Chapter Text
Matari kneels in a shallow pool, a pale, wispy liquid coming up to her knees. The air in her Void is still as normal, but her concern is felt in the air regardless. Talést was already an issue before she contracted his corpse and subsequently resurrected, after which they were bound to each other, and as such her concerns turned from him being a wrench in her plan to someone she is worried about. He–and by extension; she has seen some truly horrific scenes.
As a being not born human, she wasn’t completely aware of the harsh reactions that were related to death, but after she and Talést connected their minds, she had come to understand some of that weight… and much faster than she was comfortable with.
The Nine were much worse to him than she was when they were tormenting one another. To have not only have denied him a proper death but to have also thrown him back in time to before everything happened, where fate would always have him walk through the doors of that town and sealing him into that accursed war. It was… painful to see what he did, to feel what he felt, and to hear what he heard.
Talést is not OK. He is perhaps the farthest from OK that any man could be, made worse by his “gifted” immortality. Perhaps she should’ve allowed him to stay dead on Sky’s Divide and stopped Him herself. Unfortunately, she can’t change the circ*mstances around him and her, no matter how far the Nine throw both of them back in time. She’s stuck with this decision--as much as she doesn’t like how it’s turned out for Talést. So, she had looked into a way for him to escape properly, he couldn’t stay in the Void, hiding from the Nine for a likely eternity… He deserved better than that. Lucky her, she had figured out how far her Void stretches in the grand scale of dimensions, as well as a world that she would gamble on.
Results have been… mixed. While on the one hand, he’s no longer at risk of the Nine meddling with his time-space and is in a world where he won’t ever see anything relating to that accursed war, which was good. On the other hand, he’s already in an extremely volatile state of mind and has already made a terrible habit of pushing people away out of fear of him developing attachment and them; potentially dying because of it. All-in-all, it was such a deep-seated set of issues that Matari, frankly: Has no idea how to solve it.
“... Matari.” The low, old, rumbling voice of another speaks out.
She opens her eyes from her meditation-turned-distracted musing, sighing, and turning to the figure.
An old man-roughly 80, and dressed in a strange, faded blue cloth. A scar ran down and over his left eye. A small, but pointed mustache, a long, wispy beard, and a hairstyle that can only be described as odd and hard to describe, despite its simple look. This man was Talést’s one and only proper teacher in his long life, teaching him a sword-style he had developed in his life before he somehow wound up in the Void. Something about a “black blade” and a shinobi with a “red blade”. She didn’t pay him much mind, as the old man was here by happenstance rather than any deliberate contract like Talést. Still, it was good that he finally had a proper swordsmanship teacher. Self-study can only get you so far, especially since getting more material risks a whole new round of suffering for the Emissary.
“... You are worrying for the boy, no?” The old man speaks again.
“What makes you think that?” She retorts, after all, he’s only his teacher. He doesn’t have any right to question her or Talést.
“Ahh, if I had to say–everything about you. You are rife with worry for the boy.”
“It is of no matter to you, swordsman.”
“How cold… Is an old man not allowed to worry about his pupil?”
She had no real retort. She may be of the thought that she is the only one who is allowed to be worried for her Emissary, but her time in his head has also shown the importance of found-family to “the boy” as the old man calls him.
“You… are an irritating man.” She finally spat out. The old man simply laughed at her remark.
“...I do hope for the boy’s future. I know war well, but he did not want to. The only thing we can do for him now is hope someone can knock some sense into his head.”
“I suppose so…”
The air becomes still once more.
Talést quickly exits Jean’s office, fully intent on just leaving the whole establishment altogether, but as he reaches the doors outside he is struck with a realization. When he had left the library, Lisa had said that he was allowed to use it as he needed. Something about him proving his trustworthiness to her. All of the relevant knights are in Jean’s office talking about that corrupted crystal, which means that this is probably the best opportunity he has to learn about the world he’s now inhabiting without anyone pestering him, and goddammit, he was gonna take that opportunity.
Pivoting in the opposite direction, he enters the library. The only people here are other presumed knights or employees of the headquarters. Perfect. He avoids Lisa’s desk, he may not want to be friends with these people, but he’s not going to f*ck with their space. Who knows what she’s working on, he’s well aware of how infuriating it is to have your workspace tampered with. Hmm… Yeah, alchemy in Teyvat is also going to be something he looks into.
