perfect match ?

stolen things

" if i were a harbinger, where would i be? " venti asked himself. fatui were spread out in liyue and it's a large area to cover. but maybe they'll get lucky and stumble upon morax. " xiao, you check all of liyue harbor, i'll check northland bank myself. "

" okay. " he speeds away, rapidly checking. venti had a strange gut feeling that morax was there. he took a breath and opened the door. as soon as he walked in, morax gives his gnosis to la signora. it's too late. she runs away before they could do anything.

" xiao...! " venti calls out and his head starts to throb. no, he mustn't forget.he can feel his memories slipping away one by one but he mustn't give up. he can't forget someone as important as morax. the pain in his head was agonizing, causing him to scream. it must be hard on xiao too.

next to him, he can feel xiao teleporting there and having just arrived. the effect of the gnosis being taken away is affecting him. memories are fading away. xiao refused to give up like venti and tried to get a hold of all their memories. it was no use, it was all going away soon.

morax, unaware of what's happening, checked on venti and xiao.

" venti! xiao! i'm right here! what's wrong? " he asked but it was too late. they looked back at him with expressionless eyes.

" who are you? " venti asked.

" yes, who is this mortal? " xiao asked.

they'd lost it all. no way to take it back. infuriated as to why they can't remember, he goes to la signora.

" tell me right now why they can't remember me! what did you do!? " he yells. la signora didn't seem to care.

" it seems that the insolent bard didn't tell you. he was once a gnosis bearer but it seems he didn't utter a word about it. once a gnosis is taken away, the people who knew you will forget you for eternity. to get them to remember once again, the ex-bearer of the gnosis must die, " she says looking at her nails. " i'm heading out now, childe is taking quite some time. "

" impossible...! i must try at least. " morax goes to xiao and asks him a couple of questions about his past but no memories. he did the same with venti with the same results. " screw you celestia! why must you play us like mere chess pieces!? "

" ah rex lapis, we could never forget you, " venti says and smiles. " we merely faked that so it seems that the effect took place. sure bits of my memories are gone but most of them are still here. my head hurts a lot though. "

" i've kept my memories as well, but only half. my apologies, rex lapis, " xiao says solemnly.

" it's okay, as long as you both remember me, " morax replies.

" also, how do you know me? " venti asks.

" i've seen you a couple of times and always felt a pain in my heart, so i figured you were important. i got bits and pieces of memories back one by one. i still don't have them all but i get a good idea of who you are, barbatos, " morax says with a slight smile. " xiao, you checked the area, right? what's the situation right now?"

" it's not looking too well. traveler defeated the 11th harbinger but said harbinger managed to awaken osial, the overlord of the vortex. they have a good enough amount of adepti so we should stop la signora, " xiao suggested.

" good idea. xiao, you should teleport around liyue harbor and check for la signora. barbatos and i will be here for the meantime, " morax says. xiao nods and leaves immediately.

" signora, you are not getting away with this. "