Petrification (XiaoVen)

Chapter One: Mysterious Murders

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Genshin Impact or its characters. All rights belong to their respective owners. 

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"There's been another murder." Kaeya sounded tired as he dropped a thin stack of papers on the table, immediately going to pinch the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger once his hands were free. "This time, it was a child. A fourteen-year-old girl." 

Aether and Xiao both leaned forward in their seats at the same time, exchanging concerned looks. Even Diluc - who normally spent more time tending to his tavern than he did eavesdropping on his step-brother - did a double-take and set down the glass he'd been polishing to join the table not far from the well-lit bar. 

"What happened?" Diluc picked up the stack of papers Kaeya had brought in, quickly leafing through them even as a grimace of disgust spread across his face. "Who on earth is messed up enough to do something like this? It says here that she was found missing an arm and most of her face."

Kaeya shook his head and pointed to a particular spot on the paper Diluc had missed. "The body was so mangled that we have no idea what the cause of death could've been. This girl may have died in any variety of ways." 

Aether wanted a turn to look and took the report from the redhead, placing it on the table between himself and Xiao so they could both see it. "That's... that's inhumane. I really hope the Knights are planning on hunting down the person who did this." 

"If it even was a person," Xiao added, staring down at the neat text on the report with a blank expression. "People without a conscience can't even be considered people anymore." 

"Is it possible that the girl was attacked by a wild animal?" was inevitably Diluc's next question. He'd asked the same thing every single day since the reports of brutal murders started coming in. Each one was nearly identical to the last: a horrifically mutilated body, no way to determine the cause of death because the injuries were so extreme, and no known suspects to question. "I know I've asked this before, but... gosh, I don't want to believe that someone of the same species as me is capable of doing things like this."

"The Knights have already ruled out an animal attack. There are no animals in Mondstadt that can inflict these kinds of injuries on people. Biologically speaking, they're either too small, too weak, or too naturally docile." Kaeya dropped into the nearest empty chair directly across from Aether. "But there's no one they can bring in for questioning because there aren't any motives or suspicious connections. All of the victims of these murder cases have been innocent people that were just minding their business when they were killed." 

"Do they have anything in common?" Aether leaned a bit further forward, squinting at a certain place on the report that detailed the victim's last known sighting before her body had been discovered. "Seems like they all have been last seen walking alone either at sunset or during the nighttime." 

"Makes sense. Smart killers don't do their dirty work in broad daylight, especially not when their methods are as filthy as this." Xiao took a sip of the tea he'd brought with him. He didn't drink alcohol because he didn't care much for the taste. But that didn't stop him from following Aether to the tavern every so often so they could meet with other Knights and discuss what was happening around Mondstadt. Despite not being a Knight, Xiao did like to stay updated on all the important business. "Do the injuries resemble any sort of object? Like claws, teeth, a sword..." 

Kaeya was silent for a moment. He was abnormally pale, Xiao noticed. There was a decent chance the poor guy had been the person to find the young girl's violently dismembered body. Perhaps that was why Kaeya seemed so out of sorts.