Celestial chains that must not be broken

by fauna_the_fox

Summary:

Have you ever wondered what would happen if Zhongli broke a contract? Is he even capable of breaking a contract? Lumine and Paimon make an attempt to find out.

Notes:

This took me forever to begin writing. I started this back in June of 2022 and took this long to finally get the first chapter done. I decided to hurry up and get this out before the game updates and actually tells us the answer to this question. Thanks to my bestie for giving me this brainworm! This is also my first fanfic on ao3!

Chapter 1: A series of contracts is made

The sprawling archway leading to the entrance of liyue harbor happily greets every traveler and liyuen to its bustling city. Two guards stand on each side of the entryway and boredly chit chat as they stand guard. A child plays with a dog as she waits for her parents to finish preparing for their journey. Some people walking to and from the city take a quick glance at two travelers, one flying and the other very oddly dressed.

 

“Quick question Traveler,” Paimon drawled as she and the traveler re-entered Liyue “what do you think would happen if Mister Zhongli broke a contract?”

 

Lumine pauses her quick stride and stares down at the wooden boards of the bridge in contemplation. Paimon continued to float towards the harbor until she realized that her companion had stopped. Turning back around, Paimon flies back to Lumine and waits patiently for a response. Remembering the last time she interrupted Lumine while she was thinking and had nearly been cooked alive. Paimon really thought the emergency food joke was getting old and tired. After a while, Paimon notices that Lumine seems to be mostly done thinking.

 

“Honestly? I don’t know,” Lumine's face creased in extreme thought “Zhongli didn’t even break the contract he has about khaenri'ah to help me find my brother so I doubt that it’s even possible for him to break one.”

 

“Paimon bets that it is possible since he broke the contract with Wanyan and Kliment.” 

 

“Well no, technically he didn’t. Kliment broke that contract and then Wanyan broke it. He only punished the two and didn’t actually break the terms of the contract.”

 

Paimon crossed her arms while also staring at the ground. Thoughts were swirling so much in the floating being’s head that Lumine could swear she saw steam rising from Paimon’s head. Before Paimon’s head could explode from using too many brain cells, Lumine spoke up.

 

“Well how about this? We make a contract that Zhongli has to break and see what happens from there.” Lumine says as she tries to distract Paimon.

 

Paimon visibly brightens in excitement at the idea, “Let’s make this a competition then too! If Paimon makes the contract that master Zhongli breaks then you have to… have tooooo” Paimon glances around and suddenly appears to have an epiphany “Have to stop calling Paimon emergency food!”

 

Lumine groans and rolls her eyes at the childish request “well fine, but if I win you have to stop begging for food every time we enter a new region… and pay for your first meal in each new region we visit.”

 

The two have a staring contest that speaks more words than they could possibly ever communicate. Passersby glance warily at the strange pair before rushing to reach past the two. Finally, after much mental back and forth, Lumine and Paimon reach an agreement with their victory terms. The two quickly head towards the harbor, not knowing what they might unleash.

 

—

 

“Is something wrong Xiansheng? You look as if I just placed a bowl of my world-famous Calla Lilly soup in front of you.” Childe asks while he attempts to grab a piece of pork with his chopsticks.

 

“I just had an unpleasant feeling that someone is about to ruin my plans of retirement and pester me more than Miss Hu Tao does,” Zhongli mutters while sipping his tea.

 

The two were enjoying a nice meal at Wanmin restaurant. Xiangling rushes from table to table with each customer's order. Guoba carrying utensils and napkins to help ease the burden for Xiangling. Zhongli and Childe had finally arranged a chance to eat together after not having the opportunity to for weeks. They had made up just a few months ago and happily resumed their relationship. 

 

“Oh it can’t possibly be that bad, you can’t just waste away your retirement in boredom forever.” Childe angrily fumbles with his chopsticks “how can you possibly use these cursed things? Not even fatui training was as hard as learning these.”

 

Laughing Zhongli reaches over and corrects Childe’s improper technique in holding the twin sticks of wood. After the correction, Childe is able to grasp a jade parcel successfully and smiles in triumph. 

 

“It’s not a matter of excitement in my life, this seems to be a tad more sinister… though moving on from that subject, I saw the most extraordinary carving of Rex lapis made from the highest quality of cor lapis.”

 

“And let me guess you had no mora on you so you’re asking me to cough up the mora for such a thing.” Childe sighs and reaches towards his pocket to check how much mora he was currently carrying on him.

 

“Ah no actually,” the statue is swiftly placed upon the table. “I saved up the mora to buy it. I had been eyeing it for a while and was finally able to make the purchase today.”

 

The cor lapis statue shines brilliantly in the light of the sun. Its highly detailed chisling showing off the mastery of its maker. The statue seemed to be in the middle of weaving its way through clouds made of slightly off color cor lapis. The scales of the red lapis statue individually carved seemed to almost look real and soft to the touch. Some curious restaurant customers peek in surprise and envy at the statue.

 

“Now I feel a horrible feeling. The Zhongli able to buy such a fancy statue? You also had mora saved up?” Childe scoffs, inspecting the small statue “the world must truly be ending soon for such an event to occur”

 

“I may be bad at remembering to bring mora on my person but I do in fact have a sizable savings account. The audacity to even assume that I have no more to my name,” Zhongli huffs and then pauses “you don’t think… does everyone in liyue harbor assume I’m broke when I’m not with you?”

 

Childe leans back in his chair and crosses his arms “I’ve seen people get disappointed when I pass by their stalls and I’m not with you, so I assume so.”

 

“I will have to remember bringing my wallet with me more often then. It unnerves me to be known as someone without a single mora to their name.” Zhongli swiftly puts the statue away again.

 

“Well don’t count on me to pay for every purchase now that I know you can actually manage your finances well enough to buy something like this. Where are you even going to put it?”

 

“I can make room for i-“ Zhongli turns towards the high-pitched voice that suddenly cuts across their conversation.

 

“Mister Zhongli!” Paimon waved from a distance.

 

“Paimon it’s rude to shout in such a public space” Lumine hissed as the two approached their table.

 

“We were wondering if you cou-, ” Paimon glared at the harbinger in the midst of his dinner. “ CHILDE ! What are you still doing in Liyue??”

 

“Eating dinner with my dear friend Zhongli but of course!” Childe smiled and leaned forward “But, you know I’m always game for a fight traveler.” His smile turned just a bit more strained as his grip on the table tightened.

 

Lumine quickly assumes a defensive stance and gets her hand ready to summon her sword. Paimon nervously looks between the two and makes a pointed look at Zhongli. Zhongli sees the look for what it is and stops his calm chewing to try and intervene.

 

“Perhaps not here Childe?” Zhongli questioned as he wiped his mouth with a napkin “Paimon obviously has something important on her mind. So why don’t you go pay the bill while I have a talk with them?” Childe startled and looked at Zhongli before stomping off to go pay the bill. Not before calling out a quick “this will be the last time I pay!” as he leaves.

 

“Now that he’s gone we can discuss without the threat of violence.” 

 

“Well, we wanted to uhh… make a contract with you!” Paimon stuttered, not looking directly at Zhongli.

 

“A contract? Will this be for consulting purposes?” Zhongli tilted his head in question. Looking between the two as this would be a strange request to be nervous about. 

 

“Yes, consulting!” Lumine tried saving Paimon from further embarrassment. “We needed consulting on the best places to find cor lapis.”

 

“Well that’s hardly worthy of a contract as I can simply tell y-“

 

“A constantly updating list of places to find cor lapis.” Lumine interrupted

 

“Ah,” Zhongli said, thinking of his newly acquired statue, “that would be slightly more challenging. I suppose a contract would be necessary for a list such as that.”

 

“Yep! So let’s get to writing up this contract!” Paimon smiled.

——

 

Several months later Paimon and the traveler mined just about every spot that contained cor lapis. With heavy arms, they dropped yet another pile of cor lapis into their overfull storage room in the teapot.

 

“I can’t believe we couldn’t get Zhongli with that contract! He gave us a new list of locations every day! Even when you went back to Inazuma.” Paimon whined and flopped on the couch the traveler kept in the house.

