video / un: yaksha

[alatum]

WHO: xiao & you.
WHERE: libra app.
WHEN: 22/4
WHAT: local cryptid spotted!!
WARNINGS: none atm.

[ the feed opens a young man frowning at the screen. while not wholly unknowledgable about technology he is by no means skilled in removing unwanted apps that frankly do not want to be deleted. it seems he has been fighting this fight for a hot minute and unknowingly hit the video function. xiao exhales, defeated, before blinking rapidly in surprise.

oh, this is on. well, it won't hurt to ask. ]

If there is anyone skilled in the removal of unwanted applications seek me out. [ how are they going to do that, xiao?? ] My own efforts in removing this have done very little.

[ maybe introducing himself will help facilitate the removal of this app? how else are people to seek him out. ]

My name is Xiao.

[ good job buddy, you tried. ]

Comments

[lapislazily]

[Assured that Xiao doesn't need to cling anymore, he lets go, and takes his seat again. A part of him misses it, but he shoves that part down. Xiao's grown, and they have business.]

There was. [He isn't happy about it.] But... very well. As long as you're sure.

[Xiao has already been told a lot of new information tonight, but this... this is probably less surprising than the past life thing, if he's being honest. Xiao is a clever young man, and he's smart. Zhongli knows he could never truly hide anything from him.]

When Azhdaha began to lose himself, I sent you away, hoping to take care of the matter as I had in my past life. But I... wasn't strong enough. We struggled for what must have been years. At the end of it, the valley was nearly destroyed, and he showed no signs of slowing down. Even in that other life it took the limits of my power to seal him, and it was only temporary at best.

I knew I couldn't do it alone. I could neither seal him away, nor could I bear to kill him. So I sought an alternative.

... There is a group called the Black Order. They're one of the two organizations I mentioned that takes in those who have begun to remember their past lives. Of course, when we first awoke, there was no such option for us. I came to know about them through a friend of mine who hadn't quite divined their purpose, but he knew they were exceptionally powerful.

I approached them and made a contract. It was a simple one: my services in exchange for sealing Azhdaha's powers and memories for a thousand years. In this way, I could buy time—time to get stronger, or perhaps find an alternative to sealing him at all. In the meantime, Azhdaha can live a peaceful life, even if he doesn't remember us.

The Black Order's work is not always palatable. Their priority is to protect the Spirit Realm from interlopers at any cost, even that of innocents. [He pauses.] They admire the sharpest tools in their possession and may disregard their free will. For that reason alone, I sought to hide you from their gaze.

But now you know who you truly are, and soon you will remember everything.

[He closes his eyes for a moment.]

... Another life, another contract. Yet erosion took him from us again. Fate truly is unkind.

[alatum]

[ xiao listens, silent, eyes closed and arms crossed across his chest as zhongli speaks of azhdaha, of the day he sent xiao away in hopes of protecting him from the danger his erosion presented. he listens as zhongli speaks of hoping to take care of it as he did in his past life, fragments of memory flashing across the yaksha's eyes of a valley, a tree, and the rumbling earth.

a part of him wishes he could be angry, that he would feel something other than resignation at the story. his father pushed him away to protect him, formed a contract with an organization in the hopes to find some way of saving azhdaha from what torments his mind. anger is not what finds xiao in this moment, it is not what sits so heavily in his chest that it aches. ]

You have only ever sought to protect me, to protect Azdaha. [ his eyes flutter open as zhongli's close. ] You take on too much yourself, carry too much weight on your shoulders.

What is done is done, I will not fault you for it. [ while he has every right to be angry, to be upset, xiao truly cannot find it in himself to do so. not when he has his father back in his life properly once again. ] I ask only one thing of you, Morax. Lean on me not only as your son, but as your blade. Do not take so much yourself, call on me, allow me to help where I could not before. Please.

[lapislazily]

[Zhongli was expecting Xiao to be angry, but he isn't. In some respects, it would be easier. He lets Xiao go on, noticing the use of his ancient name. He won't deny that he's taken a lot on his own shoulders, but that request...]

It weighs as it should.

[The old dragon's aware that he's a bit stubborn, but there are some things that he won't budge on. As ever.]

You are more than a weapon, Xiao. You are your own person, with your own road ahead of you and your own decisions to make.

[His gaze softens.]

... But you'll always be my son. You're free of everything else.

[In this moment, he feels some frustration with Morax. For not making his feelings known, for not reinforcing that he wanted Xiao to find his own path.

He breathes out slowly, mostly through his teeth, as he thinks again of this contract and how he can't escape it. He can't let Xiao try to interfere either, or not even gods know what would happen to him...

One day he'll have to reckon with the contract-- either its ending naturally by the date stipulated on it, or because he's finally grown in power enough to break it himself.]

I said that we would face whatever happens together. There is nothing that can be done for me at present, but if that changes... I will let you know.

[That's the best he can do right now.]