Chapter Text
Getting back from Liyue has been an ordeal.
Diluc grunted as the carriage, offering him a ride closer to his winery - jumped and hobbled on the rocky road. Every piece of stone and wood it passed on the uneven ground, Diluc felt all the way down his spine. The man was beyond tired after staying up fo more than 24 hours doing some tricky business negotiations with the Liyue folk.
In the end, they agreed on shipping an additional batch of Dandelion Wine and Sparkling Wine over to their district, with a huge Mora bonus for the Dawn Winery. The transports are going to be handled by professionals, too, coming from the capital and setting a mid-way meeting point near Wangshu inn.
Another rock jostled the small cart, the wooden wheel making the entire thing shake, Diluc along with everything else. He was regretting his decision to take the scenery route. He was regretting leaving the comfort of his city, just to make his workers get a nice raise.
Archons know Elzer does too much work for too little pay...
"Almost there!" The man driving the carriage called out to the redhead. It was a kind, old guy, probably not even knowing who he was transporting. Not that Diluc wanted to be known or recognized, of course. The only time he was actually planning to reveal himself is when he offers this compassionate grandpa a bottle of wine, as thanks for this ride.
"Good. Thank you, again." The redhead replies, after which he jumped down from the cart, making the wood creak. The vineyard was shining in the sun before him, and the dark-clad warrior couldn't help but smile at the lush fields.
"It was no trouble. Now, i'm off. Take care..."
Diluc watched the riding cart get smaller and smaller. He knew where this man had his routes, now - surely, Diluc will catch him again with that gratitude-vintage he was considering. There really isn't enough good people like that, anymore. Times have changed, ever since everyone around him grew up, grew greedy, malicious or false. The criminal forces infiltrating Mond day in and day out were proof enough, not to mention the laziness of the knights. Their inefficient methods.
Approaching the doors, Diluc relished the feeling of being back home. No more odd Liyue hotels and inns and restaurants - now, it was only him, his bedroom, his kitchen, his office, and his staff. Just as it was always supposed to be.
By the time he came back from his four-year venture across the entire nation of Teyvat, he really started to appreciate... this.
Just this. The simplicity and stability.
But...
Something was amiss...
It wasn't the usual feeling of 'not-quite home yet' - because he sold his father's mansion, and technically the winery was only Diluc's second home.
It wasn't the old oddness, an itch, that the only person who should be here - still wasn't.
It also wasn't the state of the winery - it was clean, and nice, and....
...Empty?
Aside from the birds, watching him from the paintings, as well as the fancy vase attacking his retinas with its stark color-schemes, the entire building was silent. Outside, too, there was no one around. Diluc's employees, his staff, his maids, even Adelinde, who was like a family auntie as far as his mind could remember - they were all gone.
Diluc grunted in displeasure. This was... off.
His instincts were telling him that something was wrong, but he didn't understand what, exactly. It wasn't a holiday, it also wasn't the Windrise-hide-and-seek season ... so where did everybody go?
Despite being tired, the redhead decided it is no time to rest. There might be some issue, some important gathering or an evil plan being put in place - he has no time for being sleepy. Grabbing some coffee and chugging the straight-black liquid, he walks outside, and combs over the nearby areas.
Diluc finds absolutely nothing.
He has searched through the closer houses, knocking, looking for clues, signs of people, and he found none. Absolutely no person, no human. The fields of grapevines were empty of gatherers, only little crystalflies flying off as he got closer.
His next best bet was the capital. The road there was lengthy, sure, but Diluc has been through worse treks in his life. Something was clearly wrong - so he feels like he needs to do this. Despite feeling like death warmed over after his travel.
He ends up dragging his feet on the final stretch, leaving long marks on the ground by the time he passed the signature hills and fields.
His boots has gotten a bit loose from all that walking. He really had no energy to even step forwards properly, and the relentless dragging of the sole has let the leather a bit down. Sighing, he crouched down to correct his buckles and straps, and as he eventually got back up, his breath came out as a gasp.
"Huh..?!"
Jerking upwards as if he just got electrocuted, he rushes towards the main gates, legs pounding against the path. There are huge clouds of smoke coming from within the city's walls, high into the air. He knows that clouds this dark come from massive fires, ones where many different elements are burned. The fact that the fumes cover Mondstadt like a poisonous dome only makes him sprint faster.
