Chapter Text
He couldn't believe it. No, it was so strange. Someone as lonely and introverted as Albedo, which dissapearance would probably get unnoticed easily, had frequent company now!
At first the dark blue haired gentleman did not come over as often, but as more and more time passed they grew closer... and now... Now they were kissing!
The Albedo look-alike was confused. He had seen couples in Mondstadt kiss and hold hands and walk their children. But why did humans do that? What did it give them? And why was he jeleous of it? After all he never felt it before. How could he miss something that had never been there? Like a subconscious yearning that everything was missing in his life.
Why had he been born with a genius intellect when said intellect was making him suffer when realising he lived like an animal. Said intellect made him want to murder his brother in cold blood and replace him to never dissapoint anyone ever again.
To never hear anyone else say he was a monster that did not deserve to live. He knew he was cruel. But did that earn him death so easily? He was just an experiment to Rhinedottir? He couldn't learn to be better?
It was too late now, he internalised that he had to take what he wanted by force. And what he wanted more than anything was to survive, to live.
He hated Dragonspine, he hated it with every fiber of his being. It was so cold, so lonely, so rough and merciless. How could that freak prefer it over the cozyness of Mondstadt? He'd never understand.
He never enjoyed being out for hours just to hunt animals that were as hungry as him. (Just much more happy than him...) He did not have anyone. He was a stranger in Teyvat, a no name. He wasn't supposed to survive. The memories of dying were a dreadfull reminder kicking in his survival instinct. No, never again.
The only time he felt remotely like he was normal, was when he talked with Timaeus and Sucrose. He doubted Albedo visited them often, which was why he was there most of the time.
He doubted Albedo really appreciated them that much. He had already one upped him in that respect. One tiny little thing in which he was better in than Albedo.
Albedo was good in everything else.
Same went for seducing tall, sexy captains from the knights.
The primordial being had felt weirdly magnetised to that man, in a similair way his brother had probably done.
Just that the more he found out about him, the warier he got.
The man's clothes were familiar... definitely no Mondstadt attire. It looked a lot like what Albedo was wearing. Plus, unlike Albedo, Kaeya actually had star shaped pupils. Should he be proud of his brother for dating one of their kind?
It was the only person that came visiting him in this icy cold. Well, besides knights and postmen but they barely counted. Only the bluehaired was willing to put up with that weather and likely because he had a cryo vision and wasn't bothered by said element as much. Keeping friendships was hard enough on a mountain, but securing a romantic relationship? Seemed almost like Albedo was isolating himself on purpose...
Well, the Albedo look-alike had wished to replace him, but that wish seemed to get pushed further and further away with the years. As far as his life went he lived in constant fear of being discovered and trying to learn as much as he could without arousing suspicion. Getting rid of Albedo was always on his mind, but he was, for reasons that were confusing to him, very reluctant about actually putting it into action. ... He remembered, back when he first awoke... he wasn't as reluctant as of now.
He was shivering as he remembered how he started out...
The first day of being ressurected from the dead was akin to a nightmare.
He woke up on an icy riverbank, body mostly submerged in water. Gigantic elongated bones were peaking out from all sides surrounding him like lattice bars. Ribs of a huge animal. Red orbs and teeth scattered everywhere. In the far back he could see fire.
Barely stumbling out he made it there just standing for hours under the flame, wondering if he would go right back to death soon.
When Hilichurls spied him, he thought the moment had come... one hit and he was back to nothingness. But alas, for some odd reason he still had his old strength. The tribe had some food on them and a cooking pot. Greedily swallowing all nourishment he had stayed for a couple hours longer around the fire before he was considerably dry and rushed to explore the weird surroundings. There was snow everywhere, he was doomed. Maybe if he found a hilichurl camp and got rid of them all he could have a chance. ... Of course if he fell asleep and more hilichurls returned to the camp he was doomed. Maybe it was enough if he stole some of their materials?
He was in luck when he found a cave close by with another fire where he just slumped into a small ball and fell asleep. He had no idea how long he had slept and if he would ever wake up, but it seemed he was sturdier than he felt.
