For me, there was nothing left but grief and regret.
My heart and soul were already shattered and I no longer had any purpose.
...
That was until, out of nowhere, I suddenly remembered my promises to her...
....
What promises? AS IF KEEPING THEM WOULD BRING THEM BACK?!
....
Yet, the more I tried to deny them...
The more I tried to think about them...
The more I realized that perhaps...
.....
That perhaps I too might have gone too far, and in the process of wallowing within the pool of grief and despair that I had created...
I had somewhat failed her.
...
...I had failed her.
I...I failed to uphold the final wishes she had made.
...
At that moment, after years of wasting away inside of that domain, I felt that I had dishonored her memory...her sacrifice.
I've lost her.
I've lost our child.
What type of god....what kind of person have I become?!
Yet, shrouded behind the crushing realization, the thought of our people still remained.
...
Our people, they were still slumbering.
I promised her that I would watch over them, yet I simply left them behind!
I've already lost her and our child, I could not also lose them!
And so, after centuries of self-imposed exile, I finally stepped outside the confines of my self-made domain.
...The world had already changed, still scared from the war even after all those years.
Liyue was still intact and so we're our people, quietly sleeping until her spell wore off. But the world that surrounded them was at that point far worse compared to the one they knew before their slumber.
Malevolent gods and monsters now prowl the land and sea taking advantage of the ruination brought about by the Funerary Year.
Warring tribes and savages scour the land looking to expand their power and take whatever loot they can find.
The world that I once knew was all but gone, replaced by the dissident brought about by the chaos of the war!
Thus, I've decided to protect my home and my people till time that they would once again open their eyes to the world.
To shield them from harm, I raised a large towering mountain just north of Liyue - a mountain that would later be known as Mt. Tianheng.
I then set out to eradicate the gods and monsters that may pose a threat to my people's safety starting with those who infest the waters of the western sea.
For the next few months I've done nothing but purge each and every abomination that I could find, until I drew the eerie of their chief, Baqui. I battled that colossal beast for three straight days and three nights and although I admit that his strength was impressive, he ultimately fell to my might.
Upon his death, and to add further defense against any possible threats, I used my authority over the earth and began to drain a large portion of the western sea, funneling large volumes of water into underground caverns thus further expanding my territory northwest of Mt. Tianheng. Once dried, I raised hundreds of towering karst pillars upon the once sea floor creating a natural labyrinth to further deter any intruders.
This newly dried area became what is now known today as the Jueyun Karst.
Soon my actions were noticed by hundreds of mortals whose ancestors had survived the war. They attributed my actions as the response of Celestia to their prayers.
Rubbish.
Celestia had no part in it! The only connection left between me and that blasted court is the name they had bestowed upon me, Morax.
They may address me as such, but I am no longer the same individual they once knew, for I am now Zhongli - the person who had walked beside her!
I am the god who above all in this world, had loved her!
Nevertheless, these Celestia- worshiping mortals still came in droves seeking my protection. I initially wanted to refuse....
But after seeing their sorry and miserable state, it reminded me of my own slumbering people when they first approached our home centuries ago.
Thus I took them in.
I'm sure she would have wanted me to do so if she were ever here.
I took them to the northern side of Mt. Tianheng and have them settle there, teaching them how to mine the mountain and live off the land. That settlement, the second one I established, was named Shanhui Fort and it too soon became a prosperous mining town.
While my newest people prosper, I began to train myself in order to become stronger.
During our travels, Ria had taught me a skill which she had learned during one of her many off world journeys. She called it a disciplined process of spiritual, mental, and physical self-improvement named 'Xiushen' or 'Self-Cultivation'.
A powerful skill that she claims can turn a fledgling mortal into a god, and is practiced by the inhabitants of a world named Dānmei. A far distant world where - according to her own words - the culture and asthetics were distinctly 'chinese', the people vigilantly practicing martial arts from dawn to dusk and there's a prevalent BL-centric relationship epidemic amongst the ruling higher ups.
...
...
I honestly have no idea what chinese and BL even mean, especially that she appeared somewhat flustered and embarrassed every time she tried to explain those words to me.
