The Final Chapter

Past

Chapter 27

Steps came closer to the cell. The door was opened and several people stepped into the cave. Hands reached out to Aether pulling him up aggressively and pushing him out of the prison cell. "Hey!"  "What is that supposed to mean?" The archons voices shouted after them.

Venti stood in front of the door and looked confused down the hall: "What do you think will happen to him?" Silence went through the room. The Anemo archon turned around to the rest of them. The Tsaritsa scoffed and pulled attention towards her. "What is that supposed to mean, 'Barnabas'?" The Cryo archon shivered at the mention of that name. "Please calm down you two. You know he wouldn't have wanted that...", Zhongli intervened. Both of them looked back at him, the Tsaritsa's expression softened. The rest waited silently for anything to continue. "Do you think he got reincarnated that day?", the blonde woman asked in a sadder tone. She looked at the floor and pulled her legs closer towards her. "Since he gave his gnosis to you, it's unlikely that he got reborn here...", the Geo archon explained. She lifted her up and looked at him with a sad voice: "So I will never see him again..."
"Oh please don't change the topic now... We all have a sad past. Get over it!" Venti glared down at her, his eyes glowing in rage. "Venti, please...", the Geo archon tried to calm him down, but the bard exploded in rage at his comment: "No, Morax! Barnabas died that day because of her! And then she just took his identity, which wouldn't be too bad, if she hadn't sent someone to RIP MY GNOSIS OUT! Instead of asking if I would join her rebellion" The Anemo archon breathed heavily and still looked at Zhongli. The Tsaritsa went silent. Nobody dared to speak a word while Venti sighed and sat down in front of the door. "I didn't think you were so bothered by his loss...", the Cryo archon said after a while. She looked at the Anemo archon with empathy in her eyes. He looked back at her with teary eyes: "Of course I was. He was my best friend. The day he died a part of me died with him. Like his texts and songs did. Like a part of you did too..." He smiled a sad smile and she did too. Both connected through the same loss. "I guess we loved him both... And my name is Lynn..."

-

The guards pushed Aether onward down the hall. "Where are you taking me?", the twin asked. "Shut it", one of the guards replied and shoved him forward again. He followed the instructions and went between two pairs of guards. They brought him through stone tunnels to a door, that lead into big room.
There at one end stood a table, on a podium, with four seats. In the back of the room a lot of gods had gathered. It dawned on him what was happening here.
He was brought to a little table before the podium. Where the four guards left him. Then the door on the left side of the podium opened and three familiar god entered the room. First Ayam the Principle of Time, after him the Principle of death Shipati and, as the last, the Principle of Love Thando. The three majestic Principles walked up to the their seats and sat down, leaving one of the seats unoccupied. The room was thrown into mumbling. But when Shipati got up again, the onlooking gods stopped talking immideatly. Her eyes were calm and calculated.
"Aether, God of Light and patron deity of the land of Teyvat, today you stand before the Heavenly Principles of Celestia", her voice spoke those menacing words. Aethers hand gripped the fabric of his pants tightly. He knew that this was what would happen to him as soon as he awoke here.
"You stand accused of interfering with the fate of your world", Shipati continued. His eyes widened. What? "How? Such a thing is impossible to-", he tried to defend himself, but the God of time cut him off: "You only speak if you are allowed to by one of us!" Aether looked down to the floor and tried to contain his anger. If he had the power he would burn this place down right here and now. But without his sister his powers were incomplete and even then they would have no chance against the Heavenly Principles. But his desire remained.
"You already know, what you did and how you did it, do you not?", Thando said. The Principles looked at him waiting, seemingly Aether was now allowed to talk. "No, I do not. I neither know how to do such a thing, nor what exactly I have been accused of doing. To my knowledge something like that is impossible to do...", he explained and Shipati's eyes got colder in an instant. Whatever he said, has been a mistake. What exactly was going on here? What were they playing?
"You are being accused of gaining access to Irminsul with the help of your sister. There you manipulated the memories of Teyvat to your advantage, connecting your own fate with this world, making it impossible for us to intervene, as long as you lived in this world. After that you got every archon of Teyvat killed which destroyed almost an entire nation."
Shipati's words hit like daggers. She knew exactly how this all played out, but they placed the blame entirely on his shoulders. "Furthermore you led the nation of Khaenri'ah astray from our guidance..." What?
"That is a lie! How exactly did I-?", Aether screamed but was interrupted by Thando's: "Silence!" echoing through the room. "Using your access to Irminsul to erase Teyvat's very first archon from existence leading the nation into chaos."

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Edit: To clarify for anyone confused:

The Heavenly Principles and Amalie are my original characters. They are not mentioned in any of Hoyoverse's games and are an incention for this story.

Sorry for not disclising that earlier ^^'