Lilith Myra Genshin

Chapter 10: May the Arcons Bless You

(AN: Hi! It's been a long time since I updated- sorry for taking so long! I'm back- and I've tried to rework the direction of the story a bit, so you may notice differences in the writing style, but it will all be consistent with the existing plot ❤️ Thank you to those of you who are still reading!!)

Lilith lazes around in her room, twirling a lock of her long silver white hair around her dainty finger, drumming her heels against the floor. It's been 3 days since she'd arrived back in Snezhnaya alongside Ei and Yae, and she quickly found herself full of boredom in the snowy, lifeless nation.

She wished to do more than sit on a throne, poised as a goddess above mortals. She wanted to experience what it really meant to live. She'd spent far too long hidden away from the public eye, building a reputation that brought about fear and terror without even meaning too.

Making a quick decision, Lilith jolted upwards, jumping off of her throne and striding confidently across the extensive room, pulling open the brass coated door. She began to make her way through the halls of the manor, observing just how much it had turned from a palace to a fortress in her time away. She dragged her hand along the a window sill, her typically unreadable face saddening, a forlorn look crossing her face at the absence of the camellia flowers she used to plant annually. Everything was so dreary and utterly cold, devoid of energy and comfort. As she continued to walk, she saw no others in the mansion, no maids or children or soldiers, just utter and complete desolation and silence.

Lilith made it to the entry way and grabbed a long ivory colored fur coat, pulling it over her shoulders. She traded her heel for black fur lined combat boots and pulled on warm mittens and a traditional hat, buttoning up her coat with delicate motions.

Bracing herself, Lilith pushed through the massive oak doors at the manor's entrance, the cold hitting her like a sheet of ice, blowing snow all around her.

Lilith began to track towards a nearby city, one further distanced from the capitol of Snezhnaya, being a smaller almost town like assortment of ramshackle buildings on the outskirts of her manor.

The snow continued to blow, more gentle and flurried than it had been earlier as Lilith walked, clinging to her coat and hair. The path she walked upon was lifeless, much like the rest of what she'd seen of her abysmal nation, with even the trees hanging limply, as if weeping at the sorrows that they'd certainly been witness to. Lilith couldn't help but wince, thinking of the ruin she'd allowed to befall her homeland.

As she walked further and further into the barren thicket of trees, she began to see the faintest glow of orange tinged light in the distance, a sign of Yezhevika Province, the small industrial city ahead. There were little oil lit lamps hung on the trees near the city's entrance, and weathered and rusting metal signs were staked in the ground in welcome to travelers from abroad, though they were rendered illegible from years of abrasive wind and snow.

Lilith gingerly opened the brittle looking metal gates that served as a marking of Yezhevika, stepping into the city's walls, the whole town being surrounded by tall gray brick turrets and spires, similar to Mondsdadt. Unlike the city of freedom, however, there was no lively energy, and what was left of the city walls had been chipped away at by weathering and wars. The whole city seemed like a plea for help, a tragic place left in a utterly horrific state. The shops and stores were partially boarded up, and some windows appeared broken from the near state of anarchy Lilith had allowed to befall Snezhnaya.

Amidst the snowy city, Lilith caught sight of a limp form, curled up in the snow. She walked over to the form, rolling it up off the ground. The sight she saw made her blanch, her gut plummeting with guilt and remorse. The girl- because it was a girl, a person, no inanimate mass- her face was covered in mud and soot, and her clothes were mere rags, tattered and worn. Her chocolate brown eyes fluttered open, her features tired and hopeless. Lilith understood Alyona's words from the boat to Inazuma now, the way the girl seemed to hate her, Lilith at least, with a burning passion, detesting her for the state of the slums. It was at that moment Lilith vowed to do better for her people, to collaborate with other nations and work to make peace across nations and within her own, because clearly, war aside, her nation was suffering. The nation she was responsible for and would gladly devote her life too.

"Can you speak?" She asked the girl gently, brushing the snow and gunk off of her pale features.

"Y-yes," The young girl murmured in response, "b-barely."

"What is your name, child?" She prompted, her voice full of warmth and sympathy, "I wish to help you. What is it you desire?"

"My n-name," The girl stutters, teeth chattering, "It's Katya Avdonin. I-I suppose I would like to j-join the Fatui one day- to fight for our nation... w-were I not so weak. To provide for m-my brother Andréi."

And no, Lilith thought with deep concern, that was not what she had been expecting.

"Then you have yourself a deal, little Miss Avdonin," Chided Lilith warmly, placing a vision, cold as ice in the girl's shivering and calloused palms, "da blagoslovyat tebya arkony, moye ditya. May the arcons bless you."