Chapter Text
The strange crystalline creature struck without warning.
Nerraw didn't see it coming. The golden, key-like weapon slashed violently against the dark creature's side. The sheer force of the blow hurled Nerraw through the air, sending him crashing hard into the wall beside one of the shattered doorways. He slid down the decayed wood and slammed on the ground.
Before Nerraw could even attempt to stand, the crystalline creature was looming over him, the tip of its bizarre weapon pointed directly down at the monster's chest.
Slumped weakly against the wall, Nerraw stared up into his enemy's face. "Look at you," the dark creature rasped. His voice was low and strained, betraying how physically drained and injured he truly was. "I know why that stupid necklace makes you so powerful now," he breathed heavily. "A mix of being the Holder of your realm, and the Fictional Leak... the answer was always right under my nose..."
He tried to force himself up, but the crystalline creature ruthlessly jabbed its weapon into Nerraw's chest, pinning him to the ground.
Nerraw shifted his glowing eyes white, his gaze landing on Venti, who was standing just outside the portal rim. He had been curious, and slowly had stepped into the portal rim.
"You..." the dark creature hissed. "You knew he was here. That is why you opened the portal."
Venti blinked in surprise before his eyes narrowed into a fierce glare. "You told me to open it," he shot back, his stance shifting as he prepared to summon his bow. "You threatened my boyfriend and our new friends."
Nerraw looked entirely at their mercy. But weakness was incredibly hard to judge when dealing with a being of such unfathomable power.
Suddenly, Nerraw swiped his hand to the left. A massive wave of invisible force caught the crystalline creature, tossing it aside and slamming it brutally down the hallway. Free from the blade, Nerraw sprung up from the floor with terrifying speed and charged straight toward Venti.
Venti gasped, reaching out to manifest his bow—but for some inexplicable reason, the weapon refused to appear in his hands.
Before the bard could react any further, an overwhelming force slammed into his chest. He was hurled backward, crashing violently through the swirling portal and tumbling onto the hard concrete floor of the laboratory room.
Groaning, Venti tried to push himself up, but his blood ran cold as he watched the dark creature step seamlessly through the glowing portal, making its slow, deliberate way toward him.
Venti was at a complete loss. This creature was just as terrifyingly unpredictable now as it had been when they fought it back in Teyvat.
More than anything, Venti desperately needed to keep the monster out of the rest of the lab. Not with the others sleeping completely defenseless upstairs.
"I will not let you go to them—!" Venti yelled. He scrambled to his feet near the base of the staircase, desperately trying to force his bow to materialize again.
But Nerraw was far stronger than usual. With a casual, dismissive swipe of his arm to the right, Venti was tossed like a ragdoll toward the far end of the room.
"Gah!" The bard skidded harshly across the concrete floor, slamming back-first into the wall.
Instead of finishing him off, Nerraw simply dissolved into a thick puff of black, slithering mist and shot rapidly up the staircase.
"N-No—" Venti gritted his teeth, forcing his aching body to stand. "Shit..." He scrambled upward, sprinting up the stairs after the shadow.
~~~~~~
Up in the breakroom, Oliver stirred gently in his sleep, his subconscious immediately registering the cold empty space beside him.
"Hmm?" he mumbled groggily. He cracked his eyes open, looking around the dim space. "Huh? Babe?" He patted the seat around him, feeling for Venti. When his hands met nothing but empty plastic, his eyes fluttered fully open. He realized he was lying horizontally across the chairs. He had been snuggled up in Venti's lap just moments ago.
Oliver slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes as the reality set in that his boyfriend was nowhere to be found. "Where did he go?"
He glanced around the room. August, Jasper, and Arnold were all still fast asleep in their uncomfortable positions. "Venti?" he whispered into the quiet room.
Did he go back into the document room? Oliver wondered to himself. He stood up, creeping toward the open doorway to see if the room lights had been turned on.
Instead, he was met with a terrifying sight. A tall, pitch-black shadow was lingering just outside the doorway. In the low light, he could barely make out its shape.
What is that? Oliver blinked, his sleep-addled brain struggling to process it. Is that Venti?
He slowly slipped away from the other tables, and crept closer to the door.
He narrowed his eyes, peering out into the hall. "Ven? Is that you—?" he whispered.
But as he took another step closer, the horrifying realization finally clicked. By the time his brain registered the danger, it was a second too late to run.
The dark creature lunged, its shadowy hands grabbing Oliver by the throat. It reared back, fully intending to hurl him against the concrete wall—but a sudden shout echoed down the hall.
Venti bolted around the corner, sprinting wildly toward them. And this time, his glowing Anemo bow was clutched firmly in his hands.
With a frantic, desperate pull of the string, Venti let an arrow fly. The Anemo projectile pierced straight into the creature's misty form. A gale of wind erupted from the point of impact, blasting the creature downward and forcing it to drop Oliver to the floor.