Slowly he walks by the tall bookcases, scanning over the spines of any book he can see. There were a few things he was prioritizing. One: The history of Teyvat. Two: What Visions are. Three: Any of the more esoteric-looking texts he can find. History was an easy enough task since he found some texts about it immediately, and then the task was put into perspective, as he kept finding more and more books about various tales and the history of Teyvat. There was just too much so he changed his approach, “Read texts relating to where I am and have already been. Doing this all at once would waste too much time and be too inefficient.” and put some of the books that seemed to refer to places he doesn’t know back.
Books about Visions, however, were actually an easy task, as the objects were fairly streamlined and well-documented.
Those pendants that he had seen on Amber, Lisa, Kaeya, and Jean were all Visions. Catalysts for people to wield elemental powers that manifested in gemstones embedded in a pendant-like case. There are seven elemental classifications for Visions… all tied to the Seven Archons. Must be what the Gods in Teyvat are called. The seven elements are: Pyro, Cryo, Hydro, Dendro, Geo, Electro, and Anemo… They all end in “O”, how quaint. Seems pretty standard, all the elements here can be compared to the various magic schools (mostly Destruction in all honesty) of Tamriel, but it seems that some elements have specializations in their class. Hydro seems to have a higher nack for healing, while Pyro is pretty much just damage, and Geo usually specializes in shield generation and making solid structures.
The elements are also noted to have distinct reactions when two different types collide. Completely unlike Skyrim, where the element of magic seems to act completely independently of outside forces. For instance: Electro and Pyro generate large explosions, whereas lightning and fire magic in Tamriel do not have any sort of special interaction on a target. What an interesting world you have found indeed, Matari. He still had some questions regarding some of the less explained aspects of Visions; like what Allogenes are, or why the requirements for receiving a Vision can be both vague and not a deciding factor in one even receiving one? There was also a more internal inquiry: Whether or not the elemental powers derived from Visions are magical in nature or natural energy molded into abilities? He’ll have to see in the future and he needs to look into the Archons more.
That can wait for after though, as this one book he found has captured his interest. It’s a book without much in the way of a title and looks fairly old. It was tucked in a corner of the library and was extremely dusty. Opening the book Talést takes in the contents of the pages… only to find he barely understands it. A mix of faded text and a language he doesn’t understand, which brings attention to the fact that he’s ungodly lucky that Tamrielic seems to translate flawlessly to Teyvat’s native language, whatever that is called.
Back to the book. While most of the text–like 90 percent of it–is illegible for one reason or another, he can make out some keywords. Mostly “Abyss”, but that is just one word, devoid of context. It was a bit disappointing, but he’ll have to see about finding other material about it at a later date. If he has to, he’ll even ask Lisa about it.
He spends the next hour skimming through the library for any material on the Archons and this Abyss. He only finds books about the former and while he wants to read them, he’s also becoming paranoid about Lisa coming back. Something about her unnerves him greatly, the way she speaks and the words she uses… are extremely discomforting. Lisa is much too like her and the more he thinks about it, the more cold sweat forms on his skin. The more his hatred surfaces.
“That insufferable wench, that conniving bitch. I’ll kill her. That f*cking undercover mission, she knew that Alarei wanted out, she f*cking set her up with me in that mission so she would die. She knew! She knew! She knew he would be there, that she would die in that godforsaken mission! I’ll tear her limb from limb! That f*cking SEX-FIEND likes pain so much, then I wonder how she’ll feel being on the receiving end!?”
Talést’s thoughts boil over, face grimacing something horrid, and his body tense enough to break steel on. His hatred emerges with such force that his body starts shivering in wrathful anticipation, he wants to… no–needs to obliterate something. Lisa… she’s like her, no? Then maybe…
His breath hitches and his mind freezes. The burning hatred is almost immediately snuffed into a cold shame. He promised Matari that he wouldn’t let this happen again, he needed to be better. Lisa isn’t that horrid woman, she doesn’t deserve any animosity. He’s not going to look for trouble, to become a warmonger and be a tool for his anger. He can be better, he can. He can. He can…
Can he…?