 

“You have to admit it’s impressive that all the locations he listed had ample supply of cor lapis for us to mine every day. I think we might crash the cor lapis economy if we were to sell all of this now…” Lumine said while surveying the amount of cor lapis they acquired.

 

A single piece of cor lapis tumbles towards the bottom of one of the many piles of the gem. Sending the whole pile scattering into the other piles of cor lapis. Paimon and Lumine both cringe as the sound of stone scraping on stone continues. Finally, after it all stops they look up to see the carefully stored room in disarray. Lumine closes the door with an air of “that’s tomorrow me’s problem now”. Paimon twirls around and pretends it never happened.

 

“Well let’s think of another contract for Zhongli!” Paimon beamed as she quickly floated around and grabbed paper and pens.

 

“Alright, I mean there isn’t a downside to us losing this round of contracts” Lumine shrugged and grabbed a pen from Paimon’s waiting hand.

 

———

 

After several more attempts at getting Zhongli to break his contract, the two discuss how to do so in the travelers teapot. Paimon flies around in circles for a bit, thinking after their last attempt failed and just had them digging in dirt for a while. She suddenly stops and exclaims in excitement.

 

“Paimon has an idea!” 

 

“What’s your idea today?” Lumine crosses her arms in a huff. The dirt from the last contract was still stuck in her fingernails and sleeves.

 

“Zhongli can’t talk about anything from Liyue for… 4 hours!” Paimon declares with joy.

 

“And how do you expect to get him to agree to that?” Lumine raises an eyebrow in suspicion “He’s a consultant for all things Liyue.”

 

“We could phrase it as a challenge?” Paimon shrugs “Either way this contract will do it!”

 

“Fine, but you’re going to be the one to show Zhongli this contract.” Lumine says while walking towards the exit of the teapot to head to the funeral parlor.

 

“Wait for Paimon!” The pixie darts to catch up with the blond.

 

The two greet the ferry lady outside the parlor and walk inside the slightly macabre lobby. Traditional funeral bouquets sprawl across the area leading towards a coffin viewing room and a long hallway. Lumine and Paimon quickly walk down the hallway, trying to avoid hu tao currently advertising one of their coffins to a grieving mother. Paimon lightly knocks on the ornate door with Zhongli’s name carved into a golden plaque. The sound of a chair quickly being moved, rushed and heavy footsteps rapidly approaching answer the small knock. Paimon worriedly glances at Lumine before the door slams open.

 

“For the LAST time hu tao I will not put on that silly costu-“ Zhongli finally looks at the two at his door. Realizing that’s probably the maddest they’ve ever seen him.

 

“Ah…. You’re… not hu tao. You wouldn’t have been sent by her to get me in a costume?” Zhongli narrows his eyes at the idea. A shudder running through him. “I know the business is a bit desperate for customers but surely we’re not THAT desperate.”

 

“Uhhh no…” Lumine looks at Zhongli and then Paimon with a question in her eyes. “We came to tell you we no longer need the previous contract and to also propose a new one to you. What costume are you even talking about?”

 

Zhongli’s eyes widen then red flushes across his face before he answers. “Since you don’t seem to realize what I’m talking about. You really don’t need to know.” His face screams to not ask any more questions.

 

“Allllright…” Paimon says “well it’s not much of a contract as it is a challenge for you mister Zhongli!”

 

“A challenge?”

 

“Yep! Paimon wrote it down on this paper!” She hands the page over to Zhongli.

 

“Do not speak of anything from or pertaining to Liyue for 4 hours?” Zhongli reads, casting a suspicious look at Paimon.

 

“See the traveler said that she thinks you can’t do it! So Paimon decided to make this challenge for you to prove the traveler wrong!” Paimon says playfully glaring at Lumine, not so subtly trying to hint at her to play along.

 

“Yeah, honestly Zhongli you always ramble on and on about Liyue that I think this will be impossible.”  Lumine challenges “but I can see why you wouldn’t agree to this. It’s clearly too difficult.”

 

“You both realize that my job requires me to ‘ramble on about Liyue’,” Zhongli air quotes “right?”

 

“Yeah but just for 4 hours! You can avoid hu tao during that time since you will be on a consulting job technically!” Paimon flutters her eyes

 

“I can’t po-“ Zhongli starts.

 

“OOoooooh zhonnngliii!!!” Hu tao calls from down the hallway. “I had some modifications done to the costume for you~! It’s floppy-eared now!” 

 

Zhongli’s face pales before he pushes Lumine and Paimon towards the back exit. Trying in vain to avoid them seeing the costume.

 

“Floppy what now?” Lumine turned her head over her shoulder to try and catch a glimpse of the costume hu tao is holding.

 

“Floppy eared! It’s a bunny costume!” Hu tao answers with a grin on her face “I heard that this celebration involving rabbits was all the rage and so what better way to advertise than to have our esteemed consultant wear a bunny consulting to celebrate!”

 

“A WHAT?” Paimon screeches escaping Zhongli’s shoving and his attempts to stop her from flying to hu tao “Paimon HAS to see!”

 

Hu tao reaches to show the costume to the pair before Zhongli grabs the two, covering their eyes, and runs out the back door. He releases the two before glancing back nervously.

 

“Alright alright! I’ll accept this challenge! Please just don’t ask any more about the costume!” Zhongli pleads with the two, eyes darting back and forth between them and the imminent doom of hu tao.

 

“Well, not exactly how we wanted this to go down but alright!” Paimon smiles and tilts her head.

 

Zhongli sighs before opening the door to a slightly amused hu tao.

 

“The esteemed Zhongli running from lil’ ol me?” Hu tao blinks innocently, placing her hand on her chest in a mock form of offense “I’m so deeply offended!”

 

“I’m so sorry to say this,” Zhongli looks not the least bit apologetic “but I have a contract to uphold. So I will take my leave. Let’s go, traveler, Paimon”

 

The three leave while hu tao looks at the bunny costume. “Well what am I going to do with this now?”

——

“So I’m not allowed to say anything about… ah… I doubt I’ll be able to even say its name.” Zhongli sighs

 

“That was pretty close Zhongli! But you can’t say a single word about Liyue!” Paimon reminds the ex god

 

“Hmmm, what’s a topic I can talk about…” Zhongli ponders before brightening “ Childe is a safe topic. Is he not?”

 

“Well I guess since he’s not from Liyue…” Lumine shrugs as they walk to their commission.

 

“Perfect! I finally have the chance to share how lovely he is. Did you know that he can’t go to sleep without something to cuddle? It’s really the most adorable thing. I have to be careful around a sleepy Childe because he’ll latch onto the closest thing radiating heat.”

 

“Huh,” Lumine blinked “a harbinger needs to cuddle to go to sleep… what happens when he doesn’t cuddle with something?”

 

“Oh, he becomes the most grumpiest thing I’ve ever seen.” Zhongli says with a soft smile “And he becomes so clingy to the point where I can’t even leave the house without him latching onto me in some way. Oh, and did you know that he hums when he cooks?”

 

“It brightens my mornings when Childe decides to cook breakfast. His voice is always so melodic as it floats through the air. Somehow it sounds just as soothing as the rain after a long dry spell.” Zhongli further rambles as they walk “and when he really focuses on cooking he starts to do this dance where-“

 

“He … sure has a lot to say about Childe doesn’t he?” Lumine whispers in Paimon’s ear as Zhongli continues to walk ahead and ramble.

 

“Yeah, but he has to eventually switch to another topic right?” Paimon warily looks at Zhongli. Oh how wrong she would be as two hours later Zhongli is still rambling about the harbinger.

 

“And because of his excellent hair routine, Childe’s hair is always so luxurious and tangle-free. Your fingers can just glide through as his hair shimmers in different shades of reds and oranges. Sometimes I get lost in the hues while I pet his hair for hours on en-“

 

“Shut up shut up shut up!” Lumine shouts while 

 covering her ears “you’ve been rambling about Childe for the past two HOURS! I know more about Childe and his habits than he does at this point!”

 

“Oh but I haven’t even gotten to his devotion to his family! Speaking of, did you know that he has 3 younger siblings he adores? You’ve met Teucer I’m sure as he constantly asks about you! But the other two are really jealous that Teucer got to meet the famous traveler and her flying companion.” Zhongli continues to ramble on and on as they head back to Liyue

 

“Traveler! Make him stop! Please!” Paimon wails as she also tries to block his voice.

