Once I left the shorelines of Mondstadt, the world fell quiet.
It wasn't quite lifeless—there were still the intermittent waves that crashed below me as I flew. But the usual gentle winds that blew across Mondstadt were nowhere to be found here; the blessings of Barbatos that gave Mondstadt its gentle winds could not breach into the ocean's domain.
I was silent the entire time, too busy using my [Hawk Eyes] to ensure I didn't miss some island in the distance. And for quite a while, I didn't see anything. It became clear why no one from Mondstadt—a city full of adventurers—ever bothered attempting to sail out into these oceans. It would be days or even weeks of nothing but water, and Mondstadt didn't have the ships necessary for that.
Then, at the edge of my enhanced sight, I finally caught sight of something. A small island sitting in the middle of nowhere, filled with stone ruins of some kind.
But what was truly important were the two dragons that were on it. One of them, its scales bright green and blue, was laying down on the ground. Its body was covered in many grievous wounds, and a dark miasma surrounded him almost like a cage, continually pressing it down into the dirt.
The other dragon, its body entirely black and colored with red lines that seemed almost mechanical, red eyes glaring and its head twisted into what looked almost like a permanent grin. Occasionally its scales would shift aside to create vents that released that same dark miasma from inside its body, causing ominous purple clouds to form above the island.
The moment I got close enough to see the island without using [Hawk Eyes], the black dragon turned its eyes to me. And then it-
My instincts rang, and I quickly twisted aside as a black rod shot past me at supersonic speed, leaving my ears ringing as it flew past my ear. The black rod continued to fly for a while longer before it fell into the ocean, creating a massive splash that rose meters into the air.
I frowned as I turned towards it. It wasn't the most devastating attack I'd seen—Osial still triumphed over it in terms of pure power—but that black rod had been near-invisible to me, and it was only the enhanced instincts given by my [Freedom Song: Awakening] that allowed me to even notice it.
I narrowed my eyes. My bow flashed into my hands, and I notched a drill-arrow onto the bowstrings as great winds circled around me. I manipulated the drill-arrow's shape slightly, weakening its power but increasing the knockback it would cause. After all, I needed to save that other dragon it had trapped.
On the island, Durin growled as it watched those powerful winds appear out of seemingly nowhere. They circled around the being, lifting water from the ocean and dragging the clouds from the skies, casting a typhoon of blue and white across the red-stained sky.
Its jaw snapped open, and a cannon-like object protruded from its throat. The barrel lit bright red as plasma built inside it, before the air screeched as the plasma shot forward as a large beam of plasma.
I raised an eyebrow, before I simply flew slightly upward, letting the plasma beam soar past my feet with little harm. Durin's eyes widened slightly, seemingly surprised that its prey had enough smarts to realize that there was no need to get involved in a collision of attacks.
And that assumption meant that by the time I fired my altered drill-arrow, all Durin could do was enclose its dermal plating and shield itself as the drill arrow slammed right into its throat. It screamed in pain as the arrow shattered through a few of its dermal plates, sending oily-blood and fried circuits into the air as it was sent flying back several dozen meters before smashing into the ocean.
I quickly flew and landed on the island. And when I did, the unconscious dragon groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. "Bar…batos?"
"I'm afraid not." I said as I began using [Sunlight Healing] to close its wounds while I blew away the surrounding miasma with a blast of Anemo. "I am Xinyue. The people of Mondstadt worried over your safety, and so here I am."
He narrowed his eyes on me. "Your words will not fool me, Barbatos." He growled, though it carried little heat. He huffed once his wounds fully healed, and he gave his wings a flap as he stood back up. "But I thank you for your arrival. I do not know how long I would've lasted had you not arrived."
"I really am not Barbatos, good sir." I said, though I could see that no amount of words would convince the dragon otherwise. He seemed too stubborn, just like how he managed to hold on despite Durin's poison for 500 years before he-, finally-
He-
I winced. My head was hurting again. Did I think of something taboo again?
Ugh. Not the time.
"You have fought him, no?" Dvalin nodded, and I hummed. "Inform me what that thing is capable of."
He nodded. "A beam of condensed Pyro. Strange black spears that are invisible to the eyes. Strange needles that it expels from its body, capable of flying and exploding on impact. Tough scales that could repair on their own. And that miasma, capable of poisoning the body and mind." He growled out that last one, having felt its effects directly just seconds prior.
I nodded slowly. Some of the terminologies took some time getting used to, but I soon managed. Laser beams, black rods, missiles, dermal plating, and poisonous gas.
…this was sounding awfully similar to one of those 'golems' Guizhong had been planning to make. Maybe I should caution her otherwise once I returned from this Adventure.
"Certainly mighty." I commented idly as I watched Durin rise out of the waters, his red eyes glaring as the dermal plating on its neck began repairing itself. "Then are you willing to fight once more?"
Dvalin growled. "Always."
He roared, and a surge of Anemo energy rose around him. His Anemo merged with mine, and soon both our winds were infused with cosmic energy. Dvalin turned to me for a moment, surprised at the new power his friend seemed to hold, but he left the ponderings for later. What did it matter that his friend talked differently and held different powers than he remembered?
