Chapter Text
Kaeya awakens slowly, his back resting against the statue of the seven at Windrise.
The traveler has taken him on a adventure, again, and they have killed him, again. An icicle imbedded itself straight into his chest, right after he was burned and thrown against a wall, his bones breaking, his blood freezing before it drained.
It was pretty much a routine, at this point.
The very second the blonde star-borne presence stepped into their town, Kaeya knew he had to observe them up close. Offering himself for the traveler to play with, call upon him every time he's needed, he was doing exactly that - no matter how much it hurt, and no matter how many times he died.
It was worth it.
It was his duty.
Keeping watch on the traveler's activities ... was his main priority, at this point. No matter how much suffering he had to go through.
Standing up, shakily, he breathed a wheezy sigh of relief. The rules of this world allowed him to have a higher cap on health, sure, but it didn't make awakening from death any more pleasant.
The pain remained - and his wounds, they still hurt, tremendously. Phantom pains, all across his torso, feeling real only to him.
He knows it means nothing, in the grand scheme of things.
It is only a game, after all.
The truth of this world, which killed his ancestors... it was the simple knowledge that Celestia ruled their world like a cybernetic chessboard, their lives serving as mere entertainment.
Their Visions? They allow Celestia's 'chosen' to 'see' exactly what's happening to their most interesting subjects.
The Archons? Lesser gods, not strong enough to watch the game passively, but instead left alone here in Teyvat to keep it contained on a gameboard. Control, yes, but on a on a smaller scale, watching over the equally small rules.
Their mouths forever shut, not able to tell anyone what was going on. What happened, five hundred years ago...
Kaeya knew.
Khaenri'ah was close to breaking free of the matrix. Rewriting the game by themselves, creating one of their own. Obviously, the heavenly principles disagreed.
And now, here he lies.
Under the fake tree, under the fake sky, in an upside-down world, leaving him dizzy.
He wonders if the traveler sees it, too.
He wonders if they care.
He wonders if, somehow, the blonde person who fell from the sky is also a mere pawn, moved carefully by the hands of one of Celestia's residents.
He wonders.
People like him, the ones that are 'aware' of the bizarre rules guiding this world - are allowed to do some things, normally impossible for most normal folk.
Teleporting waypoints that nobody can use? He was born and raised learning their ways.
Taking one look into a villains eye, and immediately knowing that they're evil? He knows how to identify Celestia's playthings.
Surviving the corrupted Abyss, the fall of his home, unable to die and leave the confines of a bound life - only to turn into a monster, like the rest of his nation, when time comes?
Just another part of Celestia's perfect punishment system. Unbreakable. Forever.
Passing a grassy field, playing with his coin worth 100 Mora, he passes a camp of monsters. Creatures, who will keep returning here, endlessly.
Kaeya could probably send one burst of Cryo and kill all of them at once, assisted by traveler's excellent meddling with the rules of the game, amplifying his powers as days went by.
But what use is his elemental might, against an enemy that Celestia has set to be here, returning every day, forever?
The Gods above are sadistic and thirsty for blood, equal only to their thirst for superiority.
If one were to gather the ingredients, or, gods forbid interfere with the system directly - one person, Vision or no Vision, may climb the highest peak of their strength - yet, it still wouldn't be enough to become a fraction of Celestia's.
One thing Kaeya knows is that, when you get recognized by the elements, your fate is observed closely, for sick entertainment. You get a speck of control over Cryo, or Pyro, or Anemo, or any other force, but you lose control in all other aspects of your life.
You are doomed.
A piece of your life is trapped in that glass orb.
Defining you. Not allowing you to grow, or move on.
Forever observed, watched, and kept on a short leash.
Kaeya takes step after step, following the dirt path. If he stays far away, no one will even lift their head to look at him. Their horizons are narrow. They have nothing new to say.
The only time something happens is when Celestia says it does. The only time his routine is changed is when something greater decides to remember he exists. As their plaything, nothing else.
Is he happy with himself..?
He used to be. He almost forgot how this world functions, how fake it is, up until Crepus died.
Up until the gods decided to make his life more tragic than it already was.
Up until he was done hiding from Diluc, but he could only utter so much before the other attacked him with reckless abandon.
He almost forgot his pathetic existence, and the truth of this world.
Up until...
"Kaeya." The traveler says, appearing behind him out of nowhere.
" I'm going for a commission. Do you want to come? " They ask, their expression impassive as always, their eyes calculating. Not looking at Kaeya, but through him.
"This will be interesting..." Kaeya agrees swiftly. As if he really had a choice.
As if he could just refuse.
The traveler was the only other person who might have a chance to break this world apart.
The only other person, outside of the entire nation of Kheanri'ah before them, to find the truth and set them free.
Or, at least, bring an end to their misery.
Somehow.
Smiling fauxly, sweetly, Kaeya chuckles. His face feels numb as he smirks, the mask of indifference falling flawlessly into place. Everybody else lives a fantasy. He's living a reality.
He has to hide the anguish of knowledge. The painful awareness of everything around him, the true nature of his existence.
There are eyes, watching his every move, after all...
Closing his eye briefly, he opens it once more.
The statue of the seven at Windrise greets him, his back against the cold stone.