Running, dashing towards the bridge, he already sees that something awful happened when he was away. The metal bars at the entrance are lowered, as if to keep something out, as was their defensive purpose - But the metal is bent and burned and melted off.
The gate has a huge hole in it. Even the brickwall is damaged.
There is a knight, laying in a puddle of their own blood, stuck with something sticking out of the chest. It has clearly pierced the armor, burying deep, nailing them to the ground.
Diluc knows it's too late, even before he checks for breathing. The stab wound's placement is, unfortunately, buried deep inside the lung. He gives a quick prayer, closing the knight's eyelids, hoping that at least this soldier managed to do their job and protect the civilians.
Hopping above the bars, Diluc enters the burned town square. It is still smoldering in some places, the little embers still orange from the heat. The wood of the buildings is barely holding anything together, the charred scaffolding giving up on supporting the roofs. As far as Diluc can see through the dark wall of smoke, some structures have already collapsed.
The top of the houses isn't even seen, not through the black cloud that Diluc just walked into. He covered his mouth and nose with his glove to avoid inhaling too much of it, but his eyes were covered by the smoke without his input. He was going in, blind memory guiding him forward into the wreckage.
"-Someone! Anyone!" He yells, trying to look for the citizens. For survivors- or for a sign that he didn't just enter a ghost town, full of corpses. "Is anyone here?! Is anyone h--!?"
The redhead stops suddenly, berating himself for his impulsiveness, clasping a hand tighter around his mouth. How could he have been so stupid?
His rapidly beating heart and stressed-out mind didn't even think that the attacking forces might still be within the city. Calling and yelling can spell disaster if he manages to catch their attention.
He waits in silence. Inhales once, exhales.
Checks over his shoulder, listens closer to the crackles of the fire.
He doesn't hear anybody. Not the Fatuii, not the Abyss Order, nothing.
What he does hear, however, is the building behind him groaning under pressure and threating to collapse. Without having a wooden core intact, the bricks and clay and plaster and paint - it's all going to come down. On him. Unless he makes a run for it, dodging the world's greatest weapon - gravity.
He quickly leaves the area, mere seconds before the house comes down and becomes a pile of constructional hazard. It picks up yet another cloud of ash and powder, and if the dense smoke from the fire stained black, this one stains white.
It catches on Diluc's coat, on his hair, on his gloves. He leaves quickly, unable to breathe.
"Khack-- Hah..." - Barely keeping himself from inhaling the unhealthy and sticky particles in the air, Diluc takes two steps at a time to get above the sea of smoke. He reaches the fountain, gasping, collapsing onto it. He doesn't see water - he sees black. The burned ashes have made a layer on the surface, thick and dissolving into a dark slop more than a liquid.
But then he sees the body, laying dead in the fountain's opposite end, and he promptly vomits into the slush. It's not only burnt powder in the water, it's blood, and now, Diluc's internal digestive acids, too.
He gags on the taste, and coughs, feeling drained of energy. He's barely holding the marble edge, barely keeping himself from falling head-first into his own sick.
Everything is suffocating him, and he wants to both scream and cry at once. The smell of a burning city, the missing people, the bodies.
He knows there might be survivors. But it's already so bad he feels no hope. Just what could have wrecked his city so bad? What happened when he was away?
Collapsing away from the structure, he falls head first onto the street's pavement. He thinks the tears come from the smoke irritating his eyes, but he knows it's not only that. His mouth is sour, his nose smells the burning, his heart is in shatters. His city - it is destroyed.
Before he passes out, unconsciousness pulling him under, his eyes focus one last time. The red-orange orbs shift towards the only thing in his direct line of sight - the stone alchemist's bench. It is still standing tall and sturdy, the small roof above it not yet collapsed, the supplies spilled on the floor below.
It even glows, slightly. But there is also something else that glows right next to it, just two small blue dots right behind the bench. They are shiny, just like twin golden shoe soles next to them.
Diluc recognizes these boots.
But he looses the fight to stay awake too quickly to realize it.
With a building collapsing in the distance, a windmill falling over - he faints.