Chapter Text
Aether lost their sister to that fucking cube goddess and she’s been gone for who knows how long. All they remembered was the clashing of swords and the feeling of utter helplessness that came with those god awful cubes consuming their sister as they were able to escape from the wench.
There was the feeling of emptiness when their powers were sealed away, as well as the feeling of barrenness when they woke up and could no longer fly.
They felt like utter shit and there was nothing they could do about it.
When they first woke up in the world of Teyvat, they were on the sand. There was cliffs surrounding them and ocean spreading as far as the eye could see.
Aether was starving and did they first thing they could, hunt.
They crafted a fishing pole out of the longest stick they could find and braided together some twine from the nearby reeds.
It wasn’t a good fishing pole by any means, but it was only thing they had on them, besides their sword.
It was after a day of fishing, they found Paimon.
Well, caught Paimon.
At first, they thought she was a big fish. She was fighting against the hook line and they were determined to eat something different from the bass and salmon they’d been eating for a couple days.
( you can imagine their disappointment when instead of finding a fish, they found this weird ass faerie that ate away their supplies and complained about everything every five seconds ).
( they really couldn’t eat her, even if they really wanted to. she had feelings and couldn’t eat anything that had feelings ).
( they’ll just have to stick with taunting her about it instead ).
There was a couple issues, at first, with Paimon mistaking Aether as male or female instead of non-binary. It was after a couple of stern corrections, did she finally understand.
“ Paimon’s hungry Aether! Can’t you cook something already ?”
“ Paimon I can’t cook you anything, we don’t have any ,” They signed the word for ingredients. Aether was still trying to understand the language of this world.
Paimon was generous enough to teach them some of the common sign language. Teyvat’s sign language was much easier to understand than it’s spoken language, surprisingly.
“ Paimon knows that, but we’re surrounded by grass and there are hogs you can hunt. You just need to ,” she trailed off. Occasionally signing things that Aether had trouble understanding.
Aether got the gist of it and figured out their behavior patterns out rather quickly.
Pretty soon, they had enough meat to make steak and they eventually found a Statue of the Seven.
Paimon was rather fascinated with how Aether could resonate with the Anemo god’s power and use it, without the use of a Vision.
Aether explained that it might be because they were from another world, possibly an entire galaxy, that they were able to adapt and understand the elemental powers behind this world.
“ That actually might be the case your aura is way different from anyone, or anything, Paimon’s encountered .”
Aether nodded along with Paimon’s ranting.
“ You were telling Paimon about your missing sister, maybe with the help of the 7 Archons , you’ll be able to find her. Especially if she was taken by an Unknown Goddess herself !”
Aether didn’t usually listen to the ideas Paimon had, but that was a good idea. They didn’t know how the Archons worked in this world, but if they had the power of a God on their side, they could take down whoever stole their sister from them.
( Paimon’s ideas usually suggested food or a way to get it, which is why they usually ignored her ).
( that, and her random tirades about how tired she was from walking when she fucking floated everywhere ).
“ That’s, actually a decent idea Paimon .”
Paimon cheered and danced in circles.
“ With the help of the Archons , you’ll be able to find your sister in now time !!”
“ I sure hope you’re right Paimon. I really hope you are .”
They looked at the trail from the Statue and it lead to an open field. There, stood a city in the far distance.
“ That’s Mondstadt . You should probably head there. Their god is Barbados , which is the God of Wind. The Archon Statue you just interacted with, was his! You’re able to control the element Anemo !”
The more Paimon talked about the world and their gods, the more they were beginning to understand what was being said to them.
They were still struggling with a lot of the grammar and vocabulary structure of the common tongue of Teyvat. It wasn’t that easy learning a language that you had no prior knowledge about.
They wanted to learn the common tongue, but they only had Paimon to guide them into speaking it fluently. And they doubt anyone else would both teaching them.
