Ren
"This place should be good enough."
Ren stood in the middle of a wide clearing, the last of the tree line a good distance away in every direction.
He was about to begin the Taming Ritual when he remembered something. Reaching into his Shadow Storage, he pulled out the small pendant Rex Lapis had given him at the Rite.
It was something given by a god. Even though it was nothing more than fancy jewelry, it still possessed Rex Lapis's potent divine energy.
Also, it was just so cool.
Ren put the pendant in his pocket for good luck, patting it for good measure.
"Time to get started." He pulled out his sword from his Shadow Storage and stabbed it into the ground.
Rose stood off to the side with her arms crossed, watching him intently with curiosity.
"Good luck!" She waved.
Ren nodded at her and put his arms together.
"From the shadows, rise—"
"Max Elephant!"
The shadow beneath him rippled outward and spread wide across the clearing.
As it was last time, the shadow over him disappeared momentarily before slowly becoming larger.
Looking up, Max Elephant was falling from the sky like a meteor.
'Sorry buddy, I'm prepared this time.'
Ren drove his hands into the ground. Geo surged upwards in response; dozens of sharp pillars rose into the sky, angled to converge directly on the falling shikigami's trajectory.
BOOM.
'Damn, you're a tanky bastard.'
Max Elephant didn't even register the pillars and crashed through them like they were made of sticks.
Ren grabbed his sword and jumped away just in time as it fell into the ground with a loud crash. Dust and debris flung all around as the shikigami rose to glare at him.
'How the hell did Shenhe one-tap this thing?!'
Its body had flowing marks with a blue glow that was akin to that of water flowing. Potent Hydro energy concentrated in its trunk as it let out a roar as it prepared to attack.
"Well, that's certainly a start," Rose said behind him.
Ren didn't pay her any mind. He got into a stance, ready to prove his strength against his shikigami.
He tightened his grip on his sword.
"Bring it on!"
/ — /
Rose
Rose watched from the edge of the clearing, a small smile playing at her lips.
'A little rough around the edges. But the potential underneath it…'
The power that coursed through the boy's body, Cursed Energy, as he calls it, was unlike anything she'd ever seen.
There were undoubted similarities with Void Realm energy, yet it was much more filtered.
Negative energy that was foreign to this world, yet functioned without issue and even acclimated to Teyvat's environment, acting as if it had been a natural creation of this world.
'That eerie similarity with the Abyss… It cannot be a coincidence.'
She watched as Max Elephant's trunk flared with concentrated Hydro and shot out a compressed blast of water that tore the clearing.
Ren jumped away just in time.
The blast carved straight through the tree line behind him, and trees split and topped for a good few seconds before they stopped. The blast must have gone on for several hundred meters before losing potency.
Max Elephant guided its trunk towards Ren, who made sure to keep his distance.
It seemed like he had come up with a plan just as he made a hand sign.
Rabbit Escape burst out in the hundreds and flooded the space around Max Elephant in waves of fluffy anemo balls. Its trunk flung and attacked blindly, yet it didn't do anything to deter the horde of rabbits.
'So he has to make a hand sign to summon his shikigami, or is it for another reason?'
Not long after, the swarm dispersed. Anemo burst outward in every direction at once, coating the area around the elephant in potent Anemo Energy.
It tried to move to search for Ren, but let out a shout of surprise when it couldn't. Its legs and lower body had been encased in thick Geo that still grew upwards as it thrashed against the restraint.
Rose looked upward and saw Nue crackling with Electro. It screeched loudly and released a concentrated burst of Electro at Max Elephant and the lingering Anemo around it.
BOOM.
The resulting Electro-Swirl detonation shook the clearing and sent powerful gusts of wind outward. The sound rang through the surrounding forest, shaking the trees and making birds scatter away.
Unfortunately, the attack didn't finish the job.
Max Elephant was still standing, albeit immensely injured.
No longer restrained in Geo, its eyes locked onto Ren, and it rushed at him.
But Ren didn't move an inch.
The shikigami suddenly let out a loud rumble of pain as its stomach and legs were slashed open.
