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seven archons each had gods of their own

to look over the land and sea.

sumeru had their dryads and morax the adepti

barbatos had one, whomst the seven hadth loved.

for love itself she tolls to thee

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AETHER HEARD A SMALL RUMBLE.

he had just come from a hillchurl commission on musk reef when he heard the sound of rocks falling from the cliff he was passing through.

his small fairy companion gradually hid behind his back in favor of looking alarmedly at where the sound came from.

"it's not an avalanche is it?"

"no, the weather isn't that bad to cause an avalanche," he replied, looking at the disjointed segment of rocks before scooping them up into a neat pile by the side of the dirt road. clearing out obstacles like these was extra work, but it doesn't hurt to have a little kindness in a big world such as teyvat. paimon grabbed some of the smaller rocks and stocked it up on the pile. just as aether was about to pick up the rocks closest to the cliff, it began to rumble again.

"paimon thinks it's something else!" the sprite cried out as aether backed away. once they were about five meters away again, it stopped. the traveler noticed a certain pattern because everytime he stepped closer in a particular direction, the cliff would hurl down rocks in the same spot where he had stood.

"it seems like it's hiding something," not hiding. hiding was a strong word. it was more like,

it was protecting something.

"paimon wonders if it might be-" paimon looked around until her greedy eyes caught a glint of gold, "MORA!"

aether made a dive for paimon as the rocks fell on the spot. luckily, they landed in some sort of fissure in the cliff.

as it turns out, the gold paimon had keened over was a seal to a domain in the fissure. the traveler and his companion slid inside and found themselves to be in a cave.

empty seelie courts were nearby. as they carefully led the seelies back to their respective homes for some treasure, paimon tugged on his shirt and pointed at a trap door at the center of the room.

aether went down and was immediately hit by the scent of something strong.

"it smells like tone deaf bard in here," paimon's nose crinkled. he chuckled and looked beyond the room.

a ruin hunter (much to his exasperation) which was fortunately dead, sat in shambles by a coffin.

"a tomb- this is scary, traveler!" the small fairy wailed and hid behind his back. he flinched when he heard something.

"do you hear something?"

'tap ,, tap ,, tap ,,'

"paimon hears something too!" she gulped, small fingers pointing at the seemingly still tomb.

"... and it's coming from there."

he pushed aside the stone cover. a pink haired young woman was laying down. her eyes were slid shut yet her fingers continuously tapped on some sort of seal that barred her breathing.

"use your anemo powers, traveler!" paimon pointed at an anemo activation pillar that had stood cleverly hidden in the shadows.

the barrier broke, yet the female had already lost consciousness.

"is she alive?" paimon asked, awed by the girl's pretty features. he held a finger under her nose.

"she's breathing."

after a minute of paimon trying to fan the woman's face (which was still unhelpful lol), her eyes sprang open. it was hard to deduce what color were they but aether guessed it would be something close to hazelnut.

"t-thank you. i would've suffocated in there," she gasped raggedly. he had his arm circled around her waist to prop her up. staggering, the blonde let her sit up on what must've been her tomb. the light from the seelie housing nearby illuminated her face.

'pink eyes...'

"how did you end up here?" paimon finally summoned her wits and talked to the woman vibrantly. aether sweatdropped.

"i don't really know. i was asleep. when i woke up, my chest felt incredibly tight and i couldn't breathe," she held her hand up to reveal a dusty spellbook.

"my powers doesn't seem to be working too."

"then, are you friend or foe?" aether stared closely and she visibly flinched.

"i- i am not an enemy," the girl shook her head and bowed her head in acknowledgment; in greeting.

"my name is psyche, an entity of love and the disciple of the anemo archon barbatos. thank you for saving me, stranger."

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