Flowing Undercurrent

Andromalius and Barbatos spent quite some time speaking about the many years that had passed since the Calamity, though the conversation was actually just a roundabout way to avoid talking about the elephant in the room. Whenever Andromalius visited a certain country or city, it was because of a simple reason. Sin had been committed in the city.

Venti knew that Mondstadt wasn't clean; he was the god of the city, even if he didn't use the power that title gave him. And he could think of very few things that would bring someone like Andromalius into the city. The recent events with Dvalin, brought forwards by the Abyss Order; the Knights of Favonius being corrupt, thought he doubted that one as Jean had cleansed them; and the Lawrence Clan, whose obsession with status had brought them to commit many a crime in their time in Mondstadt. Which was the reason? Venti couldn't tell. Maybe it was all of them, maybe something else entirely.

"I guess it's time to bring it up..." Andromalius said with the intention of telling Venti what he wanted to know. "I'm here to cleanse the Lawrence Family."

"Ah, so it was that." Venti said. He felt a bit of pain upon realizing that a Family which had long lived under his wings were about to be exterminated, but he also saw reason in it. In Venti's eyes, there was no person more just –not even the Hydro Archon– than Andromalius. "I can only wish you give them a clean end, Dubhán."

"I just said I was cleansing them, though?" Andromalius said, being a bit confused about Barbatos' reaction. Then he realized that, in the past, he hadn't been the most understanding and forgiving of gods. "I won't kill them all, Venti. I don't think such a thing is needed."

Now it was Venti's turn to be confused. That was very unlike the Andromalius he had always known. After all, he hadn't earned the moniker of "Vanquisher" through forgiving people, but through ruthlessly slaying those he knew were sinners.

"Time changes people, Venti." Andromalius justified, trying to explain to Barbatos' how he wasn't the same. "Besides, I know this Family still has some hope... some of them aren't rotten to the core... and some of them are quite pure."

Venti just looked at his old friend. He remembered how when he had first ascended to godhood, it had been Andromalius, Morax and Rukhadevatta that helped him get used to his new state of being. They had been kind to him, but he also knew that they weren't just that. He knew of the ruthlessness they could show their enemies. And Andromalius, in particular, was too well known amongst gods because of his ruthlessness. Many a god had been felled by his blade.

"It's good to see you reading on a more peaceful path, Dubhán." Barbatos commented, showing a genuine smile to his old friend.

"Huh... I wouldn't call it peaceful at all... if anything, it is much more convoluted." Dubhán answered. And those were his real thoughts. For someone who used to simply slay those he knew were sinners, he now had to take a different approach. The current Teyvat wouldn't take his words as law, and they would doubt him and judge him. Mortals were no longer as scared of gods, even though they still should respect them.

The dark of night slowly took over the city while the gods hidden in plain sight talked about things that had been, that were and that would be. Rather than dying down, the hustle and bustle of The Angel's Share grew rowdier, as those who left their jobs went to have a drink with friend and colleagues, none the wiser of the catastrophe that drank besides them.

*

Below the Knights of Favonius Headquarters, deep into the prison area of Mondstadt that nobody ever talked about, a man could be found sitting on a cell. His state was quite poor, with old wounds scattered around his body, his clothes in tatters and his hair and beard long and untrimmed. He seemed to be in a state of unconsciousness, until a couple steps could be heard approaching his direction. Then his eyes opened wide, raw fury present within them.

"Were your wife to see the state you are in, she wouldn't believe it." The cold voice of the man who had "visited" him resonated in the halls of the prison. "Not like she can see anything now, can she? She is dead after all."

"I will kill you! You damn bastard!" The man in the cell shouted, his voice hoarse from the frustration, fury, and pure hatred he spoke with.

"Ha, don't make me laugh, you swine." The man answered, his eyes full of mirth and his voice mocking. "What can you do from inside that cell?"

As soon as those words left his mouth, the man started walking away. He was, after all, just doing a part of his weekly routine. He made sure to have a few minutes to spare just so he could spite the man he had framed into being arrested for a crime he had not committed. As he left the place, his laugh could be heard getting further and further away.

"Arnold Lawrence... I swear upon my wife's name that I will kill you..." the man in the cell said. "Your evil will not go unpunished, that much I promise! You hear me, Arnold Lawrence!"

*

A new day had arrived in Mondstadt. Andromalius didn't have any Mora on him, so Venti offered to pay for his lodging that night, so long as he would pay him back as soon as possible. Venti was, after all, the poorest person in Mondstadt currently.

Andromalius had of course agreed, since he would join the Adventurers' Guild first thing in the morning. And that was, in fact, what he was currently doing.

"So you want to join the Adventurers' Guild, sir?" Katheryne, the receptionist of every branch of the Adventurers' Guild, asked Andromalius.

"That is indeed the case, miss." He answered courteously, his demeanour much different than the one he had had the previous day. The air around him was now much more imposing and nobler. One might have just been able to describe him as royalty.

"Well then I will need to have a name to register you under and a few other pieces of information." Katheryne requested, to which Andromalius just told her his name was Dubhán, and that he was a Vision user, to which he showed Katheryne something he had crafted for himself during the night.

"It is my first time seeing a Vision like that one, Mr. Dubhán." Katheryne commented with a mild, almost fake, shock on her face. "What element would that be?"

"That is Umbra, the element of shadows." He answered nonchalantly, not at all bothered to bring attention to himself by admitting to wield an element that had been so far unheard of.

After Katheryne got the information she needed from him, as well as where he would be staying should she need to call for him –though he knew she could call him from pretty much anywhere, Andromalius picked a couple requests from the board. As he set out to complete his first requests a novice adventurer, many eyes in the city of Mondstadt turned to his back, all of them curious about this new person in town. Yet, as soon as they gazed at him, they turned their necks as fast as they could. Just looking at his back they could feel it, the aura of a beast ready to pounce should it be bothered.

A grin on his face, Andromalius walked through the entrance of Mondstadt, ready to shock Teyvat once again.

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Hey there guys! How are you? Author-san back with a chapter!

What do you think of this one? I tried to foreshadow a couple things, try to guess what they are in the comments!

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