His Eyes Never Change (Gold like Cor Lapis, Blue as Noctilucous Jade)

Unaware of the Oriole Behind

"You have got to be kidding me."

Childe gritted his teeth in irritation as his left foot slipped out of place, which simultaneously caused his right foot to also lose its precarious hold on the tiniest of grooves in the rock face.

The ledge his fingers were gripped onto was the only thing keeping him from falling hundreds of feet to his death. He had thought climbing Mt. Tianheng would be a good idea, it was a great location to get an idea of how the landscape differed from the time period he was familiar with so he could plan his next move. Which would have been a simple task (relatively speaking) had he been in his normal body and time.

Because, while this body had certainly done its fair share of labor and hard work, it was nowhere near "11th Fatui Harbinger" shape. On top of that, his reach was slightly shorter than usual, with his limbs being ever so slightly smaller.

But perhaps the most unfortunate thing was the lack of a wind glider. The comfort of such a device was greatly missed. There was little worry of falling when you could just glide away from danger, but Childe had no such luxury now.

When were wind gliders invented, anyways?

In any case, he had already made it this far and there wasn't any comfortable way for him to abandon the endeavor. He dug the toe of his shoe into the rocky cliff and managed to get enough of his weight under him to haul himself onto the ledge. Luckily it was wide enough to sit on as he caught his breath.

As he did so he noticed that the sun had moved a considerable distance across its arc in the sky. Childe figured he had started climbing around 1:00 or so. He judged that around two or three hours had passed at this point. The sky was beginning to take a slightly deeper blue hue, the way it always did before morphing into brilliant golds. He had originally planned to climb the tallest peak, but seeing as how things were going he decided against it. The small peak would suit his purposes just as well.

As he returned to climbing he thought of many things. The body he was in was originally headed for the Guili Assembly, apparently seeking out answers from Rex Lapis himself. Now he too was seeking out Zhongli for, more or less, the same reasons.

Childe felt that he had a decent grasp on Liyue's history, especially considering he was friends with a walking history textbook (who also happened to be the ex-Archon of the region). He had a pretty good idea of what he might find.

The Guili Assembly, at the height of its power, was said to have had Stone Gate as its northernmost border, with its western boundary at Jueyun Karst, eastern boundary at what was Mingyun Village, and its southernmost border at the entrance to what would become Liyue Harbor itself. It spanned thousands of miles, rich in history and extremely powerful. It was upheld by the combined efforts of two gods; Morax, Lord of Geo, and Guizhong, Lord of Dust.

Childe had heard little about Guizhong. Apart from her titles, her intelligence, and the fact that both the fall of the ancient civilization and her death happened within the same battle, he knew little else about her. Aside from that, Zhongli had never once mentioned her, and Childe had never thought to ask. He wondered what kind of god she was, to have stood at Zhongli's side.

But Guizhong was not the god he was hoping to find.

He felt around the rock face in front of him, searching for a decent hand hold.

But what would he say when he found Zhongli? Or, he realized, would he even get the chance to talk with him? This was the era of Rex Lapis, a god who had hundreds of conquests underfoot and hundreds more to go. A god who would take one of the seven divine thrones for himself. Childe wondered if he would even get the opportunity to see Zhongli, let alone talk to him.