The subject was perfectly in view. The way that it shined and glimmered in the distance was a spectacle to behold. A curious thing, unlike that of which he had seen before. A tree that was the color of numerous crystals. Though, it was not just a tree, for the upper half looked more in the shape of a castle. A door at its roots and banners floating from up high.
A sight like this was all that was needed to gain Albedo’s interest as the alchemist held his sketchbook in his left arm and began to carefully sketch what he was seeing. Carefully paying attention to the different features that made this sight stand out to him. Alchemy was the study of life, and the best way to capture that life was through art. Whether it was a simple sketch or a colored painting, he would put his focus into capturing what was in front of him and to study it in hopes that it would give him a better understanding.
Such was the case now. The alchemist was unsure of where he was now, but there was one thing he could tell right away. This wasn’t Teyvat at all… if anything, where he was now felt foreign to him. Even though the ground he walked upon and the fauna that was around him looked the same, it did not feel the same. Yet, even though how he had gotten here was by accident, the opportunity to study new life was enough for him to distract himself from that.
Though, he could not help but wonder… what was it that brought them here in the first place?
The faint winds blew past Albedo as he was walking up the eastern hillside of Starfell Valley, sketchbook in hand and curiosity on his mind. After the successful expedition into the Dragonspine Mountains to learn about the mountain’s secrets some time ago, it felt nice to feel the warm winds and the grass that rubbed up against his legs. Though, this walk wasn’t to simply just enjoy the breeze. For there was something that he was looking for in the ruins of the Thousand Wind Temple. Something that one of his students had worked rather hard on since they had returned from Dragonspine and had wanted for their teacher to inspect.
Though, the thing was, he wasn’t exactly ‘alone’ by any means. “Where are we going, brother?”
Klee, the little girl that was the daughter of the adventurer Alice and who Albedo saw as his little sister, skipped in place right alongside him. “Well,” he told her, “I was going to check on something that Timeaus had been working on.”
“Timmie?” Klee asked, “But the bridge is back the other way.”
That had Albedo chuckle as he looked back at the little girl, “No no, not Timmie. Timaeus,” he tried to help her, “One of my students. He’s been working on something recently and wanted me to have a look at it. Kind of like how hard you work on your treasures.”
Even though the subject matter wasn’t exactly something that a ten year old child like Klee would find as ‘fun’, Albedo had a way with words to keep her engaged. Just a mere mention of the bombs that she saw as her toys was enough in order to get her to listen to what he had to say. As long as she did not do anything that would have Jean, the acting grandmaster of the Knights of Favonius, send her to her room; Klee was allowed to join Albedo when he was exploring the wilderness outside of the city of freedom. Even though there were times where Klee’s curiosity would sometimes get the better of her.
When they arrived at the amphitheater like ruins, Albedo found what exactly he was looking for. In the center of the ruins stood a bronze spire, reinforced with metal plates and floating over a stone platform. The grates at the base of the spire look to be similar to that of the ones on a furnace to release excess heat. As for the top, it had three prongs of different sizes as an orb of elemental energy was circulating above it.
“This must be it,” the chief alchemist thought, approaching the construct as he began to analyze it. “This is definitely Timaeus’ handiwork. Even made some improvements from the first one.”
Albedo was somewhat familiar with the structure in front of him. The elemental crucible, or at least, that was what Timaeus called it. It was, in essence, an alchemical furnace that would not only store elemental energy, but generate elemental reactions. Something that wasn’t possible normally unless you were one of the many in Teyvat that harnessed a vision.
Of course, this was the second time that Albedo had seen this device. The first time he came to investigate it, Klee… ‘accidentally’ broke it when she threw one of her jumpy dumpty’s at a group of hilichurls that were surrounding it before. Luckily, Timaeus didn’t suspect her in its destruction, believing that a Mitachurl was to blame for it.
This time around, it seemed that the new elemental crucible was able to store more elemental energy than before, while maintaining its size. While this did seem… ingenious, Albedo noticed a particular flaw. If too much elemental energy was condensed in one place without a way to release it, the energy would become highly volatile.
“Let’s see if I can try to fix this,” Albedo thought to himself as he snapped his fingers and prepared himself.
Unfortunately, fate had other plans in store, “Brother, look out!!”
Before he had the chance to turn around, he felt Klee run over and push him. Time felt as it slowly crawled to a halt as he noticed something that he did not see before. A ruin guard, mechanical machines that wandered dormant and vacant ruins, had emerged from the rubble on the other side of the amphitheater and fired a bombardment of missiles. Even though Klee pushed him out of the way, the missiles struck the crucible instead.
That reaction was enough to cause the elements inside to go into overdrive, and before Albedo could do anything to stop it, everything went white.
“BROOOOOTHER!!”
