Chapter Text
“Day xx of xx, Year XXXX”
“My name is y/n l/n. I’m the only descendant of a well-renowned family. It has been 25 days since I finished my studies and my father’s merchant ship came to get me in Fontaine. I’m writing so I can pass on my message to whoever finds this, And hope it reaches my dear family.
While crossing the sea in the territory of Liyue, my father’s ship was attacked by pirates in the middle of the night, I could hear them massacre father’s crew and set fire to the ship while I was in my room...Unfortunately, I lost consciousness when someone banged the door open.
I am now locked in a room on the pirate ship and even if I don’t know how much time I spend unconscious, I can tell its ni--”
Whatever you were writing was shoved in a brute way to behind your back as soon as you heard footsteps approaching. Earlier, when you woke up you tried to find the door in the darkness and since you were unable to do so, you were curious to know its location. In a blink of an eye, you returned to the position and location you were when you woke up and pretended to still be unconscious.
One second later the door opened and you sensed a dim light coming from it, the person was probably carrying a lantern. Despite not having made a single step into the room the individual said in an annoyed tone “Humph. Your steps are lound and your pupils are moving. Stop wasting the Captain’s time, let’s go”.
You were yet to open your eyes, the said figure had already walked in, and though it was hard to see him, you could clearly see a pair of intimidating golden glowing eyes analyzing your every movement. You could also tell he was not very tall.
Still on the ground you clenched your fists and asked “What do you plan on doing with me?” your eyebrows were furrowed and your expression serious, but you could feel your eyes starting to get wet, this was quite the terrifying situation after all, why did have to be you? Why did it have to be the ship you were in? You just wanted to go back home...
“Answering that is none of my concerns.” He narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms “ Now move”
Clearly, you wouldn’t get anything from this man, and you were not in a position where you could go against him.
With the letter still hidden in your hand, you stood up. He turned around and headed to the door, you took the chance to hide the letter in a small concealed pocket in your clothes, the same where you had the paper and pen before, after all, you were a student in Fontain, of course you would always have a paper and a pen on you.
Since you had no option but to follow him, as you passed the door, your eyes gazed around and tried to analyze your surroundings to try to find a way to escape, but of course, you were in a ship, in open sea, and with archon knows how many pirates. so obviously your chances were very slim, if not nonexistent.
The ship was huge, and as you were walking you had already counted 49 of them. Chatting, betting, reading, drinking or throwing darts and sparring. Very lively and noisy as you’d expect from a pirates crew. But as to be expected, as soon as they noticed an outsider, with the small exception of those who were too drunk to care, all of their eyes fell on you. It was a bit terrifying, so even if the man you were following was a bit scary, you hurried to walk closer to him, always wary of your surroundings. you could hear some of them saying things like “looks like the little princess finally woke up” or “captain really knows how to choose ’em ahahaha” and you preferred to not listen anymore from there on.
You were emerged in your thoughts, so when that man stopped in front of a door, you almost dumped into him, by mere millimeters. And if it felt like the eyes of the crew could devour you alive, then the glance he gave you at that moment could most certainly kill you on the spot. You could only swallow hard and stay as still as possible. Well, even if you had frozen on the spot, the crew seemed to find it funny since more than one laughed hard “Uhhhhh how frightening! AHAHAHAH”, while other said after “Oh shut it! Don’t let him scare you little miss!!” they were obviously having their fun, However, the short yellow-eyed man only made a “Humph” and turned to the door again,knocked on it and announced himself
“Captain, the guest woke up”.
Not long after a “come in” was heard.
With the experience you got from your father, you could tell this was the captain’s cabin, yet this one was bigger than any you had ever seen. In the middle of the room, there was a huge table with almost every sort of food, though the majority seemed to be from Liyue cuisine. The room had a few lanterns, but they were enough to see only the necessary, they seemed to have been placed to illuminate specific places. they were obviously carefully placed.
However none of this really caught your attention at the moment, you swallowed hard again and your body refused to move. There was only one thought rushing through your head: you had to run out of there as fast as possible. Jumping to the open ocean would probably give you a better chance of survival. At the other side of the table sat a man who wore elegant brown clothes, with exquisite patterns and the finest stones. In one of his hands, there was a glass with wine and on the other, a small meteorite danced with the movements of his fingers. On his stern face was a small smile, and even though his hat was covering his face with shade, that only made his sharp amber and yellow eyes stand out more.
There was no mistake, the man before y\n was Zhongli- and she was on board of the Exuvia!