At Windrise, Venti was lightly strumming his lyre. A cheerful melody had just begun to drift through the air when it was interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps.
Albedo had rushed from Dragonspine, his eyes betraying an unconcealable exhaustion. Behind him followed Lumine and Paimon, both looking utterly bewildered.
"You're here." Venti stopped strumming, the wind lifting the ends of his braids. The usual smile that graced his lips had faded, replaced by a solemn expression. "Is the situation on Dragonspine worse than we expected?"
Albedo nodded grimly. "It's not good. The activity of Durin's cells is constantly increasing. The monsters on the mountain have been affected, becoming far more ferocious and aggressive than before."
"What's more troubling," he continued, "is the appearance of monsters that shouldn't be in Mondstadt—Ruin Graders and Rifthounds. Now, even ordinary adventurers dare not approach the mountain's outer perimeter."
"Ruin Graders and Rifthounds?" Lumine rushed forward, her eyes wide with shock.
During her travels, she had encountered Rifthound Whelps in Wolvendom and Ruin Graders on Dragonspine. Even for her, they had proven to be formidable challenges.
"Aren't Rifthounds monsters that only appear near Inazuma? How did they cross the border and end up on Dragonspine?" Paimon floated over, echoing the confusion.
Venti remained silent for a moment, not answering Paimon's question. Instead, he lightly tapped the body of his lyre with his fingertips and asked, "That impostor... has there been any sign of him recently?"
Albedo lowered his head, lost in thought for a few seconds. "Three days ago, I sensed a strong Abyss fluctuation coming from the direction of the Skyfrost Nail. When I rushed over, I found a pack of Rifthounds surrounding a spatial rift. They were frantically tearing at its edges, and numerous monsters formed from Abyss energy were pouring out."
He paused, as if reliving the scene. "It took considerable effort to eliminate all the monsters and seal the rift. But right where the rift had vanished, I discovered the impostor's corpse."
"A corpse?" Lumine's breath hitched, and Paimon instinctively hid behind her.
Albedo closed his eyes, his voice dropping even lower. "His death was gruesome. His skin was shriveled like dehydrated bark, all the blood drained from his body. Even his eyeballs had sunken into their sockets, leaving him a weightless, desiccated husk—as if his very soul had been sucked away."
"Did the Abyss kill him? But... wasn't he on their side?" Paimon's voice trembled.
Venti, however, simply nodded calmly, his face showing no surprise, as if he had long anticipated this.
He looked up toward Dragonspine, his gaze piercing through layers of clouds, growing exceptionally profound. "I have some news as well."
"A few days ago, I went to Lydia's parents' burial site to offer a bouquet of Cecilia flowers, just as I have every year for the past seventeen years, a week before her birthday. But I found the small earthen mound empty. There were no footprints, no lingering aura, not even a trace of disturbed soil. The bodies had vanished as if into thin air."
He connected Albedo's words with his own discovery, his brow furrowing slightly. "A spatial rift leading to the Abyss, the drained husk of Albedo Jr., the vanished corpses... It all points to a single source—the Abyss."
"It sounds like some kind of experiment," he mused, "but as for its purpose..." He trailed off, leaving the rest unspoken, shrouded in uncertainty.
"Lydia's parents... they've been dead all this time?" Lumine and Paimon were utterly stunned.
Lydia had always dragged them along to ask Venti about her parents' whereabouts, but the answer was always, without exception, "I don't know."
Yet Lydia never lost heart. She would always bounce back, her face beaming as she'd say, "When I find my parents, I'll take them to Angel's Share for some cider!"
They had assumed her parents were just temporarily missing. They never imagined that the hope that had sustained Lydia her entire life was, from the very beginning, a well-intentioned lie.
Venti shook his head with a bitter smile. "I couldn't bear to tell her the cruel truth. I never dared to even mention the word 'dead'."
"That girl has survived all these years clinging to the hope of finding her parents. If she ever learned the truth..." He trailed off, but the heartache in his voice was impossible to hide.
The wind suddenly softened, and Venti's voice grew gentler. "Seventeen years ago, I found Lydia in a cave on Dragonspine. She was just a newborn, huddled by a campfire, her throat raw from crying."
"I found her parents' bodies in the cave," Venti continued. "There were no signs of a struggle. Though they had only recently died, they had already decomposed into skeletons. After entrusting Lydia to the Cathedral, I went to bury them, but I never expected..."
Lumine and Paimon listened, their hearts heavy as if weighed down by a stone.
They remembered how Lydia, desperate to find her parents, had even spent half a year's worth of saved Mora to post a quest at the Adventurer's Guild.
Every time Katheryne shook her head and said, "No leads," the light in Lydia's eyes would dim a little, yet she would still force a smile and say, "It's okay, I'm sure we'll find them next time."
Sometimes, when they tried to sneak up on Lydia to surprise her, they would repeatedly find her whispering wishes to the Festering Desire.
"When I find my parents," she'd murmur, "I'll show them I can protect myself now." But her hand would involuntarily wipe away tears, a sight that was utterly heartbreaking.
Was this cruel truth the only reward for the girl's unwavering perseverance?
"That's why she must never know." Venti's tone grew resolute, his gaze fixed on Lumine and Paimon. "Her 18th birthday is just a few days away. We have to let her celebrate it happily, at the very least. We can figure out how to tell her afterward, even if..."
Venti took a deep breath, as if steeling himself. "Even if we have to wait until she's older and strong enough to handle it."
Lumine and Paimon nodded in agreement.
Just then, a pair of hands suddenly covered Venti's eyes. A familiar voice, deliberately lowered and laced with mischievous laughter, tickled his ear. "Who's getting a happy birthday?"
Venti froze for a moment, then sighed with a helpless smile and gently patted the hands over his eyes.
"Who else could it be but you, you little drunkard?" His voice softened. "Lydia, stop fooling around."
"Wow! You guessed right! Too bad there's no prize!" Lydia laughed, releasing her hands and hopping out from behind Venti.
She didn't notice Lumine and Paimon's stiff expressions or the complex emotions swirling in Albedo's eyes. She rushed straight to Venti, reached out, and began squishing his cheeks.
"Why did you run off without telling me! I spent ages searching all over Mondstadt for you. Someone said they saw you at Windrise, so I rushed over!"
She chattered on excitedly while squishing his face. "Oh, right! My birthday's in a few days! Where do you guys think we should have the party?"
"I'll finally be an adult, so I can drink... We should definitely have it at Angel's Share, right? I haven't even smelled wine since Master Diluc blacklisted me!"
Lydia kept talking to herself, still kneading Venti's cheeks.
Lumine and Paimon stood frozen, unsure what to do with their hands.
Seeing Lydia's smile, as radiant as the sun, felt like a needle piercing their hearts.
They forced smiles, watching as Lydia distorted Venti's face and excitedly planned her birthday. Their mouths opened slightly, then closed again.
At the very least... let this girl, so full of anticipation, have a truly happy coming-of-age celebration.