Hold over Myriad of Worlds

Time passes quickly, when you have inspiration and purpose in view. I only started, and yet a new morning has arrived. After some refreshing batch to watch off the dust of yesterday, I left the villa and returned to Hold. Not long after, the first person arrived.

-"Good morning, Yue. How was yesterday? Everything went smoothly?"

-"Hello Ningguang, it went well. I had a little discussion with Ouranos, after which he agreed to officially recognize us and not interfere in our actions."

-"I feel like that 'discussion' is different from a negotiation that I'm imagining, but all's well that ends well."

-"Don't worry, I'm not battle junky words are better than swords."

-"While I haven't been thinking like that, now I'll certainly have to ask Astraea for details."

-"On the subject of Astraea, she will come here with goddess Loki and probably Hephaestus, here I compiled the general agreement reached with Loki and her familia."-I passed the contract draft to Ningguang. -"Finer details are yet to be decided, but if it's not a problem, then I'll leave it in your hands."

-"Let's see... Not bad. I'll be sure to meet a party of goddesses later. Now, I need a little assistance."

-"How can I help you?"

-"Emperor is quite interested in this place and wishes to enter Hold."

-"Is that not good?"

-"Well, the trouble is that he will not come personally but send a representative."

-"Someone bad?"

-"No, he is capable, only... Mr. Zhongli is someone who would listen to stories all day if given a chance to."

-"You mean that he is lazy. Not a big problem for me."

-"Lazy is not the word I would use, more like with head in the clouds."

-"Many people are eccentric. Let's meet that, Mr. Zhongli."

-"Yeah, let's go. The rest of Liyue Qixing is also waiting with him."

Soon, we left Hold and arrived in the ancient city. Looking around, I see great pavilions with mountains behind and bustling port over the quiet sea on the other side.

-"Beautiful place. After seeing this, I feel much more confident in you leading Hold."

-"It was not me who built this city but rather my countless predecessors and the powers of emperor."

-"Don't make your contribution insignificant. While mountains and buildings haven't changed for many years, people living and working here are not elders stuck in the past. Every person around is young, working with a smile. Those smiles are your hard work."

-"Thanks, that means a lot to me."-Ningguang smiled softly

-"Can you show me your power? I can feel that air around here is saturated with elements."

-"No problem, we use elemental energy with a vision to manifest powers."

-"Vision... Practical tool, but be careful your power may vary greatly based on elements in the worlds you visit."

-"I'll be careful. I plan to get a blessing from god and strengthen myself."

-"Yes, really good choice. While I admit the usefulness of Vision, the power you don't fully own is dangerous."

-"That's true, but aren't you in the same place as Emanator."

-"Indeed, the gaze of Aeon may wander. That's why you need to keep that in mind and make plans for the time when that power is taken away."

During the talk, we arrived at Yuehai Pavilion, where we could see a group of five people.

-"Sorry for the wait. This is Yue. He also was chosen to lead the Hold."

-"Pleasure to meet you."

-"Allow me to make introductions. From the right, you can see Keqing."

-"Hello, I'm Keqing, Yuheng of the Liyue Qixing."

-"Next is Yelan."

-"Hi"

-"In the middle is Ganyu."

-"Nice to meet you. I'm general secretary Ganyu."

-"Standing next is Yanfei."

-"Welcome, I'm Yanfei. If you need some legal advice, be sure to contact me."

-"And last but not least Mr. Zhongli."

-"Thank you for your time, Mr. Yue."

-"Meeting new people and broadening horizons is always worth the time spent."

-"Let's end pleasantries here and move to Hold. We can talk while we walk."

-"OK, but Mr. Zhongli, may I ask you, are you sure you want to come with us to Hold?"

-"Yes, why?"

-"To enter Hold, you eider have to be a member of have the trust of a person capable of taking you there, but your power... I'm not sure about your purpose."

-"Power? What do you mean, Yue? Mr. Zhongli is a Vision holder like the rest of us."

-"In my eyes, while you are simply gathering elements around you, he is spewing them all around wherever he walks."

-"It would seem I owe you an explanation... Very well. The reason why I generate elemental energy is that I own Gnosis."

-"Gnosis is it not the proof of archon status? Wouldn't that mean you are archon?!"-exclaimed Keqing.

-"Yes, that would be I."

