My Time in Teyvat [Tales of Luna, Book 2]

Prologue - The Girl who Wished

"Looks like I won't get to see Liyue after all." The little orphan girl weakly said as she leaned on the giant lion dog statue. "But don't worry, Yuji. I don't have any regrets. I got to befriend a genuine lion dog after all."

The girl looked up towards the statue's face. It was lifeless and unmoving. But to this lonely girl, who had nowhere to go, the cold stone statue had been her best friend and only companion. She was happy to have stumbled upon these temple ruins. The lone statue somehow had seemed even lonelier than she had felt. It only felt right to give it a name and to befriend it.

"Okay, maybe I regret not having tasted Jade Parcels. Would have been nice to know what they actually taste like." The girl smiled, too weak and tired to laugh, before another coughing fit started.

It was worse than before, her little chest felt like it was ripping apart, but she no longer had the energy to cry about it. She tried to cover her mouth with her trembling hand, but when she looked at it, she could clearly see the red blood despite it being night time.

"Told you, Yuji." She said before painfully swallowing a wad of blood that was left in her mouth. "At least the sky is clear for us to see the full moon before I go, yeah?"

And as she looked up at the moon, one last time beside her best friend, life didn't seem so bad. Despite how unmerciful this world had been to her, it was indisputable that it was mesmerizingly beautiful.

She was about to comment on it when a bright, flashing streak of light caught her attention. It was a shooting star. Was she lucky?

She smiled as she leaned her head on the statue.

"I had always wanted to see one of those and to wish upon it." She said, her voice starting to sound a little less than a whisper even to herself. "But I don't think it makes sense to wish something for myself now."

Putting a hand on the statue, she wished, wished with all of her little heart.

"My wish, is that you no longer be lonely." The girl said, suddenly too tired to even keep her eyes open. "That you be given a life that I didn't have. So that you may go see Liyue for the both of us. To see the Moonchase Festival and the Lantern Rite. Eat all the delicious things there."

She couldn't help but smile one last time as she laid down in front of the statue.

"Why stop at Liyue, yeah? Mondstadt and Sumeru too." She said as she felt the coldness from the ground permeating through her skin. "I bet even Inazuma would have been beautiful had I- had I only been healthy enough to explore it."

A breeze gently brushed the girl's unkempt hair.

The rest of her, however, was no longer moving.

Silence reigned as dark clouds formed. Droplets of rain started to fall, gently caressing the statue's face.

The statue of the lion dog, though it could not cry, expressed its utter sadness through the brewing storm.