 

“How about we talk about something else Zhongli??” Lumine begs “uhhh how about something from Inazuma?”

 

“Hmm well I do not know much about Inazuma I’m afraid to admit. Though didn’t you meet Childe there while he was on a mission? He never did tell me about what happened other than the fact that he met you.” Zhongli tilts his head “It pained me greatly to watch him leave for a foreign land far away. Especially one so hostile to the fatui at the time. I feared that with Childe’s bloodlust he might have challenged the Raiden shogun to a duel and end with a similar fate as signora. Though-“

 

“How much LONGER??” Paimon whines, dropping her head on Lumine’s shoulder, “somehow he’s talking about both Childe AND Inazuma”

 

“Just… two more hours….” Lumine struggles to pick up her feet. The endless ramblings about Childe slowly weighing her down. Finally, they reach Liyue harbor and the contract's time has ended.

 

Zhongli interrupts his monologue about Childe’s cleaning habits as he looks towards the sun’s positioning. “Ah, I believe that marks the end of the contract.” He sighs. “I never realized how much I’ve been bottling these feelings of adoration for Childe. I feel so much lighter.”

 

Lumine and Paimon on the other hand feel more exhausted than ever. Both silently agreeing to always have a time limit on their contracts, lest something worse than what happened today lasts for longer than they ever would want it to.

 

—

After several, and several more failed contracts, the pair had just about to give up when Paimon had a small stroke of genius.

 

“What a simple little contract Paimon. I will gladly accept your terms,” Zhongli smiles and chuckles a bit as he continued “May this contract be binding and set in stone”

 

“Paimon thinks that this contract will be more difficult than you realize!” The tiny morsel of emergency food declares with a huff. Crossing her arms and turning her head slightly.

 

“Paimon, he’s the god of contracts . At this point we should just give up.” Lumine mutters while rolling her eyes.

 

“Ah! Paimon will have you know that she’s not done trying to make a contract that can fool Zhongli!” Paimon aggressively whispers. Floating in front of Lumine while stomping her little feet.

 

Zhongli ponders what the traveler and Paimon could be discussing so angrily. He watches with slight amusement as the tiny being seems to be getting more and more upset with every response the traveler gives. Gazing upon the scenery around them, he breathes in the fresh scent of sweet flowers, campfire, and freshly cut sandbearer wood. Zhongli closes his eyes and sighs before abruptly looking up. Campfire? Scanning the area, Zhongli continues to question the sudden smell of a campfire.

Why would the smell of a campfire be near here? There are no fires nearby to produce the smell. Unless…it was the scent of a pyro user. Zhongli noticed the slight distortion rapidly approaching the still bickering traveler and Paimon.

 

“Traveler! Paimon! Look out!” Zhongli exclaims while summoning his polearm. Readying himself for combat, quickly summoning a jade shield to protect the Traveler and Paimon. The traveler summons her sword. Scanning for the threat that Zhongli saw. Paimon bursts into a shower of stars and sparkles. Successfully hiding in the traveler's shadow. 

 

The pyro agent finally shows himself with a brandishing of his daggers. Rings of fire appear and circle around the agent. Clearly upset about being spotted before his successful attack, he throws a knife imbued with pyro towards Zhongli while rushing the traveler. 

 

Zhongli ducks under the knife as it whisks by. Glaring at the pyro agent, Zhongli throws his polearm. It lands in the agent’s arm with a sickening crunch and a quick shout of agony. Though not before the traveler also attempts a strike but lands nothing but air. The agent clutching his bleeding arm quickly creates distance while still remaining a threat. Suddenly a red copy of the agent appears.

 

“Shoot not this trick.” Lumine groans while swiveling her head for a glimpse of the agent.

 

Zhongli, confused about this tactic, is too focused on why Lumine isn’t facing the enemy any longer to realize that the agent was right behind him. Swiftly bringing down his dagger, the agent almost lands a hit on the ex-god only to have his arm rebound painfully off of a jade shield.

 

“A simple attack like that isn’t going to do much,” Zhongli says turning around “my shield is quite unbreakable”

 

Growling in frustration, the agent disappears again, leaving another red copy behind. The two quickly go back to back to prevent any more surprise attacks. Not realizing this was making it easier on the pyro agent. 

 

The pyro agent darts from his hidden position towards Lumine. She quickly dodges by jumping to the side, leaving the pyro agent to strike Zhongli’s shield again. Zhongli turns around to swing his polearm at the pyro agent and misses the agent by a hair. The pyro agent darts backwards and summons another copy and disappears yet again. 

 

This song and dance continues for a while, with Lumine dodging so the pyro agent hits Zhongli’s shield and neither one of them landing a successful blow on the agent before he disappears. All three eventually start getting tired of how dragged out this fight is becoming. The pyro agent however starts chuckling as he returns to being invisible after his last attack.

 

Panting from exhaustion the traveler notes that there are six copies of the pyro agent. Before she can warn Zhongli about the upcoming attack, the pyro agent moves into action. The clones quickly start attacking the two while the real agent charges forward with his downward slash attack. Lumine cries out as the attack gashes her arm and falls to the ground in pain. Now knowing where the agent is, Zhongli finally subdues the agent. Making him turn invisible and run away to lick his wounds. Finally sure the area is secure, Zhongli turns his attention to Lumine. Summoning some gauze from his pocket, he starts dressing Lumine's wounds.

 

“I am deeply sorry that I couldn’t prevent harm to you,” Zhongli says while wrapping Lumine’s arm.

 

“I-it’s fine,” Lumine hisses. “ I’m a bit surprised that a pyro agent was even out here. Thought the fatui wouldn’t leave agents in the middle of nowhere”

 

Zhongli squints and pauses. That is odd how the pyro agent was this close to Azdaha's resting place. The area couldn’t be of much use to the fatui and it isn’t in between any trade routes. “Zhongli?”  So what could be the possible reason for the fatui agent to have been here? He fled towards the east but that’s directly into jueyun karst. “Zhonnglii?” That area isn’t safe at all for any fatui after what happened with Osial. The adepti surely would maim the agent before he got close to any saf-. 

 

“Zhongli!” He snaps his head up from the traveler's arm.

 

“You’ll have to excuse me. I was just thinking over why the fatui would even be out here.” Zhongli sheepishly responds. “It’s practically the middle of nowhere and yet there’s a fatui presence out here? It’s very curious.”

 

“I guess,” Lumine shrugs “I’ll just have to have a ‘talk’ with Childe about this”

 

That brings a smile to Zhongli’s face “There’s no need. I’ll have that talk”

 

Paimon blinks into existence with a shower of stars. “Is the agent gone? No one is hurt, right? Your arm!” She floats down towards Lumine's injured arm and gently places her small hands near it. “Does it hurt too bad?”

 

“No, thanks to Zhongli it barely hurts!“ Lumine proudly raises her arm in a show of good health. 

 

“Whew, that's a relief” Paimon sighs. 

 

“Yes, it is a relief. Shall we head back to Liyue harbor?” Zhongli helps Lumine stand.

 

“We have some business with Ningguang that needs to be taken care of so do you mind if we go to the jade palace on our way back?” Lumine asks while swinging her arm around to test its motion.

 

“That is agreeable,” Zhongli smiles, not knowing that those three simple words would lead to his doom.

——

 

“Ah, traveler. Paimon. And mister Zhongli?” Ninguang rises from her chair to greet the three, a hint of unease on her face. “While I have matters with the traveler and Paimon I do not know why you are here mister Zhongli…”

 

“I was just accompanying the two while they went on their task” Zhongli answers while backing off. Knowing that his presence disturbs the woman. No one likes anything associated with death after all.

 

Zhongli waits off to the side while Lumine and Paimon discuss business with Ningguang. They go back and forth for a while but eventually end on a mutual agreement. Well mutual is a strong term. More like Ningguang used her expert manipulation tactics to get exactly what she wanted from the two and have them think they wanted the same thing.

 

“Paimon noticed you got new floors! They look lovely!” Paimon exclaims in awe while admiring the floors.

