Deep within the residential district, in a simple but clean and tidy room.
Stacks of rough paper covered in handwriting were piled in a corner—drafts of poems, revised again and again.
On the wall hung a lyre of ancient design. Its body bore several obvious signs of damage and repair, yet it was polished to a brilliant shine.
In the warmest, driest corner of the room, an old, soft piece of cloth was spread out. The gravely injured wind sprite, Venti, lay there quietly.
After a period of recovery, a faint white light once again emanated from his wings of light, and his form, condensed from elemental energy, gradually stabilized.
Himmel sat at the wooden table by the window, his brow slightly furrowed, softly singing a new poem he had composed.
At times, he would pause, pick up the pen at his side, and scribble on the manuscript, changing a word he felt wasn't quite right.
After finishing each short stanza, he would turn his head to look at Venti in the corner.
Venti's consciousness drifted amidst boundless, excruciating pain and fragments of fear.
The power of the gales, originating from the very source of the Archon, had nearly torn apart his essence as a being of 'wind'.
His hearing was the first sense to return. In a chaotic darkness, a clear and vibrant voice intermittently reached his perception:
"...The lark... breaks free from the earth's curse, its wings... slice open... the azure canopy..."
Then, his vision slowly returned. He saw Himmel's worried face.
Himmel sensed the change in the surrounding wind, and a joyful smile instantly bloomed on his face.
He put down his pen and carefully approached, crouching beside the old cloth with gentle movements.
"You're awake!" His voice was hushed, carrying a power that soothed the heart. "Don't be afraid, it's safe here. It was Miss Coppelia and Miss Columbina who rescued you."
Venti struggled to gather his scattered thoughts from the wind, trying to guide the still-chaotic flow of Anemo energy within him back onto a smooth course.
The feeling of being flayed alive gradually subsided. He flapped his still-heavy wings of light, and his small body finally, slowly, floated up, though not very high, and his posture lacked its usual airiness.
His voice was faint, still shaken. "Thank you... The power of a god is truly... terrifying..."
He recalled the gale that had nearly erased his very existence—a violence that surpassed his understanding.
He looked at Himmel and, based on his own near-death experience, came to a heavy conclusion: "The people here live with such a terrifying being, yet they cannot escape... So, they have no other choice but to rebel, right?"
In his view, rebellion was the final product of desperation.
But Himmel gently shook his head, his gaze clear and certain. "Not entirely."
He paused, as if gathering his words, wanting the sprite to deeply understand. "Gunnhildr and her clan had actually found land outside the storm wall where they could live in peace, far from the terrifying Archon and the conflict. But still, she returned."
He watched Venti and posed a core question: "She didn't start a rebellion against the being in the high tower because she couldn't escape, or out of simple fear, did she? Venti, why do you think the people of Mondstadt press forward?"
Venti's wings of light trembled slightly. He thought for a moment, then gave an answer based on his own experience. "I... Because I personally experienced that terror, I think people press forward to... avoid suffering? To escape a being like Decarabian?"
"To avoid suffering... that's not the whole story." Himmel denied it again, but his tone was not one of contradiction, more of guidance.
He changed his approach. "Venti, is there anything you like?"
The question was a little unexpected. Venti paused, then answered honestly, "I like... collecting light, floaty feathers and flower petals."
Those were things that brought him pure joy as he drifted through the thousand winds.
"Are you scared when you look for them? Do you collect them because something terrible is chasing you from behind?"
"Of course not," Venti replied. The answer was obvious.
Himmel's eyes instantly lit up, as if two small flames had been kindled within them. "Exactly! You don't seek feathers and petals because you're afraid of something, or running from something. It's because, to you, they are [beautiful] things, don't you think? You act because you yearn for that beauty."
Venti hovered in mid-air, his small body seemingly frozen.
"So, people... fight for [beauty]...?"
"I believe so." Himmel nodded emphatically. He pointed to the papers on the table, filled with verses. "I believe that if you look forward, you can always find something more beautiful than the present. I believe that tomorrow, my hands can create more beautiful poems than they did today, and my eyes can see a truer, vaster sky than the storm wall above our heads. That's why I want to press on, to reach a tomorrow like that."
His voice carried a fiery conviction. "I think, deep down, everyone believes this too. It's just that the fear before them is too powerful, like a thick, dark cloud, making them unconsciously ignore this 'belief' in [beauty] in their hearts as they struggle to survive."
The more he spoke, the more impassioned he became. He stood up, walked to the window, and pointed beyond the grayish-white storm wall, toward the unseen distance.
He painted for Venti the picture of the future he had sketched in his mind countless times. "Just think, Venti! In the future, people will go beyond the storm wall, without fearing divine punishment or starvation. They'll be able to seek inspiration to write poetry as they please, use the finest grain to cook delicious food, cultivate all sorts of beautiful flowers under the sun, watch the birds in the gentle breeze... They'll be able to choose the life they want to live, instead of having to follow someone else's rules even to breathe!"
Venti's wings of light emitted a brighter, steadier glow than before. He murmured, as if grasping a crucial truth, "That's... 'the right to choose one's own life.'"
"Yes! That feeling, it's... it's..." Himmel urgently searched for the word that could precisely summarize it all.
"Freedom!" Venti and he said the word in unison.
"Yes! Freedom!" Himmel's face shone with a dazzling light, a reflection of his boundless yearning for the future.
Venti floated up to Himmel's eye level. His voice was no longer faint, but carried an unprecedented resolve. "Himmel, I will help you overthrow Decarabian."
The light on Himmel's face was instantly replaced by worry. "But... you were just nearly killed by him... It's too dangerous!"
He couldn't forget how this little sprite had been at death's door just a short while ago.
"It's precisely because I've been through it that I want to do this." Venti's voice was steady and clear. "This isn't a rebellion born of compulsion, nor is it out of fear. This is my own [choice]."
Himmel was silent for a moment, then he looked up, the same fire igniting in his eyes. "You know Miss Gunnhildr, right? Can you take me to her?"
"Are you going to join the rebellion with us?" Venti asked.
"I too yearn for freedom, true freedom." Himmel clenched his fists. "Besides, many comrades are already helping us fight for it. Today, the people drove back the elite guard and seized the workshops and granaries... They've already won a victory. I don't want to just stay in my room writing poetry anymore. I want to join them. I want to win, with my own strength, the freedom that belongs to me, that belongs to all of us!"
Venti's wings of light beat steadily, emitting a soft radiance. "Alright, let's go together. To fight for all that is beautiful!"
He tried to fly a little higher, but his movements were still somewhat stiff and unsteady.
Himmel held out his hand, palm open, beneath Venti. Venti gently descended, landing in his warm palm.
Himmel picked up the poem about the blue sky and the birds from the table, folded it carefully, and placed it inside his clothes. Then he walked to the wall and took down the damaged lyre.
Cradling the faint light in his palm, he pushed open the door to his home.
___
🔥 New stories are available now! 🔥
✅ Access up to 40 advanced chapters of ALL stories!
✅ Receive exclusive content and updates!
Help us hit our community goals:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone
🚀 180 MEMBERS = +5 extra chapters of ALL STORIES!
👻 P - Walnutchan