the same events as in chapter 31 will be written here but this time about what aether and paimon were doing.

"see you later!" you said and waved aether and paimon off as you were staying behind with diluc to confirm your identity.

aether made his way on the wooden bridge, his eyes focused on what is in front of him. all the new designs, houses, food, smells and overall the new culture surely amazed him.

"aether, look! look!" paimon said as she floated behind him to some food stall. "can we get this please!" she spoke in her high pitched voice as she dragged out the 'please' from her sentence.

aether simply ignored the floating girl, he knew it would take too long to convince her and simply left the matter by continuing to walk.

on their way to the rite of descension, paimon kept asking to stop by stalls, only to be met with simple a simple 'no' from aether.

they ascended the stairs that were made out of thick stones, ascending so high up that they could party see half of liyue city from that spot.

aether kept on walking with paimon floating behind, they both looked around and cherished the scenery around them, the beautiful pink silk flowers and few glaze lillies in the small terrace along with the long bamboo caught their attention.

in front of them was the place where the rite of descension was going to be held, they walked towards the platform that was a little higher up and blended in the crowd.

now standing behind in the crowd, paimon who had been flaoting could see clearly, however, aether couldnt see much due to the fact that there were taller people in front of him.

"we gotta get up front! we cant see anything from here." paimon said. she didnt even wait for aether to allow it and just started floating above people, going to the front.

aether had no choice but to follow so he did. he made his way through the people, pushing them gently out of the way to catch up with paimon.

he managed to do it and now stood fairly close to the small statue in front of him. he could see clearer now what was happening and saw three woman standing in front of the ritual to summon rex lapis.

in the middle of them stood a fairly elegant woman, with red eyes and an overal professional appearance.

as she made a step forward, her long white-ashy hair, flew behind her into the wind. her hair was partly tied up into a bun and accessorized with a black hairpin.

what really caught aethers attention was the red tassel decoration atop her head which laid right between her eyes, complimenting the red color.

the woman glanced upwards, her hand out stretched to block the bright sun from her vision. she soon retracted her hand back in a slow and elegant manner, and then spoke up.

"the hour is upon us." she said in a calm voice which was loud enough to even hear at the back of the crowd.

she had announced the start of the rite of descension, the two woman in similar purple dresses turned to the woman in the middle and bowed for her.

and with that, the woman in the middle raised both her hands. small sparks of a bright yellow and white-ish light started emitting around her in an instant, taking the form of vertical stripes

the stripes became bigger in appearance and soon turned into yellow and amber colored stones floating around her, she had a geo vision and was using it to summon rex lapis.

she swiftly turned around to face the small statue like device behind her and pointed at it, the stones around her waist now circled around her arm and soon followed to the statue.

the stones were inserted in the statue in a blink of an eye and almost immediately it begin emitting the same bright yellow light again, but this time in the statue.

the light became brighter and brighter and then reached out to the sky, making a bright beam appear in front of aether and paimon eyes.

the light continued to fly into the sky at an incredible speed, it touched the clouds soon and the once white clouds were now a light yellow.

other clouds started circling around the beam of light, creating a vortex in the sky. it all went according the ritual, untill the yellow clouds turned into a dark grayish color.

the clouds became thicker and it overshadowed the rite of descension. now in the shadows, aether could look up at the sky without being blinded by the sun.

he saw a darker shadow appearing in the sky, it was moving. soon it started taking a blurry form of a dragon and before he knew, the dragon descended from the sky onto the platform everyone was standing on.

but the dragon didnt just descend, it fell. and now laid motionless onto the platform. everyone took a step back in fear of what just happened.

with everyone backing away, the woman who had performed the ritual did the complete opposite. she approached the fallen dragon slowly and kneeled down to inspect it.

with furrowed brows she scanned the dragon, her worst thoughts being confirmed. it was quiet for a while, excluding the silent gossiping among the crowd, paimon and aether both had no idea what was happening.

the woman stood up in a fast motion and began speaking, this time a little louder than before, "rex lapis has been killed! seal the exits!" she ordered.

around twenty guards appeared on the scene, all running to all exits to make sure no one could leave. the other guards began approaching the people in the crowd, questioning them.

"did she just say ..." paimon started off, now floating in front of aether. "the geo archon is dead?!" she exclaimed in shock and disbelief.

aether kept his cool, he scanned the situation around him and came to a conclusion, "look at the millelith, theyre all questioning others." he said as his gaze remained on the guards.

