A Beautiful Lie

https://discord.gg/qpDTvSj3TC

https://pa treon.com/StickSwinger

***

Yomite Hissha felt that his life was wonderful.

Last week, he married his 30th lover.

The world was polyamorous so stuff like that was more than acceptable.

Just a few days ago, trustworthy people that he hired personally, finished building a mansion in the outskirts of Mondstadt, where all of his wives could stay with him as a huge and loving family.

Yesterday, he spent the whole day giving love to fifteen of his wives, while the other half would receive his love the following day.

He had the power, he had the money, he had the authority, he had a family, he truly had everything his heart desired.

Not to mention his handsome face.

As such a perfect being, Yomite Hissha had mixed feelings.

Did he have any regrets in life? No, his life was perfect.

If he was to mention a flaw in his life, uh, it would probably be his bad habit of making up fantasies in his head.

But maybe that was a side effect of reading so many different kinds of genres that he was already corrupted and it was way too late to return back to normal.

Whatever was mentioned previously was just pure nonsense, of course.

And currently...The man known as Yomite Hissha, was running for his life together with a few other just as unlucky individuals, as a giant fucking flying tank was locked onto him.

"Venti!!! You useless bard!!" His voice echoed in the air, echoing around the mountains and the Starsnatch Cliff, even while he drew his next breath…"This idiot isn't a god, never was! I swear!"

He jumped around, desperately avoiding the Dragon's wind breath that tore apart nearby trees to shreds.

As another wave of wind energy swept past them, Paimon who was only barely clutching onto Lumine's hair shouted frantically, "Pa-Paimon was almost blown away just now! That stupid Tone-Deaf Bard!!! I knew we shouldn't have trusted him!"

Lumine who ran next to him had to agree with both of them.

This was a disaster.

Not only did the plan fail completely, they were also forced to run into Stormterror's Lair, as fighting near their current location was disadvantageous to a maximum degree.

One wrong step and you might find yourself falling down the cliff.

They would have teleported away if they could, but the group has separated and Lumine also didn't have any Teleport Waypoints activated nearby.

So if they were to teleport back to Mondstadt, the whole journey would have been for naught.

Never trust a bard ever again...

***

Roughly 20 minutes before everything went downhill...

After they finally walked up the steep cliff, the party readied their equipment.

Fischl checked the tension of her bowstring without batting an eye and saved up some Elemental Energy to summon Oz for later.

Diluc and Yomite were comparing their claymores.

Diluc's claymore was apparently a 4 star artifact rarity, while Yomite's...was of course, just an everyday normal claymore, nothing special.

Diluc seemed friendly enough. He even told him that after this Stormterror issue was dealt with, he would give away a 4 star claymore to Yomite as a gift, as apparently, his whole mansion had a secret stash, full of things no one used.

This was wonderful news for him.

As, who wouldn't want a much sturdier weapon that wouldn't break in just a few hits?

Jean looked up at the dark sky, bathing in the star glitter.

This mission was a necessary step to bring Mondstadt back to its glory and to free it from its never ending grasp.

From Fatui.

She was nervous, but she believed they could do it.

If they failed here…

She heaved a heavy sigh, still placing her gaze upon the stars and the slight fog, coating the forest underneath the cliff, like frothy milk.

Lumine was feeding Paimon, while patting her, as a form of an abreaction.

She was also feeling slightly on the edge, but knowing that Yomite managed to defeat Stormterror previously, without much effort, calmed her down.

Hu Tao was playing hide-and-seek with the little ghostly figure, hiding in her hair.

And as for the star of this play, Venti pulled out the Holy Lyre.

"...Holy Lyre der Himmel...The pattern of flowing wind carved on the rosewood...and the strings still feel cool to touch too....Oh...the memories…"

Jean overheard him but didn't understand what he meant by that.

The lyre was more than a thousand years old, and he looked no older than fifteen, so how could he have any memories with it?

"What do you think, Venti? Can you summon Dvalin? I would say we are pretty much done with preparations." She glanced and Diluc and others and everyone seemed to be ready.

More than ever.

"Well, I doubt it's going to work."

A single sentence like that, was more than enough to rile up almost everyone present.

""What!?""

The group shouted in unison.

What was he saying now!?

Why have they come here if it wouldn't even work?

"What do you mean you doubt it's going to work? Venti...explain yourself." Yomite was losing his patience.

He knew there might have been some complications along the way, but not this early.

This was way too early…

"...Bard...I hope you're not serious." Diluc glared over his shoulder at the stupid grin of the bard. "This isn't fun and games. Take this seriously. The future of Mondstadt is at stake. What did you mean by those words?"

"Well, as you can see...this lyre went through a thousand years of history. The Anemo power within has run out. In this condition, I doubt you could even play music fit for Master Diluc's tavern with it..."

Diluc scoffed upon hearing his words, "Bards fight to get on the stage of my tavern. Don't make assumptions!"

"Is that really important right now, Master Diluc? Aren't we about to face the scary dragon?"

Paimon's little stamps were a bit less impactful when she didn't actually hit anything other than air, Venti letting out a giggle at the pixie's strange behavior. "Oi! And you! Stop giggling! Did we put our necks on the line to steal the Holy Lyre to play music for drunkards to hear!?"

"Hehe."

"What do you mean 'hehe' !!? If it's a fight that you want, Paimon will gladly take you on!" She folded her hands below her small chest as a frown spoiled her cute face.

"Dont mind dont mind! We luckily have everything we need to fix it! The lyre itself is in pretty okay condition, but the strings...uff...Welp! That's where our dear outlander stepps in!"