Right now, what he wanted more than anything was to bash Durin into nothing but paste!
Both of us flew forward, causing most of the ruins on the islands to shatter as we soared towards Durin. It growled at us as we approached, and its dermal plating shifted. Thousands of little openings formed all across its body, and from them shot out thousands of missiles, each capable of subsuming and corrupting Teyvat's Elemental energies.
But while Khaenri'ah could create wondrous and calamitous creations, they were nothing compared to Lan's might. And so the missiles were torn to shreds by our winds, causing them to light the skies with thousands of explosions.
Seeing its missiles fail, Durin instead began firing hundreds of black rods at us, each flying at supersonic speeds and practically invisible to both of us. I used my supernatural instincts and flew around the incoming black rods, while Dvalin continued flying forward through the hail of black rods, his scale more than durable enough to endure the speedy but relatively weak attacks.
Naturally, we also retaliated. I rained Durin with dozens of arrows, opting to use my sword-arrows instead to better penetrate the dragon's tough dermal plates. I then let the [Starburn] inflict most of the damage, burning the dragon's mechanical insides with cosmic flames.
Dvalin, still enraged from losing to another dragon, went and began brawling with Durin, tearing at its body with his claws. He did little damage on his own, but his cosmic-enhanced Anemo gave him the protection he needed from Durin's miasma to prowl onto the mechanical creation like a starved predator. He tore into Durin with his claws and teeth, even ripping out a few of its dermal plating in the process.
Durin, enduring constant attacks from all sides, witnessing its attacks miss or ignored, finally grew enraged. It roared with enough power to send both me and Dvalin flying back several meters. "YOU." It spoke towards me, voice mechanical and choppy and wrong. "BARBATOS, IMPOSSIBILITY. YOU WERE CORRUPTED BY THE ABYSS. DECREE OF PURIFICATION: INVALID."
Dvalin roared in laughter by my side. "Ha! You absolute fool! As if Barbatos would ever fall to your petty corruption!"
I froze instead. Because now I understood why Barbatos was nowhere to be seen in this Teyvat—he was dead, or worse. Purifying corruption wasn't something most gods were able to do, and it was only because of [Sunlight Healing] and my [Freedom Song: Awakening] that I was able to last so long against things like karma or Abyssal corruption.
But more than anything, why did that seem so…fAMiLiAr?
"Ugh!" I grit my teeth as I held my head. My head-, it hurt so much! It felt like my skull was being split open! It was definitely one of the worst headaches I'd ever felt, and I quickly began using [Sunlight Healing] to take the edge off.
"Barbatos!?" Dvalin quickly turned to me, his previous glee forgotten. "What is wrong, friend?"
"It's-, nothing." I took a slow breath, pulling my hand away. "Apologies, it seems my exhaustion is creeping up on me."
He nodded seriously. "Then we shall finish this." He roared into the skies, and his winds swirled even faster, causing the surrounding skies to descend into a hazardous storm covered in sharp winds and falling hail.
"THREAT ACKNOWLEDGED." Durin screeched back, and his dermal plates shifted apart, opening hundreds of seams across his body. "BEGIN OVERCLOCK." A bright red glow began permeating all across its body, and geysers of steam burst out of the new vents it opened. The air around it began to warp from the sheer heat it was releasing.
The spikes on its back broke off, floating just behind it and forming into asterisks, while several more spikes began slowly growing from its back. A cannon barrel grew out from each asterisk. The cannons grew red, before each asterisk shot out a beam of plasma towards us.
We quickly flew to evade the incoming beams, before I quickly turned and fired several sword-arrows at the asterisks. Most of the asterisks managed to evade, but some of them were caught and destroyed by my sword-arrows.
I narrowed my eyes. I knew I had to destroy them as they appeared, lest they overwhelm us both. "I'll focus on those asterisks!" I told him as I began firing more sword-arrows.
Dvalin grinned. "Thank you, my friend!" He roared loudly as he rushed in. Durin roared back in return as he met Dvalin's claws with its own, causing the air to reverberate with each strike. Dvalin's strikes dealt more damage now that Durin's dermal plating was weakened to allow better ventilation, but in return, Durin's strikes were more powerful. Both dragons quickly began acquiring wounds, spilling blood and oil and circuits.
My [Hawk Eyes] was constantly active as I used it to predict the asterisks' movement, destroying them before they could fire their cannons. Once more spikes broke off from Durin's back and formed into more asterisks, I would destroy them as well. And when I managed to destroy all asterisks before more could form, I would fire a drill-arrow at the less-defensive Durin.
We traded attacks for what felt like hours—a constant race as both dragons acquired more and more injuries. But Durin wasn't as lucky; his injuries were permanent, while I could occasionally fly in close and use [Sunlight Healing] on Dvalin to restore most of his injuries.
So it was inevitable that Durin would eventually slow down. Its body clocked to Overdrive, constantly sacrificing parts of itself to form asterisks, suffering devastating attacks from both Dvalin and I. It was only a matter of time before Durin became too injured for it to even consider escaping.