"theyre looking for people who came to close." aether continued saying, now looking to his other side to see the exact same thing, people being questioned.

paimon slowly processed the information and started freaking out, "we came to close..!" she said and floated in front of aethers face.

"does that mean we are suspects?!" she said, but this time a little quieter, not wanting to let others hear that.

aether tried to keep his composed nature, he knew that he would be held hostage by the guards once they learned that he was not from this world, that would be awfully suspicious.

he turned around and spoke up, "lets go paimon. we cant fall into their hands." he said and looked at the floating girl who had a confused but worried expression on her face.

fortunately she understood and went along with aethers plan. they started walking slowly out of the entrance, the same where they came in from.

when they arrived back there, aether made sure to wait untill most guards were walking elsewhere, then he made his move and made a run for it with paimon following close behind.

they were finally far enough, there were way less guards now. aether was panting slightly as he was hiding behind a small plant, he only had to descend the stairs in front of him and could make his way out of liyue safely.

he saw only two guards and decided to ascend the stairs silently. he appeared from his hiding spot from behind the smaller plant and made his first step to the stairs.

"aether wai-" paimon yelled out silently. but it was already too late, aether stepped on top of a branch. the cracking sound echoed through the silent place and the two guards shot their eyes towards the sound.

"lets go!" aether said quickly, he made a run for it once again but this time seen by the guards. one of the guards saw them making a run for it and informed the other guards, "theyre over there!" he said in a loud voice while pointing at aether and paimon.

aether tried his best to descend from the stairs, "arrest them!" another guard spoke up. aether nearly tripped as he finally was at the bottom of the stairs, but there were already about ten guards there waiting for him.

aether and paimon were getting approached from two sides now, from the top and bottom of the stairs. "theres nowhere to run!" one of the guards said sternly while pointing his spear at aether.

aether didnt hesitate to pull his sword, but before he even had a chance to attack, he heard an unfamiliar voice right behind him.

"hey there, hold still." said an unfamiliar voice. both paimon and aether had no idea where it came from. in the blink of an eye there were sudden hydro arrows getting fired at the guards who were cornering paimon and aether.

the arrows rushed next to aether, he had no time to process what was happening as he saw the guards in front of him collapse, some were simply thrown off their feet but all guards were hit.

the owner of the hydro arrows made his appearance, aether saw a dark shadow loom over him and looked up immediately, he was met with a tall man jumping over aether with ease.

the new man swiftly landed in front of aether with ease, his back facing the blonde boy. the suspicious male looked over his shoulder back at aether, his short orange hair flowing in the wind as he landed his gaze on the two behind him.

"come with me." he said calmly with a small smile displayed on his lips. aether heared the distant shouts of more guards coming and didnt hesitate to run after the orange haired man.

they kept running, taking turns and running behind corners through liyue untill they lost the guards. finally they lost track of them all and panted from all running. although the new man didnt seem to pant, almost as if he was used to running for his life.

"just who are you exactly?!" paimon said after she caught her breath, floating around aether and keeping her safe distance from the suspicious new man.

the man put both his hands on his hips and turned the corners of his mouth upwards, "call me childe." he simply said.

paimon took the words right out of aethers mouth, "childe? what, so were supposed to dote on you?" she said with sass in her voice while putting her hands on her hips, mimicking childe.

childe laughed at the floating girl, giving her a closed eyed smile in the process, "haha, no no, not at all." he explained to her.

"its an alias of sorts." he finished, he opened his eyes open again and his smile faded in an instant as he inspecting aether in front of him.

his eyes narrowed, "youre... aether arent you?" he spoke in an emotionless tone, he was suddenly unable to read.

aether took a step back, his hand on his side, ready to grab his sword at any time and opened his mouth, "yes. i am." he sternly replied.

paimon didnt know what was going on, she floated back to keep herself with aether. childes eyes widened and he spoke up, "i heard of your deeds in mondstadt." he started off.

"i couldnt help but notice you during the proceedings back there." he continued and folded his arms in front of his chest, eyeing both paimon and aether.

aether was about to visibly relax. 'its just a fan.' he thought to himself. that was untill childe opened his mouth once again.

"in mondstadt..." he started with, his orange hair flowing slightly in front of his eyes as he continued to speak. "i dont suppose you came across a 'signora' by any chance?" he said with his eyes on aether, scanning his reaction.

it was not aether, but paimon who quickly put the pieces together, "signora... childe..." she started muttering out loud as she held her chin.

she shot her eyes upwards to childe, floating slightly back in the process as well, "youre fatui! one of the harbingers!" she said as she widened her eyes, her arms in front of herself in a way of protecting herself.