Golden Fire, Extinguished

Untimely Fall

The inn was calm.

Too calm.

Xiao narrowed his eyes. Something was wrong.

More specifically, nothing was wrong, which was wrong, because there was always something or another going on at the inn. In a larger sense, there was nothing wrong with Liyue in general. He sensed not a single demon, not a single tainted monster.

Xiao knew what that meant. Usually, it meant that all of that ancient hatred was concentrated in one spot, converging on one poor being, twisting it into a horrifying thing of rage and hatred and violence.

And yet, Xiao sensed nothing. There was no epicenter of karma, no knot of writhing fury buried in the depths of Liyue's wilds.

That was definitely not normal.

Xiao rose from his perch on the inn's roof, took his spear in hand, and tugged on the winds. They took him first near the harbor, then to the Chasm, and then near the rocky heights near Qingce Village.

Nothing. Not a shred of age-old hatred anywhere, no matter how hard Xiao strained his eyes and ears.

Wrong.

Wrong, wrong, wrong, that was wrong.

Xiao turned and hurled himself back to the winds, commanding them to take him to Ganyu. The voices of the little sprites murmured in eddies around him, but they did as he said.

Yelan jumped when Xiao materialized beside her. Ganyu, by now used to his sudden comings and goings, offered him a polite smile that quickly fell when she saw his grim expression.

Xiao cut off Yelan's attempted formal greeting with a sharp, "Something is wrong" directed at Ganyu.

Ganyu frowned. "What is it?"

"There is no karma."

A hint of panic entered Ganyu's gaze. "None?"

"None at all. I've checked all over Liyue."

"You're absolutely sure?"

"Yes."

Ganyu hurriedly shoved a yellow file bursting at the seams with papers at Yelan. "Pardon the rush, Lady Yelan, but if you would please take these to the Tianquan, I'd be very grateful." She summoned her bow with a flick of her wrist and stepped off the beaten path just outside of the harbor's northern gates. "I will contact the guardian adepti of Jueyun Karst. Continue to search elsewhere, and inform me if you find anything."

Xiao nodded, choosing to disregard that she was giving commands to a more senior adeptus. This is more important than silly hierarchies. "You as well. Anything that can stand to wait this long is too powerful for either of us alone."

Ganyu nodded, panic replaced with the steely determination benefitting an adeptus who fought in the archon war. She bowed again to Yelan before disappearing in a flicker of Cryo. Xiao turned and leaped away in the other direction to continue his search, leaving a bewildered Yelan behind.

~~~

The sun was setting now. Xiao hadn't found a hint of karmic fury anywhere within Liyue's great expanses, nor had he had word from Ganyu or any other adeptus. Panic had fully set in now (or, it had as far as Xiao would allow it to), and for the first time since Morax's effective retirement, he was considering asking the Geo Archon for help.

He'd promised himself he wouldn't– Morax retired to avoid such duties as these, trusting we could handle it on our own. What kind of adeptus would I be if I betrayed that trust now?