The indolent light of an autumn afternoon filtered through the blossoms of the Sacred Sakura.
Though late autumn had already arrived, the great tree remained laden with flowers.
Crimson petals drifted through the shrine's torii gates and settled thickly upon the stone path, layering autumn beneath them until it resembled a spring filled with falling sakura.
The sakura wine had fully matured. Clear liquor filled the jar, reflecting an equally clear sky.
Kiyo had arrived at Mt. Yougou before dawn to prepare for the gathering.
I'll be home for dinner before sunset.
That was the first Covenant Kiyo Seigan had made in this life.
Whatever Covenants he might have made in former lives, this one belonged to Kiyo Seigan alone.
And he would keep it.
He had reunited with Lumine on the Mondstadt coast, after she fished him out of the sea. La Signora had frozen him until he looked like a corpse, so Lumine and Paimon had naturally considered searching the body for valuables.
It seemed like only yesterday.
They had eaten mackerel then.
Lumine was a terrible fisherwoman. Kiyo had caught all the mackerel himself.
Sardines belonged to his memories with Havria. Mackerel, then, would be Lumine's.
Crimson sakura petals garnished the plate. The smoked mackerel revealed tender white flesh beneath its skin, and fallen blossoms covered it like springtime sakura meeting winter snow.
This was the dish Kiyo had promised Lumine.
At last, everything was nearing its end.
From Kiyono's Tofu Shop on Narukami Island, to Chinju Forest, the Pillar General's mansion, and Tenshukaku—after wandering in a great circle, Kiyo had returned to Narukami Island.
He was proud to have fulfilled his promise.
He truly had found every old friend.
Lumine, Hanachirusato, Mikoshi Chiyo, Yae Miko, Kunikuzushi, Kiyono Sara, Sasayuri... Friends from the past and friends he had met in the present.
Kiyo had invited many people.
He had always loved a lively gathering.
They would play uta-garuta, trade drinking verses, perform a sword dance, and drink themselves senseless.
That celebration was almost within reach.
But Kiyo knew that all of it rested upon a lie—a fleeting dream that had not yet been exposed.
Say something.
Something romantic.
Say something romantic to me.
You're my dear Miss Lumine. You were quite eloquent while I was asleep, weren't you?
That isn't enough. Say more.
More.
He still remembered what he had seen: the chains of reason piercing Lumine's chest five hundred years in the past.
She had been calling to him for help.
Kiyo was going to save her.
He raised his eyes toward the Sacred Sakura. Its blossoms burned like fire along the horizon. The Sacred Sakura Cleansing Ritual was about to begin, and every trace of corruption would soon be purified among the falling petals.
Yet Kiyo knew that this tree was an illusion.
It had never existed in the past.
Its seed was still clenched within his hand, waiting to be planted there.
He had begun this story. He had told this lie.
Now that he had lied, he would see that lie through to the end.
Daylight was thinning. Rosy clouds spread gradually across the horizon, and dusk was close at hand. His guests would soon arrive.
Amid the silent autumn light, Kiyo turned and walked deeper into the mountain, the setting sun drawing his shadow out behind him.
According to Sasayuri, the entrance to Musou Isshin lay hidden in the depths of Mt. Yougou.
It was a torii gate.
Long years had covered the gate in tangled vines. Dark-brown rust stained its surface, while verdant ivy grew wildly across it, concealing patches that looked almost like dried blood.
In Inazuman architecture, a torii was a threshold. One passed beneath it before entering a shrine.
Beyond this particular gate lay his own realm of consciousness.
[Becoming lost within consciousness is a terrible thing.]
The Human Principles System spoke beside Kiyo's ear.
[Remember the correct time and the correct place. Otherwise, you will lose your way.]
[Listen within your heart for those who are calling you.]
[You have only one opportunity.]
The correct time and the correct place...?
Kiyo did not entirely understand.
[You are going to save Lumine. Listen for her voice.]
At the System's words, Kiyo's eyes shifted.
The great tengu sat back in his wheelchair and lowered his dim eyes. Kiyo could tell that something troubled him.
The old man slowly exhaled. His lips parted, then closed again, the words turning in his throat.
At last, he looked up at Kiyo.
"I have fulfilled my Covenant."
"As a warrior, I honored my word and brought you here."
Sasayuri paused. His eyes trembled faintly as he struggled with himself, then finally reached a decision.
"As your friend, I want to tell you not to go. Your past self never told me everything, so I do not know what awaits you on the other side of that gate."
"...I never wanted to bring you here."
