The Embers of King's Teyvat Journey

The black rain corroded everything on the earth; buildings collapsed, and life vanished. The black rain was so heavy that it even drowned out people's cries and wails.

“Stop…” Rosalyn reached out her hand, trembling, to save the fleeing people in front of her, but her hand passed right through them as soon as it touched them. They were like reflections in a mirror or the moon in the water, visible but untouchable.

"Roar—" A storm rose from the high sky, and the dark green cirrus clouds began to fight against the darkness. The solid winds dispersed the dark clouds and shattered the black rain.

The melodious sound of a piano drifted from the horizon, bringing the sunlight back down and eradicating all filth.

"Quickly, get out of the city! Monsters are attacking!"

"Where's the alchemist?! Someone here needs healing!"

"Quickly! Combat personnel, follow me!"

……

After the black rain subsided, Mondstadt returned to its bustling state. The surviving knights of Favonius were tending to their nearly rusted equipment; alchemists and healers were treating the wounded survivors; and those who were still relatively healthy were clearing the ruins.

Countless people found their place after the black rain. The dragon high above had taken away the greatest danger; the rest was up to them.

“Yes… Rustan! Go find Rustan!” A name suddenly popped into Rosalind’s mind.

A person who listens to her sing in the square every evening without fail.

But Rosalyn ran forward, and suddenly, a tremendous resistance came from within her own body.

Her hands and feet started to become unresponsive.

"You know better than I do that the outcome is already decided. Don't go looking, come back, there are still enemies outside!"

A clear, cold female voice echoed in Rosalyn's heart. The voice was steady and sharp, like unmelting ice.

Her voice was trembling too; what she had just said sounded more like an escape from reality.

"No! You are not me! I am Rosalyn! I want to see Rustan!" Rosalyn's mind was flooded with many memories, but she quickly suppressed them.

Right now, all she wants is to see Rustan!

"I am you! You are a lady! You must give up everything, Your Majesty!"

The woman's voice rang out again from the depths of Rosalyn's heart, her words like cold needles, piercing Rosalyn's soul.

“I’m not! I won’t be like you! I won’t…” Rosalyn covered her head, and memories flooded her mind uncontrollably—memories from five hundred years ago, memories of the “Lady”.

“I am Rosalyn, I love to sing, I came to Sumeru to save people, I am not a lady, you are not me!” Rosalyn’s eyes were red, she squatted on the ground and kept grabbing her hair.

It's as if this can alleviate the pain in my heart.

"Why! Why are you so cowardly! Those people died! For a better tomorrow! You can see the pure white kingdom, can't you?"

The woman's voice was no longer as calm as before; now she sounded like a hysterical shrew.

Rosalyn's pain was also being endured by her.

Rosalind's purest conscience was tearing her and the woman apart. This pain was more profound and mentally taxing than the burning of flames.

"Go see! Go see! Go to hell! I'll still be me then!" the woman screamed in Rosalind's mind. Her voice became hoarse, as if the words had exhausted all her strength.

The past self will ultimately be buried in the past. As long as Rosalind sees the tragic death of Rustan, she will not be far from her own demise.

Then, the lady will be a lady, no longer Rosalind. All that pointless self-blame and pity for the weak will vanish with Rustan's death!

However, why do I feel a faint sadness in my heart?

The woman was unaware of her current state. Her vision was filled with people's wailing and lamentation, their desperate shouts, and a girl running forward through the collapsed streets.

Her long, flaxen hair flowed freely, and her past self was running towards a doomed end. And her present self was the one who brought all of this to fruition.

Rosalyn kept running forward. She didn't know where Rustan was, but she knew that as long as she kept running, she would see Rustan.

Mondstadt's streets were littered with rubble and debris, and blood mingled with black rain, staining the entire city with a deathly aura of black and red.

Fortunately, it was all an illusion. She passed through rubble and debris, and the poison on the ground could not touch her in the slightest.

"So tired...so far..." Rosalyn's limbs felt as heavy as lead. Even though she hadn't run very far, in her mind it felt like she had run for a very long time.

Perhaps subconsciously she understood that Rustam's fate was already sealed.

"I want to... go see Rustan!" Rosalyn shouted, swinging her limbs with all her might.

The invisible resistance was broken, and Rosalyn's speed suddenly increased. The scene before her eyes became more and more familiar.

The fountain no longer spouts water, the vegetation is blackened and decaying, the floor is uneven and riddled with holes. Everything is so familiar, yet so strange.

This is where Rosalyn used to sing, but now it's in ruins. Rosalyn's eyes darted around, and her body began to tremble.

A silent fear and despair began to envelop Rosalyn, as if what she was about to see would shatter everything she had.

Despite her body trembling uncontrollably, Rosalyn kept looking around. Then she saw a figure lying quietly behind the fountain pillar.

"Thump! Thump!" Rosalyn moved her incredibly heavy body, suppressing the sorrow and despair in her heart, and walked towards the figure.

Tears streamed uncontrollably from Rosalyn's eyes, blurring her vision. Rosalyn stiffly raised her hand to wipe away her tears.