 

“Yes, they truly are. I visited Mondstat and just had to get tile flooring. It seemed elegant yet simple.” Ningguang answers looking at her floors lovingly “it’s a shame captain Beidou can be reckless at times”

 

“Reckle-“ Paimon cuts herself off as she spots something. Pulling the traveler's ear close so that no one may hear “Paimon is going to win~” 

 

Lumine takes one confused look at her, wondering how Zhongli could possibly break a contract while in the jade chamber. Through action or inaction, it was proven time and time again that Zhongli was physically incapable of breaking contracts. So what could have Paimon smiling like the cat that finally had a hold of the mouse it’s been chasing? 

 

“Well, we best get going,” Lumine says while looking at Paimon with suspicion “we have things to do in the harbor that require attending.”

 

“Ah yes and do be careful on your way out,” Ningguang waves with a smile “there’s a small cra-”

 

The crunch of tile resonates loudly in everyone’s ear. Paimon just smiles even more like the sound is as pleasing to her as a fresh meal. Zhongli is as still as the very statues in his image that dot the land. Lumine looks down to see a spider web of cracks just near the exit of the room. One of the fracture lines leading all the way to where Zhongli stands. 

 

“Paimon wins! Paimon wins!” She shouts with delight and while dancing in the air “Paimon’s no longer emergency food!”

 

“Win what?” Ningguang asks, her curiosity peaked. 

 

Twirling around Paimon answers with even more joy “Paimon won the bet between her and the traveler!”

 

“And winning this bet means you’re no longer… emergency food?” Ningguang further questions looking towards the still frozen Zhongli and a concerned Lumine.

 

“Zhongli?” Lumine waves her arm in front of his face “…Zhongliii? You there?”

 

“Paimon’s a winner! Paimon’s a winner!” Paimon cheers while dancing around the two.

 

“Quit it Paimon I think something is wrong with Zhongli” Lumine gets closer to see that Zhongli's eyes even seem to be still as a statue. She slowly reaches a hand to touch Zhongli's ar-

 

A growl shakes the building to its very core. Everyone in the room grabs onto the nearest stable object in the room. Lumine makes the further mistake of gripping Zhongli's arm even tighter. Scales start appearing on Zhongli's form with the building shaking even more violently.

 

“Zhongli? Is something wrong?” Lumine shouts above the increasing noise and destruction. Pieces of ceiling crumbling around the two. 

 

“Zhongli, Paimon knows you don’t like breaking contracts,” Paimon yelps as a piece of wood falls particularly close “but Paimon doesn’t like this!”

 

Zhongli is more dragon than human at this point as fangs and a pair of molten mora horns appear as well. The cracks in the floor multiply from all the shaking and the growling increases even further in volume. As the seconds pass Zhongli’s form begins changing more and more to that of a dragon. A particularly large crack from a nearby chunk of ceiling falling and cracking the floor more is just the final push Zhongli needed to fully transform into a dragon. The roar that bellows from the dragon causes those closest to it to cover their ears. The roar angry and pained, as if the very act of roaring brings great agony to its owner. 

 

“Zhongli!” Lumine tries to shout above the noise “ you need to calm down!”

 

The dragon ceases its roar and starts to wildly thrash about the room. A tail smacking Ningguang into a wall before she could even think to summon her jade screen. Her limp body falling to the ground. Paimon narrowly dodges a flailing horn as Zhongli thrashes around even more. Lumine looks up and notices a small hole leading to the sky. Using anemo, she opens the hole more in an attempt to get Zhongli into a more open area. Zhongli’s constant thrashing eventually has his head hit the newly made hole and he squirms the rest of the way through. A resounding roar of pain is the only thing Lumine and Paimon are left with.

 

“What did you do?” Lumine murderously turns towards Paimon.

 

“Pa- Paimon has made a huge mistake…” she answers slowly.

Notes:

Just as a note this is probably the LIGHTEST chapter I'm writing. It gets dark QUICK from here. There's hardly anymore "cringe" or jokes from here on out.

Chapter 2: A Dragon's Rage

Notes:

Y'all I am so sorry it took me this long to make chapter 2. I had to rewrite this thing like 4 times cause I couldn't get the characters to do what I wanted them to do. Please forgive me (இ﹏இ`｡) Anyway! This chapter now includes some of the more violent tags! Please read them over before continuing If violence isn't your thing! Oh, and I got a beta to read this over! So this chapter should be a bit higher quality in terms of writing and flow. Merry Christmas! And a Happy new year!

Xiao leans against his polearm as he gazes out into the surroundings of Wangshu Inn. The yaksha quickly reorients himself as he notices he is slowly falling asleep on his polearm. Xiao had recently begun relaxing more after the traveler had spent the last lantern rite with him. Releasing that Xiao lantern with her and watching the festivities had made him realize Liyue was finally safer. There are still monsters out there with Karmic debt, but he's come to find himself with more downtime. Sleeping had been horrible for Xiao for years but now… now Xiao looks forward to his dreams. The traveler had recently begun appearing in those dreams and bringing him comfort. The sun is high in the sky and very few of its rays reach Xiao as he sits under a tree. Xiao looks down at the people entering and exiting the inn, either tired from their journey or refreshed from their rest. He thinks to himself that it would be a good day to meet with the traveler again and he could finally get a bit more rest. He secretly found comfort in her calming presence, so Xiao looked forward to any opportunity he could get to bask in her aura again. 

 

Xiao is rudely interrupted as a roar echoes across the land. He snaps his head in the direction of the roar and grips his polearm tight. Worry stretches across his features as he vaguely recalls hearing those same roars from a time gone by. The roars grow more and more frequent as he racks his memories for the source of the noise. A sudden tugging sensation interrupts his thoughts. 

 

“Traveler!” Xiao shouts before quickly teleporting near where she called his name.

 

“-iao!” Lumine finishes before turning towards the sudden blast of wind. “There you are! Something is wrong with Zhongli! We both really messed up! Could you catch up to him and try to calm him down?”

 

“I will try,” Xiao answers before teleporting somewhere with a high vantage point. He quickly spots the fast-moving dragon and uses his anemo powers to catch up. 

 

The dragon growls while flying at breakneck speeds, seemingly not noticing Xiao. Twisting and winding through the air, the dragon occasionally twitches and roars. Xiao pushes himself so that he can further catch Rex Lapis’ attention. When Xiao finally reaches the mighty dragon's snout, said dragon abruptly stops and lets out an even mightier growl. 

 

“Rex Lapi-“ Xiao starts, only to dodge out of the way of snapping jaws. “Rex Lapis! It’s me! Xiao! One of your faithful yakshas!”

 

Xiao fends off another bite with his polearm, teeth inches away from his skin. Either Rex Lapis wishes him dead or erosion has finally taken its toll. Xiao wishes for it to be neither. The dragon in front of him latches onto Xiao’s polearm once again and throws his head from side to side. Xiao’s arms scream in agony as he tries to win this one-sided game of tug of war. 

 

“Rex Lapis calm down! Let’s talk about this!” Xiao screams out as he’s thrown to and fro. His polearm strained under the pressure of the two’s miniature battle for control.

 

Rex Lapis snarls as he tosses his head once more before letting go of the polearm, sending the guardian yaksha flying into a nearby mountain. Xiao barely has time to think before he spots Rex Lapis barreling toward him. He quickly teleports a short distance from the dragon’s trajectory and winces when he sees Rex Lapis slam into the spot where he had just been. Rocks tumble as the dragon backs up and shakes his head from the small concussion he gave himself, as Xiao looks he notices a new dent in the mountain. Looking around and not spotting Xiao, Rex Lapis slumps against the mountain’s newly formed pocket. Its claws barely scrape the ground before a howl of pain escapes. The relaxed posture evaporates as Rex Lapis thrashes around in the small pocket of the mountain. Xiao watches in horror as his god squirms in agony from seemingly nothing. 

 

“Rex Lapis!” Xiao fearfully shouts. 

 

Rex Lapis’ eyes snap towards Xiao as he finally stops thrashing enough to shoot out from the mountain’s side and towards Xiao. Xiao flies off, knowing that Rex Lapis would simply go for a killing blow again. Teleporting behind the dragon, Xiao watches as Rex Lapis glances around in confusion before finding a spot to land. Rex Lapis has chosen to rest inside of another cave it seems. Xiao prepares for another round of thrashing by Rex Lapis and yet, nothing happens?

