The passage was long, and the murals on either side were highly abstract.
Lin En walked behind Ronava, a shortsword in his hand. For some reason, ever since he had stepped through the stone door, he had felt something pulling at him, making him deeply uncomfortable.
Ronava led the way, while Albedo brought up the rear, taking notes. The three of them ventured deeper into the passage.
The murals changed as they went, from scenes of battle to some kind of sacrificial ceremony. Farther on, they became star charts that Lin En couldn't quite understand.
Albedo walked more and more slowly, stopping almost every few steps to write something down. The pages of his notebook rustled as he flipped through them.
"These symbols..."
He murmured.
"They resemble the writing found in the ruins of the ancient kingdom on the mountain, but they're older."
Lin En wanted to turn around and respond, but the instant he tilted his head, he felt the whole world explode before his eyes, and he passed out.
When he opened his eyes again, he was standing on a street in Liyue Harbor.
Lin En froze. He looked down at himself. His thick coat was gone, replaced by a light short-sleeved shirt. The shortsword in his hand and the backpack on his back were gone too. He had nothing on him, as if he had just woken up.
"Wasn't I on the snowy mountain? How did I get back to Liyue Harbor?"
"When are we leaving?"
A voice came from below.
Lin En looked down and saw a little girl gazing up at him.
She looked about five or six, with snow-white hair tied into two bunches that hung beside her shoulders. Her golden eyes sparkled like two little pieces of amber.
She wore a little black-and-white dress with a dried glaze lily tucked at her waist. She was pouting as she looked at him, clearly unhappy.
"Leaving? Me? Where are we going?"
"...Why aren't you keeping your promise?"
The little girl stamped her foot, and the ends of her white hair swayed.
"You promised you'd take me out to play today!"
Lin En opened his mouth, his mind blank. Who was this child? When had he promised to take her out? He had no memory of it at all.
"I... I don't know anything about that."
"You really do have a terrible memory, idiot."
A voice came from behind him, but he couldn't remember who it belonged to.
Lin En turned around and saw someone standing in the sunlight, silver hair fluttering gently in the breeze and a hint of a helpless smile in her golden eyes. That face, that tone-Ronava?
No! The cold distance was missing from her features, replaced by a softness Lin En had never seen before. The corners of her mouth curved slightly, as if she were holding back a laugh.
"It's all right... If he won't take you out to play, I will."
As she spoke, her gaze passed over Lin En and settled on the white-haired girl, her eyes full of tenderness.
Lin En looked at them, his head buzzing. Had he entered an illusion? It had to be, but how was he supposed to get out?
The little girl ran over and took Ronava's hand as naturally as could be, then reached out with her other hand and grabbed Lin En's finger. Her hand was tiny, her palm warm.
"Come on, come on! I want to see the sea!"
The little girl pulled them both along as she ran toward the harbor.
Lin En let himself be pulled along, his mind still in a fog.
He looked down at the little girl. When she smiled, her eyes and features resembled Ronava's, but he felt he had seen that lively energy somewhere before. It was like-his own.
The moment the thought occurred to him, Lin En shook his head. This was only an illusion.
The woman turned back to look at him, her eyes full of tenderness.
"What's wrong?"
"I..."
He wanted to ask what was going on, who she was, and who the child was. But when he opened his mouth, all that came out was:
"It's nothing."
The little girl dragged him around Liyue Harbor for a whole day.
She leaned over the railing to watch the fishing boats, pointing at seagulls and squealing with excitement. She dragged Lin En off to buy candied hawthorns, but after eating one, she found it too sour and shoved it at him, saying:
"...You eat it."
When she grew tired of running around, she fell asleep in the woman's arms. The woman gently patted her back, the motion natural and practiced.
Lin En sat beside them, watching, an indescribable feeling welling up in his chest. He didn't know where he was or how any of this had happened, but he knew that none of it belonged to him.
He had to get out. There were still people waiting for him outside.
Lin En stood up, wanting to see if there were any mechanisms nearby.
His movement woke the little girl. She rubbed her eyes and looked at him.
"...Are you leaving?"
Lin En paused.
"Yes."
"There are still people waiting for me. I don't belong here."
The little girl looked at him, disappointment flickering in her golden eyes for an instant. But they soon lit up again, and she held out her hand with a bell on it.
"All right... This is for you."
Lin En took the bell and examined it. It was just an ordinary bell. He reached out and patted the little girl's head.
"Mm, thank you."
The woman stood beside them with the light behind her. Though her face was blurred, her voice came through clearly.
"Go on."
Lin En wanted to look at her one more time, but the world before him began to ripple like a reflection on water and break apart, leaving only the little girl in a pitch-black world. She shook her head and smiled at him.
"I had a lot of fun today, Dad."
At last, everything shattered into pieces and fell into darkness.
His eyes snapped open.
It was the same familiar passage, with its cold air and abstract murals.
He was lying on the ground, the back of his head resting against a raised stone slab. He hissed in pain.
Ronava was standing beside her, keeping watch over him. When she saw Lin En wake up, she asked:
"Why were you unconscious for so long?"
"Mm, I was pulled into an illusion. I'm out now."
Albedo stood nearby, notebook in hand, quickly writing something down.
"He suddenly stopped and then fell over. It was as if he triggered some kind of illusion mechanism in the domain. Can you tell me what happened in the illusion?"
Lin En glanced at Ronava, and his face reddened involuntarily.
"I... I forgot."
"All right. I don't have the right to ask, either."
That dream had been too real. The warmth of the little girl's hand, Ronava's smile, the sea breeze at the harbor-all of it had been unbelievably real. And that last thing she had said... It even made him embarrassed.
He looked up at Ronava. She was looking down at him, silver hair falling beside her shoulders. Her golden eyes held their familiar calm and detachment, but deep within them was a hint of the softness he had just seen in the dream.
"I'm fine."
Lin En forced a smile.
"I just... had a strange dream."
He stood up and dusted himself off.
Albedo glanced at him but didn't press him. He simply closed his notebook and looked deeper into the passage.
"There's light ahead. That should be the domain's core."
The three continued forward. This time, Lin En walked at the back, looking down at his hand. A bell lay in his palm.
"Was it real?"
He glanced back. Behind him were only the deep, shadowy passage and the abstract murals.