Chapter Text
At breakfast, Oliver brought up the mysterious paper he had found, after pulling the folded sheet from his pocket.
"Venti... this kind of just appeared above me this morning. I—" He dropped the paper onto the wooden table and unfolded it. "I have no idea what it is. Is it common for papers to just summon out of nowhere here?"
Venti was sipping on some wine he had picked up from Angel's Share. As Oliver set the paper down, he pulled the bottle from his lips, setting it on the table. He turned the paper toward himself, his eyes scanning the text.
The bard squinted, looking up at his boyfriend. "Did... someone write to you?" he asked.
Oliver shrugged, his expression utterly confused.
"Who's August?" Venti asked, glancing back down at the note.
"I don't know..."
"Okay," Venti nodded. "Maybe this is something your cleared mind would know. I'm taking you to the Traveler's hotel room again."
"Huh? What for?"
Venti flashed him a bright smile. "Let's just say a nice, hot bath works wonders for clearing the mind!" After they finished their breakfast, Venti stretched his hand out to Oliver. "Let's go."
~~~~~~~
They walked over to the Goth Grand Hotel. Venti pushed open the door and stepped inside, holding it open for Oliver.
"He's in room 210, right?" Oliver asked as he walked in.
"Yes," Venti replied.
The two of them made their way up the steps and down the hallway of the hotel until they reached the right room. Venti knocked on the door. Three seconds later, it swung open.
"Oh—" The Traveler blinked as he saw Venti. Opening the door wider, he noticed Oliver standing next to him.
Venti smiled. "Morning, Traveler! Is it okay if Oliver uses your bath? Again?"
"Oh! Uh, well, sure! It's a good thing you caught me right now; I was about to head into the Serenitea Pot...." The Traveler stepped aside, letting his two friends inside. "Help yourself," he smiled. "The tub is clean, so it should be ready. Just fill it up with water."
~~~~~~~~
Later, the tub was filled with warm, steaming water. Oliver blinked, staring down at it.
"Uh... are you just gonna stand there?" he muttered, a blush creeping across his face as he looked at Venti.
"What? Do you not want me to~?" Venti giggled.
"I—" Oliver looked back at the tub.
"Orrrr... do you want me to join you~?"
Oliver's face burned bright red, but he nodded. That sounded kind of hot to him. "O-Okay," he stammered.
Venti giggled. "Alright~." The bard snapped his fingers, and a magical gust of wind blew through the bathroom, sweeping his clothes off and settling them neatly nearby. He held onto his Vision and walked over to one end of the tub. "The tubs here are big enough for two people~," Venti hummed as he stepped one foot in, then the other, slowly lowering himself into the warm water.
Oliver nodded, stripping off his own clothes, and sat at the opposite end.
"Yeah," Oliver said shyly. He settled into the soothing warmth, then looked up at his boyfriend. "Feels nice though, right?"
Venti nodded. "Definitely. Though, it can't beat the hot springs."
Oliver leaned back slightly, but suddenly, a sharp pain pierced his head. "AHH!"
Venti gasped, quickly leaning forward to place a hand on Oliver's shoulder. "Are you okay?" he asked, laced with worry.
Oliver slowly dropped his arm and looked up. He narrowed his eyes at his boyfriend. "Did you seriously try to fluster me when we were about to do something serious?"
Venti couldn't help but burst into a few giggles. "Ehehe!" He smiled. "Hey, I just didn't want to explain this whole tub thing to your 'cloudy-minded' self."
Oliver sighed. "Okay. So the paper... it's—" He looked over at his discarded pants lying on the floor. "Crap, it's in the pocket."
"Don't worry," Venti said, rising out of the tub. "I've got it."
Oliver blushed, watching his naked boyfriend step out of the water and walk across the room. He tried his best not to make it obvious that he was staring.
The bard dried his hands off, then walked over to Oliver's heap of clothes. He rummaged through the pockets until he found what he needed. Pulling out the paper, he asked, "So, what is this, Ollie?"
