Chapter Text
Aether was panicking, and who could blame him? One moment he was heading off, still in shock and mulling over the revelation of the gnoses being remains of the Third Descender- their predecessor, and how their relation as Descenders may be why they are able to wield elements without a vision or needing to be from Teyvat. The next he heard a clobbering of footsteps approaching him and Paimon. He only turned around with enough time to catch a brief glimpse of a herd of horses rapidly approaching him before it all went black.
Wait... That’s right, he wasn’t alone, Paimon was there too. Where was she now!?
Before he could spiral into what would no doubt be an actual panic attack, he realised there was a warm lump leaning against his leg. Could it be..?
“Paimon..?” He whispered, full of hope, “Paimon... Paimon, is that you?”
The lump began to stir and move, and a yawn could be heard, when to his relief he heard Paimon’s voice. “Traveller...?” She asked, a hint of residue sleepiness and confusion in her voice, “where are we?”
And that was the golden question here wasn’t it? Where were they? Were they kidnapped by Fatui? That couldn’t be, it’s not like he flaunted out where he was going next, and besides he had only just arrived in Fontaine, so it’s not like had any enemies to watch out for. Wait.. Fontaine is known for justice, right? What if they heard of his escapades or how he ran from the Millelith, and decided to punish him for it! But he was falsely accused of killing a GOD, anyone would run! Come on!
There was also a voice, deep and foreboding, that came from nowhere. He remembered briefly waking up, to hear something or someone talking to him, about a flower of evil, and not having enough time. Although he doesn’t truly know what it means, could it maybe refer to his sister and how she had become the princess of the abyss? Not to mention she did speak nonsense of how they’d have enough time to reunite after Aether went through all of Teyvat. But that would mean it was the Abyss Order, and maybe his sister truly didn’t consider him family anymore like the abyss herald said- wanting to get rid of him once and for all. But that wouldn’t happen, after all Lumine never said such a thing, only left him behind to complete his journey. Even though his journey was for her, not some random truth or whatever of the world. Right? He wasn’t wrong, right?
He spiralled, shallow breaths beginning to escape him, before Paimon’s voice resounded out and broke him out of his thoughts.
“Traveller? Are you ok?” He heard her ask in concern.
Aether forced himself to calm, and tried to even his breathing, no matter how hard and almost impossible it felt, before replying to her question, “yeah, sorry about that Paimon. I don’t know where we are either, we’ll need to get out of this space before we brainstorm any further.”
“It is dark in here, and Paimon doesn’t feel safe here either,” she agreed, “alright! Let’s get outta here!”
Aether thought hard about how to escape the cramped box(?) he was in; feeling around the surface before him for any weak spots but unable to find any before a thought hit him. Why not use one of the elemental abilities he has to break out? The surface before him felt like wood, and the best element against that in his repertoire was anemo. But he’d need to warn Paimon first, after all he couldn’t allow her to get hurt from the debris or splinters that were sure to be made.
“Paimon, I think you’re going to need to cover yourself up as much as possible, cause I’m going to try to use wind blade to break through the wooden wall before us. Is that fine with you?” He inquired to his trusted companion.
“Paimon’s fine with that, Paimon just wants to get outta here! She’s sooo squashed up!” She replied in agreement.
“Ok! Here we go...” He warned, before calling upon the element of anemo. He felt relief at the wind accumulating in his hands, and was about to put it towards wood when he heard a click come from it. He stopped what he was doing and let his elemental attack dissipate, when what he now knew to be a door swung open to a crowd of people wearing some sort of fancy cult robes facing him and Paimon’s direction. Aether took a step into the light, despite his lack of will to do so, and took in his surroundings.
It seemed to be a great hall, one exquisitely decorated at that, large and full of... floating coffins? Looking at what he came out of, he was once in those floating coffins no doubt... it was quite dark, and had a bunch of eerily clothed people staring at him and Paimon whilst chattering amongst themselves.
“Oh my! Is that your familiar?” Spoke a tall and extravagantly dressed man from beside him. Is.. Is he dressed as a crow? The man continued, “Never mind that, the entrance ceremony is starting, please join the other first years at the centre of the hall so we can begin.”
Aether was confused as to what was going on, where he was and who all these people were. But if there’s one thing he’s learnt from travelling universes and being stuck in strange places, it's to blend in and collect information. So after signalling to Paimon to stay close with him, he made his way to the centre where a gaggle of young men were standing. Perhaps he was still disorientated from waking up in an unknown place, but he had only just realised his clothes were the same robes everyone else was wearing, a quick, discrete peak under them showed his clothes were still intact underneath. Hopefully he could still access his spatial inventory, something told him he’d need it. He’d check later, for now he’d stay silent and keep watch.
Eventually, the crow man went to the front of the huge auditorium, flanked by six other people, and clapped his hands loudly and the chatter came to a close as everyone began to pay attention to what he had to say.
