Inside the tent, the candlelight flickered faintly.
After listening to Gunnhildr's proposal, Venerare frowned slightly, her tone tinged with awe. "'The Master of Time' is an undisputed true god. To place a wind spirit on equal footing to receive offerings... isn't that far too disrespectful?"
Gunnhildr's expression was calm. "There's no need to worry. According to ancient records, 'The Master of Time' treats all living beings in the world as equals, transcending mortal hierarchies. She wouldn't mind at all."
Venerare raised another question: "Why not build a separate temple for this 'God of Wind'?"
"'The Master of Time' and 'the Wind' are far more closely related than we imagine. One can glimpse this from another of her venerable titles..." She paused, then stated clearly, "'The measure of the sun, moon, and the thousand winds.'"
A flicker of understanding crossed Venerare's eyes. "'The thousand winds'... you intend to establish an indirect connection with 'The Master of Time' by worshiping this wind spirit?"
Gunnhildr did not answer directly, instead reciting, "I wonder if you've heard the saying, 'The wind brings the seeds of stories, and time allows them to sprout.'"
Venerare fell into a brief silence.
"...I have." Her gaze drifted for a moment, as if returning to a distant past. "The wind spirits our clan encountered while wandering in the north said the same thing. It was they who told us of the name 'The Master of Time'."
...
In the center of the camp, a bonfire provided light and warmth in the night.
Coppelia and Columbina sat side-by-side on a thick log.
Columbina tilted her head back, her face, veiled with a net-like accessory, turned towards the moon in the night sky. Coppelia, meanwhile, lowered her head slightly, her gaze fixed on the dancing flames as she calculated the countless possibilities for their next move.
After all, they were about to face an Archon. If Venti chose not to participate, where else could they find a replacement force?
Then there was the issue of faith. What if Venti gathered the faith of everyone both inside and outside the wind wall, and it still wasn't enough to stand against the lone king?
And there was Columbina's lost fragment of power. Hopefully, Decarabian had merely treated it as a curiosity, tossing it into the depths of his treasury without trying to analyze or use it...
Forget it, better not to dwell on it. Coppelia forcibly cut off her endlessly spreading worries. The people of Mondstadt would surely overthrow the lone king; that's how "history" was written.
Better to think about where to go next. She turned her thoughts to the more distant future.
First, rule out Liyue. Not only was the Archon War raging most fiercely there, but with so many "great inventors," if a fragment landed there, it would surely be "seized and refined in an instant." Going there would be a waste of time.
Another option was Fontaine... but Fontaine had always been full of "divine people," so it probably wouldn't be easy either. Although the people of Fontaine might still be in the form of Oceanids at this time, what if this group of Oceanids was particularly "divine"...?
While Coppelia was still lost in thought, Columbina, beside her, spoke softly:
"I remember... there used to be three moons in the sky..."
Coppelia replied subconsciously without lifting her head, "Mm."
Columbina continued, "Later... two of them shattered."
Coppelia's thoughts were still swirling in the waters of Fontaine as she responded absentmindedly, "Mm."
"I want to know... how they shattered..." Columbina's voice held a hint of inquiry.
Coppelia, still looking down, repeated unconsciously, "Mm."
Columbina stopped gazing at the moon and turned her head to look at her distracted companion. She raised a hand and waved it gently in front of Coppelia's downcast eyes, but there was no reaction.
She waited quietly for a moment, then stood up, walked a few steps away, squatted down, and scooped up a handful of cold snow, packing it tightly.
Then, she walked back behind Coppelia and, without hesitation, pressed the handful of snow right onto the back of her neck!
"Aow—!"
Coppelia leaped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, frantically brushing the ice and snow from her neck.
Columbina stood nearby and, seeing this, asked curiously, "You're not usually afraid of the cold, so why such a big reaction? Those knights last night reacted the same way."
Brushing off the remaining bits of snow, Coppelia said irritably, "It's not because it's cold! It's because... uhm... it feels good! That sudden jolt of stimulation. Do you want to try it too?"