And so it did one final attack. A last effort to at least destroy its enemies along with itself.
Its mechanical body Overclocked far past what its body could handle. Its engines fizzled and began melting as the intense heat began melting through even the toughest materials. Light began pouring out of the hundreds of seams lining Durin's body, and arcs of lightning shot out from its crumbling body.
My instincts rang, louder than it ever had. "Dvalin!" I shouted, quickly filling the surrounding air with as much Anemo as I could, forming it into a protective bubble around us. Dvalin also noticed Durin's final struggle, and he roared as the storm condensed into the protective bubble, forming into another shield around us.
And then,
BOOM!
The world went white as Durin's body self-destructed, breaking into an explosion so massive it broke past the clouds. A ball of superheating plasma expanded across the ocean like a second sun, before it imploded into a giant mushroom cloud that rose above even the highest clouds.
The ensuing shockwave was a blast more powerful than most of Teyvat had ever experienced. The seabed was completely torn apart, the oceans blasted back and flung into the air, and any island in its path was completely decimated. It even reached a part of mainland, and the area that would've been known as Stormbearer Point was completely destroyed, sending it crashing into the ocean.
To the people of Mondstadt, it would've looked as if the clouds in the skies were pushed back by some force, before a massive gust blew across the city. The people screamed as they quickly held onto something or hid in their houses. Trees were uprooted, dirt and stone sent flying, and parts of Mondstadt's walls were even damaged.
And there, right next to the blast site, Dvalin and I struggled against the massive impact, pouring all our strength into making sure our shields held. Our struggle lasted only for seconds, but it'd felt like a lifetime.
Then, things finally grew quiet. The mushroom cloud began to fade, the shockwave passed, and the dust began to settle.
In the wake of that explosion, a massive basin formed around us, easily just as large as Mondstadt was. The ocean's water completely boiled out by the intense heat, while massive parts of the seabed were torn apart. The water from the surrounding ocean began pouring back in, but it'd take days or even weeks before the ocean fully recovered.
I took a shaky breath as I lowered my hands. My head felt light, and my vision was swimming. I'd never been as tired as I was now. As it turned out, using my power to defend was substantially harder than using it to attack.
"We did it." I whispered, before a tired smile graced my lips. "It's gone."
Dvalin chuckled next to me, his wings slightly drooped due to his exhaustion. "What a terrifying beast." He growled, both in anger and respect. "But we come out victorious as always, Barb-" His eyes grew wide. "Barbatos!?"
Hmm? What's wrong? Why was Dvalin so-, oh.
My body was fading.
[The Adventure's Mission has been completed!]
[The Adventure has now concluded. Beginning return…]
I smiled wryly as I examined my arms. My body was becoming translucent as I began breaking off into yellow lights. It almost reminded me of those fireworks Guizhong lit off last year. It was pretty—enchanting even.
What a beautiful way for this Storybook to end.
"My time has come." I spoke without thinking, though they seemed appropriate now. I smiled slightly. "This Story will now continue without me."
"Barbatos!? What do you-!?" I shook my head, and Dvalin finally fell quiet. "So this is it."
"I'm afraid so."
For a moment, anger came in the dragon's eyes. "You broke another promise." It whispered, hurt and betrayed. And though I'd never really met him or understood what he meant, it still felt as if my heart was stabbed.
I took a shaky breath. "I'm sorry." I breathed out.
His anger quickly faded. "No, there is no need." Dvalin looked out at our surroundings. At the skies that was slowly turning back blue, as if the calamity had ended once Durin was slain. "You saved us. Saved me." The dragon smiled sadly. "That is more than enough, my friend."
I smiled at him. My body was almost invisible now.
"Farewell, Dvalin." I said.
Then I vanished with one last spark.
And Dvalin could only roar into the skies, as one last celebration to the one who had saved him from the darkness all those years ago.
.
.
.
[Scenario: On that day, Lady Xinyue fell in battle against what would soon be called the Calamitous Creation, Durin. She sacrificed herself to protect Dvalin, before her essence scattered across all of Teyvat.
When Dvalin returned to Mondstadt, he secretly sought out Sir Rostam and Lady Rosalyne to inform them of Lady Xinyue's passing. Both were great friends despite the short time Lady Xinyue spent in Mondstadt, and it came up to their hands to inform the rest of the people of their savior's passing.
The city fell into a great period of mourning, but one spent in celebration. For in the words of Deputy Master Rostam, "Let us celebrate her life. Share in festivities in honor of the gift she had given us."
When the Cataclysm of Khaenri'ah ended, the seven Archons were reinstated into their regions, and Teyvat entered into a period of peace.
…
Secretly, known only to a selective few, they knew that Mondstadt had become the new region that lacked an Archon. There would be no Barbatos for them to pray to, and this was evident by how Anemo Visions soon became the rarest Vision for humans to ever attain.
But it seemed Barbatos had understood his own demise, and so he had never led his people directly. His people understood that Freedom gave them a choice, and they chose to live.
It went against everything Celestia wanted, and it would soon put Mondstadt under great surveillance.
But that was a tale for another day
The end.]