Eula lifted her head toward the source of the noise. The distant horizon trembled with each muffled boom, and her expression tightened.
"What kind of explosion is that…" she murmured, brows gently knitting.
At first she assumed it was thunder or some natural disturbance. But the rhythm of the blasts was too dense, each shockwave far stronger than anything nature would casually produce.
And they were coming from the direction of Starfell Lake.
A place that should always be quiet.
Eula withdrew her gaze and thought for a moment. As captain of the Knights of Favonius Reconnaissance Company, she was responsible for monitoring unusual activity across Mondstadt, especially anything connected to the Abyss Order.
This level of disturbance was impossible for an ordinary citizen to cause. The force behind it even gave her a faint but undeniable sense of danger.
"What exactly is happening at Starfell Lake…"
Her fingers briefly brushed the edge of her shoulder cape. The blue-white fabric caught the sun, and the Cryo Vision on her chest pulsed with a thin glint of frost, as if reacting to her rising vigilance.
Eula exhaled slowly and lengthened her stride toward the sound.
Her boots clicked cleanly against the rocky trail, each step measured, her composed face turning more severe as she walked.
Explosions this frequent could never be trivial.
As she moved, she considered the possibilities. A monster surge? A mishandled elemental reaction? The Abyss Order attempting something again?
Whatever it was, she needed to reach the site before the situation worsened.
She accelerated, eyes scanning the cliffs and thick woods lining the base of Starsnatch Cliff. The blasts grew clearer, and faint tremors reached her feet.
If explosions of this magnitude continued, they would damage more than Starfell Lake. The surrounding ecosystem would suffer as well.
Her grip tightened slightly around the hilt at her waist. As a Knight of Favonius, she knew hesitation cost lives.
A gust swept past, carrying the lingering echo of another blast, making her cape shift behind her. She quickened her pace, the silver spurs on her boots glinting as they clicked together.
Even before she arrived, she was already preparing for the worst.
"I hope I am not too late," she said softly.
The lake soon came into view. Eula stopped without meaning to. Her eyes sharpened.
The once-calm water was devastated. Sections of the shoreline were flattened by shockwaves. Grass lay pressed into the dirt. Thin trails of smoke rose from patches of scorched earth. The rocks around the lake bore fresh cracks as if struck by an unseen hammer.
She stepped forward and lowered her gaze to the ground. The soil had been blasted open, the scent of char lingering in the air. Dead and stunned fish floated across the water's surface, carried by the ripples still spreading outward.
What caught her attention most was the strange residual energy lingering in the air.
"What is this…" she whispered.
She touched a stone still marked by the explosion. It was warm, and the aura clinging to it made her uneasy.
"Fire elemental energy?"
There were traces of Pyro lingering in the air. Enough for her to identify it immediately.
But after a moment, her expression darkened.
Beneath the fading Pyro residue, there was something else. A force far more violent and far more destructive. It did not belong to any elemental alignment she knew. It felt like raw destruction, cold and merciless, seeking to tear apart anything in its path.
The kind of power that made even a seasoned knight feel its pressure.
"This is not ordinary Pyro," she said quietly. "What kind of energy could this be…"
Eula scanned the surroundings again. Everything she saw pointed to the same conclusion.
A massive explosion had taken place here. One that no ordinary person or monster could easily create. Not with this scope of damage, nor with this kind of lingering energy.
"I must report to Acting Grand Master Jean at once."
She reached for the small whistle at her waist, a specialized tool of the Reconnaissance Company, used to summon messenger hawks for urgent situations.
Raising it to her lips, she blew a clear note into the sky.
A few moments later, a sleek gray hawk swooped in from the distant cliffside. It circled once before landing neatly on her arm.
"Message for Mondstadt. Deliver to Acting Grand Master Jean."
Eula pulled out a slip of paper and quickly wrote her assessment:
"Severe explosion detected near Starfell Lake. Unknown destructive energy present, exceeding the intensity of standard Pyro. Requires immediate high-priority attention. —Eula."
She secured the note to the hawk's leg and lifted her arm. The hawk spread its wings and launched into the sky, cutting a swift path toward Mondstadt.
Once it disappeared, Eula faced the lake again.
"If the energy is still lingering here, the one responsible cannot be far."
Her voice was calm but resolute.
She would not allow an unknown threat to linger near Mondstadt's borders.
After adjusting her cape, she moved along the lakeshore. The faint burn in the air and the destructive aura drifting through the wind made every step feel heavier.
She examined footprints, disturbed soil, and ripples against the water's edge.
"For the next few days, this place will require close patrol," she said quietly.
The lake appeared to be settling, yet she knew the danger was far from over.
And as a Knight of Favonius, she would not ignore a threat of this magnitude.
Just as she thought this, somewhere not far away…
The story continues.