Through Wine And Song [XiaoVen]

7. Pain For The Sake of Love

"Alatus, be safe. In my current state the wind can only do so much to protect you." He said quietly, as if praying.

In Liyue, a certain funeral consultant was on edge. He discussed the small details of a funeral being planned for a customer but her could not help the uneasy feeling in his gut.

While on break he found himself outside, gazing towards the mountains. 'Something is amiss, however, I can not tell what it is.' He thought to himself.

"Zhongli!" Called a high pitched voice behind him.

"Aether, Lumine, Paimon. What brings you to the funeral parlour?" He asked, turning around to see the twins and their floating companion.

"Have you seen Xiao lately? He won't answer calls and Wangshuu Inn's owners said they haven't seen him for awhile. I'm really worried." Aether desperately asked.

"What do you mean 'Wangshuu Inn's owners haven't seen him'? What has happened?" The former archon replied with a question of his own.

"That's exactly what we wanna know..." Aether trailed off, Lumine finishing his statement for him.

"Venti's gone missing too, nowhere to be found. Not Windrise, not Angel's Share, not the statue in front of the cathedral, not even at the Knights of Favonious Headquarters."

The panic was evident in the trio's demeanour, causing Zhongli to have his own suspicions.

It wasn't uncommon for the Vigilant Yaksha to not be seen for long periods of time, but for the anemo archon himself to suddenly go missing as well could not be a mere coincidence.

Meanwhile on a certain balcony at Wangshuu Inn, an adeptus appeared. He was on his knees and bent over, being propped up by his useable arm and panting as sweat ran down his forehead.

"Shit." He cursed as his thoughts caught up to him.

How could he leave his love behind like that? What will their enemy do in his absence? Questions swirled in his head until he could barely keep up with them, a woman's voice brining him back to the present.

"Conqueror of Demons?" She asked from the doorway.

She was reasonably shocked as the adeptus had been missing for days without a trace only to now be at his usual spot, bloodied and bruised almost beyond recognition.

"Verr Goldet." He spoke, his voice strained and tired.

"Don't move, I need to contact the travellers." She said before rushing off to send a messenger.

It was not as if the anemo wielder could move if he wanted to anyway, he was severely injured and by the archons he was tired. It took all of his focus to stay awake in that moment as he feared giving into sleep would be his end at the moment.

He grunted as he struggled in an attempt to stand, legs failing him each time he tried. This was not like him at all, usually his body was able to quickly recover from battle without much difficulty but now he felt as though he was helpless.

Collapsing over and over caused his breathing to pick up significantly. He felt vulnerable...human.

Venti continued to sit in his cell, mind wandering to his captors' intentions.

The information they had given him was confusing. His entire life he had gone thinking he was the only one of his kind, a lone wind spirit destined to wander. He was thankful he had met the bard, grateful to had witnessed the revolution that freed Mondstadt and honoured to become its archon, but he now had a longing to connect with his newfound family.

How long had they looked for him? He felt guilty about it, a sense of debt to them taking over him. He felt even guiltier for the involvement of his partner. As the god of freedom, he saw nothing more fulfilling in his relationship than the adeptus having a reasonable lack of restraints.