"Uhh... well, August is apparently a guy like me. One of the experiments." He looked down at the bathwater. "Apparently, he's Doctor Barclay's son. Which tells me Doctor Barclay is doing experiments on his own children. I didn't even know he had kids."
"Hmm," Venti hummed, glancing over the paper.
"Everything written on that... I think that was what August was supposed to tell me. That was before my transfer chair kicked back in, pulling me back here. So, he didn't get to tell me." Oliver narrowed his eyes. "To be honest, this makes me a little more suspicious of that kid... how did he manage to send what he needed to say on a piece of paper? It literally appeared right in front of me!" He glanced back up at Venti. "Do you know what a dimension node is?"
Venti squinted at the paper. "I... have a hunch."
Oliver's eyes widened. "Wait, you do?"
"Yes, but..." Venti took a deep breath. "But I'd need to take you to my realm first. That was the only way into that... weird place I found."
Oliver nodded. "Okay! So take me there."
"N-No, Ollie. I... I have no idea if I can take you there. I've never brought a human or any mortal inside my realm before," Venti said, scratching the back of his neck. "I dunno if I can do it. I don't want to hurt you."
Oliver blinked. He understood Venti's concerns, but he felt completely lost. It seemed like there were no other options for figuring out how to get the clamps off his arms back in his own realm.
"I promise you, it'll be fine. I mean, I'm just inside an avatar. My real body is in a realm far from here."
Venti took a deep breath, absorbing Oliver's words. "Okay. Then, I suppose we can try." He glanced at Oliver, who was still sitting in the water. "Do you still want to take a bath?"
Oliver looked down at the water. "Yeah... I guess. I might as well."
Venti slipped the letter inside one of his own pockets. "Okay." He kneeled beside the tub and pressed a soft kiss to Oliver's lips. Pulling away, he smiled. "I'll give you some privacy," he said before stepping out of the bathroom.
Oliver sighed, sinking a little deeper into the water to freshen up.
~~~~~~~~~
"Thanks for letting him use your bath again, Traveler!" Venti called out as he opened the hotel room door to leave.
"Anytime!" Traveler's voice echoed back from inside.
Venti let the door swing shut behind Oliver and immediately drew his boyfriend close to his side. He swept a quick glance down both ends of the hallway, and saw that it was empty. Once he saw that the coast was clear, he looked back at the human.
"Alright. Here we go. Brace yourself,"
Oliver gave a small nod, squaring his shoulders.
Venti exhaled slowly and settled both hands onto Oliver's shoulders. He let his eyes fall shut. A gentle breeze curled around them both, lifting the edges of Venti's braids. The air shimmered. Unlike last time, nothing snapped into place right away. "This one's gonna take more out of me..." Venti admitted through gritted teeth. Still, he didn't waver. The bard kept his eyes closed. This wasn't a warp to another nation. He was trying to drag himself and a mortal human being into a plane that shouldn't even be reachable for him.
He pressed harder, clearing everything else out of his head.
But by now, the lingering warmth of the bath had left Oliver, and with it, the clarity of their previous conversation, so he once again has forgotten everything.
"Venti? Where are we going? You didn't tell me like you usually do."
"Shh," Venti said softly. "Let me focus. You can trust me, you know that." Venti pushed his soul to its limits, desperate to bridge the gap between his realm and the mortal plane.
Before Oliver could say anything else, the wind roared—and suddenly, they were somewhere else entirely.
The hotel hallway was gone. Now, it was a dark, endless void stretched out in every direction with no walls, no ceiling, no floor — just the faint sensation of something solid underfoot.
Venti opened one eye, then the other, looking up at his boyfriend.
"YES!" He threw both fists in the air. "I did it! I actually did it!" He grabbed Oliver and crushed him into a hug. "Oh, thank the winds—" He pulled back just far enough to press a quick kiss to his lips. "Welcome to my realm! Every Archon gets their own little pocket of existence. This one's mine!"
Oliver looked around the absolute nothingness. "So this is your realm? Uh... I was expecting your realm to be... more... Venti like."
Venti blinked, then chuckled. "What is 'Venti-like' to you?" He smiled playfully. "What, were you expecting wine bottles scattered all over the place or something?"
