My Dear Friend | Chilumi

The Mask

Cuddled in front of a fire under a small tent laid The traveler and Paimon in Mondstadt. Perched on a cliff in rainy weather, the tent stayed in place while the girls were resting up after a long week of commissions for the adventurers guild.

A month had passed since her last encounter with Childe. She thought about it often but never let her emotions through to Paimon. She didn't know if she was embarrassed that she still thought about him or if she was embarrassed that she still desired to cross paths with the man. Conflicted between wanting to punch him but also wanting to hear his reassuring voice, and read his comforting words. She couldn't allow herself to think about that for too long. She was a busy woman and she was scavenging for any piece of mora, gems for her weapons, or books she could find to make herself stronger.

She watched raindrops fall to the ground and imagined the times when she and her brother would travel to rainy worlds or Sandy beaches. To what lengths was she willing to go to bring back her brother to her, and to get what she desired? Joining her brother sometimes seemed like a possibility. The fatui could always get the job done quickly and efficiently, even with their questionable morals. Was she wrong in the things she said to him? He is just a pawn in the chess game happing in Teyvat after all. But she couldn't shake the feeling that the abyss and fatui were wrong in their methods, and she couldn't support that. She would try to find another way.

She gently woke Paimon up when the clouds started to disappear and they packed their things before heading off to the next location on their long list of adventurers guild commissions. She thought about how sometimes when she is about to fall asleep, Kathryne pops up in her head and yells " AD ASTRA ABYSSOSQUE." 
And she wakes up in a panic. 
She did have to endure the phrase anyway if she wanted to be able to afford a living in this hostile world.

The girls took their time walking along the monster-filled roads and slaying them when they got too close. Finally, they found their destination, a cave hidden in a mountain where multiple adventurers and young children have gone missing over the past few weeks.

"I hope the missing people are still alive in there." Quivered Paimon.

"I don't want to sound like I don't care, but with the amount of them that went missing, it's a miracle if we find them alive."

They glanced at each other with little hope in their hearts.
Lumine checked her supplies one last time and they ventured into the darkness of a new domain, hopefully, filled with chests and supplies for their next journey.

They crawled through the dark and musty cavern until they stumbled through an opening into a giant cave that seemed to stretch out for days. Lumine couldn't help but feel discouraged at the sight in front of her.

"We are never going to find them, are we? "

" Uhh, Paimon isn't feeling very hopeful either at the moment. "

They lit up a torch and ventured deeper into the cave. Stalactites covered the whole cavern and odd glowing mushrooms adorned the harsh gravel ground. Lumine could see a faint path outlined in the ground and continued trekking in hopes of finding a clue about what was happening here.

The path kept going and going and not a single trace of human activity appeared in the cave, even the trail started to feel like a figment of her imagination. The cave was eerie and mysteriously silent, they had not encountered a single monster either. As much as they appreciated not having to slay monsters, not seeing a single one felt almost scarier. Lumine decided to sit down on a nearby rock and use her elemental sight to try and find anything. Unfortunately, nothing came up and she started to feel like this was all for nothing, and that people got lost here trying to get to a cave with no end.

Then, she spotted a faint blue light coming from the sea of stalagmites to her right, she pointed out the light to Paimon and motioned to her to stay silent. They carefully advanced through the tight rock formations towards the faraway glimpse of blue. Suddenly, a loud inhuman screech was heard and echoed throughout the cavern, and the light they were following disappeared. They accelerated their pace until they made it to a flat platform, they approached the torch to see further in front of them and saw the ungodly scene of the dead bloody bodies of the missing adventurers and children rotting away in a pile. Emitting a putrid smell of rancid flesh. The stunned traveler and Paimon held each other closely and walked past the desolate pile of bodies. Further in front of them lay the body of a dirty older man. Lumine approached to see if he was alive, only to realize his body was still hot and he was a fresh kill.

Before continuing their investigation, the Traveler and Paimon took it upon themselves to do a body count of the missing people and the corpses of the cave. All could be accounted for, but the old man was an extra unknown person. Lumine walked over to the man and spotted a door embedded in the wall, she slowly approached and opened the door to what seemed like a modern laboratory. Inside, she found journals and notes scattered across the room, as well as vials of mysterious liquids and rare ingredients. She picked up a book that was laying open on the table and read the first lines of the page.

《Experiment #45 went extremely well. Subject responded exactly as planned to the potion and impaled himself with a stick within 2 minutes of ingestion. A couple more tests and product should be satisfying for country-wide sale and especially for my client who commissioned the product. Test subject #46 will be used in tomorrow's experiment 》

Lumine gasped and closed the book after reading the last line. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on here and who the mystery man was. She packed the book in her satchel, grabbed Paimon like a lost child, and told her they needed to get out of there and that she would explain when they would be safe. She got out into the cave and passed the body of the cut-open mad scientist. Before running off the way they came in, Lumine caught a red familiar object in the corner of her eye. A red Fatui-esque mask lay in the dust with an inscription in cursive on the inside.

《For Her Majesty》

Tied around her waist in an instant, the mask dangled while she ran away from the cursed place. Acquainted with the owner, she knew he was long gone.