As she spoke, she raised her hand, and a layer of frost exuding a cold aura condensed in her palm.
Columbina hesitated for a moment, then nodded lightly. "Just... once..."
She turned around and used her hands to part her long hair to the sides, exposing the back of her neck.
An imperceptible smile touched the corners of Coppelia's mouth as she gently pressed her frost-covered palm against her.
...
Once the mysterious person had left the camp under the guard of four Lawrence knights, Coppelia immediately set out to find Gunnhildr's tent. Columbina followed behind her, a gray cloth wrapped around her back.
"Did the talks succeed?" Coppelia asked directly.
Gunnhildr looked at the two and nodded. "They agreed to most of our demands. It's thanks to the information you provided about the 'Master of Time'." Recalling something, she added, "By the way, the Lawrence Clan confirmed they have the blue pigment you needed earlier. They can give it to you later."
That's great. Coppelia breathed a sigh of relief inwardly. This way, the painting for Himmel could be finished. The matters outside could also be considered settled for now.
"Well then," Coppelia said, "it's time to prepare to return to Mondstadt."
The wind spirit Venti, who had been waiting quietly in a corner, floated over, his wings of light beating gently. His tone carried obvious confusion. "I... still have some questions."
Gunnhildr looked at him gently. "Please, ask."
Venti's voice was filled with bewilderment. "What was that you were saying about... 'deicide'?" He seemed to have just finished processing the shocking word.
Coppelia's heart leaped into her throat, and she looked nervously at Gunnhildr.
Facing Venti, Gunnhildr's expression was open. "That's right. We will now return inside the wind wall, unite all the oppressed forces, overthrow the tyrant Decarabian, destroy his throne, and help the people there attain 'freedom'."
Venti's light seemed to dim a little. He asked in a small voice, "Why... why not choose to run away? Didn't you just escape from inside the wind wall? A god's power is so immense. Fighting him could mean losing your life... then you'd gain nothing, right? Could... 'freedom' be more important than life itself?"
Gunnhildr's gaze didn't waver in the slightest. "Life is indeed the most precious thing in the world. But in this matter, we have no choice. We must kill him, not to prove that freedom is greater than life, but to reclaim the right 'to choose how to live'."
She looked at Venti, her tone deep. "The answer you seek cannot be truly described by any flowery verse or moving tale. You must enter the wind wall yourself and feel it firsthand."
"The right to choose..." Venti repeated softly.
Gunnhildr continued, "Speaking of choice, Venti, there is something I must tell you plainly."
"Please, go on."
"We do indeed need your help." Her tone became incredibly solemn. "However, what comes next is a challenge against a god, for the sake of the people we once swore to protect. This is an extremely 'heavy' undertaking, filled with danger, the very opposite of the 'light and carefree' things you enjoy."
She gazed at Venti and said, word by word, "You are under no obligation to help us. You can choose to leave at any time to pursue the stories and songs you love. Don't have any reservations. We won't be disappointed; you will still be our cherished friend."
The tent was quiet for a moment.
"I don't have the strength to challenge a god... but," Venti said softly, "I want to hear what the songs inside the wind wall sound like..."
...
Afterwards, Gunnhildr took over as the leader of the wanderers, and Venerare quelled the dissenting voices within her clan.
The line between the wanderers and the Lawrence Clan quickly dissolved in the face of their common goal for survival. In the days that followed, both sides drilled and worked together.
Before the stone tablet inscribed with "The wind brings the seeds of stories, and time allows them to sprout," the people prayed together.
The adjustments and sweat during this period need no detailed account; everything was developing as expected.
...
Mondstadt City, beneath the high tower.
The closer one got to the lone tower that pierced the clouds, the more bizarre and dangerous the surroundings became.
Coppelia pulled Columbina along, using the shadows cast by the buildings to move some distance around the base of the high tower.
Finally, they stopped in a narrow shadow formed by a thick stone wall, temporarily sheltering from the omnipresent wind pressure.
