Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ch-1: Sealing of the Primordial

"Lord Phanes, the corruption must be eliminated immediately, or it will corrode this world and kill all our creations," said Istaroth, the god of time.

"I know, Istaroth,” Phanes responded, stumbling to maintain his footing, "We are lucky that my abilities over light and creation are preserving Teyvat."

"LORD PHANES! Even with the assistance of the dragon sovereigns Apep and Xbalanque, Ronova and Beleth are losing, and to continue their battle against the second usurper is a sentence worse than death." Asmodeus cried out, seeming worn out and rugged.

"The only thing I can do is stop this catastrophe before it begins. Asmodeus, where is he? I'll confront him head-on." As she prepared to face the next person to arrive, Phanes questioned.

"He was last seen near Khaenri'ah. But are you sure this is the right choice?" Informed, Asmodeus's eyes flashed with worry despite her confident stance and neutral attitude.

"There is no other option, Asmodeus... Prepare the seal to allow me to absorb this evil power from the world. Once I defeat this foe, I will seal myself until I have purged this corruption from my body. If this corruption does not cease after sealing myself off, and if this corruption starts affecting you, isolate yourselves," affirmed Phanes as he spread his wings and prepared to descend onto Khaenri'ah for battle. The world hung in the balance, with the outcome of this battle determining the future of all existence.

Hours later

Roughed and hurt, Phanes landed on the floor, tucked his wings, and hurried in search of Istaroth and Asmodeus. They were getting the spell and the seal ready when he entered the throne room. Sensing his might as soon as he stepped inside, Asmodeus turned to face him, examining his wounds and the crystalline fluid trickling from them.

"A rough battle?" She asked, worry clouding in her eyes.

"They put up a good fight and landed a couple of hits, but they somehow achieved true and proper immortality that it was impossible to kill them, so I did what I could and sealed them away. It will not hold for too long, maybe a few millennia at most," answered Phanes.

"Do not worry, my lord; I will look out for him as the sustainer of heavenly principles. Istaroth and I have almost completed the seal you asked for," said Asmodeus, determined to protect the human her brother created after he seals himself off to protect this world.

"What of the others? Are they not going to bid me a 'see you later'? And what of the dragon sovereigns? Are they not happy that I will be gone for a few millennia? I expected them to be here to celebrate," Phanes inquired, not seeing the gods of death and life, or the dragon sovereigns who helped them in battle, if only to have to deal with him when their fight reignites upon the return of their king, Nibelung.

"Ronova and Beleth were weakened significantly in the battle against the forces of the second. They are resting. Same for the sovereigns; they have returned to their territories to recover," explained Istaroth as she completed the spell and pointed towards the other two.

"All right, it’s time to begin the ritual. I’ll see you all in a couple of millennia, hopefully…" Phanes said as he cast the spell, absorbing the abyssal energy. As he drew in more energy, black and dark purple veins appeared on his body until he was completely enveloped. His skin resembled a shattered mirror.

Once all the energy had been absorbed, Asmodeus started casting the seal on Phanes. Suddenly, the abyssal energy reacted to the spell, opening a portal behind Phanes and pulling him in. He struggled to fly away, holding a hand out. Asmodeus grabbed onto it with her powers.

"Lord Phanes!" Istaroth and Asmodeus exclaimed as Asmodeus tried pulling Phanes out of the way, but the vortex kept pulling the cubes holding Phanes from entering it.

"Asmodeus, you have to let go. You do not have enough power to fight against this vortex any longer," said Istaroth, worried about losing her sister and brother.

"NO!" Asmodeus yelled, straining to stay alive. She nearly burst into tears.

"I'm sorry..." Phanes murmured, staring at Asmodeus in despair before forcing the cubes off and letting himself be pulled into the vortex.

"NO!" Asmodeus burst into tears. Istaroth hugged her while Asmodeus also started crying.

On the other side of the vortex (portal)

'Of course, idiotic abyssal energy disrupts sealing enchantments, creating a vortex. I long for the days of the past. No use in remembering; I should concentrate on getting better and returning home,' Phanes reasoned as he attempted to perform an invisibility spell with the little power he had left.

