A small figure sat alone atop a tree, biting into an apple they spoke as they chewed, "This timeline will surely be interesting." The apple dropped to the floor as they disappeared into the night.
Inazuma
The orange flare of sun peered through a window and caressed the cheek of a figure with night-black hair. The person's eyes fluttered open almost hesitantly.
"Ugh morning already...." They groaned out in a hoarse voice as they attempted and failed to rise from the comfort of their bed. That was until they seemed to remember something and shot up looking around them.
"I don't sense the Leylines being tampered with anymore? Have they already left." The person quickly stumbled over to their wardrobe and put on clothes while almost drunkenly tottering to the door of their room.
They effortlessly slid open the door and, getting more stable on their feet, began walking towards the courtyard of their Narukami Shrine. There their eyes met with the beautiful Guuji, her cherry blossom hair sifted like ribbons in the gentle winds.
"You are awake already? My, it's nearly noon how early? She immediately teased the man resulting in a scowl forming at his lips.
"I like to enjoy my sleep..." The man paused for a moment as he contemplated something. "It can't be noon! The sun just shun through my window anyway!" He retorted quickly.
Before Miko could talk he had quickly waved off the topic, "Has that one guest left already?" Yae Miko grinned at his words.
"You mean the one almost as mysterious as you?" Elias had no time to argue and nodded at her answer.
"He left quite a while ago I believe to meet the Raiden Shogun. I can only wonder what he's after with her but he did seem strong. Maybe he could knock some sense into her." Yae Miko's words themselves sounded hopeful but the underlying tone showed she wasn't very confident in that hope.
"He's probably after the Gnosis." Elias answered instinctively, Yae Miko's eyebrows raised in surprise.
"Oh? and how would you know that?" Yae Miko pursed, she inched closer to Elias her eyes glinted curiously.
Elias realizing he had messed up quickly speaks up in an attempt to correct his mistake, "it's just my assumption. You know he was absorbing elemental energy from the Leylines and Gnosises practically contain banks of elemental energy." Yae Miko's head tilted though he had answered her question it only brought up more.
"Why does a human know so much about the Gnosis, perhaps even more than me assuming you haven't told me everything you know." She pounced a predator like hunting it's prey. In this case poor Elias was that prey.
"Well.... Uh.. you know I like to read a lot of ancient text books. I mean I've read practically any ancient text you can find!" Elias stuttered out his excuses, Yae Miko glared at him suspiciously. She didn't believe a single word of his excuse but there was nothing she could do. If she kept pursuing the answers she could scare him away and then she wouldn't get anything.
For now, she had to accept his excuses.
"Well anyways Ei gave me that Gnosis a while back, around about the time she entered the Plane of Euthymia." Miko spoke calmly as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
Elias' eyes widened and his jaw dropped, "She gave away her Gnosis!? The object that links her to the divinity of Celestia and grants her absolute authority over Electro!?" Yae Miko smiled mischievously.
"That hit a nerve huh?" Miko questioned curiously. Elias took a deep breath to calm himself.
Elias with his eyes closed began to speak, "I apologize for my outburst, I just believe that Archons are blessed beings. I can't understand why they would want rid of their Gnosis and connection to the divine realm."
"I've never heard anyone call Celestia 'The divine realm' you seem to think pretty highly of it." Miko pushed further.
Elias let out a sigh, it was clear he knew Miko was pursuing answers from him but he answered nonetheless.
"Archons are the greater beings of the world Celestia granted them the Gnosis to help them better their abilities. The Gnosis gave them authority and it helped them rule over their nation. So, why throw them away?"
Yae Miko hummed curiously considering his views but she couldn't help but disagree, "The Archons are powerful and the Gnosis do amplify that power but in the process of giving out the Gnosis Celestia ordered the murder of many innocent Gods in the Archon war. It's only fair that some Archons wish to separate themselves from that entity."
Elias hummed to himself, he didn't argue against her, but she wasn't sure if that's because he agreeded with her or because he saw it as a waste of energy.
"What do you plan on doing with Raiden's Gnosis." Elias asked, completely changing the subject.
Yae Miko, who it seems hadn't thought of the topic, went silent thinking to herself. "I'm not quite sure. I suppose I will just keep it safe here incase Raiden decides she wants it back. If not... I suppose it could be used as a bargaining chip somewhere along the line.
Elias twitched in shock, and maybe some aggravation, "A bargaining chip...." Elias seemed dejected. He held his hand on his head as if he was about to pop a blood vessel.
