Breaking Free

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Orion didn't say a word, his lips rising in the faintest, barest smile-one of reassurance as fragile as life still hanging onto him. And then something in that sight broke for Eula. Without so much as a second thought, she pulled him in, held him tightly in her arms, as if to shield him from the pain, from the blood, from this whole ordeal. 

His body was warm, but she could feel the tremors of his fading strength. "Ou...ch," he managed to murmur. At least his voice was no more than a strained whisper-weak and soft; the word was so soft, so pitiful that it pierced through her heart. The gravity of it brought a small, bittersweet smile to Eula's lips. She relaxed her grip, but completely refused to let go, not wanting to loosen the one thing which, at that very moment, she held dear. 

but the situation around them was far less forgiving. The ground started shaking under them the walls of the cavern groaned as the earth itself wanted to swallow them whole. The shocks turned stronger and escalated into a rumble, causing the rocks to come crashing down from above. Eyes scanning his rapidly deteriorating environment, Xiao and Diluc, alert to the danger brewing, dashed to their side. 

"We have to go, and now!" Xiao's voice cut keen above the din of falling debris. He cast a pointed glance towards the exit and back at Orion, his thoughts racing. "But the way out is far, and Orion's condition... We have to consider the possibility of—" 

"Out of the question!" Eula's voice cut through sharply, laced with a protectiveness that would brook no argument. She shot a searing gaze at Xiao. "He goes with us, no matter what!" 

Xiao faltered, attempting to clarify, "That's not what I meant-" 

"Calm down, Eula," Diluc interjected, his voice calm yet urgent, trying to diffuse the situation. "Xiao isn't suggesting we leave him behind. We need to find another way out, and fast." 

Eula's heart was racing and her mind filled with the terror of losing Orion. Then she told herself she had to hear it, that her comrades had the interest of Orion's being alive as much as she did. Inside, the cavern rumbled even stronger, and the continuous cracking from the walls and ceiling brought tension that the cavern was just ready to break at any second. 

There was a voice, deep inside Orion's resonating thoughts, as chaos unraveled—one very ancient, powerful, and wise voice. It was Dvalin, the Dragon of the East, whose voice carried such authority that it seemed to cleave through the turmoil. "Honoured warrior," strained yet forceful came the words of Dvalin, "climb on my back." 

Orion's vision blurred—his body like lead—but he heard Dvalin's call. He felt the dragon reaching out to him. And then, in slow and pained motion, he raised his shaking hand, pointing toward Dvalin. unable to muster the strength to speak, but his meaning was clear. 

The rest all mimicked his motion, and understanding washed over their faces. "Yes, that will do," Xiao said agreeably, but looking at Dvalin's already tired body, he realised this was going to take more energy than the dragon could muster. Without another thought, Xiao stepped forward, his eyes locked with the mighty figure in front of him. 

"Dragon of the East," the yaksha began, voice undeterred by the madness whirling around them. "This blessing may not be on par with that of Barbatos, but accept this grace of Anemo." 

Dvalin, wordless but staring him square in the eye, shared in that instant, a sense and mutual understanding of the guardian of Mondstadt and the many battles that the Yaksha had seen. Xiao reached out and touched Dvalin's head. A cascade of Anemo energy poured from Xiao into the dragon, windborne power surging through the ancient being exemplified by even the smallest spark of strength stolen back from his time in binds. Dvalin's eyes flashed, brightness searing through him. It took a while, and an effort to move every part of him, but slowly he was lifting up, enormous wings unfolding lightly and stretching, as if to embrace the sky all over again. His form was still terribly, scarred from his long ordeal, but now he shone with new life.

The earth beneath them shivered, but Dvalin did not bow down. Rather, he was rising, majestic and firm. Xiao stepped away, his face by now no longer that of happiness, but of determination. He then nodded at the others-Diluc, Orion, and Eula-and firmly said, "Let's go." Eula delicately placed Orion on Dvalin's back in quick movements so as not to waste any second. Diluc mounted the dragon, his flaming gaze sweeping across the cavern to be sure of no further danger. Xiao mounted last, his gaze lingering on the crumbling walls around them. With a mighty flap of his wings, Dvalin rose from the rocky floor and sent the swirling dust and debris filling the chamber. 

