Chapter Text
a lonesome corrupted fox spirit from the heavens, a lesser god that was swallowed by the darkness and void of the abyss. childe, once a young mortal, was blessed and picked up by the divine hands of the gods, praised immensely by his peers, the fox spirit ruled under his own temple and was worshipped, mostly known among his citizens as the god of justice and purity.
he took upon many forms, but found comfort in the appearance of a male in his youth: a tall lean body that towered and intimidated anyone at an appropriate ten feet, long nails that can pierce right through skin. bright auburn long locks that fell down his shoulders and landed on his tailbone, leading to his tail that curled upwards, fluffed and softened as he constantly brushed it, a white patch adorning the ends of his tail. his ears perked up above his head, the same colour as his hair but just like his tail, white patches were at the tip of his fluffy ears, his pale skin that glittered under the sun, and dark royal blue eyes that made sapphires paled upon comparison. walking among the commonfolk, he was loved by the citizens and was given great respect, but that happiness among his people didn't last very long.
there was a war that shook the andromeda to the core, a war that lasted centuries and a war that costed the lives among many. the war finally seized to an end; although it was a victory, many were left without a home, without a family, without a conscience state of mind — devastated, the fox spirit watched his people crumble and crawl to his feet for his help — not knowing what to do, he sook help from the beings that helped him in the first place, celestia.
"please," he begged continuously, his knees now weak from the constant kneeling. "i beg of you! they are only mortals, they cannot withstand the corruption of the abyss. the darkness spreads fast and if we don't move fast the - " he was caught off by a hand, he looked up at the divine being with hope littered in his eyes. all he could do was hope.
"i understand your concern, childe, but you mustn't interfere, these are the fates of the mortals and they are to be punished accordingly for their mistakes. you may leave now, do not mention this again, be a good boy for us now, just like you've been all these years." the beings voice rumbled across the pearly walls.
"wait! but these are my people, they are not to be punished for such things!" childe growled
"how foolish! how dare you talk back! you are but a mere lowly god! fox spirits like you should just sit and obey." another voice boomed around the palace, strong malice laced the words
"silence! if you disobey my orders, huli jing, there will be consequences, i am only taking pity upon you because you are my friends only child. do not make me repeat myself!"
and with that being said, the meeting between the divine ended. the huli jing's tail being tucked between his legs, his bare feet dragging.
now in his temple, healing the corrupted, he sighed as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"master childe! please help us!"
his ears perked up and immediately caught up with the voice, the sight making his stomach churn.
a corpse now fully corrupted lay on the ground screeching in pain, he had to do something about it fast; but, how? he couldn't know, if he could store the corruption somewhere and purify it, that would be the easiest way to get rid of all of the abyss elements.
ah!
that's it! he can just consume the abyss and darkness into his body! he can easily get rid of the corruption from the mortals if he just purified it with his pure divine body!
the fox spirit quickly gathered all of his sickly citizens into his temple, removing his robes and only leaving one thinly layer of his robe. he began his ceremonious dance, stepping around and consuming the corruption into his body and purifying the elements within his body. feeling strong pains against his core he slightly hesitated with his steps, but continued to power through and recommence the ceremony.
he slightly shook as he finished with the dance, satisfied that all of his citizens were now safe from the corruption of the lands. he began to perform many other ceremonies across the lands that were once corrupted by the evil now finding relief, where there once was dark and crumbled grounds, was now replaced with a greenery scene that left people dancing among the flowers.
although, unbeknownst by his people, he himself was now becoming corrupted, little by little his justices and a strong precision of innocence ruled no more in his mind, his citizens beginning to notice their gods odd behavior and his change in appearance, they began to fear him — shoving refined weapons against the god's servants and protesting, demanding the god to move far from his land — the god only feeling betrayed, anger cruised through his veins, but only then cooling down as he took a deep breathe and abided by his people's wishes; now living in a secluded mountain top, an abandoned temple that once belonged to the god of the earth, he prayed everyday every noon, to the god to lessen the calamity that tainted his
consciousness.
though, these prayers eased and postponed his deadly fate, these attempts were only futile as the corruption only seemed to get stronger by day, the god now giving up and letting the corruption fully swallow him.
now engulfed by the corruption, the huli jing made one last conscious command to his servants before he locked himself into the temple.
