Ren
The path up to Cloud Retainer's domain was as cold and unwelcoming as Ren remembered it.
He had Nue carry him most of the way up, which saved him a lot of time but didn't do anything to alleviate the nauseous feeling building in his chest as the Adeptus's domain came into view.
'Here we go again…' Ren thought, sweat dripping from his forehead as his throat turned dry. 'Don't overthink it. She gave you permission to come back. She won't smite you for no reason.'
He landed at the top of the mountain this time, right where he assumed Cloud Retainer's true abode lay. While he could have just gone to the spot that was given to him, it didn't feel right not to at least make his presence known.
Desummoning Nue, Ren took a moment to straighten his coat before looking around. This section of Mt Aocang was considerably more beautiful than he thought, with a small body of water in the middle and a plot of land with a table covered by a beautiful tree.
He was only able to take a few steps before a figure emerged from nowhere.
'I couldn't sense her again… Why does she have to be so ominous?'
Cloud Retainer was in her Adeptus form. Even as a giant bird that didn't have as many facial muscles, Ren somehow got the feeling that she was, for some ungodly reason, annoyed with him.
"One expected you to arrive sooner."
Ren blinked. "S-Sorry?"
"As you should be." She huffed, "One gave you permission to use One's domain for your training. That permission was not an invitation to take your time returning."
Of all the things he expected her to say when he came back, this was not one of them. He thought she was annoyed with his presence. He didn't expect her to be waiting for his return.
Even if he was still afraid of her, it didn't mean he didn't feel a little guilty. No one likes being ghosted, after all.
"I… had things to sort out back in the harbour." He said while rubbing the back of his head, "Also ran into a few difficulties that postponed my visit. I sincerely apologise."
Cloud Retainer held his gaze for a moment, her expression not changing in the slightest. Then she looked away, and a part of Ren swore he saw her pouting slightly. But he brushed that thought aside just from how absurd such a notion was.
"See that you don't dawdle in the future," she finally said.
Ren nodded and gave the Adeptus a little bow. "Understood. I thank you for your generosity, Madam Cloud Retainer." The action seemed to lift her mood, and Ren believed he was in the clear.
"I'm going to try to tame more shikigami today. For what it's worth, I'll try to not to get myself killed." He said.
Her gaze then returned to him with narrowed eyes, which looked even scarier in her adeptus form. "Try your best to do so, because One will not intervene if you find yourself in the face of death once again."
"Of course, it would be presumptuous for me to expect your assistance once again. You have already assisted me so much by lending me a place to tame my shadows safely."
It wasn't shown on her face, as a bird can't really smile. But he sensed that Cloud Retainer was very pleased with his response.
"...Your manners have improved since last time… Acceptable." She muttered, but Ren wasn't able to make out the full sentence, and he wasn't about to ask.
He glanced toward the path leading down to the lower clearing. There was one more thing he needed to mention before heading down, and he had a vague sense he should get it out of the way now rather than let it surface later.
"There's also something else I should mention," he said. "Ganyu said she'd like to come by as well to watch the taming ritual. But I am unsure of exactly when she will arrive."
"Ghh–!"
Cloud Retainer's body froze up. Her composure, which had been perfectly intact up to this moment, suddenly broke as her beak went slightly slack.
"You are telling One this now?" She asked in a very dangerous tone while slowly approaching him.
Ren immediately panicked, "W-Well, I thought telling you— I mean, I assumed—!" He couldn't even finish a sentence. Cloud Retainer's icy gaze, along with her slow approach, made his heart race for the hills.
"Enough. You did not mention it." She said, her head just inches from his. Before huffing and turning around. "You should have told me that first."
No other words were spoken as she extended her wings and flew off, leaving Ren both confused and horrified.
'What the hell just happened?' Ren thought. His mind was still unable to process the entire interaction.
He waited there for another moment, waiting to see if she would reappear with some kind of explanation.
She did not.
Ren exhaled shakily and decided to just head down toward the clearing. Whatever Cloud Retainer was doing, it was clearly urgent and had nothing to do with him.
It was time for him to start the taming ritual.