 

Confusion written on his face, he watches as the mighty ex-archon carefully steps further into the cave, occasionally floating before settling against the far back wall. Rex Lapis curls up upon himself and rests its head on top of the coils of its body, before seemingly dropping into a deep slumber. Xiao backs off from the cave entrance and teleports near the traveler’s location, just now realizing that he was summoned to the jade chamber. 

——

 

“Paimon, explain what exactly was in that contract,” Lumine demands.

 

Paimon sputters through guilt-filled tears, “H-he couldn’t step on a crack for the next month! Paimon thought with the long time on this contract that he’d forget towards the end! Not that it would work this soon!” 

 

“Looks like he headed north,” Lumine sighs while looking out of the new skylight in Ningguang’s office. “We should probably try to control the damage he might do.”

 

“What about Ningguang?” Paimon asks while floating over to check her unconscious body. “She’s out cold.”

 

“Her attendants must be on their way soo-“ Lumine starts before several footsteps thunder closer.

 

“Lady Ningguang!” cries Baishi, one of the attendants in the Jade Chamber. “Traveler! We can take care of her. Go!”

 

Lumine nods while rushing towards the exit of the jade chamber, Paimon dashing after her. Lumine’s stony game face slightly cracks as she reaches for the door leading to the outside and guilt hits her. What were the two thinking? Putting Zhongli in such a position when even the thought of breaking a contract angers him. All because they were a little curious? They could have just asked Zhongli what would happen. Lumine shakes her head to dispel her line of thinking, telling herself that these thoughts could wait until after Zhongli is safe from this contract.

 

Before Lumine and Paimon can fully leave the jade chamber, a flash of anemo appears in front of them. Xiao stumbles after teleporting, blood dripping from his form. Paimon screams in surprise then cringes at how injured Xiao looks.

 

“I- I do not know what is wrong with Rex Lapis but he’s currently resting in a cave near Mingyun village.” Xiao steadies himself with his polearm and glares towards Lumine and Paimon. “Explain everything.”

 

Lumine gulps and turns to Paimon. The latter’s face is ghostly white as she realizes Xiao may murder her for what she has done.

 

“It’s all Paimon’s fault,” Paimon wails while tears fall from her face. “We just wanted to know what would happen if Zhongli were to break a contract. Paimon didn't want this to happen.”

 

As Xiao listens to Paimon’s explanation, his face slowly contorts from confusion to horror. Lumine waits until Paimon is mostly done before adding in the smaller parts that she missed. Both Paimon and Lumine glance at each other as Xiao turns around and starts pacing, blood still dripping from his back and head.

 

“Of all the stupidest things mortals have done, he’s the god of contracts! Of course something bad would happen if he was the one to break a contract,” Xiao angrily mumbles.

 

“Xiao… we get that it was a dumb decisi—” Lumine starts before he interrupts.

 

“Dumb? Dumb?? More like moronic!” He retorts, dark tendrils of miasma steadily rising from his person as Xiao continues to pace.

 

Paimon quickly flies in front of Lumine. “Paimon just wanted to have a silly competition and answer a random thought she had. She really didn't mean for Zhongli to go crazy!” 

 

Xiao finally stops pacing as he snaps his head towards the two, miasma now visibly leaking from him. Lumine and Paimon both take a step back, fearing that getting too close to Xiao’s karmic debt would cause it to latch onto the two. Noticing the fear in both Lumine and Paimon’s eyes, Xiao walks away before taking a few calming breaths. He reaches into his pocket and takes a few pills causing the miasma to retreat into his body.

 

“I apologize for how I acted just now,” Xiao says as he puts away the jar of medicine. “I still think it was an idiotic idea, but I can see why you would be curious.”

 

“Well Xiao,” Lumine shakily starts. “Do you have any suggestions for how we can change Zhongli back to normal? Or just calm him down?”

 

“As you already know I do have the ability to enter dreams,” Xiao cringes. “However, it has been a while since I last did so. My skills may have gotten rusty in all this time.”

 

“Can you try now?” Paimon asks hopefully.

 

“Rex Lapis is resting at the moment so he should be open to me entering. A moment please.” Xiao closes his eyes and sits on the ground. 

 

Lumine and Paimon patiently wait as Xiao attempts to enter Zhongli’s dream. Xiao’s face slowly looks more and more frustrated as the time passes. After a few minutes, Paimon turns to Lumine with a worried expression since it seems like Xiao hasn’t made any progress. Finally, after several minutes Xiao shouts in surprise and falls back from his position on the ground, a distant roar following shortly after.

 

“Rex Lapis seems to be too awake for me to enter.”

 

“How? Didn’t you say he was resting?” Paimon asks.

 

“He was but,” Xiao scratches at his head with frustration. “His sleep is just light enough where I can’t do anything. I can’t make any sort of connection!”

 

“Well, is there a way to get him more asleep?” Lumine questions, helping Xiao to stand up.

 

“Well yes, but we’d need someone to be willing to throw the sleep powder at him. It’ll be very risky since it is Rex Lapis and all.” 

 

“Paimon could try throwing the powder at him,” Lumine says while eyeing her companion. 

 

“Why is it that whenever there’s something you don’t want to do, you try to get Paimon to do it!” Paimon angrily asks while stomping her feet. 

 

“You can fly around.” A not-so-silent mention of it being floating is ignored by Lumine. “It would be easier for you to do it since you wouldn’t make a sound while approaching.”

 

“Paimon isn’t suited for high stakes missions where she can get hurt!”

 

“We could have someone be a distraction while you douse him in the powder?” Lumine suggests.

 

“I’ll distract him. Seeing as I’m a bit faster than you, traveler. It would be the wisest choice.” Xiao offers.

 

—-

 

As the trio approach the cave where Xiao last saw Zhongli, they gradually hear the sounds of soft snoring. Paimon floats just a bit closer to Lumine and visibly shakes in fear. Lumine reaches out and squeezes Paimon’s hand for just a bit of comfort before continuing a bit further in. Xiao leads the duo as they reach the source of the snoring.

 

“Rex Lapis must have dug further in,” Xiao says while examining the walls. “This cave wasn’t nearly as deep in the mountain when he first came here. He was visible from the entrance when I left. But now?”

 

Xiao looks around in apprehension at the tunnel leading them further in. He shakes his head and continues walking, his steps nearly silent save for his accessories jingling softly. Lumine looks at the walls and runs her hand along a jagged edge.

 

“It’s almost like he wanted to separate himself from the world.” Lumine stares in awe at the rest of the cave. “Paimon, do you still have the sleeping powder?”

 

“Yep! Paimon has it right here!” Paimon shakily says while showing off the tiny pouch of light blue powder.

 

“Careful with that. It’s highly potent and spreads quickly. One whiff of the stuff would put all of Liyue to sleep,” Xiao reprimands while turning to face the two. “We can’t mess around with that stuff and fall asleep ourselves.”

 

“Why do you even have this powder Xiao?” Paimon asks. “It seems a bit overkill…”

 

Xiao’s eyes quickly dart to the ground in embarrassment. “It was for a friend. Just don’t worry about why I have it.” 

 

Xiao continues walking further into the cave. Lumine and Paimon give each other a look before shrugging and continuing onward. Soon they reach the deepest point of the cave. Zhongli’s huge form is coiled upon itself like a snake and snoring loudly, every exhale sending gusts of warm wind over the trio. Xiao makes a motion towards Zhongli after catching Paimon’s attention. She visibly gulps before slowly floating over Zhongli’s head with the pouch of sleeping powder.

 

As Paimon slowly undoes the tie on the pouch, the snoring stops. Paimon freezes her movements and looks at Xiao and Lumine for reassurance. The duo’s eyes are wide open in shock and both are still as statues. Paimon slowly looks below her to find one glowing cor lapis eye trained on her. The iris of the eye constricts to a small slit before a growl echoes through the small chamber. Xiao snatches that opportunity to make a move.

 

“Rex Lapis over here!” Xiao sends a gust of anemo at Zhongli to divert the dragon’s attention. “Paimon! Get the powder on him already!”

