The Final Chapter

Loosing Faith

Chapter 7

The conference room lied in silence. Nobody dared to speak. Diluc held Jean to comfort her and even Kaeya was silent and stirn. One of the cavalry captain's hands was placed gently on Lumine's shoulder, who looked down at the floor. As the door opened and all of the eyes were on Lisa who entered the room. She shook her head in defeat. Too late. Lumine had been to late. A wave of grief struck them. Tears in the eyes of everyone except in hers. Her eyes had no tears left to cry. "So he...", Jean began trying not to break down into Diluc's arms. "We tried everything...", Lisa sighed, "Sucrose and Albedo brought potions and newly brewed medicine and Barbara healed him until his last breath... There was nothing we could have done. The wound injured his organs and that he even endured so long was a miracle" There was no faith in any of the present faces. For Kaeya and Lisa he just was a drunk bard but for the rest he was a god. Their god. And even though he hadn't been there for his people the loss hit deep. Lumine stared at the floor. She slowly stepped forward, drawing the attention towards her. Her mind was far away from this place, not being able to grasp the situation. Venti was dead. He died because she did not go with him. He died because she had been too late. He died because her brother decided to start a war and sent someone to assasinate him. He died because she hadn't stopped him back then. Because she had been too late. "Too late...", she mumbled, slowly walking forward with out a destination. "What? Sweetie...?", Lisa came close towards her, lifting her head up to look at her face. Lumine's eyes stared at her, devoid of any emotion, overwhelmed from the pain. The green eyes of the librarian looked at her worryingly: "What did you say, cutie?" With Lisa's hand still on her face she whispered: "This is all my fault...", before leaving the room. Voices followed her, but she didn't percieve them clearly as she stepped out in the city. A strong wind hit her face getting part of her back to reality. The peaceful sunset was disturbed with hefty winds that raged over Mondstadt. Her grief and guilt took over her mind. Still feeling like someone watched every move she made. She felt like she was going insane.

The nation was in chaos. "So this again, huh? It hasn't been that long since the last time, so what's it this time?" Dehya swung her claymore from her shoulder in front of her to lean on it, before she looked at Alhaitham and Cyno. They had called her here, without explaining anything. In front of her were plans and citizens surrounded the table Alhaitham and Cyno stood in front of. Others were carrying weapons around, but there were far too little people for picking major fights. Maybe that's why she was instructed to bring as many eremites as she vould with her.
The General Mahamatra cleared his throat: "Our nation has been infiltrated by the Fatui. They released the Akademiya folks and grouped some people who want back to the old system in the Akademiya itself. They turned a ton of guards against us and barricated both the Akademiya and the santuary of Surasthana holding our archon hostage" Dehya looked down on the floor. How could this happen again so fast? What was the benefit of a system that relies so heavily on the Akasha and what advantage has it? What do the people think they get out of this? How do they want to reactivate the Akasha? Do they want to reactivate it at all? Or do they just want their power back? She looked back up. "What is their plan? And what do they want from the Dendro archon?" An unpleasant silence filled the room. A feeling began to grow within her. "They want to kill her, right?", she asked after a short while. No answer. But she didn't need one to that question. "What's the plan?", she asked instead. Alhaitham stepped forward. "You and your eremite friends cause a distraction at the Akademiya. Cyno, the rest of the Matra and I will storm the sanctuary. We need to hurry, so no detailed plans unfortunately" Dehya nodded: "Come on boys let's go!"

Their plan had been a full sucess. The eremites and even some civilians guided by Tighnari caused chaos in front of the Akademiya, so the Matra troup could reach the sanctuary. But the battle was harder than they thought. Not because if the enemies force, but because they knew so many of them. Some were friends or even colleagues that wished for an old and simple system back. Cyno struck another one down. The stubbornness of these people was intolerable to him. How could they be so against change? Did they want old simple times back so badly they betrayed their nation and archon. As he struck them down, his anger was fueled even more by these thoughts. People who he thought had been loyal betrayed all of this hard work, that they had put into the new and better system. All of them had put on an act, just to stab them in the back when the next opportunity came by. He fought his way through the crowd and finally managed to arrive at the entrance to the sanctuary. Without thinking about how many enemies could be there and if he should take backup, the General Mahamatra entered the building.
Silence greeted him. Nobody was there. No guards, no Fatui, no Akademiya people. Carefully he moved through the sanctuary checking everything. Trying to look past the thing he had seen right as he entered. The closer he got, the more impossible it got for him to look past it. The body of his archon. She lied there fully on display in the middle of the sanctuary for everyone to see. Just killed and left behind without a thought. 'For a better system'. Cyno kneeled down in front of her. He had never been one to be fully devoted to his god, but this was... cruel. It was a unforgivable crime to him. The door behing him opened again. Cyno turned around to Alhaitham, who just entered and shook his head: "We came too late. We failed her"