I've not uploaded in a long time, probably because I stopped playing genshin and got very busy, but here I am again.
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- The Next Day, 04:00 -
"Brat? Boris, wake up!" A familiar voice was what I heard as I slowly woke up.
As I opened my eyes, I saw the face of Vlimir, standing right above me, kicking me.
"You can stop.... I am awake now...." I slurred out as I sat up, rubbing my eyes.
"Get ready fast, we've got to go to the heart of the dragon. If we don't get there in time, we are done for." Vlimir said in a hushed voice, stepping out of the tent.
"Yes.. yes.." I stood up and went outside and splashed some cold water on my face.
"AAAGH- FUCK" I yelled out, not realising how cold it really fucking was, it felt as if my face had frozen.
"Keep it low you fuckwit!" Vlimir said in a hushed tone once again as he kicked my back, "We don't want the others to wake up.".
"Ugh." I wiped my face with Vlimir's coat and then went back into the tent and came out wearing my coat.
"Let's go." I said, looking towards the direction we were heading.
"Woah..." Vlimir said in shock as he stared at something inside my camp.
"What?" I asked, curious as to what surprised him so much.
"That sword..." Vlimir said as he pointed his finger inside the tent.
I turned around and looked at what Vlimir was pointing at, it was the sword that we found yesterday.
It's red blade glowing, a divine glow emanated from it.
"What.... It's beautiful...." I said in awe at the sheer beauty of the blade, perhaps yesterday I didn't pay proper attention to it, but why was it glowing now?
I walked in and lifted the sword, slowly, the glow dissipated, leaving the red blade without the divine light, yet still beautiful.
"I should've taken that blade instead, it alone probably would've been enough to feed me and my next three generations if I sold it. Is it some of godly weapon? Because no way that's normal." Vlimir said.
"Well... There's only one way to find out..." I said and I held the blade up, re-enacting what I did when summoning my wolf, the blade disappeared.
Vlimir raised his eyebrow, "OOO..... You learnt that thing too? Neat." He turned around, "Let's go, we can test that on some monsters on the way, we are getting late." He said as he started walking.
I stepped out of the tent and looked up at the statue of the seven nearby, it's glow divine yet ominous.
Clearing the thoughts in my mind, I started walking behind Vlimir, catching up soon enough.
No words were exchanged as we continued walking.
The eeriness of Dragonspine was ever present, enough to make even the most powerful and toughest of men feel uncomfortable.
Eventually, we arrived where we were supposed to be.
The sight was amazing, something you can only ever hear of in books and tales.
It was a gigantic red heart, still beating, it's crystal veins going into the walls of the cave, covering possibly the entire mountain.
Alot of other personnel were already here, guards, mages, everything.
Some of our own scientists were doing some research and tests on the strange ooze in the cave and the heart.
I was looking around the cave , when a commanding officer called out, "Vlimir, Boris, Mats, Hummels, Müller, Vlad, come here!".
I looked at the officer and then at Vlimir.
Vlimir sighed and looked at me, "Get ready now kid, it's time our work begins."
Me and Vlimir both walked over to the officer and once all of us were here, the officer spoke up, "Men, your work today is to clear out the monsters in this area and another site our researchers want to work on. Vlimir, Boris and Mats, head to the site, here's the map." He handed the map to Vlimir, "Go on, these lab geeks can't wait to get working on there, if you encounter anything strange, try not to kill it."
Vlimir nodded and looked back at me and Mats, signalling us to follow him as he started walking towards our destination.
Mats spoke up first once we were a decent bit away from the cave, "Hello! I mean, I guess it's a little late to say it now."
I shook my head, "It's never too late for anything until it is no longer possible, I am Boris. Snezhnaya, Denuvov orphanage."
Mats smiled at me, "Well you look quite young, too young for this job, but ay, who I am to say. I am Mats, my family is from here in Mondstadt, but I was born and raised in Snezhnaya." He then looked at Vlimir, "and you are Vlimir right? If you remember, both of us were together on a mission in Liyue once, it was about guarding one of those fatass clan heads from the assasins."
Vlimir nodded, "Yes Yes, I remember it well, he didn't pay for the money in the end did he? We killed him on top of Mount Tianheng, remember?"
Mats nodded, and from there it was pretty much a silent walk to the site with some occasional talk in the middle.
We moved quickly now, our breath misting in the bitter air. The fog that rolled down from the cliffs was unnatural — not just cold, but hungry. Even the hilichurl camps we'd passed earlier were deserted, their crude totems snapped and scattered.
Mats kept looking around nervously. "This fog… it feels like that old story. The one about the mountain swallowing entire search parties."
"You mean Durin?" I asked.