Nevertheless, the process itself proved to be effective, as it slowly allowed me to harness the present elemental energy from the land itself (Qi) and absorb it to my own body thus allowing me to increase my own innate strength and power!
.....
Power that I might need if there would ever come a time that I might have to fight that Winged Tyrant in the Heavens.
.....
Days turned to months and months turned into years, and as I continued to refine my self-cultivation high up in the mountains, I had somewhat caught the attention of several semi-sentient and non- sentient beasts that roamed the land.
At first, most of them simply observed me from afar, drawn by the abundance of elemental energy that now surrounded my body. But as time went on, a few bolder ones started approaching, not with hostility, but with what I could only describe as curiosity. They were creatures of the wild, yet they seemed to recognize a power that was not entirely of this world.
Cranes, Deers, Boars, Bears, Qilin and even some fish started to linger near my place of meditation. They would - in their own animalistic way - try to mimic my movements, my breathing. The cranes would stand on one leg for hours, trying to match my stillness. The bears would attempt to copy my stances, albeit clumsily. Even the fishes in the nearby streams would dart about in patterns that mirrored the flow of energy through my body.
It was...endearing, and at first I didn't pay no mind to them…
That was until they started speaking of course.
"Master...Master...teach...teach..." A crane with jade-like feathers was the first to have spoken.
"Master...Master...us...we...want...to...be...strong..." A small bear made of living rocks and fire grunted, its beady eyes staring at me with an intensity that was almost human.
It appears that my self-cultivation had somehow affected them. They had inadvertently begun their own path to ascension.
I then became their Master, and they in turn became my followers and disciples.
Thus were the origins of the 'Adeptal Arts' (Self-cultivation) and of the illuminated beings who practice them - the Adepti.
____________________
Years went by without notice, and as my dominion and followers grew so too did my wisdom and strength.
I became feared by the many gods who dwell outside of my territory - gods who saw my power as a threat and sought to challenge me for my throne.
Gods who were still shackled by the curse imposed on them by 'Him'. Gods who love humanity in their own sick and twisted way.
Utterly Foolish.
They came, one after another, thinking that their punitive might were enough to overcome me. But in the end, the result was always the same.
All of them eventually succumbed to my spear and the earth itself!
Some even went so far as to capture some of my disciples and even tempt them with promises of riches and godhood.
Some did succeed and left my abode yet those who strayed away from my guidance soon found themselves either subjugated or worse...dead. Their knowledge and power consumed by their captors.
I mourned for them and had even attempted to strike back, yet the fear of leaving my territory and my people unguarded halted my advance. For all my strength, I still could not bear the thought of another loss.
____________________
Another century had passed by and a goddess from up north came into my realm. She brought along her people and wishes to settle within my domain. In exchange, she swore loyalty to my realm and its inhabitants, and even offered up her knowledge on mechanics for the betterment of the realm.
Her name was Haagentus.
The goddess of dust.
Though history would remember her as Guizhong.
With her help, Mt. Tianheng and Shanhui Fort prospered even further. She befriended many of the adepti and soon we taught her the secrets of our mystical arts.
She became a trustworthy friend and partner, and her advice and suggestions had even helped me further improve the governance of my domain. And to be quite honest she kinda reminded me of Ria....
.....
I wasn't blind to her subtle advances.
The way she would stick close to me...
The way she would give me gifts.
They were subtle yet glaring gestures of affections.
Yet, even in those times, I couldn't accept her the way she wanted me to…
For even until that point in time, my heart still belongs to only one woman.
...
Till the very end, I will always love Ria and Ria alone.
Still, I regarded Guizhong as a close friend and a most valued ally, and it was through our friendship that the realm under Mt. Tianheng prospered.
Everything was peaceful and flourishing.
Then after a few short years later, I unexpectedly came across someone who I thought I had already lost.
____________________
Years after Guizhong had arrived, I decided to embark on another journey. After spending centuries being mostly confined inside my realm, I decided to travel once more in order to see what has become of the world. With Guizhong and the Adepti guarding my realm, I could now leave Mt. Tianheng without fearing an inevitable attack from the other gods who still wish to claim my territory for themselves.
I bid my friends farewell promising them that I will return in a year's time and went on with my journey.
.....
It wasn't the same without Ria by my side, but still I was able to see what has become with the rest of the continent.
