Entering the Domain

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***

Somewhere in the middle of the night, Yomite woke up. He raised his head and looked around, observing the only source of light coming from a nearby torch, presumably put there by Kaeya to keep the bugs and monsters away.

"Yo, had a nice nap?" He heard a voice from behind him, he cocked his head and saw Kaeya sitting in the darkness, less than half a meter away from him.

You could only faintly see the outline of his silhouette, but he was there, no questions asked.

"Okay man, that's way too creepy, and creepy not in a sense of being scary. There is this thing called personal space, and you are way beyond that..." He quickly got up from the ground, staring at Kaeya with suspicion.

"No worries, I did nothing! I swear!" Kaeya laughed.

Yomite raised an eyebrow, "Your innocent smile doesn't make it better..." he said, dusting his clothes off.

Sleeping on the ground wasn't the best thing in the world as his clothes had become increasingly dirty.

"Oh, come on...I am not a full-blown bad guy...only to some extent. Some things I say are still very much true. I feel like my dear brother Diluc has wronged me, and now, you are too cautious around me too..." Kaeya cried out with a fake facade and then ruffled his own hair, "Such is the tragic life of the handsome Pirate Cavalry Captain." He grinned, raising up two of his fingers, forming a peace sign.

Yomite rolled his eyes, "Since when were you a Pirate? From a Cavalry Captain to a Pirate...I swear if you don't show me the horses or the ship I won't buy it."

"Now, Now, don't be mean. Actually...I don't know, I feel like I was a pirate....ever since I was bored— I mean...born...Te-he~!" A small mistake like that let Yomite immediately figure out he was lying after all.

"Yeah...right..." Yomite looked around but couldn't find what he was looking for, "By the way, where did Hu Tao wander off to? I don't see her at all."

"Ah, the little girl woke up an hour ago and silently left. But I am pretty sure she hadn't wandered off too far, maybe check out the hill that's on top of the entrance to the Domain, I am sure you will find what you are looking for." Kaeya replied and pulled out his sword, chiseling it on a nearby rock, "It's almost morning, you two slept like a log. There have been multiple battles occurring during your princess sleep though. I had quite the hard time."

"Wait...battles?" Yomite looked around the location but couldn't see any dead bodies nor any signs of a battle that took place, nor he could smell the blood in the air, "Who did you fight?"

"A horde of slimes attacked us during the night. I am not sure what riled them up, or maybe they just wanted to enter the Domain, but we were blocking the entrance? Well, I doubt slimes are even that intelligent."

Yomite pondered for a moment, 'Slimes? Damn, and I was asleep? I wanted to see one, but oh well...They are common mobs, I will have plenty of other chances to get to them.'

He already had plans regarding slimes for the future. He could use them for quite a number of things. Once he found himself a house or some kind of property, he will definitely make himself a small farm of slimes. The more the merrier.

Smelling something foul, Kaeya frowned as he glanced towards the entrance of the temple, "I feel like something must have happened in the temple, as ever since we've arrived, there has been this burning smell hanging around in the air." He crossed his arms in thought, "I imagine there will be slimes, hilichurls, and whatever else that is giving Stormterror extra power."

'So more fighting then? Good. I need more practice with both my weapon and my ability.' Yomite hummed, his piercing golden eyes staring at Kaeya, "The situation seems pretty serious, but could be a bit fun."

"Oh, ho-ho! My little brother is quite the brave one, isn't he! I agree it's going to be very lively in there indeed. They are just a disorderly mob of creatures though, so nothing that life threatening." Kaeya folded his arms and sighed, "It's a pity the Temple of the Wolf has been disturbed by such an atrocity. It was a majestic temple of the mighty Wolf, yet now, it's nothing more but a Domain overrun with monsters."

Yomite felt that this time, Kaeya was actually sincerer about his words, feeling a sense of loss about the poor temple.

Maybe he had some connection to it, but thinking that he may feel uncomfortable talking about it, Yomite hasn't asked him anything.

The sky was getting brighter as the sun was waking up from within the mountains.

He glanced at the top of the hill and sighed, "It seems like it's almost morning, I will be right back." Now that it was more bright outside, he wouldn't be needing the torch, he left it behind and went up.

Kaeya seemed to understand what he planned on doing and mischievously smiled, "Don't take too long!"

***

Yomite saw Hu tao as he made his way up the hill, sitting atop of the highest point in the mountain in the grassy plain, that cheeky smile coated her face as usual.

And weirdly, a flicker of unknown pain passed through him as he looked at the youthful face of his teammate.

She was holding her hat in her hands, her long, dark brown hair swaying in the wind, as she stroked the hat in a steady rhythm, gazing at the moon.

Her smile was obviously plastered on her face, yet when he looked more carefully, her expression was solemn and much darker than he had ever seen it before.

She could sense him coming from miles away, despite him trying to sneak around.

"Assistant-kun~ you're being very sha~dy~" she turned around as she giggled.

"I am not trying to hide really...I just came for you..." He lied as naturally as he breathed.

Taking a closer look at her, he felt like this might have actually been the first time he had seen her without the hat on her head.

She didn't even put it away when she was inside of the Knights' Headquarters, or when she was in the room with the Acting Grand Master.

Usually, you would put down your hat as you enter a building, those were the basics of courtesy in most countries.

But she didn't.

So it was surprising she took it off now, out of all the moments she could choose.

It wasn't like they were that much in a hurry, and not like Yomite had something better to do either, so he sat down next to her and tried to strike up a conversation, "That hat seems to be quite precious to you."

"Mhm. It's my most beloved treasure." She mumbled as she stared into the distance, looking at the floating island of Celestia, hidden within the clouds

***

Twenty minutes later.

Kaeya was getting restless. He wanted to go and kill some monsters, but his two juniors were having fun elsewhere, so he had no choice but to wait.

Just then, he saw then going down from the hill, finally returning.

"Great, you are finally here...I thought you would bring her after a few seconds, what took you so long? Did you get lost or something?" Kaeya asked with a frustrated tone.

"Yep, the woods are dangerous and we got lost pretty easily." Yomite joked.

"Sure...sounds convincing enough...Alright folks. No one makes offerings to The Four Winds anymore, yet the old winds never truly vanished." He touched the gate with a sense of nostalgia, the three ruby crystals transforming and opening the gate upon his touch.

"We need to clear out the temples, for The Four Winds. Let's go in, team."

Yomite nodded and Hu Tao also voiced her agreement.

"Right." "Okay!~"