Skies of Glass

Chapter 4. The Correct Answer

The skies were grey and Albedo felt his entire being weighed down. Pinching the rear of his umbrella, he looked to the tiled floor. The pitter-patter of raindrops sung above as he counted his steps.

It has been close to a decade since his unannounced arrival in Mondstadt, and during that duration, he found himself strolling along this very street dozens of times. And on each occasion, he shifted his gaze to the side, mind reciting almost automatically: asters, lampflowers, dandelion, cecilia.

For close to a decade, the same pots of flowers would pass by him. The same lady - he had learnt of her name to be Sarah after (embarrassingly) a full year of staying in Mondstadt - would wave at him, casually announcing her discounted food prices and 'Specialty for the day'. The same crowd would part at his presence, same gossips: from him being a robot to him being an immortal zombie. And the same colleagues, same greetings, same routine.

Still, Albedo quite liked Mondstadt. Despite their shortcomings and mundane lifestyle, the people of Mondstadt were still inherently nice. Sarah by Good Hunter would follow through with her claims on discounted meals, Jean and Eula are efficient colleagues and Klee-

Albedo found himself smiling even as the stones in his chest pulled.

He might have taken a while to adjust to Mondstadt ever since his master left him here, but he has grown very fond of the city. And slowly, its people were adjusting to his bewildering antics as well. Just the other day, he remembered, the store lady ruffled his hair after his comment on her new dress, and she called him "endearing". Albedo stopped before his lab door, listening to the gentle rhythm of the rain, wondering when was the point where he had ever become 'endearing'.

And it was precisely accredited to these fond little memories that Albedo regretted ever venturing too far out. He had been warned, several times, by Kaeya, that his curiosity for the truth would one day demand a heavy price.

And back then, he had honestly thought the man to be a fool.

Knowledge was and always will be power. The price, equivalent to the knowledge attained, would rarely precede the benefit sown.

Yet...

Albedo shut the door behind him and left his umbrella by the entrance. The lab was pitch black, humid, and cold, but he preferred it that way. With anxiety gripping him from within, he carefully set his bag atop an empty table. 

Squinting his eyes for a bit, he fought to adjust his vision for the dark. But his hands were impatient: they hastily brought out a sloppily wrapped parcel and unwrapped the item with the same sloppy fashion as when he had wrapped them.

Albedo held his breath as its contents unravelled themselves before him: an old book, pages yellowed and threatening to disintegrate at the slightest mishandling. Unfortunately for him, he had already read through all of its contents upon its discovery, and now, he merely wanted to inspect its condition and ascertain the book's authenticity.

Brushing the grains of sand off the covers, Albedo traced a finger across symbols imprinted in gold. It was a lost language that he had picked up from his master, and innocently enough, they read: Before Sun and Moon.

Records of the world before the rule of the Seven, Godly wars, and so much more. The book revealed a truth, that could very much be the truth of this world if he'd wager, that tore down the very foundations of what he thought 'reality' to be.

And farther back, the book entailed an extremely detailed step-by-step instruction guide on how to destroy the world, together with a blueprint to follow with: