Chapter Text
"It might take forever to find the diamonds, you know," Oliver sighed, his voice echoing faintly against the cramped stone walls. "When I played the actual game, I always had terrible luck finding them."
Venti smiled, swinging Oliver's hand gently as they navigated the dimly lit tunnel shaft. "Hey, you have the greatest bard in Mondstadt with you! Not to mention, he's an Archon! That's double the luck! We'll find those diamonds in no time—" Venti gasped, his mouth snapping shut as they rounded a jagged corner. They had nearly stumbled right into the creeping, pulsing blue-green mass of yet another Deep Dark infestation.
Oliver looked off to the side, biting his lip to suppress a giggle. "The good luck has worn off already, hasn't it?"
Venti smiled softly. Letting out a little breath, he squeezed Oliver's hand and pivoted on his heel, pulling his boyfriend down a branching path that steered clear of the Warden's domain. "Seems like that stuff is everywhere down here."
"It's probably surrounding the entire mineshaft," Oliver murmured. The thought made his skin crawl. He hadn't even found a single piece of iron ore yet, and here he was blindly hunting for diamonds. "The Deep Dark is horrifying in reality." There was no way he was going to be excited to see the Ancient City.
"Can't argue there, babe," Venti agreed. "Though, that's probably just because I'm new to it! Once I get used to this place, I'll probably be able to handle it!"
Oliver had no doubt about that. From what he remembered, the Warden was just physically devastating and incredibly loud. It was nothing a literal god couldn't handle, and it certainly wasn't as dangerous as Nerraw.
"You did give up on digging out your own tunnel a little ways back," Venti noted, glancing over at Oliver as they walked hand-in-hand. "Why did you? I'm sure if you just kept at it, we would have found something."
"I know," Oliver groaned. "But ugh! Sometimes I get so impatient with Minecraft's survival mode. It's... well, it's why I mostly played in creative mode." He kicked a loose pebble across the blocky floor. "Along with the massive problem we have waiting for us on the surface, I'm not exactly the most patient person at the moment."
Venti lifted Oliver's hand and pressed a sweet, lingering kiss to his knuckles. "I know. But you were patient with me. You waited through everything when I made you your new Vision, and you were very patient when I told you to practice with my bow."
"Well, that's because I trust you," Oliver said softly.
Venti beamed. "Aww~" He tiptoed as he walked—which proved a bit difficult on the uneven, pixelated ground—so he jumped slightly to plant a kiss directly on Oliver's cheek.
Oliver froze, then burst into giggles. "Venti, that was super silly right there, what the heck was that?" He laughed, his tension melting away. "You could have just asked me to stop walking to kiss me."
"Oh~? But I thought you were in a rush to get those diamonds?" Venti smirked mischievously.
Oliver rolled his eyes. "You—" He lunged forward, tickling Venti mercilessly under the armpits.
The bard instantly clamped his arms shut, bursting into a fit of musical giggles and stumbling backward. "Hey! No tickling the bard in the cave~!" he laughed, breathless.
"The blocky cave, mind you," Oliver corrected with a grin.
"Hehe! We don't want my beautiful voice to echo and wake something up!" Venti giggled. "Who knows what could be out there?"
"To be fair, you're loud enough that it was already echoing!" Oliver shot back, smirking.
Venti draped a hand dramatically over his heart. "Oh no! I've been wounded!"
"You were almost as loud as Paimon, to be honest."
Venti threw his hand across his forehead, swooning as if he were about to faint. "To be compared to that flying pixie thing~! Oh, how my heart aches~!"
Suddenly, Venti stepped forward and pinned Oliver against the wooden beams of the mineshaft wall. It wasn't rough, but the suddenness of it knocked the breath out of Oliver's lungs.
Oliver gasped, his cheeks instantly flushing a deep crimson as he stared into Venti's bright, teasing eyes.
Venti giggled, leaning in to press his lips firmly against Oliver's. The human melted instantly, wrapping his arms around the bard's waist and pulling him flush against his chest. The flickering torches mounted on the walls bathed them in a soft, warm glow, chasing away the oppressive chill of the mineshaft. They kissed softly, the quiet sounds of their shifting breath mingling in the dark. Oliver reached up, gently cupping the bard's face and stroking his soft cheeks.
