Illuminated At Last ✧˖°.☾

Act I

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

The yaksha had suffered through a long night. He had killed countless monsters, so many that he had lost track. He had lost himself.

His karmic debt had become an unbearable weight. Black, ink-like substance covered him, his soul was close to deterioration. His eyes were red and crazed, akin to their appearance long ago when he was saved by the Geo Archon. The young adeptus walked aimlessly through Dihua Marsh in the dead of night, covered in blood and the inky karmic energy. He was barely awake; his body and mind so tired that all that was on his mind was rest.

Not far away, the aforementioned archon watched the spectacle with a slight detachment. The yaksha was nothing but a relic of the distant past, a remnant of the "Golden Era" of Liyue that had since long passed by at least a few hundred years. If he were to fade away into nonexistence, the world would go on without him; such is the way of the heavenly principles, he knew. This was the natural order of Teyvat, and it was no one's place to interfere. The era of adepti would not last forever, and it would someday be the responsibility of the people of Liyue to govern their own destiny.

Xiao...

The yaksha stumbled and fell to his knees, attempting to regain the strength that he needed to continue walking. His chest heaved as he struggled to regulate his ragged breathing.

Xiao.

His weary gaze trailed up to behold the illusion standing in front of him. Her. The girl that had appeared to him repeatedly for at least a century. Calling his name. He watched through bleary, blurring eyes as her gentle hand outstretched and landed on his face. Xiao leaned into her touch, desperate to feel it for longer. He finally allowed his eyelids to close, but for merely a moment; when he reopened them, the illusion of the girl had been replaced by the figure of the Geo Archon.

"Rex... Lapis...?" Xiao whispered, his voice hoarse and shaky. Morax said nothing, but he gave Xiao a small smile. His hand gently brushed a stray lock of blood-soaked hair from the young adeptus's forehead. For if he could not ease Xiao's suffering, perhaps at least he could comfort him in his darkest moment, and bear witness to the burden that he carried.

Xiao's golden eyes stared tearfully at his archon for a moment before his vision started to appear black around the edges. His ears began to ring before he gradually collapsed, falling unconscious. The god sighed quietly. From where he stood, the yaksha was broken beyond repair, a hollow shell that was no longer the proud warrior he once knew. He was but a fragment of a greater whole, clinging desperately to a dream that was soon to be lost. In the past, Xiao had always been brash and defiant, refusing to show any weakness or ask for help. But now he lay here, completely limp save for his trembling hands. It was painful to watch, and Morax could not help but feel his own guilt weighing heavily on his shoulders.

The stench of blood was thick. Morax had closed his eyes to steel himself, before lifting Xiao up into his arms and carrying him away.

This is my fault.

Morax looked down at Xiao's bloodied body in anguish. He had failed to protect Xiao from the demons that haunted his dreams. He had failed to stop the gods who had cursed him. And now he was faced with the terrible truth that there was nothing he could do to free Xiao from his karmic debt. The yaksha was doomed to suffer, unable to break free from the chains that bound him to eternal pain. He could only offer him mercy.

Morax walked through the darkness silently, carrying Xiao's frail body in his arms. The cold of the night cut deeply into his soul, but he dared not set Xiao down for fear that the yaksha would crumble into dust if he let him go. He walked until dawn, until the light flooded the horizon and the sun shone bright onto Xiao's pale, bloodied face. Eventually, he sat down on a rocky outcrop, cradling the boy still. And as the dawn broke, Xiao's eyelids fluttered open and squinted before the bright sunlight. He tensed slightly, turning his head slightly, painfully, away from the light.