“Okay, settle down now my dear students,” he crooned in a sugary sweet tone, pausing for a moment before continuing, “Welcome to Night Raven College, a place where you little eggs with exceptional talents have gathered here today to be sorted into your dormitories. This will be where you belong and thrive to become the best! And it all begins here at Twisted Wonderland’s most prestigious magician training academy.”
The man sure did talk a lot, and quite dramatically too, he quite reminded Aether of the hydro archon, Furina. However, the speech did confirm what Aether was hoping to not be the case- he was in another world, again, and at a college no less. He could feel Paimon and her buzzing curiosity at their current situation, but luckily she seemed to understand the need to stay silent while in this place- at least until they could get to somewhere more private.
The man continued his speech, “And I am the headmaster supervising this academy under the board, Dire Crowley.”
Thank goodness Aether finally had a name to match the face, and the name sure seemed to fit this bird wannabes aesthetic too. Aether finally got to know who the six males standing with this headmaster were too, they were the dorm leaders for the dormitories at this college, with each holding a certain trait, but Crowley seemed to just skip over explaining what those traits were.
Honestly Aether couldn’t believe the absurd names of these dorms, such as Octavinelle and Pomefiore, but he guessed this was his reality until found a way back for him and his companion. And furthermore, this headmaster seemed to put more effort in his introduction than the introduction of those men behind him or the school system.
Aether was cut off of questioning this absurd situation and sketchy environment, as it seemed the sorting procedure had finally begun. An orange headed boy, with red eyes, had been called first, chosen as he was the closest to the front, and stood in front of an unreasonably large mirror- it was a dark ornate mirror, vintage looking and with a pitch black lens before it lit up with a mask like green face. It reminded him of a child’s movie he had watched with Lumine in one of the previous worlds they visited, he couldn’t remember the name, something to do with the snow? It spoke in a deep, stoic voice, asking for the kid's name, which was revealed to be Ace Trappola, and assigning him to Heartslabyul...? Aether didn’t know who came up with these strange dormitory names, but even Qiqi had a better naming sense than this!
There sure seemed to be quite a lot of people, and it also seemed quite a bit of time had passed too. Aether was one of the last to be let out of the coffins, so it was sure to be slow until he would have to get on the pedestal. Aether dwelled into his thoughts as he waited, remembering how this was sure to be Paimon’s first time to have travelled to a new world! Hopefully he’d be able to find a moment for himself and Paimon, she was sure to be terrified and confused seeing as she wasn’t used to travelling worlds like him, or the environment they found themselves in- he’d treat her to some sticky honey roast, hopefully that’ll comfort her the same was she comforted him in his lost moments.
Aether was snapped out of his thoughts when Paimon nudged him, proclaiming, “Traveller! It’s our turn!” He turned his head to her and smiled gratefully at her keeping a lookout for him, and stepped forth with her in toe.
Before the mirror, Aether felt somewhat exposed. It felt like it was seeping some sort of an intrusive aura, and it seeped into his being. Very unnerving to say the least.
“Speak thy name,” it stated.
Aether was conflicted, during his time in Teyvat he hadn’t told a single person his true name. Only Paimon knew, and she never used it, instead opting to call him Traveller. Should he come up with an alias, go with Traveller or say his real name. Instincts told him it may not go over well if he were to lie, after all there was definitely more to this mirror if it could read into what Aether was assuming your being? To assign you to a dormitory based on traits. Isn’t this some kind of distorted, knock off of visions and who is selected to have what element if chosen?
Whatever, stay on track Aether! Just say your real name, and blend in afterwards so hopefully no one remembers you.
“Aether,” he replied.
The mirror seemed to contemplate to itself, closing it’s eyes briefly, before opening them and saying, “Aether... the shape of thy soul is... a vacuum of stars... but they glimmer with determination and willpower, therefore it better be... Savanaclaw.”
Stars..? Well, he’s heard of that before in Teyvat from a lot of his friends, so nothing new.
Aether turned from the mirror, and looked at Paimon, “Do you know which one is Savanaclaw?” She shook her head in response, frowning as confusion overtook her. Thankfully, a tall and long haired man with an exhausted face waved at them lazily (one of those dorm leaders), beckoning them over. Aether approached, and saw how he had animal ears upon his head, but not only him, the whole group behind him had the same.
Were he and Paimon the only ones not? Please don’t grab him any attention from this difference, he genuinely needed a break from how disorientating and sudden this whole endeavour has been, and then a way to get back.
The sorting seemed to be over after a few more minutes, and it seemed it was time to head to these dorms. Aether paid attention to the man with lion(?) ears with an annoyed expression, as he drawled out, “..Fuaa~ah. Finally the tiresome ceremony ended. We’re going back to our dorm, immediately. Savanaclaw Dorm, follow me.”