Finally feeling a semblance of warmth he went out to hunt. Even without sharp objects, the powers of the abyss were quite enough to hunt down a frozen, shortly awoken boar. Dragging it back to the ruin and chewing on mint flowers on the way back not to starve was quite the ordeal... especially because he found he had no knife, no sword, no nothing on him. He went back to the hilichurls he massacred earlier. He almost didn't find them, they were so far buried in the snow. Several sharp blades and even wood shields... well, he could use them as firewood until he found something more suitable for chopping. He cut the pig up and started roastig parts of it under a self made construct of a bowl, idly wondering what these hilichurls were eating all day in this climate. Only meat? What was even growing on this damn snowy graveyard other than mint flowers? ... He was feeling lowkey tempted to stick the cutting knife into his own ribs and move on with it.
He was so hungry he ate half the pig and dragged the other half with him as he was exploring the surroundings. From the heights of the mountain slope he could see grass, normal land. In the far back there were fields and trees! He had to rush there... and yet the way down seemed like it could go on for ages.
On the way down he got into another altercation with hilichurls, accidentally fell down an icy ravine and was stuck. With hilichurls screaming and trying to hit him from above he thought that was finally it, but he felt the floor give and him to slide even deeper, until he rolled over to an underground tunnel. Thankfully he still had all his found belongings on him, but it was way too cold here and his leg was hurt pretty bad. Wincing with pain he had to hold onto the rough walls, quietly thankfull he was wearing gloves, as he eventually made his way through a maze of tunnels and collapsing in front of a heating monument. He had lost consciousness for around fifteen minutes and then was busy bandaging his wound. Unfortunately the only thing here to desinfect it, was in fact the sheer cold.
With the pain too grave and feeling far too exhausted, chased and terrified, he did not want to move. So he slept crumpled on his side. Yet another night in this hellhole that had been his life.
Not like it had been any better before.
The next day he felt better. He found a sword lying around and got a couple stones in the right shape to sharpen it somehow (he read that in a book long ago).
Further down there was a little camp with some hidden memoir, a place to sleep, lots of fabric to use and fire. Great.
The Albedo look-alike knew what he was gonna do today.
Cook and lick his wounds. He wished he had a pen to add his own memoirs.
"Hello, someone save me. I am in hell for the sin of being born. At the tender age of 4 I have commited my first murder to which I was sentenced to death by a witch who has a much higher killcount than me. I am aware that primordial human beings were born with adult bodies and genius intellect, but I was not entirely aware of what I was doing. And to be completely honest, I am still not sure what I am doing. What I should be doing... should I end it all...?"
The way his voice echoed in the empty halls, and reveberated through the ground showed him just how sane he was.
Absolutely not. ...
Pork tasted better with mint... Grilled pork was nice, but boiled pork with mint in some weird minty soup gave it something filling and warm. The primordial human being finally removed his shoes and jacket to properly let them be devoid of frost and curled up in the fabrics of the camp, sleeping soundly.
By the time he awoke it was already midday. He had needed that sleep, his wound was closing. Getting dressed, stealing some of the fabric and taking the sword, knifes and cooking equipment he slowly made his way out the ravine. ... And now he was further from the green land than he had been before.
Curses. He was so lost and so desperate. He kicked a tree and roared as the pain reveberated into his other leg. He took his sword, yelling at that damn tree...
And cutting straight through it like butter.
Just how strong was he? And yet not strong enough to handle this weather.
The tree was used for firewood, albeit now he was super heavy and his leg was aching like hell.
For the first time in ages he saw a human figure in the snow. And just WHAT a figure.
He saw... himself. Hiding behind a tree and watching, he came quickly to another conclusion.
Albedo was alive! She hadn't killed him. Of course... he was too perfect to be killed. He never said anything when she screamed at him. He did not save him from certain death.
There was only one problem. If Albedo was alive... that meant someone probably knew him. ... And that meant he couldn't get out into civilisation without having enough information about Albedo's position in it.
