A World Without Wind [GENSHIN IMPACT FANFIC]

Prologue Chapter Act I: The Ones Lost to Us

HUNTER POV

"C'mon, c'mon!" I yelled at Xador.

Xador, my older brother by 6 years was taking his sweet time counting his mora. "Shut up! You made me lose count!"

I groaned. "At this rate, we won't get to go to Good Hunter at all..!"

At the mention of Good Hunter, Xador paused and his stony expression broke into one of curiosity, or rather, excitement. But only for a second. His usual angry face broke on top. "LORD BARBATOS HELP ME!" Xador shouted. "MY IDIOT BROTHER WON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"Fine!" I yelled back. I took half of the mora in Xador's pile. "I'll count these! You count the rest!"

Like I predicted, Xador showed no sign of gratitude. "FINE!" He repeated what I just said. "YOU CAN COUNT THOSE!"

--
XADOR POV

I growled as I started counting again. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12...

Hunter was annoying again. He was saying what he counted. It made me lose count. "34! 35! 36! 37! 38! 39! 40! 41!"

"SHUT THE-" Too late, I realized I wasn't supposed to swear in front of my 14-year-old brother. He didn't mind it and swore secretly (I caught him swearing once or twice), but our father certainly did. Our father, Luise was part of the Knights of Favonius. Luise and a guy called Riese were best friends. Riese roped Luise into becoming a Knight with him.

Riese was often deployed near Dragonspine and Luise at Windrise so they couldn't hang out as much.

I'm glad. Riese can't "rope" Luise into anything anymore.

Oh, and did I mention that our mother is dead? She loved drinking Diona's "booze", and one day, Diona added hilichurl blood and bits of those mitachurl's shields.

Disgusting, to be honest.

"I got 'em all!" Hunter announced suddenly. "In this pile, you've got 183 mora. What did you get?"

I sighed. I had gotten up to 37 mora. There weren't a bunch left, but still.

"Here, I'll count. I'm faster anyway." Hunter side-eyed me.

"STOP! GET OUT." I yelled at Hunter.

"Wha-?"

I glowered at him. "Get. The. Fu- I mean, hell. Out. Of. My. Sight."

"Fine, god, geez."

--

A couple of hours later, I had counted all my coins. I had 234 mora. Like any other person, I assumed Hunter was out either hanging out with Bennett from the Adventurer's Guild or eating at Good Hunter. He loved Good Hunter because, well, his name was "Hunter". And Good Hunter was... Good "HUNTER". Then I realized, with a pang of guilt, that he couldn't buy anything because he had no mora. I always paid.

A sudden banging on the door shook me out of my thoughts. Scrambling to shove all the mora into my little pouch, I jumped from my seat and opened the door.

"Hello!" I nodded at the figure (who was Bennett).

"Hi Xador!" Bennett grinned good-naturedly. It was raining outside, so his hair was wet, as were his clothes. Even the Pyro vision he wore on his belt seemed to be drooping as if it were sad.

I motioned for him to come in. Quickly throwing a plate of cookies on the table, I sat down across from Bennett.

"What do you need?" I asked, taking a cookie.

"Where's Hunter?" Bennett took a cookie too and devoured it in two bites.

I shrugged. "Probably with that purple girl, Fischl. Or Noelle. He hangs around with too many vision-bearers these days." I stiffened, realizing Bennett was the bearer of a Pyro vision. "I mean, no offense!"

"You have a vision too," Bennett pointed out. He looked at the Electro vision I had. It was fastened into a necklace and tied around my neck.

"I guess," I shrugged again.

"What would Hunter be doing out in the rain? He must've come back by now." Bennett looked out the window.

"I guess," I repeated. I threw on my raincoat and opened the door. A blast of wind struck me in the face. I staggered backward. Bennett ushered me back to my seat.

"I'll accompany you if you want," He offered.

"Nah, it's okay," This was a weird exchange. I was 5 years older than him, and he was offering to help me.

"If you say so. Well, I should get going. See you around." Bennett opened the door and got slammed in the face by the chilly night air and the rain that pelted down from the sky. He preserved, however, and quickly ran to the shelter of another building.

I guess I should go find Hunter. I thought. I ran out into the freezing hurricane after ensuring my mora was safely in my pouch (which was tied at my waist).

--

I grimaced as I reached the Knight of Favonius headquarters.

He must be in the library, reading. Maybe even helping Noelle study for her Knights of Favonius test.

"Hunter?" I called as I ran into the library. As always, I seemed to get lost in the endless bookshelves. Soon, I bumped into a girl named Ella Musk. As always, she was at the "Hilichurl" section of the library, diligently trying to pick out a book about the hilichurl language.

"Hey, uh, Ella Musk." I tapped on her shoulder lightly. She turned around, scowling at me.

"What now?" Her hands were folded against her chest, and her teal-ish green eyes were slanted, letting me know I had disturbed her in the middle of something important.

"I was gonna ask, uhhh, have you seen my brother?"

"Who's your brother? Who are you?" Ella Musk didn't seem a bit interested in what I was going to say.

"I'm Xador, and I'm 20. My brother's 14, his name's Hunter. He's around... 5"3-ish. He has light blue hair and light purple eyes." I described my brother to Ella. "Uhhh, he doesn't have a vision, he has short, curly hair... um... yeah." I also had light purple eyes, but I had light, dull purple hair, unlike Hunter's blue hair.

"Yeah, I saw a boy like that a couple of minutes ago. He just came in, soaking wet. Lisa didn't let him touch any books, though." Ella Musk scowled again. "That was probably good. He would just get all the books soggy."

I nodded, satisfied with her reasoning. Of course, the books would become wet. "Do you know where he went?"

"Oh, he's chatting with Mika in the other room." Ella nodded to the exit. "Somewhere. Outside."

"Thanks," I was filled with gratitude as I cantered toward the exit.

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Word Count: 1039