Genshin Impact | "The Last Night in Aaru Village" | Alhaitham x Lumine

Return of the Scarlet King, Part 6

Return of the Scarlet King, Part 6

As someone who grew up in the coldest region of Teyvat, journeying the desert was hell. Childe developed a profound respect to the Fatui stationed in the desert of Sumeru. The rainforest of the nation was humid at best, but the desert was just pure torture. He pulled out his water skin and drank what was left, feeling parched even as he did. The Harbinger would have to stop by the closest Fatui camp to refill his rations and to store plenty of water, the latter most importantly. Survival would not have been possible if not for his comrades scattered along the desert.

He pulled out his map and compass once again and moved them about, checking to see if he was going in the right direction. The Harbinger actually got lost along the countless dunes and ruins he had passed by. Because he was not familiar with the desert, he had ended up traveling to the west farther from his target location, and it didn't help that he mistook the Mausoleum of King Deshret as the Khaj-Nisut. After learning from the Fatui stationed around the Mausoleum that he was at the wrong place, he hastily re-arranged his bag and left for the Khaj-Nisut where his mission awaited, but a few days had already gone to waste. He sighed just thinking about his misfortune. Penning and reporting this small incident would be a pain in the ass especially since the mission was handed down by the Tsaritsa herself.

A group of Eremites jumped down from the boulders of the valley he was treading. This was his favorite part. His vision glowed as he flourished a pair of water daggers on both hands, swiftly charging head on against the enemies, injuring them as they failed to dodge. Sheer strength was enough to defeat them with no need to strategize. A piece of cake.

He slashed to the direction of the last foe and the eremite jumped out of the way but Childe was too fast. He delivered a cut through the right side of his neck, spraying the eremite's blood all over the sand and staining his dagger. It seeped through his weapon, changing its color from blue to red.

He wiped the blood splatter off his cheek with the back of his hand while his eyes were filled with pure bloodlust.

Letting his miscolored daggers dissipate through the air, he looked around once more and noted that the Khaj-Nisut was already in sight. Coming from the Mausoleum, the direction of his journey was north-east towards the Land of Lower Setekh. He had followed a road that snaked to the north and ended at a landscape made uneven by cliffs on all sides.

The Khaj-Nisut was easy to spot at the east corner of the landscape. Standing atop one of the cliffs, he opened his wind glider and jumped to the horizon, letting the wind current carry him as he navigated forward. It took a few minutes of gliding before he landed at the entrance of the building, his boots tapping the ground smoothly.

The majesty of the ancient structure entranced him for a few seconds, but for him nothing could surpass the elegance and mysterious aura of the structures in Snezhnaya, his own home. He surveyed the area to see what he was dealing with and his eyes fell on a pair of dead Primal Constructs, a mechanism that appeared like an open book resting on a pedestal, and droplets of fresh blood next to it. A fight happened here.

The door to the Khaj-Nisut was already open when he arrived which surprised him. The fatui he had talked to said it was closed and that scholars from the Akademiya were temporarily banned from doing research there. So, his initial plan was to scout the area first and see if there was a backdoor or some kind of hidden passage he might be able to exploit to enter the building. But surprises kept piling up one after the other. All the better for me. He smirked.

The Harbinger marched into the main hall and recalled what Jeht had told him, the passageway and route he needed to take to get to the throne of the Scarlet King. Without wasting any time, he went through one of the hallways expecting enemies to jump him but nothing appeared. Instead, all he encountered were more remnants of dead Primal Constructs as well as doors that were already open, and all he had to do was push forward. It was a breeze. The place felt dead to him, because there was nothing to kill.

He reached a platform with fan blades that propelled him all the way to the second floor which contained another hallway that led to another lift. Stepping in without hesitation, the lift carried him to the third floor as he prepared his water daggers in case something unexpected happens.

The platform halted and King Deshret's throne came to full view. A cloaked woman was sitting on the ground staring at the empty throne before her. She turned to him when she heard his footsteps.

Other than looking a bit aged, the woman's face was horror-stricken like she had just seen a ghost. She swallowed and pulled herself together when her eyes fell on the newcomer. "Who the bloody hell are you?" she asked bluntly.

"Who are you?" he asked in response.

"I'm a sorceress... and a researcher. My name is Elica," she answered.

"Well, then, madam. I'm Childe, a passing toy seller," he said. He eyeballed the area and confirmed there was nobody else but the two of them in the throne room. "I don't know what you're doing here, ma'am, but you are in luck, because you are about to witness me resurrect the dead... This opportunity is quite hard to come by..."

"Huh?" The lady started sweating in buckets as he stepped out of the platform. He unequiped his water daggers and sauntered to the direction of the throne, passing by the woman without any explanation. She followed him with her gaze, unsure what she was supposed to do after witnessing a man disappear on the throne minutes ago, and now here comes another mad stranger declaring he was about to do something grandiose. "A-are you going to sit on the throne, too?" she asked, her voice shaking in alarm.

Childe glanced at her with a confused expression on his face. "Why would I do that? That's suicide."

He stopped at the foot of the throne and pulled two small objects out of his pocket. Lifting his hand to the level of his head, the objects hovered over his palm. The woman squinted hard to see what he was holding while his back was turned to her. They looked like glowing chess pieces. One was purple. The other was green.

She covered her mouth in shock. "Are those the-"

He glanced over his shoulder to look at her with a smirk. The objects glowed then pulsated dramatically, filling the throne room with purple and green light. Soon enough, a crack in space appeared next to the throne. It opened and dilated like a vertical eye, revealing a curtain of night sky beyond, dark but with diffuse luminescent stars. It stretched to a size big enough for a person to pass through.

Harnessing the power of the gnoses was all Tartaglia needed to open any domain in Teyvat. Not even the Scarlet King was exempt from the dominion of the Heavenly Principles. This was the mission the Tsaritsa had given him - find the Traveler and bring her back to life.

He pocketed the gnoses and gave the sorceress, who was still slumped on the ground, one last look. "See you in a while, madam." Childe jumped into the domain, the red sash around his shoulders flapping behind him as he went through. The Harbinger disappeared and the portal closed after him, leaving the sorceress in a renewed state of shock.

----end of Part 6----