Amidst a Robo-pocalypse

by LeoPhoen11x

Summary:

Albedo wakes up in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by unfamiliar faces, in a (semi) unfamiliar body. Finding himself riddled with amnesia, he slowly tries to rebuild the truth of his existence, and his past.

Amidst an apocalypse of very angry robots from the underground city of Khaenri'ah, a group of idiots from across the country of Teyvat band together to survive, and perhaps find a way to end this mayhem.

(A modern/futuristic action AU set in an earth-like world. Visions don't exist, but sci-fi kinda does :D)

Chapter 1: The Robot Man

Kinich leapt across the buildings of Mondstadt City under the blood red sunset. The air was cold, the wind unnervingly still. Smoke filled the air from the wreckage on the streets. A sudden shriek sounded from behind him, and he ducked, narrowly avoiding a red hot beam of light that shot through where his head had been mere milliseconds before. He jumped off the roof, shooting out his grappling hook, and swinging around a lamp-post and into a side street. He heard a loud “CRASH” as the robot chasing him slammed into the ground, followed by a bellowing roar of fury and the sound of heavy footsteps. Of course that thing was still alive and kicking even after falling a whole 20 metres onto hard concrete. Those monsters were unbelievable.

He sprinted down the road and rounded another corner. His eyes spotted a small window, and he barreled forward, slamming into it as hard as he could. The window shattered, and he covered his face as he leapt into the building, bits of broken glass flying through the air all around him. He fell onto the floor with a painful “Thump”. His shoulder ached from the impact with the window, and different parts of his body stung from where glass had impaled him. But he ignored it all. He scrambled to his feet, and stumbled further into the building.

An earsplitting “BANG!” echoed from behind him as the robot crashed into the same window, the building shaking with the impact. It growled, digging and scraping furiously at unyielding concrete, its body too large to wriggle itself through. Its growling turned into furious shrieks, its crimson red eyes watching with anger as its would be snack disappeared from sight.

Kinich breathed a sigh of relief. That had been too close. Way too close. Slowly, he walked deeper into the building, his body protesting with each step he took. It was dark. Well, that was to be expected. The electricity had been spotty ever since the robots first flooded out of Khaenri’ah. He pulled out a flashlight from his belt, and flicked it on. The first thing that caught his eye was how white everything was. White floor, white walls, white ceiling, white chairs, white tables, white drawers. Strange, scientific devices were littered everywhere, with at least half of them also being white. Was this a laboratory perhaps??

Kinich approached one of the drawers, pulling it open. Vials full of strange liquid rolled around inside, and he hastily shut it again. Yep, definitely a laboratory.

He sighed, and turned his attention to the rest of the room. He scanned his surroundings, looking for any resources to scavenge.

A couple of med kits.

He trudged towards them, and picked them up. 1, 2, 3, 4… 5. Not bad.

He was about to turn away, when a sudden “beep” caught his attention. He froze. There it was again. And again. Almost as if…

It was monitoring a heartbeat. 

Slowly, he crept towards the noise, one step at a time, until he found himself in front of a door. The beeping was even louder now. Cautiously, he pushed it open.

The heart monitor stood next to a bed in the centre of the room.

And on top of the bed, lay a person.

Well, “person” probably wasn’t quite the right word. Considering the robotic limbs, it was more akin to a humanoid-looking robot.

But that didn't explain the heart monitor.

Kinich approached the prone figure, until their face came into view.

It was a man.

Or at the very least, it looked like one. 

Ash blonde hair framed both sides of his pale face, and he was dressed in a hospital gown. But apart from that, everything else looked… robotic. The part of his neck that Kinich could see was covered in metal, a golden star embedded in the centre. Small, semi pointed gadgets were located where his ears should have been. Not to mention his mechanical arms and legs.

His gaze rested on the gas mask covering the robot-man’s face. Robots didn’t need to breathe. His eyes briefly flicked to the heart monitor. Robots didn't have a heartbeat either. 

He raised his hand, and placed it on the man’s chest. It was warm, and it was gently rising and falling. 

He was definitely human.