The corner of Oliver's mouth twitched into a small smile. "I mean..."
Venti giggled. "Okay, fair. But no — Archon realms are almost like the Traveler's Serenitea Pot. Just, you know, without the teapot. I could rework it in here to fit my own liking, but... eh. Too much unnecessary work. I prefer my hammock at Windrise."
Oliver shook his head. "Too much work, huh?" He smiled. "So, why are we here again?"
Venti let out a sigh. "Okay, I will explain it to you." He pulled out the paper he had taken from Oliver's pocket. "You told me about this. You had another moment of clarity and explained a few things. This was one of them." He held the paper up.
Oliver stared at it. "Oh — that's the note I got this morning. It just sort of... appeared. Drifted down out of nowhere,"
"Exactly what you told me," Venti said with a nod. "And I think I know what it means." His finger landed on the words near the top. "Dimension Node,"
"You do?" Oliver blinked.
"I do. It's part of why I don't spend much time in here, honestly." Venti tucked the paper away and took Oliver's hand. "I asked Zhongli about it once and he said he'd never seen anything like it in his own realm. Apparently I'm the only one who has it." He started walking, tugging Oliver along gently. "Come on. Follow me,"
"Zhongli?" Oliver asked.
"One of the other Archons," Venti repeated. "The Geo Archon, to be specific."
"If you just keep walking in here long enough," Venti said, quieter now, "you'll find a door eventually..."
Oliver kept his pace, holding tight to his boyfriend's hand. He was still quite out of the loop, but he felt completely safe at Venti's side, their fingers laced together.
"Shh," Venti whispered calmly. "I can hear your heartbeat. You'll be safe, I promise."
After walking through the endless, pitch-black void, they eventually stumbled upon a random door. It was just sitting out in the open, connected to absolutely nothing—no walls, no frame, just a door in the dark.
"That's it," Venti said. Still holding Oliver's hand, he walked up, turned the knob, and pulled the door open. He gently guided Oliver inside before shutting it behind them.
Oliver stopped dead in his tracks the moment he crossed the threshold.
The void was still there. But now there was ground you could actually see. A grated metal platform, maybe ten feet across in either direction, surrounded by a low fence. Directly ahead sat an enormous control panel covered in buttons, levers, and switches. And beyond the fence, where open air should have been, there were clouds. Deep blue, slowly churning clouds that pulsed with their own faint light, casting the whole platform in a cold glow.
Oliver turned to look at Venti who was standing by his side.
"What is this?"
Venti lifted his shoulders. "Genuinely? I have no idea." He nodded toward the panel. "That's what I wanted you to see. I made myself a promise a long time ago that I'd never touch that thing. Whatever it is, I think it's not something I want to mess with,"
Oliver himself wasn't eager to get any closer to it either.
"It looks like a control panel," Venti continued. "For what, I couldn't tell you. But whatever it controls, it's bigger than an Archon. Hell, it feels bigger than the gods in Celestia, and that's saying something," He glanced sideways. "I don't even know if they're the ones who put it here,"
Oliver squinted at the panel from a safe distance. The buttons were visible but unlabeled — nothing on them to hint at what they'd do.
Venti turned around, pointing upward. "There's a wall behind us."
Oliver looked back at the door they'd come through. From this side, it was set into a solid wall.
Venti pointed higher. "Look."
Oliver looked above the door frame.
~Dimension Node 1
of Sub-3921~
A text was above the door. Oliver gasped, and looked at Venti.
"See? Dimension Node," Venti said. "Exactly what was on your letter."
Oliver's eyes drifted sideways. He wasn't looking at the panel anymore — he was looking at the clouds beyond the fence. He followed the perimeter of the railing slowly, and found a gate. He blinked, slowly making his way toward it.
"Hey—" Venti was at his side in an instant, catching his hand. "Stay close by me in here, okay? You want to see what's out there?" He glanced through the gate at the rolling blue cloud cover beyond. "I've never actually gone out that way,"
Oliver looked back at him. "If any of this is supposed to help me figure out what's wrong with my memory, shouldn't we at least look around?"
