The Final Chapter

Revelations

Chapter 32

The room had fallen into silence again after Paimon had told her story in full detail. Nahida looked at the little floating being, then at the other archons. The four of them, who knew the Traveler, looked worried. Lumine was now alone out there, trying to find a way into Celestia, fully knowing that almost everyone who held power here wants to see her dead. And she almost died too.
"I never knew you were so strong, Paimon...", Zhongli said, disturbing the silence and Nahida's thought process. Paimon chuckled softly: "That's what Lumine said too..."
She stopped floating and with a little sighed slowly sank to the bottom of her cage sitting down like everyone else. Her head hanging down a little, remembering her almost dying friend. "So you're a god too, huh... What kind of god are you exactly?", Venti asked.
"It's... complicated...", she answered, looking down to the floor. "How can be something like that complicated?", the Pyro archon raised his voice for the first time. He sounded confused.
"Because... You would not believe me. Nobody remembers me", Paimon mumbled quietly.
"Irminsul...", Nahida mumbled, getting all the attention in the cell. Like she feared. This tree was no longer a secret to their enemies and they already used it against them. Who knows, how many times they did that. How many gods they erased, because they did not obey...
"What?", the Hydro archon asked softly, but curious. Nahida looked up to the other archons. She had to tell them... "It's the secret the Dendro archon is supposed to keep. It's where the memories of our world are kept. But it can be tampered with..."
"I suspected you knew more than you led on earlier... Your light gave it away", Zhongli meant and gestured upwards to the green light illuminating the cell. She scratched her head. Yeah that really gave it away...
"So that's why nobody remembered Khaenri'ah's archon!", the Pyro archon exclaimed. His tone letting pride about that connection shine through. She noticed Paimon's face lighting up: "You know about... that?" They all nooded. "Yes. We know about Amalie", the bard answered. His eyes looking like daggers at the God of Wisdom. Nahida's eyes remained on Paimon, as her expression died down again. There was more to the story. There always was.
"Why would you keep that a secret from us?", Venti asked. He was starring angrily at down at her, his voice harsh. The god of Wisdom felt everyone in the room looking at her the same way. "Because", she explained, "it was my duty! Revealing Irminsul's existence was too dangerous. Especially before the cataclysm where Forbidden Knowledge was roaming around Sumeru risking the corruption of the tree. And it is very well established, everything can be manipulated with it. Everyone can be erased." The Anemo archon looked down at the floor in shame.
"Now that we established this. Tell us Paimon, what god are you?", Zhongli asked the little goddess again. She still looked down at the bottom of the cage and mumbled: "Just a minor god. The god of Transformation..."
While everyone else seemed satisfied with thst answer, Nahida continued looking at her.
"That's not true, right Paimon?", the Dendro archon asked and Paimon lifted her head up again. Little tears shimmering in the corners of her eyes.

"It is...", she whispered. She didn't want the truth to come out. Not yet. She wasn't ready yet. He noticed it instantly.
"What are you talking about?", Venti asked again seeming confused, but also angry, "Leave her alone. She has been through enough." The Dendro archon dropped her head in shame. Paimon felt bad about that. She did not want to cause this, because she was to cowardly to talk about it.
"She is right...", she corrected her statement from before. "Hey...", Venti tried to calm her down, "you don't need to talk about that, if you don't want to... I mean they aren't telling us everything either..."
"Venti, please...", Zhongli tried to stop the bard's outburst before it even started, but it backfired. The Anemo archon jumped up on his legs and began yelling:
"What, Morax? I told you everything! Yeah sure not those five, because I don't know them, but I would have! I would have dug up every trauma for the sake of everyone's well-being, while all other people here are keeping secrets! I mean, I doubt that Buer would have ever told us about a allmighty tree that can mass-change memories or that anyone here knew about Lynn's connection to Barnabas. I did. But Barnabas was my friend. And we know nothing about those 'new archons'. So I think it's fair, we let Paimon have at least a day or two, after she lost her memories for centuries and now half of her vitality!"
Venti was furious. Maybe for the wrong reasons. The thing about Barnabas, the revelation of Lumine being a god and now she almost died. The worry about her being out there all alone, drove him crazy. What if Paimon's magic didn't hold up? What if she was still injured? If she came back here, she would surely be executed. He couldn't stand the thought of loosing yet another friend... His mind was with her and for a brief moment he thought he heard Lumine say his name. But it seemed to be nothing more than an illusion.
"I'm worried about her too...", Zhongli said and stood up right next to him, his hand placed on Venti's shoulder. Ei stood up too and pulled him into a hug: "Me too..." For a moment they just stood there, then Venti looked at Nahida. "I am sorry... I..."
"I understand", she said, "I can't read the emotions of other people, very well..." They smiled at each other.
"But Nahida was right...", Paimon began to explain again, "I lied..." Everyone looked back at her. "You don't need to...", Nahida answered, however Paimon intervened: "I do. It is important, that you know. You need to know who you are up against..." Silence filled the room once more.

"Amalie stole my identity. I am the first archon to descend to Teyvat, the archon of Khaenri'ah and God of Transformation"

"But why would she lie about that?", Nahida asked.

"She wants to hide her identity from gods like you. Because Amalie once used to be one of the Heavenly Principles."

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It was my birthday yesterday so this chapter is coming a day late ^^' Also: only two chapters left to be published for this act