However, before they could even get a step towards progress of heading out, the doors to the hall were slammed open hard, as the crow headmaster flourished in, making a dramatic entrance, and behind him another male- looking confused and annoyed behind him.
When had he even left..?
The person behind them looked to be a year older than the people Aether was just sorted with, and were of average height. They had features reminiscent of that of Inazumans, black hair and eyes. The person walked hesitantly to the pedestal and the mirror spoke, once again asking, “Speak thy name.”
“I’m Yuu”, they replied. Finally, another name for a face! Aether was close to naming them Inazuman boy.
The mirror contemplated, “Yuu... The shape of thy soul is...”
He paused? Why did he pause? Maybe Yuu had more than one trait to his personality? Now that Aether thought about it, it was quite insulting to be told there is potentially nothing other than your determination in your being... He actually had a personality thank you very much.
The mirror broke out of its silence, to utter, “I do not know.”
The headmaster gaped, “what did you say?” Aether agreed with his astonishment, he did not expect the mirror to say such a thing. After all, he wasn’t even from this world and still managed to pass this evaluation thing, but this potential student didn’t? What was going on?
“I could not feel any magic wavelength from this one... Neither colours, nor shape, there are none of it,” the mirror explained, “Therefore this one is unworthy for any dorm!”
No magic... At all? Aether pondered briefly over what this could mean. From what he gathered, everyone seemed to have some magic at the very least, and they were all shocked at Yuu not possessing any which backed that point up. Or it could just be that this is a magic school, so they’d assume everyone here would have magic, and it was common for people to not have magic too. Was magic like visions, where not everyone had it? Aether would need to hit up a library with Paimon after this, the lack of information he had was frustrating, and would also allow people to single them out as strange- they needed to blend in and having basic knowledge was the best way to do so.
He was snapped out of his thoughts by the cries of... a cat? The cat-like creature had a fierce yet smug look upon its face as it proclaimed, “Unlike that human over there, I can use magic! That’s why, put me into the academy instead! If it’s magic you want, I’ll show you an extraordinary one now!” And proceeded to flood the room with blue flames.
Aether grabbed Paimon and dodged out the way of a ball of fire heading their way. He hugged her to his chest, asking in concern, “are you ok, Paimon?”
She nodded her head, a combination of fear and relief on her face, “Paimon’s ok! Thanks to you Traveller! But, what is that thing and why did it decide to hurt everyone?”
Aether smiled at her in relief, before answering, “I’m not sure myself Paimon, but it seems we don’t need to intervene, two of those house wardens are dealing with them.” Pointing at a short redhead, and grey haired, hat guy who was chasing the cat and shooting magic at the cat.
“Look!” Paimon exclaimed, pointing at a bronze skinned man in a turban who was flailing over a small fire on his butt, “He’s on fire! We have to help him!” Aether nodded at her words, and rushed over, before using hydro to take the fire out. He looked over the male, making sure there were no other injuries, before he was intercepted by another person, who was also bronze skinned but with dark long hair, elegantly decorated into a ponytail.
“Thank you for helping Kalim,” the ponytail man said, before the turban man who was now identified as Kalim moved in front of him, grabbing Aether’s hands and shaking them, repeatedly saying, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
Aether nodded, anxiety over their attention and their dorm students' attention peaking. Aether didn’t speak much around those he wasn’t close to, unless he absolutely had too such as on commissions or long adventures. He pulled his hands back as gently as he could, and Paimon took over speaking for him, “That’s fine! Traveller always helps when people need it, so this isn’t a big deal.”
Both boys tilted their heads at Paimon’s words, “Traveller..? Is that your name?” The pony tailed male asked, curiosity in his tone. It must be hard to remember new students' names with how many there were for sorting, so Aether understood why he didn’t know his name besides being practical strangers. However, Aether couldn’t lie, it was relieving that no one knew his real name. He’d prefer everyone call him Traveller instead, he’d gotten used to it, so he nodded in response to the question.
Paimon somewhat elaborated, “Traveller goes by Traveller, it’s just what he prefers, and it’s what everyone back... home! Calls him, and Paimon’s name is Paimon!” She introduced herself.
He nodded, before introducing himself, “My name is Jamil Viper, and this is Kalim Al-Asim, my master.”
Kalim interjected, “Jamil isn’t just my servant, he’s also my best friend!” And grinned brightly, in contrast to the smothered scowl Jamil seemed to be trying to hide on his face. Aether internally frowned at what he was seeing, and a glance at Paimon confirmed she noticed the difference in the two at the proclamation of friendship from Kalim.
“OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!”
A yell startled Aether and Paimon, making them jump as they turned towards the strong yell. It was the short redhead, who seemed to have out some sort of collar on the cat, who in turn squealed out, “Fugya!! What the hell is this!?”
