After lying down, Lumine felt her head swimming. Dain seemed to have returned, but he was leaving again to investigate deeper into the forest.
Lumine struggled to open her eyes and realized she was still sleeping far away, with neither Dain nor Paimon present.
She searched the surroundings thoroughly, but found no sign of Paimon, growing increasingly worried.
Just then, Lumine noticed a man had appeared in the previously uninhabited house. His eyes and clothing immediately reminded her of the Khaenri'ahn people.
The man's name was Eide. To her surprise, there was also a Hilichurl in the house.
Through their conversation, Lumine learned that the Hilichurl was actually a Khaenri'ahn person transformed during the Cataclysm, named Caribert, who was also Eide's son.
Eide harbored intense hatred for the Seven Archons and their followers, and he had been desperately trying to restore consciousness to the Hilichurl on the bed.
Lumine decided to help him.
She helped Eide concoct an unnamed medicine. Before administering it to Caribert, Eide prayed at the Statue of the Dendro Archon, his heart filled with hope.
But after taking the medicine, Caribert showed no change, infuriating Eide.
Persuaded by Lumine, Eide agreed to try again.
Yet as they followed the established ritual to the Statue of The Seven, they discovered a Hilichurl heading toward a nearby ruin.
Because of the distance, Eide mistook the Hilichurl for Caribert and chased after it with Lumine.
The pair entered a ruin.
Inside, they discovered a massive, purplish-black crystal.
Lumine heard a voice emanating from the crystal—a man's voice. The moment she heard it, she felt the same oppressive, suffocating sensation she had experienced when encountering the inverted Statue of the Anemo Archon.
Discomfort, suffocation...
The way these Hilichurls worshipped the crystal was identical to how the Grand Thief had once revered it!
It's the Abyss!!!
Drawing courage from an unknown source, Lumine unsheathed her Unrelenting Will and unleashed a golden sword aura at the crystal.
The sword aura dissipated before it could touch the crystal. Lumine grabbed Eide and fled the ruin.
Back at the house, everything seemed normal.
Eide once again administered the medicine to Caribert.
This time, Caribert successfully regained consciousness. Eide warned him not to remove his mask, framing their world as a game where Caribert was just a small monster.
Having received no response to his prayers to the gods, yet finding an answer in the crystal, Eide's resentment toward the Seven Archons deepened.
He insisted on returning to the ruin to fulfill his vow. Lumine, left with no choice, reluctantly followed him back.
To their surprise, the Great Ruin Crystal had vanished upon their return. Back at the house, they discovered Caribert was also gone.
When Eide noticed the once-intact mirror shattered, he immediately understood what had happened and raced outside in pursuit.
They found Caribert at the edge of a cliff. He had removed his mask...
As consciousness returned, Lumine found herself back in the house.
Eide called me a Prince? How could that be? How could I be a Prince?!
But she quickly realized something was off. This house was clearly much newer than the one she and Paimon had seen earlier. The shattered mirror had only just been broken...
The man before her wasn't Eide. His name was Chlothar Alberich, the founder of the Abyss Order!
Chlothar spoke of the "Sinner," saying that only the "Sinner" could save the "Sinner." Caribert... he could reweave his own fate, he would become... the Loom of Fate...
Lumine staggered toward the mirror. The reflection staring back at her from the broken mirror was unmistakably her brother's face!
Lumine finally understood. The experiences she was undergoing weren't her own, but rather her brother's experiences from an unknown number of years ago.
Aether, the Prince of the Abyss, this was when...
-
Lumine opened her eyes to find Paimon's worried face and Dain, who had just returned.
She recounted to Dain everything she had experienced during her unconsciousness.
"To witness his memories from hundreds of years ago through your perspective... It's utterly incredible. The concept of the 'Loom of Fate' truly emerged from that era... And it's highly likely that Caribert, Chlothar's son, was connected to it at the time..."
"Yet my blood kin never mentioned this story to me... So he had already resolved to walk this path back then?"
"I wish I knew what he was thinking at the time too," Lumine replied.
Though she had essentially relived her brother's experiences, she had inhabited a different role, making it impossible to truly grasp his thoughts.
"By the way, Dain, what was that voice from the Great Ruin Crystal in the Domain?" Lumine asked, her mind still preoccupied with the sound. Was it the voice of the Abyss itself, or something else entirely?
"..."
Dain remained silent, muttering under his breath, "The Sinner must be saved by a Sinner... Ha..."
The group subsequently unearthed the skeletal remains of a man and a woman from the house's grounds. The male skeleton had been buried significantly later than the female skeleton and was found clutching a silk handkerchief.
Lumine explained that the male skeleton buried underground was none other than Chlothar Alberich.
Dain was shocked. If this were truly him, it meant Chlothar Alberich had finally broken free from the Undying Curse.
Having gathered a wealth of information, Dain decided to withdraw temporarily to properly organize the knowledge in his mind. Moreover, "that guy" behind the crystal Lumine had seen in the Domain had already spotted her.
Dain had a hunch about "that guy's" identity and knew they needed to leave immediately.
After Dain departed, Paimon stood with her hands on her hips, only to be unexpectedly pulled into Lumine's embrace.
Paimon: "Ah!?"
Lumine: "Paimon, I missed you so much!"
Lumine had felt strangely unsettled without the noisy little companion by her side while she was unconscious.
"Ha ha ha!"
Paimon doubled over with laughter as Lumine accidentally tickled her sensitive spot. Lumine quickly released the little creature.
-
"Lumine, are we going back to Liyue now?"
Lumine considered for a moment, figuring the timing was right. "Let's go, Paimon. We'll head back to Liyue first, then make our way to Fontaine!"
-
From the players' perspective, the Caribert quest had ended, yet it felt far from over.
The screen went black, then slowly brightened.
It was as if someone was slowly opening their eyes, surrounded by green liquid, as if immersed in some kind of device.
The person seemed to have just regained consciousness. She slowly raised her arm, but it wasn't a normal human arm—it was a mechanical arm composed of intricate machinery.
The person in the device raised her other arm, which was also a mechanical limb.
The perspective shifted. The person within the device had snow-white hair, and her entire body had been transformed into machinery. Only her upper torso was complete; her lower half remained disconnected.
The screen zoomed in. The girl's mechanical eyes darted rapidly.
Finally, the players could see clearly: the person in the device was none other than Chu Xi, who had vanished long ago!
Before the device, the Doctor wore a maniacal grin.
"Increase the dosage... No, keep increasing it... More... More... Keep going..."