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Izuku woke up on the beach alone.
That, by itself, was a rarity. He never went much of anywhere without Katuski by his side. Even traveling from world to world, they were never really ones to split up and explore.
They were the wonder-duo, after all, siblings for every intent of the word.
Izuku tried his very best to scour his mind for the night before: what he’d been doing, where Katsuki had been, what planet he was even on? It was all fuzzy, though. Any time he tried to bring up the memory, his head began to hurt.
He sat up slowly, noting his lack of appropriate attire for either sleep or camping. He had a few things tucked away within his hammerspace void, a sleeping roll, some spare food, and a duplicate of his current outfit if through some method he actually managed to get it dirty, but nothing that would indicate the odd gap in his memory.
Perhaps Katsuki had simply gotten up before him and would be back?
He shook his head softly, standing up on the beach and looking around to try and determine if there was anything nearby he could recognize.
There really wasn’t.
He’d been on hundreds of planets at this point and there always seemed to be the common factor of beaches existing in some shape or form and this seemed to be one of the basic ones he’d ever seen.
His clothes also, while slightly roughed up, hadn’t been clearly updated to meet local customs. That, in addition to the beach, let him tick off well over two hundred planets from his mental list. Unless, of course, this was a first day on a new planet in which case he would be done for.
Looking ahead, he can see that the cliffs towering above him taper off to a far more manageable slope. There is simply nothing to see here, to discover about where Katsuki might be or even where they are at all.
The easy choice is to walk ahead, and see what he can find that will lead him back to his sibling. A higher vantage might give away which direction the other man had gone. Or some clue to the world.
Off trudged Izuku, walking along the waterline as the waves gently lapped at the shoreline. He couldn’t see another shore in the distance, so if it is a lake it is an enormous one. Yet if it is an ocean, it is incredibly calm for one.
He pauses at the top of the trail he’s followed, gazing out over foreign lands touched by a gentle morning light. There has been no sign of Katsuki, no sign of anyone if Izuku is being honest with himself. Outside of a trail that has obviously seen use, and now a statue he can see gleaming below him, set in the middle of a small pond of water. Someone had to have put that there, perhaps it will be some kind of clue to where he is. To where people are. Izuku’s skin crawls with the feeling of aloneness, he is never alone. It is uncanny.
With hurried steps he rushes to the base of the statue, wading uncaring through the water before being forced to fend off some strange life forms that hovered at the base. At last, he stands before it and stares up at the figure it depicts.
The being on the statue is adorned with a long gown and hood in a way that seemed to indicate a level of warmth and distance more so than concealment and small wings. The statues hands hold in their outstretched grasp, a shining orb which seems to almost pulse with a foreign energy.
He gives a small bow to the statue, mindful of the fact that the god of this land might not be benevolent - if the statue depicts a god at all that is.
With the surrounding life forms now gone, exploded into blue goo just after he’d banished them, the feeling of being alone only intensifies. There is no one here and yet it is as though he is being watched.
After a moment of silence, his bow still held in place, the statue lights up in a brilliant glow which encompasses the whole area for a mere second.
The light makes his skin buzz, itch in a way that is only associated with an excess of energy being released. That feeling doesn't go away, though. Even after the light has faded, it lingers just below his skin.
It doesn't necessarily feel like power being granted to him, in previous worlds that had always settled deeper within his chest rather than resting in his skin.
Tentatively, he internally reaches for the odd feeling as it shifts around in his skin.
The power leaps up readily to his fingertips with barely the scarcest thought. He flicks his fingers away from the statue, observing as a blast of wind emerges from the power.
After he uses it, the buzz doesn't go away. Rather, it settles back right where it used to be beneath the skin - ready to be used again.
He bows to the statue once again and turns towards the city he can see in the distance. It’s large, marked by what are likely windmills rising above the walls and something resembling the architecture of either a palace or cathedral up above the rest of the city.