/ — /
Ren arrived at the clearing that was given to him. It was a wide and open space, perfect for taming most of his shikigami, but definitely not Rabbit Escape.
'It's too open,' he thought, analyzing the area before him. 'Rabbit Escape clones in an open space scatter in every direction. I'd spend more time chasing than taming...'
An open space would also increase the likelihood that he would get hurt. A memory of an old anime series that involved a lot of dying appeared in his head. Specifically, a scene of a dude getting mauled to death by rabbits.
He shivered.
Digging a hole was another good option, but considering how much stronger his shikigami got from the mutations, he wouldn't put off the possibility that Rabbit Escape could just bite its way through the ground and tunnel away.
He pushed Cursed Energy down through his feet and into the ground, reaching for Orochi's presence in his shadow.
'Extension Technique: Orochi.'
Geo erupted in thick slabs, grinding against one another as they rose and curved inward, forming a rough dome with a single circular opening at the top.
Ren observed the inside of the dome, pressing his palm against the stone and reinforcing it in certain parts until the whole structure felt solid.
He looked up at the gap in the ceiling. Wide enough for Nue to pull him out quickly.
"Nue."
The shikigami manifested through his shadow and flew to the opening, wings folding as it landed on the rim above.
"When I start the ritual, pull me out the second I signal," Ren shouted out. "Then hit everything inside with everything you have, make sure to fry every single rabbit if possible!"
Nue didn't move, yet their connection told him that it understood.
'Alright, let's get this done with.'
Ren faced the center of the dome, brought his hands together, and formed the sign for Rabbit Escape.
"From the shadows, rise." A short breath. "Rabbit Escape."
The ground went dark.
Shadow spread across the entire floor in an instant, then—
Rabbits burst upward in every direction. Dozens, then hundreds of light green rabbits, tumbling over each other and slamming into the walls and piling on top of each other quickly.
He had no time to analyze them further, else he risked getting hurt.
"Nue!"
With a screech, Nue's talons closed around his shoulders and yanked him through the ceiling gap.
Below, the rabbits were already reaching the walls, climbing over one another toward the opening, their mass rising quickly.
"Fry 'em!" He shouted
Nue drove its wings downward, sending a concentrated surge of Electro energy pouring through the opening.
The sound of lightning inside the enclosed space was deafening, and the flash lit the gap bright enough that Ren had to look away.
The attack must have lasted at least ten seconds until Nue decided it was enough. Coughing slightly, Ren leaned over the edge and looked down.
He couldn't help but let a smile touch his face, 'Most of the clones are gone!'
While he was still unsure of what mutation the Rabbits would have, it seemed like their durability still remained the same.
The dome's floor was scorched black, and the walls had taken damage, but the dome was holding.
"Alright, one more attack and that should destroy— Huh?"
Ren's eyes spotted a cluster of surviving rabbits that were glowing purple for some reason. He used his senses, and his stomach dropped when he felt the familiar feeling of Electro.
The only element that would change colors based on what other element hit it was—
'Shit its Anemo!'
His analysis proved correct when he saw that the remaining rabbits were still light green. The remaining rabbits started running towards each other, and he immediately knew what they were trying to do.
'Electro Swirl!'
Ren slammed his palms against the outer surface of the dome.
'Extension Technique: Orochi.'
A new layer of Geo sealed across the ceiling gap, cutting off the opening completely just in time as the rabbits made contact.
The dome shuddered as the reaction discharged within, and a sharp pulse of energy began to crack the walls. Ren continued to put his hands on the dome, using Orochi's extension to make sure the structure would hold.
'It looks like I can't fight inside the dome anymore. But I also can't let them get out…' Ren sighed internally, 'I should have done this from the start.'
Ren's face hardened as he pushed his awareness through the Geo and into the floor of the dome's interior, reaching through the extension until he could feel every surface from within.
Then, sharp Geo spikes started to form.
From the floor to the walls, he felt the spikes take form, and he made sure to harden them.
Finally, he clenched his fists and extended all the spikes—impaling and crushing the remaining Rabbits.
He felt resistance as the Geo made contact with whatever was left inside, and then nothing.
The dome stopped shuddering. All that was left was a very light squelching sound.
