a rise of a thousand sunsets

P1

the platform broke and he was falling. through endless darkness. heh, what a fitting ending for someone like him. as he fell, no screams escaped his lips nor did tears fall from his dry eyes, instead the young demon conquer accepted his fate and closed his golden eyes and maybe.. just maybe let a small smile appear on his lips.

something flashed through his mind, making the smile disappear. golden hair and soft large eyes that never seemed the flinch away from his gaze, the scent of stardust and morning sun. the traveller. the teal haired man let out a soft sigh and opened his eyes looking up at the fading white light of the surface and said a goodbye.

"i'm sorry, Aether. i hope you do well on your adventures on finding your sister."

and with that, their eyes slipped closed once again and tilted his head back, letting the chasm drag him down further. that's when something strange happened. in his mind a mirror with a clawed hand appeared and a ominous voice spoke to him.

"ah, my lovely lord
the noble and beautiful flower of evil.
you are the most beautiful, number one
in this world.

—mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the most..
—for thee, guided by the mirror of darkness,

follow thy heart and take the hand of the one reflected in the mirror.

Flames that turn even stars into ashes,
Ice that imprison even time,
Great tree that swallow even the sky,
Don't be afraid of the power of darkness,
Come now, show your power.

Mine, theirs, and yours,
There's only little time left for us.

Do not let go of that hand, at all costs."

and xiao, for some odd reason reached out and grasped the hand. that's when exhaustion hit him and everything went dark.

****

when he awoke, he could only see darkness. which isn't uncommon for him. he's used to the dark, finds comfort in it even. breathing through his nose he reached out around him to feel a wall?

wait.. was he in a coffin? was this Hao Taos doing? ugh that girl. she was way to lively and showed no respect to Mora- cough - Zhongli. Xiao opened his eyes when he heard a sound and hit the coffin lid with the palm of his hand making it fly off just in time to see a grey flaming cat with a pitch fork tail blow a breathe of blue flames onto another coffin, making the person inside hit the lid and fall out with a nasty cough from inhale the smoke.

tch, humans. how weak.

Xiao ignored the conversation happening behind him and looked around. he doesn't remember this kind of funeral parlour in Liyue.   there were green flaming candles and a mirror floating in the middle of the room, not to mention the other coffins around the perimeter of where he was standing. for some reason this place set his nerves on fire, it had a darkness lurking over head. it was different from the miasmas he was used to dealing with when protecting the outskirts of Liyue. this aura was more.. heavy. like it was man made.

it was suffocating.

"human, where exactly am i?" his voice made the cat creature and other human stop bickering and turn to look at him.

"Eeep! why are you awake?" the creature spoke, it's voice ringing in Xiaos sensitive ears, making the teal hair man cringe away from it.

"i don't need rest like you humans do. now answer my question: where am i?"

the hooded person, who Xiao now deemed a male spoke, "i don't know. i'm thinking all of this is just some weird dream."