![]() ![]() If respect isn’t working, she is perfectly happy to opt for the utmost rudeness, “YO, ASSHOLE!” Keqing roars with the might of thunder, with the outrage of the well and truly insulted, “YOUR FUCKING ARCHON’S CALLING ON YOU, SO GET YOUR ASS UP OUT OF BED.”įinally, she hears a noisy groan, the sound of stone grinding on stone as a person steps out of another crack, bundled in threadbare, ancient robes and peering at her behind a pair of delicate spectacles that Keqing is sure Ningguang could sell to a museum for a half-year’s worth of Keqing’s paycheck. Keqing calls forth lightning and forces energy into her voice, crashing an electric-rimed blade against the nearest stone wall with a shower of sparks. Her voice echoes in the emptiness and she sighs. “Zhongli of the Wangsheng, I call to thee.” The surface changes from uncut, natural stone, to the smoothness of worn years, to a room with crevices and not a single door. Magic prickles across her skin as she raises a sphere of crystal light for illumination, and she knows if she presses forward, she will have agreed to something. She pulls off her gloves, flexing her fingers to force blood through, working out the stiffness. The whole lot of them are sadistic bastards who like to see anyone newer squirm, regardless how skilled they are, out of jealousy and regret. She fucking hates dealing with older mages and this is exactly why. Beneath her is another pedestal, this one’s glow fading. She pushes them up to her forehead with a relieved breath, one that still puffs white in the air. Keqing opens her eyes, and finds that the difference in temperature has fogged her goggles. As the snow thunders past her, the air pressure shifts, temperature rising. Ice falls, and with it stone and snow in a tidal roar as she chases gold like a desperate merchant, until she finds the tether take a sudden sinister swerve, leaving her pressed against dark stone as she braces for impact. On instinct, her Vision becomes illuminated, and sees a thin amber tether, going down the mountain. Immediately, Keqing calls up a field of electricity and pops forward, trying to race ahead of the impending avalanche. In the distance, there’s a rumble and the mountain before her shifts. “Zhongli once of the Guili Assembly, I call to thee,” she intones with the long-suffering familiarity of an outsider faced with traditionalists, speaking an old name, and a group long past. She claps her hands once, twice, three times and holds them up in supplication, even as she rolls her eyes, to speak. She steps onto it and waits for her arcane presence to light the sigil beneath her, scarcely glowing in the moonlight. A familiar pedestal for activation lays before her, humming with Geo energy. ![]() Finally, she makes a final hop to a crag and lets out a relieved groan at what she sees. Keqing has been traveling for days without seeing a single person, and unlike the song that had sprung unbidden in her head again, she is not the queen of this stupid kingdom of isolation. Even the horned adeptus who had been warden of the gates beyond reality had said no one had been bold enough to try to make inroads here, not in the centuries he has kept watch. ![]() Out of all of the places her target could be, it just had to be far from any sort of human or adeptus, didn’t it? Of course it did, the damn bastard had retreated deep into karst-ed mountains centuries ago, and no one has followed. She zaps across stones that peek above the snowcaps, as light as the air despite the layers of gear she wears, thick thermals under down jackets with sigils stitched into the lining, goggles over her eyes to protect from the near unnatural chill. The snow glows white on the mount tonight, not a footprint to be seen, not if Keqing had something to say about it. Part 1 of Elsewhere in the World Next Work →ĭemonic Chili/Zhongchi AUs, Fics That Make Me Feel Good Stats: Published: Updated: Words: 162774 Chapters: 40/? Comments: 394 Kudos: 972 Bookmarks: 194 Hits: 43901
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |