To Collapse ⌜Chilumi⌟

CHAPTER 1 - You May Rise

  How unfortunate, that shapeless little hilichurl had just slipped out of her grasp. Lumine stood upright, still holding a sword in her right hand and a bundle of food in her left. This was all they had left her.

   It had been a very long time since the girl had left her clan to come and drown her thoughts in battles against pitiful little mountain monsters. Three long years since Lumine had promised herself she would never trust the human kind again and run away from her brother who had betrayed her.

   She could still smell the fresh blood on her hands.

   A year had passed since she left the Mista clan. In short, Lumine was not really gone, she was much stronger than that. Murdering the entire Mistra clan hadn't washed away her sorrows, oh no, Lumine was now wandering the mountains when it was far too cold for her coat to keep her warm.

   A noise further on and the silence of falling snow. The shrill sound of a falling sword and then chaos.

   The girl didn't realize that her body had already embarked on a flight away from the depths of the mountains. It seemed like such a long time. When was the last time Lumine had been afraid? She could not remember.

   Time passed, her memory of Celestia was blurred. Her last and most notable memory was the murder of the entire Mista clan in the mountains of Snezhnaya. Her best friend taken away by the greed and wickedness of humans, Lumine had no other choice. Sadness or regret. Maybe both.

   Paimon is always right, isn't she? You should have listened to Paimon! We are best friends, aren't we?

--

   "Welcome back! Lumine is it? Your reputation precedes you my child. "An old woman looked at the traveler and with a small nod the blonde sat down at the large table in front of her.

   "Paimon wants Lumine to give her food. Paimon is a queen! "The little fairy twirled next to the young woman. This would have made her laugh before, but Lumine had not been smiling for some time.

   "Feed yourself. "Ouch. Lumine didn't like it, forcing herself, feeling watched. She missed Ganyu, missed her terribly. Befriending a half-human, half-who-knowns-what seemed completely crazy at first, but Ganyu had cured her of her wounds. It was moreover the adepti who had advised her to join the nation of the one who had offered her her vision.

   The blonde left the kind of tent that served as their home and had gone to face some mitachurls in the mountains, that would probably calm her nerves. Lumine did not know what to do. Under Ganyu's advice she had gone to the cold nation and had even joined a clan to, as Paimon would have said, "socialize". It's been seven months since the traveler had joined the Mistra clan and in no case talking with strangers and showing them her use of all the elements of Teyvat had allowed her to socialize. Damn it. It was probably her fault.

   As she returned from her expedition "to calm her nerves", a horrific sound was heard. Not a sound, more like a scream, and Paimon's to boot. With her sword summoned in her right hand, Lumine re-entered the tent. There was chaos here. Chaos and the shaking body of her friend. Paimon was covered in blood.