-"Mr. Zhongli uses geo vision, which would make him geo archon... isn't that Morax!"

-"Please keep it under wraps."

-"Would you mind explaining what is going on? Why is the emperor hiding his identity like that?"

-"Allow me to start by explaining my plans..."

While the girls were listening to Zhongli, we arrived at Hold just in time to run into Astraea, who was leading Loki and Hephaestus with a few other people. After another round of introductions and little explanations about the title of a goddess, we carried on sightseeing.

-"Excuse me for hiding like that, Mr. Yue."

-"No need for apologies. I understand why you did it. I share your view on not wanting people to depend on you, while I believe there are better ways to ensure that yours is not bad. Also, call me Yue, and I'll call you Zhongly directly."

-"I'll do so. Yue, what do you think of Teyvat?"

-"While I can't say much as my stay was short, I felt like the whole world was strangely oppressive, like afraid of something."

-"The world was? Do worlds have filings?"

-"Not filings but certainly intent. Many things pose intent, works of craftsmen, techniques for martial artists, and so do worlds. Their intent is simply to survive and grow."

-"So you felt like something is threatening our world."

-"Exactly, I do not know what it is, but at least I have not felt anything in Liyue. It is either far away or somewhere hidden deep."

-"I'll keep your warning in mind. Do you have some experience with such things?"

-"Yes, most of my time, I travel around the world to help planets with different catastrophes."

-"Could you do the same in our world?"

-"It's not impossible. I'm just afraid of one thing. Even though the world is in such a nervous state, nothing is happening on the surface. That would mean either your world is too weak to respond to threats or something is stopping it."

-"Hmm... I see. I'll try to educate myself on the subject more and find answers."

-"I plan to invite you to become part of Hold as an advisor under Progress. As a person who helped grow civilization, your aid would mean much."

-"Why not? That library will be open for me if I join you, right?"

-"Yes, the position of librarian would be quite fitting, don't you think?"

-"Then we have an agreement. I'll become a librarian and advisor, but don't require me to fight for you. I want to retire."

-"Don't worry, leave fighting for others."

As such, I gained my first advisor. When they saw all that Hold has to offer right now, we sat in reception while Ganyu got us some tea.

-"From what I heard, Emperor already agreed to join Hold, so there should be no problem in Liyue becoming an integral part of it."

-"You are right, Ningguang. For now, Liyue will assist Nobunaga as a resource base."

-"Contract has already been signed yesterday. Now, rest of you, what position do you want to take?"

-"As a fellow Qixing, I'll follow you to Avarice."

-"You are always welcome, Kequing. Ganyu, will you also follow?"

-"If I may, I suggest Ganyu join Hope to help Elysia as she is rather a chaotic person. Someone level-headed is needed to reign her in."

-"What do you think about Yue's suggestion, Ganyu?"

-"Allow me to meet Elysia first, but I'm not opposed."

-"As for me, I'll go to Duty. My legal experience may fit in Avarice, but I would rather use it to help people than gain riches."

-"I welcome you, Yanfei."

-"Yelan, what about you?"

-"Domination, I think. My specialist experience can be most useful there."

-"Then I'll send you as Liyue representative to Nobunaga's side. You can discuss with her about your responsibilities."

-"Loki, what about your familia?"

-"For now, I'll join Duty. In addition, Finn decided to join Hope while Riveria will join Progress."

-"You are all welcome, Riveria. Do you also want to join as a Librarian?"

-"What would that position require of me?"

-"Progres, as of yet, has only three official positions created by Hold. Librarians are people who can be considered leading researchers and scholars, Masters are those who pursue the craft, and lastly, Explores are only somewhat combat-oriented groups under Progress. They try to unravel mysteries outside the safe walls of Hold."

-"Then I ask to be made a Librarian"

-"Yue, don't forget about me. The position of Master is the best fit for me. I'll even throw Tsubaki as a bonus."

-"I was just about to propose that. Happy to have you on board, Hephaestus."

We continued for some time. In the middle, Elysia joined us with her usual enthusiasm. When the evening arrived, we decided to eat something. I proposed to cook something for them. Not even 30 minutes later, we all sat for our meal.

-"Delicious, Yue. Is there anything you can't do?"

-"Many things, but I'll learn them all someday."

-"Ambitious goal."

-"Just the path I follow, live in a way that at the end you are the best you can be."