West of Mt. Tianheng in what was once the prosperous state of Lang-Gan, was now turned into an enormous crater stretching for miles in every direction. Deep within it, I can still sense the lingering presence of the abyssal filth and the power of the divine nail that was cast down in order to subdue it.
Even farther westward, I was surprised to see that an expansive forest had covered the eastern portion of the once desolated desert. It has been more than a thousand years since I last saw that land bathed by such lush forestry, not since the time of the Dendro Dragon. I've heard from the locals that such a miracle was made possible by the so-called Lord of Verdure, one of the three god kings that ruled this land along with the still present desert found at its western border.
Far north of Mt. Tianheng, Sal Vindagnyr had become a frozen domain. Its once green landscape and proud architectures now laid buried underneath meters of ice and snow.
Even further northward, Arcadia and its petty kingdoms had become nothing more than a tundra of frost and wind. They say that a prideful god who controls the wind had built a fortified dwelling place somewhere within its center, while a feral bestial god prowls the forest just south of it. The two were apparently locked in near constant battle for dominion over those lands, hence I did not venture any further, not wanting to be entangled in their conflict.
Still, at the frozen poles of the world, a place I haven't yet ventured, I've heard rumors of a newly born race. A race is of beings so human -like yet at the same time so unlike.
From what I've heard, they call themselves theSnowlandFae, inheritors of the golden city of Hyperborea.
...
Fae, huh?
Why would they call themselves that?
There's only one Fae that I dearly know of, yet they...
No...
It couldn't be...
'They' promised the two of us that they will only use her 'gift' and 'blood' for the betterment of the land and people....
Were...were we too naive at that time, to trust 'her' and Anacharsis?
Surely, all the gifts that she had shared with those two individuals would have certainly been destroyed during the war...
Right?
Regardless, many months had already passed by since I began this lonesome quest and I can already tell that the world had indeed changed, yet not for the better.
My kin who were once revered as the envoys and magistrates that guard the realms of man had mostly been eradicated, their power and wisdom forcibly taken from them turning them into ethereal husks that congregate around artifacts and treasures of value...
Even after all this time, they still held firm to the original directive issued to them.
Now, numerous so-called gods rule in their stead.
Like ravenous vultures, a lot of them preyed upon the survivors of the war, presenting themselves as messianic saviors sent by the heavens themselves. Each had their own agendas in mind and the 'love for humanity' that had been imposed upon them had only further twisted their outlook in life. Some would try to rebuild lost kingdoms and rule as divine kings in order to manifest in the 'love' that was directed to them. A few others however would even go as far as to commit wicked deeds in the name of that said 'love', devouring and even altering the very people they've sworn to protect.
.....
I hated it. And I wished I could end it.
But I knew that I was still powerless at that time.
Powerless to act against him even at his weakened state.
Powerless to even contend against one of 'His' archangels.
The repercussions for another rebellion would be severe and I wished not for my people to suffer the same fate as those who came before them.
.....
Yet I would soon discover that it was one of those damnable gods that was the culprit of my child's unfortunate disappearance!
It happened so unexpectedly, as if it was all planned out by fate itself.
More than a year had already passed since I started my journey and at that time I was already making my way back south to Mt. Tianheng when I stumble across an obscure fiefdom near the High Sea.
I was curious at first since I've observed that the people living within that area appeared well off compared to the other settlements around the region, however as I tread deeper into the said fiefdom I was immediately set upon by a group of warriors - mortal warriors wearing jagged jade armor.
.....
I could have easily dealt with that lot. With a simple flick of my finger, those humans would have been reduced to dust.
However, what caught my attention was how this group of mortals were using a sort of debased version of the adeptal arts which I had taught to the adepti!
They were a clumsy bunch. Waiving their hands for more than a minute as they openly recited spells that forcibly draw out energy from the surrounding leylines. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that some of them experience some degree of pain whenever they try to use Qi to conjure up their spells and weapons.
Wanting to know how they came to possess such crude practice of the mystical arts, I allowed myself to be subdued by those men. Tying me up in chains, they placed me inside a wheeled cage and carted me deeper into the mountains.
