Richard, the Fatty

"Grumble…"

His stomach complained non-stop from the lack of food. He rarely had to go through such hunger in his life, so it was exceptionally painful for him. Nonetheless, he had to grit his teeth and bear with it until he made it back.

"If I'm lucky, she will already be back. If I'm even more lucky, she might consider the task to be complete." Sai was reflecting on the recent events.

It was a very unusual day for him. He woke up that morning in a tent, worked out through his sleepiness, discovered how powerless he was, was accused of being a spy and forced to walk all the way to the winery to deliver a letter, only for it to be gone together with his guard. All of that while 'starving'.

Now, his butt ached a lot and he had to hold on to a man he has never seen before, while rushing through forests and canyons full of monsters and magic creatures during the cover of the moonless night. Sai felt like shedding some tears.

"Well, looking at the bright side, Bertha was funny, I had a picnic with the gorgeous Lisa and I spent the afternoon with the adorable Amber. Besides, I got the answers to the questions I wanted, though they were not positive whatsoever."

"Whoosh!" The wind blew hard on the horse running against it.

The linen clothes that Sai was wearing didn't help much against the cold, and it was super itchy and stingy to his unprepared skin. The material was poorly treated, unlike modern ones.

Sai felt very tired, so much that he pondered if he was getting sick.

"Thinking of which… Could I possibly be hurt by the new bacteria on this world? Or by something else like a virus or nematode? Conversely, could the inhabitants here be affected by the bacteria I brought? If magic doesn't come into play then it surely would happen… unless I'm only a projection, or this world is an illusion or something." His thoughts trailed off.

Some time later, he recalled the scene of the dead abyss mage, its blood creating a pool in the canyon. His hands tightened on the guard.

When Sai passed through that spot again, night hadn't completely fallen yet, so he managed to find the exact place where Amber exploded the mage's shield through the burn marks on the ground. But something was very wrong, because he did not find the body of the creature. Even the blood had disappeared, leaving only a few wet trails. Maybe a monster ate it?

Eventually, after a long more than an hour of frantic horse riding and monster fleeing, Sai recognised Mondstadt's walls and released the pent-up tension from the trip with a sigh, his hands unclenching.

The guard, Arsen, only felt relieved when he finally reached the bridge. Slowing down the horse, he said:

"Get off boy. I have to go back."

He spat at the ground, but with the corner of his eye he noticed that there was no one behind him. He searched around but found no signs that Sai had jumped off earlier. He also found his sword and the other goods in place.

Arsen pondered and came to the conclusion that the silent and sudden disappearance must have happened recently, otherwise he would have noticed it. Thinking that far, he shrugged and turned back to the winery.

As for what really happened, Sai just sighed in relief a bit too early, is all.

…

After finishing his homework, the teenager Rick, short for Richard, grabbed his phone and started the game. As the screen loaded, he exclaimed:

"Genshin is so much better than that other Hoyo game! The characters feel much more alive and intelligent!" If some radical gamers heard his words, they would be angered to no end. "Maybe I should try playing on-line today…"

His game loaded, and there was Noelle, his favourite maid.

Rick finished exploring the north of Liyue, and now he was going south. He had already been to the city to complete the archon quests, but now he needed a higher AR level to unlock the next. He heard from his friend that the best way to do that was through exploration and side quests.

He was unlocking teleport waypoints left and right, but got stuck when trying to unlock a certain domain in Luhua Lake. Pissed, he just ignored it and went further south.

Not long later, he was warned about a dangerous zone ahead which made him want to check it out. And that was how he ended up in Dunyu Ruins.

The majority of players can probably remember their first encounter with the Fatui. Without prior knowledge about elemental reactions and battle experience, amateur players would suffer with fighting them. They are the bane of the noobs.

For Rick it wasn't any different. His characters died again and again. He tried everything, but he just couldn't avoid being killed by the Cryo Fatui Gunner. It was too much consistent damage! He was getting furious, so he decided to 'play for real' and use his Lisa. She had the highest damage output because he spent a lot of resources on her.

When he was changing his team, he accidentally pressed on Sai, who suddenly appeared as playable again. Shocked, Rick put him on the team, and noticed how he didn't occupy a character slot.

"Oh shi! Sia is back! A pity he isn't a girl…" It was the hormones speaking.

Confident, Rick once more went towards the Fatui group, resolved to kill them all. Once he got there, he quickly pressed on the weird icon with Sai's name, summoning him to fight by his side!