 

Paimon squeaks as Zhongli strikes at the spot Xiao was just standing. With shaking hands, Paimon scrambles to open the pouch and prepares to throw it at Zhongli. 

 

“Paimon can’t hit him if he’s moving so much! She doesn’t want to put everyone to sleep!” Paimon shouts as she floats a bit higher in the cave. 

 

Lumine nods and activates her elemental abilities to summon a wall of stone just as Zhongli attempts another strike at Xiao. Zhongli bashes his head against it and snarls at the thwarted attempt. Lumine grits her teeth, summoning her meteorite attack, pinning Zhongli’s head to the ground.

 

“Now, Paimon!” Lumine and Xiao shout. Paimon yelps and darts over to dump the powder on Zhongli’s head. Angered growls ring in everyone’s ears as the light blue powder slowly descends. The powder dusts across his nose and the dragon sneezes, sending the powder flying throughout the cramped space.

 

“Protect yourselves from the powder!” Xiao shouts and covers his face with his sleeve. Lumine and Paimon do the same and wait as Zhongli slowly stops moving. Feeling a bit cautious, Paimon flies closer while holding her breath. Zhongli makes no move to bite at the pixie, instead flopping down weakly. Paimon uses her other hand to give a thumbs up to Lumine and Xiao. 

 

Everyone waits with bated breath for Zhongli to start snoring again, signaling his sleeping state. As the seconds tick by, Lumine cocks her head to the side in question and looks around the area. Her eyes widen before she runs at Paimon. Xiao looks at Lumine in alarm and tries to piece together why she suddenly looks so panicked. Lumine reaches Paimon and runs at Xiao, making motions to fall back. Xiao finally spots why Lumine is so alarmed.

 

Geo orbs had gathered in the air and formed a giant glowing ball at the ceiling of the cave, now coalescing into Zhongli’s signature meteor attack. As the orbs rise and condense, Zhongli rises to roar at them. The trio run as far as possible from the meteor and feel a gush of air as it strikes the ground just a few strides away. The whirlwind of air and rubble sends the three flying to the ground. With a huff Zhongli turns around and stomps away. Loud digging sounds follow after him.

 

Xiao slowly gets up while looking at the traveling duo and gives a soft sigh. Lumine sighs as well before getting up and brushing herself off.

 

“Ugh! This isn’t working! Let’s go back to the teapot realm to gather and make a new plan.” Lumine suggests. They all nod before swiftly teleporting to the teapot realm.

 

Lumine opens the door for the other two to enter the mansion, exhaustion weighing down on her. Paimon shakily floats over to the couch and face plants onto the cushion. 

 

“Paimon doesn’t want to get that close to Zhongli ever again. That was scary!” She says whining into the couch cushion. 

 

“Well we need to come up with a plan to bring Zhongli back to his senses. We can’t just keep throwing sleeping powder at him. It didn’t even work.” Lumine says while sitting down and stretching her leg. “Speaking of… why didn’t the sleeping powder work on him? I thought you said it could put all of Liyue to sleep.”

 

“It should have worked on him. No clue as to why it didn’t,” Xiao leans against a nearby wall. “Maybe Rex Lapis is simply too powerful for such a powder to work on him. He did make it after all.”

 

“He made the powder? Why?” Paimon asks. “Obviously it wasn’t for himself since it doesn’t even work on him…”

 

“It was to punish and prank Barbatos,” Xiao says, crossing his arms. “I simply ‘borrowed’ it for my own needs after Rex Lapis had successfully used it to put Barbatos to sleep for a week.” 

 

“Speaking of archons, what about Nahida? She could just look it up in irminsul for a solution?” Paimon suggests while counting on her fingers. “She’s kind of our last hope…”

 

“That’s a good idea but who will keep an eye on Zhongli to make sure he doesn’t go on another rampage?” Lumine asks.

 

“I will watch over him, do not worry,” Xiao declares with an air of certainty. Xiao shudders as an ominous chill runs over his back. He shrugs it off and thinks nothing of it. 

— 

 

Little Midori loves adventuring with her parents. They had been traveling since the day she was born so nothing ever scared her. Not even slimes were a tough enemy for her to beat. She valiantly examined the abandoned village her parents had taken her to. The rule that she had to be within arms reach was a horribly boring rule that finally was lifted. Now she just had to come back at the call of her name! 

 

“Alright Midori, I know you’re a big girl but make sure you stay safe alright? We wouldn’t want you to get hurt or anything,” her mother said while patting her head.

 

“I won’t mama! I’m a super big girl that can handle any monster!” Midori said, brandishing a stick she found.

 

“Oh my! I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong end of that sword you got there!” Midori’s father exclaimed while setting up camp. Midori giggled a bit and waved to her parents as she stepped away.

 

She had found so many shiny rocks and treasure chests! Her pockets were stuffed full of tiny treasures as she marched on around the area. Midori realized that with her pockets so full it might be time to go back to camp when she heard a loud shuffling sound. Turning her head, she spotted a cave with something slightly glowing inside. 

 

“Maybe… one… more treasure couldn’t hurt…” she thought to herself as she slowly approached the cave. Crossing over a large crack she finally reached the glowing object. It looked like two branches of cor lapis! Maybe she could grab these branches and use them as swords! They looked way better than the sword she currently had. She tossed the useless sword and climbed up to grab a hold of one of the smaller parts of the cor lapis branch. Pulling and tugging she found no way to break off a piece. Sighing in disappointment she slid off the strange mound of stone and went to leave the cave to tell her parents about her find, not realizing a single mora had slipped out of her full pockets and landed on the ground with a soft ting!

 

Midori felt a sudden breeze from behind her as she was leaving. She turned around to see two glowing amber eyes open suddenly. A small rumble shook the cave as she trembled in fear. She didn’t have her trusty sword with her to fend off this beast! The beast before her narrowed its eyes and took a deep sniff before lunging at her like she was its next meal! Dodging out of the way, Midori scrambled to exit the cave even faster, cursing herself for going this far in a cave without her parents. 

 

The beast kept pace with her and lunged at her side. Sharp teeth tore at her hip and clothes. Midori stumbled from the attack and landed on her front. Tears flowing freely, she cried out for her mother and father. The beast consumed the small chunk of her clothes containing the mora she found. Its eyes glowed brightly as it twisted its head back down at her, hungry for more. Midori cried out and threw the rest of the mora she had as she crawled backwards, blood slickening the cave as she dragged herself. The beast extended its long tongue and slurped up the mora that she threw, quickly gaining speed as it seemed to glide its tongue happily through the blood slicked mora. 

 

Midori reached into her pocket again as she hit the cave wall. Darn it! In her struggle to flee she must have taken a wrong turn. She cried harder as she threw the last mora she had over the beast’s shoulder. The beast snapped its jaws and caught the small amount of mora before swallowing and turning its head back towards Midori. The loud thundering of her heart filled her ears and drowned out any other sounds. Midori’s eyes widened as the beast lunged at her again, a final scream echoing through the cave.

 

———

 

“Midori!” Her mother called slightly concerned. “We give her an inch and she takes a mile. Could you at least look a little bit concerned?” The woman huffed as she turned towards her husband. 

 

The man scoffed and leaned back further on the tree he was resting on. “She’s fine! This area is abandoned and the most dangerous monster here is a geo slime and she’s handled those on her own before!” 

 

“I know… it’s just that I get a feeling that something is wrong… look over there! There’s hilichurl structures and yet they’re all gone,” the woman said. “Don’t you think something more dangerous could be around and that’s why they left?”

 

“Pfft yeah right! It must have been the traveler! You know how she goes around decimating the hilichurl population in each region she visits. I did hear that she was spotted here in Liyue recently, so little Midori is perfectly safe!”

 

“I don’t kn— honey! Look! Isn’t that that one yaksha that we heard about?” the woman asked. “Yooo hoooo! Down here!”

 

The mysterious yaksha turned his head and descended quickly to their location. He frowned as he spotted their camping equipment and other goods. “You shouldn’t be here. This area is highly dangerous to mortals. I recommend you pack your stuff and leave the way you came.”