Ganki let out a growl as the towering elephant fell to the ground, unable to stand.
By the time it managed to lift its head, both Ren and Ganki were right at its neck.
Rose watched as he and Ganki struck down at the same time and severed Max Elephant's head in a single motion.
In that instant, the slight pressure in the area ceased as the ritual was completed.
'Not bad.'
Rose clapped at his performance. "Well done," she called out. "Very well done, indeed."
Ren was slightly out of breath, but still turned toward her with the beginnings of a tired smile already forming.
"Thanks, I—"
He froze.
Rose watched his expression change from the easygoing smile into a flat, hardened glare that locked onto her with intensity.
'Oh?'
She couldn't help but break into a grin. This boy was just full of surprises.
Ren's body language immediately became defensive, and Cursed Energy exploded from his body in thunderous waves.
And all that malice was directed at her.
'I'm liking you more and more.' Rose put a hand on her chest, feeling her heart beat faster. 'Ren Roman… You certainly know how to get a lady going.'
/ — /
Ren
"Phew, that was easier than I expected." Ren wiped some sweat off his forehead. With a thought, he dismissed Ganki and Nue back into his shadow to rest.
He could feel the new addition to his roster resting easily in his shadow.
'Welcome to the team, buddy.'
Behind him, he heard Rose clapping and complimenting his performance.
He turned to thank her, but his entire body froze the moment he turned around.
It was as if an immense fog had lifted from his mind.
His mind had been muddy this entire trip without him noticing. It only started to clear slightly when he let his Cursed Energy activate with more potency during the Taming Ritual and…
'The pendant.'
He felt the gift he received from Rex Lapis pulse with divine energy from his pocket. That pulse of warmth was the last thing he remembered feeling before the fog in his mind lifted.
With his mind and senses clear, he realised how wrong everything had felt.
Somehow, for some ungodly reason, his senses had been tampered with and dulled.
His mind raced backward through the last several days, and every single decision he'd made played back to him with a clarity that made his stomach turn.
Since when would he have ever agreed to travel to another nation with a stranger?
A woman he'd been in a bookhouse without even knowing or finding out more about her background. He'd simply accepted her proposal with a smile and nothing more. Not even a thought.
Ren took a step back, away from Rose's position. His action not even fazing the woman's composure.
'I'd never do that.'
He'd always been careful. That was a trait he held in high regard, one that was built over his last year in Liyue.
And yet a random woman was able to make him agree without a second thought.
Ren's mind settled back at the present, a feeling of dread pooling in his stomach.
'Why did I go all the way to Sumeru to do a taming ritual?!'
Aside from his fear of earning the ire of the Archon of this land, he already had Cloud Retainer's domain available for him to use for things like this.
He would have never done a ritual in an unknown land when he had a perfectly safe space to do so already.
Beneath it all was the haziness of his entire trip.
It felt entirely pleasant, like he was walking in a dream. His tampered mind chalked his feelings up to the excitement of travelling.
But it was clear now that something had been done to his mind.
His eyes moved to Rose.
Her expression held an eerie grin as her eyes shone with a dangerous glint.
'She did something to me.' His mind went back to the bookhouse. 'She did something the moment we met.'
"Even with that old dragon's help, I'm pleasantly surprised to see you break out of my spell so easily~."
Ren's senses, no longer clouded, could finally analyze her properly.
What he found waiting there had nothing to do with an above-average Geo Vision.
Beneath her unassuming exterior was like molten magma. Threatening to explode at a moment's notice.
'From pillars that bind gods—'
'From graves that birth monsters—'
'—Emerge, Karmic Arbiter: Yǔnjié.'
The bastardised version of Rex Lapis tore from Ren's shadow, its jaws wide open.
In a blink of an eye, it was right in front of Rose, ready to bite down—
Only for its jaws to clamp down on nothing.
'Where did she—?'
BOOM.
An explosion enveloped the field, and Ren's eyes widened in shock as Yǔnjié's form exploded in a flash of bloody gore.
