Crimson Knight

"Hold my hand."

Lumine stretches her hand. I reach for it. Lumine is shorter than me, her hand is smaller than Eula's.

"It's big."

She said. I interlocked my fingers with hers. Lumine's cheeks turn red.

"What are you doing?"

"I'll hold tight. It's my first time. I read in stories that space warping can be dangerous. If I got lost in space, I wouldn't be able to go back."

"Where did you read those stories? Well, they aren't wrong."

"... I thought you would deny the claim."

"Space manipulation is quite scary. I've seen a fair share of things in the past."

Lumine's eyes dulled as she remembered the past. The memories made here shudder.

I squeezed her hand.

"Are you okay?"

"Oh, Nothing. Don't worry, we won't get lost. I already know the location we need."

She snapped out of her thoughts. She also remembers the past when she and her twin studied some skills. Which makes her nostalgic.

Closing her eyes.

Paimon disappeared. She said she doesn't like space travel. Paimon dimension is like an invisible backpack and Lumine is wearing it. Wherever is Lumine, she is still with her.

Then suddenly, the surroundings distorted. My eyes saw everything become blurred and then rotate like a spiral. Except for Lumine.

Just then, the area changed. I was in Unfamiliar surroundings. There is also a structure like a chess piece behind us.

This should be the Teleport Waypoint.

Oh, this is how teleportation works. Amazing. With Lumine by my side, distance will be null. I want to learn more about starlight skills.

The progress may be slow and I can't understand but as long as I grasp the basics, I should be able to build it up in the future.

In the distance, I can see light.

Lumine opened her eyes. She looks at me and then throws her head to where I'm looking at.

"I'm dizzy, Why am I still getting affected when I'm hiding?" Paimon eyes are rolling.

"That's where I got my Anemo Element. The Archon Temple."

Lumine pointed that to me.

"A temple? Is this supposed to be Starfell Lake, right? Hee amazing, it's massively different from what I thought. An island in the middle of the lake. There is also a village in the distance."

"What's more amazing about this, is when I touch the statue, My map expanded."

Lumine opened her virtual map. Just like in the game, the map that she has not explored yet is covered by black fog.

How did she have a map of Calla City?

"I remember that you had a map for Call City?"

"Ah, that. One of the villages gave us a map of Calla City. My map was updated after receiving the map. There is a difference between the statue and a normal map. The normal map doesn't give me a real-time situation. While the statue is wonderful, it gave me the location of Waypoints, Materials, Herbs, ley-line blossom, Domains, and Bosses. But for now, I have to upgrade the statue to with something called Anemoculus."

She said. Her eyes sparkled when she described the features. I was gobsmacked by the exaggerations. What the heck?

From what I remember it only reveals waypoints, boss, leyline blossoms, domains, and Shops in cities.

"Want to see inside?"

"No, we have to hurry. I want to see what's inside but now now." I shook my head.

"Okay."

"What are the two you talking about?" Paimon almost recovered.

"About the statue," I answered her.

"The Wind god?"

I nodded. Lumine and I did not traverse by walking this time. We walked to enjoy the scenery and conserve energy last time... Okay, I was slow and level 1.

Now that I'm high-level. We could reach Monstadt from here in a day by running. As we run. Paimon is keeping up with us. She's flying, that's cheating.

...

Night has come.

We arrived at Whispering Woods. We encountered Hilichurls and some monsters like creatures like Slimes, wolves, and plant-like monsters. But we ignored them.

Lumine found some Anemoculus in the distance but she just put a mark on her map so she could get it next time.

Standing in the Entrance of Woods. Lumine and I stared at each other, and we nodded.

"Lumine, Ronan. We should stop here for now okay? It looked scary. Paimon doesn't like scary things."

"No, we need to get to Mondstadt now. Don't worry, Lumine has a map, there is no Boss level in these woods. Maybe there are stronger monsters but it doesn't matter."

"Reckless, you are reckless."

"Paimon, don't worry. There shouldn't be any problems. This forest is close to Mondstadt, Knights of Favoniud should be constantly clearing this forest."

What we are doing is reckless. I know that. Am I going to make any mistake? Of course not. This forest shouldn't have many monsters.

I have just a feeling. A gut feeling.

We proceeded carefully. Not slow but not fast either. We only encountered some low-level monsters along the way.

Halfway in the forest, we found just slimes and stuff. There are many Lamp grasses. A plant that glows in the night.

And somehow, in the middle of the night, we found something. There we found a stranger and a dragon.

What the heck? How are they here? We did not see the dragon earlier. It's night bro, night!

Anyways, The stranger and the dragon were surprised by our sudden intrusion.

"Aaah! Ronan, didn't I tell you!" Paimon screamed.

"Who are you!?" The stranger asked.

"Roar!" The dragon enraged, flaps its wings. The wind brushed up our faces. It flew away!

"Ah!" Seeing the Dragon fly away. The stranger hurriedly escaped.

"What was that?" Paimon who hid behind Lumine confusingly asked us.

"That was Stormterror." I simply said. Approaching the tear-shaped blood crystal that it left behind. I didn't dare to pick it up.

"Lumine come here. You can take this thing."

Lumine nodded as she picked up the teardrop crystal. As expected she's unharmed.

We didn't dally any longer. Paimon kept asking some questions along the way, and I answered her.

After treading carefully for hours. We finally got out of the forest. Just as I expected, Despite its scary appearance the forest is quite tame apart from the sudden event.

"See that Paimon. It's just a walk in the park."

"What a walk in the park! Are you stupid? Paimon is asking if you're stupid! That was Stormterror. We shouldn't have gone ahead." Paimon heavily retorted, stomping her feet in the air.

"Well, apart from that we didn't encounter any danger."

"... Hmph! You're right. But Paimon thinks it was reckless thing to do."

After all in the future, there will be more things that are more dire than this. The journey will be filled with dangers. We need to get used to such things.

I turn my head to Lumine. She appears unbothered.

"I found a locked waypoint nearby. We should activate it."

"Of course."

Just as we proceed to move forward.

"Hey, you! Stop right there!"

A girl clad in red clothes jumps in high ground. She rolled on the ground and stood up with a pose.

"..."

Why is she here? Furthermore, this late at night? Shouldn't her appearance be only in a day?

"May the Anemo god protect you, strangers. I'm Amber, Outrider for the Knights of Favonius. You three don't like a citizen of Mondstadt. Explain yourselves.".

The girl introduced herself in salute.

Amber wears a jumper-like outfit composed of dark brown shorts, a red top that has only a hood and sleeves, a white and brown top with the Knights of Favonius crest in gold on the front, red stockings, and white thigh-high boots embellished with gold linings and symbols.

Amber's accessories include a leather belt with two small bags, and her Pyro Vision attached, gloves, a small belt on her right thigh, and gold-framed goggles. Her most distinguishing feature is the headband with the large red bow that rests on her head, resembling the shape of bunny ears. Additionally, her Vision has two red feathers attached below it.

I crossed my arms as I replied to her.

"We came from Calla City. Your appearance is a help. We need to see Acting Grandmaster Jean. Calla City is in danger!"

"What!? We never received any news. Is what you are saying true?"

"I'm not lying Miss Amber. The path is blocked by Abyss Order. Captain Rizark hired us to deliver the letter. We need to hurry, the Abyss Order will attack Calla City, and we need reinforcements."

"How! Abyss Order! What are they doing in that place.... let's go see Master Jean."