Ren held the extension for a few more seconds before releasing it. He sat on top of the dome and let out a sigh of relief, sweat cooling on the back of his neck.
He could feel that in his shadow, something new had settled. The new and welcoming presence of Rabbit Escape.
/ — /
Ren hopped down from the dome and took a look at his reserves. All the Elemental Energy used did consume some CE, but it was less than he expected.
A pleased smile appeared on his face. It seemed that he was getting better at CE efficiency… Either that, or his CE pool was growing so much that the drain felt insignificant.
He really hoped it was the first one.
"Ehem!"
Ren flinched and turned around so fast he stumbled.
"One hopes you plan on cleaning that hideous structure off of One's land."
Cloud Retainer stood a few meters away in her human form, arms folded, watching him with an expression that Ren couldn't figure out if it was disgust or annoyance.
How she kept getting so close to him without him being able to sense her always made his heart rate spike.
'If she keeps doing this, I'm going to get an actual heart attack…'
"M-Madam Cloud Retainer!" He straightened up quickly. "I— yes, of course, I apologize for the mess."
He turned back to the dome and pushed CE into the ground, using Orochi's extension to pull the Geo construct back down into the earth until the clearing was flat again.
Apart from the fact that a section of the ground was now hard Geo. But Geo was also a type of rock, so it didn't really make a difference.
Cloud Retainer looked at the patch of rock and let out a small hum, which Ren decided to interpret as acceptance.
"Since you are done, come and follow."
"Ok?"
She said nothing else and walked toward the upper path, expecting him to be following. Ren hesitated for exactly one second before jogging to catch up.
He followed her around the base of a rock formation and stopped when he saw Ganyu standing at the edge of the path.
They made eye contact, and she greeted him with a gentle smile. "That was impressive. I didn't know you could do that."
Ren was silent for a split second before realizing who he was talking to. "Ganyu! I didn't expect you to get here so soon. How long have you been here?"
"Sadly, I arrived just as you finished your ritual," She sounded genuinely apologetic about it. "I missed most of it."
"That's alright! I'm going to do another ritual today anyway. Though I do need a little break since that ritual could have gone very wrong."
"How so? It seemed like you had everything under control." Ganyu's eyes moved briefly to the patch of Geo behind him. "What shikigami were you taming, exactly?"
"It's called Rabbit Escape."
"Oh." Ganyu blinked. "Was it a big rabbit?"
"Nope, it was a normal-sized one," Ren answered. It took him a moment to realize why Ganyu was giving him a confused look.
"Hold on! While it was normal sized, it had the ability to multiply itself thousands of times! And it could also infuse Elemental Energy with its body!" He explained frantically. "I did NOT nearly lose to a normal rabbit!"
"Pfft—!" Ganyu chuckled, and that only made him feel even more embarrassed. "I-I see, so the loud explosion I heard must have been an elemental reaction then?"
"Yup!" Ren confirmed. "It made a pretty big Electro Swirl that could have hurt me if I didn't seal up the dome, but everything worked out in the end."
"Indeed. I'm glad you were able to walk out of the encounter unscathed." She said with her usual gentle tone.
He was about to say something else when Cloud Retainer cleared her throat from slightly ahead of them on the path. Both of them looked up.
For some reason, the older Adeptus had a pleased smile on her face, along with glinting eyes that made Ren feel nervous. "While One finds it endearing to see you two enjoying yourselves, we must make haste,"
"Ah! Sorry, Master."
"S-Sorry, Madam Xianyun."
The three of them quickly started walking back to Xianyun's abode.
"Master?" Ganyu asked, "Why are we heading back to your abode?"
The moment Xianyun heard the question, she turned her head with a proud smile. "When One heard of your imminent arrival, One took it upon Oneself to prepare a meal."
But then her expression turned pouty. "After all, it has been quite some time since you have visited."
"S-Sorry, Master. It has been quite busy as of late in Liyue, it must have slipped my mind."
Though it didn't seem like Xianyun was actually mad at her. She sighed dramatically, "Well, at least you are here now. So let's make the most of the time we have."
She suddenly turned her eyes towards Ren, who tensed up.
"And One is especially interested to hear what you have to say about this little stray."