He gets up, looks around, and finds himself in a city as advanced, if not possibly more advanced than Khaenri'ah. Suddenly, he felt a tug in his chest that pulled him to a huge building. The tugging forced him to enter the building. He saw people attending to the sick and the wounded.

'This is an infirmary,' he understood, but followed the tugging into a different room. In the room, a man in a lab coat and two grown-ups sat on the bed with an unconscious, sick four-year-old kid.

It hurt Phanes to see young life slowly wither away before it could flourish. He looked over himself before looking at the kid.

'I don't have enough energy to help the kid and hold the invisibility together. I can't heal him without causing panic among the other people here. But maybe we can help each other,' thought Phanes as an idea sparked in his head.

Phanes waited for the doctor and the child's parents to leave the room before dropping his invisibility and walking up to the child, who slowly regained consciousness.

"A-Are you an a-angel?" the child asked, awe and wonder present in his voice.

Phanes shook his head and said, "No, my name is Phanes. And I wish to help you, little one."

“Like the Ninja?” he asked.

"In a way… I can take all the pain you're feeling away, but you'll have to become my host. You'll get powers," said Phanes.

"Y-you can? I-I'll do anything if it stops my parents from worrying about me and lets me protect them from dangers like the ninja!" the child begged.

"You have a pure soul, young one. Very well, then, we have an agreement," Phanes remarked, extending a hand to the child. The agreement is sealed when the young one accepts. Phanes's and the kid’s bodies blazed in white light as an invisible thread extended and tied into a knot.

"Now, I would like to know more about my would-be host. What is your name, young one?" asked Phanes, curious about the ninja mentioned earlier.

"I'm Arin!" The kid, now dubbed Arin, proceeded to ramble on about anything that came to mind. He explained how the ninjas were protectors of this realm and wielded the power of six elements: earth, water, fire, lightning, ice, and energy.

Arin shared what little he knew about Ninjago's history, and Phanes listened for an hour.

"Thank you, Arin, for teaching me all you know about your world," said Phanes. He looked through Arin's memories to confirm everything.

"Mr. Phanes, how did you get here?" asked Arin, curious about his new friend.

"You can call me Phanes, Arin, Mr. Make me feel older than I am. My world is similar in a way but also different, but the dragons of my world would consider me to be more similar to these 'Oni', but I can say the same for them. But it doesn't matter right now." Said Phanes, before lurching forward in pain

“Are you okay? Phanes??” asked Arin, worried.

“I’m fine, Arin. I was severely injured before coming here. It has been some time, but I have healed. It seems to have reopened. I’ll need to retreat to the mindscape for now, but you’ll feel my presence in the back of your mind. You should rest; the ritual drained your energy and exhausted your remaining strength as the host. Okay?” Phanes questioned, straining to maintain his physical form from turning to ash in front of the Arin.

“Okay! I’ll see you later.” Said Arin, as he smiled and went to sleep.

Phanes smiled before concentrating on the minuscule power he had left to transfer his consciousness as his physical body disintegrated.

And everything fades to black...

Chapter Text

The next day,

When doctors check on Arin, they are surprised to find the sickly young boy perfectly healthy. The doctors rushed to check on him, conducting multiple tests to determine what caused such a miracle: a young child on his deathbed had been healed, and they thanked the First Spinjitzu Master for his survival.

They quickly woke Arins' parents, who had chosen to stay in the waiting room, unable to bear the sight of their dying child and informed them of this miracle. They felt relieved and quickly signed the paperwork to facilitate his discharge from the hospital while the doctors conducted their tests.

At night,

Arin fell asleep, and when he opened his eyes, he woke up in a black void. In front of him stood a white-haired version of himself, adorned with three pairs of white angel wings, golden eyes featuring diamond-shaped pupils, and a golden pointed star mark above his right eye, along with black markings covering his body that remained hidden under the white hoodie he now wore.

"Phanes. Is that you?" asked Arin, not understanding why Phanes had changed his looks.

"It is, and to answer your unspoken question, our 'merging' started an integration process because my physical and mental looks, that is, how I imagine myself to look, have now changed. So... " Answered Phanes,

"So, you now look like me." Continued Arin. Phanes nods.

"Now, let us get to know each other better, shall we?" said Phanes, trying to change the subject.

