Aether

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5 years later

The Aether Contract continues to prey on Teyvat

Aether couldn't believe his eyes. He stood atop Dragonspine, feet planted in the snow that covered the large floating crystal pillar that stood at the center of the freezing mountain. Here, he could see everything, from Inazuma to the ruins of Khaenri'ah. But not only the oldened city was destroyed now. Everything. Everything he loved was destroyed. The fields he used to walk, the cliffs he used to climb, even the trees he rested his head on. They were all burned, in tatters, ripped up into sharp crystals of wounded memories that could never be the same again.

All of it was gone. The beautiful peaks of Liyue, covered in huge claw-like incisions. The rolling hills of Mondstadt, only burnt thresholds of what once was. The sakura trees of Inazuma that flew in the wind with leaves of purple beauty, reduced to nothing, ashen sumps left behind.

Aether fell to his knees, which turned light red in the cold of the snow. He had held back tears when he left, but now... he screamed in anguish, letting out all of his pain in a single breath.

The sound wave flowed across all the nations, through the sharp cobbled roads of Mondstadt, under the burnt golden tapestries of Liyue, caught in the freezing wind of Snezhnaya, fueling the ashes of Natlan, born to the thunder's roar in Inazuma, trapped in the bubbles of Fontaine, lost in the sands of Sumeru. Fat golden tears dripped out of his watered eyes, as he looked at the clouded sky helplessly.

He didn't know what happened, he wasn't sure if he wanted to know. But right now, he just wanted to let his cries be washed away in the biting wind of Dragonspine.

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