It doesn't take one to be a scholar to know that these individuals had prior knowledge of my identity. And this fact alone further fueled my suspicion as to the identity of the one who is controlling them.
Was it someone I know?
A rival maybe? One of those gods who tried to attack my realm in order to plunder its secrets?
Soon, I found myself dragged into a throne room of sorts lavishly adorned with jade trinkets. At the very end of the room sitting at a sculpted throne placed on top of an elevated dias was a woman with gleaming predatory look with brown hair styled in ethereal high loops and decorated with intricate symbolic ornaments. She sat crossed leg upon her throne and showed a triumphant smirk as one of her warriors grabbed my head and forced me to look upon her.
"Finally, the revered Tian Xing (Heaven's Star) brought low upon my halls. Oh how long have I waited for this moment to arrive, my dear Morax."
.....
I just stared at her apathetically as she took my inaction as a sign of surrender. She introduced herself as Yunu, formerly known by the name Furcas, a surviving angel who had carefully hid herself near Liyue allowing her to survive the judgement brought down by Celestia. She now rules this land as its god and appears to be hell-bent on expanding her powers.
"Why was it that you were elevated above the rest huh? We gazed upon you from our lowly pedestals and saw the eclipsing brilliance given to you by our creator. Our sisters were all content with their respective places but I'm not! Why were you the only one given with such prestige that was only second to the Archangels?! Am I not just as worthy as you are?! Had we not been molded from the same substance?!"
She went on angrily monologuing a long winded speech about how she had always envied my existence since the dawn of time, and wanted nothing more but to take my powers for her own.
.....
Poor miserable lost soul.
To think that one of my kin had managed to survive the Funerary year but had unfortunately lost her way thanks to her misguided sense of pride and arrogance.
Such a shame. Though I didn't know her personally, I've once heard from the other angels that Furcas has excelled in the art of philosophy and rhetoric.
Clearly, she had already changed.
Her reasoning and the words that now spilled out from her mouth were now twisted, sleek, slippery, and filled with fallacious arguments.
A speech of pure casuistry.
Furcas or Yunu as she currently called herself, continued on with her long tirade spewing hateful words towards me as her entire court looked on. She even went as far as to occasionally spit on me whenever she would bring up memories of our days back in the celestial realm.
I offered no resistance on my part. Regardless of the harsh slanders and spittles that went my way, I remained calm and composed, not because I was powerless of course, but rather because instead of hatred I only felt pity towards her.
However, pity has its limits. Especially after she gradually revealed the atrocities she had committed in front of me.
She blatantly confessed that she had kidnapped one of my disciples, luring him into her grasp with the promises of riches before ultimately killing him and stealing his knowledge and power.
But worst of all...
"You had stooped so low Morax. To think that you of all people would mingle with the likes of mortals! FOOL! We are far above any of them! Superiors! I have opened my eyes to the truth Morax, the truth that was falsely twisted by our creator! That's why I have survived. That is why I kept both my wisdom and power as the rest degenerated into living husks!"
She then pointed her finger towards me.
"And you! You were given the rare permission to roam the mortal planes and instead of being able to realize this truth for yourself, you went on galavanting with some whimsical wench -"
"I.DARE.YOU SPEAK.ONE.MORE.ILL WORD.AGAINST.HER."
Yuna and her entire court froze.
I took every bit of insult she had thrown at me at that time. But when she began to spew vile words against the only woman that I ever loved - the woman who had changed my life - I simply cannot stand idle and allow her to go on!
My face hardened as I kneeled on the floor, frozen in silent anger. Yet Yunu instead interpreted this as a sign of weakness, of how she had successfully taunted me with her words.
Scoffing off my response, she then unfurled her feathered fan and covered her mouth, gazing upon me with narrowed eyes filled with contempt.
"Oh my, did I hit a nerve? Oh where are my manners, I apologize. I had forgotten that your little 'pet' had somehow perished amidst the war. I'm sure she daughter valiantly till the end alongside you Morax. Thankfully your actions or rather your absence during that time had given me the perfect opportunity to enter your precious little abode and seized something dearly precious to you." She then clapped her hands and shouted.
"XIAO! COME HERE AT ONCE!"
Soon, out from the corner of the throne room emerged a young figure. He was short for his age and possessed dark, medium-length hair with teal undertones.
