GI Chapter 14: Khaenri’ah

This is Fischl.

This is Noelle.

Ursa stopped blocking Noelle’s Geo-empowered greatsword, seemingly alarmed at something or maybe, someone. Noelle took a quick peek over her shoulder to find a torrent of water, bubbles, and sparkle rushing towards her direction and an unfamiliar man swiftly walking behind said torrent as if following its trail. A sigh of relief left her lips.

‘The people will be safe now.’

Mona emerged from the bubbles with a graceful spin. Her catalyst floated right above her left hand glowing in an ancient glow, ready to help her enhance her spells and magic power.

“Starfall!” Mona shouted on top of her lungs, thrusting her hand out. The Hydro elemental energy in the surroundings converged into a massive blue star above Ursa’s head, hovering ominously.

Oz blinked to Ursa’s left eye and spat out a charged Electro orb from his beak at its wide-open eye. Ursa was distracted by Orion’s dreadful aura, so the orb of Electro element zapped its completely unprotected eye. Unlike its draconic scales, its eyes were more fragile than mortal flesh.

Ursa hissed in rage and slugged towards Oz with its draconic claw. The raven familiar from another world skillfully maneuvered around Ursa’s hind legs and blasted it with more Electro charged attacks.

“Crash!” Mona shouted again, bringing down her hand.

Mona’s Hydro star, the accumulation of most of her energy, smashed down on the dragon’s skull. The sheer weight of the star, constructed out of dense hydro elemental energy, dragged Ursa’s consciousness into a stunned state. Unfortunately, the dragon’s scales made it immune to Electro-charged, the state of elemental reaction caused by the union of Hydro and Electro elements. Without those tough scales, it would have been stunned for minutes with the sheer output of Hydro and Electro elemental energy reverberating in the air surrounding the draconic being.

Orion caught up to Mona with a dash and watched Ursa get stunned momentarily. “Mona, I’ll try something stupid.”

Without waiting for Mona’s response, Orion broke into a reckless sprint straight towards the stunned goliath. He gathered strength in his legs and leaped up high. However, he had severely underestimated his newfound strength and soared way past Ursa’s height. The biting wind grazed his pale cheeks, forcing him to squint his eyes. It reminded him of the extreme bungee jumping he once did, in his old world, just to satiate some of his boredom.

‘I have to slow down before I ascend to Celestia.’

He thrust out his hand, towards the sky, and mustered his spiritual energy. “Anemo.”

A burst of wind blasted out of his palm, absorbing his momentum and pushing him back towards the ground, his aim being a bit off. After some calculated attempts, he managed to land on Ursa’s scale-covered head.

‘Wooh.’

The thrill made his blood boil in excitement. He allowed his unknown talent to cool his head down, however, he needed the cool for the crazy act he was going to perform. The three girls, the raven, and his beloved cat looked like a dot from this range. His sharp eyes could see the worry in Mona’s eyes. Even the archer girl and Noelle seemed worried for him. A gadget suddenly popped in Mona’s hands. It was most probably taken out from her hidden dimensional storage. A wooden box with two shiny lenses on the front.

‘A camera?’

As he expected, it was a Kamera, an item that originated from Fontaine, the city of progress. Mona aimed the camera at Orion and snapped a quick picture. The image took no time to process and slid into Mona’s hands.

‘The otherworldly bluish-purple,’ Mona thought with a smile and looked up. “Orion! Come back!”

“Nope.” Orion shook his head and kneeled on one knee. Ursa’s head had four horns, two pointed at the sky and two curving towards its maw. Orion held onto a horn and touched Ursa’s scale-covered head with his right hand. “Devour.”

The bluish-purple mist made another appearance and launched an all-out attack. Ursa’s scales couldn’t put up a fight against the devouring mist constantly rushing out of Orion’s hands.

Ursa snapped out of its daze. The Abyssal energy it felt made it shudder, in a primal fear it didn’t know it could feel, giving it goosebumps of the calamity that happened five hundred years ago. Ursa waited no more and flapped its massive wings. The big gust of wind knocked back a tree as well as the trio gathered down there. And Ursa soared into the sky, to flee.