The cavern rumbled, but the dragon couldn't be stopped; his ascent continued, his wings cutting through the air with a renewed vitality. They swooped upwards, up and away from the ruin of the cavern beneath them. As they did so, they clung onto the back of the dragon, their hearts in their throats, their minds racing with the languid drums of the shattering cavern beneath them yet their path to freedom was still blocked—the jagged ceiling of the cavern loomed above them, an unyielding barrier to the open sky. But Dvalin, the Dragon of the East, was far from deterred. Summoning the ancient power of Anemo that coursed through his very being, he opened his massive jaws and unleashed a devastating breath of wind—a concentrated, roaring gale that tore through the stone above them with explosive force. The blast ripped through the cavern's ceiling, shattering rock and debris in its wake, breaking the rocks theatrically behind him and clearing a path through the heart of the cavern. Without hesitation, Dvalin plummeted through the portal he had made. His huge body surged into the blackness like an arrow of windblown lightning. Eula held onto Orion as if her life depended, and the boy's body went limp, bruised and now unconscious. She had him hidden with her body; she didn't flinch as an ugly mess unfolded. The dragon continued to blast their way upward, clearing a path through the thick stone. The journey seemed to stretch on, the darkness surrounding them unyielding. After what felt like an eternity, Diluc finally broke the tense silence, his voice laced with a touch of disbelief. "We must have been really deep in the earth," he remarked, his eyes scanning the seemingly endless walls of rock as they continued their ascent. Till finally the dragon burst free from the collapsing mountain like cavern, the last remnants of the cavern crumbled into oblivion behind them. The night sky yawned open before them-vast and starlike a gift of open space in counterpoint to the suffocating darkness they had just emerged from. 

The cool air whipped by, carrying with it the smell of freedom and a sense of safety. Eula held Orion close, the steadiness of his heart against her own, a heartbeat that steadied her against the night. His breathing was shallow, but there-a sign that he was still with them, fighting still, if only in spirit. With every downbeat of Dvalin's wings, they were taking him further from danger's clutches. 

 Diluc looked back down and between his feet as they rose into the night. The gaping cavern that had initially led them sort of captives was nothing but an open chasm on the cold ground. The entrance to Stormterror's Lair that had long hidden with the ominous wall of storms now was fully revealed to the whole world. The tempest that should have been raging there was no more, dissipated like a ghost. "The seal is truly removed now." mumbled Diluc with a mixture of awe and concern in his voice. 

Xiao, who stood by Dvalin's head, leaned forward rather than sat, said nothing but gazed into the distance with crossed arms. His hair was blown by the night wind, but his expression was deep in thought, and the small furrow in his brow showed his worry. His eyes softened a bit, watching the wounded warrior, now gently set down by Eula across the back of the dragon. 

The state of Orion remained in Xiao's mind. With the immediate danger over now, he could tell that the real fight was far from over. The collapse of the cavern and the disappearance of the storm barrier meant so much more than their escape—it was a herald of the shift in power balance, one that may have reached very far and touching ends. 

Xiao stared, this time making himself hold the gaze with Orion lying there unconscious ,battered, yet holding on. Eula sat by him fiercely protective, keeping a continuously vigilant eye on everything. 

Finally taking his eyes off that sight again, Xiao looked back toward Diluc, the expressions heavy with the weight of so much unspoken words. "You were right," he said, his voice low but carrying a somber note. 

Diluc cocked up an eyebrow in a perplexed look. "Regarding?" The lights awakened around them, yet Xiao remained silent for a moment, eyes trailing down into the horizon at a distance, from where the first light of dawn started to show over the world. There was just one thick moment of silence, one pressed hard with everything they had just gone through. 

"We are on the doorstep of chaos," he finally whispered, sounding steeped in deep foreboding. "What we did today. it was against something far greater than any of us. That's what I fear." The words hung in the air, as though the mere act of speaking them brought the weight of their reality crashing down around them. 

Still, the weight of Xiao's words did not really seem to faze Diluc. He gazed down upon the land underneath him, a little self-possessed and firm, as though he could have been expecting it from the very start. "Yeah.." his voice rang with a somewhat despairing acceptance. like someone who was expecting this turn of events for the longest time. 

The two men exchanged a look; Xiao's eyes filled with the tension of what was to come, Diluc's with a stoic resolution. What they had brought forth from that cavern was now beyond them. All they could do now was brace themselves for the inevitable chaos about to unfold with the wind whipping around them. Diluc leaned slightly toward Eula, his voice steady but tinged with concern. "How's Orion holding up?" 

Eula looked down at Orion, her face softening but for a mixture of worry and relief. "He's unconscious," she replied, though betraying her fear. "But he's alive. I think he might have lost a bit of blood, but his pulse is steady." 

Xiao, who had been quietly observing, offered a rare moment of reassurance. "His breathing is normal," he said, his voice calm and measured. "Despite what he endured, he's not in a critical state." 

Eula nodded, reassured at least a bit by the Yaksha's words, but her eyes could not help but remain on Orion. She could still feel the warmth of his heartbeat against her, small and constant but persistent in his fight to stay with them. 

Meanwhile, Xiao let his thoughts wander as he stared at the unconscious warrior. 'That power he possesses.', he mused silently, his mind piecing together fragments of the battle they had just survived. 'And the fact that he knew my name.' 

He took one last look at Orion, curiosity mixing with respect. 'I won't pry more on the topic, Orion,' he thought, his narrow eyes straightening, 'but I do anticipate what your future really holds in this chaos called teyvat. And, of course, as it goes, it can't be ordinary'.