His Eyes Never Change (Gold like Cor Lapis, Blue as Noctilucous Jade)

The Other Side of the Storm Wall

The air was still. A hazy, dark line was rapidly growing on the horizon. Childe watched from his place upon the wall. The putrid scent of corruption grew thicker with each passing moment. The back of his throat burned with it.

"Disgusting," Xiao Ping said, glaring into the distance. She wrinkled her nose. "Morality aside, couldn't they have found a way to make karma more...I don't know, fragrant?"

"I do believe you've just discovered their true goal, my dear comrade," Childe grinned. "Since they aren't powerful enough to kill us outright, they're trying to kill our appetite. Perhaps we might do them a favor and starve to death?"

The two friends exchanged a glance before bursting into laughter. The nerves of the upcoming battle only made it worse, that horrible constricting tightness in the center of their chests making it hard to breath as they were bent over in a mess of giggles.

If those around them found their laughter to be an offense to the gravity of the situation, no one commented. The soldiers were hard at work ensuring the gates were barricaded and the improved Guizhong Ballistae were in proper working order. Unlike Childe and Xiao Ping, no amount of humor could lift the weight of what was at stake from their minds. Their eyes were focused, faces stony.

The majority of the preparations had been completed earlier in the day, but there was nothing worse than sitting and waiting for an enemy one can see to finally arrive at one's doorstep. So they double and triple checked everything. After all, these machines were their best chance of survival should the adepti fall in battle.

Under Guizhong's orders, there were to be no humans fighting on the front lines. Childe, of course, being the sole exception. The main attacking force was composed of the adepti, with the soldiers manning the ballistae from the relative safety of the outer wall. Civilians had been gathered and moved into the palace or towards the inner city, as close to the inner walls as they could reasonably get. There were just too many to safely secure within the palace itself.

Childe had been disappointed when his grand idea of moving all non combatants into the domains had been shut down. As Guizhong had put it, the domains were deceptively large. The endless fields were an illusion, and the domain could only ever hold a fixed number of items and people inside at one time.

But, worst of all, should the domain's structure be damaged in any way, all of those people would be lost forever. Best to avoid the risk. At least this way, they had a fighting chance should their main line of defense be broken.

Childe could faintly make out the golden shimmer of the city wide jade barrier, ancient sigils flickering in and out of sight. He sighed, having finally regained his composure. He had been in many skirmishes and a handful of battles, but never on a scale like this. It was like electricity was shooting through his nerves. A mixture of terror and pure excitement.

"The time for battle is nearly upon us."

Guizhong approached them with Morax in tow, her gaze locked on the dark horizon. Despite the toll her research had on her body, Childe was now grateful that it occupied her mind. He wanted her as far away from the battle as she could get. If they sparred here and now, he was certain he could beat her, and it wasn't just his mortal overconfidence talking. What a terrifying thought that was.

" Xiao Ping, from your report, it appears that there are human soldiers mixed in with the corrupted beasts. How much of the army is human, would you say?" Morax asked.

"If I were to guess...around a eighth?" she mused. "But they don't feel human anymore. They've either assimilated with the karma to become monsters, or are in the process of doing so."

"Allogenes?"

"Yes, many."

A dark anger flared in Guizhong's eyes, "Despicable."