Venti thought about it for half a second. Then he nodded and pushed the gate open.
Both of them stepped off the platform and into the sea of clouds. "What are these?"
"I don't know, Ollie," Venti sighed. "I wish I could answer you."
They pushed through until the clouds thinned and fell away. When they turned back, the platform with the panel was far behind them, just a shape in the dark.
"Okay," Venti nodded. "I think we should head back, babe. Trust me, we do not want to get lost in here."
"Well, you could just teleport us out of here," Oliver pointed out.
Venti nodded. "Well, true. But we still have to investigate the panel, and I don't want to risk teleporting you three times in a row for no reason."
They were about to turn back when something caught Oliver's eye. Off to his right, deep in the distance, a green light was flashing at slow, steady intervals.
He grabbed Venti's hand before he could take another step. "Venti. What's that?"
Venti paused, noticing the light too. He cast a wary glance back toward the distant panel, then looked at Oliver, who clearly wanted to investigate.
"Okay," Venti relented, walking toward the flashing light while keeping a tight grip on Oliver's hand.
In the darkness, it was hard to tell what the light was attached to. But as they drew closer, a massive wall materialized out of the gloom. Set into the wall was a heavy metal door. Above it, text wrote:
Fandom Storage
- Dimension Node 1 of Sub-3921 -
"Fandom Storage?" Venti repeated, confused.
Oliver blinked at the words. Something sparked deep in his mind, but the thought vanished before he could grasp it. He gently slid his fingers out of Venti's grasp and walked right up to the door.
Venti's breath hitched. "Babe! Be careful!" He grabbed Oliver's hand again, pulling him back slightly. "We do this together, okay?"
Oliver nodded, and they approached the door side by side.
The door was a solid metal slab with no window and no doorknob. Oliver pressed his hand flat against the center and pushed, but it didn't budge. If it was meant to be pulled, they were out of luck— as there was no handle to grab.
Venti looked at Oliver. "Ollie, let's go back."
Oliver stared up at the words one more moment, then nodded. "Yeah. Okay,"
~~~~~
Oliver swung the gate closed behind him as they stepped back onto the platform. He immediately walked over to the giant console.
"You really have no clue what this thing does?" he asked.
"I have a vague idea. I just... it feels incredibly powerful. That's all," Venti said. "I did touch it once... Look—" Venti let his hand hover just inches above the surface.
Instantly, the panel sprang to life. Every button, every screen, the entire console lit up brilliantly.
"Woah!" Oliver gasped.
A screen at the center of the panel lit up, offering a handful of options. Venti tapped one labeled Characters.
Suddenly, the blue clouds surrounding the platform began to shift. Bright, floating bubbles materialized in the air around them, each displaying a different face. Seven of the bubbles were significantly larger than the rest.
"See?" Venti pointed.
Oliver looked closely. He immediately spotted Venti's face in one of the large bubbles.
"Those are the other Archons." Venti looked down at the glowing buttons. "I have no idea what this panel is actually meant for. And I don't know why the Anemo Archon was the one to receive such a terrifying tool... I..." Venti swallowed hard, staring at the screen. "I have the ability to completely erase someone."
On the screen, a prompt boldly read Delete, currently hovering over the selected bubble containing the face of Zhongli, the Geo Archon.
"I don't know what the gods in Celestia were thinking, giving an Archon this much power. That is, if it was even them who gave me this." Venti shook his head. "According to this, I could just..." He didn't finish the sentence. He stepped back from the panel. "I made myself a rule. I don't touch it. Whatever power this is, it's not mine to use,"
Oliver stared. Then he leaned closer to get a better look at the screen.
Venti watched him but didn't say anything. he trusted his boyfriend enough for him to not touch anything.
However, the moment Oliver leaned over the surface, a hidden hatch slid open, and a new button popped out.
"Transfer Chair user identified. Tap to disconnect Transfer Chair," a digitized, automated voice announced from the panel.
Oliver practically flew backward. "I swear I didn't touch anything!"
Venti nodded quickly. "Don't worry, I was watching you. You didn't touch it." The bard narrowed his eyes at the glowing button. "'Transfer chair'... that's exactly what you mentioned when your memory temporarily came back. It's how you got here." The pieces clicked together in Venti's mind.