Out of everything Kinich expected to have run into, an unconscious man with robot parts was the last thing on his mind. And well, he couldn't just leave an innocent person to die like this…

With a sigh, he carefully detached the oxygen mask and IV tubes from the man. Tighnari could care for him once they got back.

A final, loud “beep” from the heart monitor emanated around the room, before it went silent for good.

Kinich hoisted the man over his shoulders, and walked out the room. His own body complained against the added weight, but he could hold out till they got back, at least he hoped so.

He crept back to the broken window. The robot was now nowhere in sight, having given up on its escaped prey. The sky was now a dull grey, steadily faint to black. Good. That meant less robots.

He took a deep, calming breath, before stepping out into the night. 

This was going to be a long journey…

Notes:

Well well well. Hello people who have ended up reading this far.

This story is little bit of a crack-fic as I thought it would be fun to throw in characters from all the regions together and see what happens (plus I can get more experience writing character dynamics). I am unsure if I will be able to portray each character canonically, but I'll see what I can do. I also do add some non canon things I may find silly or relatable.

Some quick bits of info: Teyvat is a country in this story, and each nation in game is a separate state (the size and appearance share inspiration from Australia). Khaenri'ah is built underground on the borders between Liyue, Sumeru and Natlan.

Unlike my other story (Tracing Light), I'm more likely to wing it as I go, and I can just come and add more chaos to this story when my brain gets too exhausted trying to write mind-games and draw full(ish) art.

This story will have some art too, but it's messy sketches with some wacky anatomy because I can often be a lazy dumbass.

Anyways, I should go sleep now because it's past 2am here. I'll likely write some more tomorrow.

Chapter 2: An Unfamiliar Place

Summary:

Albedo wakes up to find himself in an unfamiliar place, and accompanied by an unfamiliar person.

The blonde-haired man couldn’t remember how long he had been floating in the pitch blackness of unconsciousness. One day? One week? One month? One year? Time was a mystery here. Only now did a light finally pierce through its depths. It wrapped around him in a warm embrace, and slowly but surely dragged him back into the waking world.

…

The first thing he noticed was the soft, comforting weight of a blanket on top of him. The next thing he noticed was the cushy mattress he was lying on. He opened his eyes, and found himself staring at the beige ceiling of an unfamiliar room, illuminated by a soft glow. He turned his head to the left, and found himself staring at a boarded up window. Strange… 

He then turned his head to the right, and found himself staring at a lit lamp on a bedside table. Behind it, in the corner of the room sat a fox-eared, green-haired, bespectabled man, his head buried in a very thick book. The man’s ears perked up at the sound of the blonde’s small movements, and he glanced towards the latter.

“Ah, you're awake.”

His voice was mellow with a hint of fatigue. He stood up, and walked over.

“How are you feeling?”

The blonde contemplated his words. If he were to be honest, he had no idea how he was feeling. His mind was a complete mess. He couldn't remember anything.

After a pause, he simply said 

“Very confused…”

The fox-eared man hummed.

“How about physically?”

Physically? He wasn't really sure about either…

“Quite… strange…”

The other man frowned.

“In what way?”

How was he supposed to answer that?? He could barely make sense of his surroundings, let alone anything else.

Upon seeing his evident struggle, the other man sighed.

“Nevermind.”

He dragged a stool over to the bed, and sat on it.

“Can you sit up?”

The blonde nodded, and pushed himself up. His joints felt… surprisingly smooth, considering his evident lack of movement for who knows how long. It was only then that he noticed his arms.

They were both made of metal.

His eyes widened slightly. This was new… despite his hazy memories, he was certain his arms used to be natural skin, flesh and bone, not… whatever this was. He tried to move his hand. It moved, just like any normal hand would. He tried lifting a finger. The finger lifted. He couldn't help but admire the sheer complexity of the metal limb, the way its smooth joints barely made a sound, the way it responded precisely to his thoughts like any real limb would. Quite extraordinary…

He'd almost forgotten about the other man until the latter spoke again.

“Do you remember how long you've had those?”

His voice now held a hint of concern.

The blonde shook his head.

“I don't even recall having them until I woke up just now… my arms used to be real… I'm sure of it…”

The fox-eared man was silent. His eyes were narrowed, and he was deep in thought. Then he spoke again. 