'Fuck.'
/ — /
'I was worried for absolutely nothing,' Ren thought with bliss.
He sat with Xianyun and Ganyu at a table surrounded by a shallow body of water, with a single tree large enough to cast shade over most of the seating area.
It was simple and minimalistic, yet it still felt so divine. In front of him was a bowl of Bamboo shoot soup. A plate of cold cuts arranged neatly beside it. Two side dishes he didn't recognize, but which smelled extraordinary.
When Xianyun brought him and Ganyu up here, he expected another interrogation or something of the sort. Instead, he got a delicious meal.
He couldn't even be paranoid about the meal's contents, that's how good it smelled and tasted.
'Now this is the kind of divine intervention that I don't mind at all!'
Taking his sweet time with his food, he paid no heed to Xianyun and Ganyu, who had already fallen into long conversations.
Ren caught fragments between spoonfuls. Something about workload, something about Ganyu skipping meals again, something about a colleague at the Qixing offices who Ganyu seemed to have strong feelings about (which was surprising, since someone was able to make Ganyu, of all people, irritated).
"And how long have you and Ren been acquainted?" Xianyun asked, her tone casual.
"Around seven months or so, nearly eight now," Ganyu answered. "He settled in Liyue quickly after he was rescued. He even made a business with some assistance from Yanfei."
"Mm… Even that child is acquainted with him?" Xianyun's eyes moved briefly to Ren, who was focused on his soup. "And you spend time together often?"
"We see each other when our schedules allow."
"Just the two of you?"
Ganyu's hand stilled slightly on her cup. "...Sometimes, yes."
"How nice," Xianyun said pleasantly.
Ren did not notice any of this. The soup was doing things to his perception of the world that he felt required his full attention.
Maybe the food did have something in it after all.
"Ren."
He didn't hear it, still too preoccupied by the food.
"Ren."
Still nothing. He was trying out the side dish now.
"Ren!"
He looked up sharply. Xianyun was watching him across the table with her arms crossed, looking very displeased.
"I—I apologize, Madam Xianyun. The food was so good that I— I got carried away." He replied sheepishly. Internally hoping that the Adeptus wouldn't take offence and throw him off the cliff's edge.
Xianyun suddenly turned her head to the side—an action that Ren realized she did a lot—and huffed. "One expects better manners from a guest at One's table."
"You're completely right. I'm sorry."
"..."
"..."
"...One will allow it. This time." She said. Somehow managing to sound stern and pleased at the same time. "The food is One's own recipe. One is glad it suits your palate."
Ren decided the safest response was a sincere nod, which seemed to satisfy her.
She folded her hands on the table. "Now, back to One's question. Do you often take Ganyu to quiet places, just the two of you?"
Ganyu set her cup down, sensing where this conversation is going. "Master—"
"We usually walk around the quieter parts of the harbor," Ren answered, completely unaware of Ganyu's predicament.
"Sometimes we eat together. There's a spot near the eastern residential district that's pretty calm in the evenings. We've been there a few times."
"Is that so," Xianyun said, looking very, very pleased.
"M-Master, I don't think—"
"Ganyu has always preferred solitude," Xianyun continued, ignoring her ward entirely. "One worried she would never find anyone she could simply exist alongside." She paused. "One is glad to have been proven wrong."
Ganyu pressed her lips together, shooting a pleading look to Xianyun—which the woman completely ignored.
"She was also quite round as a child," Xianyun added conversationally. "So round that one of the other Adepti once mistook her for a stone, and they had searched hours for her."
"I was a child—"
"Once, she rolled down a cliff, unable to stop due to her shape. She was completely unharmed, of course, and One found her at the bottom eating a flower."
"Master—!"
"One believes the momentum could have even killed a beast!" Xianyun said with a laugh.
"I would like to stop existing," Ganyu grumbled. A deep blush on her face as she tried her best not to make eye contact with Ren.
Ren looked between the two of them, trying to determine the correct response to what he was witnessing. "I— that must have been quite a sight,"
Ganyu turned to look at him with an expression that made it clear this had not helped.
Xianyun, however, looked delighted. "Indeed it was," she said, and from her expression, it was clear she had more stories where that came from.