Venti gripped Oliver's shoulders, deepening the kiss until they finally parted.
Oliver's breathing had slowed. The frantic, nervous energy that had been buzzing in his chest since they dropped into this world was completely gone. "Wow... I feel way better."
"The power of love~," Venti giggled.
Oliver smiled, his fingers drifting down to playfully twirl one of Venti's vibrant blue braids. "You know, that's the name of a song in my world."
"It is?" Venti's eyes lit up with pure fascination. "I have to hear to it!" He reached up, resting his hands over Oliver's as they toyed with his hair. "In my world, I know every song—past, present, and future. But I know absolutely nothing about your world, because I'm not from your dimension. I can't wait to learn! It's actually incredibly exciting, being in such unknown territory."
Oliver smiled warmly. "Yeah, the song came out in the 80s, I think. It was popularized by Back to the Future..." He blinked, chuckling under his breath. "I hope some 'The Power of Love' purist doesn't kill me for saying that." He looked back down into Venti's eager eyes. "But remember, this isn't my dimension right now. So you can't learn anything about my actual world here yet."
Venti nodded enthusiastically. "Geez, I know, Ollie~! I'm not dumb, you know! I may be a silly bard, but I'm still a smart Archon!" He giggled. "Yeah, we're in this Minecraft place as you called it,"
Oliver sighed, his gaze drifting down the dark tunnel. "As much fun as it is being here with you, I'm ready to leave."
Venti nodded, his smile softening. "Ehe, same here." He pulled away just enough to reach for his boyfriend's hand again. Fingers interlaced, they resumed their trek down the pre-built mineshaft, with Venti chattering happily to fill the silence.
"You have talked about a few things, though," Venti mused. "When we were in those last few worlds. Something about a 'You tube', and something about your world having a lot of massive technological advancements!"
"You really do have a sharp memory sometimes."
Venti didn't reply, just offered a smug little giggle.
Oliver squeezed Venti's hand tight, abruptly stopping in his tracks.
The bard stumbled to a halt and spun around. "What's wrong?" He stepped close, placing a comforting hand on Oliver's chest. "You okay?"
"I heard something."
They both stood frozen in the stifling silence.
Groooooaaannn
Venti blinked. "What is that?"
"A zombie." Oliver's eyes darted frantically across the dark crevices of the cave.
"Zombie? You mean, the undead?" Venti's eyes widened.
Oliver clamped his free hand over Venti's mouth. "It has to be around here somewhere. It could be right inside the walls..." Oliver scanned the area. "Come on." He dropped his hand and pulled Venti down the shaft.
As soon as they rounded the next corner, they practically tripped into a cobblestone room. Sitting squarely in the center was a flaming, boxy cage. Oliver gasped and frantically signaled for Venti to summon his bow.
The bard didn't hesitate. His ornate, glowing bow materialized in his grip instantly. "Blocky undead? Not a match for me! Look how slow they are!" Venti drew back the bowstring. Anemo energy swirled violently around the arrow before he let it fly.
The arrow struck the top of the black monster spawner. Instantly, a howling vortex of wind erupted. The miniature hurricane sucked the staggering zombies directly toward the center of the room, crushing them under the sheer pressure of the Anemo magic.
The creatures exploded into a flurry of white, pixelated mist and vanished. As the wind finally died down, the spawner in the center of the room was left with a massive, jagged crack down its iron bars, the miniature spinning zombie inside visibly damaged.
Oliver, though endlessly impressed by Venti's power, winced slightly. "H-Hey, Venti, shouldn't you be saving your power for the dark creature up above?"
Venti waved him off with a breezy flick of his wrist. "Nah, this is totally fine! That was just my Anemo arrows on maximum. It actually doesn't take much strength from me at all. What does take strength is my burst and my actual Archon powers. This? Nothing. Though, admittedly, this basic strength still wouldn't be enough to defeat Nerraw anyway. So I'm good!"
