Chapter Text
Amber frantically looked through the storm clouds and tornadoes in an attempt to spot the traveler and Paimon. She hadn’t anticipated the traveler to be swept up by a tornado and she had only just given him a windglider so she knew he wasn’t proficient in using it. She had seen the traveler wield Anemo earlier though she didn’t spot a vision, she assumed it was hidden on his person.
Her train of thought was abruptly cut off by the cries of the distressed citizens. Amber was used to the procedure to get everyone inside but it didn’t make it any less heart breaking each time she did it. Amber’s vision suddenly blurred, all she saw last before passing out was someone running to catch her.
***
Aether hadn’t expected to be caught in the tornadoes, he internally thanked Amber for the windglider. He heard Paimon question something but another voice interrupted for a moment before mysteriously vanishing.
Aether suddenly started to feel dizzy before abruptly fainting with his body disappearing. He left behind the distressed Paimon who would soon repeat his same actions and vanish.
***
It was as if something had intervened in Stormterror’s path, the dragon quickly fled back to his lair. This action would have normally caused relief to the citizens but more panic spread throughout the crowds due to the obvious lack of citizens. The crowd eventually calmed down and opted to reach out to their fellow nations, little did they know that they weren’t the only people affected by this strange phenomenon.
***
In Liyue’s case, they had been having strange disappearances all day. The people who disappeared didn’t all seem to have one thing in common. It would range from the daughter of the owner of the Wamnin restaurant to the Tianquan of Liyue Qixing herself.
The citizens first attempted to contact the adepti but to their horror, not a single one remained. That had been several hours ago, they just received a letter from Mondstadt with Inazuma’s coming shortly after.
***
Inazuma was struggling the most amongst the five nations due to having contacted any other nations since the beginning of the vision hunt decree. They also were missing many influential people including the Tri-commissioners and the Raiden Shogun herself. They sent out letters to the other six nations to hopefully get some assistance.
The first to reply had been Liyue which arrived in a week, Mondstadt replied shortly afterwards. Sumeru came third with surprisingly Snezhnaya answering last. They received no replies from Fontaine nor Natlan.
***
The sages were in a state of panic. The Dendro archon had seemingly broken out of her cage yet they couldn’t find any evidence to prove it. These sages would soon disappear too, leading Sumeru to contact their neighboring nations. They received a reply detailing how the same situation had been happening all over Tevyat.
The five nations managed to calm down the situation in the meantime. They launched an investigation that was currently still ongoing.
***
Aether awoke in an unfamiliar room filled with unconscious strangers. He spotted Paimon who seemed to be sleeping, drool running out of her mouth. Aether picked up Paimon and attempted to reach for his weapon. To his surprise, he couldn’t summon the dull blade no matter how much he tried. Paimon woke up and hugged Aether immediately.
“Paimon thought you had left her,” she said in between her sobs.
Aether could only pat her head, unable to come up with words to comfort her.
The sound of murmurs and groans could be heard all throughout the giant room. Aether looked around the room and spotted a small white envelope. He opened the envelope and found a letter written in the Tevaytian language. There was an issue though, Aether could only speak the Tevaytian language, he couldn’t read it.
“Ooh, Paimon can read it!” An eager Paimon exclaimed.
She swooped in and snatched the letter from Aether’s hand.
Clearing her throat, she started to read out the content.
“Dear Tevaytain citizens and others,
I have taken all of your weapons and deactivated visions to prevent any violence. I have brought you all here today to see what the future will hold, this is to prevent many grievances from happening. I have split the room into seven sections depending on the nation. If you’re not from any of the seven nations then make your way towards the Mondstadt section. Bathrooms are located on the left. If anyone needs anything, just say it aloud.
Sincerely, A friend.”
Paimon finished reading the letter for all to hear. People attempted to reach for their weapons or activate their visions but their efforts came to no avail.
The new information caused alarm for everyone present. The leader of each nation attempted to calm down their citizens but their efforts were fruitless.
A strange letter suddenly floated down into the hands of a young woman with a purple braid. Ei opened the letter and read it.
She then immediately let out a giant burst of power, only uttering the words, “Quiet!”
Very few individuals weren’t affected, the majority of the room went quiet and sat down on the hard floor.
Aether made his way to the back of the Mondstadt section, finding himself right by a boy with two braids, the tips dyed green. Aether found the boy to be familiar but he couldn’t place his hand on it.
A black screen was projected in the middle of the room, a video began playing.