And yet... He needed some time to recover after this incident before he would come back. If he found the way back to Albedo's camp without compromising his identity.
An idea popped into his mind. Maybe... maybe he still had that power.
Gently placing his belongings aside he concentrated on the power inside of him and shrunk, turning into a squirrel and rushed after the alchemist.
Instead of his hut, he saw he had led him through a shortcut back to grass.
Fuck Albedo, fuck everything.
He bolted in squirrel form, leaving his belongings aside and sprung over the ice bridge and to the other side.
He did not stop running until he reached a pond.
He could turn into a human, but he never saw another one before... Not that he was the same kind of human. The humans from illustrations were too foggy in his memory and not enough. He would end up looking like a cryptid if he tried to reinact it all. No, he needed a better plan. However if he stayed an animal he could be an easy target for hunters.
Well, then manual adjusting it had to be, using himself as the base reference for human. Looking into the reflective surface of the water, he went to work. Long hair seemed good, but not blonde, no. He needed to do something as far away from his appearance as possible and he was running out of time. Black! Yes... Now maybe it would make sense to turn into a female. Some adjustments to figure, eyecolour and lips.
And yet the biggest problem were his clothes. What should he wear?
He had no idea what year it was, what century... hell, he didn't even know what world he was in. However staying in Kahenri'ahn clothes surrounded by possible people seemed dangerous regardless. A manual adjustment of his own invention seemed the safest so far.
So he went for thights. Small femenine boots, a tunic with a jacket in a purple colour with some familiar to him patterns. Thankfully he still had his hilichurl knives with him. Now that was done he went to wash his face and drink a little water. That felt so good to his icy throat, he could go bathe but then this was too public.
A tiny voice next to him also assured him of that, he couldn't have gotten ready any quicker...
"Hello! Who are you? I have never seen you before?'
A little boy in medieval peasant clothing. He could work with that.
He cleared his throat, being the first time he used his voice since his rebirth and noticed with oncomming panic that it was still male. Oh shit, if he adjusted it too often, the boy would tell he was a scary cryptid.
Adjusting your tonal cords must probably be the hardest thing to do. When he cleared his throat again it still sounded too manly and when he did it one last time he had to risk it.
"Ough, sore throat, sorry. I am just a Traveller, passing by.", the voice was a little boyish, but it was soft enough to pass.
"You have strange clothes, heh."
"I got kind if lost. Can you tell me where I am?"
"You're about to reach Springvale if you go straight."
"And what country?"
"Mondstadt. Ma'm, you sure know nothing! Go straight for even longer and you will see the main city in front of you."
"Thank you, little guy...."
So he would go the exact opposite of that direction. Not back to Dragonspine, but avoid the village alltogether. Maybe they sold food, but he had no Mora on him. Thanks to the kid he now knew he was on Teyvat. Which meant that Albedo and Rhinedottir were also here. Although the latter might be everywhere the way he knew her. She better stay as far from his as possible. Several worlds didn't seem enough. He wanted her out of this galaxy.
He felt so small and insignificant in this huge place. But at least it was warm and the wind was pleasantly blowing though his hair. The air smelled fresh and there was fruit everywhere. Bless! The Archons were good for something after all.
He gathered sweet flowers, windwheel asters and hunted some squirrels. Roasted squirrelflowers it was. A little snack here and there. Another hilichurl camp. ... This time he found a chest... a chest full of Mora, weapons and artefacts. Well, he didn't need the latter, not being of Teyvat origin. With a little fiddling he made an even more precise weapon and used the materials he gathered. Great! So if he found chests he could gather enough Mora to go buy vegetables on the market. However the hilichurls had some lonely veggies lying around as well.
As such his experience quickly improved. Adventuring and remembering Mondstadt's wilds was refreshing and easy. Finding chests, pilfering through weapon arsenal.
Unfortunately, yes, he was aware what the hilichurls were... However Hilichurls existed even before his people were turned into them. It wasn't his fault they attacked him first, they would serve a higher purpose now! Let the superior species win. Survival of the fittest. At least Teyvat seemed to abide by those rules, otherwise those pesky Archons wouldn't have lifted a hand on his motherland. He had no option really. Some sacrifices had to be made.