Orion expected such a reaction. The gloves gave him an excellent grip on the rough scales. He only had to hold until the mist melted Ursa’s brain and killed it for good.

‘Come on…’

He poured more spiritual energy into his hand, boosting the output of the mist. The scales vanished, and the skin came to the surface, which soon degraded into red pulp. Ursa’s skull bone was the last defense of its brain.

Ursa howled like a berserk beast before it plunged and crashed into a tree even bigger than Ursa itself. Orion was abruptly thrown into the bed of grass, crashing with immense force, Ursa’s broken horn still gripped tightly in his hand.

The dragon with a hole in its skull roared in anger and stormed off towards an unknown location.

“Fucker,” Orion cursed as he rubbed his back. “Got away.”

He could deal with the cowardly dragon later. First, he had to return to Makoto and Mona. He glanced at his surroundings. The land everywhere was rich with thick grass. Strangely, the giant oak tree behind was unharmed despite clashing with a literal dragon, not even a scratch could be seen anywhere on the tree, giving indications of its mystic origins. A stone statue stood in its gentle shade; a girl with twin braids holding a pearl in her hands, the pearl glowing in a seemingly otherworldly splendor. She had a hood over her head and feathery wings behind her back.

‘Statue of the Seven.’

The players used the statue to resonate with the element of Mondstadt’s Archon, Barbatos. He tucked the horn in the hidden pocket of his coat and touched the statue.

‘Give Anemo, ya trap.’

As he expected, nothing happened. He was stuck with the Void element for the rest of his life. Well, it was quite versatile, capable of replicating all other elements.

He quickly got some information from the Ley Lines, becoming familiar with the place and its much-needed history.

The giant oak tree was where Vennessa, the founder and first Grand Master of Knights of Favonius, ascended to Celestia. The tree was a symbol of her divinity and a place of worship for the Monstadtians. It was a reminder of the human who gave them back their freedom, the very ideal the city of Mondstadt was based upon.

‘Aunt said ascended mortals are lower in hierarchy… Vennessa must be having a hard time up there.’

Curious, he summoned the Grimoire of Divine Wisdom and thought of Vennessa. The answer came in shining golden letters.

[Vennessa… I never heard of a goddess with that name.]

“Many things must have happened in a thousand years. She might have ascended again. Who knows?”

[That reminds me. I have to tell you something important.]

“Go on.”

[Did you learn anything about Khaenri’ah? Eclipse Dynasty?]

“Khaenri’ah… sounds like some ancient ruin name.”

[It used to be a nation. An underground civilization without a god governing over it. Khaenri’ah made great technological advancements such as automatons. One of their inventions earned the Sustainer’s divine wrath… Khaenri’ah didn’t sit idly in the face of the tribulations, though. They fought by releasing their alchemical creations that razed the land governed by the Seven. Teyvat became flooded with monsters and abyssal creatures. Many gods, including a few Archons, perished in the catastrophe. It was hell… I fear Vennessa participated in this war and perished… since ascended humans are like soldiers in Celestia's eyes.]

If Lydia’s suspicion was right, then Vennessa’s tale of valor ended in a tragedy.

‘An entire nation fell against Celestia…’

He had the same goal as Khaenri’ah: Bringing down Celestia and the Divines. However, he was alone. Could he achieve it single-handedly? Just as the doubt emerged, the cold feeling kicked in and his eyes turned black.

‘I’ll learn from their mistakes.’

He will improve where Khaenri’ah failed. He had years if not centuries and more to perfect his plan. He just needed more knowledge. More was an understatement. He needed an immense amount of knowledge. The history of Teyvat, every tidbit down to even the most insignificant event. The reason for a human’s ascension. The reason for a god’s existence. The way to kill a god for eternity. He wanted them all in his hands. His appetite for knowledge grew with each curious question, becoming a bottomless pit.

[Talent: Ravenous Scholar unlocked.]

Knowledge was indeed a curse. And every curse came with its own set of personal hell.