"Can you hear it?"
The young boy asked, enthralled in the susurrus wind blowing past his ears.
In the vast distance, a myriad of colors were falling down from the heavens as the earth itself crumbled asunder.
Fire, destruction, and most of all, fear permeated throughout the land, for the very incarnation of Death itself was about to descend, welcoming her in all her glory.
Far in the distance, the howl of beasts could be heard, accompanied by the tearing of flesh and various macabre horrors that melded together into a monstrous cacophony of noises that no sane mortal should and ever will comprehend.
The palace of the great dynasty that ruled this land laid in ruins as a deep, dark, and ancient power wrestled inside its grand halls that once saw the figures of many guests from across the land in front of the king.
Only this time it had been defiled.
But away from all of this, in an unassuming church where no light permeated through, a young boy and another man sat on the pews, looking at the shattered visage in front of them.
"It's strange, isn't it?" The young boy asked with a wistful tone. "For a nation that didn't need a god, it had the audacity to attempt to deify its own ruler."
"The Vinster King..." The other man, much older than the boy, responded with a hoarse voice. "His arrogance had consumed him... To call him a god is to put filth in those above."
"That may be true," the young boy laughed as he turned to the other man. "But is that really something someone like you should say? I mean..."
"You yourself are quite the filth, isn't that right?"
The man wanted to say something but was interrupted by a violent cough, spewing an oozing dark substance from where his mouth was. That dark substance then boiled when it touched the ground and began to flail as if it was being burnt alive.
- Thud!
The man stomped on the thing, killing it. Supposing it was alive, of course.
The man then turned to the boy and smirked, his bright amber eyes gleaming with a sharp killing intent, as if the wrath of the sun itself was hidden behind them.
"Let's not kid ourselves. We're both filth... But that's enough of that."
The man then stood up from the pew and straightened his posture, while simultaneously maintaining direct eye contact with the boy.
"You're being feasted on over there, you know?" He said as a dark, sleek bone blade materialized from his shadows, emitting a nightmarishly dark hue around it. "Poor old Rerir had the last piece of the pie, unfortunately."
"Ah, is that so?"
The boy hummed as he looked at the general direction of the palace with a curious expression. Then, he turned to the man and smiled lightly.
It was a smile that would send anyone who glimpsed it a sharp shiver down their spine.
"As planned, then." The boy said. "Although my current vessel would suffer catastrophic consequences, it's not something that would cause it true death."
He then glanced at where the incarnation of Death was about to descend at.
"Unless that thing notices me, of course."
"Isn't there someone you should be more worried about?" The man said as he moved from the aisles of pews. "Although I'm nearing my limit... eliminating you shouldn't be a problem."
After hearing his words, the boy tilted his head. "Why are you like this? You and I are not too different..."
"No, we are different." The man cut him off. "Unlike you, born of fates that were never realized, I am a being whose very existence needed to be realized."
"And this world..."
He added as his blade emitted a more malevolent energy, engulfing everything around it and him with a deep, pitch black darkness.
"This world, I swore to protect, so that... May all that is beautiful in this world, always shine."
After uttering that sentence, the man instantly vanished from his position as the deep darkness around him surged.
No, it was more appropriate to say that he had "concealed" his presence...
...and appeared directly behind the boy.
And, in one clean sweep, he swung his bone blade with all his might, powered by the deep darkness around them.
The boy could not even process it, or perhaps he had let it happen. Regardless, his head had been decapitated, and fell into the ground.
Yet his expression remained the same.
"How disheartening." The boy said. "Do you have no shame? Guilt? To decapitate 'me' like this so easily..."
"Shut up." The man snarled. "You're not him. You will never be him. You're not that guy, pal."
The man then walked over to where the head fell and picked it up...
...holding it by its golden blond hair that was paired with a pair of bronze eyes.
"Quit using his face, it's making me sick." The man said wryly as the toll for using his blade had started affecting him. "Something like you that only knows how to imitate, would never know how irreplaceable the original is."
"..."
The head remained silent. It only looked back at the man with a blank expression, as if assessing him. Or not. It could be anything, really.
Seeing him no longer willing to talk, the man clicked his tongue. The next second, the darkness around him surged once more, this time with the intention of devouring the head.
But before the darkness did, the head spoke once more.
"Hey..." It said a dark tone. "You said I won't know how irreplaceable the original is, right?"
The man's eyes squinted. "What are you going on about?"
"If that's so..."
The head smirked. Then, while in his hand, the head began to morph to another form.
"Then I can't wait to see how original you can be, Icarus."
The grotesque transformation of the head continued as it spoke, until finally, it had taken the form of...
"Or should I call you Isaac?"
It had changed to the face of the Hydro Archon.
Seeing this, the man's eyes contracted, as he momentarily stumbled back, "F, Furina?"
"HAhaₕₐₐₕahAHHAhaₕₐₐₕahAHHAhaₕₐₐₕahAHHAhaₕₐₐₕahAHHA..."