The redhead smugly explained, “The law of the Queen of Hearts, No. 23: ‘Do not bring cats into festival venues’. You, a cat, trespassing is a heavy violation of the rule. I shall have you leave this place immediately.”
...Aether was glad he wasn’t sorted into his dorm. What in Fontaine’s name of justice is up with these strangely specific rules? It sounded like a nightmare, and definitely meant there would be an absurd amount of rules in turn.
The cat strangled out a defiant mewl, objecting, “I’m also not a cat~!! I’ll burn this collar easy...” And seemed to concentrate hard, shutting his eyes, before opening them in disbelief, “H-Huh? My flames aren’t coming out!”
What!?
The redhead became smug, haughty in his tone as he explained, “Hmph! Until I release you from that collar, you can’t use magic. You’re no different to a cat.”
“Woah~!” Paimon awed, “That’s so cool! Traveller, how do you think he got that power?” she asked, sparkled in her eyes. Aether gave her an exasperated smile, shrugging, but a similar shock and amazement was in him too. How cool, was this a bloodline type of thing? Or maybe a mixture of alchemy and magic, hence the collar? What an interesting world!
The cat protested, claiming to not be a pet, to which the male rebutted, “Don’t worry, I don’t want a pet like you, either.”
Paimon smirked, “Paimon is a great companion unlike him.” To which Aether nodded, it was the truth after all.
He continued, “Well, I’m going to remove it when you get thrown out of the school.”
The grey haired man had a sinister look of greed scrawled upon his face, “Man~ wonderful, as usual Riddle’s unique magic that could seal any magic.” He praised, before a more slimy tone took over, “I absolutely want it...!”
He then became flustered, amending his statement, “I mean... I definitely do not want it casted on me.”
Nice save dude... Definitely not creepy or weird.
Crowley then turned to the magic less male, demanding, “Do something! It’s your familiar, right!? Discipline it properly-“
“It’s not mine!” They interjected, frustration on their face.
“....Huh? It’s not yours?” He asked, disbelief evident in his voice.
“I’ve been telling you that lots of times since ages ago!” They said, anger now seeping through, and if what they said was true, Aether couldn’t blame them. It must’ve been infuriating to be ignored so many times. Aether could relate to people forcing opinions on you without care for you, don’t worry Yuu- you have his condolences. This isn’t a one off that’s going to occur, it’s going to become a lifestyle, he just knew it. Take it from a veteran of this sort of stuff.
The head teacher regained his composure, coughing as he went on, “Well then, let’s throw him out of the academy. I will not turn him into stew. I’m nice, after all. Someone, please.”
The cat struggled, proclaiming he would become a great magician before disappearing.
Paimon turned to Aether, stunned and whispered, “Paimon doesn’t know about you, but that doesn’t look very kind!” Aether nodded, eyes wide at the concept of making another into stew. She then asked, “Paimon knows you joke about her being emergency food, but you wouldn’t do that to her right?”
“Of course not!,” Aether confirmed before reassuring her, “I won’t let anyone eat you, don’t worry Paimon.” And that was a promise, Paimon and him were never going to be separated ever, not like how he lost his sister. And especially not after going through so much together, that’s his emotional support travel guide, thank you very much!
Crowley cleared his voice, gaining everyone’s attention, before saying, “There was a little trouble, but with this, the opening ceremony is closed. Each dorm leader, please bring the new students with you and go back to your dorm.”
Finally, it was over!
“...Nn?” The headmaster hummed, as they looked around curiously.
Or maybe it wasn’t over...? Damn it!
“Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Diasomnia Dorm’s dorm leader, Draconia at all...”
Aether tilted his head, wondering who this Draconia guy was, though it seemed like everyone else knew who he was with all the fearful whispers that begun; he turned his attention to the man with lion ears, his dorm leader, who drawled out, “Him not being here is normal, ain’t it?”
“Huh?” Kalim responded, before asking, “Don’t tell me, nobody told him about the ceremony?”
A beautiful man frowned lightly, “you say that, but why didn’t you tell him about it?”
Kalim answered, “Mmm. But you know, I don’t know much about him.”
Paimon frowned, annoyed, “that’s quite rude don’t you think traveller? We invite others all the time, even for commissions, and we don’t do it only if we know them!” Aether agreed with her, a matching frown on his face. Poor Draconia, his isolation and the fearful reputation kind of reminded him of Xiao’s situation, even if Xiao’s was slightly more self-inflicted, and he didn’t like that one bit.
His dorm leader groaned loudly, gaining all of Aether’s dorm attention, clearly tired of how drawn out the ceremony was.
“Let's go, don’t be too slow cause I ain’t going to wait for you,” he ordered, and sauntered away, everyone following him closely, Aether and Paimon made sure to stay to the back.
‘Hopefully we’ll have some privacy soon,’ Aether thought to himself as they exited the hall.