Oliver nodded in understanding. "Makes sense." He pointed to the ruined spawner. "Obviously, they wouldn't be as strong as Nerraw, much less the Wither."
"Exactly!" Venti agreed. He turned his head and gasped. "Ooh! Wait, it's one of those chest things again! But... oopsies! My wind knocked them over, sorry about that!"
There were two wooden chests flanking the broken spawner. Both had been blown onto their sides, their heavy lids thrown open. The loot inside had completely spilled out, scattering shimmering ores, rotten flesh, and various items across the dungeon floor.
"My word! Is that gold?!" Venti laughed, rushing forward. "Wow, we're going to be rich!" He reached down to scoop up a heavy, pixelated ingot.
"Yeah, but gold isn't actually worth much in Minecraft's universe," Oliver pointed out.
Venti froze. "Eh?!" His eyes widened in absolute horror. "Oh... hmph! Guess it wouldn't be worth anything if I brought it back to Teyvat, then." Venti dramatically slumped forward, letting his arms dangle in defeat. "And here I was thinking I could use it to buy a year's worth of dandelion wine from the Dawn Winery," he pouted.
Oliver bit his lip, trying incredibly hard not to laugh, but a few giggles escaped anyway. "Hey, stop being so dramatic. Who knows, gold is gold. It shouldn't matter what universe it comes from... I'm sure it might be worth something in Teyvat if gold is worth something over there." Oliver stared down at the gleaming blocks scattered on the stone. "Thinking about it... hey! Maybe I can take some back to use in my world."
Venti perked up instantly, standing tall. "Yeah! Maybe you can do that!" he beamed.
Oliver giggled. "You recovered real fast."
"My mood can change faster than the wind can blow! I'm hardly ever sad. Especially when I'm around the person I love~!"
Oliver shook his head, a fond smile gracing his lips. "It's difficult to see this side of you from the actual video game I used to play. I'm thinking we should change your title from the Anemo Archon to the Lover-Boy Archon," he teased.
Venti giggled softly. "Ehehe! So what do you plan to buy with the gold? Assuming it's worth something in your world."
"Well..." Oliver thought about it, the playful energy draining slightly from his posture. "I'm actually not planning to be, like... extra rich, or anything." He picked up a gold ingot, feeling its heavy, dense weight in his palms. "The guys back in the lab, and me... we're not going to have a life when we finally leave that facility."
Venti's eyes narrowed in deep sympathy. "Aww, Oliver—"
"It's true." Oliver turned to meet his boyfriend's gaze, his expression solemn. "It's a harsh reality. Doctor Barclay took absolutely everything from us. I just missed out on four years, but Jasper has missed over a decade. And who knows how long Arnold has been out for. If I can sell this gold..." He looked back down at the ingot. "We can build our lives back, slightly. Any other method would be almost impossible. This isn't a movie, Venti. All of this is real life. Even this world right here—" Oliver gestured to the dusty, pixelated dungeon around them. "The Fictional Universe is still real life for us. We're here, breathing." He let out a heavy, exhausted sigh. "My point is, expecting our lives to just magically go back to normal is wishful thinking."
He looked up, forcing a small smile for the bard. "Not you, you know. You can just go back to Teyvat and live your life exactly as you see fit."
Venti shook his head instantly, his expression fiercely determined. "If you think I'm abandoning you, you're severely mistaken, babe," he said, gently poking Oliver's shoulder. "You're my boyfriend now. I love you. And even though I'm only acquainted with the others, they deserve help too. I'm not leaving you. Not until I know that you are safe and well. And the same goes for the rest of them."
Oliver's heart melted completely. He leaned forward, pulling Venti into a tight hug. "I love you, Venti."
"I know," Venti smiled brilliantly, closing his eyes and melting into the warmth as he wrapped his arms tightly around Oliver.
When they finally parted, Oliver knelt down to rummage through the rest of the loose loot, slipping the gold into his pocket. He pushed aside a broken Music Disc 11—which he internally freaked out over, but kept his cool to focus on finding a diamond—when his fingers brushed against cold metal.
