King of Lies

Chapter 1

Slumped in the coarse grass, you watched in horror as the Harbor burned brightly. Screams reached your ears, distant but loud. 

You raised curses against the gods, cursing the dead Geo Archon. If only he were still alive; Liyue would not have burned. Shaking your fist, you screamed and cried, cursing the Adepti, anger shaking you to your very core. Dawn rose, the sun setting the water ablaze. 

And the fires still burned on.

Your voice finally broke, unable to scream any longer. Pulling your hand into your body, you curled up and cried, the grass poking at your face. Soon all other sounds were silent, except for your cries. 

Liyue Harbor was gone. And everyone in it. 

"Jie jie..." a small voice chirped beside you, a cold hand resting on your head. "Are you okay?" 

You shook your head, looking up. You realized with a start that it was Qiqi speaking to you, the small zombie from Bubu Pharmacy. Not too far off from behind Qiqi was a blue-haired male standing with a blond male that carried another sleeping child dressed in red. The blue-haired male smiled softly at you, walking over. He shrugged off his cape and lay it across your shoulders, the fur tickling your face. 

"I'm sorry you lost your home, my dear... I lost mine too," he whispered, rubbing your cheek with a thumb. You stared at him, wondering why he'd be so kind. 

You could only whisper, "why?"

"The gods are unkind to us..." he murmured, gesturing to the ruins of what was once a city of commerce and beauty. He looked sad, almost looking thoughtful of what Liyue had once been. "Shouldn't deities as high as them protect us? Keep us safe from the crawling monsters from the Abyss?"

You nodded in agreement, leaning into his hand. There was something strangely comforting about his cold skin. 

"Come with us. We could use a Hydro vision after all... to speed up healing and freeze our enemies," he offered, looking at you with an ice-blue eye. It glittered, sparkling like snow on a lake of ice. You couldn't help but stare, nodding your head numbly. He removed his hand from your cheek, getting up. He glanced down at you, offering his hand again. You took it and he pulled you up. 

"So, before we leave and head to the nearest nation... what's your name?" he cooed, smiling a little bit. 

"It's Y/N." 

"Y/N.... adorable name. I'm Kaeya, the man over there is Albedo, and the little girl in his arms is Klee." 

You looked over to the blond male, seeing him give a tentative smile and a vague hand gesture that you could only assume to be a wave of the hand. At least you hope it was. 

"I am Qiqi.... I am a zombie... and.... I.... already forgot..." Qiqi piped up beside you, staring up. You smiled down at Qiqi, picking her up and hugging her. Qiqi tentatively hugged you back, unsure of who you were, but you were familiar. She was so small, so light. And definitely very cold to the touch. You didn't entirely mind. For some reason, you found the bite of the cold to be preferable to the unrelenting heat that summer's in Liyue brought. 

"So... you said we were going to the closet nation. Which one would that be? Mondstadt?"

There was a visible flinch from the males. Especially Kaeya, who had his back turned to you.

"We..." a deep breath, a hesitance radiated from Kaeya as he glanced back at you over his shoulder. "We came from Mondstadt. It's gone... destroyed a few days ago. Only Albedo, Klee, and I escaped from the burning city as far as I know." He ran his fingers through his hair, pushing the bangs hiding his other eye... actually an eyepatch you silently noted; black, dark, the band holding it in place being gold. With a sigh he let his hand fall from his head, his arm coming to hang limply at his side. He looked at you fully, observing with a slight frown.