 

“Oh no! See what I mean honey! I told you something was wrong with this place! You have to help us! Our daughter Midori just went out to explore and didn’t come to us when I called her name!” The woman had tears in her eyes from an overwhelming wave of anxiety.

 

The yaksha narrowed his eyes. “Where did you see her last? I will try to search for her but you two need to leave. Now .” He swiftly walked over to the two adventurers' tent and grabed a small stuffed toy. “I should be able to use an adeptal art to find her better with this.”

 

The yaksha disappeared in a wave of smoke, leaving the husband and wife alone in their camp site. Both of them looked slightly anxious as they awaited what the adeptus might return with.

Notes:

Welp, you finally got a sample of the violence! What will the traveler and the gang do next? Will Zhongli get better? Find out on the next episode of Dragon Ball L! Coming soon in 2025!

.... get it.... Dragon Ball L? Like Dragon Ball Liyue? I'll see myself out.

Chapter 3: A Capgras Dilemma

Notes:

Howdy again! A new year and another chapter of this fic! I got REALLY busy at the time of last chapter and basically lost all motivation I had. Then had a bit of crunch earlier this year so that prevented me from writing too. But now I should be more free to upload more often! Anywaayyyy the tags are way more relevant in this chapter! I’d read them over again. (Especially those that describe graphic violence)

Xiao examines the stuffed toy he grabbed from that couple. The worn face of the toy looks like it used to have a bright happy smile that has long since faded. The long floppy ears seem to be one slight tug from falling off. Xiao sighs at the pitiful thing before finding a small cut where there is fluff sticking out. He grabs a small piece of fluff and stuffs the toy on his belt for safekeeping while he performs an adeptal art. The small bit of fluff glows for a bit and then a trail of light shines from it, leading away from Xiao.

 

Xiao narrows his eyes as he sees the trail go in winding and looping patterns, following little Midori’s steps through the area. He notes that there are little bits of mora here and there on the path. Assuming that the mora was from little Midori, that would explain why she followed this path. Soon Xiao starts to recognize the area more and more and sees more mora trails heading in the same direction. Worry fills Xiao as he speeds up his search. He hears grumbling sounds from the direction the mora and light shines. 

 

Xiao knows that direction. That’s where Rex Lap—

 

A cry fills the air and Xiao takes off as quickly as possible, hoping that his assumption was wrong. He is just barely inside the cave when he hears the scrabbling of feet and claws further in. He can’t make out too much in the darkness but throws caution to the wind and rushes inside. The clink of mora hitting the ground makes Xiao quickly reroute from the direction he was heading. Another growl rings throughout the cave and helps Xiao pinpoint exactly where to go. 

 

He uses his anemo powers to quickly dash through the cave, hoping he’s just in time to grab Midori and get out of the cave. He reaches the alcove that the growls lead to. With just enough glow from Rex Lapis’ horns he sees Midori’s eyes widen as jaws come snapping at her. Her body limp from the sheer crushing force of Rex Lapis’ jaws.

 

Xiao stares at the sight of gore before him. He takes another step forward in disbelief. Maybe Midori will move and he still has a chance to save her? He can take her back to her parents and get her top notch healing from the adepti. Just a little mov— Rex Lapis chews… and chews.. and chews.

 

The crunch of bones feels like a stab to his own heart. He was too late… again…

 

Just like with qiqi… crunch.

 

With guizhong… crunch.

 

With Indarias… crunch.

 

With Menogias and Bonanus… crunch. 

 

Xiao watches as Rex Lapis licks away the rest of the mora and blood that stained the area. He felt sick, wondering how Rex Lapis could do such a thing even with his mind gone like this. Xiao takes a shuddering step back in horror as Rex Lapis unceremoniously drops Midori’s limp body. Amber eyes quickly snap towards him and narrow. A rumbling growl causing the very ground to shake. Xiao looks at those glowing amber eyes and flinches at the lack of recognition in them. He halts in his approach and continues staring, hoping that Rex Lapis will realize what he has done.

 

A single claw moves towards him. Xiao decides he’s overstayed his welcome when he feels the air becomes thick with killing intent. Xiao teleports to Wangshu Inn just as the dragon leaps towards him. Several birds startle as Xiao suddenly appears. He takes deep gasps of fresh air from the roof. The scene of Midori being crushed replays and replays and replays in his mind. He can’t hear the birds anymore over the hammering thunder in his chest echoing the panic he felt seeing Rex Lapis look at him with such murderous intent. 

 

He knew it was ridiculous to think that Rex Lapis would consciously think about killing him but, he couldn’t help but think he deserved to be killed at that moment. He failed that mother in finding her child safe and sound. He had failed his fellow Yakshas from the karmic debt that consumed them. He had failed in protecting Guizhong. He h— a warm pressure settles across him. Xiao opens his eyes that he didn’t know had closed to the sight of the traveler’s hair. He blinks slowly and realizes that he has a blanket wrapped around his back and that the traveler is hugging him. Next he hears a voice.

 

“Breathe in.” He breathes in.

 

“Breathe out.” He breathes out.

 

“Breathe in… can you name something you can see?” 

 

“I—… leaves.” Xiao answers.

 

“Good. Can you name two more?”

 

“Nests… Sunset…” Xiao breathes out

 

“Can you name three things you feel?”

 

“I feel… warmth… fabric… skin” Xiao answers again. 

 

“Good good. How do you feel now?” The traveler asks as she leans back to look him in the eyes.

 

“Better… but still terrible,” Xiao looks away from her and scrunches the blanket up around his shoulders “Thanks for… talking me out of that.”

 

“You did most of the work getting out of it. I just guided you.” She looks down, “I came out of the teapot just to bring you some almond tofu and found you like that… did something happen?”

 

“Re—…” Xiao stutters wondering how he should tell the traveler about Midori. “Rex Lapis… he killed a child.”

 

“He what?” The traveler questions incredulously. “We made sure the area was completely clear of anyone before leaving… how could a child even be nearby there?”

 

“Her parents were adventurers. They must have just slipped by the both of us while we were clearing out the area.” 

 

The traveler sighs and gently pats Xiao’s back. The two sit in silence as they let the information soak in. This was going to get worse wasn’t it? The canopy of leaves gently rustles around them as if also mourning the loss of a child on its land. The traveler eventually gets up and pulls out her teapot realm.

 

“Xiao if you want you can stay inside the realm while I inform the adventurers guild about Zhongli to keep the area clear,” she suggests.

 

“Thank you traveler.” Xiao stands as well and reaches a hand out to the floating teapot. “I’ll be waiting for your arrival.” With that said Xiao gently rests his hand on the warm teapot and vanishes. Lumine stores the teapot realm back away before turning to face Liyue Harbor. She sighs and begins walking towards the city.

 

—

 

“Xiao? Paimon knows you’re upset about Zhongli,” Paimon nervously hovers a bit away from the yaksha. “But could you please stop spewing out your karma debt or whatever… it’s starting to spread everywhere…”

 

Xiao glances around and sees that he has indeed started letting out some of his karmic debt. “Sorry Paimon,” Xiao says and begins reigning it in.”It’s just that Rex Lapis is worse than we thought. He killed a child earlier… he didn’t even hesitate to. The Rex Lapis I know wouldn’t harm a single hair on a child’s head, let alone kill one.”

 

“Zhongli did what now?” The floating fairy darts into Xiao's face. The yaksha in question takes a few steps back to put some distance in between the two.

 

“Rex Lapis did everything he could for this nation. He fought in the archon war, built a civilization, created currency from his flesh and blood, gave advicse on how to grow the economy, let Liyue govern itself after he retired…” Xiao lets off a small huff. “And yet. Rex lapis isn’t even the same being anymore. Harming his own citizens or visitors from other lands simply wasn’t an action he deemed possible for himself. Nor I think it was possible for him. But I watched him chew the life out of a little girl with no hesitation or remorse in his eyes. The Rex lapis I know is gone.”

 

Paimon’s reassurance that was building up in her throat dies when Xiao finishes. She floats silently as she thinks up her next sentence carefully. The room’s atmosphere, thick with grief and gloom, seems to slow her thoughts and weigh down any words she can think of. Finally, she flits over to Xiao and places a hand on his shoulder.

