Chapter Text
It was common knowledge how dangerous Dragonspine is. Not only the extreme temperatures rivaling Shezhnaya's but also the monsters lurking within the mountain with an affinity to Cryo, the unstable frozen lakes and great cliffs giving the mountain a beautiful but grim sight; A lack of precaution was a sure death sentence.
So when the news of a Pyro monster terrorizing the area circled, Many grew curious of this newly found creature.
Zhongli heard the information unfortunate adventurers shared, bodies littered with the bloody marks of bites, scratches, and burns– Burns that, according to them, caused a pain which even the best healers can't make it go away. The physical description of this beast was scarce however, many getting attacked before realizing it was even there, but those who caught a glimpse of it agreed it had long, curved horns and a shadowy body.
And so, those in Liyue prayed to The Geo Archon for the demon to be slain.
Which is why Zhongli was now here in this snowy biome, searching for it, polearm ready. The reason why a pyro being would reside in this place was unknown to him, but alas, he had to take care of this. Despite the preparations for his retirement still ongoing, he was still on active archon duty.
Finding it wasn't challenging, following the traces of pyro lead to a small cave, the creature's back facing him. From a distance, Zhongli could make out more details of it. White ridges decorating its dark back, a long skinny tail with a triangular tip slowly swaying, pushing away the fallen snow collecting at the entrance, the same long white horns described by the adventurers, a body very much canine. This much he expected.
What Zhongli didn't expect, however, was the small fire at the center of its small lair, an seemingly injured figure resting near it. Before he could come closer to inspect it, the beast quickly turned around, ruby eyes staring at gold. The dog stood up from its spot, snarling at the intruder, baring fangs with embers puffing out of its orange snout. Despite the clear stay away message coming from it, Zhongli saw exhaustion and fear in its eyes, recognition of the power within him.
Zhongli by now had placed away his weapon, raising his hands to show he meant no harm, the canine still seeing him as a threat but did not move, neither of them did, just staring each other down to see who would back down.
Which the beast did so first, days of hunger and exhaustion slowly catching up to it– the adrenaline that continued to fuel it slowly leaving, switching to simply growling at him. Now he could take a better look at the person behind it.
They definitely were injured, one of the ankles looked twisted, a hand holding onto its opposite side– a hilichurl's arrow stuck in it– in a feeble attempt at lessening the pain, their breaths slowing minute by minute. Their attire didn't look like that of Mondstat, let alone Liyue, a bag lying next to them reminiscing of adventurers, however its spilled contents were of items Zhongli had never seen before.
So this beast was protecting its human? A valid assumption.
"I see your friend back there is terribly injured," Zhongli spoke, keeping his voice low and calm, slowly approaching "I can assist them to recover, however you must leave this place." The canine, still growling, backed away, clearly untrusting. It didn't seem to fully understand him, but enough to tell the man wanted to do something with its friend.
Its trainer.
They stirred, tired and unseeing eyes peering over, noticing Zhongli near the entrance, with a cough to clear their throat, they called for it. "Fenrir."
Fenrir– Zhongli thought he heard– stopped the growling to look at them, whining instead, with a light patting to the floor next to them, the horned canine approached, rubbing its head against their good hand. Weakly scratching behind one of the horns, they turned to Zhongli, now at the entrance of the cave.
They needed help, otherwise their demise would be certain and lead to a powerful monster loose on the mountains bordering Liyue.
He approached the pair, Fenrir still growled at him but otherwise let him come near. First he collected the items and placed them in the slightly torn bag, looking inside Zhongli saw spheres of various colors but all with a white underside tucked in with a small but fluffy-looking towel. "(Something to ask about later.)" He noted. With the bag now secured, He carefully picked the mortal up, mindful of the injuries– inflicted by the environment and the monsters. Fenrir let out a bark before walking closely to Zhongli as he made his exit, despite it being tired it kept up for the sake of staying with its human.
Entering Liyue Harbour with the demon dog in-tow was a bad idea, Zhongli realized, the only option being his adobe.
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Patching them up was easy enough, especially with them passing out midway to Zhongli's home (only downside being Fenrir's insistent barking at them, trying to wake them up. It refused to leave and even growled when he took out the hilichurl's arrow, was it at him or at the bloodied weapon? He wasn't sure.)
With the mysterious person now resting inside the guest room, He was once again watching the black hound closely. Its eyes shone with curiosity at the couch but ultimately decided that the spot right in front of the guest room was the most comfortable yet struggled to stay awake, not unlike a guard dog refusing to back down from their duty. A thought crossed Zhongli's mind.
"Are you hungry?"