"You know a lot about me, Phanes, but I know so little about you. And where do you come from? Can you tell me more, please?" Asked Aring, curious about Phanes's world

"Very well, let me tell you a story. Many years ago, I was born, fully grown, from an egg in a world ruled by dragons called Teyvat. These dragons were all associated with seven different elements, and among all dragons, seven were born as Sovereign Dragons. Sovereign Dragons were the most powerful elemental dragons. They lived very long lives, yet even they were ruled by the dragon king Nebeloung, who was immortal and unaffected by disease. When a Sovereign Dragon dies, they are reincarnated into a new dragon of the same element. I saw these dragons, and I attempted to talk peace and co-existence with them, and they lashed out and declared war on me. I fought them individually, but the sovereigns fought in groups and nearly overpowered me. I had the brilliant idea to split into four beings — my brothers and sisters, Ronova, Beleth, Istaroth, and Asmodeus — each governing death, life, time, and space. Together, we turned the tables on the sovereigns. Nebeloung realised he and the other sovereigns were losing, so he left his Teyvat and abandoned his people. Some sovereigns stubbornly fought and died for a lost cause, while others retreated. Once the sovereigns went dormant, I used the shell of my egg to create a barrier to protect Teyvat. After I did that, I created humans for my world. Over the years, many humans ascended to become gods. Then, the peace was broken when someone with powers that counteract my own came, and they brought war. The other shades tried their best to hold him back, but we required the help of the dormant sovereigns to fight off. I absorbed this new Descender's abysmal power and attempted to seal myself, but it disrupted the spell and sent me here. At first, I was going to go into hiding, but something tugged me to you, and I felt this unexplainable want to help even though I was weak," explained Phanes.

"Oh, well, I'm glad I got to meet you. Thank you for healing me again," said Arin, gratitude clear in his voice, and he hugged Phanes.

Phanes hugged back. "I am, too. Now, what about you? I learned the basics of this world from your memories, but I didn't get to learn much about you." He asked again.

"Well, I was a kid born with a deadly illness that was going to die before the age of 7. Adults pitied me while other kids bullied me cause they thought I was weird. After all, I was on bed rest most days and got to skip school," Answered Arin, honestly, not seeing the issue with telling Phanes, who was overprotective of his creations, his "children" or even "siblings" as he thought of them, about him being bullied.

Phanes's eyes flared with rage before settling to a thoughtful expression.

"Hmm. You should rest tomorrow; we will try to access the Irminsul of this world. Everything that has happened here is recorded in its branches. My connection to my world's Irminsul is weak, but the knowledge in its branches will start soon, and any new knowledge from my realm will come a bit slower than normal, and new knowledge of your world will be in your head." Arin nodded and truly fell asleep.

Phanes gazed at Arin with a faint smile before lifting him, warping the mindscape as the black void transformed into a sky blue, revealing a floating island encircled by towering marble pillars and connected by a ring of gold. At its centre stood a magnificent palace made of more marble and gold.

Phanes looked nostalgically at the structure, reminiscent of his home in Teyvat, before teleporting himself and Arin into the many rooms where humans who ascended to godhood would have once stayed. He laid Arin on the soft bed before traversing the cold, silent halls to his grand room. He stared at himself in the full-body mirror he kept, examining every human-like feature he copied from Arin while hesitating to confront his inhuman traits. It is then that he realises it.

'I like being human. It's comforting not to hold the weight of the world on my shoulders as I try my best to be a benevolent god. Being here with Arin is comforting because even though he knows my story, he doesn't treat me like I'm some being far more powerful. It's too bad I cannot stay in this world. I, no, we must return or else Teyvat will fall...'

He gave himself one last look, and then he, too, fell asleep, not noticing the black veins of abyssal power fading from his body like smoke and forming a second body that faded back into Phanes' shadow.

Location: Unknown

"Are you certain this is a good idea? To interfere with the sealing spell and merge the fates of a primordial one like Phanes to the child who figures out his method of spinjitsu?" Asked a female voice, unsure of one of her many sisters' choices.

"It is for the best. You do not hear me complain about you're idea of displacing powerful people from their home worlds and forcing them to train two little kids to fight a war." Answered another female voice, sharply as she glared at her older sister.

The first sister looked bashful at being called out for her plan, but nodded nonetheless.

"It is only a matter of time, now."