 

“Xiao,” Paimon starts. “Paimon may not have known Zhongli for long, but she knows deep in her heart that if Zhongli was in his right mind, he would never do anything like that. Paimon would go back in time and warn herself about the stupid contract she thought up if she could. But that doesn’t mean Zhongli is gone entirely.”

 

Xiao looks at Paimon irridiculously. Paimon floats a bit higher and pats Xiao’s head. “Everything will sort itself out. We’ll find a way to bring Zhongli back to his senses eventually! We always find a way to save the day! So you should get some rest while the traveler is gone. You look like you need it Xiao.”

 

Xiao sighs in agreement and watches as Paimon disappears in a shower of stardust. He slowly turns and heads over to the nearest bedroom. Xiao can’t help but be thankful the traveler always keeps her teapot home stocked for any visitor that comes as he flops on the bed and promptly falls asleep. As his dreams start to reach his mind, he thinks to himself that maybe Paimon is right and things will sort themselves out eventually.

 

———

 

“Alright everyone,” Lumine announces the next morning. “Things have gotten serious. I went to the adventurers guild to put up a warning about the area Zhongli has decided to settle in where I came across this.”

 

The traveler unrolls a poster and lays it flat on the table. Everyone gathers around to examine it. The poster outlines a threat in Liyue around the Mingyun village area. On the poster is a very rough drawing of some serpent like creature with glowing eyes and sharp teeth. 

 

“Someone obviously beat me to the punch about him. We’re lucky that they don’t know it’s Zhongli… or I guess Rex Lapis in this case but…” Lumine trails off and points at the bottom of the poster.

 

“Rank 28 and up? What does that mean?” Xiao asks, tilting his head. 

 

“Typically only deadly threats get such high rank requirements,” the traveler crosses her arms and cringes. “If I were to rank the threats I’ve faced I’d say osial would be rank 28 or so and the raiden shogun at 30. The typical non-vision-wielding adventurer is only around 5 or 10. So they don’t know too much about him. But I’m worried about what could happen since they have announced his presence. Lower ranked adventures typically avoid ranks like this but…”

 

“But the mid ranked adventurers will be the problem,” Paimon continues. “They’d jump at a rank like this to help raise their fame and image…”

 

“A foolish endeavor. Rex Lapis is too far gone to be reasoned with,” Xiao adds as he shakes his head. “Even the strongest of us adepti would have issues calming him down on our own. A mid ranked human adventurer would be squashed the moment they approach. Any updates on the dendro archon?”

 

“She’s swamped with getting her own nation together right now…” Paimon answers “She wants to help… she just can’t at the moment.”

 

“Can’t help?” Snaps Xiao “Rex Lapis isn’t mentally present and she can’t help a fellow archon?”

 

“What Paimon means to say is,” Lumine interrupts before Paimon can dig a further grave for the two of them. “Nahida can’t physically help at the moment since her powers are only limited to Sumeru. If we were to drag Zhongli there somehow…”

 

“It would be easier to get Master Diluc to join the fatui than to get that to happen,” Paimon says dryly.

 

“We might have to call the other adepti for help,” Xiao suggests. “Cloud retainer could possibly make a device the dendro archon could use to amplify her power outside of sumeru. I will also ask the other adepti for any suggestions on changing Rex Lapis back to normal.”

 

“Right. We haven’t tried everything we can yet,” Lumine says as she grabs a pen and paper. “We can split up to question the adepti. Anything else?”

 

Xiao shakes his head. “No need to split up for the adepti. I can summon them all at once. We also haven’t tried a few different adeptal arts yet. Nor have we tried remedies that we used on those who had been infested with karmic debt.” Xiao slowly relaxes as he comes up with more ideas that could help his archon.

 

“See?” Lumine happily claps her hands. “This is fixable. We’re going to find a way to bring Zhongli back to his senses and then he’ll just have yet another story to tell!”

 

Xiao hesitantly nods at Lumine. As Paimon and the traveler discuss rapidly, Xiao vanishes into thin air. He reappears in front of the stone table on Mt. Aocang, taking a long look at the southeastern chair of the table before he begins the emergency summoning technique instilled in all adepti. Hearing rapid hooves, wing flapping, and other assortment of sounds, Xiao prepares himself for a long conversation with the rest of the adepti.

 

———

 

Atop a mountain a dragon slumbers. It dreams of nothing and everything all at once. Every memory the dragon has lived is both being projected in its mind’s eye and yet the dragon cannot see these memories. It remembers experiencing these memories yet doesn’t remember the memories themselves. The dragon feels like it should be concerned about this but cannot bring itself to care. 

 

The sound of footsteps echoes through the cave the dragon rests in. Lately the dragon has been getting annoyed with the constant pestering of creatures much smaller than itself bothering its rest. A memory surfaces of one such creature bothering it but it doesn’t know why the memory has such fondness and exasperation attached to it. The footsteps finally reach the dragon. Appearing to be several men with different weapons.

 

“This is what killed that girl?” One of the men asks with fear.

 

“This is not what we signed up for…” another says and starts backing up.

 

“Maybe if we just leave it won’t notice us and we can report it to the guild and bump up the rating for this commission?” The one with the torch questions with a shaky voice. 

 

The dragon tires of their voices and growls in its annoyance, raising its head to finally look at them all. The three all yelp in fear and bolt the way they came from. Using its control over geo, the dragon creates a barrier before two of the men can run too far away. The smell of fear and mora surging through the air. The dragon has no idea why it gathers mora so hungrily but deems it necessary as breathing is necessary. Lowering its head the dragon growls again in an attempt to get the men to drop their mora for its hungry jaws. 

 

The two cower in fear and huddle together as they blubber their last words to each other. The dragon finally loses its patience and slams a claw down on one of the two men dragging him closer. Finally spotting where the scent of mora is strongest, the dragon leans down and quickly snaps its jaws on the man’s back. He screams in anguish as the dragon wasn’t exactly precise and caught most of his torso with the bite. Pulling its head back the dragon rips the bag containing the mora and chunks of flesh around the spine of the man. The dragon then spits out the fabric and muscles from its mouth and swallows the mora from the bag. The man in the dragon’s claws finally ceases screaming in pain and stops moving. 

 

The dragon spots the other man attempting to climb over the barrier it had created, causing a growl to rise from its throat at the idea of its mora getting away. With a roar the dragon grabs the other man and drags him back as well. The man whimpers in fear and blubbers things about its mother and archons as he’s dragged. The dragon cares not for what the man says as it sniffs around the man’s body and realizes there is no mora to be had. A rumble of annoyance resonates through the cave as it goes to shove the man away and try to find the scent of mora again. The man gathers what little courage he has, stabbing his sword at the dragon’s snout.

 

The dragon is utterly enraged by the audacity of this creature to try and harm it. Although, the dragon wasn’t hurt at all and mostly felt a sensation akin to a tiny pinprick. The dragon decides for the transgression of attempting to harm it, the beast should remove his ability to harm at all. Snarling at the man it lowers its jaws onto the arm wielding the sword and pulls back. The arm coming clean off, the man wails in agony and backs up clutching what’s left of his arm. Tiring of the screams of agony, the dragon lets the man run free from its clutches and hopes he has enough sense to tell the others of its kind not to disturb him.

 

Turning towards what remains of the other man the dragon had trapped, it grimaces at the sight of all the blood and gore. Deeming it too dirty to keep around, the dragon lifts the corpse and tosses it outside. As the body tumbles down, the dragon feels a sense of guilt at the sight. Another memory that it doesn’t remember… doing the same thing of carrying corpses to a destination, of burying those corpses, groups of other creatures gathered and being sad and somber. Shaking its head, the dragon banishes the memory and approaches the body. Perhaps it would be better to bury it somewhere further away so that it doesn’t attract disease and other creatures…

 

Notes:

Ah jeeze. People are dying left right and center aren’t they? Wonder who’s next on the chopping block. I will say one thing, literally no one is safe in this story… except maybe Paimon. I can’t even begin to describe the horrors of how keeping everyone alive this long has been going.

Notes:

Just as a note this is probably the LIGHTEST chapter I'm writing. It gets dark QUICK from here. There's hardly anymore "cringe" or jokes from here on out.