Shining Light

"How long has it been?" Daleth asked Moccus

She just got back from Mondstadt after staying there for at least two hours.

On her way out of Mondstadt, she noticed that two people were spying on her hidden in the shadows. Of course, needless to say, she found them and froze them. But the ice they were trapped in should melt in a few minutes, enough time for Daleth to leave.

When she met up with Moccus, she found him waiting under a tree along with the other Snow Boars looking at the mountain.

It was already nearing nighttime, making it difficult to see the mountain. The sky was now tinged with orange as the darkness slowly arrived.

"A few hours." Moccus answered.

Both of them were looking at Sal Vindagnyr which was covered in a thick blizzard. The blizzard was so thick, it didn't even make the mountain visible and only occasionally showed its outline.

"Were there any changes?" Daleth asked once more.

"Yes. I managed to see two blue lights ascend to the peak from the bottom of the mountain at different time periods." Moccus gave a clear answer.

Daleth gave a slight nod and inspected the mountain. "Any idea as to what he's doing?"

"None." Moccus sighed. "I didn't even know he would do this."

"No? At least one clue?" Daleth asked.

Moccus pondered for a few moments moment before making a low hum. "Now that I've thought about it..."

"He was always looking at the mountain's peak sometimes as if it's his enemy..." Moccus explained as he remembered Isaac's habit of sometimes looking up the mountain to the giant pillar.

"...Why?" Daleth questioned. Because she and Isaac had only met for less than a day, she naturally holds less knowledge about him. Thus, she became quite curious as to why Isaac was doing this.

"He never specified..." Moccus huffed as he slowly stood up with his massive body. "But I believe that it's something of a serious matter..."

"I see..." Daleth spoke as she looked at Sal Vindagnyr

Without saying anything to Moccus, she approached the mountain and tried to enter. But like Moccus, an ice wall appeared to block her.

Seeing this, Daleth's eyes squinted as she slowly took a step back.

Blue shining light started emanating from her body before being completely engulfed in the light.

Seeing the dazzling lights, Moccus, who was talking with the other Snow Boars looked at Daleth and wondered what she was doing. "What is she up to?"

After a few moments, the dazzling blue light disappeared and Daleth's true form was revealed. She returned back to being a Hypostasis.

Returning back to her former form, Daleth tried to enter Sal Vindagnyr again.

Eight of her cubes that protect her levitated along with her core as she tried to enter. But in the end, even this too failed.

The ice wall just appeared again and blocked her. She managed to get one of her cubes across, but another ice wall isolated it.

Seeing that it was not working, Daleth returned to the ground and the same blue light appeared. And after a few moments, she returned to her human form.

"Isaac really doesn't want us to enter, huh?" Moccus scoffed as he approached her

"I do not understand." Daleth gave a frustrated look. "Why is he not letting us enter? What could he be possibly doing? Is it something that is beyond our help?"

Seeing being agitated, Moccus sighed. "Well, whatever it is, he seems to be pretty busy."

Just as Moccus said this, the two of them managed to see another blue light shoot up from the mountain to the peak.

"Another one?" Moccus asked

The two of them waited for a moment to see if there will be changes but after a few minutes, nothing happened.

"What was th—" Before Daleth could continue her words, the ground beneath them started to tremble. "What's happening...?!"

"A sudden earthquake?" Moccus pondered as he tried to balance his body.

At this moment, the two of them caught a glimpse of something.

On top of Sal Vindagnyr, an extremely colorful blue light was being emanated. It was so bright that it seems to be lighting up the dark sky with its presence.

"What... Is that?" Daleth asked

However, it is worth noting that it was not only them that saw this light. People from Mondstadt who were inside their houses managed to see the shining blue light on the snowy mountain that most adventurers dare not to enter.

The Dragon of the East, Dvalin, even saw the light all the way from his lair.

And on top of Qingyun Peak, on an artificial island created using plaustirite, a tall man wearing an eastern robe with fair skin and brownish-dark hair that has what seemed to be antlers saw the blue light.

He was writing something in a notebook before stopping and looking at the light with curiosity.

As for the Adepti who were residing in the mountains, they too saw it. Even the Conqueror of Demons who was currently slicing off a mutated elemental creature looked up to see it.

* * *

"What a load of work..." Isaac groaned.

For the past few hours, he had been going around the mountain to search for the three pieces of the giant pillar.

At first, he tried to take the giant pillar off from the mountain but it didn't budge one bit. He tried to punch it but it didn't even leave a crack. In the end, he tried to destroy it whole but before he could do so, strange information was inserted into his brain.

After doing that, the mountain started emitting a blizzard around it, for some reason.

He didn't know how or why, but the giant pillar seem to have given him information on how to get rid of it. And that was to collect three of its missing pieces scattered around the mountain.

At that time, Isaac didn't know why the giant pillar would even do that. No, scratch that, he wasn't even sure if it was the pillar!

But in the end, he decided to do it. He searched for the three pieces scattered around the mountain.

One was hidden inside a tree that was covered in ice. He easily got rid of the ice and retrieved the piece.

The second piece was in an underground cavern inside the mountain. And just like the first one, it too was covered in ice. Needless to say, Isaac got it.

And the final piece was hidden beneath Daleth's arena. It had a puzzle that Isaac had to solve but it was done after a few tries.

After doing all of that, Isaac went back to the summit of the mountain and tried to shake the pillar off, which resulted in it giving off light.

"Too bright...!" Isaac covered his eyes.

Seeing that it seems to not be stopping on giving off light, Isaac commanded the two giant arms hovering behind him to pull it out.

The two giant arms held on to the giant pillar. One is at the bottom and the other is at the top.

"Ready, and... Pull!" Isaac commanded.

Following his orders, the two arms started pulling the giant pillar.

The mountain's peak shook as the ice around the pillar started shattering. Slowly but surely, the giant pillar was being drawn out.

Seeing things going smoothly, Isaac let out a small heave of relief. "Just a little more..."

"Then perhaps... I can finally get out of here..." Isaac lowly muttered as the thought of finally being free flashed through his mind.