From the first moment I laid my eyes on him, I understood that he wasn't the Morax I knew. Those moments we shared staring out from the harbor, the many dinners we enjoyed together, our shared exasperation as we did our best to clean up whatever mess Guizhong's latest experiment left behind—they weren't things I shared with the Morax of this Teyvat.
Yet it was painfully easy for that fact to slip by. To forget that I wasn't the 'Venti' he knew. And so I would mention things like Guizhong and Guili Assembly with fondness, and the jarring realization that things were different here would follow.
To know that there could be a Teyvat where Guizhong had passed, a Teyvat that would never again experience her brilliance,
It was painful.
"Venti?" Mor-, Zhongli called after I'd gone silent for a moment.
I blinked, forcing away those dark thoughts away. "Apologies. I was occupied with memories of the past." I shook my head. "That aside, is there anything you wish to ask me?"
Zhongli hummed as he swirled his cup of tea, having long gone cold due to the hours I spent retelling all I've experienced. "I have many inane inquiries, but I suppose I can save those for a later time." He looked at me. "Instead, I believe you have many questions yourself?"
My lips twitched. Allowing me to ask first—that was just like him. "I guess so." I murmured, before I sighed. "Then, firstly, is it true that you gave up your Gnosis willingly?"
He nodded. "I did. I wagered a bet with the Fatui, and Liyue Harbor has proved itself capable of standing without me."
I nodded back. That was good to hear. If that hadn't been the case, I had no doubt the Original would head off to Snezhnaya and raze the nation to the ground himself once he learnt of this. We may have become close to Arlecchino and Childe, but that wouldn't stop the destruction that'd follow.
I then hummed. "I suppose I have only one more question." I smiled wryly. "Do I truly look just like Barbatos? I've found myself compared to him many times before."
He tilted his head for a moment, before he nodded. "You do, though I find you far more pleasing to the eye compared to him."
I blushed as I chuckled warmly. Geez, this guy was always so straightforward. "I thank you for the compliment." I managed to say, before my gaze wandered to the harbor. The skies above were now colored a deep orange, lit by the light of the setting sun. "So I'm that similar, huh?"
I mean, at this point, it couldn't really be denied anymore; Barbatos is me. Or at least a version of me? Whatever the case, he and I were cut from the same cloth, so to say. He was an Archon of Anemo who fought for Freedom, and I happened to also have been called a Goddess of Winds and Freedom.
But it's just-, I don't know. Something about that felt off in a way. And not only that, from what Zhongli told me, the human form Barbatos and I shared only came around roughly 2000 years ago, which was maybe centuries after the first time I was found on the beaches of Guili Assembly.
If Barbatos and I really were the same people, wouldn't that mean that I somehow came to be hundreds of years before I was supposed to? And more than that, why were my memories so spotty in the first place? Barbatos was initially a Wind Sprite before he gained his human form, but he clearly retained his memories of the past. What made me so different?
I just don't know, and when I tried to remember, I received nothing. No painful headache to imply that something was being hidden away, no clue to pull me along, nothing.
Something in me was missing.
"You seem unsatisfied."
"I am." I sighed. "There's-, I don't know. Maybe I am the Barbatos of my world, but if that's true, then why am I so different?" I gazed at the sky. "Why do I possess all these fragments of esoteric knowledge locked away within my mind?"
Maybe another clone would get the answer?
"That I cannot answer." He said as he took a sip of his tea, before he frowned in slight distaste. "But your difference is something to be celebrated."
I smiled wryly. "Is it?"
He hummed. "Your difference has led to a brighter world, and that is something that shall never be forgotten."
"Flatterer." My smile grew as I glanced at the seas. "Well, I suppose I've taken more than enough time with my questions." I waved my hand, and a porcelain bottle discreetly appeared on the table, filled with some of the highest quality sake I managed to procure from Inazuma. "Since night is soon to approach, why don't we end our first engagement with a little gift I received from a friend of mine?"
He smiled back. "It would be my honor."
.
.
.
Meanwhile, as night fully fell across the nation of Mondstadt, a strange sight could be seen.
Beneath the shadows of a massive tree that symbolized Mondstadt's Heroes, the kingdom's famed Bard could be seen sitting on a small stump, slowly playing a nameless tune with his harp. The winds slowly moved around him, as if the air itself was slowly being lulled to sleep by the bard's enchanting song.
Just then, a Wind Sprite slowly descended towards the Bard. A fairly unnatural sight, but not impossible—Mondstadt is the nation of Anemo after all. But the Bard knew better, and his song halted as he turned to look at the descending Wind Sprite. "So it is thee who called for me." He said, voice echoing outwards like a wind chime.
Once the Wind Sprite came close enough to the ground, it began glowing as its form stretched out into something more human. The glow soon faded, and my feet gently landed on the grass as I turned to look at the Bard, whose features near-perfectly mirrored mine. "Indeed." I said, letting myself slip into the tone I normally used as Venti.
