"These are… you and me from back then? I… I did this of my own will?"
Azhdaha's voice trembled violently.
He could scarcely believe that the truth from a thousand years ago was like this. Then what, exactly, had his so-called "hatred" over these millennia been?
Was it nothing more than his own "erosion"?
"Memories are etched into the earth, enduring for tens of thousands of years. I merely helped you recall what you were meant to remember. Everything you see is real—there has been no tampering," Lora said, maintaining the flow of her divine power as she watched Azhdaha with calm eyes.
She looked at him and spoke in a low, steady voice: "The heavens shift and all phenomena move; mountains and seas take form."
"…From barren land, stars are born, brilliant as… the blazing sun?"
As those words left Lora's lips, the memories Azhdaha had lost for a thousand years surged back all at once. At the same time, his savagery dissipated completely.
"Mora…x…"
After a long silence, Azhdaha finally called out to Zhongli.
"Azhdaha, I am no longer the Geo Archon," Zhongli said softly, meeting his gaze.
"Thank you… for giving me back my sight."
Azhdaha's voice was filled with deep nostalgia. Both he and Zhongli seemed to sink into those ancient memories that spanned a millennium.
Those words alone were enough to show that Azhdaha had fully returned to himself.
"It was a simple matter. There is no need to dwell on it," Zhongli replied.
"With your sight intact, you naturally cannot understand a blind dragon's yearning for light. But Morax granting me my eyes—now that I have remembered it, I will never forget, even if all bedrock crumbles and the seas turn into fields," Azhdaha said solemnly.
"Would you like to see Liyue as it is now? A thousand years have changed it greatly," Zhongli offered.
Azhdaha nodded. "Of course. Wasn't that what we fought for back then?"
Off to the side, Lora raised a hand. "Um… Azhdaha, if you're going to Liyue, you'll probably need to change your look. In your current form, Liyue Harbor really wouldn't be able to accommodate you—you're just too big."
"Take on a human form, like the rest of us," Zhongli suggested.
"A human form… but I don't know what kind of person I should become," Azhdaha said hesitantly.
Lora lifted her hand and used Hydro elemental power to shape a mirror.
Reflected in it was the appearance of a small girl, carved as if from pink jade.
"Then turn into someone like this!"
Zhongli nodded.
"Lora once used her great power to create the people of Fontaine. When it comes to human form, listening to her judgment won't be wrong."
"…Very well." After a moment's thought, seeing that even Zhongli agreed with Lora's taste, Azhdaha no longer hesitated. He drew his power inward and transformed into the girl Lora had shown.
Seeing Azhdaha's new form, Zhongli was somewhat surprised. He turned to look at the reflection in the mirror in Lora's hand, then said, "Your taste… is indeed quite good. This appearance would unquestionably be devastatingly effective among the people of Liyue."
"Of course," Lora replied with a smile. Then she added, "Oh, right—you'll need a name. 'Azhdaha' really doesn't match your current look at all."
"A name?" Azhdaha froze for a moment, then looked to Zhongli for guidance.
Zhongli glanced at Lora. "Why don't you choose one?"
"Uh…"
Faced with both the tall one and the small one tossing the problem to her—and the smaller one even looking a bit expectant—Lora sighed helplessly. "In that case, you'll take Zhongli's surname, and the character for 'moon' from Liyue. How about Zhongyue?"
"Zhongyue… That's a good name. The moon of Liyue… what a nostalgic land," Zhongyue said with deep emotion upon hearing the name.
Lora, however, nearly lost her composure.
With Zhongyue's current appearance and that soft, gentle tone, hearing such an old-fashioned, sentimental line felt intensely out of place.
Afterward, Zhongli and Zhongyue worked together to soothe the wounds of the land.
Lora calmed the water veins as well, allowing rivers to flow once more so that all things could again be nourished. The three descended from the sky, landing where the remains of the Sealed Tree once stood.
Only then did the Anemo Archon—who had been standing at the border between Mondstadt and Liyue, gazing down from on high at northwestern Liyue—finally withdraw his sight.
His previously grave expression returned to its usual carefree grin. Somehow, a bottle of wine appeared in his hand as he dropped back down to the ground.
"Come on, Dvalin—let's go have a drink!" the green-clad youth called out to the great dragon soaring through the sky.
"Hey, Dvalin, let me ask you something—can you transform?"
Their voices drifted away with the wind as man and dragon departed.
"Do something serious for once, Barbatos!!"
"Eh-heh?"
…
Before the remains of the Sealed Tree, the three of them looked at one another. In the end, Zhongli swept his hand, burying the remnants deep beneath the earth.
"Matters here have come to an end. It's time for us to return to Liyue," Zhongli said to Lora and Zhongyue.
They headed toward Liyue Harbor by way of the South Heavenly Gate.
After a thousand years, Zhongyue was once again setting foot on Liyue's land. The reason they did not fly directly back was because Zhongyue wanted to see what Liyue was like now—not just the harbor, but the scenery along the way as well.
Once the disaster had passed, the Millelith quickly approached from the distance.
Seeing the three walking in from the direction of the South Heavenly Gate, they surrounded them.
"You came from Mt. Hulao? After such a huge calamity, you're completely unharmed!" a Millelith captain exclaimed, staring at Lora and the others in shock.
Zhongli and Zhongyue were both taken aback, still wondering how to explain things, when Lora reached out from behind and patted Zhongli on the shoulder.
Zhongli lowered his head to look at her.
Lora waved her hand, signaling for him to let her handle it.
Zhongli stepped aside, allowing Lora to move to the front. She pulled a silk scarf from the small pouch at her waist, covered her nose, and immediately burst into tears.
"Waaah~ M-my lord~ please allow me to explain~! Just now, everything collapsed—the sky and the earth split apart! We thought we were going to die! But thankfully, the immortals who live here saved us—the ones who were floating in the sky earlier! If not for them, we wouldn't have survived… waaah…"
Behind her, Zhongyue stared up at Lora, her expression as if she had just witnessed the universe itself.
She didn't understand it—but she was deeply shaken.
Zhongli remained calm and composed, as though he were already used to Lora's behavior.
His composure only made Zhongyue even more astonished.
Wait…
She had only been sealed away for a thousand years.
Had the outside world already become like this? Since when did gods behave like this in front of mortals?
Crying, of all things?