The familiar childlike cry was enough in order to break Albedo from his concentration. When he turned around, he found Klee hastily running on the road that was behind the alchemist towards him with her arms full of fish, “K-Klee? W-what-?”
Immediately, Klee leaped towards him as the girl clinged onto his coat, dropping the fish that she was carrying, “B-brother! You have to help me!!”
“S-slow down, Klee,” Albedo said, trying to comfort the frightened child. From what he could tell and the fish that were by his feet, it looked as if she had found a lake in order to play her favorite game, fish blasting. Though, something must have spooked her greatly if she immediately raced back to him instead of cooking the fish that she had caught. “Are you hurt?”
Klee was quick to shake her head. Yet, before the little girl could answer, Albedo heard what he thought were hoofsteps coming from the nearby pathway. At first, the alchemist thought that his sister had ran away from a boar or another animal that she had accidentally startled while she was fish blasting. Though, as the sound got closer, what actually was heading towards the two of them surprised the alchemist.
It was three different creatures, all of whom appeared to be quadruped and had the characteristics of different species. The colors of their fur and feathers were as if they were picked by Klee if she was drawing in a coloring book. The first one was outright blue and they had the characteristics of a bird, but the paws of a cat. The second appeared to resemble a horse and looked like the color of seaweed and vegetation on the bottom of the ocean. As for the last one, they had some similar characteristics to the first one, but their fur was pink like a silk flower with a mane and tail that had the color of a blooming glaze lily in the night sky.
“What the-?” the blue feathered one spoke, “Who’s this guy?”
“These creatures… are capable of speech? Fascinating,” the alchemist thought to himself for only a brief moment. Even though this was the first time that he had encountered sentient life in this unknown place, there were some more pressing matters at hand. “Who are you? And why did you startle my little sister?”
“W-wait, sister?” the sea colored one asked, caught off guard by his question, “You’re siblings?”
“Indeed,” Albedo spoke calmly, looking to Klee for a moment before returning his gaze back towards them, “Yet, that doesn’t answer my question. Who are you?”
For a brief moment, there was silence. The three creatures all looked at one another, before they began to talk among themselves. Almost as if they were a gang of treasure hoarders trying to create a plan for how they would rob anyone that passed by. Though, before they had the chance to say anything, the alchemist happened to overhear something from his little sister.
“I’m sorry. Please don’t tell Master Jean.”
Now, Albedo was beginning to piece together what was going on. These three must’ve found Klee while she was out fish blasting. When she saw them, the little one must’ve immediately thought that they were going to get in trouble, just like back in Teyvat. With a reassuring look towards his sister, he gave her a small smile before looking back to the three creatures.
“So-”
“Apologies for interrupting,” Albedo interjected before the pink one could speak, “Yet, I believe I misinterpreted what happened.”
Again, all three of them exchanged rather puzzled looks amongst themselves, before looking back to him as the sea colored one spoke. “You did? B-but we didn’t even say anything.”
“My sister can be a… bit of a handful at times,” he replied back, before asking a question of his own, “Tell me, did you happen to spot her by a lake?”
“Yeah, she was throwing those weird explody things in the water!” the pink one now spoke up. To which, her words were enough to confirm the alchemist’s suspicions.
“Well, back where we’re from, she would get in trouble for doing just that,” Albedo replied, feeling Klee hold onto his back left leg as he continued to explain, “She must’ve thought that you were going to tell someone and ran back to me because of it.”
“W-wait… So Klee is… not in trouble?” she asked, puzzled by his words as the little girl looked back up at Albedo. “Ugh… this is making my head hurt.”
“We were just worried that somepony else might get hurt if someone found one of those things that she threw into Saddle Lake,” the sea colored one spoke again.
“You have my thanks then,” the alchemist replied, “Though, I do believe it would be best if I introduced myself. I’m Albedo, and this here is my little sister Klee.”
“I’m Sandbar,” the sea colored one introduced himself, before motioning a hoof towards their companions, “These are my friends, Gallus and Silverstream.”
“Pleasure to meet you,” Albedo replied back to Sandbar, before looking back to the three of them. Though, as he felt Klee let go of his leg and start picking up the fish that were on the ground, one of the others asked a much different question. This time, the one known as Gallus.
“So… uh, not to sound rude or anything, but where are you guys from?” He asked, “We haven’t seen any creatures like you before.”
For a moment, Albedo paused. He began to ponder a bit about how to respond. For even though their question was a simple one, the answer to such a question was anything but simple. Nevertheless, the only thing that he could really do was try the best he could.
“To be fair, we had never seen any creatures like you three before. The same could be said for the tree in the distance,” the alchemist explained, pointing in the direction of the crystalline tree that was the subject of his drawing mere moments ago, “The only real thing that I can say is that we’re really far away from home.”