Ganyu turned her sights towards the clouds. Silently hoping for one of Rex Lapis's spears to come down and end her misery.
/ — /
The meal ended with Ganyu looking like she wanted to dissolve into the mountain and Xianyun looking thoroughly satisfied with herself.
Seeing this, Ren decided this was a good time to excuse himself.
"I think it's about time for me to get back to another taming ritual," he said, pushing back from the table.
"Thank you for the meal, Madam Xianyun. It was delicious." He said.
"Very well, I suppose the time is right," Xianyun's gaze moved to him. "And what monstrosity are you planning to summon next?"
"It's a shikigami," Ren corrected.
"One heard you."
Ren opened his mouth again, but quickly closed it. Ganyu quietly mouthed an apology from across the table, and he decided to let it go.
"It's called Max Elephant," he said. "It's large and can release a significant amount of water. So essentially it's a giant elephant that can spew a lot of water."
"An… elephant?" Xianyun repeated.
"Yes."
"A large, wet elephant."
"...Yes?"
She seemed to consider this for a moment, then nodded as if she had reached a conclusion about something. Ren wasn't sure what conclusion, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know.
"One will observe your ritual. Be sure not to disappoint," she said.
Ganyu straightened slightly. "I'd like to watch as well."
"That's fine," Ren responded. "Though I should mention, if anyone interferes during the ritual, it becomes void, and I'd have to start over. So it's better if you keep your distance."
"One is aware of how to observe without interfering," Xianyun said, in a tone that suggested she found the clarification unnecessary.
"Right." He looked at Ganyu.
"I'll also watch from afar. Though if something goes wrong—"
"If something goes wrong, I'll handle it," Ren said. Ganyu didn't look particularly convinced. "I appreciate the concern, but I've already planned what I need to do, and I have contingencies—"
"—The stray lies." Xianyun cut him off.
"Huh?"
Ganyu looked especially interested, and for some reason, Xianyun turned to look at him with a smug smirk.
"When this stray stumbled upon One's domain, One observed him nearly killed by one of his monstrosities. He would have been impaled had One not intervened."
Ren started to sweat as Ganyu's eyes narrowed at him.
"Ren!"
"I got careless! I actually planned really thoroughly this time!"
"Are you sure?" she asked with a dangerous tone.
"Yes!"
Ganyu held his gaze for a moment before nodding slowly. "Fine. But I will still intervene if I see you in trouble."
"Alright, alright. Thanks for looking out for me."
/ — /
Ren waved to Xianyun and Ganyu as he headed down the path first. They had stayed behind because Xianyun wanted to discuss some things with Ganyu.
It wasn't his place to ask, so he didn't. Behind him, he heard Ganyu say something quietly to Xianyun, too low to make out.
What he did catch just before the conversation dropped out of earshot was a very faint sound that might have been Xianyun laughing.
'They're really close…' Ren thought with a bittersweet smile.
Once again, he couldn't help but see himself and his dad in the place of those two.
He shook his head and kept walking.
'Alright, one last review,' he thought as the clearing came back into view below. 'Max Elephant most likely has a Hydro mutation. Having it shoot jets of water is a big pain in the ass, but the elephant itself isn't very mobile. I could use Orochi to immobilize, Nue to shock it, then Divine Dogs, or direct strike to finish.'
It was a straightforward plan. Clean variables and predictable elements.
He had thought the same thing about Round Deer once.
'Don't get cocky,'
/ — /
Back at the clearing, Ren rolled his shoulders once, hyping himself up for hopefully another smooth summon.
Two presences registered at the edge of his senses, Ganyu and Xianyun, positioned somewhere on the higher slope with a clear sightline to the clearing.
Neither of them were masking their energy anymore, their signatures sitting openly in his awareness.
'They dropped their concealment, that's nice. I need to ask them how that works after this.' He filed it away and turned his attention to the center of the clearing.
He walked to the center and brought his hands together, forming the sign for Max Elephant. He took a deep breath and spoke the incantation—
"From the shadows, rise."
"Max Elephant."
The ground went dark.
Shadow spread across the clearing floor the same way it always did. Ren shifted his weight forward slightly, ready for the ground to erupt.