Aether was fluent in the common sign language, and that was about it. Their actual speech was broken and sounded like someone dumbed a box of puzzle pieces on a tile floor.
Aether wanted to learn the common tongue, but Paimon, as much as they adored her, wasn’t the most reliable teacher in the world. They doubted that she knew everything about the common language.
Paimon saw Aether struggling, and offered to have a conversation on their issues, strengths, and what they can and can’t do.
The problem was, they couldn’t read or speak the common tongue, and could only understand a small portion. Not enough to hold a decent conversation down, but enough to not be completely clueless.
They decided, it was better for Aether to, primarily, remain non-verbal for the time being. Until they felt confident enough to hold their own in a conversation. Along with Paimon being their translator.
Paimon saw no issue with this, in fact she enjoyed it, seeing it just allowed her to fill in the space with her own noise.
Aether was more than happy to let her go on for about and hour at a time. She somehow managed to, slightly, fill the hole that was left when they were separated from their sister.
Gods, they missed her. They missed her alot.
( I wonder what she’s doing right now ).
( I just hope she’s not dead ).
Lumine watched over her sister sibling brother from inside the Abyss.
She was gathering her army, ready to take over this pathetic excuse of a world.
She saw what the future for it held. She saw what that fucking Goddess did to it while she was in the presence of it.
There was nothing that Cube Goddess wouldn’t do to finalize the destruction of this world.
Lumine was at war with destiny, and there was nothing stopping her from trying to conquer it.
She activated the eye of the Storm nearby to see how Aether was doing. It’s Eye was hers.
She saw Aether finally wake up, only to be talking to, Paimon.
Aether was walking, and talking, to that faerie Paimon. She They he? were walking the path she saw in her visions of himher them.
They were completing the path to destroy the world.
( god damn it Aether ).
( you were never one to follow the rules anyway ).
( then again, neither was I ).
“ They’re going to ruin everything by the looks of it .”
An Abyss Mage appeared behind her as she stood over her empire. The land dark and rocky, not a single plant or mortal life around. The only light coming from the sickly, green fires lighting up the paths to allow her monsters to come and go as they please.
“ I’m well aware of that ,” She curled her fingers, touching the images she held in her hand. Her fingers warping and distorting the visions of her sisterbrother sibling going through their path to destruction.
“ What do you wish to do, your Majesty ?” The Abyss Mage’s squeaked.
Lumine deactivated her vision. Hearing the Eye of Storm deactivate of the other side. Turning to face the Abyss Mage.
“ We’ll be sending out Dvalin early. After Aether activates the blood inside the dragon, order it to attack Mondstadt. Once their both in the sky, make sure Dvalin kidnaps Aether and brings them here .”
“ Make sure that dragon is gentle with them as well, if he hurts Aether in anyway, make sure the next wave of corruption hurts .”
The Mage bowed in response.
“ As you wish, your Majesty .”
Lumine nodded and the Mage disappeared in a puff of black smoke.
She turned back to look over her empire.
( Aether wouldn’t think it’s beautiful ).
( they would think it’s horrifying actually. Her empire goes against everything they ever stood for in the past ).
( but that was in the past, after all ).
Lumine chuckled to herself.
There was once a point in time where she was afraid of the dark. Begging to have Aether and her share a room.
She remembered them getting her a special nightlight to sit on the top bunk with her, since the one on the nightstand was always died halfway through the night and was always too dark for her anyway.
Now, she’s ruling over the Abyss. An empire shrouded in darkness, with darkness by her side, casting heretical spells with heretical magic. Not caring about anyone or anything in the world besides a single goal in mind.
“ Oh dear Aether, we will be reunited .”
She held the clippings of their wings close to their chest.
“ I hope you, one day, find my kingdom as beautiful las I do. I hope you join me in my quest to save this wretched world .”
Lumine knew, deep down, Aether wouldn’t find her empire as the beautiful salvation she though it was.
Maybe, with enough time, she can teach theyhim her to love the dark as much as she does.