He shakes off the thought. It doesn’t matter if he can be better. He just needs to keep a cap on his impulsive desires. Not like he’s much aware of anything he actually desires anymore. He closes the book in front of him with a heavy sigh and counts himself lucky that he didn’t tear or puncture any of the books in his rage. Lisa would probably chew him out and he really doesn’t want to deal with that. Putting the books away in their approximate locations, he then leaves the library and walks out of the large doors of the Knights Headquarters.
It’s sunset now and he’s come to realize that this will soon mark the completion of his first day in a completely new world. It’s a surreal feeling and he’s biologically connected to an alternate dimension and has experienced time travel (don’t think about that any more than necessary). Standing just outside the headquarters, he takes in the atmosphere. It feels… nice, actually. Something about the time has changed the energy of Mondstadt, the very winds have died down to soft, short breezes, and the sounds of bustle in the city have damn near all disappeared in favor of the occasional sounds of nature and the slight clunking sounds of the windmills scattered in the city. Just taking in the atmosphere almost makes him feel like he’s just a normal person again.
…
Some food is in order, it seems. sh*t, he should’ve looked into Teyvat’s economy. He has no idea if the mora he got from today’s commission is enough for a meal or any amount of food. The only thing he can do now is just ask for prices and hope he has enough. With a sigh, he starts walking from the entrance of the large doors. He’s familiar enough with the city layout to find the one place that he knows serves food without much issue. An outdoor bar of some sort called the Good Hunter. It’s a nice place by the looks of it. Simple.
The food was pretty simple as well. A slice of toast with onions and sauce, he got two just for good measure. He can’t taste much these days but he still needs the nutrition if he’s going to be a warrior. Even still, the meal was decent, with a nice contrast of texture with the toasted bread and sliced onions. He couldn’t really place what the sauce was, Skyrim wasn’t really known for sauces, more cheese instead. He was finished with it in a few minutes, prompting the girl manning the stall to ask if he even tasted it. He gave a curt nod to her and left the table.
He walked out of the city as the sun passed over the horizon, the evening sky becoming visible and the surroundings becoming even quieter. As he walks down the stone bridge, he knows that sleep will not be coming tonight either. Wandering the plains of Mondstadt will have to fill his time until daybreak. While not the most productive use of his time, he doesn’t really have any other ideas, plus, it’s a good way to get a lay of the land in a more personal sense. Who knows where or when he will be assailed? it’s always good to be prepared, always.
It seems that no matter what time it is, Teyvat is just a vibrant place. Something about the colors, they don’t settle down ever. Night in Skyrim was pretty hard to navigate unless you had a lantern or torch, here though, he can manage wandering in the dead of night with little issue. More blues than blacks, which was convenient, since he could always fall into stealth tactics without needing to douse some source of fire he would be holding. What was also nice that seemed to carry over from Tamriel is that any source of conflict is probably asleep. Both bandits of his homeworld and the hilichurls of this one would be slumbering and that was always a boon when it came to traveling.
Speaking of the hostile creatures in this world, he didn’t find out if that large hilichurl from that commission has a specific name, or if “large hilichurl” would be its title. Rematerializing the Adventurer’s Handbook he got today, his curiosity is answered when he looks at the aptly named “enemies” section. Looking at the information tells him that the large hilichurl is called a “mitachurl”. A sub-species that is characterized by its size. Getting his answer a new question emerges in his mind. “How was this information recorded? Both the two enemies I’ve encountered are here in full detail and the commission I took today is recorded as complete. Is it magic, or is it something weirder, like something the Dwemer could’ve made?” The confusion runs through his brain as he racks himself for any potential answers that would make any sense. At some point, when most of his answers just beckons more questions, he simply concludes that it doesn’t matter, it’s a convenient tool and he’s going to use it as such.