"Huh?" Oliver pulled the object from the pile, his eyes widening.
"What? Another one?" Venti tilted his head.
It was yet another heavy, metallic memory chip.
Oliver slowly turned it over.
Jeffrey Daniels
Oliver blinked, a chill running down his spine. "Why do we keep finding these? My pockets literally can't hold anymore."
"I'll hold onto this one," Venti offered, gently taking it from Oliver's hands. "I'll keep it safe."
Oliver shook his head, his mind racing. "There has to be a reason we're finding these, right? Nerraw is the one actively taking us to these different worlds. I doubt he's the one showing us all of this,"
Venti pressed a thumb to his chin, staring thoughtfully at the floor. "You don't think Nerraw could be one of the victims of that Doctor?"
"It could be a possibility..." Oliver muttered. "But... did they go evil? Did they break out of this?" He pointed to the chip in Venti's hands. "If they broke out, how the hell did they manage it?"
"Well, it's just speculation," Venti reasoned. "Nerraw has strange, god-tier powers. I can't exactly speak to how god-like creatures function outside of my own realm—I mean, that's the whole point of different universes, right? They all have different rules and cultures, just... a little more extreme. But going strictly off my knowledge of Teyvat, only the Ruler of Death has powers like that. Though, even by her standards, Nerraw is pretty unprofessional if this is supposed to be his job."
Oliver squinted. "The ruler of what now?"
Venti smiled softly, shaking his head in amusement. "Seriously, so much for you knowing absolutely everything about my realm."
"Hey!" Oliver snapped playfully. "I told you—"
"I know, I know, you missed four years. But still, if you missed all of that in just four years, that story you read about me—"
"Not read, watched," Oliver corrected.
"Whatever~," Venti giggled. "Watched about me. Well... if none of that was explained at the very beginning, there might as well have not been a story at all!" He laughed. "Why wouldn't they establish all of that right at the start?"
Oliver blinked. Well, Venti certainly wasn't wrong about that.
"Well, that's something you'd have to take up with Hoyoverse," Oliver sighed, shaking his head. "They take the concept of a 'slow burn' and stretch it all the fuck out."
Venti snorted. "I'll say."
"Seriously. It takes hundreds of hours to complete the main story. And mind you, that's just the main questline. There are probably hundreds more hours needed to complete all the side quests."
Venti's eyes widened in sheer horror. "Oh my word..." he breathed. "I couldn't ever dream of reading a book that long."
"W-Well—" Oliver remembered Venti mentioning that films existed in Teyvat. "It would be more equivalent to seeing a film. So, you... well, watch it."
"Still!" Venti groaned. "Sitting in a chair for hundreds of hours, staring at a screen and watching some cheesy drama play out sounds so borrringggg!!!" He whined dramatically. "Ugh, not even all the dandelion wine and apple cider in the theater could hold me over! I'd quite literally prefer to go into a deep slumber again..."
Oliver had to laugh. "Wow, you are seriously so dramatic sometimes."
Venti giggled, flopping his entire body weight heavily against his boyfriend.
Oliver stumbled back. "H-Hey! You almost knocked me over!"
Venti clung to him with a cheeky grin. "Only you could entertain me! Especially if we were sitting in the dark theater, right in the very back row. We could make out in the darkness with no one to catch us~ and I'd take off my corset, and pull my shirt all the way up to tease you with my belly button you love so dearly~"
Oliver's face instantly went nuclear red. "V-V... Ven..." He couldn't even form words. He just groaned, closing his eyes and letting out a shaky breath. "More like—" he opened his eyes, glaring weakly. "You'd be entertaining yourself and not me, you big tease!"
Venti just giggled, leaning up to kiss his burning cheek. "Don't deny it! You'd definitely do it, and you'd want to! I bet I filled your pretty little head with so many dirty thoughts just now~"
Oliver looked away, then slowly met Venti's gaze again. "Okay, yeah," he admitted, his voice cracking slightly. "T-That whole thing sounded pretty hot."
Venti beamed triumphantly. "See? That wasn't so hard to admit, was it?"
