The Stolen Light of a Fallen Star

by SevenShootingStar

Summary:

Celestia, knowing you weren't fully on their side if at all, made a puppet to take your place. This fake truly believes their own lies and that your place is theirs. They'll do anything to stay on the throne...

 

(Not sure if the depictions of violence are really that graphic or will turn out to be, but it's probably descriptive enough to be a little triggering so I thought it better to tag it just in case)

Chapter 1: Prologue

Teyvat was made through contract, or at least yours was. A few years ago, you made an account for genshin impact. Though it was no more than a game at the time, it was an agreement about the world. The company gifted you a seed to grow a world in exchange for your agreement to nurture it. Upon the activation of your account, Teyvat, your Teyvat was born from the seed and, in this moment, you were its creator.

In the minutes the game was downloading, thousands of years went by to catch up to the moment the Traveler began their journey with you. Teyvat was far older than you, and yet you existed before it. In your relation to Teyvat, you were the energy that kept it going. It is stagnant without your gaze. Though time will pass, life stands still.

When the fruits of your labor brought down stars from the sky and the light changed, connections were formed. By design, the Traveler was their own person, but first and foremost a primary and initial vessel. Even when out of sight, when you guided others in their place, they were there in traces because you were. In this way they were almost you and the world was a gift that's yours.

Unable to see beyond the fake sky and past the coded stars, the people could not truly comprehend this experience past its warmth. They got hurt in battle, but you were always there to bring them back, uttering apologies they could feel even though they went unheard. You were a guide, and you wanted the best for Teyvat despite your frustrations. They felt this, and caution turned to friendship turned to idolization.

What was a connection through the stars if not a blessing?

You existed beyond them, but never treated them as beneath you. You knew so much without being there to witness, you poured strength into your vessels until they were ascended warriors blessed by your labor. Of course you were adored.

You were the everything that was nowhere they could ever reach.

Of course, for all you could do, there was a limit. The deal could only let you do so much at a time and, for all the criticism it deserves in its methods, it worked. You had to have some obstacles and caps on your abilities lest you grow bored of the world and leave it behind.

It didn't matter to them that you couldn't do it all though. They didn't know that. Celestia wouldn't let them, having jumped on the opportunity…

The knowledge of you spread like gossip of a debuting idol group, and soon every NPC and their dog had heard of this being, a star above the heavens, shining down on Teyvat to shower them in nurturing light.

Somewhere along the line, Teyvat rewrote itself for you. You couldn't see the changes on the surface that you grazed in your gameplay, but it was there. You were everything, and so everything must include you. A change was made beyond even what Irmunsil could do. You had never been seen, never met in person, but you'd always been there. In their history, their culture, and their hearts.

Your “reappearance” through your vessels and the shifting of the stars was a sign, wasn't it? Soon you would be home. That's what they believed.

But through whispers in the light, watching your guidance of the Traveler who would surely one day point their blade at Celestia’s neck with your support, they knew they couldn't let that happen. For all they used to be, Celestia had warped itself into chains of fate instead of shields of life, and you'd be damned to think they'd let you break those chains so easily. Even their own archons were turning against them. You'd surely be the death of them unless they were yours.

And so they made “you”. While the gods below made puppets to steer the fate of their nations, Celestia made a puppet to steal the fate of the world.

A gilded lie, a glittering illusion, the theft of your visage. Your face and body with a soul modelled in the image of Celestia's vision for the world. A beautiful poison to the mind. The fake descended, and Teyvat’s people rejoiced. Overexposure eroded the mind and forced them to believe so they did with all their hearts.

Teyvat rebelled but no one knew, led to believe this was the work of the Abyss. A warning, they knew, but of what they'd been given a lie. The “Creator” warned the people, and most of all the gods, of an imitation from the void. A weapon of the Abyss, a deceptive reflection of them whose very existence was a harbinger of the world's every evil.

But worry not, dear shining star, your fall is not the end.
This world will free from heaven’s chains. One day you shall ascend.

Chapter 2: The Fall of a Shooting Star

Summary:

A star falls before they get to shine.

Notes:

content warning for description of burning and falling

You should have just gone to bed. If only you had gone to bed. But no, instead you had been curled up under the covers with your phone in hand. You were so carefree in this moment, warm under the thick fabric while rain danced on the window.

Your fingers tapped the screen, your eyes locked onto the enemies. The fight only lasted 30 seconds at most, and you collected the chest quickly before moving on. Playing had become routine, and it was a moment of peace. Despite the way it was getting stale, you still enjoyed it well enough.

