Archon Missing

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Orion chuckled as he gathered his clothes and rose. "Well, that was refreshing," he said, then wrung it out through his hair to get rid of some of the excess water. Eula smirked at him and rolled her eyes as she went to work fixing her long locks, doing the same. They started to dress, but it was a bit awkward with the clothes sticking to their wet skin. The air around them did not help, either; it was not warm and circulated cold puffs of air around them from time to time, carried out by the cavern in its breath.

When they were dressed, though they remained damp as yet, they walked over to where Diluc waited for them. On their approach, Diluc eyed Orion and raised one eyebrow, smiling sarcastically. "Orion, good to see you in such a good shape," he observed, sarcasm well toned in his voice, obviously meaning the earlier spectacle.

Orion rubbed the back of his neck, and a slight blush crept onto his cheeks. "Uhh. thanks?" he muttered, trying to brush it off. Though inside, his thoughts were considerably less composed.

A shadow crossed Diluc's expression. "I heard about what happened from Kaeya." Orion's eyes widened slightly at that piece of information. So, Kaeya had told Diluc about the foe he had faced? "The description of the foe you faced… it is not quite the same as the one I encountered. Yours seems on another level altogether."

The words sank in, and at least for a moment, it created a chill that ran down Orion's spine that had nothing to do with the lingering dampness left in his clothes. "Another level?" ran the thoughts through his head. What this possibility meant was both intimidating and intriguing: that would mean he was facing a yet more powerful enemy. His heart began to beat faster, and still, it didn't help the unease that settled in his gut. It was a terrifying idea that there could be more powerful enemies than the Emissary, but he was at least slightly comforted in finding out the particular one Diluc had decided to pick a fight with wasn't as strong.

Before Orion's thoughts could dwell too much on that, Diluc interjected, "As for why I wanted us to meet here," his tone suddenly become mysterious, "first matters first, I want you to meet someone."

"There," Diluc pointed toward a figure that leaned against the wall not far from them. As Orion let his eyes follow Diluc's gestures towards the figure leaning against the wall, he actually felt a jolt right through him of surprise as well – the man had already been standing there the entire time, but Orion had not sensed his presence in the least. It was unnerving, to say the least. He braced himself off the wall and started to walk towards them.

The figure's movement, though flowing, was otherworldly, almost, with something in the way he walked indicating more shadow than man—that air surrounding him. Orion's eyes focused on the polearm the figure carried: a spear of elegance and menace; its shaft was a deep emerald with golden patterns coiling around, much like ancient runes. It was a razor-sharp jade green, upon which ancient runes glowed with some inner light, and even then, he got the presence of a beauty among instruments of lethal purpose.

Orion couldn't help thinking, "He's... very small" as the figure drew nearer. But there was something about him, an overwhelming presence. The air seemed to vibrate around him with a quiet, contained energy that could break loose at any second. As the man came to a halt before them, he introduced himself with a calm yet commanding voice. "I am Xiao, pleased to meet y.."

Orion's lips moved before Xiao could complete his introduction, and words he couldn't have expected spilled from them instead, words that startled them all. "Yaksha Alatus," he said in a near murmur, as if from the very depth of his memory.

At this statement, Xiao's eyes suddenly widened with surprise, his calm demeanor disrupted for a moment. "You… how did you—" he began, his voice tinged with astonishment.

Orion blinked in confusion. "What. am I saying.?!" he thought. It dawned upon him—that he pronounced something—a speech of something, utterly not knowing of the significance of it.

Xiao glared at him, his golden eyes narrowing, the mix of curiosity and suspicion crossing his features that were usually impassive. That would be the moment tension filled the air, almost palpable, as if the weight of the Yaksha's history and whatever suspicious knowledge this man had bore down on the two beings standing here.

Diluc and Eula shared a look of surprise at the sudden familiarity between the two. Eula, being ever direct, was the first to break the silence.

"Orion, do you know him?" There was curiosity more than accusation in her tone, but a sharp edge of concern as well. Orion shook his head slowly, still reeling from the words that had just issued from his mouth. "No, I don't… At least, I don't think so." Chewing on his words while disoriented, confusion in itself reigned as he tried to make sense of the name that had slipped so effortlessly from his lips. Xiao didn't avert his eyes. Something flickered—that might have been recognition, but then again, it might have been wariness.

"I would know if we'd met before," he said, very quiet, his voice steady as a rock at the crest of a landslide. "But for sure, I have not seen you before." His voice seemed to carry the weight of the ages, every word carefully dashed out like drops avenging the water on the floor after a bath, as if he were weighing all implications of Orion's slip of the tongue. "I've heard of you from Diluc," he went on with the same stringency in his voice. The upheld tone of his voice was enough to keep it from falling. Xiao looked at the red-haired man. There was hardly any reassurance on his face, save for his confirmatory nod. "We don't have time for formalities. I personally trust Diluc, and now, I'm trusting his choice in you." It was as much of a test as a statement from Xiao, his expression unwavering as he waited to see what Orion would say. Although his physical build was small, he still stood out as a fearsome being, and he gave the impression that the glance of his eyes revealed to you that he was a man not to be trifled with.

