The Witchery mod.
Aether fixed the term firmly in his mind.
He understood what mods truly were: the real treasure of this world without limits. He hadn't had a chance to ask further, however, before Venti grinned and cut in.
"You're finally going to start on Witchery research. I've had my eye on your Master-level staff for a long time."
Ryen waved a hand.
"The draw blade is mature enough to be considered stable now. The new mods are coming along at a good pace too. Witchery is due for some proper exploration."
"The continent we currently occupy might have been cleared out by all the development, but there are barely any Witch's Towers to speak of, let alone library ruins."
"Without Witch's Towers and the other characteristic Witchery structures, there's no foundation to build any Witchery research on."
"The new continent is the only real hope."
"After the Lantern Rite, we'll head out there and find whatever Witchery infrastructure we need."
"Everyone's staves are due for an upgrade anyway."
Venti threw his hands up.
"You could have said so earlier! I'd have had more time to plan out the spells I want."
"It's not too late. I'll put together a detailed spell compendium for everyone afterward, and you can go through it yourselves."
Ryen brushed Venti off and looked back at Aether.
"The Witchery mod will come to your people eventually, but it's still a long way off. Get the other mods under your belt first before touching that one."
"Beyond that..."
He paused briefly.
"From what I recall, Khaenri'ah had no shortage of scientific and engineering talent. This world needs imagination, needs unconventional thinking, needs all kinds of specialized architecture working together."
"Set up a research division. Study unique building designs, Redstone technology. Don't hold back the way people in Teyvat do."
"As long as you're not producing something that would destabilize this world, go ahead and experiment freely."
"Whatever your people develop will make life in this world better."
At those words, something complex moved through Aether's expression, and he exhaled a long, quiet breath.
"Human potential lies in unlimited imagination and exploration."
"In Teyvat, human beings have been suppressed too severely for too long. Hearing someone say this, being told to simply let human intelligence do what it can... it's been a long time. It's genuinely moving."
"I'll see to it."
Ryen nodded and continued.
"Outside of that, I'm not going to manage your affairs for you. Unless you run into something you genuinely cannot solve, don't come to me."
"Once your nation has immigrated over, run things the way a real nation would. I won't interfere."
"But when I need your people, they put everything down and come immediately."
Aether gave a small nod.
"Of course."
"The new continent is yours to handle. Develop quickly, plan quickly. The nation-building itself can wait. What I need first is the terrain mapped out. I have plans for it."
Ryen stretched and glanced at the light outside.
"That's more or less everything for now. The main priorities are the Lantern Rite, exploring the new continent, and the Witchery mod."
"No need to rush."
"Let everyone enjoy a proper Lantern Rite, and then the large-scale Witchery exploration begins in earnest."
"As for today: Ganyu, all of you, pack up what you need. We'll head to Inazuma this afternoon."
"Zhongli, I'm leaving this side to you."
Zhongli set down his teacup.
"Safe travels. I'll look after things here."
Ryen smiled, then looked at Aether once more.
"Head back and give your people the word. Get them ready. Don't send too many through at once to start, let everyone acclimatize, bring them in batches."
"And while you're at it, let them know: Teyvat will have very little to do with them going forward. As for the battle against the Heavenly Principles..."
"When that time comes, your people will have a role in it."
With that, Ryen rose and led Ganyu and the others through the portal.
Zhongli and the others stayed. There was no rush. The Twilight Forest exploration team was due back soon, and the arrangements for their return still needed to be made.
Aether was quiet for a moment. Then he looked up at Zhongli, his expression carrying a weight of things unsaid.
"Morax. What happened back then... consider it settled."
Zhongli looked at him steadily. A long pause. Then a slight nod.
"Agreed."
Aether let out a long, subdued exhale and left with Endis.
It had taken considerable effort to say those words.
Khaenri'ah's destruction, at its root, had been the Heavenly Principles' doing. But the Seven Archons had participated. They'd had their reasons. They'd still raised their hands.
That was not a fact that could be argued away.
But for the sake of the nation's restoration...
Hatred could be redirected.
At this point, seeking vengeance against the Seven Archons and the seven nations was simply not something Khaenri'ah could ever accomplish. Better to release it early, and point the target where it belonged: the Heavenly Principles.
A thousand thoughts churned inside him. All he could do was let them out in a long, helpless sigh.
Everything...
For the nation's restoration, first and last.
With Endis beside him, Aether stepped back through the portal and left the Mt. Tianheng perimeter. The two of them walked in silence. He opened an Abyss portal and passed through, back into the Abyss.
The Abyss Order was waiting.
Every last Abyss Mage had returned. They stood gathered in the central square, still and expectant.
Aether's journey bore on the future of all of them.
Every pair of eyes was fixed on the throne.
The moment the portal opened, a wave of quiet relief moved through the crowd.
"Your Highness!"
Aether drew a slow breath.
"I have something to announce. Is everyone here?"
An Abyss Mage stepped forward.
"Everyone is present."
Aether swept his gaze across the assembly. Heads pressed together as far as he could see, too many to count at a glance.
"How many are currently within the Order?"
The Abyss Mage paused, calculated.
"Abyss Mages: eighteen thousand and seventy-two. Abyss Lectors..."
