Starting Point

!!THIS STORY WILL ALTER CERTAIN PLOT POINTS NOT FROM A SIMPLE STORY-WISE MANNER!!

!!CERTAIN NON-EXISTENT IN-GAME ELEMENTS WILL APPEAR!!

Darkness, and amid all the darkness, a faint glimmer of light echoed through their minds, right before their mental eyes. With a loud gasp, Mark woke up, taking a deep breath as he felt the ground around him. Sand, as coarse as he remembered it, trickled along his fingers. He looked around, noticing a somewhat familiar sight. His eyes drift to the side, noticing his good old friend, Ras, lying on the ground, his eyes open, staring at the sky with a somewhat undisturbed expression on his face.

"Oi, Ras, you good?"

Ras gave Mark a thumbs up, not bothering to get up. He didn't even care that Mark was up and running, moving around the place, checking for something that could at least give him a clue as to where they were.

"Dude," said Mark, a spring in his step as he approached Ras, "I have a feeling we're in a world you might know, but not from firsthand experience."

Ras stood up, looking at Mark with a somewhat dumbstruck expression.

"What do you mean 'world I might not know from first-hand experience'?"

Mark chuckled, seeming as if he were losing it.

"Dude, we're in freaking Genshin..." 

He let his words linger as Ras processed them, his eyes widening slowly as he realized the gravity of their situation.

"You mean..." spoke Ras, "we get to..."

Mark tried to fill in his words.

"To have cool elemental powers!"

"To interact with all the women here!"

Mark's face dropped as he heard Ras' motivation.

"Ey, man, cool powers. Heck, get up and let's get going."

He reached out to Ras, helping him up as he brushed off the sand from his clothes. They both knew their attire would make them stand out in a weird way, drawing unwanted attention.

"Let's turn off our phones for now to save battery. Until we get to use Electro, we'll have to find a way to charge them."

With a few taps, he closed it, making sure to keep it safe in his pocket, near his person. He glanced around, looking at Ras as he put his phone away as well, before finally letting out a loud sigh.

"I guess we need to go to Mondstadt, just like you'd do in the game. I see no sight of the Traveler, Aether, in here. Perhaps he and Paimon are already in Mondstadt. That would mean that we're sort of late."

Ras simply shrugged.

"It is what it is; it's not like we're the main characters."

Mark nodded silently, a mischievous smirk on his face.

"Not yet...or so I hope."

Mark began pacing away, motioning for Ras to follow. They walked around, taking in the sights familiar to Mark, but there was no helping the gap in his mind.

"It's frustrating...for some reason I can't remember the plot..." 

He shook his head, moving his hand through his hair, taking slow breaths as he walked. 

"Well, that sucks..." replied Ras with an abnormally calm voice. 

"What do you mean 'sucks'? It's basically like you forget your life; that sort of creepy. Imagine: you know a lot about your life, and you randomly forget those big chunks that you did remember..." blurted out Mark as his pace picked up. Ras followed behind, lazily glancing over Mark's shoulder at the statue of Barbatos that lay on their way.

"Mark, it seems that we found one of these funny statues."

Mark looks up, seemingly angered, but the sight of the statue brings about a certain clarity to his expression that words couldn't even try to comprehend. With a shaking hand, he touches it, feeling a surge of power flow through him, crashing with his body like waves against stone.

Ras can't help but laugh as Mark falls on his ass, completely taken aback, eyes open wide as he looks at his right palm, watching aghast as a little Anemo tornado forms inside of it.

"Dude..." whispered Mark, prompting Ras to take a look as well and see what it was all about. He saw the slight whirlwind twirl around in Mark's palm, watching intently for a few seconds.

"That's cool." 

Mark's eyes were glued to his palm, his mouth moving alone.

"Sure is cool..."

As Mark was trapped in his trance, Ras went ahead and touched the statue as well, yet he felt nothing. In fact, it was quite the opposite of what had happened to Mark. He felt the statue absorb something from him.

