𝐴𝑚𝑜𝑟 𝑉𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑡 𝑂𝑚𝑛𝑖𝑎 ⎮ 𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛 𝐼𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑡

Xiao ⟢ A dance under the starry sky

⟨ a long forgotten Liyue tradition is revived during moonchase festival: a moonlit dance where partners exchange a secret, never to be shared again ⟩

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The moon loomed high over Liyue, its cold light cascading across the landscape like a veil of silver silk. From his vantage point atop the roof of Wangshu Inn, Xiao observed the scene below in silence, his sharp eyes tracing the glimmering lanterns that filled the harbor with warmth and light. The Moonchase Festival had drawn people from every corner of the nation, and the streets of Liyue Harbor thrummed with life, with joy.

But to Xiao, the festive atmosphere only deepened the hollow ache inside him.

It wasn't that he despised the celebration itself. He understood its importance to the people of Liyue, to the mortals who needed such events to sustain their fleeting happiness. Yet, that joy felt distant, unreachable to him, as if there was an invisible wall between him and the rest of the world. The laughter that rang out across the harbor might as well have been a far-off echo, fading into the void that gnawed at him from within.

Xiao tightened his grip on his polearm, the smooth wood grounding him against the sharp edge of his thoughts. His gaze drifted upwards to the moon, a familiar companion in the many long nights he had spent alone. The moonlight illuminated the thin mist that curled over the marshlands below, casting a dreamlike haze over the landscape, and yet, even in this ethereal beauty, Xiao felt nothing but the weight of his karmic debt.

The karmic debt that never left him, no matter how many demons he vanquished or how many nights he spent in solitary reflection.

"Such trivial distractions," he muttered under his breath, his voice barely audible amidst the soft rustling of the wind. "They have no place in my existence."

He tried to push it away. The pull, the strange sense of unease that had been nagging at him since the festival preparations had begun. It wasn't unfamiliar to him; he had felt it before, during other celebrations and gatherings, a subtle call to something beyond his understanding. Yet, tonight, it was stronger, almost insistent. Something, or more like someone, was calling him, pulling him toward the very place he had vowed to avoid.

Liyue Harbor.

His eyes narrowed as he shifted his stance, crossing his arms over his chest. Xiao was a guardian, an adeptus, bound by contract to protect Liyue and its people. But he was also more than that.

He was an instrument of violence, a weapon forged in blood and battle, destined to carry the weight of countless lives lost. For him to be anywhere near the celebrations, to be in the presence of such fragile, joyful mortals... it was a risk.

Not to them. But to himself.

Isolation had become his shield, his armor. It was easier to keep others at a distance, to maintain the cold detachment that protected them from the darkness that lingered within him. His past was a void of suffering, his memories tainted by the blood of the enemies he had slain and the comrades he had lost. He could never forget the lives he had taken, nor the weight of the karmic curse that threatened to consume him at every turn.

The mortals below who were laughing, celebrating, and sharing in each other's warmth were fragile, ephemeral. They would age, grow old, and eventually die. And Xiao would remain. Always the same, always alone.

To care for them was to invite suffering. To care for them was to invite pain. It was the lesson he had learned again and again, through the endless cycle of death and rebirth. Bonds were dangerous. Attachments led to sorrow.