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shapes came out of the dark to visit

Summary:

One, two, three.
One, two, three.
One, two, three.
It seemed like three seconds passed when he slept. Though the rush of 500 years of memories made that statement false. His other half was busy during those years - making a powerbase for them.
Then he woke up alone, on a beach far away from his sister. At least their minds are still connected?

Notes:

My discord for stories is https://discord.gg/JfdcWXdJMZ

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1: waiting to be seen and felt and heard

Chapter Text

“For longer than we can remember, we have traveled throughout the stars. We’ve seen sights and saw those sights become lost. Everything that could be experienced was experienced. Our traveling brought us many horrors with an equal amount of joy.

Yet...We have grown tired. All we have known is traveling from universe to universe. We wish to rest peacefully.

Eons passed and we have never found a world to stay in for the rest of our immortal lives. Either the beings be claimed us as evil, or they worship us as gods. We have no need for either - our only wish is for peace.

Soon, we scouted a new world through our eyes. Exploring this unknown land, we eventually landed on a nation called Khaenri’ah. We made friends. This was the world that we would stop on.

That is until an unknown god came upon our sight. A female - at least that was what they looked like.

“Outlanders, your journey ends here!” The god said with a monotone voice. Our dark form glared at the being with our light form growling.

“Why are you here? Who are you?” I asked. My eyes stayed on the god, looking for weaknesses.

“The sustainer of heavenly principles. The arrogation of mankind ends now.”

I pull my power from the cosmos, only to be blocked. The god came prepared. We grabbed our swords. Red blocks of {ERROR: UNKNOWN} appeared. They tried to grab onto us both, but we avoided them all.

“Agh!” We both grunted, glaring at the unknown being. The blocks have finally grabbed ahold of us. It consumed us, blocking more of our powers. In the darkness, we slept for years. With most of our power gone, we couldn’t leave. Though halfway through our sleep, our other half woke up. She kept me updated on the world, explaining sights and what she is doing.

Finally, I woke up from our deep slumber - only…I was alone. My stomach growled, hunger all-consuming. Never have I been hungry, for my primordial life had no need for such.”

He woke up on a beach shielded by cliffs. He smiled in his mind and knew what to do. Their act was far from finished.

 

The lighter half - his twin pondered about the past while he fished. It took some time to learn how too, but he eventually got it. Something tugged on the string and he reeled in the fish. As the fish - wait…that isn’t a fish. A small human came up, holding on to the hook. Both of the halves focused on him. He backed up, startled from the sudden appearance of the strange human.

“Thank you!” The being said with a huge grin.

“Who are you?” He asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

“I’m Paimon! I would have surely drowned if you didn’t fish me up from the ocean!”

“And why were you in the ocean when you could clearly fly?” With his eyes narrowed, Paimon squirmed.

“There was a tasty fish...I wanted to catch it...My wings got wet and I couldn’t fly,” Paimon pouted. “Why are you all the way out here anyway?”

“Ah well,” He told the story that we made up.

“So...what you’re trying to say is that you fell here...from another world?” Paimon said. “But when you wanted to leave and go on to the new world, your path was blocked by some unknown god?”

He nodded.

“Some kind of seal was cast upon me, and I lost most of my power and my sibling. Luckily my power is slowly growing the longer I stay here,” He said, fluttering his wings,“So while we used to travel from world to world, I am now trapped here. How many years ago was it? I don’t know…But I intend to find out,” His eldritch voice leaked in. A thought crossed both of the twins' minds quickly before shaking it back to the depths of their subconscious.

“What is your name?” The small being asked, realizing she didn’t know his name. The twins thought back to each other, trying to find names for themselves. They traveled for so long that they didn’t know their actual names anymore.

“I shall be named Aether,” He said.

“As you are new, Paimon will do her best to be a great guide!”

Aether followed the strange Paimon to a small cliff. It was double his size. 

“Well, the path ends here, so we’ll have to climb. Well, you’ll have to, Paimon can just float.” Aether looked at Paimon deadpanned and flew up. “Oh, yeah…”

Aether chuckled slightly, rolling his eyes.

“Yes, yes, can we get a move on?” Aether said.

“Okay! Let's take the route we planned!” Paimon floated to their destination. A statue waited for them showing a winged human holding a ball. “This is a Statue of the Seven! There are a few of these statues scattered across the land to show The Seven's protection over the world. Among the seven gods, this god controls the wind. Paimon's not sure whether the god you're looking for is the Anemo God, but…Paimon'll take you to the Anemo God's place first, and there's a reason why~” The fae smiled mysteriously. He titled his head in confusion. “As we all know, poetry and language flow like the wind...There'll definitely be someone there who knows about the unknown god. At least, that's what Paimon thinks! Whether the gods actually answer you is a different story. You never know unless you try.  So, let's hop to it!”