Overall, the plains of Mondstadt are pretty normal… average. Lots of grass and rolling hills, occasional forests, and plateaus. The shades of green and brown overlaid by the deep blue of the night atmosphere made the environment into something he couldn’t even put into good enough words, it was just… incredibly serene. Every now and again he found what looked to be some sort of ruins, however, outside of chests and strange little objects that seemed to look like puzzle obelisks, there was much of note to them. They weren’t like Nordic ruins, no sprawling tunnel systems, and no f*cking Draugr (never want to see one of those bastards ever again). Machinery was a bigger part of their… aesthetic? Not sure, but there were what looked to be large machines and parts of other machines strewn around the area of the ruins he found. Whether or not they worked was not something he was too interested in, he’d rather not have to fight machines, he’s had plenty of that already. Although it might be worth it to look into the materials they are constructed with, if only for the purpose of peddling them.
Leaving the largest of the ruins he has found so far, he hears something odd, and slightly unnerving. Something high-pitched, but not in the same way as the floating mascot from earlier. There were also the sounds of something… twinkling, like energy that made light or something the like. Following the sounds he comes across a small, shallow lake, a small piece of land in the center, and something floating above that land. It looked like a small humanoid mage, with a wide wizard-like cloak, but it had a lot of fur and something that resembled rabbit ears on its head. Now that he was familiar with Visions and the elemental energy that this world falls into using, he could identify the aura that the creature gave off–Cryo energy.
Just as Talést is about to sneak off and leave the creature to its devices a horrid chill runs down his spine. The eyes of the creature’s mask peer directly at him, belying his attempts to remain hidden. He is not seen easily, and if it detected his aura then that’s potentially worse. Considering the nature of his power, he should not be able to be detected by any normal person or being, which leads to this creature in front of him being something similar in nature to him or a divine entity. Neither conclusion is very reassuring.
The creature starts flailing wildly barely a second after discovering Talést, why is an unknown to him, but his feeling of dread grows exponentially despite it. Time feels like a crawl as he rises to his feet, his hair stands on end, his body tense, hands twitching, and cold sweat like the first time he met ever Matari. Something else is here, it was calling something here, he knows that now, he feels it behind him. Manifesting through a portal another entity emerges, blue blades adorning its wrists, poised to strike him.
The blue blade rushes at his throat, his feet shift, swiveling his body around, hand tightly gripping his blade. CLASH! Talést’s sword stands raised outward, having deflected his assailant's strike. The vaguely humanoid creature falls back from its failed attempt to dispatch this anomaly. Hydro energy emits from this one. Cryo and Hydro-wielding enemies might be a big problem. Tensions rise as Talést and the humanoid entity stare each other down, his eyes narrow. Its arms twitch. His sword hand tightens. Its legs widen. Both make their move.
He charges at the entity, sword pulled back. The entity lifts its open hand at Talést. The chill comes back in full force, he can’t let it do whatever it's doing, but he misjudged what was happening. A portal suddenly opens in front of him, letting inertia carry him from the plains of Mondstadt to a foreign space. Hook-line-and-sinker… Goddammit.
Several hours earlier, Knights of Favonius Headquarters.
Following Talést’s departure, the conversation afterward did not last much longer. Just a bit of inquisition about the Traveler’s strange quirks, like being able to manipulate elements without a Vision and why the crystal doesn’t react to him. Jean stopped the questions early to reaffirm their course of action, which was more or less just leaving it mostly in the Traveler’s hands, as well as making him an Honorary Knight so he could move and do stuff unabated by questions. Being an Honorary Knight is a nice benefit, but having to deal with Stormterror on his own was not something he wanted to happen, but what else was he going to do?
Aether had questions out the ass by this point, most of which he couldn’t exactly ask about. The biggest being about Talést and the person in green that he saw trying to talk to Stormterror. He had suspicions about both, but Talést had left unceremoniously and didn’t say anything about where he was going. He really seems to not trust people, like, at all. This begs the question as to why he stayed as long as he did, Lisa had dragged him along to this discussion and vouched for his trustworthiness. He even made an observation about the crystal and explained it to everyone, so he’s not malicious or something like that, but he is barely understood. It turns out Talést emerged from the same forest he did when he first arrived on this world and as it stands, is likely in the same boat as him–being an otherworlder.
That only leads to more questions. How did he end up here? Where was he from? Is he here deliberately? If so, what is he here for? Is he looking for something or someone like himself? What is he capable of? Did he run into the Sustainer of Heavenly Principals as well? Would he know where Lumine is?