He barely had any time to react when Rose suddenly appeared in front of him.
She was directly in front of his face, her nose nearly touching his. Her expression held a delighted warmth that completely contrasted with the bloodlust and delight in her eyes.
Her gaze drifted down, and he saw her hand was raised with fingers curled a few inches from his chest.
"You really are a delight~."
She flicked her finger.
Ren's world tore sideways.
BOOM.
Ren felt himself fly off the ground as the forest blurred into streaks of green and brown. He smashed through dozens of trees, rocks, and terrain before finally hitting the base of a mountain.
"AARGH!"
The impact sent cracks throughout the mountain's base, and Ren's body finally registered what he had just gone through.
His chest felt like it was caved in. Almost, if not all, of his ribs were shattered to dust. His eyes were wide as his vision swam, threatening to pass out.
'I need to get up—!'
"BLEARGH!" He threw up a waterfall of blood onto the ground, coating the grass in crimson red.
No matter how much he tried to move, his body wouldn't budge. The shock and pain from the sudden attack rendered him defenseless. His fingers didn't so much as twitch.
He heard footsteps approach him.
Slowly raising his head, he saw Rose come into view.
She casually walked past the devastation her attack left as if an attack on that scale wasn't even worth her attention.
If Ren wanted to try something, she didn't give him the chance.
Golden light bloomed around her feet and through the area around them.
Roots that glowed a golden hue burst upward around him, pinning his hands above his head and curling around his torso and legs, and trapping him against the mountain's stone.
'I need to do something…' His mind was slow from the blood loss. 'A binding vow… somehow!'
Rose crouched down in front of him and tilted his chin up with two fingers. She seemed pleased at his struggling, like it only amused her further.
"Sorry, that might have been a little too rough for you."
Her fingers gently traced along his cheek in a way that made his skin crawl.
"But don't worry." Her voice softened, almost tender. "You can rest now."
Ren tried to move his head away, but her grip was firm. She forced him to face her as their eyes met.
He tried to spit at her, but he didn't even have enough strength to do that.
"I'll be gentle."
The last thing Ren saw was her warm smile, as if she hadn't just put him on the brink of death.
Then the world went black.
/ — /
Rose?
"Truly horrid."
Rose crouched beside Ren's limp body, humming a satisfied tune as she pinched a thin thread of purple energy between two fingers, drawing it slowly out of his chest.
She moved the sample around as it coiled and pulsed between her fingers like it was alive.
"Cursed Energy… Nothing remarkable in itself, but in the right hands…" Her eyes drifted to Ren, "...it can become something truly wonderful."
She closed her fist around the sample as it vanished into one of the many small folds of space she possessed.
Her eyes focused on where the Cursed Energy pooled, which was somewhere in Ren's stomach area.
She raised her free hand toward him, gold light gathering at her fingertips.
"Let's see what other secrets you're hiding—"
"This isn't what we agreed on, my dear Rhinedottir." A familiar voice stopped her in her tracks.
"How dull."
Rhinedottir didn't need to turn around to know who the person behind her was, but she turned anyway. Purposefully showing her distaste at her colleague's interruption.
A woman draped in red, adorning a deconstructed hat, glared at her.
"Alice," She finally stood up and turned towards her fellow witch. "How lovely of you to interrupt."
"I'm sure you remember our little agreement that every member approved. You are not allowed to attack him."
"I defended myself." Rhinedottir crossed her arms beneath her chest, pouting playfully. "He summoned a shikigami with enough strength to rival a lower god. What would you have had me do? Stand there and let him bite?"
"We both know that an attack on that level wouldn't so much as graze your clothes." Alice was unamused. "You purposefully provoked him with that mind-numbing spell."
"The details are unimportant." She waved a hand dismissively. "The point remains—I did not attack him first. I acted entirely within reason."
"The agreement was that none of us would interfere in his endeavors unless necessary."
"And I haven't. The woman he knows as Rose simply requested his company for a little excursion." Rhinedottir gestured at Ren's ruined body. "He's alive, isn't he? A little worse for wear, certainly, but alive. That's more restraint than you had any right to expect from me, given the circumstances."