Yae Miko chuckled lightly, "Relax, Elias~ I'm not stupid enough to give it away for something trivial." Her words gave some comfort to Elias but he still felt slightly light headed.
"I think I'm going to go to my room for a little while..." He muttered and stumbled out of the courtyard into the building.
Yae Miko laughed gently at his 'overreaction' and allowed him to go to his room freely.
'Knowing that the Electro Sovereign won't find the Gnosis with Raiden is somewhat refreshing... But, this timeline is still in shambles... Why is that stupid lizard even resurrected. I'm certain it was only supposed to be Neuvilette it was written in Fate...' Elias thought to himself as he peeked out his window.
Elias pulled shut the curtain to block out the bright sun and walked over to the desk in his room. He sat down in the chair and put a plain piece of paper on the desk in front of him.
'at some point I'm going to have to visit Mondstdadt I suppose.' Elias thought as he gently traced a pencil along the plain paper. Elias crushed the lead of the paper on the page ruining his intricate design.
'Hear I thought I was going to be able to enjoy a casual vacation without doing anything active...' He continued to think as he took out a new pencil and piece of paper.
'I just got to Inazuma too... I'm sure it won't be much effort but it's still a pain..' Elias retraced the original design he drew onto the previous paper before he ruined it.
When Elias finished the drawing an intricate sigil was plastered onto the paper, it looked like a magic circle of some kind. Elias placed his hand over the drawing and the lines of the sigil glowed all sorts of colours and lit up the room.
Soon, an image formed on the paper, a video of sorts. Visible on the paper was a woman with bright blonde hair and golden eyes travelling through a medieval city, her mouth moved but no words were audible, it looked as if she was trying to communicate with him through the paper but he knew she wasn't speaking to him.
'So the Fourth Descender is still in Mondstdat, I suppose I can't go there yet then...'
Suddenly, the woman was shown walking into a building and meeting up with a group of people. Among them a effeminate boy wearing green.
'Barbatos... So you met the Fourth Descender already.' Elias eyes gleamed curiously as he stared at the moving pictures on the paper.
Suddenly, a knock resounded throughout the room. "Elias are you awake?" It was Yae Miko's voice. Elias ripped the paper up and walked towards the door.
Gently sliding open the door Elias greeted Miko, "Hey Yae, is something the matter?" She peered past him and into his room.
"Hmm? No I guess it's nothing I just felt a weird spiritual energy i was just wondering if you felt anything.
Elias looked back into his room towards where he was watching the projection, 'So Yokai can sense the projection?' Elias thought.
"No? I didn't sense anything, was it like a deadly presence?" Elias asked feigning curiosity and surprise.
"It wasn't at all dangerous but it was noticeable. I suppose it's nothing to worry about..?" She says slowly, though something distracted her. Elias followed her gaze into his room and towards the pencil and papers.
"You're drawing something? So you do have talent." Elias eyes narrowed at Yae Miko's teasing..
"Of course I do." Is all Elias responded with.
"Hmph. Prove it then Mr Elias~ Draw me a portrait." She said with a teasing smile as she gracefully sat down on his bed crossing one leg over another.
Elias grumbled angrily and hesitantly picked up some pencils and a piece of paper. Quickly he began to sketch out a portrait of Yae Miko, occasionally he would take glances at her and then he would go back to drawing on the paper.
The process was long and quiet but Yae Miko wasn't bothered at all. Why would she be after all, this was going to be a portrait of her, it would even give her insight towards how Elias sees her. Despite it seeming like she had just asked him to draw her it was a lot more than that. The quality of his art would display his opinions on her.
Elias was drawing for around an hour and colouring for even longer, to Yae Miko this was a good sign, just like an author and artist doesn't put time into a piece they don't like, if he hadn't liked it he would've either thrown it away or just started over but he hadn't done that so she had high hopes.
Not long later Elias placed down pencils and handed her the paper gently. Yae Miko moving out of her pose grabbed the paper on her lap and admired it for a while.
Behind the paper Elias could see her smile growing, "So this is how you see me, huh? I think I'll have this artwork displayed in the shrine." Yae Miko announced pridefully.
She stood up from his bed and walked to the sliding door. "I think I'll have it framed first." She said admiring the drawing.
Yae Miko knew that portraiting and hanging the artwork would work as a permanent weapon she could use to tease Elias with so she just had to find the perfect place she could put it.