"Shush," Oliver smiled, his heart fluttering. "Anyway, back to what we were saying. You don't have to sit at the screen for hours on end to play a video game."
"You don't?" Venti perked up, genuinely shocked.
"Nohoho!" Oliver laughed. "You definitely don't. I mean, I'm sure some people do. But modern video games allow you to save your progress and come back to it whenever you'd like. Now, if you're playing Sonic The Hedgehog on the Genesis, well, you're never saving that game. Though, it doesn't take hours to beat Sonic anyway. Unless you're pretty shit at the game..." He paused, blinking. "Like me."
The bard let out a massive sigh of relief. "Ohhh! I swear, I thought one had to sit down for hundreds of hours straight just to enjoy one of these 'video games'! Okay! Well, that makes me feel a little bit better, hehehe!" Venti smiled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Phew! I was hoping you'd show me one of these 'games' if we ever left the facility, so I was really worried for a second!" He straightened up, looking back down at the pile of loot. "You haven't finished looking through everything. Don't you want anything else?"
"Well—" Oliver knelt back down in the dirt. "Taking some of this... I mean, it would do great with a hardcore Minecraft collector back home. But if I bring this stuff back, it puts the Fictional Universe at risk of being discovered. Which... I don't think is a good idea."
Venti pointed a finger at him. "But you're bringing back the gold?" he pointed out. "The gold looks blocky, which I assume doesn't naturally exist in your world. So wouldn't that cause the same problem?"
"You're not wrong," Oliver conceded. "It looks blocky, but it feels and weighs exactly the same as a real gold ingot. People mostly sell gold by smashing it to pieces or melting it down anyway. I assume this gold wouldn't look any different to ours once it's melted."
Venti nodded approvingly. "Good plan."
"Yeah." Oliver shifted through the remaining rubble. Suddenly, a flash of deep blue caught his eye. He gasped. "Venti! I think I—!!!"
He pulled it out, and his face instantly fell.
"Shit. It's just freaking Lapis," Oliver groaned, rolling his eyes. "Fooled in the actual game, and now I'm fooled in real life."
Venti's eyes went wide. "Lapis?"
"Yeah," Oliver said, confused as to why Venti suddenly sounded so stunned.
Venti blinked rapidly. "Rex Lapis?" he whispered. "Zhongli?"
Oliver gasped, suddenly realizing exactly where Venti's mind had gone. "N-No! Not him!" he burst out laughing. "It's just an ore that happens to share the same name."
"Oh!" Venti laughed, placing a hand over his chest. "Ah! Okay, for a moment I thought Zhongli had taken the literal form of a rock. I know he's the Geo Archon and all, but turning into a pocket-sized stone would have been a bit extreme, even for him..."
"Pffft!" Oliver couldn't hold it in, laughing so hard his sides ached. "Wow, that... that was pretty funny!"
Venti giggled along with him. "I don't even know why I thought that! This realm obviously doesn't connect with ours whatsoever! Haha!"
Oliver looked at the lone chunk of Lapis ore, shrugged, and slid it into his pocket.
Venti raised an eyebrow, smirking. "I thought you said you weren't going to take anything else?"
"Well, I changed my mind," Oliver let out a defeated sigh. "I mean, I'm literally inside Minecraft. If other Minecrafters found out I was here and didn't take at least something as a souvenir, they'd probably nail me to a wall." He shifted through the loose loot one final time.
His fingers brushed against something else. Something icy blue and perfectly shiny.
Oliver gasped, his breath hitching in his throat. "Venti! I... I found..." A massive, triumphant smile broke across his face. "Diamonds!"
"Really?!" Venti dropped to his knees next to him on the stone floor.
"Look! I—" Oliver dug deeper into the pile and pulled out a second gem. "Oh, wow! I hit the jackpot! I got more!"
"Wow, so cool!" Venti cheered, clapping his hands together.
"I can make the sword!" Oliver stood up, clutching the two gleaming diamonds tightly against his chest. "A diamond sword just needs two of these!"
"Now all you need is the wood!"