In a flash of light, Venti teleported across the hallway, materializing right beside his boyfriend and catching him before he hit the ground. "Got you!"
The dark creature was already recovering. It rose to its feet, turning its glowing white eyes toward them.
Oliver and Venti scrambled up, standing shoulder-to-shoulder. "Stay behind me babe," Venti said, as he moved in front of Oliver.
"What's happening out there?!" a panicked voice yelled from the breakroom. It sounded like August.
Venti's heart hammered in his chest. He wasn't terrified for himself—he wasn't afraid of Nerraw. But he knew Oliver's world had its own laws. They probably wouldn't be able to handle such a force like this.
But then Venti remembered: the creature was weakened. It didn't have much of a fight left in it.
Suddenly, the air behind Nerraw warped. A shimmering golden portal tore itself open right in front of the building's main exit.
At that exact moment, August bolted out of the doorway. "What's—?" He froze in his tracks, his eyes widening in pure horror as he saw the shadowy monster standing mere feet away. He gasped, looking frantically between the creature and Venti.
Venti shot August a desperate look. "Keep the door closed! Keep yourself and the rest of them in there, and stay safe!"
August nodded frantically, throwing himself backward and slamming the heavy breakroom door shut behind him.
Nerraw slowly turned his head to look at the locked door, then back to Venti. "You really think a locked door can faze me?"
With a swift, brutal motion, the dark creature thrust his hand toward the breakroom. A sudden, massive blast of telekinetic force slammed into the room. The door was instantly blown entirely off its hinges, taking a massive chunk of the wall with it. The metal door and jagged pieces of debris blasted inward, slamming violently into the far wall of the breakroom.
Inside, the three boys screamed in terror.
Venti gasped, gripping his bow tightly. He risked a rapid glance into the destroyed room and let out a breath of relief. They were shaken, but miraculously, none of the debris had hit them. "Stay in the room!" the bard commanded over the chaos.
Down the hall, the shimmering golden portal behind Nerraw was still spinning. Both Venti and Oliver noticed it. They shared a quick look, an unspoken hunch passing between them. If this was the 'Mark' guy August had mentioned, they didn't want to tip off their enemy. And if it wasn't Mark—if it was another enemy—well, it couldn't possibly be worse than what they were currently dealing with... Hopefully.
From the doorway leading down to the basement, the crystalline creature silently emerged, rejoining the fight. Nerraw, his back turned, didn't see it approach. The crystal being seemed to have completely regained its footing; perhaps Nerraw's attack hadn't injured it at all.
Then, a man stepped out of the golden vortex.
He had dark skin and messy brown hair, and in his hands, he wielded a weapon remarkably similar to the crystal creature's key-like blade. He was dressed in a dark blue outfit adorned with several yellow belts, and wore an open jacket with no shirt underneath.
The new arrival lifted his weapon, his gaze flicking over to the crystalline creature.
The two of them exchanged a single, silent nod, then turned their full, dangerous attention to Nerraw's exposed back.
Venti noticed all of this, but kept his mouth firmly shut. Oliver did the same.
But just as the two new arrivals braced themselves to strike, Nerraw's glowing white eyes slowly shifted to the left.
Venti's eyebrows shot up. Nerraw knew they were behind him. He had sensed the ambush. He had sense they were going to attack him.
Venti didn't even have a fraction of a second to intervene. Nerraw snapped his body around, unleashing a devastating, concussive wave of dark energy.
The dark-skinned man and the crystalline creature were blasted backward by the shockwave. "Gah!" they grunted in unison, but they managed to keep their footing, stabbing their heavy weapons into the floor to anchor themselves against the gale. The crystal creature's blue cape fluttered wildly in the wind as the dark force radiated from Nerraw's hands.
With his enemies temporarily pinned, Nerraw glanced back over his shoulder at Venti and Oliver.
Then, he looked back at the two people fighting against his magic.
The dark-skinned man's eyes widened as he instantly realized what the monster was planning.
"No! Don't!" he shouted over the roaring wind.
Nerraw just smirked. He raised a hand and snapped his fingers.
The air around Venti and Oliver violently warped, folding in on itself in a flash of dark energy, and the two boys were instantly teleported away, along with Nerraw.
Reacting with lightning-fast reflexes, the dark-skinned man reached into a pocket on his attire, pulled something out, and hurled it directly into the collapsing warp just before it closed, sending the mysterious item teleporting away with them.
As the dark wind abruptly died down, the man panted, lowering his weapon. "It went with them," he muttered. He turned to look at the crystalline creature. "Thomas, go check on the others in that breakroom. Make sure they're alright. I have to go back to the hallway and try to track down where he sent them."
The crystal creature—Thomas—gave a firm nod and turned toward the damaged breakroom.
The dark-skinned man summoned his portal once more, and without a second of hesitation, leaped into the shimmering golden vortex.