ALEA IACTA EST • xiao

𝐜hapter i. and she breathes

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DANCING WITH THE SNOW WAS LIKE A WALTZ OF DEATH—entrancing, but yet, regrettable. Then again, poor prayers of the poverty, helpless fools that defended themselves by submitting their prides to Gods; Archons, to achieve salvation of humanity. These mortals only seemed to blame their troubles to God, it was the heavenly fault, not theirs.

Oh, let there be light! Life was nothing more but a mere shadow strutting around death.

Alas, within the midst of motherland Snezhnaya, the frosty flakes of platinum and pure snow embraced her like its own breed—a non-living creature—that belonged within the cynical cycle of life.

Falling, falling, and falling.

It was a tenderly sweet moment, as she felt the gentle touch of the snow that melted as it collided against the Princess's porcelain fair skin. Tsarista must've absolutely adored her, showing such affection; a natural behaviour towards someone who held importance. Ah, who was she to begin with?

"Dearest sister," The Princess called out, offering her greetings. At first glance, people might've seemingly mistaken her as a sort of mythical creature—an encapsulating beauty that rivalled Aphrodite's allure, decorated with the finest silk and crystals surrounding her appearance, dusts of gold battered the tip of her eyelids—absolutely heavenly and breathtaking; no one would dare to match her empyrean charm. "How have you been faring?"

"In fact, I've been absolutely famished." Tsarista sighed, walking closer to the ethereal maiden as she held out her hand that intertwined the maiden's silky hair. "Teyvat has been plummeting into extreme chaos recently. I believe that Barbatos has yet to lead its people to victory."

"Lord Barbatos?" The wistful princess's lips spilt out laughs of melody, an arpeggiated chord of dissonant strums of harps. "I suppose I could give him a quick greetings~"

"Heading to Teyvat?" Now, Empress Tsarista absolutely adored her younger sister. Making extreme sacrifices—a once warm-hearted and kind woman that seemed to have never existed—in order to protect the blissful maiden; or the divine princess some may call. "That awful filthy place where its air is contaminated with stenches that Godsent beings shouldn't experience-"

"Tsarista, I'm fine." Winterflakes kept falling, falling and falling, little creatures that intervened the tension between the two siblings. The Princess then smiled, cupping her sister's cheeks together as she blew a kiss. "I'm not a pampered baby anymore. I wield the power of both visionary and delusion. It's more than enough to protect myself."

"But still-" Tsarista's eyes wallowed, pupils dilated in horror—her precious sister insisted to step foot out of Celestia to meet Barbatos—as she held the urge to scream. "What if something happens? I won't be able to protect you because I'm-"

As if time has distorted; a fine line drawn between the realm of imagination and reality—the snowflakes that slowly poured, paused in midair—an unbelievable breathtaking sight that warped and disrupted the pulse of life.

"He's my Lord, dearest sister."

"But he isn't suited to be a God of worship!" A prolonged silence was tuned between the two siblings, the Empress and the Princess. Barbatos was once a God to be revered, a zealous existence of an unorthodox religion. But he ripped that bible; defying the constant recitals of holy hymns that were offered upon mortals.

God defied the Law, and that itself, was an unforgivable sin.

"I know."

She, like the reincarnation of Eve—and he was her Adam. Both stranded, lost within the Elysian Garden of Eden; with the fruits of good and evil as they both craved and desired for one another. It was her who held destiny in her hands, and it was him who held fate.

They would defy God for their own selfish desires.

"Then why go for such lengths?"

The Princess couldn't help but ponder the question. Why? Perhaps it was the attachment to the human land. The way she—a divine creature—was willing to descend to the so-called filthy mortal realm just to meet a traitor of Gods.

Maybe it was the thoughts of doubts that encapsulated her.

"The oddity of saintly and ungodly." She lifted her hand, caressing her beloved older sister by the cheek. Eyes slanted into a fox-like, cunning pair. "Rather than weeping the woe, the ideology of dreams seems rather fascinating."

"A fool would wander into places of the unknown." A sinister grin was plastered across Her Empress face. A fool indeed; perhaps the Princess was someone above everyone else—it was an undeniable fact that she is a genius—who knew, perhaps the Princess had already thought ahead of the future possibilities. Essentially, a sort of Clairvoyance. "Into places where God would forbid, and only sinners would be permitted."

Come not, between banishment and wrath.

"I am not bound by anyone to please them." A winter torrent surrounded the Ice Princess. With the appearance of Boreas—divine authority ruled over winter wonderland; the North Wind—but still tender like a nymph dusted off with an eternal breeze of frosts. "Beware, that faith is foul, and foul is faith."

And her physical entity faded away. Unpathed, like a sea of raging undead. However, the Princess only saw the perpetual movement of a blizzard that ceaselessly stormed.

Like power, madness was the glory in her life. Carefully, the Princess's eyelids fluttered open, seeing a trail of Cryo crystalflies that fluttered their wings through the freezing night of Dragonspine.

Ah, Mother Nature within Teyvat was an impeccable experience. Tainted with illusionary hope that surrounded the sky with the false starry night, giving hope to mere mortals that didn't contribute a single speck of effort within the rise of Celestia. She couldn't help but stifle a laugh—what absurdness—before giving a curt bow towards the land of mortals.

"Greetings to Teyvat, for the Empire's greatest blasphemy has returned."

And she breathes, grinning at the fumes of profanity within Teyvat as destruction befell upon her. Perhaps it was a sort of passion, a sense of commitment and excitement boiled within her as in her world, the good and bad didn't exist. It was only a distortion of mind that people feared.

"Now, shall we have some fun?"

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