"That was anticlimatic," said Ras in a stern voice, shaking his palm, feeling nothing.

"Did nothing happen?" asked Mark, brushing off the dust on his pants.

"Indeed. Well, I guess I simply wasn't meant to be awesome."

Mark patted him on the shoulder.

"Hey now, no need to be gloomy." You can take other statues. We can share the powers, you know?"

Ras put on a faint smile, one that Mark could easily tell was fake, but he didn't pester his friend any longer.

"It's fine. To be honest, I don't even think I'd be a good fit for elemental powers."

Still holding his hand on Ras' shoulder, Mark spoke with a more serious tone.

"Hey, don't worry. There's enough power for the both of us. We can become quite the duo in no time. Elemental reactions will go wild."

Ras chuckled before limping along Mark, having lost the little will he had left to walk.

"Remember, Ras..." said Mark once more, looking at Ras with a stern gaze. "You still have waifus in this world. In no time, you'll even forget about being gloomy most of the time."

Ras seemed to get a good laugh out of this.

"Yeah, right, and you'll become an archon simply because you want to."

Both shared a hearty laugh as they walked along the trail, watching the sun march its way up the sky.

"Ok, let's get to Mondstadt now. I don't really remember why, but I feel something big is about to happen. We better get ready."

As their steps lead them to Mondstadt, they seem to be getting a better feel for the new world. Mark is still using his anemo powers as they're going, but something about it seems to escape Mark's grasp of Anemo. Somehow he kept losing power in his whirlwinds, causing them to dissipate slowly.

"Dude, I have no clue what it is that I'm doing wrong. It just doesn't work."

They both enter the forest as Ras tries to find an explanation.

"Well, considering you got them in an unusual manner and you've barely had them for a few minutes, I think you're doing more than fine. Just take your time, man."

Mark nods silently, still using his powers, as they pace along the beaten path. They caught a glimpse of the town, taking in the large stone walls. Before their very eyes, the walls seemed as imposing as mountains, yet the windmills added a certain dreamy feeling to their endeavors.

Mark came to a halt, catching Ras by the collar before he could take one more step.

"I think someone's coming our way."

Ras glanced around but saw no one walking on the road.

"Mark, I think you forgot to take your pills."

Mark chuckled before switching back to a somewhat serious tone.

"I can hear her. She should be here any minute now."

As Ras tries to gather his wits about him, Mark watches as a figure dressed in red comes running out towards them, jumping from the top of a small hill before landing right before them with a loud thud. Mark couldn't help but smile as the girl faced them, standing straight with an arm placed on her chest, as if saluting them.

"May the blessing of the Anemo Archon be with you, strangers."

Ras finally found it within himself to take in the situation, standing next to Mark with a curious look on his face. The girl keeps talking, having a polite look on her face, yet her eyes were all Mark needed to see the true curiosity hiding behind them.

"I am Amber, Outrider for the Knights of Favonius. From what I can see, you're not from these parts, are you? Explain yourselves." 

Mark can't help but break into a hearty laugh, placing his hands on his knees as he tries to calm down. He finally straightens his back, wiping a tear from the corner of his eyes.

"I sure think someone forgot what the manual said about greeting strangers."

Amber's eyes widen as she looks for words to say.

"How do you know about that?"

Mark simply waves his hand dismissively.

"It's alright; I won't tell on you. The name's Mark, and my friend over here is Ras."

He lightly taps Ras on the shoulder as he waves his hand at Amber, smiling faintly.

"We're not from these parts, and I think our clothing made it more than apparent."We wound up getting lost while at sea, and a storm made sure we'd go for a swim."

Amber listens to Mark's story, nodding slightly as he keeps going. She simply shook her head, looking at the two of them with a pitying look.

"You poor things. Come with me; I'm sure Jean would be able to help you. Please follow me."

She began walking, a spring in her step, as Mark and Ras began trailing along.