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

Return of the Scarlet King, Part 9

Return of the Scarlet King, Part 9

Something was stirring in the desert. The sky in that region of Sumeru had turned into an ominous crimson color. The sandstorms that had previously occupied one corner of the desert were now scattered in several areas, forcing the dispersed eremites, fatui, and treasure hoarders alike to flee their camps and seek refuge in Aaru village. The tribes in the desert decided to set their squabbles aside to brace themselves together as they watched the storms decimate their dwellings and kill what little life was left in their homes.

When the people in the rainforest region looked up to the sky westward, they saw the red color and observed how it rolled closer to their land at a frightening speed. Fear overwhelmed the populace as they pointed to the direction of the desert while asking each other what was going on, but nobody knew the answer.

Shopkeepers in the Sumeru City closed their stalls early. Lambad stopped cooking and shooed the few customers he had left, telling them to finish their drinks at home. Nilou stopped in the middle of her performance when a hysterical woman came running inside the Grand Bazaar, screaming that it was the end of the world. The audience rose in a panic and the stampede that ensued was something she would never have imagined in her life.

A crying child got trampled on. The theater dancer jumped off the stage and rushed to him, picking up the poor boy as swiftly as she could and leading them to the side where it was safe. The child's mother found them and thanked her profusely. They, then, left in a haste but not before telling Nilou to do the same because something "big" was about to happen. Her jaw dropped, but before she could ask what it was, the mother was already gone. Bimarstan was later flooded with injured patients from the stampede.

Khalid, the jeweler of the city, shut the door to his shop as Faresht, his apprentice, followed him around. He installed a pad lock, thinking that when people panic, the first places they might loot would be his store. Barmak of the Exchange declared 'No Trading' for the day and perhaps for the coming days as well. Kimiya wondered if he could harness the strange energy stirring in the desert for his Alchemical Divination. Ahangar told Mansur to go back to the Akademiya again because he was wasting his time in the smithy. Mansur responded that it was pointless because the world was about to end anyway.

Enteka, the acting manager of Puspa Café, told her customers to leave because this wasn't the time to be drinking coffee. She kicked Maddah out when he refused. But when his eyes fell on the red sky to the west, they sparkled, realizing that the coming events were something he needed to document closely. It shall become the next engrossing tale he would tell the people of Sumeru. The storyteller was living the best time of his life.

Meanwhile, the students at the Akademiya filed at the lobby and were on their way to return either to their dormitories or to their families after their professors had declared cancelation of classes in light of recent events.

Some scholars who had been procrastinating their research decided to finally pack their bags and push through with their papers, claiming to their colleagues that they were totally not leaving for Liyue because of the ominous red sky but because the setting of their research was in that specific region of Teyvat. They angrily insisted that they weren't bluffing.

The citizens of Sumeru ended the day early. They shut themselves in, barring their doors and pulling down their windows made of stained glass, even though the night has barely started. The Corps of Thirty patrolling the City felt the unrest. By the time any trace of sunlight was gone, Treasures Street was completely empty even though there was always a handful of people strolling about at the dead of night. People prayed in their homes for guidance and protection from the Dendro Archon. She hadn't communicated with them ever since the Traveler's funeral, but they hoped that she would once again.