The Final Chapter

Amalie

Chapter 33

She looked around. No sign of that stupid door. A look to the gnosis in her hand told her that the entrance wasn't nearby. She flew through the endless stone structures the hand with the gnosis right in front of her, so she could see a change instantly. But nothing happened.

For hours.

Lumine's wings began to weaken and hurt. The way had been far too long already and her healed injury stung. This journey began to take a toll on her body and her mind. In her head she relived old memories and conversations, due to madness even formed new ones. Sometimrs she found herself questioning what in her mind was real... But she endured. Endured all of it, to continue her way. From time to time she decided to give her wings some rest and walked on the paths. Like she did now. Her hands still held her blade, however even there her strength had faded. Her blade was being dragged over the stones of the endless paths. The other hand with the turquoise vision, was weakly holding on. But still holding on. She walked bend over, not being able to walk upright anymore.

Where was that door? Tears in her eyes, but unable to escape. There was no energy left, to cry those tears. Her vision flickered from time to time. Wind blew in her back cooling her, but pushing her forward. "Venti?", she whispered delusional. His death coming into her mind again.

The reason she went berserk. The last drop in her barrel of suffering. The reason she was here right now.

His lifeless eyes burnt in her soul. She had to endure. To him alive again. To see Aether alive again. To save her home. To save her world.

To save every friend along the way.

"May, the wind protect you, Traveler", his words echoed through her mind. The wind still pushing her forward. Strong. The wind did. Had always done it. Had brought her his songs. Had brought her the thoughts of her friends on her travels. Sometimes had even nagged Paimon, when she found her particularly annoying. Had been her companion.

Like the thunder did in those stormy nights.

Like the birds and plants had been.

Like the vibrations of the earth had been.

Like the endlessly hopeful light of the sun had been.

Her heart pushed her forward like the wind did, but her legs collapsed under the weight of her body. The tears left her eyes.

She felt so lonely. The wind was still howling, keeping her company. Not enough for her mind, that crashed now under the pressure of all her trauma and the newly gained weight of her memories. Nobody was here to distract her from it, so it came back to her.
All those who had lost her life. Those who had suffered. The destruction in Inazuma and Snezhnaya. Everything she had seen. The two times she barely managed to flee death. Loosing her brother and her best friend in the process.

Her eyes felt heavy. Lumine tried to fight her dizzyness, but failed. Her eyes closed as the wind howled over her head.

The of that spirit rang through her head again: "You can't give up now, God of Darkness..."

○○○○☆○○○○

"What?", Venti whispered quietly. For a second time stopped. Amalie. A Heavenly Principle. This hateful spirit was an allmighty God. And she was probably behind everything. Wasn't she the orchestrator of this whole charade?
The room was still quiet from the outburst earlier, but the looks of the four new archons were just pure confusion.
"Why would someone like an allmighty Principle be interested in anything in Teyvat, when she can rule the world?", the Pyro archon asked. He kind of tilted his head a little with the question. "I don't know...", Paimon replied, "one day she just showed interest in my nation..." The dark skinned man with the short spiky black hair with red tips tilted his head further: "Huh?"
Paimon sighed in remembering the past. "Amalie always had a fascination for everything in Teyvat. From time to time, when I was in Celestia,  she wanted to know every detail about Khaenri'ah and the life I lived there. I told her about the humans, that hailed me as their protector and took inspiration from my powers. How they progressed faster that everyone else even without the protection of the Seven Sovereigns and living underground. She said wanted to help them, but I denied it. It was against the law..." The little goddess stopped for a moment. Tears were filling her eyes. The moment she paused seemed endless. All eyes were on her as she told them about the greatest revelation yet. "She did anyways. She came down to Teyvat, interfering in their progress...", she continued out of breath, now utterly crying, "and blamed it on me. They banished me for it, but Amalie wasn't stopping to interfere. She then erased me, to manipulate the people into worshipping her. I don’t know what happened after that..."

Venti had heard enough. Suddenly he turned around and put his fingers in front of the bars of the cell. The tips began to glow blue-ish green. Then his hands moved rapidly across the metal bars slicing through the metal with ease. The bars fell down with a loud echoing noise but nothing happened.
"What are you doing?", Lynn asked confused while the Pyro archon leaned over to Focalors and whispered: "Could he do that all the time?"
"We have to leave now!", Venti answered briefly and did the same thing to Paimon's cage, so the tiny god could fly out easily. Paimon slowly came out of the cage and then sat down on his shoulder. Ei held the Anemo archon back: "Wait. We have to think that through..." The bard looked at her. "Aether. Is. Out. There. Possibly being senteced to death, for something he didn't do.We have crucial information that can save him. You know that the Traveler would never forgive us, if we don'tsave him. We have to go!" The Electro archon turned to the Geo archon seeking for help. However Zhongli stepped next to him.

"Yes I agree. Let us go."

(As not to ruin that epic ending line, just imagine the Pyro archon undermining that epic moment with:  "No for real, could he?")