Oliver nodded eagerly, but then froze perfectly still. "Oh, shit... I don't have an axe."
A moment later, a second, far more terrifying realization hit him. "Wait a minute!!!" He nearly dropped the priceless diamonds in his sudden panic.
"What's the matter?" Venti asked, gently placing a hand on Oliver's back.
"How do I even craft the sword in real life?!" Oliver stressed. "In the game, you use a crafting table, but... it uses a digital interface. Will... will there be a floating interface in real life?"
"Okay, well, let's take it one step at a time," Venti suggested calmly, grounding him. "What exactly is a crafting table, and how do we find one?"
"You have to make it," Oliver explained, his mind racing. "Out of wood. But I don't have an axe to cut any down."
Venti tapped his chin thoughtfully. "And I assume that pickaxe wouldn't be of much use?"
"No. It wouldn't. Bec—" Oliver stopped talking, his eyes widening. "Wait, hold on... no, it... it might actually still work."
Venti looked up at him, tilting his head curiously.
"In the game itself, you can use literally anything to break any block. Some items won't drop the resource you mined if you use the wrong tool, but pickaxes can still break wood blocks and give you the wood," Oliver said, nodding to himself. "Even your bare fists work! But... punching that wood last time actually hurt my knuckles."
Venti nodded firmly. "Exactly, so please do not do that again."
"But... it was working," Oliver pointed out. "The block of wood was actually splintering and breaking. Which means that even though being here feels realistic to our bodies... the physics are still very much governed by Minecraft rules." Oliver leaned over and hoisted up his pickaxe from where he'd leaned it against the wall. "So this means I can use this. It'll take longer to mine the wood, but we're in no rush. It would take way more time to hunt around in the dark for a fully constructed axe in these chests than to just mine four pieces of wood with this anyways."
Venti smiled, nodding in full approval. "As long as it's a method that won't cause you any pain, I'm all for it."
~~~~~~~~~~
Oliver's plan actually worked.
After leaving the monster spawner behind, they had wandered down a random branching tunnel until they found a sturdy wooden support pillar holding up the ceiling. It took quite a bit of effort—and a lot of rhythmic, echoing thwacks against the plank—but Oliver eventually managed to break down enough of it to gather four solid planks of oak wood planks.
His hands were perfectly fine, though the heavy labor had definitely worked up a sweat on his brow. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, letting out a triumphant breath.
But then came the next challenge.
"Huh..." Oliver stared down at the four heavy, blocky planks resting on the sonte block floor. He had the materials, but he had absolutely no idea how to physically form them into a crafting table in real life.
"How did you do it in the game?" Venti asked, leaning over his shoulder curiously.
"That's the thing..." Oliver muttered, rubbing his chin. "The game has that digital interface I talked about. You just open your inventory and drag them into a square." He knelt down and picked up the blocks, awkwardly placing them together two-by-two.
Suddenly, the air around the wood shifted. A bright, crackling spark shot out from the seams of the four blocks, and in the blink of an eye, they fused together, transforming instantly into a waist-high wooden crafting table, complete with tools strapped to the sides.
"Oh!" Venti gasped, clapping his hands.
"Yes!!!" Oliver cheered, punching the air. "Haha, it actually worked!" He grabbed his pickaxe again and spun back around toward the wooden support pillar. "I need more wood for the sticks!"
After furiously chopping down another section of the pillar with his completely mismatched tool, he gathered the fresh planks. "Hmm... Will this work the same way?" He aggressively slammed two of the wooden blocks together. Another bright spark flashed, and the heavy blocks instantly snapped into four long, pixelated sticks.
Venti arched an eyebrow, thoroughly amused. "This universe is... rather strange."
Oliver turned back to the crafting table, but the moment he stepped close to it, all of the raw materials he had tucked under his arm suddenly shrank.
"Huh?" Oliver blinked in surprise.
It was as if the loose items had magically scaled down in size just by being in the presence of the table. They were now miniature, fitting perfectly into the palm of his hand—which meant they were exactly the right size to be placed onto the table's surface.