Aether hummed as he flew over to the statue. Touching it, an almost ethereal feeling graced him.

“What a strange human…” The wind whispered to us, “ to fly with the wind.”

“Ooh! Did you just feel the elements of the world?  Seems all you had to do was just touch the statue and you got the power of Anemo! As much as they may want it, people in this world can never get a hold of powers as easily as you,” Paimon sighed.

“This cannot be good,” Aether said. The twins' thoughts conflicted with each other. Though they can communicate with each other, it’s hard to differentiate the two different processes.

“That’s not a good thing to say to the god who gave you the power of the wind. Even if you came from another world…Anyway, if we keep heading west from here, we'll eventually reach Mondstadt, the City of Freedom. Mondstadt is the city of wind because they worship the God of Anemo. So perhaps, because you got power from the God of Anemo, you can find some clues there. There are also lots of bards there, so perhaps one of them has heard the news of your god.”

“Paimon, what are the powers of this world?” Aether asked curiously.

“Well, there is Anemo, the power you just got. Then there is Geo, Electro, Cyro, Dendro, Pyro, and Hydro! Each has a corresponding element. I don’t have my own and Paimon is jealous that you just had to touch the statue to get yours,” Paimon pouted. A large shadow passed them, wind following its path. They looked up and saw an enormous dragon. “Woah! It's headed towards the heart of the forest. We must proceed with caution.”

Aether slowly walked towards the forest, watching their surroundings carefully. As they enter, they see a boy talking to a dragon, seemingly trying to calm it down.

“...Don't be afraid...It's alright now, I'm back.” The boy said, petting the top of the dragon’s head.

“Is he talking... to a dragon?” Paimon rhetorically asked. The sound of her voice startled the two beings.

“Who's there!?” The boy asked, looking around. The dragon flew away in a big blow of wind. Aether hid in the tree as the boy left.

“That was close! Paimon almost got blown away! Luckily Paimon managed to grab hold of your hair! Thanks.”

“Good thing you didn't pull our hair out,” Aether said. Both of the twins winced at the ‘our’. Someone is eventually going to get suspicious.

“Just what was that? Paimon thought we were gonna get eaten,” She said nervously.

“I can't believe dragons exist in this world…” Aether said, trying to show worry.

“Yeah, Paimon gets why you're worried.”

“Is talking to dragons normal?” They asked.

“Of course not! That boy was weird,” Paimon pouted before something caught her eye. “Oh? What's that? There's some kind of shiny red thingy on the big rock over there…Let's go take a closer look. Be careful! Paimon doesn't have a good feeling about this…”

Aether went to the red gem, his eyes entranced by the look. He touched it.

“Paimon's never seen a stone like this before, so Paimon can't tell what it is. All Paimon knows is that it's dangerous. Best we put it away for now. Okay, we've got it! Now let's get out of here.”

The gem disappeared, but he could still feel it on the edge of his mind. It felt like it was in his mind instead of in the physical world. Weird.

“Our next stop is Monstadt!” Paimon led us through the treacherous woods. They fought against monsters that were in their way. As Aether grew closer, he hid their wings in fear of what the people might think of them.

“Hey, you! Stop right there!” A woman wearing lots of red stopped them. “May the Anemo God protect you, stranger!  I am Amber, Outrider for the Knights of Favonius. You don't look like citizens of Mondstadt. Explain yourselves!”

“We're not looking for trouble,” Paimon said, trying to calm the woman down.

“That's what all the troublemakers say,” Amber said.

“I’m Aether,” Aether said.

“That doesn't sound like a local name to me. And this... mascot, what's the deal with it?” Amber nodded to Paimon.

“Emergency food,” Aether said, smirking.

“Hey! That's even worse than being a mascot!” Paimon stomped her foot in the air.

“So to sum it up, you're traveling partners, right?  Well look, there's been a large dragon sighted around Mondstadt recently. Best you get inside the city as soon as possible.  It's not far from here, I'll escort you there.”

“Oh? Aren't you out here for some other reason?” Paimon asked.

“I am. But not to worry, I can keep you both safe while doing that too. Besides... I'm still not sure if I can trust you two just yet!” Amber admitted.

“Why so suspicious?” Aether asked, locking eyes on the red woman.

“Oh, ahh... I'm sorry. Probably not something I should say as a knight. I give you my apologies, uh... strange yet... respectable travelers.”

“That sounded so fake!” Paimon shouted.

“ Do you have something against the type of language usage prescribed by the Knights of Favonius Handbook!?” Amber angrily shouted back.