She hadn't seen Rustan in so long, she wanted to see him, just to see him once.

Rosalind moved surprisingly slowly over the short distance of just a few meters. The figure lying flat on the ground became clearer and clearer, more and more complete.

Then Rosalind froze. It wasn't Rustan. It was a suit of armor being carried out of a museum.

"Surprise!" Ember jumped up from the ground and said to Rosalyn.

Chapter 182 The Correct Way to Approach Phase Two

2023-09-20

"who are you?"

Why are you here?!

Two identical voices reached Yu Jin's ears. However, although the voices were the same, the emotions they contained were completely different.

Rosalind was surprised and relieved to see the embers, while the lady was simply terrified.

It seems that the embers left her with considerable psychological trauma.

"Why can't I be here?" Ember asked the woman in return, then with a flick of his hand, the woman's illusory form detached from Rosalyn.

Two identical people, one filled with arrogance and disdain, the other brimming with youth and vitality.

In short, one is a forty-year-old menopausal woman, and the other is a twenty-year-old girl who has just graduated.

The woman looked at the embers that were looking around. The spot where the embers had been just moments before should have been where the dead Rustan had been, but now it had changed.

The predetermined ending has been shattered. All because of this guy in front of us!

"Russtan... Rustan, can you save him? Please... please save him!" The woman quickly stopped worrying about why Ember was there. There were too many mysteries surrounding Ember; one more or one less wouldn't make a difference.

She stared intently at Yu Jin, a rare pleading expression appearing on her proud face.

"Seriously, ma'am? A dead person from five hundred years ago! You're asking me to save her? Do you think I'm a wish-granting machine?" Upon hearing the woman's request, Yu Jin helplessly shrugged.

Rustan was a genuine dead man! Moreover, he had been dead for five hundred years, leaving not a trace of his soul, completely vanished into the long river of history.

If we really rely on Ember to save it, another monster might just pop out.

“You’re lying! You can do it, can’t you? You can do it!” The woman suddenly became very perceptive, as if she was certain that Ember could do it.

"Hiss—, how come I never noticed how sharp your eyes were before?" Yu Jin scratched his head, as if he had been seen through.

The lady and Rosalyn's faces lit up with joy upon hearing this; after five hundred years of gloom, they finally saw a glimmer of hope.

However, their joy did not last long, as an unspeakable fear emanated from Ember.

Everything fell silent, and the memory truly became a memory, frozen in this moment, gradually fading to yellow.

A faint crackling sound of burning firewood broke the silence. It grew louder and louder, eventually drowning out the thoughts of the woman and Rosalyn.

“I could do it in the past, but I can’t now. Because I don’t want to go back to the past, now I just want to move forward.”

"I'm not hungry yet, I don't want to eat anything."

Flames, flames that burn everything, flames that create everything, flames fueled by souls, appeared before the two.

This flame has consumed countless souls, ultimately forging this "monster" before us.

"Now, do you understand?" The unspoken fear dissipated, like the tide that had submerged them receding, allowing them to breathe again.

"Besides, why should I help you?" Yu Jin's tone lightened again. He continued:

"Just because I'm a refined and easygoing person doesn't mean I don't have preferences. Your favorability rating is at the very bottom of my heart, is that clear?"

Yu Jin bent down and gestured on the ground with his hand to indicate that he didn't have a good impression of the lady.

"Then why did you come here?" The woman was pale, as if she had not yet recovered from the suffocation she had just experienced.

"Big sister, don't you know your own problems? If I hadn't come, you would have set the entire Fruit Wine Lake on fire." Yu Jin stood up, the yellowed scene like a photograph being burned, consumed by tiny flames.

The embers vanished, and Rosalind merged back into the lady. A ray of light shone into the endless darkness.

The woman sensed something and began to run towards the light. The light grew larger and larger, gradually filling her vision.

The pure white light stung the woman's eyes, so she raised her hand, closed her eyes, and strode over.

"Your Majesty, what's wrong with her?"

"I don't know, he's probably going to die. You're finished, Lance Sanx, get ready to go to jail!"

"Huh? No way? I didn't do anything!"

……

A cacophony of sounds reached the woman's ears. She opened her eyes and saw a large hole had been torn in her ice cocoon.

Sunlight streamed through the large hole into the ice cocoon, illuminating the heads of Ember and Lance Sanx so clearly—the two were peering inside, clinging to the ice cocoon.

"You look great, ma'am. It's been so long, why did you change your hairstyle?" Upon seeing the lady wake up, Yu Jin immediately pulled out a mirror and shoved it in front of her eyes.

Distorted makeup, wildly curled hair, flowing and rising ashes. Everything about her was completely different from before.

"By the way, your curls look pretty good. Where did you get them permed?"

"I chopped it!"

Ember and Lance Sanx took turns commenting on the lady who had transformed into the Blazing Witch.

"Could you please move aside for a moment?" the woman asked calmly, looking at Ember and Lance Sanx who were commenting on her.