𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙪𝙥𝙩 𝙑𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 | Various Genshin x Reader

Prologue

A/n: CW for this chapter! If you're not a fan of descriptions of things like stitches, surgical procedures, or things like that, then please pay attention to my warning later on to avoid that part! The story will still make sense.

Dehya wiped the sweat off her brow, taking a gulp of water from her bottle as she shielded her eyes from the burning sun. Even standing in the shade, the heat was unbearable.

Still, it was nothing she wasn't used to, having grown up in the desert like this. Even though the days were always horrendously hot, you learned to manage if you stayed there long enough.

"We'll be there soon." She told the man next to her, who nodded, taking a big swig of his own water as he sat on the sandy floor of the small cave they were currently resting in. The rest of the group followed. Dehya could tell they were all running low on water by now, so it was a relief to know that they would be arriving at camp soon and wouldn't need to worry about it anymore.

She didn't usually travel with the eremites like this, or at least, not anymore, but this particular occasion was special. 'Special' meaning they'd paid a handsome fee for her to help escort them across the sands, and she wasn't about to turn down extra mora like that, especially since she'd already been going through some...Slower times, recently.

Plus, they didn't seem to have any particularly malicious goals. The camp they would be visiting wasn't even affiliated with the eremites, it was just home to a band of traveling merchants they planned to trade with.

So, when the leader had approached her asking for help, she'd decided they could work something out.

"Take a few more minutes to rest your legs while I scout the area ahead, and then we'll be on our way." She informed them, putting her water bottle back into her bag and swinging it over her shoulder. The men nodded, and she left the cave, checking her map to make sure their route wouldn't be obstructed for any reason.

She could see the camp in the distance now; it was just at the top of the sandy hill in front of them, with the smoke of their campfires billowing into the sky. The trip would only take another half hour, which she was grateful for.

Even though most were eremites and spent their entire lives traversing the desert like her, this group seemed particularly vulnerable to its elements, given how they were visibly wilting already.

She suspected they'd grown up elsewhere and only turned to the eremites later on, which was a rare occurrence, but not unheard of. It just meant they'd needed her assistance even more than expected.

She returned to the cave a few minutes later, making the men instantly stand up and grab their things, despite the fact that their movements had become a little sluggish from how tired they were. And with that, they headed on their way.

The actual walk itself wasn't anything special. Aside from the occasional Wenut popping out of the sand, they ran into little else, so it was nothing the mercenary couldn't handle.

Most people would complain about the lack of scenery in the desert since it was mainly just sand, but Dehya had always found even that beautiful. It may not have been the most visually appealing to some, but she never minded taking long walks through it. Something about how desolate it was added to the mystery of it all, and she knew very well that the sand held many secrets.

That was why she was so surprised to see one of those secrets appear on their otherwise uneventful route.

They were just at the base of the hill now, and it would only be another five or so minutes before they reached the top. The path to the camp was even in front of them, but as she glanced to her left, where an area of the sand was shaded by the tall mesa, she frowned upon seeing something glowing not far away. It looked like...Ice? But that couldn't be right, not in this climate. Even so, she knew her curiosity couldn't be satiated otherwise, so she turned to the group's leader.