He had pale skin with a purple forehead diamond marking, and a green arm tattoo resembling an upside-down bird.
His golden eyes however...looked so dull and lifeless and...
My own eyes widened as my entire being came to a halt.
I know not of this young man, yet his aura...
That aura...that life force that extrudes from his very being was exactly the same as...
"Alatus."
It barely came out as a whisper as I looked on in horror upon realizing the identity of the person who had slowly made his way towards Yunu's side.
My lost child...
My son...
Mine and Ria's pride and joy...
Her most precious gift to me...
The last thing that I remembered before my mind went completely blank was Yunu gloating about how she was able to raise such a fine young peon who would do anything she commanded, and that said peon would be the one to end my life.
Peon?
THAT PEON IS MY SON!!!
...
..
I have no prior memories of what had transpired next however my son would later recount how I went into a rampage, instantly breaking my chains before charging towards Yunu and grabbing her by the face.
He told me that I was so enraged that I began slamming Yunu's head repeatedly upon her throne before using her near-unconscious body as a cudgel towards her retainers.
It was a massacre according to my son.
Yunu and her armies offered little to no resistance as I rampaged across her palace.
When I regained my senses, I was beholden to the sight of a leveled down mountain which was once the abode of that deplorable wretched filth!
Alatus, my poor son was sealed away inside a protective Geo barrier that I had apparently cast at the beginning of my frenzied outburst.
He was unconscious.
Whatever binding spell or contract Furcas had placed upon him was now gone but it had given him some sort of backlash in the form of wounds that had appeared all over his body.
Thankfully, none were life-threatening.
I held his body in a tight embrace as I began to heal him from his wounds.
I wept so bitterly.
I thought that I had lost him.
Years of searching with no traces or clues had left me numb to my core, yet I still held out hope that he still lives somewhere out there.
Thankfully, that hope had bore fruit and now after centuries, I finally held him once more in my arms!
I then carried him in my back as I made my way out of that blasted angel's territory. I found no traces of her and I thought that I had eradicated her for good in the midst of my rage. Unfortunately, I will later find out that she had managed to survive through some unknown means, and would still not give up on her goal of killing me.
But that is a story for another time.
For days I travelled nonstop, carrying my still unconscious son's form at my back. Instead of going back to Mt. Tianheng, I instead went to the one place in this world apart from Liyue which I considered as home.
The Sea of Glaze Lilies.
There inside that hidden domain cut off from the rest of the world, I brought Alatus.
It needed to be done.
I have finally brought him home.
I took him at the very center of the field, at the small monument I erected in honor of his mother's memory.
Rydw i wedi dod ag e adref o'r diwedd, Ria.
(I've finally brought our little boy home Ria.)
Mae ein mab, ein bachgen bach o'r diwedd adref.
(Our son, our little boy is finally home.)
Gallwch chi orffwys nawr... fy nghariad.
(You can rest now...my love.)
Gorffwyswch yn dawel nawr, oherwydd rwy'n addo i chi o hyn ymlaen, y byddaf... bob amser yn sicrhau fy mod i'n gofalu'n dda amdano.
(Rest easy now, for I promise you that from now on, I...I will always make sure to take good care of him.)
Rwy'n...
(I...I...)
Rwy'n eich colli chi gymaint. Cymaint iawn...
(I miss you. I miss you so much.)
I wasn't able to finish my words for I had began to wept bitterly once more.
Heavens above I missed her.
I once taught to end it all, but my promise to her, to our son and to our people had kept me going and became the very fire that made me looked forward to another day.
Alatus, would soon awaken in the midst of my heartfelt pleas. At first he was afraid as to why the enemy of his 'mother' would spare his life.
Mother. Furcas was not his mother!
And so, I told Alatus the truth about his existence. How he was my son and how he was taken away from me.
My boy was silent for a long time, trying to wrestle with the reality that was apparently taken away from him. And when he began to accept it, his first question was...
"Fa...father. Who is my mother?"
My son looked up towards me with hope in his eyes.
It broke my heart.
How could I convey the truth to my little boy without fearing the consequences.
His mother. His real mother was now long gone. She had sacrificed it all, yet she was now forgotten by the world.