“Do you remember anything? Your home? Your family? Your name? Anything at all??”

The blonde wracked his brains. Home… nope, nothing about that. Family… only the fact that he had a mother.

And his name… what was it again? He closed his eyes, trying to reach for any fragment of memory he might have left.

 

---

 

“Can you take me on as an apprentice?”

He had stared into her cold eyes as he’d pleaded, clutching the bottom of her jacket with his small, pale hands.

She had stared back, her gaze piercing as if she could see straight through him.

“You have potential. Fine, I’ll allow it. But you must be able to keep up. If you fail, the deal is off.”

He had nodded vigorously. 

“Miss, what is your name?”

“Rhinedottir. But you shall refer to me as ‘Master’”. And what should I call you, young lad?”

“I… I don't have a name….”

She had stared at him silently for what had felt like hours, her expression unreadable, before finally speaking again.

“Then from now on, you shall be called…”

 

---

 

“Albedo”

The fox-eared man glanced up at him as he spoke.

“Albedo, huh… Well, it's a pleasure to meet you.”

“My name is Tighnari.”

 

Notes:

I'm just gonna say that any character with animal/non-human parts will likely stay that way because I said so. Well, more like I'd rather not get rid of those traits as they are what makes the character well, the character.

I also literally came up with a backstory on the spot, yes this is a very common occurrence.

Future chapters are likely going to be a lot longer once the actual plot kicks in.

Chapter 3: The Little Dragon

Summary:

A little dragon creature decides to barge in.

Albedo stood in front of Tighnari, gazing down at his own body. He’d found himself dressed in loose, comfy clothing, courtesy of the man, but it still couldn't hide the metal feet sticking out on the floor. None of this had existed before. It felt strange… foreign… unsettling… It didn't belong…

Tighnari hummed.

“Hmm, what remains of your natural body seems to be in decent shape, albeit evidently lacking both food and regular movement. Your torso has remained majorly untouched, but I can't exactly say that for the rest of you…”

Albedo’s heart sank a little. He should have expected that, but it was nevertheless a blow… What exactly had happened to him?

There was a sudden “crash” from outside the room, followed by the sound of two voices.

“HOW DARE YOU LOCK UP ME, THE ALMIGHTY LORD K’UHUL AJAW, IN A TINY CABINET??”

“Ajaw, you either stop smashing plates everywhere or I’m locking you back up in that box again.”

Albedo looked up, surprised, and stared at the door, listening to the voices growing louder and louder.

“THREATENING ME? HAH! THE AUDACITY!”

“Well, it's working.”

“WHY YOU- ARGH!! JUST YOU WAIT KINICH! I WILL GET YOU BACK, JUST YOU WAIT! THE ALMIGHTY K’UHUL AJAW NEVER FORGETS”

“Yea, yea, keep yapping.”

“HMPF!”

The door flung open, and a small, yellow, flying thing…? Came whizzing into the room. It crashed into Tighnari at full speed, causing him to topple over onto the floor.

“OW- AJAW!”

There were hurried footsteps, and a messy haired young man entered the room.

“Sorry, I wasn’t expecting Ajaw to suddenly decide to crash through the door”, the new person muttered, rubbing his temple in frustration.

Tighnari sat up, grumbling in annoyance. He grabbed the tail of the yellow thing, which had landed on his head, and pulled it off, earning himself an indignant shriek from the creature called Ajaw.

“HOW DARE YOU MANHANDLE ME YOU LOWSY SCUM! GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF MY DIVINE TAIL-”

With a small huff and a flick of his wrist, Tighnari sent the creature flying into the other man's- Kinich’s outstretched hand.

“It’s fine. I am curious though, what did you do to rile him up so much?”, Tighnari asked, fixing up his clothes.

“I didn't. Blame Dahlia and Childe for that”, Kinich sighed, leaning against the wall.

“They were messing with him whilst he was stuck in that box.”

“Of course they were," Tighnari muttered.

“You’re injured. You need rest. Pass Ajaw onto someone else. Maybe Yoimiya or Freminet. Hu Tao is a no-go. She and Childe are out scouting. Even if she wasn’t, she’d probably just rile up Ajaw even further.”

