Outland Warriors

Prologue Pt-1

Aether lands on his feet after being sent back by an attack from a Ruin Guard, hissing in pain as the cut on his ankle continued to bleed. The green glow coming from the plate on his chest and his earring flicker slightly as the symbol of Anemo forms around them.

Aether can hear Paimon gasp in fear, watching her friend fight from behind a pillar.

"Shit. I just wanted to help out the Adventurer's Guild with the Ruin Guards, and this is what happens..." Aether thinks in frustration. He clenches his teeth as he dives back at the Ruin Guards, channeling Anemo energy through his body to propel himself,

Two of the Ruin Guards stumble slightly after nearly being knocked over by the blast of air left in the traveler's wake.

There had been a total of four Ruin Guards in the small ruin in Lingju Pass in the Lisha region of Liyue. He'd gone there as a commission from the Adventurer's Guild in Liyue Harbor as some adventurers had been attacked by Ruin Guards that had seemingly popped up out of nowhere and the Guild was struggling to deal with the threat.

Good news; he'd already managed to take down one of the four Ruin Guards he found.

Bad news; there were still three left. They were clearly damaged by Aether's attacks, but he was also fairly injured too and was noticeably beginning to limp.

Aether braces for the pain as he makes an Anemo fueled jump to climb up a relatively shaky pillar before diving back down, pushing his body weight onto his sword as he plunges it into the eye of one of Ruin Guard's. He repeats the move, fueling his sword with Geo energy. The Ruin Guard finally collapses in on itself and stops functioning.

Aether huffs as he tries to catch his breath, backing away from the two remaining Ruin Guards. "Two down, two to go... MotheRFUCKER, MY ANKLE!" He bends down to clutch near his ankle, which was only barely not bleeding.

He runs again, dodging the swinging arms of the Ruin Guards before scaling another pillar. He aims for one of the remaining machines and attempts to preform the same attack, only to be foiled by the target Ruin Guard spinning, hitting him with its arms several times, knocking him further away and worsening his injuries.

Paimon screams quietly as she watches Aether struggle to get back on his feet as the Ruin Guards come closer and closer. He manages to get up an run away as they close in on him.

However, one Ruin Guard plants itself on the cracked ground, spinning itself around. Aether's eyes widen before the machine launches a few small rockets out of its back.

Aether pushes himself to the side, avoiding most of the rockets with ease.

Until his ankle finally gives out.

His bleeding ankle is now too strained for him to put weight on it anymore, making him a sitting duck.

Which is a bad thing, considering he's not far from two Ruin Guards that really seem to want to kill him. That and a rocket heading straight for him.

He doesn't has time to think as the rocket hits his chest, exploding on impact and forcing him to shut his eyes at the brightness and smoke left behind.

Aether hits the ground as Paimon screams, falling unconscious immediately. The little fairy immediately flies out from behind the pillar to shake her friend.

"Aadhira. Hey, Aadhira! Wake up!" Paimon's shaking becomes more frantic as the Ruin Guards edge closer and closer.

"Wake up, Aadhira! Please! I don't like this! You need to wake up, NOW!" She looks back up to see the Ruin Guards even closer. She whimpers as they loom over the two of them, taking it upon herself to put herself between Aether and the machines. She shudders as one of the Ruin Guards raises its arm and she braces to be hit by its large, metal hand.