Those three words made Fenrir perk up immediately, it's tail rapidly wagging. "(It has to be carnivorous if this is indeed a dog.)" And indeed it is, the plate with boar meat on it didn't last long, the horned dog immediately digging in, "(How long were they on Dragonspine? The reports aren't a week old..)" With the rest of the meat that wasn't claimed by Fenrir's stomach, Zhongli decided to cook up something for the banged-up human, something that can be easily consumed... Zhongli's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of gentle scratching, looking over to see Fenrir whining at the closed room, clawed paw at the door. He made his way to the creature and opened the door, its tail wagging as it made its way to its slumbering master, climbed onto the bed and with a flop laid next to them. With a full stomach and reassurance of safety, Fenrir finally allowed itself to rest.
It's hard to believe this loyal dog was the same pyro-breathing monster terrorizing an entire mountain and it's neighboring nations.
After some time, the faint shuffling within the room alerted him that his surprise guest was awake. Now with a freshly-made Bamboo Shoot Soup in hand, Zhongli carefully opened the door. The mystery person looked confused, unfocused as they tried to remember how they even got here. "Ah, You're awake." Making his presence known, Zhongli stepped inside.
Their focus zeroed in on the soup, its delicious smell emanating from it filling the room. Fenrir seemed to agree it was delicious because it also caught its attention. Zhongli, however, gave the black dog an unimpressed look. "You have eaten plenty already." Fenrir just barked and laid back down as he approached and placed the tray on their lap. They stared at the soup, seeing hesitation in their eyes, Zhongli smiled "This is Bamboo Shoot Soup," He explained, "It has been slow cooked to perfection, may it be of your liking."
If it wasn't for his intervention, the food wouldn't have lasted five minutes.
The feeling of something warm in their system urged them to sleep the day away, eyes growing heavy. Collecting the tray and plate, Zhongli gave them space, but any look of drowsiness was shook away, their eyes frantically looking around, searching for something.
Right, their bag.
"Your belongings are right here." Zhongli said, after placing the empty tray on a nearby table, he revealed the roughed up bag, placing it in front of them. "I have questions about its contents however, Would you tell me about them?" He continued while the banged up mortal reached out for the duo-colored spheres, checking for damages, as well as taking out a curious looking orange-red device.
With a look thrown at him while the other hand having the index finger lifted (Wait? Be quiet? Just a moment?), A click was heard, the sphere opening up in the middle, red light rushing out, dispersing before focusing on one point, turning white before a new creature revealed itself, unveiling from the bolt of energy.
"Rotom!!"
Before Zhongli could react, the round orange sprite charged headfirst towards the device with a trail of blue electro lagging behind, entering it, the human showing a look of giddiness as the device floated, coming to life. With a cheer from both the device and the mortal, words seemed to be exchanged. What they meant was unknown. 6000 years of living and this is one language he has never heard of.
The device– now possessed by the sprite no doubt– it began talking and showing words. Some of them did sound familiar.
"¿Quién eres? (Natlan?) Qui es-tu ? (Sounds like Fontaine..) Wer bist du? (Definitely Mondstat's language) Donata desu ka? (Inazuman) Who are you? (Ah)"
"My apologies, My name is Zhongli, I'm the consultant of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor." He introduced himself, the device taking a bit before facing the healing human, he hears his name being called by it, "(is it translating what I'm saying?)" Eventually they nod and introduce themselves back.
Sort of.
"You have my thanks for saving us, Fenrir didn't let anyone near so I was worried. My name isn't important but as you see, This is Fenrir–" They placed a hand on the hound's head, petting him, "And my friend here is Bolt–" the haunted device used it's extensions to mimic a wave, "There's more of us, But they're still resting, Btzz!"
"Where are they?" Zhongli asked, He has a feeling these 'friends' were stored in those metallic spheres, considering it was only them and the pyro dog back in Dragonspine. "Btzz, They're here," Bolt paused so the human can show 4 more spheres, confirming his theory. "Mountain made them tired, Too much danger." "I see, now that we have an easier method of communication, I will be direct. Are you aware that your… friend, Fenrir, has caused distress here in Liyue?"
That made them pause, confusion shown across their face, "Liyue…? This isn't Galar? Kalos? Johto? Kanto?! Btzz?!" This raised an eyebrow, "I'm afraid there aren't any places named that here in Teyvat."
Even more confusion, slowly morphing into panic, Bolt seemed to share the sentiment, fidgeting in the air while the hound on the other hand laid his head gently on their leg with a soft whine, trying to distract them from the distress.
"With this revelation I assume you aren't from Teyvat." They slowly nodded, "I see, in that case We can talk about this issue in another time, There's a lot I wish to know to become familiar with these gadgets of yours, however you are still in need of rest," Zhongli said, grabbing the discharged tray with the empty bowl, "And my own duties interfere with this, too. You're welcome to stay here until you heal." By the time Bolt was done translating, Zhongli had left and closed the door, leaving the person spiraling down with their own thoughts.