"No one knows what will happen beyond it."
The great tengu watched Kiyo.
"I have wrestled with this all these years. I did not want to keep that Covenant. I truly did not. Our very existence is a lie, and that lie has survived for centuries. That is already more than enough."
So spoke the tengu who had once loved running more than anything, but was now confined within a prison only a few feet wide.
He truly had not wished to fulfill it.
From the moment he arrived at the Pillar General's mansion, Sasayuri had revealed nothing unless Kiyo forced the answer from him.
"I'm going." Kiyo shook his head.
He patted his chest, a stubborn and determined grin spreading across his face.
"I have to."
"I promised that every guest would be there for my gathering."
His gaze was unwavering and sincere. Autumn light shone in his deep-blue eyes as he looked directly at Sasayuri.
"And Lumine is still waiting for me."
After a long silence, Sasayuri sighed. A helpless, defeated smile touched his lips.
This fellow truly was identical to that old bastard in his youth.
"Stubborn," Sasayuri cursed. "Far too stubborn."
"Over the past few centuries, I have studied realms of consciousness. I suppose I have achieved something."
From within his kimono, Sasayuri took out a bundle of tangled threads. Twisted together, they formed a red cord, which he offered to Kiyo.
"If you become lost within your consciousness, pull upon this cord. I will draw you back."
"It can be used only once," Sasayuri said. "After that, it will break. Entwined longing and entwined bonds will help you reach your destination."
"Thank you."
Kiyo accepted the cord and tucked it into his sleeve.
"Then I'll see you in a little while." He waved to Sasayuri. "Thank you for everything you've endured."
Sasayuri had spent centuries in flight to preserve that secret.
"Go, go. Who wants to see you again?" The old tengu waved him away. "Go die in there."
Kiyo stepped through the torii.
Sasayuri watched darkness swallow his back. Kiyo's footsteps receded until they could no longer be heard.
Cold autumn light covered the decaying gateway, bleak and silent.
The old tengu stared at it in a daze. After a long while, he lowered his head.
"See you soon... my friend."
"We must... meet again."
"Mm-hm. All right."
Kiyo poked half his head back through the torii, smiling at Sasayuri.
"I haven't left yet."
"Don't whisper things like that." Kiyo crossed his arms before him in a great X. "By the laws of theater, saying something like that guarantees I won't return."
Sasayuri's eyelid twitched visibly.
"Save some wine for me." Kiyo waved again. "Don't drink it all!"
I hope you drink yourself to death...
Sasayuri stared at him for a moment before finally laughing.
"I'll save some! We'll drink until neither of us can stand!"
This time, the smile was no longer bitter.
It came naturally.
"Save it for me!"
Kiyo smiled back. Their laughter echoed through the mountain, as though crossing the long years between them.
The young man waved one last time and stepped through the torii.
This time, he truly entered.
Beyond it lay his Musou Isshin.
Behind the torii stood a shrine. Blue-green mist coiled between its eaves, with pure-white lightning faintly flashing within. White sakura and crimson autumn leaves danced together in the air before drifting silently to the ground.
A long, long stairway climbed into the distance.
Its steps disappeared into a scarlet sunset whose end could not be seen.
Time became indistinct within consciousness. Past, present, and future existed together along those stairs. A single wrong step could leave him lost within his own mind.
Kiyo began to climb.
Everything around him felt familiar.
This place was a projection of his own heart.
He knew its shape as intimately as his own home, and thus knew exactly where he stood.
The System had warned him that traveling through a realm of consciousness required him to remember his "place."
Within his own consciousness, he could travel very far indeed.
Countless disorderly visions rose before his eyes. He passed through the illusions as layer upon layer of memory surfaced around him, and he followed the river of time upstream.
He listened for those who called to him.
"Say some more romantic things to me."
"I want to protect you too."
Inazuma.
Yesterday. A late-autumn night in the kitchen of the Pillar General's mansion, where two people who had each been wounded for the other spoke those words.
...
"Because... because you were there, I could come back. I knew someone was still waiting for me, so I didn't dare die or let myself go mad. That's why I made it back..."
"I want to live for someone. I never want to die for someone again."
Liyue.
Kiyo remembered this time and place as well.
On the final rainy night of late spring, after awakening from the karmic corruption of the Chasm, he had returned to the cabin they built together and said those words to Lumine, who had waited there for him.
He crossed that moment and continued into the past.
...
"Exactly. No matter where the wind comes from or where it goes, as long as it feels good, that's all that matters."
