Finally finished with his Chasm mission, Gorm makes his way to Liyue Harbour. The cliff that gazed upon the city was one of his favourite spots to rest after a long day of work.
Just as Gorm was about to set up his sunbathing towel on the grass, he heard a small voice behind him.
"Um, Dr Baizhu... "
The Abyss Mage hurriedly picks up his belongings and runs off to hide behind a nearby rock.
Why now, you bigonbombinbombim*!!
"Is this the kind you want?" the small dreary voice continues.
"Ah yes, Qiqi, that's the one," another voice replies. "Now, put it in your basket".
Gorm slowly peeks over the rock, his hands clutching his ears down to make sure they don't see him.
Several metres away was where a small purple-haired girl and a green-haired man stood. On the man's shoulders was wrapped a white snake.
"Good... in the meantime, collect some more. We'll be back," says the man.
The girl picks out a notebook from her bag and nods. The man turns and walks over towards the Abyss Mage's direction. Gorm quickly shuffles to the other side of the rock, and beads of sweat start to form on his forehead.
Should he make a run for it?
A deep sigh escapes the man, as he stands beside the stone, the sun rays of the afternoon shining brightly onto him. Luckily for Gorm, it appeared that he had not been spotted.
The man takes off his glasses and rubs his face, grey semi-circles under his eyes. He then abruptly lurches over, bursting into a coughing fit. Clutching his chest and hunched, he fumbles into his pockets and picks out a small transparent bottle. He gulps the blue liquid inside in one go.
"Hey, hey, take it slow! You know it burns if you take it too fast!" the snake on his shoulders exclaims.
He responds with another cough.
Though Gorm had no idea who this man was, he felt sorry for him. The Abyss Mage ponders for a moment, then picks up his notebook from his backpack. He scribbles some notes down.
If he's carrying stuff like that all the time, he must be sick... maybe my seniors will have something to help him?
Light haste footsteps approach them.
"Dr Baizhu, are you ok?" the small girl asks. She clasps his left leg as the man smiles, giving her a pat on the head.
"Don't worry Qiqi, " he says. The man gestures towards a large building sitting at the edge of the city in the distance. "Let's go home."
The white snake lifts her head up, squinting at the grass behind the girl.
"Hey, what's all that shiny stuff on the ground?" it hisses.
The purple-haired girl glances and then taps the side of her bag.
"Oh, I dropped my money," she mumbles, "I think there was a hole in my bag."
The man shakes his head and facepalms.
"Qiqi, pick them up, will you?"
She nods and begins to gather the scattered belongings.
But there were too many coins.
The green-haired man's face began to scrunch up as the girl slowly picked the coins one-on-one, and neatly placed them in a pouch.
Why wasn't he helping her?
"...Qiqi," the man begins. "You know, there is a legend that if you don't grab your fallen Mora quick enough, Morax will come and collect them instead."
The little girl stares at him with a blank expression.
"Morax?"
He nods.
She looks down again, then proceeds to gather the coins at the same pace. The man clenches his fist as the snake silently observes the scene, with a sparkle of amusement in its beady eyes.
At the side of Gorm's eye, the Abyss Mage notices a familiar figure approaching from the other side of the cliff.
Morax?! What kind of timing is this...?!
The ex-archon trips due to his old unreliable bones, and lands on his face. The sound startles the green-haired man and the girl.
Morax glances up, only to have his eyes blinded by the bold reflection of light from the fallen Mora. Probably due to this sudden sensory whiplash, his bodily reaction was an unnerving sight. Long tangled hair covering his face, the old man began scrambling around towards the group on all fours, resembling a giant cockroach.
The small purple-haired girl lets out a shaky gasp, grabbing onto the green-haired man who was backing away.
"Never mind the rest, Qiqi," he says, picking her up into his arms. In a split second, they were gone.
Gorm quickly emerges from the rock and to the brown-haired man who was stumbling. The Abyss Mage puts himself under Morax's arms.
"Thank you," Morax mumbles. Finally, he was standing again, dusting off his clothes. "Uh, was that Dr Baizhu and Qiqi just now? They left all this Mora here...I better return it to them."
Huh, he knows them? But why did they not recognize him?
After he gathers all the fallen coins, the man looks down at Gorm.
"I better get going...I have a meeting with my son and an alcoholic at Wangshu Inn," he says. "Let's talk some other time."
As fast as his old legs could walk, Morax soon disappeared off into the distance.
Gorm then turns back towards the cliff edge, laying his sunbathing mat and little picnic basket again on the soft green grass.
He opens his notebook and writes down the peculiar event he witnessed.
*This is a curse word in the Abyss, it is very rude! Do not say it :(
YOU ARE READING
✧.* 𝐆𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐛𝐲𝐬𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐞 // Gᴇɴsʜɪɴ Iᴍᴘᴀᴄᴛ* ˚ ✦
Fanfiction"𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙖𝙩𝙢𝙖𝙣, 𝘿𝙞𝙡𝙪𝙘" 𝙎𝙞𝙚𝙜𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨. 𝙃𝙚 𝙨𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙨 𝙖 𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙂𝙤𝙧𝙢. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩-𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙨�...