“I’m fine,” Kinich started.

“I don't need-”

Tighnari crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows at the other man. Kinich trailed off at the sight of his glare. 

“Alright…”, he relented. 

“Ajaw, go bother someone else.”

The little creature, who had been ranting to himself the entire time, floated out the room, grumbling.

“And don't go bullying Freminet again!” Kinich yelled after him, earning himself an angry “FINE!” from Ajaw.

Kinich sighed deeply, and plopped himself down on the couch in the corner.

Albedo had watched the entirety of the very strange interaction with curiosity. A tiny yellow talking creature that looked closer to an 8-bit mascot than any kind of animal. It certainly was not a natural living being, rather, it was more akin to a robot. Quite intriguing…

And the names Kinich mentioned. There were more people here, and quite the motley crew it seemed.

“Oh, he's awake.”

Kinich’s voice pulled Albedo out of his musings. He turned to face the man on the couch. 

“Sorry about all the chaos that just happened here”, Kinich continued.

“Don't mind Ajaw. He's always been…”

He trailed off, eyes widening as he stared at Albedo. Albedo tilted his head, confused.

“Is something wrong?”

But he was ignored.

“Tighnari”, Kinich hissed.

“His eye.”

Tighnari gave a curt nod.

“I’ve already noticed.”

“Aren't you going to address it?”

“His memories are a mess, I'm doubtful he even knows what it means.”

“Excuse me”, Albedo interrupted.

“May I ask what you are talking about?”

The two fell silent, glancing at each other. Then Tighnari gave another small nod, and turned to face Albedo.

“Your right eye…”, he said, his face serious.

“It’s the eye of a Khaenri’ahn.”

Notes:

Hello Ajaw :)

The 7 people in this "motley crew" as Albedo calls them have all either appeared or been named-dropped. Yes, there's one from each region, and in this story, Albedo is Khaenri'ahn (with a star-shaped pupil in his eye, singular because his other is artificial).

Next chapter will hopefully have a good chunk of world-building lore. Yes I'm gonna wing it, no I have not planned it at all. Thank you ADHD.

Some more Ajaw lore. He is from a similar vein of the other robots, more specifically ones that have a dragon-like design. At some point he gained sentience, which is why he talks and has a personality. He's a little shit and likes to go around causing chaos sometimes, hence why he gets put in timeout a lot. He likes Freminet the most, but also has the tendency to sometimes bully him. He gets extra timeout whenever he does that. He prefers his holographic form, as his main body is clunky and harder to move around in tighter spaces with. The hologram is remotely connected to his "brain", so he can assume that form whenever he wants, He has a large range of movement with it too. His hologram form is the same size as in game, and his OG form is about 2-3 times larger.

So, yea

Chapter 4: The Apocalypse

Summary:

Albedo learns a bit about what has been going on in the world.

Khaenri’ah. That word was… familiar… It filled Albedo with a sense of peace, but also a sense of dread.

“Khaenri’ah…”, he mused aloud.

“I apologise, but I can't remember anything about it except a slight sense of familiarity.”

“Told you”, Tighnari remarked to Kinich.

“He doesn’t remember anything.”

Kinich sat up and folded his arms, studying Albedo with a suspicious glare. Albedo simply stared back, mildly interested.

There was a long pause. Then, Kinich sunk back into the sofa again, seemingly satisfied. 

“Well, he doesn’t seem to be lying…”

The room fell into awkward silence.

“Can you… explain to me why you became so hostile at the sight of my eye?”, Albedo suddenly asked.

“You really are clueless…”, Kinich remarked, not unkindly.

“Well, it’s because Khaenri’ahns have very distinguishable star shaped pupils… and it was the Khaenri’ahns who caused this apocalypse.”

Albedo’s mouth fell open. An… apocalypse? Since when was there an apocalypse?

“You didn't even know about that either?”

Albedo closed his mouth, and shook his head

“Wow… just how long were you out for…”, Kinich muttered.

“Then, can you perhaps explain more?”, pressed Albedo.

“The boarded up windows, the tiny talking creature, more about Khaenri’ah and the apocalypse, the state of the world, how you found me… everything.”