So many things have yet been unraveled and I fear that the primordial one might soon turn his gaze towards my son if he ever finds out the full truth about his beloved mother and her existence.
The time has not yet come, yet I could bring myself to allow my boy to not know at least how much of a wonderful person his mother was.
His mother was gone. That I told him but...
"My dearest son, your mother had chosen this world over her own."
"The nations, scattered far and wide in this world stand because of her."
"Teyvat's children continue to breathe because of her."
"The sun rises every morning because of her."
"Every morning the people wake up and are greeted by this world, vibrant, alive and beautiful, not knowing that it was all because of her."
.....
"My son, your mother was the most wonderful and caring person I've ever known. And from the bottom of her magnificent heart, please know that she had always loved you even until her very last breath."
That was my answer and I spoke no more.
I deemed it enough, and hopefully he will one day understand why I withheld most of the truth about her.
'I'm so sorry my son. As much as it pains me but all I've done is for your own good.'
I later came out from the field renewed and reunited with my son.
We would soon head back to Mt. Tianheng and my son would be welcomed with open arms, though we kept his true identity a secret to most in order to protect him.
In the centuries that followed, our world continued to grow and change.
Guili would be founded and my people would prosper.
Another war then happened in which many greetings and goodbyes were uttered. In the midst of that terrible war between the gods, Ria's spell that was cast upon Liyue finally eroded and our people had finally awoken from their slumber...yet with no memories of their mother.
Near the end of the war, after my dear friend Guizhong had fallen, I led the survivors of Guili south of Mt. Tianheng, and opened the gates to the home that I've kept hidden for so long.
Thus the once peaceful town of Liyue became Liyue Harbor.
To honor my beloved, after winning a seat given by the heavens, I renamed the entire realm that I've won through conquest and perseverance as Liyue.
Liyue.
The nation of contracts.
I've kept that contract Ria. I've kept that promise.
Our once humble little fishing village had grown into a magnificent nation, unrivaled in commerce throughout all of Teyvat.
The people worshipped me as the Geo Archon. Emperor, Founder and Father of the nation...
Yet it pains to know the fact that they were unable to know about its other founder.
Liyue's mother.
If you had been alive right now my love, you would have been given the title of Empress.
I would have showered you with riches and praise every single day.
But I know that if it ever happened, you would have smacked me in the head and scolded me for hours right?
You never craved for power and glory.
You just wanted to live free and in peace.
Such was the life we had envisioned for one another.
.....
Ria.
Every single day I still think about you.
Every single night I still dream about you.
You live on through our people and our land, yet it is still not the same.
How I wish you were still here with me. With our son.
.....
Yet now, why do I see you in front of me?
Is this another dream?
I could barely hear ceaseless shouting around me, nor pay attention to the falling tree leaves around me. Yet there you are just mere inches from me, riding on top of a horse.
I'll never forget those eyes. That wonderful gentle smile.
I always love you for who you are, yet now I could not help but feel even more enamored on how much you've changed. You've become even more beautiful and radiant.
What's with the sudden change Ria?
I know you often joked about me wanting to find a wife with a mature figure, but this is just too much.
.....
Maybe I'm hallucinating again.
Did I feel asleep in the pavilion?
I sure hope my son and the others would wake me up when Mondstadt's Grand Master finally arrived, for I really want to meet this woman who had pulled out Barbatos's nation from the mud and had singlehandedly taken out a god.
But still, I wish this dream would never end.
There's still so many things I wanted to tell you about my love. So many -
"My god sir, is everything alright? You appeared to have been lost in thought for a moment. Is there anything I can do to assist you with?"
.....
She...she spoke. It's the same voice that I grew to love.
On top of her steed, she reached out with one hand and gently caressed my right cheek as I felt a single tear pour down from my eye.
Her face is riddled with confusion and concern.
.....
Maybe, this isn't a dream after all.
____________________
Coinnicheamaid a-rithist latha nuair a bhios an saoghal mu dheireadh aig sìth agus duilleagan na craoibhe a' crathadh anns a' ghaoith gus fàilte a chuir air an earrach.
(May we meet again one day when the world is finally at peace and the tree leaves sway in the wind to welcome spring.)
(End of Interlude).
____________________