-"Hard life to live."

-"Yes, but rewarding."

-"What are your plans for later?"

-"Don't have any yet. I'll probably go back to the workshop."

-"How about you take us to your world for a quick look?"

-"Yes, we would like to see how different your world is."

-"You wouldn't mind that, right, Yue?"

-"OK, Let's do that. Just word of warning, on my side, I'm currently in the middle of traveling, and my ship is not too spacious."

-"Don't worry, we just want to take a look."

And so it was decided. Everybody quickly finished the meal, and we went to my world.

-"Spaceship! It is a true spaceship!"

-"Elysia, calm down a little. Please make yourself at home."

-"Spaceship, vessel to travel not only in the air but through wast empty cosmos, you were right that it shatters my worldview."

-"Yes, your world has been created in the image of the divine realm. As such, it is not a planet like we can see outside from time to time."

-"Around every star in the sky exist so many planets. I just understood what the vastness of a world means."

-"Most are barren rocks or cloud formations. Even so, there are countless lives among them. Allow me to deviate from the set course a little so that I can show you one of the stations here in the frontier."

-"Frontier?"

-"We divide most of the known universe in sectors, and outside of them is known as frontier, where many still explore unknown."

-"Like in that book you lent me to read."

-"You are correct. The person who wrote that book was part of Nameless."

-"Why are they called Nameless?"

-"They are called that as they do not seek fame nor profit. They simply follow their path of Trailblaze."

-"Are they not that much different from us at Hold?"

-"As Avarice, I oppose such sentiment."

-"Those who follow Aeon Akivili are held highly in my opinion, just they are adventures rather than settlers. While their motto rings true, in my heart, I seek something more than simple travel."

-"I can understand that it is good to explore, but if you don't expand there, it will just be another addition to maps, nothing more."

-"That motto, can you tell us about it?"

-"There are three directions on the compass of destiny — the Unknown, the Known, and the Unknowable. THEY can tolerate the Unknown, but will never bow to the Unknowable. Those are words that lead Trailblazers."

-"Never bow to the Unknowable, huh... it would seem that no path is easy to tread."

We arrived at the station while admiring the stars passing us by. When we exited the ship, what greeted us were soldiers of IPC pointing spears and guns at us.

-"I suggest you lower your weapons. We are not your enemies."

-"Apologies, we are at heightened security as Antimater Legion has been harassing surrounding routes for some time, even attempting to attack this station."

-"Them again... Understandable. We are just stopping for a short while. We won't trouble you."

-"Thank you, sorry for the inconvenience."

We passed the checkpoint with no problem and arrived at the market part of the station. While passing through still crowded space, we made our way to the observation deck.

-"It would seem that no matter the place, there are always troubles."

-"Peace is never absolute. When interests meet, there are conflicts."

-"Let's go. There are not many interesting places here."

-"And yet a surprise meeting is making up for this boring space."- A calm voice sounded next to us

-"It indeed is. Not every day, one can run into someone who is watched by Nous."

-"Pleasure is mine. I'm Ruan Mei, #81 member of Genius Society."

-"I'm Yue, as you are probably aware. What can I do for you?"

-"Truth be told, I wish for you to assist my research on life, but right now, I'm also traveling somewhere. As such, I'd like to exchange methods to communicate with you later."

-"Good, if it is not a problem, may I know what are you planning to do?"

-"My dear friend invited me to join a research project, so I'm traveling to join her."

-"I'm also in need of assistance from some capable research personnel. After I'm done with my matters, I'll go to you for some discussion."

-"Hmm... I do not know if I'm able to assist the Emanator of Finality, but I'll be waiting."

-"See you soon then."

-"Goodbye."

-"Your friend?"

-"No first meeting, but she is one of those who attracted the interest of Nous Aeon of Erudition that shows her capabilities.

-"You plan to invite her and her friend?"

-"Yes, as Progress, more researchers will be necessary for our future growth."

-"You go all in on this Hold."

-"I do not belong to any other fraction, so it is easy for me. I don't have to take care of other interests than my own and Hold's."

-"Yes. While I believe in Hold, Liyue is still first for me."

-"Let's go, I'll show you Nebula nearby, and we will end this trip."

-"After you."

We boarded my ship and flew towards Nebula, but what had met us was not what we were looking for.