It was all a mess that made his head hurt. All of those questions were worthless since he didn’t even know where he went and for some reason, he could barely even trace his energy. It’s like he’s powerless, but there was a trace of something there. It was weird.
Paimon was talking his ear off about the issue surrounding what he saw on first arrival. The green-clad person trying to talk to the dragon Stormterror. Now, he’s pretty sure that it was his fault that the dragon got aggravated when the unknown individual was trying to say something, but he doesn’t know the person’s intentions regarding the dragon. He wants his own answers and he can’t make assumptions, lest he wants to risk something blowing up in his face.
“...He looks like that guy down there.” Paimon pointed at a person running past him a street below. Wait…
“That’s the same shade of green too. What a coincidence…”
“Yeah! See? Wait… Hold on a minute…” Seems Paimon also makes the connection. “That’s the same guy!” She exclaims, and just like that they were off to chase the green-clad person.
“So, what do you guys think about Talést?” Amber–who had come back from her patrols once the sun had gone down–asked.
Lisa turns her head up from the large book on her desk, looking at Amber. “Amber dear, we haven’t even known the man a whole day. You didn’t even ask that about the Traveler until the next day.”
Kaeya spoke up. “That is true. It seems a bit too early to make a good judgment, no?”
Amber scratched the back of her head awkwardly, they made good points, but… “He’s just such a contrast compared to the Traveler. Like… he was more intriguing right from the get-go. The Traveler is nice and he also just appeared, but Talést is something else entirely, ya know?”
“You aren’t wrong, something about him begs questions. The scars, the bags under his eyes, his unusual armament, and how closed off he is.” Kaeya mentioned.
“He seemed to have some odd ticks as well. His face changed ever-so-slightly when I called our Traveler “cutie” and he stared at me with an unreadable expression when you introduced me to him.” Lisa added.
“Yeah! Yeah! There were a few times when he seemed to get really lost in thought, like, I had to yell out for him and even needed to touch him to get his attention.”
“He’s certainly quite the character. His greeting to Jean was extremely brief and the whole time he seemed so exasperated. He’s got some history doing something since there’s no way he would react so strongly to what he has without some crazy past experiences, it would also explain his efficiency.” Kaeya noted.
“Hilichurls may not be the most threatening, but completing a commission relating to them in less than an hour does indicate that he must be fairly skilled at least. Although… I didn’t see a Vision on him.” Lisa remarked.
“No Vision? Just like the Traveler?” Keaya inquired.
“Yes actually… He seems to be able to see elemental energy, but he doesn’t seem to have a Vision. The Traveler can channel elemental energy, but so far, we don’t know if Talést has any elemental abilities. Maybe he only gets by on pure swordsmanship?” Lisa considered.
“You think this dagger is his?” Amber grabbed a strange-looking dagger from her belt, showing it off to Kaeya and Lisa. A broad, double-edged blade, made of a tan-colored material. The hilt, guard, and spine were made of a black metal with engravings on it.
“Oh my! I don’t think I’ve ever seen something like this, what is this material? Have you seen anything like this, Kaeya?” Lisa redirected the question, closely taking in the details of the dagger.
“Can’t say I have. I can see the suburb craftsmanship from here, though.”
“It’s surprisingly heavy too,” Amber commented. “So, neither of you have seen this kind of dagger before?”
“Nope.”
“Yeah, no.”
“You think he made this, or maybe had it commissioned?”
“If he made it himself then he’s a man with even more mystery than I first assumed.” Kaeya declared.
“Pretty sure he was in the library earlier too,” Lisa commented.
“He was? How do you know?” Amber asked.
“There were some books that were almost in their correct spot, I can assume it was him because a few of the books were related to the history of Mondstadt and you said he was new here.”
“Perhaps he’s actually just a driven scholar with a sword?”
“Kaeya that doesn’t make sense, he cleared out a commission’s worth of hilichurls and probably a mitachurl or two in less than an hour.” Amber retorted.
“It was just an observation, Amber dear.”
“Well still, he seems pretty damn strong.” Amber stated, her head falling onto her palm against the table “...Maybe I could ask him to make me stronger…” She muttered.