The impossibly dense wind wall spun and roared not far in front of them, like a relentless, cyan-gray dragon coiling around the tower, isolating it from the outside world
It was impossible to see through the violent air currents, let alone find any so-called entrance.
Only the occasional aftershocks of gales breaking off from the main wind wall would lash the ground, creating sharp, piercing sounds and causing the gray cloaks the two wore as disguises to flap violently, snapping in the wind.
A faint light flashed in Coppelia's eyes as she activated her Elemental Sight.
The wind wall and its surrounding area appeared as an extremely violent, chaotic, and dense flow of cyan light. The elemental energy was so intense that it was impossible to determine the wall's actual thickness.
She reached up, pulled back her hood, and tilted her head up, following the destructive cyan stream of light with her eyes.
As far as the eye could see, the wind wall extended upwards until it merged with the very top of the tower, without a single gap.
"The wind wall is too dense." Coppelia retracted her gaze and pulled her hood back up, her voice slightly muffled by the wind's roar. "It seems the only way is to use a specific 'key', or..." she paused, mentioning an almost impossible plan, "or fly to the top of the tower in one go. But if we did that, we'd most likely be slapped into pieces by the one up there."
"Let me try," Columbina said softly. She took a small half-step forward, facing the wind wall.
She mobilized her own power, attempting to pierce through the violent wind wall to sense the fragment of power that shared her origin.
However, after only a few seconds, Columbina abruptly retracted all her power, grabbed Coppelia's arm, and forcefully pulled her down into a crouch, completely hidden in the shadow of the stone wall.
"Run!" Columbina's voice was tinged with urgency.
Coppelia didn't hesitate for a second. She immediately lowered her body and, using the cover of the buildings, quickly retreated with Columbina away from the tower.
Less than three breaths after they had left that shadow, a gale as condensed as a solid object swept through the spot where they had been hiding like a probe, whipping the rubble and dust of the area into the air with a piercing shriek.
The two ran at full speed until they were far enough away, finding a new hiding spot in the shadow of an archway before stopping.
Columbina was breathing lightly, the brief sensing and rapid escape having clearly consumed a fair bit of her stamina.
"Did he find us?" Coppelia asked in a low voice, pressing herself against the cold stone wall.
Columbina steadied her breathing and replied, "I can feel the fragment's presence, and it's drawing me in, but the connection is very... distant."
"Such a fast and precise reaction..." Coppelia's expression darkened. "I'm afraid the fragment isn't in some treasury at all. It's in Decarabian's hands!"
Columbina nodded, confirming, "The pull isn't weak. The fragment's power probably hasn't been used yet."
"That's good news, I suppose." Coppelia calmed down. "Let's go. We need to find Lumiere."
...
The peak of the high tower.
The tall figure of Decarabian sat upon a massive high-backed chair formed from condensed gales, a cyan glow flowing around him.
At this moment, a fist-sized cyan orb of light was hovering in his right hand.
Inside the orb, a strange stone was tightly encased. A cool, bright luster like moonlight flowed across its surface, radiating a pure light that could not be ignored, even when enveloped by the fierce winds.
Just a moment ago, the peculiar power contained within this "exotic stone from beyond the heavens," which he had captured and studied for a long time, had suddenly stirred without warning, as if trying to break free.
This was the first time such a significant disturbance had occurred since he obtained the stone.
His perception instantly spread out, covering a large area around the tower as he carefully searched for any possible source of this anomaly.
However, the feedback he received was only dead silence; no special presence was detected.
With a slightly annoyed wave of his hand, the orb encasing the exotic stone slowly sank into the gale-formed floor beneath his feet, temporarily concealing itself.
He closed his eyes again, re-entering a meditative state to control the myriad air currents.
However, a moment later—
"Vmmm..."
A low tremor reached his senses. The vibration was clearly coming from the tower itself.
Immediately after!
"BOOM—!!!"
A tremendous explosion, as if it could rupture eardrums, came from far below, brazenly piercing through the layers of the wind wall!
Decarabian's eyes shot open, his perception directed toward the source of the sound.
A grand noble estate had collapsed amidst dense dust and smoke.
___
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