He grinned. "My, to think there would come a time when another me would walk these lands." He chuckled as he pulled out a bottle of Dandelion Wine from his Space. "What strange times we live in!"
I raised an eyebrow. "You are not befuddled by my appearance?"
"Oh, I am!" He giggled as he downed the entire bottle in one go. "Phew!" He grinned as he patted the spot next to him, and I nodded as I walked over and sat down on the stump. "But not anymore! From the moment our gazes connected, I fully understood what it is you worry of."
I opened my mouth for a moment, and then stopped. Now that he mentioned it, I could feel that same understanding flowing from him to me. His first memories, his time in the rebellion that freed Mondstadt, the various times he slept and woke, and even the first moment Aether landed in Teyvat—they rushed into me without complication.
It took me a moment to realize that my [Windblume Festival: Resonance] had immediately formed a Resonance with Barbatos the moment we made eye contact. It was no surprise; since we were both so deeply connected to the element of Anemo, our Authority essentially caused both our minds to mingle.
I took a small breath. "What a strange sensation." I whispered, twiddling my thumbs as I considered all the memories I suddenly had. It was a good thing I was a clone—the Original could've caused a small storm due to the shock.
"I don't deny that!" Barbatos cheerfully said as he pulled out another bottle of Dandelion Wine. "But reality is often stranger than fiction, is it not, my dear Storyteller?"
I smiled wryly. "That I agree with." I said, and then blinked as Barbatos handed the bottle to me instead. "Ah, thank you." I whispered as I received the gift. I stared at the bottle for a good moment, before I uncorked it and decided to follow him by drinking the entire bottle. And immediately I felt my body warm with a familiar pleasantness, as if reunited with a long-lost friend. "Mm, that is wonderful. Thank you, Barbatos-"
My words froze as I turned to look at Barbatos. Because the Bard who sat next to me had suddenly changed. His clothes were the same, but it wasn't hard to see that the Bard had suddenly become much more feminine. His hair was longer, his skin fairer, and his clothes hugged him just a little tighter than before.
He-, she giggled. "Since you've taken the form of a female, then it'd be remiss for me not to follow."
I blinked. Right, Barbatos had the ability to shift their physical form. Geez, there was still so much information I hadn't digested yet.
And on that note-
I frowned slightly. "We aren't the same?" I whispered, confused as to how she came to this conclusion.
"Mhm." She brought out two more bottles of wine, before handing one to me. I nodded as I received it. "We may share the same form, but I immediately understood that we are not cut from the same cloth, as some may say." She swirled her bottle around before she took a sip. "Your Core is distinct from mine. The melodies of your Soul do have some similarities to mine, but it isn't so similar for us to be the same being."
I took a small sip as well. "Is that so…?"
She nodded as he drank some more Dandelion Wine. "It is indeed quite surprising." Her smile became a little bashful. "And to be truthful, I feel quite ashamed after comparing your Song to mine. After all, your melodies are far deeper and more complex." She chuckled. "In comparison, mine sounds quite one-note!"
I blinked at the wording, before understanding came. "You're…saying that I'm older than you?"
"And by quite a lot!" She said as she finished the rest of her bottle. "I couldn't believe that there could be someone older than that blockhead, but I find myself mistaken! It isn't impossible for you to be even older than Teyvat itself!" Her smile dimmed slightly as she saw my confusion. "Alas, I do not know how exactly. Though I know this to be true, there seems to be a perplexing gap in your melodies, as if a few strings of your Harp had been snipped purposefully."
I nodded slowly. The more I thought about it, the more plausible it sounded. The fact that I somehow knew all these esoteric things—knowledge that occasionally even bled through the curse that'd tried to keep it contained—implied that my previous self was even older than Teyvat itself. Could I be some remnant of the previous world that came before Teyvat? Before Celestia came and shackled this world's Destiny?
…Nothing came up.
I sighed. "More and more mysteries. Things are never so simple, are they?" I smiled wryly, before I downed the rest of the Dandelion Wine in the bottle I held.
Barbatos chuckled as she patted my back. "It is unfortunate, but that's just how things are."
We fell into a small silence after that, both of us spending time to digest all the information we shared with one another through our Resonance.
But once that was done, Barbatos grinned as she pulled out two more bottles of Dandelion Wine. She grinned as she held a bottle towards me, whilst uncorking the one she kept for herself. "Alright, alright, enough philosophical ponderings for tonight." She said as she gently shook the bottle she held out. "Let's celebrate our meeting with some more wine!"
I blinked, and then smiled as I accepted the gift. "Always so cheerful." I whispered. We then gently tapped our bottles, and together we drank the bottle empty in one go.
We spent the rest of the night beneath that massive oak tree, sharing many different Stories from our memories.