An Orphan from the Starry Sky
The author is writing a book for the first time, please bear with it.
(´ﾟωﾟ｀)
Ever since the birth of humanity, mankind has never stopped the steps of exploring the starry sky.
In Liyue, people compared the starry sky to a silver river; in Fontaine, people gave names to the constellations on the night curtain; in Mondstadt, someone observed people's destinies through the starry sky; and yet some also said that this sky was simply a lie...
"Wah, look, a shooting star!" People all over the world discovered the anomaly in the sky. A shooting star streaked across the night sky, drawing a brief yet dazzling trajectory on the pitch-black night curtain.
The radiance came unawares and left soundlessly, dissolving into the night in the blink of an eye, like the fleeting and dazzling past of a passing glance.
Xingsu, a lonely child, thus arrived upon this land. No one knew where he came from, but some knew where he would be taken.
Unfortunately, he landed in Snezhnaya, one of the most unsuitable places for survival in Teyvat. If he encountered a blizzard, this boy who landed here probably wouldn't have survived for more than a few minutes.
Fortunately, this shooting star was likewise observed by Snezhnaya. Following the trajectory of the shooting star, he was soon discovered by the people of Snezhnaya lying in this icy and snowy wilderness.
But unfortunately, for an orphan of unknown origin like him, there was a unified place of shelter in Snezhnaya-the House of the Hearth.
Crazy, harsh, merciless. People frequently used such adjectives to describe the current master of the House of the Hearth-Crucabena.
Years later, Xingsu still couldn't help trembling when recalling the life in the House of the Hearth. "This woman is simply a lunatic. In her eyes, there is no familial affection and love as a 'mother'; she even throws her own biological daughter into this colosseum, solely to prove to the children her majesty as a mother and so-called fairness. As long as she can forge the king she wants, she can do anything, even if what she pays is her own life." Xingsu evaluated her thus.
Time dials back to the present. Under the "careful care" of the Fatui, what could be ascertained was that the child who fell from the sky was like a newborn infant, knowing nothing when asked three questions. What he carried with him was merely a set of clothes and a necklace.
Even knowledgeable scholars and the shrewdest researchers were unable to find the difference between him and ordinary humans.
People simply regarded him as a child abandoned by others, pointed out by the shooting star, and luckily discovered.
Just like that, Xingsu was brought to the House of the Hearth.
Starting from here, Xingsu began his life in Teyvat. He encountered all sorts of matters and made the acquaintance of all kinds of people.
"Hello there, my name is Clervie, and you?" This was Clervie, the first friend Xingsu made in the House of the Hearth.
The atmosphere of the House of the Hearth was always dominated by depression, but her appearance could always write a few cheerful notes over the oppressive main melody.
Her personality was like an angel's, empathetic, and always able to offer comfort. In the House of the Hearth where everything before one's eyes was pitch-black, the path ahead was circumscribed by the mother, and no future could be seen, she could always impart a kind of strength called hope.
"Peruere." Her self-introduction consisted of only these four words, but this was the child who left the deepest impression on Xingsu in the House of the Hearth.
It was not only because of her special eyes, but also that keep-strangers-at-a-bay aura.
At the same time, she was also one of the children the mother valued most.
The acquaintance with Peruere had to start from a spider.
That was a special class. In order to exercise the children's courage, Crucabena got ahold of several kinds of insects and animals from goodness knows where, and placed them into several airtight boxes. As for the children, they had to put their hands into the boxes and figure out what was packed inside the boxes through touch.
Xingsu still remembered that he and Peruere were the only two who successfully figured it out.
The other children tremblingly thrust their hands into the boxes in a state of utter ignorance, not daring to touch the creatures inside the boxes at all.
Even if they touched them, they pulled their hands out as if their souls had been scared out of them, and some children with smaller amounts of courage burst into crying on the spot.
Relying on the pictures in books and his sensation, Xingsu himself could find the corresponding creature according to the tactile feel after a slight touch.
As for Peruere, she directly took the spiders and bugs out with her hands, and directly asked the mother after the class ended whether she could permit her to keep the spider as a pet.
"You don't look afraid of these cold-blooded animals at all." After class, Xingsu chatted idly with Peruere.
"Mh."
"How did you do that?"
"They are very much like me."
"Ha?"
Peruere did not give Xingsu the explanation he wanted. But obviously, this girl remembered him.
In the first few months at the House of the Hearth, Xingsu's life was very fulfilling. In the morning he studied language and culture, and in the afternoon he exercised his physique and learned swordsmanship.
Gradually, people discovered that Xingsu's learning ability was very strong, or rather, overly strong. Things that others needed to memorize for a long time to learn, he could recite backward after looking at them twice. Swordsmanship skills that others needed to practice for a month to learn, he could perform fluidly after practicing for a day.
Such a genius youth soon stood out within the House of the Hearth, and naturally was soon noticed by Crucabena.
On this day, Crucabena took away a batch of children, which included Clervie, Peruere, and Xingsu.
Xingsu was very smart; he understood what this meant. But looking at this mother figure, he knew that if he didn't follow her wishes, his end would definitely be very miserable.
Ever since joining the House of the Hearth these past few months, seven people around him had already gone missing without a trace. Some of these people had disobeyed the mother figure, and some had simply failed to meet the mother's requirements.
He didn't want to, and didn't dare to, think about the end of these people.
They came to a new place and met new children. Xingsu didn't need much observation to know that these children were obviously of higher quality and had been brainwashed more thoroughly by Crucabena.
Xingsu always surpassed a crowd of children with his super-strong learning ability. Unfortunately, at his age, he didn't understand how to conceal his brilliance. Even if Xingsu released kindness toward the other children and wanted to help others, those children would only be instigated by an emotion called jealousy and treat his help as a provocation.
Peruere rarely interacted with others, but because of her special eyes, she was always treated as an anomaly. At times, so-called "righteous" children provoked her under the slogan of eradicating heretics.
Well, from then on, no one came to provoke this baneful star.
Clervie was like an angel sent down by the heavens, yet her wonderful personality became her biggest weakness. She always measured others with kindness, until she was bullied and discovered that she was the one being isolated and toyed with.
Peruere and Xingsu frequently stood up for Clervie, causing them to gradually be given the cold shoulder by various small cliques.
These three little ones appeared somewhat out of place here. Thus, the three of them gradually drew closer and closer together.
The training here was also even more cruel. Unlike the previous training which used wooden swords dedicated to training, the real deal of iron swords was used here, and perhaps with the slightest carelessness, it would be a heavy injury and exiting the scene.
The "Hunting Game" acquired new rules and order here. The previous hunting game was like hide-and-seek; in the game, the children were happy, and there would be no friction and conflict.
Whereas here, the game changed. The hunting game turned into a battle royale, and only the people who survived in the game could obtain the mother's reward...
Along with the right to survive.
As for the losers, they went to other positions to continue shining and generating heat.
Either they nourished the land of Fontaine, or they contributed to Snezhnaya's medical technology, or they literally shone and generated heat in a physical sense. No one knew, no one pitied.
This was the law of survival of the House of the Hearth.
Days passed like this day after day. The children coming here grew fewer and fewer, and the children leaving here grew more and more. In Crucabena's words, she would pour everything she had for all of you to cultivate the most powerful king.