Lost Star ~ Honkai: Star Rail

Attack

It was a normal day on the Xianxiou Luofu. The sky was bright, the people calm, and all was well.

"General!" Yanqing said, running to Jing Yuan.

"Hello, Yanqing," The elder said, "what is it?"

"Come see what I can do!" The younger urged, pulling on the general's sleeve. Chuckling, Jing Yuan let Yanqing drag him to the training dummies.

Other Cloud Knights sparred around, saluting to the general as he passed. Yanqing fixed up a training dummy how he liked it.

"Stand back!" Yanqing announced once he was ready. "I'm gonna do the most strongest move yet!"

Jing Yuan nodded, watching. Yanqing took a deep breath before holding up his sword, ready to show off.

Before he could even more his sword, the wind began to pick up. Glancing around, Jing Yuan caught a glimpse of something large on the outside of the Luofu.

"Yanqing," he said, "you can show me later, it looks like someone came to visit us."

Yanqing, who had already started his showcase, grumpily looked at Jing Yuan. His grumpiness turned tense when he saw what Jing Yuan was referring to.

A ginormous...thing...towered over the Luofu. It seemed to have an orange eye, staring down at all the residents.

"Jing Yuan!" Fu Xuan came running, "I need to talk to you."

"I'm all ears," he said, "Yanqing, can you go make sure people aren't panicking? Bring them to safety."

Yanqing nodded, obeying almost immediately.

"General," Fu Xuan began, "I didn't even see that thing coming."

"Not even a hint from the Divine Foresight?"

"No, I'm not sure what it could even be. According to witnesses, that thing was suddenly there without even a moment to react."

"Hm...try looking into it."

"...I can try, but I'm making no promises."

He chuckled and she quickly left. Turning back to the Cloud Knights, he ordered them to go investigate.

***

"Yanqing?" Sushang ran over to him, as he made sure a group was far away from the edges of the Luofu.

"Sushang! Can you help me over here?"

She watched him tip-toe to get a better look at the thing.

"What are you even doing?" She asked.

"That thing—what do you think it could be?"

"I hope it's not dangerous," she gasped, "do you think a Heliobi did it?!"

"I don't think there's one that strong," he admitted, "and if there was, we'd totally know about it by now."

"We never know..."

"Help! Help!" The two of them looked at a frantic woman.

"What's wrong?" Yanqing asked, running to the woman.

"My baby! She went that way! She ran!" The woman sobbed hysterically.

"I'll go find her, just please stay put!" Yanqing said, turning the way the woman had referred to. "Come on, Sushang! Let's go find a kid!"

***

Deep into Cloudford, the duo felt a stronger sense of dread. The kind that made you know that something horrible was about to happen to you.