Northwest of Mondstadt, the Stormterror's Lair.
It was very late at night.
The dilapidated, towering ancient walls and the broken pagoda point askew at the night sky.
The Stormterror Dvalin dwells atop the highest section of the broken tower in the center of the ruins.
Its enormous body was coiled up, its dark blue scales gleaming coldly in the moonlight, its wings folded at its sides, and its azure eyes half-closed.
Venti sat on a section of broken wall not far from it.
He held a zither in his arms, and an empty wine jug lay beside him.
These days, after the Gnosis was taken away, he has mostly stayed here.
He stayed with Dvalin.
He was plucking the strings of his instrument, playing a tune.
The sounds of the piano and the wind intertwined.
Everything was quiet.
Until that very moment.
--
Without warning, Dvalin, who was perched atop the broken tower, suddenly opened his eyes.
"Buzz--"
A low, uneasy dragon roar rolled from deep within its throat.
Those deep blue dragon eyes suddenly narrowed, staring intently at the direction of City of Mondstadt.
The next second, it suddenly spread its wings, which blotted out the sky.
A fierce wind, without warning, erupted in the ruins.
The rubble on the broken tower was swept up and flew everywhere, and the dust that had accumulated on the ancient walls for thousands of years was completely lifted up.
Dvalin raised its head high, letting out short, restless roars, its body twisting uneasily, its claws digging deep cracks into the stone tower.
The Anemo surrounding it has gone out of control.
That wasn't the agonizing rage of someone consumed by the Abyss.
Rather, it was a kind of... instinctive tremor from the deepest part of one's blood.
" Dvalin!"
Venti's piano playing stopped abruptly.
He leaped from the broken wall, landed in front of the dragon, and raised his hand.
A gentle, blue breeze spread from his palm, like a hand gently pressing on the restless Anemo in Dvalin.
" Calm down."
Dvalin's proud head slowly lowered.
It was breathing heavily, and the wind from its breath made Venti's hair and cloak rustle.
The restlessness in those deep blue eyes gradually subsided, leaving behind something Venti rarely saw in its eyes.
--
Puzzled.
And, a hint of almost instinctive... awe.
"What's wrong?"
Venti stopped playing the piano, stepped forward, and gently placed her hand on Dvalin's cool scales.
"What is it that has disturbed you?"
Dvalin simply lowered his massive head and let out a very low, very long dragon roar towards City of Mondstadt.
Venti's expression changed slightly.
He understood.
Venti was silent for two seconds.
He slowly turned around and looked in the direction of City of Mondstadt.
In the darkness of night, only a distant, warm glow remained of the city lights, lying quietly on the earth.
I can't see anything.
"... In the city?"
He asked softly.
Dvalin responded in a low voice.
--
Venti lowered her eyes.
Venti closed her eyes.
He raised his hand, transforming his power into a fine wisp of wind, and cautiously probed in the direction Dvalin had indicated.
That breeze swept across the slumbering Cider Lake, over the windmills, and over the skies above City of Mondstadt.
Finally, they landed on the top floor of the Goth Grand Hotel.
There was nothing there originally.
The power that had alarmed Dvalin seemed to flash for only a brief moment before its master silently withdrew it, as if it had never existed.
But just before that wisp of energy completely vanished, Venti's wind caught up with it, capturing its last remaining trace.
Then, Venti froze.
His closed eyes suddenly opened.
Those eyes, always tinged with a hint of drunkenness, a smile, and an air of nonchalance towards everything.
For the first time, a look of near-horrification clearly welled up within me.
His face paled for a moment in the moonlight.
"This is..."
"The Primordial..."
Venti uttered those two words almost unconsciously, through clenched teeth.
It is the primordial power of Teyvat.
"That little girl..."
Her power...
"How could this be? Overnight, I suddenly rose so many ranks!"
He suddenly chuckled softly.
It was impossible to tell whether the laughter was bitter or something else.
"It seems... I, the Wind God, am truly getting old."
[ Liyue, the Chasm, at the foot of the Dragon-Queller Tree ]
In the dark depths of the earth, a colossal rock dragon, bound by layers upon layers of dark brown seals, slumbers in an upside-down cave.
It has been here, sleeping for a very, very long time.
But in that instant when that wisp of power shone brightly in distant Mondstadt—
Deep within the cave, the dragon's eyes, which had been closed for thousands of years and were as hard as rock, suddenly cracked open.
"Buzz."
The entire cave trembled.
Pebbles fell from the rock face with a soft rustling sound.
An aged voice echoed muffledly from the depths of the seal.
"This aura..."
The Azhdaha slowly turned its enormous head, which was bound by chains.
The murky eyes, belonging to the rock, gazed towards the unseen, distant north.
"This is..."
Its voice paused for a long time, as if it were trying hard to recognize something almost forgotten by time.
" Light Realm..."
"The source of the Light Realm."
The turbidity in the twin-rock dragon's eyes gradually faded, revealing an almost solemn, ancient light.
"It's the king..."
"The king is awake."
As the seal stirred, the runes glowed with a soft, golden light, like a hand gently pressing down on it.
Azhdaha remained silent for a moment, and finally, slowly, closed his eyes again.
"... But... she's still too green."