Even if the unknown god, or perhaps gods, of this land were unable to help him, he would continue to have hope in the idea that the people of this land might know him or be able to point him in the correct direction.
There’s a clear path leading away from the statue, the dirt dry and beaten down in a way that could only indicate continuous use - hopefully towards that unknown city. Despite that, he doesn’t see anyone in the surrounding area.
As he moves closer to the woods that the trail leads to, the world slowly begins to regain its life, the oppressive feeling of silence and being alone clearing to the sounds of the world.
The woods themselves here feel incredibly alive in a way that the valley with the statue certainly hadn’t.
Izuku doesn’t come across anyone for nearly ten minutes. He isn’t being quiet, per say, he has no need to sneak through these woods, but he isn’t being particularly loud either, so he takes care not to startle the first person he comes across.
The man is dressed in a flowy cloak with what seems to be a more casual traveling outfit. It’s nearly all green in color, likely to contrast the light blue of the ends of the man’s hair, but also a light enough shade of green to not seem as though it was for hunting.
In front of him sits a massive dragon, brilliant and blue in color. They seem to be friendly, at least, so Izuku takes no alarm on the matter. Certain worlds he’d been to already had friendly dragons, this could simply be one of the list.
The man whispers to the dragon softly, calm in both tone and demeanor.
Without warning, the power which sits within his skin flares outwards, startling the dragon and causing it to lash out at the man in a frantic panic.
Izuku slowly backs up, trying not to alert it any more to his presence just in case it wasn’t particularly friendly to outsiders.
In the process, he loses sight of the man in green behind a tree and the dragon flies off quickly.
By the time he peeks back around, the man is already gone and the woods are quiet once more.
If only Kacchan was here, he was always better at judging the true intentions of people.
Izuku–he knew this given how many times Kacchan had told him as much–always was a little bit too trusting.
He shakes his head, keeping his eyes to the sky in case the dragon returned, and continued his path through the forest until he reached the edge where the trees gave way to a relatively flat and open plain where he could see the bridge leading to the main city.
“Hey, wait right there!” a girl’s voice yells from behind them.
Izuku freezes in place, looking over to find a brown haired girl in bright red attire running his way with incredible enthusiasm. She skids to a stop in front of him, a hand on her hip.
“May the Anemo God protect you, stranger,” she says energetically. “I am Amber, outrider for the Knights of Favonius. You don’t look like a citizen of Mondstadt. Explain yourself.”
“I am Izuku, I am traveling looking for my brother,” Izuku replies after a moment's hesitation. I was hoping to find someone I could ask to see if he came through here before me.”
She frowns slightly, processing his words before nodding to herself as she comes to a conclusion of whatever she was thinking about.
“Someone may know in the city, and it’s not safe out here right now there has been a large dragon spotted around Mondstadt lately. Best to get in where it is safe.”
Izuku nods, deciding it might be better to not tell her of his sighting of it and the bard.
“I’ll escort you to the city,” Amber says, turning to gesture towards the path he’s been traveling on.
Izuku gives a brief nod. “Thank you.”
They set off for the city immediately, Amber rambling all the while about the local plants and her job as Outrider after Izuku indicated he was unfamiliar with Mondstadt.
She doesn’t ask too many questions about him, thankfully, though he could tell that she was interested. He’d had far too many close calls with planets unassociated with the IPC who were unaware that there was life beyond their own planet where he’d been near killed or worshipped to want to reveal himself early on.
When they finally make it to the city gates, the guards let them in without a word, merely glancing at Amber for a brief nod.
He follows Amber up through the city towards the headquarters of the group known as the “Knights of Favonious.” The city is large and as it seems - fairly spacious. There’s a comfortable amount of room between the multilevel homes and even near the city gates and what he can see of the walls, well maintained.
It’s quiet though.
Almost too quiet, not unlike how it was outside of the statue from earlier. There’s a hanging silent weight over the city keeping the people indoors and the market silent even as they walk all the way through up to the headquarters.