"I have no past, nor do I know what lies ahead. My life is as brief as a mountain breeze at dusk, fading into the valley with the last light. If it can bring others a little comfort and happiness, that is enough."
"Lumine, you must always be happy. Don't worry about where the wind goes."
...
Kiyo stopped.
He did not know where this was.
He had forgotten this time.
He possessed no memory of this moment.
Thin trails of cooking smoke rose from a fishing village below the mountain. Windmills turned slowly. Waves and glinting sunlight shattered together upon the sea.
He and Lumine stood upon a cliff, the setting sun falling between them and melting their shadows together.
They seemed to be... traveling.
It must have been early spring.
Kiyo recognized the cape.
Cape Oath was famous throughout Mondstadt.
A journey to Cape Oath in early spring.
But he did not remember it.
He had forgotten.
He could not tell what was real.
This was not far enough.
He had to continue.
The life he lived in Mondstadt should have belonged to Kiyono Fugin. Before Kiyono Fugin came Kiyono Raimei, and the beginning of Kiyono Raimei's life would bring him to the catastrophe five hundred years ago.
Kiyo slowly exhaled and continued up the stairs.
More and more scenes flashed before him. Gradually, he lost all sense of the path. He forgot where he stood.
He knew only that he had to keep moving forward.
His consciousness began to lose its way.
It became lost in the torrent of time.
Time held no clear meaning here. Kiyo did not know how long he had walked or how far he had traveled.
He crossed one century, then another.
He felt solitude and suffering. In the yellowing years, his heart gradually withered as well.
Not here.
Not here either.
Keep going.
He could still hear someone calling from ahead.
He could hear Lumine's voice, and so he walked toward it.
"Traveler, you must keep going."
"Memories have shapes, memories have flavors. Each fragment of tangible and flavorful memories linked together is called a 'journey.' A journey is the track of memories."
Someone spoke softly.
That man had long golden hair. Blood covered him. Half his body had shattered, and he was imprisoned within space.
He held out a book bearing the words Teyvat Travel Guide.
"The world will not forget you. I will replace you."
"If no one recognizes me anymore, please remember me."
"Traveler, wish you a pleasant journey and a safe trip."
Kiyo knew that man had also been himself.
But he did not know his name.
That life had already ended, and all its memories had faded away.
Kiyo was lost.
Reason and awareness sank into sleep. Only instinct drove him farther up the stairs.
What Kiyo did not know was that the man's name had been Dainsleif, the Twilight Sword of Khaenri'ah.
Entwined bonds could guide him toward the correct place and time.
From the Twilight Sword to Kiyono Fugin and then to Kiyo Seigan, he and Lumine had been bound together across three lives.
Kiyo also did not know that he had already passed his destination.
The Twilight Sword had died before Khaenri'ah's fall.
Kiyo had overshot his destination by more than ten years.
More tragically still, he did not know that he had missed it.
He stepped beyond Dainsleif and continued upward, wandering upon the endless stairs.
Lumine's voice disappeared.
He could no longer hear her.
Twenty years.
Thirty.
Forty...
He traveled farther and farther away.
No one could say how much time passed. Time had no meaning here.
Unable to hear the voice calling him, Kiyo eventually lost the strength to continue. He fell from the stairway and dropped into a particular moment in time.
As he fell, the realm of consciousness receded from his vision.
He landed... fifteen hundred years before the present day.
He had missed his destination by a thousand years.
When Kiyo regained consciousness, dazzling snow filled his sight.
He forced himself to stand.
He was still on Mt. Yougou, yet this was not the mountain he remembered.
The Sacred Sakura no longer covered the sky. The Grand Narukami Shrine did not exist. Konda Village should have stood below the mountain, but there was not even a human settlement in sight.
There was only white snow.
It covered the forest and buried the land beneath an endless pale expanse. The silence was so complete that the entire place seemed forgotten by the world.
Rime fell from a pine branch and landed softly upon the snow.
"What... era is this?" Kiyo whispered.
[Fifteen hundred years ago.]
The Human Principles System answered him.
[Kiyo Seigan, you failed.]
He had failed.
He had arrived a thousand years too early.
Kiyo listened in silence, his shoulders trembling faintly. Fine white snow settled upon them, gathering into a thin layer of frost.
[Will you return?]
The red cord was still clenched in his hand.
He could use it to return to the present.
"If I go back, can I come here again?"
[You had only one opportunity. And now, returning is all you can do. You missed your destination by an entire millennium.]
He truly had failed.
Kiyo slowly exhaled. His body swayed as he parted his lips.
"No."
"It can't end like this..."
