The Power of Revelation: The Truth Shall Set You Free

Chapter 9: Swallowed by the Darkness

"Oh... archons..." Thoma's mouth opened and closed like a fish, as if he couldn't figure out what to say, "A Herald? How... why..."

Ayaka gently patted the housekeeper's shoulder comfortingly, as Ei gripped the armrest of her chair tightly.

"When did you two get so close?" Kaeya snickered, pointing at Zhongli and Tartaglia.

No one had noticed when it happened, but somehow, Qiqi had ended up on Zhongli's lap as he pressed up against the Harbinger's side, glaring at the crystal menacingly as he growled. The amber hues on his hair were glowing, while Tartaglia was doing his best to calm the raging funeral consultant.

"Hey, it's okay." The Harbinger murmured, "It's okay, Xiansheng."

Zhongli glared at Tartaglia as his rage slowly subsided, the glow of his eyes and his hair fading slowly, and Hutao sprang out of her seat on the couch, her arms outstretched, "Qiqi! Come sit with me!"

"Okay."

"Now, now, don't be like that... EH!?" Hutao paused, "Okay!? Just like that!? I thought you hated me!"

"Hutao is annoying. And warm." Qiqi bluntly stated with the hint of disgust in her flat voice, much to everyone's amusement and Hutao's faux expression of disappointment, "But I don't think I can protect anyone here."

She hopped off Zhongli's lap, and patted Tartaglia's head gently, "I hope you feel better soon, Childe-gege."

The Harbinger made an odd noise of confusion, but otherwise made no move to disrupt the jiangshi, before Qiqi turned to Zhongli, "You'll take care of him, right, Zhongli-gege?"

The ex-Archon tilted his head, blinking, before nodding, "Yes...?"

Satisfied, the zombie walked over to where Hutao was sitting.

"Come on, enough procrastinating." Keqing's leg was bouncing impatiently, "We don't know how much more we have to watch... and if what Enjou said is true and there really is abyssal energy here..."

"Yeah yeah, we got it." Hutao grinned, helping Qiqi up onto the couch before hopping into her seat, and the room darkened once again.

When Ajax opened his eyes, the very first thing that he noticed was that he wasn't dead.

Blinking, the boy pushed himself up, rubbing his eyes blearily. His fleece undershirt was folded up, and the boy had apparently been using it as a pillow. He was lying on one of his thicker coats, and the other was draped over his body like a blanket.

"It's about time you've woken up." A familiar voice rang out, "You humans really do sleep a lot."

"I... what?" Ajax asked, looking at where the voice had come from, only to realize that it was the same Abyss Herald from before, tossing some bones into an eerie green fire.

The boy was about to screech, but he slapped his hand over his mouth just in time.

That was when he noticed the tightness of his chest, and upon looking down, he saw that his torso was bandaged up neatly.

"Another nice Abyss Herald... Lector... something?" Ganyu asked, surprised.

Albedo was busy jotting some notes down in his notebook.

Ajax was startled back to reality when something was tossed into his lap. Upon picking up the object, he realized it was a charred, overly roasted lavender melon, and the boy looked at the Abyss Herald in confusion.