However he had to learn how locals behaved to emulate them and fit in... That was his only chance of survival and a normal life...
If Albedo discovered him... he didn't want to know what he would tell the people. He'd be hunted across all seven continents and he couldn't have that. He had to go back to the mountain, prepared.
And so he gathered lots of Mora. It became heavy to walk, especially if he barely managed to keep it from falling out, having no proper bag for it. As such he finally returned to Springvale to see if they sold anything. He got chicken mushroom skewers from Brook, delightfull! Lots of recipes for that skewer, mushroom pizza and sauntéed matsutake. He couldn't do pizza or bread yet, he also didn't know how to get wheat from other than the city...
He'd have to go there later after he copied Albedo's behaviour patterns. He did not have enough references of people to create a good human person for himself yet. Not enough styles of clothes. At least he felt safe enough in this little village. He also bought fowl, his bags lighter now.
With a proper sword, some experience, Mora, mushrooms and flowers he could try to make it back to Dragonspine now. Although trying to navigate was a nightmare. He drew a map of Mondstadt, but navigating Dragonspine seemed harder even then.
Upon entering what greeted him first was a Fatui camp. He had no idea what it was, those men looked funny. Armored and heavy and aggressive and very much attacking him.
With his bags weighting him down and them camping pretty much at the entrance there was no point to run. It was time to test his skills.
The primordial human released his not so human features. Maybe one of Rhinedottir's problems was because she made him too powerfull. After all what human was immortal and had those kinda powers?
With a violent blast he scalded the first opponent as a wave of dread inducing abyss corrosion made the man literally melt into a puddle of his clothes.
"Ahhhh! Tsaritsa!!!"
"Wait... You are using abyssal powers? We are allies, my friend! Do you know the princess, by chance? If not, you must be one of Khaenri'ah's survivors. Please spare us."
And let them get away with his secret after so insolently attacking him? He didn't trust them one bit and frankly he did not want to know.
He wasn't a real Khaenri'ahn anyway. His eyes revaled as much.
As such he imbued his blade with scalding hot purple galaxy soul devourer flames and sealed his enemies fate.
Lifting a hand against humans might have been the beginning of the end. Not his first murder, but further descend into madness.
Those were not the humans he was willing to impress however. He didn't need cooperation, he was never letting anyone use him ever again. He was not just a weapon, he was more god than wretched human.
He would show them what he was made of, he would train his brain, he would soar high and he would never hesitate to protect himself by any measures necessary.
He was not gonna let anyone kill him ever again. Especially family. He promised himself that day.
His powers made the bodies dissapear quickly enough. Digging through the camp he found lots of bags, more chests, fighting equipment, heavy material, lamps and paper and pen.
Not only could he now store his money properly and write now, he also found much better weapons and had something to light his way through the endless blizzard and the howling icy, biting wind. If that wasn't a murder, that was worth it!
After all... did anyone miss the bad guys?
Would he end like them?
The purple bubbling sludge that burned Fatui clothes with acidic smells made him melancholic.
Maybe that was wrong... He should only kill in self defence. Many people did that. For some reason he seemed like a serial offender in that. Was he just bothering people with his mere existance that they felt attacked?
He wasn't sure why murder was wrong, the first time he did it back 500 years ago.
He did not regret killing the Fatuu's even now.... What he regretted, was the realisation that to earn humanity's trust... he had to prove himself. Prove himself to never let harm come their way.
And yet he had already failed on that prospect as soon as he stepped into this world.
He shall not make such mistakes again. Killing was not bad per say... but he would try not to give anyone any more reasons to get rid of him. That was making himself a target. He was way too vulnerable and unexperienced to handle that.
It hurt just thinking about it, he felt so broken. Why was he here?
Why did he wake up again?
Why was staying alive so hard? Would he ever find a reason to justify all this? How was he ressurected and did he really want to know?
Life was not fair. Neither was nature.
So he had to become the Apex Predator on top of the food chain.