Over the gelid and void lands of Dragonspine, a hooded figure walked through the snow, passing through the peaks and treacherous landscape with a fixed destination in mind.
Finally, she stopped over one of the peaks where a man with wavy blue hair and a mask stood.
"Hope you did not get lost, Columbina" The man sneered saying her name.
"Why have you called me here, Dottore" Allen took her hood, revealing her long straight pale blue hair and glared at him.
"I wanted to show you something interesting and to test you." Dottore explained looking down at the deeps of Dragonspine.
"What would it be?" Allen said full of wary and distrust. Dottore was one on the top list of people to avoid by Allen, his actions and methods being the most peculiar ones, doing anything to satiate his interest. So once you took his attention, only hell was waiting for you. She still could remember Dottore's interest over Ellen and pledged of keeping her away from him.
"You don't need to be so tense. Even when the Harbingers have almost no rules, one of them is to not directly touch the other Harbingers" Dottore stated. "At least without the Tsaritsa's consent and if that was the case you will be informed of it before. So you are safe from me, at least for now."
That was one of the strange rules of the Harbingers. If you wanted to, as an extreme case, kill another Harbinger (There have been some cases over the years), you should ask for permission before. And if the Tsaritsa lets you, something that it's not usually done, both parties will be informed, letting them get ready for their mortal combat, with the one alive in the end being the winner.
"But nothing is said of indirectly" Allen stated "Or about third people."
"Touché" Dottore smiled "But I'm curious. Why do you have to make my friend let herself be killed by you?"
"Kagome was your friend?" Allen asked sarcastically "I really doubt you are capable of having something like a friend."
"You are right about it, but it's something more about equality" Dottore explained "Kagome was the only one that could treat me on the same ground, so she was the only one that I could even consider as an equal, making her the closest of a friend."
"So you hate me or something because I killed her?" Allen asked curious.
"No. She was a nuisance and the only one that could stop me. If something, you helped me taking care of her." Dottore said "It's simply my interest in her choice. Because you won't think you truly killed her? In any case, that was a suicide, you were simply the weapon used in the crime."
'I know it and I would also like to know the reason, but there's no way to find it' Allen thought.
"Follow me. That's not the place that I wanted you to see." Dottore started walking, reaching Wyrmest Valley where a giant skull and ribs of a giant dragon stood, resisting the passing of time.
'If I'm not wrong this skeleton should be Durin' Allen looked over the colossal remains 'What is he thinking to do?'
They continued going down, over the deeps of the mountain, reaching a hidden cave illuminated by a red glow. Entering, a heartbeat could be heard that seemed to extend all over the walls, creating glowing red lines like pulsing veins and in the middle of it, a red round thing stood as the culprit of it, pulsing as a heart.
"Beautiful, no?" Dottore said with his gaze fixed on the pulsing object. "The Dragonheart of Durin, even after 500 years of its death, it's still pulsing, very much alive."
Allen was curious about what truly was and what possible uses it had since she had seen it in the game. In the game, it was only used for a side quest, for creating Vitalized Dragontooth from Strange Teeth to create a weapon. But by the feel of it, there must be something important about it, a feeling that seeing it in real life was increased further.
'I always thought that in some future version there would be an event about it, a revival of Durin or something like that' Allen thought seeing it.
"So that's what you wanted to show me?" Allen asked.
"It's indeed quite interesting, but we are not here for it." Dottore explained "And be aware of it, while you can investigate it, it's forbidden to be moved."
"Would it cause some collapse of the mountain or something?"
"Why would that worry us?" Dottore looked at Allen like an idiot "The Tsaritsa has forbidden it. She has plans for it." Dottore said "She is usually very disinterested, but seems to have some obsession with Rhinedottir. If you want to keep the Tsaritsa's grace, better avoid Rhinedottir. It's advice."
"This is our destination" Dottore moved behind the Dragonheart and pointed over a similar normal rock.
"Do you know why this Dragonheart is exactly here?" Dottore took a vial with a red liquid resembling blood "Durin was too crazy to even think about its actions, so it was attracted here, influenced to come to this place" Dottore opened the vial, releasing its content over the rock.
Nothing happened at first, but after some seconds, the rock started glowing and an image appeared over it, some kind of glacial seal, like some wings with a diamond under it all made of ice.
*Brrr* There was a low rumble as the rocks moved apart, revealing an entrance, a Domain!
"What was that?" Allen asked.
"The key to this Family Domain." Dottore said stepping forward "Come"
Both entered the domain, crossing the veil and feeling in a completely new place, really much resembling when Allen entered the Niwa's one in his graduation exam.
They reached a wide room with some monsters around it. There were some hilichurls prepared to throw rocks and some Mitachurls with rocks shields. Apart from them, there were some strange enemies that were similar to human skeletons made of ice with some lines drawn in them.
"Take care of it." Dottore signaled with his face while backing, letting it all to Allen.
"Okay" Allen sighed as she drew her Flute.
***
Not even a minute after, the more than 20 enemies were all dead, disappearing without any trail with Allen in the middle.
They were mostly common enemies so they were no problems against her, being able to quickly take care of them while they were unable to reach her. Even without using her Delusion, it would have been easy, but it would have taken far more time.
The only thing noted could be the strange skeletons. These ones were quite resistant and almost immune to slashes. However, Allen discovered two methods to take care of them, hitting them strong enough or slashing while drawing over the lines written over their bodies. She could do both but opted for the second as it was easy and more efficient. While it would be difficult for the normal sword user, it was a walk for her.
"You did it surprisingly quickly" Dottore said looking attentively at Allen "And I also expected it to be far harder. It went against my prediction, what a letdown." Dottore sighed "Anyway, let's continue."
They passed through the room, crossing a door and reaching an immense hall with a frozen tree in the middle of it.
'It's like in the game. There will be a need for something like resin to obtain the rewards?' Allen thought as he approached the frozen tree.'
"What are you looking at?" Dottore called her "That root it's useless. At most a weapon will be there and we will need a key to activate it. We came for this" Dottore pointed over a small door to one side.
The door was shut closed and it didn't seem to be anything to open, no enemies or keyhole.
Dottore showed a new vial to Allen. This time was also red, but it was some black liquid moving across it.
"I won't take it" Allen glared seeing his intentions.
"That will be kind of useless" Dottore opened the vial and swallowed it all. His body convulsed a little and his hair color lightning a little, acquiring a little greenish tone. "Now I'm ready" He touched the door and this one automatically opened, revealing a library through it.
"What's all of this about?" Allen asked looking around the library, seeing some books that mostly talked about nature, mountains, monsters and some sketches.
"You know about the Lawrence Clan?" Dottore as he rumbled over some books and investigations papers.
"They were a clan of Mondstadt's Aristocracy, commanding the city some thousand years ago." Allen said, knowing about them due to the game "But nowadays, they are nothing much, having lost most of their influence after losing and being replaced by the Favonius Knights."
"1 point for history knowledge for you" Dottore laughed "But are you aware how they were able to control the region against the other clans and people?"
"Corruption I suppose." Allen reasoned "The ones with power are bound to aspire for more."
"That's a reason, but would it be enough to even try to rebel against their god?" Dottore stopped reading a document "It's here" Dottore moved his hands over a stone table *Click* A sound was heard and the stone table opened, a black reddish rock floating from inside it, illuminating the place.
"This was the reason" Dottore smiled over the rock "The power to control monsters."