"Babe... This is it." Venti blinked, staring at the button. "Hold on, I... Damn, I really hope this doesn't backfire. Babe, press it."
Oliver looked between Venti and the panel. "You're sure?"
"I'm sure, honey."
"Okay..." Oliver reached out and quickly tapped the button.
For a agonizing moment, nothing happened. Then, the machine spoke again.
Error.... Needs Holder Confirmation
Oliver slowly turned his head to look at Venti. Right in front of the bard, another hatch slid open, presenting a second button.
Venti took a deep breath and pressed his hand flat against it.
Scanning.... Scanning.... ERROR!
The machine whirred loudly, and two more hatches popped open directly next to Venti's.
Genshin Imstatic*'s Holder needs confirmation from two Archons.
Oliver and Venti stared at the panel in disbelief, then slowly looked at each other.
Teleporting two Archons from Genshin Impact Sub-3921 to Dimension Node
Both Oliver and Venti gasped. "What?!" they yelled in unison.
With a blinding flash of light, two figures suddenly materialized on the platform right next to them.
One was a tall man, caught mid-bite with a pair of chopsticks near his mouth. His glowing amber eyes slowly widened as he lowered his hand, blinking in utter confusion.
The second was small. A girl with a watering can, still tilted at a pouring angle. The water hit the metal grating in a steady stream as she stared blankly ahead. "Uhhh..."
"I was in the middle of eating, you know—" The tall man cut himself off, his gaze landing on the bard. "Wait... Venti?" He blinked, looking around the bizarre void while still gripping his chopsticks.
Venti and Oliver exchanged a panicked glance. Venti recognized them immediately and placed a reassuring hand on Oliver's chest to let him know he had this under control.
"Zhongli," he said. Then, to the small girl with the watering can: "Nahida,"
"Venti, what is the meaning of this?" Zhongli asked, his deep voice remarkably calm given the circumstances. "Where are we? And who is that?" He offered a polite but confused nod toward Oliver.
Venti had absolutely no idea how to explain this. To make it make sense, he'd have to explain Oliver's entire existence as an experiment, the memory loss, the transfer chair, and the top-secret, mortal and god-deleting control panel hidden inside his realm.
"I—"
Before Venti could even get a word out, a violent rumble shook the entire platform.
Zhongli didn't flinch, merely resting a hand on his chin as his eyes darted around the dark space.
"What was that?" Nahida asked softly, finally dropping her watering can.
A blaring red light suddenly began flashing across the control panel. All four of them snapped their attention to it. The light pulsed aggressively, accompanied by a voice that was heavily distorted and full of static.
"I hear something... what's it saying?" Venti asked, straining to listen. He looked around at the others. "Can anyone else make that out?" Venti said, drifting closer.
Oliver stepped up and put his ear near the speaker.
Error...
Error...
Dimensional Breach... Error...
The main screen flickered wildly before stabilizing onto a terrifying log:
Dimension Breach Occurrences
10 days ago Transfer Chair connection from Honomono Universe
9 Days Ago : Unknown Entity from Unknown Universe
5 second ago: Unknown Entity from Unknown Universe
Sending emergency warps to characters within Node.
Before any of them could move, think, or speak, all four of them were thrown backward at once — and then there was nothing but green, blue, rushing wind, and the blurred smear of a hillside rising up to meet them.
"OUCH!" several voices cried out as they slammed into the earth, tumbling down a grassy hill.
Oliver had face-planted straight into the dirt. "Owww..." he groaned, thoroughly winded. He slowly pushed himself up, finding Venti already on his feet and offering a hand to help him. Zhongli and Nahida had fell over a bit, but the two got their footing really quickly.
"Venti," Zhongli said, low and controlled. "What did you do," he brushed off some dirt off of his coat.
Nahida looked around. "I think I lost my watering can..."
"I didn't do anything!" Venti defended, his focus entirely on Oliver. "You good?" he asked gently, checking him over.
Oliver nodded, rubbing his head. "Yeah, I think so..."