He just wanted answers… anything to help his addled brain make some sense. 

The other two looked at each other.

“It’s… a long story”, said Tighnari.

“I’d be happy to listen”, Albedo added.

“...Alright then.”

Tighnari sat down on his stool, crossed one leg over the other, and began to speak.

“Khaenri’ah is an underground nation on the borders of Liyue, Sumeru and Natlan that was closed off to the rest of the world by its own citizens centuries ago. So much time had passed since its disappearance that its existence had been reduced to naught but a rumor. It was only 3 months ago that they rose to the surface again. Well, more specifically, their robots did. No one knows what went on within those depths, nor how those robots were created. All we know is that they flooded out from the underground, destroying everything within their sight. Normal weapons don’t work on them, and they can withstand impossibly extreme amounts of damage. There was no question that they were made for the purpose of destruction. What made matters worse though was that robots created on the surface became hostile as well. We still don’t know why.”

“As for the Khaenri’ahns themselves, very few have been spotted. The ones that were though seemed to have at least some level of control over the robots, and were very hostile. Kinich had a run-in with a group of them when he was trying to flee Natlan. Needless to say, they were not friendly at all.”

“The current state of the world is bad, to say the least. The streets are a mess. The people are struggling to survive. Corpses in various states of wholeness and decay are everywhere. The government has gone silent. Nowhere is safe. Simply existing has become a threat to your life.”

“Our group has been very lucky. We all met by chance. We've been hopping from house to house for a while now, whenever the area becomes scarce on resources or too crowded with robots. The robots have incredible eyesight and a good sense of smell, but their hearing is practically non-existent. Closing and boarding up the windows and doors prevents them from noticing activity inside, and Ajaw can make all the noise he wants without consequences, from the robots at least.”

“Speaking of Ajaw…”

Tighnari glanced at Kinich, who gave a small nod, and started talking.

“I’ll explain him then. Ajaw is a Khaenri’ahn robot who somehow gained sentience.”

“A sentient robot?”, Albedo echoed.

“Yep, and I have no idea how he did that. Freminet found him stuck in a small robot body and brought him back. He's a menace, but we keep him around because Freminet doesn’t want to ditch him and because he has some important information. Also, he’s harmless, most of the time.”

That raised more questions than answers for Albedo. But he decided to leave it. He could ask later.

“Now onto how I found you”, Kinich continued. 

“It was an accident. I was running from a robot and hid in a building. I heard a heart monitor behind a door, so I decided to check the room. I found you lying on a bed in the centre with an oxygen mask on. So I brought you back. Tighnari looked after you. He's a doctor.”

“I’m a med student", Tighnari started.

“A prodigy, close enough”, Kinich butted in.

“Shut up”, Tighnari grumbled.

“Anyways, like I was saying, I'm a med student and doctor-in-training. I take care of all the injuries around here, and there are a lot.”

He glared at Kinich, who held up his hand in surrender.

“Okay, Okay. I'll be more careful next time.”

Tighnari sighed, and turned back to Albedo.

“Did all that answer your questions well enough?”

If Albedo was honest, he only had even more questions. But it would do for now. He could think about it later.

“Yes, thank you”, he replied.

“I will need some time to process everything though, apologies.”

Tighnari waved his hand.

“No need to apologise. I should go check up on a certain someone’s injuries. 

He gave a pointed look at Kinich, before walking over to the other man, grabbing his wrist, and pulling him towards the door.

“If you need anything, just yell”, Tighnari said over his shoulder to Albedo, Kinich trailing behind him. 

“I will. You have my gratitude”.

Tighnari gave a nod of acknowledgement, then left the room, Kinich in tow.

Albedo laid down on the mattress again, staring at the ceiling. His thoughts swam around his head. The apocalypse… the robots… Khaenri’ah… There were just so many things to make sense of…

This was going to be a lot harder than he'd thought…

Notes:

I probably should not have written nor posted this whilst half asleep but hey, just another bad life choice that I always seem to be making.

I kinda lore dumped everywhere with stuff I came up with on the spot. Was it a good idea? No. Did I do it anyways? Yes. Will it work out? I hope so.

So yea, I'm off to bed now.