The head didn't respond and only laughed. It laughed in a way that could shatter glass and drive many mortals insane.
But to the man, its laugh triggered him, and...
Drove his blade into the decapitated head.
---
"Ah!"
Waking up from a terrible nightmare, Isaac yelled as he rose up from his bed. His whole body was covered in cold sweats and his heart was beating fast.
"Huff... Huff..."
Heaving deeply, he looked around to assess himself.
But all that he saw was the rising sun out the windows of his room, and the beautiful woman sleeping in his bed peacefully, facing him.
Isaac took all of this in and calmed himself down, grounding himself to the current moment. 'Calm down, calm down...'
He ran his hand through his hair as he attempted to recall what had just occurred.
'A nightmare, it was definitely a nightmare...' He thought to himself, sure of himself. 'But...'
He couldn't remember what the nightmare was about.
All that he remembered was a deep, unsettling dread, and...
He looked at Furina beside him, who was still sleeping peacefully. Her breath was slow and gentle, her chest moving in an effortless rhythm.
He heaved a sigh of relief.
'Why did I have a nightmare of losing Furina...'
He feared it.
Whatever it was that he had dreamt of, it was linked to him losing his beloved. And that thought alone scared him the most.
He loved her more than anything in this world, that the thought of something happening to her that separates them together... it unsettled him deep into his bones.
But looking at her now, safe and sound, he calmed his thoughts down.
"It's just a dream..."
After saying that, he laid back down and faced her, trying not to wake her up from her sleep.
While looking at her there, he raised his hand and tucked her grayish-silver hair behind her ear, and cupped her face with his one hand.
'That's right, she's safe...' He reminded himself. 'I know she'll be safe...'
But what if she's not?
What if the prophecy still continues?
Those nefarious thoughts suddenly surfaced from his mind.
A certain angel did once say that the fate of Teyvat cannot be easily changed. The past might have been rewritten, but the present and future is set in stone.
Remembering that vague but horrid nightmare, his sense of dread didn't go away.
'Dreams... Nightmares...'
On their own, they're not that much. But if there's one thing he had learned from the Dendro Archon herself, it was that dreams often hold more meaning than they let on.
And if his dream was warning him of such an ill fate...
He squinted his eyes. He suddenly felt overwhelmed.
Then, he heard a soft murmur from in front of him. He opened his eyes, and coincidentally, Furina was also opening her's.
"Good... hawn... morning..."
She greeted him with a yawn, followed by a soft smile. Her eyes looked back at him as if she was looking at the most precious thing ever so gently.
Various thoughts that had plagued Isaac just a moment ago suddenly felt irrelevant now. He pushed them at the back of his mind and focused on the present, deciding to deal with them later.
"Good morning... Furina." He greeted her back. Then, he went closer and cuddled her close.
Seeing him suddenly embrace her, Furina was momentarily startled before asking, "W, wait, why the sudden hug?"
"Oh, c'mon." He laughed. Then, he reached for her ear and whispered in a sultry voice. "We've done... way more than this."
Then he bit her ear.
"Owch!" She reeled back. Then, she punched him ever so lightly. "You idiot! Doing that first thing in the morning..."
Feeling her playful punch land on him, he chuckled.
Seeing him laugh at her, she decided to take revenge... Only to back down on that idea once she saw all the nail marks, bites, and even hickeys on his chest and shoulders... and all sorts of places.
She turned around, facing away from him as she felt her face heating up. "You idiot..."
Realizing what she was doing, Isaac smirked. "Why be shy now? It's your work, my lady. Be proud of it."
"Enough! I don't want to talk about it! And..." She looked back at him. "Make sure to get those healed up properly later, okay?"
"Alright." Isaac nodded.
Then, without any warning, he pulled her closer to him and locked her in on a hug.
Furina attempted to escape but stopped once she felt his arms lock around her torso. Although she was surprised, she did like it.
Then, he spoke.
"Let's stay like this for a little while, okay?"
"What's with you all of a sudden?" She turned to him with a tinge of red on her face. "You've had me for all night! I barely even had any sleep! Yet you still want more of me?"
"Because I love you too much." He winked at her. "So, please? Can't we be like this for a little while longer? I just..."
"I just want to be with you."
Upon hearing his last sentence, she considered it for a moment before giving up with a smile. "Alright..."
She then raised her hand and held his arm that was wrapped around her. "You know, you didn't have to do this."
"Why?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
To his question, she chuckled lightly, before turning around and kissing him on the cheek.
"Because we'll be together forever now, right?"
Seeing her look at him like that, eyes filled with love and longing for the one in front of her, Isaac couldn't help but melt away inside.
He nodded solemnly.
"Of course."
That's right.
Even if that was a nightmare, he will make sure it won't come to pass. He already has too much to lose.
And to do that...
'I'll talk to Nahida later, and, if possible...'
A certain angel from a certain witch club.
* * *
A/N
[Insert quirky excuse], so that's about it. See ya.
I'm slowly forgetting your face.