But it didn't.
The shadows spread a little further, reached the edge of the clearing, and then stopped. Then slowly began to pull back, draining away from the edges inward until the stone was visible again.
Within seconds, the ground was completely clear of the shadows.
'What the heck just happened?'
He felt the ground again. There was no movement under, so that was off the table. He pushed his senses outward, searching for the shikigami's presence, and found it immediately—
Directly above him.
"Fuck!" He shouted and threw himself sideways just in time.
Max Elephant hit the ground where he had been standing. The shockwave knocked him back before he could regain his footing, and he hit the ground hard, skidding across stone as a wall of displaced air rolled over him.
Rock fragments peppered his arms and face. Dust filled the clearing instantly, thick enough to cut visibility to almost nothing.
Ren pushed himself upright, ears ringing, and found the shikigami through the dust cloud by sound alone.
As the dust began to clear, he was finally able to see what the shikigami looked like.
Max Elephant was enormous, way more than it normally should be. It was easily three stories tall, its bulk filling most of the clearing, pale blue Hydro energy already coursing visibly across its skin in slow, steady pulses.
'Okay,' Ren thought. 'That's horrifying.'
He pushed CE into the ground immediately, ready to start his plan.
'Extension Technique: Orochi—!'
CRACK.
Suddenly, a wall of ice erupted from the ground on the far side of the clearing, encasing Max Elephant's legs and lower body in a thick layer of frost before the shikigami had taken a single step.
The ice spread up the elephant's sides and across its back, locking the shikigami completely in place within seconds.
Ren's hands froze mid-sign.
Before he could process it, a blur crossed the clearing from his left, moving faster than he could track, trailing pale energy that left a faint afterimage in the air.
It hit Max Elephant with enough force that Ren heard the impact from thirty meters away.
The force killed the shikigami instantly.
The ice shattered outward simultaneously, shards scattering across the clearing in every direction as Max Elephant's form broke apart and collapsed.
The entire thing happened in less than ten seconds.
Ren was still processing what had happened, his breath now visible in the chilly air.
'Was it Ganyu?' was his first thought, and he immediately reached out with his senses toward the slope above.
Ganyu's presence was there. Exactly where it had been. Xianyun was there too.
But that meant… Neither of them had moved.
His blood went cold.
The dust from Max Elephant's dissolution was still settling when the figure turned to face him.
A tall woman with white hair and pale eyes that were currently fixed on him with a blank expression, yet her gaze felt like it could have murdered him a hundred times over.
Ren's hand immediately grabbed his sword from his Shadow Storage. His instincts were already telling him that whoever stood in front of him was a monster not to be taken lightly.
He tried to get more information about her energy, only for his eyes to widen.
It felt wrong.
Not wrong in the way that elemental energy felt wrong to him, that crisp external quality that always registered as foreign to him.
This was different. While she undoubtedly had traces of Elemental Energy, there was also something else. An energy born from something internal rather than drawn from the world around her.
It felt strikingly similar to Cursed Energy.
But before Ren could finish his analysis, the woman disappeared completely from his sight.
His body moved before his mind, and he brought up his sword to block a strike from a spear just an inch before it hit him.
CLANG.
"Ack—!"
Even with his block, the force from the attack was so strong that the impact sent him flying away.
The world blurred for a solid few seconds before he strained his body to put his hands into the sign for Rabbit Escape.
Dozens of Rabbits manifested from his shadow, enough to catch him before he hit anything hard.
Just as his momentum stopped, Ren quickly composed himself and got into a fighting position. Though his hands were trembling and numb from the effort to block alone.
The woman was already walking toward him with her spear lowered, her pale energy radiating outward in waves that interacted with his Cursed Energy in a way that grated his very soul.
Her expression hadn't changed. If anything, the fact that he was still standing seemed to have made her more enraged.
Strong enough to destroy a shikigami in a single strike. Fast enough that he hadn't tracked the movement.
Most terrifyingly was that she had Energy that felt like CE operating at a level that put her well above anyone he'd faced in Teyvat so far, possibly level with Ganyu and Xiao.
'Who the fuck is this lady?!'