"Rhinedottir."
"Fine." She sighed. "I won't do anything further."
With a flick of her wrist, the golden roots pinning Ren dissolved at once, making his beaten body fall to the ground with a thud.
Alice raised a brow. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
"Fineee." She turned back toward Ren and crouched down over him. "You're insufferable when you get like this, you know."
"Aren't you one to talk." Alice just sighed.
A soft blue-yellow glow spread from her palms and sank into Ren's chest, and the damage began reversing almost instantly.
His flesh and bone grew and knitted themselves together, the blood soaking his shirt vanished as though it had never been there at all, and his torn clothes were remade anew.
Within seconds he looked entirely unharmed, sound asleep rather than beaten half to death.
"There." Rhinedottir patted Ren's unconscious head. "Good as new."
She glanced at Alice, a sly curiosity creeping into her expression.
"I must say, I never expected you to have a soft spot for someone like him."
"He is not a toy for you to play around with for your amusement."
"I never said he was a toy. Though you'll forgive me if I disagree about interesting. That boy is going to be very entertaining to watch."
Alice sighed, her shoulders dropping like a very tired and disappointed mother.
"Do give him my regards when he wakes." Rhinedottir stepped away, the space around her beginning to fold and shimmer at the edges. "And Alice—"
She paused, glancing back over her shoulder.
"Try your best to keep up. I have a feeling this one is going to be worth the effort."
And she was gone. Leaving Alice alone with a very passed-out Ren.
/ — /
Ren
"HAAAH—!"
Ren shot upright in a gasp. His senses still convinced him he was in danger and immediately went to his last resort—only for him to promptly fall sideways off whatever he'd been lying on.
"Ow!"
He scrambled to his feet, eyes darting around to wherever the hell he was brought to.
Only to find himself on top of a boat, with dozens of strangers staring at him from their seats like he was some crazy person.
"...I'm on a boat?"
An older man nearby raised an eyebrow. "Bit of a rough sleep, friend?"
His words snapped Ren out of it, and the courier was suddenly very embarrassed at all the attention.
"S-Sorry, everyone. Had a bad dream."
There were a few chuckles from the people around him, but most of the passengers just went back to whatever they'd been doing.
Ren went back to his seat, his hands shaking slightly as he pressed them flat against his knees.
'What the fuck happened?!' The last thing he remembered was being sent flying god knows how far by a single flick from Rose.
He vividly remembered throwing up a lot of blood, but checking his body right now, everything seemed perfectly fine.
There was no lingering damage or pain at all.
'Did she heal me?'
But then he felt something off in his sling bag, it felt slightly heavier than it did before.
Opening it, he saw the familiar pendant that helped the final step in breaking him free from whatever Rose did to him.
He pulled it out and held it for a bit, the presence and energy of the item calming him down slightly.
'Thank you, Rex Lapis.'
But something else caught his eye.
Inside his bag was a small folded note that was definitely not there before.
He unfolded the paper and read its contents.
[Sorry for injuring you. Sadly, I am unable to accompany you to Fontaine as I have important business to attend to.
Also, you're welcome for healing you. It's rude to attack a lady you know?
I jest.
I apologize if my actions frightened you. I'll be sure to treat you better next time.
—Rhinedottir]
On the bottom right, there was a golden lip print with the words 'See you soon~' beneath it.
…
…
"...Did I just get touched?"
Ren had never felt more vulnerable.
But before he could spiral more into his thoughts, somewhere in the ship, the captain's voice called out.
"Fontaine ahead!"
"Eh?"
Ren looked up.
Through the mist rolling off the water, he saw an impossibly tall waterfall plunging down from a plate of land so high he doubted it was a natural occurrence.
It would no doubt make anyone with megalophobia pass out.
Fortunately, he wasn't one of those people.
Everything he'd experienced went to the back of his mind for a blissful moment as he finally arrived at the Nation of Hydro.
The domain of Focalor.
The God of Justice.