He nodded. "Yeah. The corrupted dragon that fell here, the dragon whose heart was over there. The one the statue of Barbatos watches over."
Vlimir grunted. "Don't spout legends. This fog isn't a bedtime tale. It's alchemy gone wrong. Or worse — Abyss activity."
We arrived at the marked site: a crater, half-buried in ice and lined with jagged crystals glowing with that same blood-red hue as the Heart. At its center, something pulsed — small, shard-like, almost breathing.
Mats stepped forward cautiously. "Is that… a piece of Durin?"
Before we could answer, the air shifted — the crystals around the crater lit up with a sickly crimson light, and then... they screamed.
Not with voices, but through memory — pain, betrayal, madness. Visions slammed into my skull: a dragon falling, the betrayal of a god, alchemy twisted into horror. My knees buckled as the sword in my hand grew hot — not from heat, but purpose.
"Step back!" Vlimir barked, dragging me away.
But it was too late. The shard rose from the crater, hovering, and the snow around us exploded outward in a vortex of crimson energy. And from the ice, they came — creatures unlike any in Teyvat. Not hilichurls. Not Abyss. These were Dragonspawn.
Malformed. Half-flesh, half-crystal. Born from the corpse of Durin.
Mats was already stabbing at the first creature that lunged. Vlimir used his vision and incinerated the creature that lunged at him.
I summoned my sword and it glowed with purpose, sharper than sword ever.
A few more of the creature appeared and attacked me.
Mustering up the basic swordsmanship skills I remembered learning at some point, I swung my sword and cut the creature in half, it's separated body fell on the ground and evaporated. But there was no time to rest.
Two more creatures came at me, I raised my sword and stabbed one of them and as I prepared to slice another one of them in half, the other creature brought it's claws down on my hand, I managed to get back enough so it wouldn't be ripped off, but it still left a big cut.
I stumbled back a little bit and quickly sliced the creature head off.
But this was where my inexperience in combat showed.
I relaxed, let my guard down, thought that the enemy was down.
But it wasn't.
Faster than I could react, now relaxed, three more creatures rushed towards me.
Reacting as fast I could, I cut the first creature in half but there were 3 more, and they would tear me up before I even got ready to launch my next attack.
Was death coming for me?
It's for situations like these, that you need people to fight alongside you.
Mats rushed towards me and cut the two creatures in half and looked at me, worried, "You ok kid?"
"Yeah... Just caught off guard is all."
"Good, be ready, I have a feeling this is not the end of it."
Vlimir finished what seemed to be the last of these creatures as they stopped appearing.
We all walked cautiously towards the shard.
Suddenly, dark red energy flowed our from the shard and towards the remains of the creatures.
Some invincible force pulled the remains towards the shard and a cloud of red energy started forming.
We walked back a little, but the energy started going faster and suddenly all the creatures were sucked into it.
A strong gust blew from the center as some disfigured red creature started to form the remains of the creatures and the energy coming from the shard.
The creature slowly took form, it was big, had two long hands with long claws, it's face resembled that of a dragon, it's lower body was practically long bits of skin and flesh, almost as if there wasn't enough for it to fully form, same for its wings.
But before we had the time to proceed what was happening or to escape, it moved.
It zoomed across the snow covered ground and towards Mats.
Mats' body was instantly crushed and sliced, bits flying everywhere, his brain fluid and crushed eye landing my chest and face.
Mats was dead now, in less than a hundredth of a second, he was killed.
Instinctively I raised my hand and channelled energy, "Blue."
A blue formed and started sucking in the abomination before it could reach us, several debris also hit as they were pulled in.
But this abyssal abomination, was strong.
Somehow, someway, it lunged and famed across the ground, leaving the radius of the blue from where it would be heavily affected and zoomed towards me and Vlimir at blinding speeds.
Vlimir reacted in time and used his vision to create blast and sent the monster flying away.
"Shit! Fuck! This thing is not fucking normal! Get ready, I don't think we can get away from it, just too fucking fast!" Vlimir yelled, getting ready to fight this twisted creature.
The creature attacked, and so did we.
Vlimir used his vision and lit his sword on fire, cutting off the creature's hand.
As I prepared to slice it's head off, the creature zoomed away.
Vlimir was right, it's too fucking fast.
I looked at the creature standing there, the arm it just lost, now back there again.
Vlimir charged forward and I followed behind, As Vlimir engaged the creature in combat, I struck from behind him, stabbing the creature deep into its chest.
The creature roared and jolted back, my sword still in his chest, I was sent with it too.
I quickly took out the sword and prepared to get away-
The creature struck.
Maybe it was divine interference or luck, but my top wasn't seperated from the rest of my body.