"Do you? But of course. It's to do with the seal, isn't it? Well, we did fall into a trap and arrived in this place." He never did finish the last as Diluc actually laughed at him. It was rare, and Orion was dumbfounded. "I apologize," Diluc said, his tone unexpectedly light.

Orion blinked, confusion etched upon his face. "Apology? For what?" A further stretching of Diluc's grin, before he waved an arm in a wide arc toward the cavern. "Turns out that trap you fell into there wasn't some ancient mechanism. It was laid on purpose—by us, anyway, though to be precise it was Xiao that actually did the setting of it." He crooked a thumb back in the direction of the impassive Yaksha. "He's responsible for the boulder that blocked y'all out as well." Orion's eyes widened in revelation. "Were you. wary of someone or something"

Diluc shook his head, but something in his eyes flashed a flickering trace of amusement. "No, not really. It was only a precaution Xiao had suggested. He's always very careful. But between you and me, I have always known you would reach this place somehow. I just did not expect it to happen in this fashion, afterall it took us quite alot of walking to get here" Xiao still said nothing, his eyes fixed and inscrutable, but his head inclined a fraction, as if in admission of his responsibility for the trap. Orion felt a mix of irritation and admiration.

Diluc really didn't waste his time on idle chat. "I called you here is for two reasons," he started, with that firm voice. In the same breath, he continued before Orion could interrupt, "Firstly, I need some help, and I'd sooner have you than those useless knights at my back. Sorry, Eula," he corrected.

Eula rolled her eyes but brushed it aside with a small smile, clearly used to Diluc's bluntness.

"Second reason? " Orion asked, crossing his arms. Diluc's expression turned serious as he continued. "Second, it appears you've arrived here in Mondstat for some reason, and this might have something to do with it. You never know." Orion nodded. "Well, I intend to lift the seal anyway." But the casualness of the conversation ended there when Diluc's tone grew grave, cutting through whatever veneer of superficiality there had been. "It's not about the damn seal, Orion," he said, his voice carrying an edge that made even the cavern seem colder. "It's about my friend, Ven..." A shadow passed over his face before he continued: "I've been trying to locate Lord Barbatos for the last three months, but he's vanished without a trace. The storm barrier around Stormterror's Lair appeared not long after, and I fear it might be connected to him somehow." Caught off guard, Orion didn't know what to say. Diluc's words hung in the air, and he looked over at Xiao for some guidance. Xiao stood beside them, stoic as usual, and finally brushed out a few words of his own. "I came for the same reason," he murmured, heavy with the intensity of his situation. "I owe the Anemo Archon a debt, one that I intend to repay.". Whatever is happening here, it's something that must be dealt with."

Orion did his best to digest all of this, mumbling, "Well, I didn't expect this at all when I took on this task…"

He trailed off as Diluc went on. "The strange attacks by those unknown forces, the presence of the Abyss, and the disappearance of our Archon—it's all connected," Diluc said in a way the darkness of his tone creeping up. "From what I've heard, the same things are happening in other nations. This isn't some kind of isolated incident, Orion. We're standing on the doorstep of chaos. What happened is just the beginning of something far more dangerous."

Eula crossed her arms and spoke up, "You're just being paranoid, Diluc. You've always tried to bear every burden alone. Our Archon were never present in the first place."

Diluc's expression turned cold. "You wouldn't understand."

Sensing something was up, Orion turned his eyes to Xiao, who had been apparently thinking. There was something off about Xiao's face, a trace of self-doubt that contradicted his previous self-assurance. Perhaps it was only Orion who saw this at that moment when he asked, "So, Xiao, what about the situation in your country?" Xiao's response was measured. "We've always protected Liyue from all sorts of threats and manner of evils. It's nothing we're not used to." But there was something in his voice—a minute sense of discomfiture that Orion's heightened senses picked up like a whisper on the wind. Xiao was hiding something, but Orion chose not to press further, letting the conversation continue.

Feeling the change in topic, Diluc butted in, "Well, quite some time ago actually, their Archon was assassinated. So in this case, Liyue's Archon is quite irrelevant, so the disappearance of Liyue's Archon isn't directly related to this situation, since they don't have one to begin with."

As Diluc spoke of the assassination of Liyue's Archon, Eula's aristocratic voice dripped with a hint of disdain. "Rex Lapis was assassinated," she remarked with a touch of irony. "And ours? He was never truly present in the first place, im not even sure if he was seen in the last thousand years."

While Diluc talked, Orion never took his eyes from Xiao. The information regarding Liyue's Archon only seemed to deepen the frown on Xiao's face, and Orion couldn't help but note, with interest, the minute changes on his face. There was some shadow of concern in Xiao's eyes, resonant with the weight behind Diluc's words. What was happening was obviously part of something much bigger, much more complex, something that was far beyond their understanding at that moment.

Orion decided to break the tension with a hint of levity. "All right, good folk," he said, wryly looking at them, "what do we know so far? Because, to be honest, I'm lost."

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