"you must .. call upon celestia .. tell her that she must send morax after me .. i do not think these temple walls will ..... be strong enough to withhold my strength ... once i have lost my control .. please take care of ... my people .... our people .... you must never let any .. danger come upon them ... if it is i ... who you must defeat ... do not worry .. do not hesitate ... and thank you in advance ... my dearest good friends ... rosalyne and eien ... you have been amazing companions. please put up a good fight ... just like the old times."
the huli jing chuckled as he closed the doors to the temple, sealing the doors and casting a strong shield to keep anyone out of the vicinity, but also meant to keep him trapped.
"we must hurry and call upon celestia, we don't have much time before the lord loses complete control, it is just our luck that the statue is broken. tsk" a servant with purple hair spoke, sucking his teeth with a deep scowl on his face.
"don't worry, there's a statue near the city and its the closest one, lets go."
they ventured to the statue in hurried paces, now in view of the statue, they kneeled in front of it, voicing their frantic concerns.
"lord of geo! morax, we call upon thee for your help! our lesser known god is need of your help! he is ... he is engulfed by the corruption of the abyss.." rosalyne's voice trembled, her usual poised and elegant stature now reduced to that of nothing but a pitiful maiden.
at those last few words, a large presence made an appearance behind their backs, his voice stern and eyebrows knitted in a tight scowl.
"lead the way."
the trio then made their trip back to the temple, there was a dark mist blanketing the run down building, circling at fast speeds.
"you must stay behind, all of that is circling is corruption, i am going to purify it and i want you to alert any nearby lesser gods." morax gripped his spear as he sent the two off, looking up at his temple with his expression now softening, "how foolish." he shook his head as he jumped up, using rocks as leverage to catch him as he made his way up.
"how surprising, you actually came! i didn't think you'd care about a mere fox spirit like me." a hiss followed those words as childe walked out of the temple, his appearance was now dark and solemn. his bright auburn hair was now a dark brown, his blue jeweled eyes were now dulled and worked out of their shine, his pale skin was tainted and marked by a black and purple mist that stuck to his skin.
"do need not to degrade yourself, you did what you had to do and it was an honorable decision, however..."
"i have gone against the divine and helped people who needed me the most. how sick and twisted." he spat, gritting his teeth and baring his sharp fangs at the other.
"you must accept defeat and face your punishment!" morax swung his spear, pointing the sharp end at the other.
"you'll have to fight me to get me on my knees." he growled before running towards morax and scratching him on the cheek.
that waged a war between the gods, it lasted for almost a year, they were breaching their limit until a fateful night, morax' spear stabbed the heart of the huli jing.
"thank you... for everything.." the huli jing's last words weighed morax down, dropping with childe in his arms, droplets of rain falling from the night sky, showering down on both males. the blood was washed away with the rain. carrying the corpse of his old friend, he walked up the stairs of his temple.
morax placed childe down, pressing his hands against his chest and cleansing him from the corruption he had faced, freeing his friend from the suffering he so endured. the soul of the huli jing rose from the corpse and smiled down at morax, bowing his head in a respectful manner before scattering his soul across the land.
"until we meet again, ajax."
......
"WAAAAAAAA!" a child's cries rang out through the ears of the people around it.
zhongli, best known as morax, held the child in his arms and chuckled, bouncing the child on his lap.
"don't weep, my dear xiao." he pat xiao's back.
"but... but that means the huli jing is dead! and .. and that means he's gone! he was father's friend!" the boy sniffled against the other man's coat.
"he is not completely gone, he has a chance to reincarnate, it has only been a century since his last sightings." zhongli reassured the boy, "say... where has ganyu run off to?"
"ah! she said that she met a man near the waters of the qingce! but she wasn't very clear on who the man was... she just said that he was very nice and very handsome? oh! and that he had really fluffy dog ears." the boy gleefully explained to zhongli's terror.
zhongli paled, quickly materializing his spear and cutting into the air, moving into the portal he had created. xiao still cradled on his arm.
he scanned the area, before spotting two black horns on light blue hair running around, he quickly ran down the mountains of the qingce and pointed his spear towards the mysterious man's back. ganyu shrieked and grabbed onto her father's robs.
"father wait! he's not dangerous." she pulled onto his robes, zhongli unmoving.
"you have such an adorable batch, morax, how come you never came to tell me? it wounds me you know, i thought we bonded during our battle!" the man turned towards zhongli, a smile adorning his face. grabbing the spear from his hands, he hugged both xiao and zhongli. "im back." he whispered against the shell of zhongli's ear.
zhongli's muscles relaxed against the other man's hold, shoving his face into the crook of his neck.
"welcome back, childe."