Chapter Text
It always puzzled the Vigilant Yaksha - how the concept of time could be so solid, yet fragile at the same time.
No more than five Lantern Rites ago, time was ever-changing. The aeons passed by akin to the river's flow, natural, swift, and oftentimes without a meaning behind.
Alone at the mountain top, vision keen, General Alatus observed the changing tides with little anticipation, simply obeying his pledge dutifully, keeping guard of Rex Lapis' land, and all those who had chosen it to reside.
At the same time, he was counting. Counting down the days until his hands became unfit to wield the spear, until he - like all other myths that have guarded this sacred land - leave behind their mortal duties, and ascend to the world beyond.
And yet, a stubborn and bizarre girl arrived on the roof of Wangshu Inn one mundane evening, and Xiao could feel the ever-standing pillar that had kept his heart unwavering through time collapse like a sandcastle.
Suddenly, days were years, and months were centuries.
The bustling Liyue Harbour without the fluttering of that white dress, the shine of that brilliant golden hair, felt no more than a barren land.
The moment she was by his side, the concept flipped.
Hours felt like the breeze of the wind, and days felt like the come and go of the tides.
For once in his eternity, he prayed that the Gods would give him time, unmeasurable, insurmountable time, just so he could drown in the warmth of her gaze, time and time again.
Enough time for him to find a way to repay her the blessing of life she had bestowed upon his eroding existence.
Just enough time for him to be her shield, until the last light of the universe dies out, and until the traces left of who they were become stardust among the stretching, infinite passage of time.
Xiao was no longer sane, he told himself. And never again, could he return to who he was before her.
After all, when time itself changes, no creature under its wings remains the same.
"Xiao."
A pristine sound rings in the wind, a chime he had craved for what felt like lifetimes. His heart knew how to act before his mind did.
And just like that, he was nowhere to be seen as the Vigilant Yaksha.
For now, he was the vulnerable, yearning Xiao, who would stare breathlessly at the figure who graces his dream. And he counted - counted the precious seconds that she and her windwheel aster scent reside soundly in his arms.