Wasting no time, Oliver stepped up to the bench. A faint, glowing three-by-three grid hovered just above the wooden surface. Carefully, he placed one stick in the bottom center square. Then, in the two squares directly above it, he placed his two precious diamonds.
With a brilliant flash of blue light, the materials vanished, and a heavy, pixelated diamond sword slammed down onto the table.
Oliver looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel as he stared at the glowing blue weapon. "EeeeEEEE!" he practically squealed, making eager grabby hands before snatching the sword up by the hilt.
Venti giggled quietly, covering his mouth. "My, my," he teased softly. "You're quite excited!" He shook his head in awe. "And wow, if only forging weapons was that easy back in Mondstadt. We wouldn't even need Wagner! Haha!"
Oliver swished the sword through the air, feeling the weight of it. "I think I actually know how to use this!" he laughed. "I used that sword back when I was trapped inside my old avatar, so I still have some of that muscle memory! But holy shit, this handle is going to take some getting used to—" He looked down at his grip. The blocky, rigid handle was incredibly awkward to hold, digging into his palms. It felt absolutely nothing like the soft foam diamond sword he'd bought from GameStop a few years ago.
Venti opened his mouth to ask him about his new Vision, but before the bard could get a word out, a sudden, piercing chill ripped up and down Oliver's spine.
"Wow..." Oliver gasped.
His eyes flashed a brilliant, icy blue for a fraction of a second. A swirl of freezing, misty air erupted from his hands, spiraling rapidly up the length of the diamond sword until the blade was wreathed in a layer of biting frost. "Oh..." he breathed, staring at the weapon in pure awe.
Venti beamed, planting his hands proudly on his hips. "Seems like I got my answer! Haha! Congrats, Oliver! You are officially a Vision Holder! You've got your own Vision, your own sword! How do you feel?"
Oliver looked over at Venti, a massive, uncontainable smile spreading across his face. "I feel so happy!!!"
Venti giggled softly. "Haha! Just make sure to use your new powers wisely. Or don't use them at all, there's no problem with that either! Hey, you can even use your Cryo powers to chill a drink that's gone warm."
Oliver snorted. "Haha, I'll definitely keep that in mind."
"Good! So—"
Suddenly, a bright, pulsing white light began to shine from Venti's pants pocket, cutting through the dim gloom of the mineshaft.
Oliver blinked, his gaze dropping to the glowing part on the fabric. "Venti?"
Venti gasped, his eyes going wide as he quickly dug into his pocket. He pulled out the shining white orb that he had been holding onto since they dropped into the first world they had been too.
"Wait—" Oliver stared deadpan at the bard. "Babe, please don't tell me you completely forgot about that."
Venti cringed, offering a sheepish, guilty smile. Because he absolutely had. "This was something that dark creature didn't like, right?"
"So much for you having a sharp Archon memory," Oliver teased, rolling his eyes fondly.
"Hey!" Venti protested with a laugh. "It happens! Even to deities! But yeah, I guess we did all of this mining for nothing... Wait, no! Not nothing!" he corrected himself quickly. "Either way, you needed a weapon to defend yourself just in case Nerraw ever got too close to you specifically! So this was still an incredibly good thing!"
Oliver looked down at his frosting diamond sword and nodded slowly. "Yeah, you're right. I do feel like much less of a burden now. I can actually fight back against Nerraw."
"Hey! Don't say that." Venti stepped right into Oliver's space, reaching up to press a sweet, lingering kiss to his lips. "You are never a burden." He pulled back just enough to pepper a few more soft kisses across Oliver's cheeks, then his nose, and finally one more on his lips, melting the boy completely.
Venti giggled, pulling back with a fierce, determined spark in his eyes. "A glowing artifact he hates? My Anemo power, and your new Cryo power that will surely cause a massive Swirl storm? He doesn't stand a chance against us! Let's go~!"
Oliver gripped his sword tighter, his confidence surging. "Let's go!"
Side by side, hand in hand, the human and the Archon turned back down the tunnel, determined to find their way to the surface and face Nerraw—hopefully for the very last time.