There’s a man just outside the imposing building, dressed nearly entirely in a blue pirate outfit, bouncing a singular gold coin atop his fingers as he waits patiently.
“Captain Kaeya!” Amber asks as they approach. “What’s going on?”
Izuku eyes him assessingly, noticing that for all his casualness he holds himself like a skilled fighter would. This man is absolutely someone who knows his way around a sword. And from the gleam in his eye as he looks at Izuku, likely is someone who knows and wants to know things.
Information. Izuku needs someone with information, this could absolutely be what he needs.
“I heard you had someone new with you, wanted to see what was up,” the man answered Amber coolly.
“Oh yes, this is Izuku, I found him outside looking into the dragon sighting. He’s looking for someone,” she replies, glancing at Izuku before looking back to the skies above them as if waiting for something.
“Looking for someone, eh? I might be able to find something out,” Kaeya says in a tone that could only be called almost a croon.
One of those then.
“Yes, I’m looking for my brother,” Izuku tells him.
“Green hair? Just like you?”
“No. He’s blond, has red eyes. His name is Katsuki. He wasn’t there when I woke up, so I don’t know where he would have passed through. I’d hoped I’d find him here…” Izuku trails off, frowning.
“Katsuki, blond traveler…hmmmm.” Kaeya never ceases to move the coin as he thinks, alternating between tossing it and rolling it between his fingers. “I haven’t heard of them by that name, but if you come with me we can go poke around and see if we can find anything relevant in the archives or the Knights headquarters.”
He turns towards the doors before pausing and glancing over his shoulder, waiting for Izuku to step up to follow him.
Izuku turns to say goodbye to Amber and thank her for escorting him to the city before turning to follow Kaeya inside. He can only hope they find what they need within…
Kaeya leads him straight to the library, but doesn’t stop at any of the main books. Rather, he leads Izuku down more flights of stairs than he could count. By the time they reached the bottom, Izuku was sure that even if he was murdered down here no one would hear the screams.
From there, Kaeya takes him into a side room partially concealed by a teetering stack of books. The librarian, as it seems, is nowhere to be seen.
He pulls down a thick volume from one of the far walls. “We track most people coming and going from the city, if your brother came through Mondstadt chances are that he’s recorded here.”
Kaeya pauses, handing Izuku the book. It’s far heavier than it appears. “If he’s not transcribed here, I would recommend putting up missing posters throughout town. The people here are good, they’ll let you know if they’ve seen him.”
Izuku opens up the book, paging through the most recent sections for any mention of Katsuki’s name or likeness.
The gods have never favoured him that much, though, and as such there’s no luck no matter how long he spends scouring the same twenty pages.
At the confirmation of nothing being in the book, Kaeya just shakes his head. “Amber should be just on the outskirts of town again, I would check in with her to get assistance in putting up some missing posters.”
Izuku nods. “Thank you for your help,” he replies politely.
“Of course, that’s what us knights are for,” Kaeya responds in a slightly stilted manner, almost as if he was reading off an internal script.
They head back up the endless staircases together once again and Kaeya escorts him out of the Knights of Favonius headquarters.
Just as they step outside to dramatically different surroundings coated in debris, Amber runs up to them. “Captain Kaeya! The dragon came back! Jean needs you managing relief efforts throughout the city.”
Izuku pales slightly as Amber suddenly notices his presence.
She looks straight at him. “You should head to the local tavern, Angel’s Share. There’s hot meals for all sponsored by the knights for the day. They’ll be able to point you in the direction of the hotel, as well. It’s just on your left from entering the city gates, down the strip a bit.”
Izuku nods, glancing at the skyline of the city towards the massive chapel at the top of the hill.
“Thank you for your help,” he nods politely to both of them before heading off initially in the direction of the tavern before quickly switching to pivot to the church.
He didn’t want to seem dismissive, but he had at least some semblance of a plan. And it began with the god of this land.
And some missing person posters, of course.