A lost friend's journey

Chapter 16

I'm baaaack!!! I... missed Tuesday!! ...I'll be talking more about this in the end note, for now just enjoy this chapter!Also someone mentioned that the link to the discord server was not available anymore, so I made a permanent one:
https://discord.gg/z3NfQGwnjQ

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Aether never knew a city like Mondstadt could get this cold, this lonely.

No one could be seen walking outside, enjoying the warmth of the sun or the fresh breeze. Not a single Mondstadtien had his windows opened or his clothes drying outside. 

And the wind... the wind was nothing like what Aether was used to. It wasn't gentle anymore, but harsh and violent.

The last time he had seen Venti... properly seen Venti, the God had bid him goodbye and wished him safe travels to Liyue. He had went there, left Mondstadt without having the slightest idea of what would happen.

In Liyue, he had met the adepti, had been told that all the archons were out of their nations for some time, and although that had raised some questions, they never revealed where they went or for what reason. So Aether came to the conclusion that he would have to wait in Liyue for the return of the Geo Archon before he could continue his journey. 

Aether could never describe the horror that had went through him when Paimon had first made him notice that Celestia was moving towards Mondstadt. Aether knew Venti had something against Celestia, even if he didn't know to what extent it went. But seeing the castle heading to his friend's nation had made him extremely worried.

So he ordered for Paimon to stay in Liyue. Even if he would never tell her that, he had been scared she would make him slower. He knew the situation was extremely serious, he also knew he couldn't afford to lose time. Paimon had argued, had been curious as to why she was to stay in Liyue, but Aether's mind was made.

So Paimon stayed, and Aether rushed to Mondstadt, teleported to the waypoint at the top of the Knights of Favonius' headquarters. What he had seen... What he had seen was something he wished he would never get to see again.

Mondstadt had been windy, cold, had been devoided of the warmth it usually had. Mondstadt had just been a shell of what it usually was. And that terrified Aether. He knew just how much Venti liked Mondstadt, just how much he cared for his nation. He also knew that the wind depended on his emotions. So the fact that Mondstadt was in that state... it sent a chill running down his spine.

He could tell something had happened, something bad.

He had searched for the bard, nowhere to be found. It only served to make him worry even more. He had asked Diluc; Venti hadn't been in the tavern for a while, which set Aether off. It was more than strange, and this only served to confirm to him that something had happened.

Next, he had asked Jean. She had said... she had said that Venti had talked to her, had asked of her to take care of Mondstadt while he was gone.

While he was gone.

Aether didn't like that sentence. Venti went away, that much was clear, but where? Why?

Aether never managed to sleep that night. He had stayed awake, had made it his personal duty to find Venti, to protect the city as long as the Archon was nowhere to be seen.

So imagine his surprise when, in the middle of the night, he spotted in the darkness six figures he could barely distinguish running out of the city. And so he followed them, he followed them all the way to Cape Oath, where he was sure his blood ran cold, his heart beating faster than it ever was as memories of the past came forth, showing him sceneries of when he first woke up in that world, Lumine by his side.