"Okay, we have to form a plan. What did that machine mean by—" Venti stopped mid-sentence when he felt a tiny tug on his cape. "Huh? What is it, Nahida?"
The Dendro Archon's eyes were wide as she pointed a small finger toward a patch of grass nearby.
Venti turned his head. Lying in the grass was a grotesque creature, its body oozing with a shifting, pitch-black mist.
Zhongli glanced at Venti, then narrowed his eyes at the entity. None of them knew what it was, but the Geo Archon was instantly on guard. "All of you, be prepared for anything. Because that thing does not look like a kind creature."
Venti nodded curtly. He grabbed Oliver by the arm and pulled him firmly behind his back, standing protectively between the human and the monster.
The creature groaned, shifting on the ground. "Must get away..." it muttered, its voice scraping like jagged metal. "I can't... I can't let him win..."
It slowly dragged itself up. The patch of vibrant green grass beneath it instantly withered, turning black and rotting away. Dark, ominous flames began to lick off its shadowy body as it stood to its full, intimidating height. It was facing away from them, completely unaware of the gods behind it, scanning the horizon.
"What world is this..." it breathed, head sweeping slowly across the horizon. "What world did I end up trying to escape..."
Zhongli looked between the other two Archons, his golden eyes sharp. Something about its words stirred a deep unease within him. World? he thought. He took a calculated step forward.
"State your business here," Zhongli commanded, his voice echoing with divine authority.
The creature whipped around at an impossible, neck-snapping speed, the very air around it crackling and distorting around its form.
All three Archons gasped, instinctively stepping back. Venti shifted his stance, making absolutely sure Oliver remained shielded behind him.
"No... No..." the creature muttered, its hollow, glowing white eyes darting between the gods and the mortal hiding behind them. "Not this world again." The mist violently flared as the creature's anger spiked. "I did NOT get to fulfill what I needed to do! I don't care if it was you residents of this world's fault. BUT YOU WILL EXPERIENCE MY WRATH ANYWAY!"
Its voice warped into a demonic, ear-splitting screech as it shot up into the air. The surrounding landscape of Windrise physically glitched, the serene blue sky instantly ripping apart to reveal a bleeding, digital red.
The three Archons slowly looked at each other. Without a word, they shared a single, resolute nod.
Taking a deep breath, all three of them unleashed their divine power. All of them let go of whatever shape they'd been holding.
Nothing else mattered right now—not the panel, not the teleportation, not the confusion. Whatever this entity was, it was an immediate, catastrophic threat to all of Teyvat.
A blinding tempest of wind erupted around Venti as he instantly transformed into his Archon state. His casual bard attire dissolved into a white, bare-midriff divine outfit, and a pair of luscious, massive white feathered wings exploded from his back.
Beside him, Zhongli shed his mortal disguise, shifting into his Geo Archon form. His chest was bare, glowing with golden geometric veins, and a stark white hood draped heavily down his back. With a swift motion, he pulled the hood up over his head.
Nahida simply summoned her magical catalyst, the floating green pages glowing with intense Dendro energy as she took her combat stance.
The three gods stood united, radiating overwhelming elemental power, ready to defend their world from this dangerous creature.
"GO!" Venti shouted.
As Zhongli and Nahida lunged forward into battle, Venti whipped around to face his boyfriend.
"Babe!" He had just realized his mortal boyfriend was completely exposed and completely defenseless.
"Zhongli!!!" Venti yelled out to the other Archon.
The Geo Archon stopped his charge, glancing back over his shoulder.
"Use your geo powers and put a protective barrier around Oliver here!"
Zhongli didn't ask questions. Though still immensely curious about who exactly this human was, he slammed his foot into the earth. A thick, impenetrable shield of golden geo energy instantly erupted around Oliver, sealing him safely inside of amber and stone.
Venti looked at Oliver for one more second, just making sure. Then he turned, wings spreading wide, and lifted off from the ground heading to the glitching terror in the sky.
"LET'S GO! ATTACK!" With a powerful beat of his wings, Venti launched himself into the red sky, with Zhongli charging right behind him.