[This is what it means to travel within consciousness. How could success ever come easily? For a mortal, becoming lost is the natural outcome.]
[You treated travel through time too lightly.]
The System's voice remained calm.
[Did you believe effort alone would guarantee success? Did you believe love, fate, or so-called bonds would carry you through time? That love would let you cross the centuries and save everyone? Such things happen only in plays.]
[The reality is that you failed.]
[Mortal, the world is not so generous.]
[You can never defeat time.]
"I did fail," Kiyo said quietly.
"But I'm not giving up."
If he surrendered now, Lumine would die a thousand years later.
Everyone would die.
Time, twisted by deception, would be corrected by reason.
What Kiyo feared most was returning to the present, returning to Mt. Yougou, and finding himself alone.
The gathering beneath the Sacred Sakura would once again become a solitary drink with no one beside him.
That would be too lonely.
It was the one outcome he could never accept.
"Human Principles." Kiyo recalled what Sasayuri had told him. "No matter how long I spend within a realm of consciousness, only an instant passes outside. Is that right?"
[It is.]
"Good. Then I can still make the gathering. I can still be home before sunset."
Kiyo spoke almost beneath his breath.
[What are you planning?]
"This is fifteen hundred years ago. I cannot alter history or cause the slightest disturbance. Otherwise the timeline will change, the Sustainer will notice me, and reason itself may collapse."
Rather than answer the System, Kiyo seemed to speak to himself.
"But I can sit alone within this mountain. I can avoid every living thing, speak to no one, and leave no mark upon the world."
"Then I can remain here."
He could meet no one.
[What exactly are you planning?]
Kiyo raised his eyes. The endless snow was reflected in their deep-blue depths.
He breathed out a cloud of mist and watched it vanish into the air.
"This is fifteen hundred years ago."
His voice echoed over the snowfield.
"I will remain in this mountain..."
"And wait for a thousand years."
...
[Have you lost your mind?]
"Human Principles."
Kiyo smiled again—that lawless, utterly unrestrained smile.
"I'll wait here for a thousand years, but only an instant will pass for Lumine. I'll still return before sunset. I can still attend the gathering."
[Mortal, you will die of old age long before those thousand years pass.]
The limits of mortal life.
"Human Principles."
He called the System's name, his deep-blue eyes fierce and bright.
"Let's make a wager."
"Will I die five hundred years from now, worn away by the past?"
Kiyo's voice was low, but something like distant thunder stirred beneath its calm surface, yearning to resound across the snowfield.
"Or will I climb the stairway of divinity, survive a thousand years, and defeat this almighty thing you call time?"
The steps toward godhood existed within his heart.
He would climb until he reached the summit.
He would become the strongest.
"Lumine is waiting a thousand years from now for me to save her," Kiyo said. "And fifteen hundred years from now, she is waiting for me to come home for dinner."
"So I will not lose."
"Mikoshi Chiyo, Sasayuri, Raiden Makoto... So many friends are waiting for me to save them a thousand years from now."
"So I will surpass all time."
The bitter wind howled, shaking the desolate sky.
Kiyo turned into the boundless snow and walked deeper into the mountain.
Kiyono Raimei had stood as Ei's Pillar General for five hundred years.
Kiyo Seigan would attempt something even more difficult.
He would live for someone.
He would live for a thousand years.
Kiyo knew he would succeed.
He had to.
Then he remembered his conversation with Ioroi.
"You've been here for centuries...?"
"I promised him I would protect this shrine. I'm not allowed to leave."
"But he still hasn't come back. Could that person have been me?"
"You look so alike! Exactly the same!"
Kiyo had always focused upon the wrong part of that conversation.
Its meaning lay in Ioroi's next words, which Kiyo had dismissed as another transparent lie from the little bake-danuki.
But it had not been a lie.
This was what Ioroi had said:
"But it wasn't you. You're much too weak. And that man was older than you—much, much older! At least a thousand years older!"
At least a thousand years older.
That was the vital detail he had overlooked.
Kiyo would succeed because he had succeeded before.
He had created Musou Isshin, a realm of consciousness surpassing even those of the Archons, and overcome the limits of mortal life.
People often said that one lie required countless more to sustain it.
A promise is love.
A lie is love too.
For someone he loved, Kiyo had lied to the world.
He would spend a thousand years making that lie come true.
He did not regret it.
Given another chance, he would tell the same lie again.
For mortal feeling could transcend even time.
Kiyo Seigan began his ascent upon the stairway of divinity.
"I will cross a thousand years for you."