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nWhile he was still digesting large amounts of knowledge from the various things he learned about other people, Venti played a couple of mournful songs that seemed to go on forever.

nHis fingers were like running water over a great river.

nHis voice filled the void and the shadows of the night, and a fire ignited within him.

nHis heart was beating with each note, each word.

nHis body shimmered and danced on the very edge of the Starsnatch Cliff.

nHis sheer talent overshadowed anyone that would try to compete with him. He sang of the being that was his only friend: his companion, his only family, the proof of his identity. The Dragon that was with him for so long.

nThe Mist on the mountains was now as if a living being. It flew round the Bard, mixing with his emotions.

nThe Mist was no longer a wild creature, but had become a part of him.

nThe Bard’s fingers moved on the Lyre, the black strings singing a tale of freedom and despair.

nHis fingers also played a lamenting song, the unhappy history of a young spirit and his first destination.

nHe felt a tear slide down his cheek, one after another, until the song came to an end, and with it ended the tale of the Boy and the Dragon, the duo of old friends that prevailed through the worst of humanity. Together.

nAfter a performance that took several minutes, there was a far-off swish in the blackness that crowded the cliff’s edge.

nThe group noticed great swirls of wind forming at the hillside ahead.

nA distant screech reached them from out of the dark, like a hundred claws on a thousand blackboards.

nWhirlwinds carried themselves through the dark sky.

nWith his eyes hurting from the pressure of the wind, Yomite could only barely see a large silhouette, flying in the sky.

nOut of the dark swooped the dragon.

nAs it approached out of the void, leathery wings creaking, eyes narrowed to a pair of burning slits. The dragon opened its fearsome jaws, gazing down at the group of individuals.

n“He came. Stormterror, the Dragon. Everyone, get ready!” Diluc readied his claymore.

nHe knew that their initial plan was to talk it out with it, but if it came to worst he wouldn’t hesitate to cut it down.

n“Dvalin…” Venti gazed at Dvalin’s back that was still missing quite a few of its scales, albeit no longer bleeding as much as before.

nThere was also one final poisoned blood clot which they had to remove, but it would be hard to do so without Dvalin’s permission.

nYomite’s initial attack from a couple of days ago must have hurt it quite a bit and now it’s more restless than ever before.

n“Ah, The Divine Dragon of Banishment, my pet. It’s been an eternity since I saw you last…” Despite not losing her persona, her shaking legs betrayed her words.

nVenti looked at Fischl in confusion.

n(Her pet? Does she know Dvalin? I must ask her about this later…)

nThe dragon flew in large circles above the cliff. It was huge, at least as big as three wagons being lined up one to the other.

nThen the flying lizard dove straight at a very high speed.

n“Everyone, get under cover!” Diluc shouted as he lifted his claymore to shoulder the impact.

nYet it never came.

nInstead, the Dragon settled itself on the very edge of the cliff.

nVenti noticed Dvalin’s eye right in front of him.

nIt directly glared at him, the pupil taking up about half of his body.

nHe was suddenly paralysed by fear.

nThis wasn’t the friend he knew. It seemed to be almost fully under the control of the Abyss Order now…

n“Why have you have come…What has been done…cannot be undone…” Dvalin growled.

n“Then why do I see sadness in your eyes! Sadness that speaks for your yearning for this song…just like mine…” Venti tried to appease his lifelong friend, but Dvalin simply ignored him.

nThe Dragon slid its gaze across the party and it’s irises widened as it spotted the reason for a huge portion of its pain.

nOf course, it immediately locked onto Yomite, staring at him with pure hatred.

n(I **ing knew that I should have hidden myself!!) Yomite screamed internally, (Damn you. Venti!)

n“Why is that human here!?” Dvalin shrieked, and the party almost felt their eardrums rupture.

n“You…You were planning this all along!? To have me slain by him!? You bring these humans here to trap me!? I see you’ve changed quite a lot, Barbatos!!”

nWith that, Venti’s real identity that only Lumine and Yomite knew of was just relayed to the rest of the party, but Venti didn’t have time to worry about that.

n“Damn it! I knew it wouldn’t go well If he saw me…It looks like he leaves us no choice, we will fight him, Hu Tao, get ready!” Yomite urgently said, still standing on the cliff, his blade still held.

n“Okie Dokie~!” She lit her polearm on fire and was ready to proceed with the plan.

n“No, you must not fight Dvalin!” Venti tried to convince him. “I…don’t want any more blood shed…”

n“There’s indeed no need for that,” Jean nodded, “The situation looks dire, however, we need to find a way for him to believe us.”

n“Alright…” Yomite also agreed. “Venti can you at least use the Lyre on this dude, to calm him down!? Do it fast! I feel like he wants to swallow me whole…It’s not like I’m scared or anything!”

n“I will give it a try! Oh, by the way, Dvalin actually has no gender, so words like ‘Dude’ do not apply to it. Although many people believe he is male, due to its authoritative voice, I followed suit and also called him a ‘he’. Funny right? Oh, I almost forgot…I’m still a boy by the way~”

n“Stop…**ing…reminding me! Now is not the time!”

n“Te-he.”

nVenti started playing another song, only to be interrupted by Dvalin once more, “No point…Leave here! I will no longer believe anything you say.” It flapped it’s ginormous wings as it planned to take off.

n“Wait! Dval—” Venti tried to explain himself, but a large chunk of ice blew him away, Diluc catching him in his arms.

n“—Do not be fooled by him, dear Dragon…” The sneak attack was conducted by a Cryo Abyss Mage that was hiding behind Dvalin’s back.

n“He left you to rot alone…For hundreds of years! Now he attempts to deceive you once more…Let your wrath fester! Mondstadt has already turned its back on you!”

nThe abyss mage climbed Dvalin’s back and started chanting his magic, “It’s time for you to server a true master!”

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