There was left a long sound on my chest, bleeding, draining me of blood. Killing me.
Vlimir roared and jolted forward, striking the creature in its head and using his fire to burn it.
Vlimir rushed back to me, held me from falling down, "Fuck! Fuck! Here! Use this to cover the wound! I have a feeling we will have to do more to defeat this abomination!"
Vlimir tore off a part of his coat and wrapped it around my chest, "Fucking stand up! We've got to fight!"
Vlimir was in terror. But so was I, afterall, what was infront of us, could only be called a horrifying monstrosity, what we were witnessing right now, were the kind of things they spoke about in the archon war.
The monster's burnt skin fell off, it's flesh melted away, bones showed, and from that, new skin grew.
It was fully healed once more.
"We need to win Brat! I've got a wife and a son waiting for me! You have your whole life ahead of you! Fucking get up and fight!" Vlimir yelled before once again, charging towards the monster.
At this moment, as my eyes witnessed what was happening, I felt no pain, I didn't feel weak, I felt power.
Fucking adrenaline.
I stood up and charged forward, swinging my sword at the creature.
The monster was quick to notice me, it shifted its attention to me and attacked me.
It was still just a dull creature.
I moved back, avoiding the monster's hand that was about to pierce my chest.
This is why, brothers are the most important for soldiers.
"Burn!" Vlimir yelled, he first cut off the creature's stump for legs and then used his vision to set it on fire.
Relief washed over us both, finally this nightmare was over.
Or was it?
The same thing happened, it's burnt skin melt off, it's mutilated left arm melted off, and from that, a new arm grew, new fresh skin grew.
And it struck again, it's blistering speed rendering us useless.
But this time, I wasn't the one it struck.
It was Vlimir.
The creature's claw was now through Vlimir's chest.
Blood gurgled out of Vlimir's mouth as he stepped back.
The hole was now visible, almost as big as my palm, his insides were now visible.
I summoned Fenrir and sent him to fight the creature as I rushed to Vlimir.
"Vlimir! Are you ok? Can you fight?!" I asked.
Vlimir grunted, "Don't worry about me brat! I'll fight and kill that thing if it's the last thing I do!" He raised his sword again. "What kind of fucking wolf is that?"
"I'll tell you later!" I charged forward, striking the creature's shoulder as Fenrir tore off its left arm.
Vlimir didn't waste any time and got to fighting, stabbing his sword deep into the creature's chest and using his vision once again, only this time, using more force.
Once again, the creature regenerated.
"What the fuck is it gonna take to kill this damn thing!" Vlimir charged forward.
But it was all the time same.
We'd charge forward, strike the creature, cut it up, burn it. It would just heal.
My bleeding had stopped but there was no way to stop Vlimir's bleeding.
Once again, the creature was burning, me and Vlimir standing side by side.
Vlimir coughed up blood and held my shoulder, "Brat, I am gonna die."
I turned around, "Don't say such things-"
"It's true, you and I both know I am going to die, I'd need Greater Lord Rukkhadevata herself to save me, I've lost too much blood and my organs are dying."
"Just fucking hold o-"
"Shut the fuck up and listen. I don't wanna die invain, banging my head on a wall." He held my hand as he fell down.
"Take my remaining power, use it... *Cough* and kill this fucking thing." He said holding my hand, he placed his vision on my palm.
"Take care of Fey and my kid."
"Just- just- hold on, we can ki-"
"If it is a boy, name him Varys, if it is a girl, name her Arya." Vlimir coughed up more blood, "I have saved money, it's in the Northland Bank... Take my money for this mission and also get the compensation money for my death, make sure my son doesn't become like us.... G- *cough* *cough* Goodbye.."
Vlimir stopped talking, I could no longer feel his breath on my hand, he was dead. His wife had become a widow and his child will grow up without a father.
I was too lost on my thoughts, that the searing vision in my hand had to remind me what was happening.
Tears rolled down my face as I bent down and laid Vlimir on the floor.
"God, give peace to his soul." I placed my hand on his eyes.
Fenrir howled, the creature was healed once more.
The creature charged towards me, but Fenrir jumped and bit it's neck and slammed it down.
I ran forward and stabbed the creature, it tried to stab Fenrir with it's claws but he jumped away.
The vision glowed and floated up.
I jumped back, the sword still in the creature's head.
As if some divine soul was whispering to me, I heard.
"Take care, friend."
The vision blew up, a giant explosion, I was sent back a few meters, crashing into a stone wall.
The dust cleared, infront of me was a crater, and there was my sword in the middle of it.
Fenrir was on the far right, escaping before the blast could hurt him.
And then came the sound of running.
I quickly sent back Fenrir and my sword with the power I had left, and then closed my eyes.
Too much.