I'll Be Here

"I have... Been through a lot."

Lumine frowned. "'A lot' seems to be a gross understatement. You're like a walking ball of trauma. Being enslaved and tortured for decades and then losing your whole family and then fighting this endless war, alone, seems to qualify as more than 'a lot.' Maybe more like 'constant suffering.'"

"I have a contract, and it's my duty and my honor to fulfill that contract. Even now that you defeated Osial, it's still my job to defend Liyue from the demons that plague it." Xiao rubbed his Vision between two fingers. "I'm the last defender in this invisible war."

"Hm." Lumine sighed and rested her chin on her palm, looking up at Xiao with big honey-yellow eyes. "Then who will defend you?"

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An interpretation of where the story of Adeptus Xiao begins, what he went through before our time, and where he will end up.

Cover art by @tyabasirakk on Twitter