Aether raised a hand and cut him off.
"Abyss Mages, Abyss Lectors: those titles end today. We don't use them anymore. Everyone here is Khaenri'ahn."
The Abyss Mage stood frozen. Then something dawned on him, and his expression broke wide open.
"Your Highness! Does that mean..."
"Numbers first. Tell me the total."
Aether silenced him with a look. The other man nodded rapidly, barely containing himself.
"Yes! Total Khaenri'ahn people within the Order: thirty-six thousand, five hundred and forty-two!"
Over thirty-six thousand.
Something ached quietly in Aether.
At Khaenri'ah's height, the population had approached a million. Not quite, but not far short.
The war had been that thorough.
He was silent for a moment. Then he took his seat on the throne and looked out across all of them.
In their eyes he saw something he had not seen before. A heat, a desperate, barely-contained hope.
After a long silence, he spoke.
"When I went to see Ryen, I came back with the opportunity that every Khaenri'ahn has dreamed of for five hundred years."
"Ryen has agreed to restore your human identities."
The next moment, a roar of sound rose from the Abyss that shook the air itself.
Abyss Mages wept and embraced one another, voices spilling over with a joy they had no framework to contain.
Five hundred years under the undying curse. That weight was not something anyone on the outside could understand.
They were undying, yes. But undying as monsters. As things.
That kind of immortality was more hopeless than a clean death would have been.
Aether continued.
"Once you reclaim your human forms, the Khaenri'ahn people will become a thorn in the Heavenly Principles' side. She will not allow Khaenri'ah to persist."
"Teyvat still has no place for us."
The surge of joy that had just swept through the crowd ebbed.
They had nearly forgotten. Khaenri'ah was an absolute taboo to Teyvat.
Where would they go after reclaiming their humanity?
Human beings could not survive long in the Abyss. Their ancestral homeland had long since been reduced to nothing. Even if they became human again, where would they go? Were they to spend their lives hiding in the corners of a world that had no place for them, rootless, running?
And finding somewhere to actually take root, to actually belong...
The Heavenly Principles would certainly move against them again. And the seven nations...
Those were not forces they could simply push aside.
The crowd fell quiet again.
Aether exhaled.
"Ryen is the master of an entire world, a world that belongs entirely to him. He has agreed to set aside territory within that world for Khaenri'ah to take root and grow."
"For Khaenri'ah to be reborn and to develop, in that world."
"Ryen is nothing like the Heavenly Principles. He will not prevent Khaenri'ah from researching technology, from exploring the world."
"More than that: he actively supports Khaenri'ah in exercising human intelligence, in exploring and understanding and developing the world."
"He has asked me to form a Khaenri'ahn research division, to pursue scientific development."
"In that world, he wants the wisdom that belongs to humanity to reach everywhere."
A stunned silence settled over the crowd.
Then someone pinched themselves.
Confirmed: not dreaming.
And the cheering that followed was louder than anything before it.
The reality of it was exceeding everything they had imagined.
When Aether had left for Liyue to find Ryen, they had braced themselves for many outcomes. Maybe Ryen and the others would humiliate him and send him back. Maybe he'd come back with nothing, and they'd be back to the old business of trying to quietly obtain milk by other means. The best they had dared to hope for was that the Order would pay some heavy price and come away with those resources.
But this...
Humanity restored. Territory granted. A foundation to build a nation on.
What kind of development was this?
"This Ryen... he is truly so generous?"
One Abyss Mage stared in bewildered disbelief.
"To be human again. To restore the nation. To continue Khaenri'ah... a five-hundred-year dream... has it finally come true..."
Something beneath the mask felt wet. He had nearly forgotten what crying felt like.
Aether didn't interrupt. He knew what these five hundred years had meant to them, because it had meant the same things to him.
He waited until the noise finally subsided and every eye turned back to him, burning with expectation.
He composed himself.
"In three days, select fifteen hundred people to serve as the advance company. Ryen has left for Inazuma on a trip."
"When he returns, those fifteen hundred will complete their immigration to that world, reclaim their human forms, and go begin building our new homeland."
"Restore the glory of Khaenri'ah!"
Every hand in the assembly shot up immediately.
"Your Highness! This subordinate volunteers as advance company! Restoring Khaenri'ah's glory is my absolute duty!"
"Your Highness! This subordinate was a Khaenri'ahn alchemist, I led development of the improved tilling machine, I can join the research division!"
"Your Highness!"
The overlapping voices gave Aether a headache. After a while, he said coldly:
"Quiet! What is the rush? The restoration is settled. It is not going anywhere."
"Ryen's development plan takes priority above everything. All of the Abyss Order's prior operations are hereby cancelled."
"Endis, you know the details. You handle the selection."
Aether rose to his full height.
"Ryen has given us the hope of restoring our nation. But the Five-Nation Alliance is also Ryen's instrument for developing this world."
"From here on, stop thinking about targeting Teyvat. The Heavenly Principles remain our enemy. Everything else, let go."
"Furthermore: once we have settled in that world, no Khaenri'ahn person is to think of themselves as a Teyvat being."
"From this day forward, we are only the native life and civilization of that world."
"Is that understood?"