You yawn, feeling your eyes growing heavy. Your habit of staying up was catching up to you. Not that you have any plans to stop. Still, it was about time for you to go to bed for real now. You’re feeling lucky, so you decide to wish before you stop playing. With another yawn, you do a ten pull as your last action of the night before you fall asleep. Your heavy eyelids meet just as the screen shines gold.

The stars follow you into your dreams, and the sky surrounds you. You float aimlessly as if the dark expanse is water. It's so quiet it should be eerie, but you don't really mind. Your hand stretches above you to reach out to the lights like you, stargazing among the celestial bodies you gaze upon.

This place is neither warm nor cold. It simply is, and for you that is enough. You don't breathe, you find here you don't need to, nor do you feel your beating heart. Somehow the worry that you may be dead never crosses your mind.

You're content to drift here. You're not worried about this unfamiliar expanse and don't question why. You have no clue what's going on, but you don't mind that. You know this place is safe.

Your eyes close to rest and you are surprisingly not overcome with any sort of motion sickness. Maybe it doesn't make a difference when the ground, if there is one, is so far below it might as well not exist at all.

At first you don't even notice. Your slow, almost still unmoving descent escapes your awareness. You're at ease, and the growing warmth at your core is barely there.

Seeing nothing, the stars pass you amongst each other. You are gently lowered closer to the open arms of the world. You feel the warmth growing, and spreading through you. It's comforting. You stay at rest.

Your descent becomes a slow fall and your warmth increases. This is strange, but you are at peace. You gain momentum and your fall is faster, though still cradling you.

It's now that you finally open your eyes to watch the stars drop you. You feel no panic. You are warm, very warm, as if the sky were a blanket wrapped around you.

You're falling faster, and the heat becomes uncomfortable, but it's not so bad. You feel new and shiny. You are glowing. The world is lit up by your presence as you streak across the sky, rays of light in every color you've ever seen and every color you haven't travel in every direction you could ever go. The world welcomes you as you shine brighter. It is hot and it is blinding but that doesn't mean a thing because it is bright and it is beautiful and it is you.

As you fall, scared, angry eyes stolen from your face look up upon you. Their fear and rage are as blinding as your light. Their hand, adorned in gold blessings that aren't theirs, reaches up to cover you from view. They won't allow this to happen. They direct every thought, every moment of fear and anger your very existence has struck into them, towards the falling star.

You fall faster, rapidly, and finally you begin to panic. Finally you realize you are falling, that the ground was approaching too fast. It's no longer a pair of welcoming arms, but a gaping maw about to swallow you whole.

Your warmth grew into a burning from the center of your very being. It ate at you, scorching you. You were falling, set ablaze by an anger you couldn't know, and it was agony.

It burns.

By the guiding light, it burns and your scream is drowned out by its own cry of someone else's anger. Any tears that escape you are swallowed by the flames and spit out as a vapor. You are a radiant star being burnt out before you get to shine, falling from heaven before you get to reach it. There is no one to hear your cry. There is no one to catch you.

Your body shatters on impact with the ground.

Chapter 3: The City of Freedom

Summary:

Welcome to Mondstadt

Notes:

CW: semi-graphic(?) description of unnatural healing, body horror adjacent descriptions, injury in the beginning

You feel your organs crawling inside you as you awake.

The tissue writhes to reach itself in an attempt to reseal your insides. Your bones are refilling themselves with marrow and re-correcting, the shards fusing with each other to become whole again. Your skin is growing over muscle, crawling to cover surface area so that it can stitch itself back together. Your eyes open and the world is a blur as your body puts itself back together. You rub your eyes a few times until you can see. The wind caresses your face gently while the plants and earth work together to cradle you.

You prop yourself up with your arms as your vision returns. You feel wrong. The slithering under your skin has stopped, but the fact it was ever there was cause for concern. You groan, rubbing your thumb over your arm.

Looking around, you decide that you'll have to figure that out later. The fact you feel like a used match will have to wait. You don't remember what you were doing and have no idea where you are. You take in your surroundings.

You are now resting against the roots of a large tree. Said roots seem to have woven themselves into a nest-like cradle. It's surprisingly warm in its shade, but the light breeze balances it out well. Under the tree with you is a small stream and various… structures? Monument-like things that glow faintly.

You carefully push yourself off the ground. It looks familiar, doesn't it? The light forms symbols you know quite well. You've seen these before. You know what they are, don't you?

Your chest is tight. Your breath hitches. You're not dreaming. That's not right. You hurry away from it, stumbling around to the other side of the tree only to be confronted by something worse. A statue emitting a soft blue light. A hooded figure with angelic wings atop a gilded pedestal.

You stagger towards it, clutching your chest. Your face twists in confusion. In front of the statue, you drop to your knees. Barbatos. Windrise.

