The Spark [Xiao x Aether]

Awakening IV

Paimon was sitting inside her room looking at the night sky through the window. The moon seemed to be brighter than usual that particular night. Maybe it was due to the girl crying her eyes out so all the blurriness made it look lighter. Who knows.

Ever since she and the traveler parted ways she hasn't been in a correct state of mind. She hated him for what he did but at the same time, she wanted to go back and spend time like they did back when they explored Teyvat for the first time.

Living with the Dendro archon and hanging out around different people every day wasn't boring but all the time she would get reminded of her dear friend.

What if he never comes back for her?
What if this is it?
Was their friendship really gonna end like that?

Thoughts like that filled up the floating pixie's head as yet another tear rolled down her cheek. She felt more alone than ever. From time to time the Wanderer was sent out to check up on her. Nahida understood how hard things must have been for her but had no time to comfort her herself.

The conversation between the two was always very short. Neither wanted to talk so after some time the boy just stopped checking up on the white-haired girl.

"This is so stupid..." She mumbled to herself as a couple more gears came out of her eyes. "Maybe Paimon should have trusted him...Why was Paimon even doubting him in the first place!? If he can't tell Paimon then Paimon should have trusted his choice! We are supposed to be best buddies!"

She wiped her tears away with her hand but was quickly startled by a loud explosion that seemed to be coming from outside. Strong wind started to shake her whole room and managed to open her window.

The girl quickly flew out to check what was going on. She could barely keep her flying in control.

What she saw next made her forget all about her argument with her friend. Her jaw almost dropped and her eyes widened like never before. She had never seen something so unusual before.

There in the middle of the sky, was a huge crack as if the entire sky was made from glass. It kept getting bigger and small dark shadows seemed to be seeping out of it. Many Sumeru citizens left their homes and started finding a safer place to hide. It was a disaster out of nowhere. Everybody was screaming, asking each other what was going on. No one knew. Paimon flew as fast as she could to Nahida. She didn't even take time to process what happened at all. If anyone knew how to handle this then it would be a god.

She found the archon pretty quickly. She seemed just as shocked as the pixie was.

"Nahida! What is going on with the sky!?" The girl shouted since the wind was making too much noise.

"I....I don't know! I've never seen anything like this before...Go hide somewhere safe and don't come out until the situation is looking better!" The archon of of Sumeru ordered her.

Having no choice, Paimon did as she was told. She couldn't fight. Even if she tried she would probably die. She found a safe place to hide and decided to stay there. From the outside, she could hear many screams and cries. It was a terrible experience. She just prayed for it to be over any second. She covered her head and started sobbing.

As for the two boys, things weren't looking too good either. Right when Aether was teaching his lover how to dance, the crack in the sky seemed to have gotten so big it reached Liyue. Screams appeared from out of nowhere. People at Wangshu Inn could be heard very vividly. That caught Xiao's attention immediately.

"Get behind." The Yaksha spoke as he pulled out his polearm, ready to fight whatever was about to come.

The traveler didn't move. He just stood there and stared at the crack as the wind started Messi up his hair.