Oath [BL; Book 2]

36

Wanderer walked ahead, Aether was behind helping Paimon to keep up. "Paimon be car-ack!" Looking back He saw Aether had slipped trying to keep her from hitting a low tree branch. 

"Traveler!" Paimon helped him up quickly.

"Haha, I'm fine!" He laughed accepting her effort to help him though he did it on his own.

"Tch." Annoyed he crossed his arms waiting for them to catch up.

Aether dusted himself off and then helped Paimon pick the leaves from her hair. "You're not hurt?" He asked and she shook her head,

"Nope! Paimon's fine!"

Noticing Wanderer waited for them Aether sighed wondering how to ease the tension between them. Paimon went off wherever she does leaving him to deal with Wanderer by himself. This mission required Aether's strange expertise in translating the language no one else seemed to understand. So to keep from putting a stop to their goals Wanderer loathed the thought of putting up with Aether and Paimon both.

However, with Paimon now gone Aether was quieter and the peacefulness of the journey returned. Following the map they were given they headed toward the last location within Sumeru. The last Stellys Nahida could find. Having been brought up to speed Aether learned she had collected ten of them with Wanderer's help and his own guidance in the language. It was stunning how quickly they worked.

He lowered his eyes watching where he stepped as they came across the entrance to the ruins. "It feels like it's only been days since I woke up from that dream." Aether looked up at the ruins astounded how well hidden they were. Wanderer forced the rubble from blocking the way using his anemo powers to do so.

"Stay close." He said, it wasn't out of caution, but a fair warning that he would leave him behind should the chance arise.

Aether tried not to answer to his tone of voice and simply said, "Right." Then followed him in. As usual it was dark, they lit torches careful as they continued their exploration. Having done this several times, Wanderer already knew what to look for and do. So Aether left him to it simply following his lead. "I can't even remember the dream. When I sleep.. there's parts of it, but.... they just become nightmares. Nahida said finding this Stellys was crucial to helping me. There's something special about it."

Wanderer unlocked the secret passage and went down first. Staring at the way he hesitated now. Looking back at him he knew there would be a hindrance, "We don't have time." He said, "Leave if you're not going to do it."

"I-I will just..." Aether furrowed his brows feeling he shouldn't go down. "I just...."

"This is the last toy in Sumeru. Once we get it, you can go back to your little fantasies. Don't waste our efforts because you can't face reality." With that he turned and went down.

There was no room for error. Aether knew he was right, though he could have said it nicely, he sighed hurrying after. The stone door closed, the ruin remained unbothered.

"Fantasies.. that's all they were." Aether frowned, "They weren't real."

Coming down to a long hallway, Wanderer pressed the tiles on the wall he knew to be familiar and looked over the puzzles solving them with ease. They came into the large chamber, it was clear how they managed to retrieve them all. Wanderer never strayed from his path, once given a goal he did everything in his power to obtain it.

He stepped on the tiles and upon stepping on the last one the light in the chamber began to emerge from the center rather than dripping from the walls down through the cracks of the tiles. The liquid light raised forming a ball and from it the Stellys was created. Wanderer crossed his arms not grabbing it then looked at Aether who looked at him.