Little star, you've fallen far from home, haven't you?

The outrider's legs carried her so quickly she may as well have been gliding. Amber was on patrol like any other day, but right now she felt the wind pushing her along. Towards something, she was sure. She just didn't know what.

The world ran past her as she ran through it, determined to find what the wind was taking her to. Though this world was bigger than the game could ever suggest, it still wasn’t a long way from Whispering Woods to Windrise, especially for an outrider. It was only a few minutes before Vanessa’s tree was in her view and only a moment later that Amber noticed the kneeling figure at the statue.

Shoot, someone needs help! she thought, starting to run faster. Picking up her pace, she hurried over to the statue and slid to a stop at the steps. She approached cautiously, hoping to avoid startling the unreactive figure. She tilted her head, examining you.

You seemed frozen, staring up at the Barbatos statue, but not in reverence from what Amber could tell. No, you seemed horrified and confused. Which made a little more sense now that she looked at your attire. Loose and a bit robe-like, reminiscent of what the honorary knight wore, but… more…

She shook her head, snapping back to the situation at hand. The point was you clearly weren’t from Mondstadt. So you were probably lost.

Crouching beside you, Amber quietly said, “Hello, strange yet respectable traveler. You seem a bit confused. Are you lost and/or in need of assistance?” Your head snaps up. You recoil, crawling back in shock at the sight of the outrider. You must be dreaming. Gasping short breaths bring air in too quickly for your lungs, and the wind can only do so much in an attempt to soothe as it does.

This can’t be real…

“Woah, woah! Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you like that!” Amber exclaimed in concern. She reached for you, finally getting a look at your face. “Do you need hel—YOUR LUMINESCENCE!?” She rushed to help you to your feet before dropping to her knees. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to frighten you!”

You stare. Mouth agape. Already in shock, you can barely process her words. Your head feels full of water, your brain a static mush. What did she call you? The next hour is a blur.

You’re lifted bridal style and carried to the city of Mondstadt.

You’re brought immediately to the cathedral because for some reason Barbara seems to be the closest thing this place has to a doctor.

You’re lying near the ground—not directly on it, never— in a pile of cushions and blankets as Barbara checks for anything that needs healing.

You see statues along the walls, some of the Anemo Archon and some of an all too familiar figure.

Jean arrives quickly.

Supposedly Amber was wrong.

“Their Luminescence” was confirmed to still be in their palace. A floating spectacle made with the same method as the Jade Chamber, and the only thing someone like Ningguang would allow to eclipse it in grandeur. A house and a temple in one, surrounded by a garden and suspended in the sky. Floating above Liyue, at the center of the continent. This deity was still in their palace and had yet to arrive in Mondstadt for at least another two weeks.

You couldn’t be them.

You just look so similar to them. Who could blame Amber for thinking so?

Still, the knights are kind. So are the sisters.

“You must be truly blessed by Their Luminescence to have such a clear reflection of Their face,” Barbara says as she and Amber help you sit up. Now upright, you see the statues more clearly. The angle of their jaw, the bridge of the nose, the tilt of the eyes, the arch of the brow. A perfect match. The young idol must have been right. You must have this being’s favor.

“This is a rare occurrence, but this isn’t the first time someone has looked so similar to Them. There are differences, but sometimes they’re so small that someone wouldn't notice unless they were looking for them,” Jean explained. Nevermind that there were no differences between you and the stone faces on the wall. “Of course, we’re always cautious when it happens. That being said, I’d like to believe we’re familiar enough with the dangers of the Abyss to recognize it.”

You listen as well as you can in your still slightly dazed state. Of course you’re aware of the abyss, having played the game, but you’re not sure what it has to do with this. You’ll ask later, if you remember. If it matters. You’re still confused about the existence of this being at all. You’d never seen any mentions in the game. The passing remark about them being a creator of some kind would have made you believe they were referring to the Primordial One, even if that wasn’t quite accurate, but it didn’t seem so.

“With that out of the way, welcome to Mondstadt,” the Acting Grand Master said. “Whether you plan to stay here or our city is just one stop on your journey, I hope you get the best of what we have to offer. Now that we have you on record and everything has been addressed,” she said, though you have to take her word for it because your fuzzy mind can’t confirm or deny this is true, “you’re free to leave once you’re feeling better. I’m sure someone will be more than happy to show you around when you do.”

Jean turned around and walked away, the need to return to her work even stronger with the knowledge that “Their Luminescence” would have to be notified of the look-alike and preparations for their arrival would have to be made. The click-clack of her heels growing distant seemed to audibly frame your confusion as you watched her leave with a final, “May you be blessed by the Creator and the Anemo Archon protect you.”