It had been ten years since he was reborn in this world yes, reborn, like in those novels and fanfics. But he never thought he would actually end up here, in a world that was just a game in his last life. A very popular one named Genshin Impact.
This world appeared sunny and fun, which was what the Honkai devs had said too. But just like Honkai, this world was dangerous. Extremely dangerous. The Abyss, the Abyss Order, the Fatui, and that Doctor who looked cool but was someone who needed to be put down on sight.
And he was reborn as the Lawrence heir. His father was the clan leader of the Lawrence clan, and his mother was from the Gunnhildr clan the one Jean came from. That was also the reason why he was the only one with blond hair in the Lawrence clan.
Flashback
Ten years ago, he had died.
The memory was still vivid. Sirens wailing across the city. People screaming, running. The sky lit up with orange and white nuclear fire consuming everything in its path.
He had been running too. Running where? It didn't matter. There was nowhere safe. Humanity had destroyed itself, and he was just one more casualty in the final war.
The explosion came without warning. A flash of light brighter than the sun. Heat. Pressure. Then nothing.
Just darkness. Endless, empty darkness.
Until it wasn't.
Sound came first muffled, distant. Then sensation: warmth, pressure, the feeling of being held. He tried to open his eyes, but his body wouldn't respond. Tried to speak, but no words came out.
Panic set in. Where was he? What happened? Why couldn't he move?
It took days, maybe weeks, before he understood. The unfamiliar language he somehow understood. The inability to control his limbs. The massive faces looming over him with gentle smiles.
He was a baby.
Reborn.
As the months passed and he learned to control this new body, recognition slowly dawned. The architecture outside the windows. The symbols on the guards' uniforms. The language that sounded like fantasy German.
Flashback End
Yeah, he learned this was Genshin Impact. Teyvat. The nation of Anemo, Mondstadt, with a god who was a drunkard. May the God of Wine bless you, that one. Just thinking about what was happening to Mondstadt, he couldn't help but facepalm. Barbatos, get to work.
At least it was better than the old man of Liyue who would let a god attack his own nation just to prove if humans could continue his work.
And much better than the country girl in Inazuma who stayed home eating sweets and let her doll killing people right and left.
Hey, be more like Mavuika, Barbatos.
"Arthur! Come play with us!" Jean's voice cut through his thoughts, bright and insistent.
Arthur blinked, pulled from his observations. The three children stood in the center of Mondstadt's plaza, Jean waving at him while Diluc and Kaeya waited beside her.
Yup, these were his friends the ones who would take care of Mondstadt when that battle maniac Varka left for Nod-Krai.
Jean, the future Acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius, and also the future workaholic. Again, Barbatos, get to work. No, this time it would be Varka get to work. Her personality was bright and childish. Well, she was a child, and a bit of a tomboy. She was the bright star of this group.
And there was Kaeya, the descendant of the Abyss Order from Khaenri'ah, also the future Cavalry Captain with no horse, and also a great spy. Even as a child he had an eyepatch maybe to hide that golden eye? But compared to how he was going to be in the future, he was very shy, hiding behind Diluc most of the time.
And now Diluc, the future Batman of Mondstadt, the night hero, and also the nightmare of Snezhnayan children. But right now, he was the most sunny and brave child. He was like the main character of this group, with the dream of becoming a knight because his father's wish was always to be a knight. Compared to how he was now and his future self it was like a 180-degree change. Humans could easily change.
"I am coming." Arthur got up from where he sat.
Although Arthur loved the main group of Mondstadt, the ones from the future, right now they were children. Well, he himself was a child too, but inside he was still an adult. Although he could play with them and treat them like friends, there would always be a difference between them. And this difference had begun to show much earlier too. He had been told that he looked tired, hopeless. So he treated his friends like younger siblings rather than friends. But of course, he would never say that out loud and risk getting a wooden sword to his head from Diluc.
Arthur walked over to join them.
"Finally!" Jean said with a bright smile. "We're playing tag. Diluc is 'it' right now, so you better run!"
And immediately, Diluc grabbed his arm. "You're it now!"
Arthur blinked. "Wait, what"
But the three were already running, laughing as they scattered across the plaza.
And so the game of tag began.
Arthur ran after them through the plaza, trying his best to match their energy. Jean was fast, her competitive spirit already showing even in a simple game. Kaeya was sneaky, using other two as shields. And Diluc? Diluc just ran straight ahead with zero strategy, laughing the whole time.
Arthur caught Kaeya first the kid was too focused on being clever and didn't notice Arthur coming from the side.
"Not fair!" Kaeya protested, but he was grinning.
The game continued. Tag turned into hide-and-seek, which somehow turned into a competition about who could climb the fountain statue the fastest. (Jean won. Of course she did. Future workaholic had to win everything.)
By the time the sun started setting, all four of them were breathing hard, sprawled out on the grass near the plaza's edge.
"That was fun!" Diluc said, still grinning like the sun itself.
"We should do this again tomorrow," Jean added, already planning ahead. Yup, definitely the future Acting Grand Master.
Kaeya just nodded, too tired to say much. The shy kid was slowly warming up to them, but it would take time.
One by one, their parents or guardians came to collect them. Diluc's father, Crepus, arrived first, ruffling his son's hair. Then Jean's mother called for her. Kaeya left with Master Crepus too, walking beside Diluc.
"See you tomorrow, Arthur!" they called out as they left.
Arthur waved back, watching them disappear into the streets of Mondstadt.
And then he was alone again.
He sat back down under the oak tree, the same spot he'd been in before. The plaza was quieter now, with only a few adults passing by.
Ten years.
Ten years of this.
He thought back to the beginning waking up as a baby, unable to even control his own hands. The frustration of crying when he didn't want to, of being treated like an infant when his mind was fully grown.
Then there was learning to walk. That had been humiliating. A grown man well, mentally falling on his face every few steps while adults cooed at him like he was adorable.
And the language! At least his brain somehow understood it, but speaking it as a baby? Impossible. For months, he'd had thoughts he couldn't express, wants he couldn't communicate. The tantrums weren't because he was a baby. They were because he was frustrated.
As he grew older, things got... different.
Other children played with energy that seemed endless. Arthur could play along, laugh at their jokes, enjoy the games but he didn't have that same spark. It was like watching a play where he knew all the lines but couldn't quite feel the emotions. He was tired in a way a ten-year-old shouldn't be.
His parents noticed. Of course they did.
"Arthur is so mature for his age," his mother would say, like it was a good thing.
"He's too serious," his father would counter. "He should smile more, play more."
But Arthur was already playing. He was already trying. It just... looked different. Felt different.
To the outside world, he was just a quiet, thoughtful child. A bit odd, maybe, but not concerning. Children developed at different paces, after all.
But inside? Inside, he was exhausted in a way no child should be.
His mother tried. She really did. Being from the Gunnhildr clan, she had connections, which was how he'd ended up meeting Jean. "Make some friends," she'd said. "Please, Arthur. Just try."
So he tried. And Jean, Diluc, and Kaeya were good kids. Great kids, even. In the future, they'd be amazing people.
But they were kids.
And he wasn't. Not really.
People had started commenting on it too. "That Lawrence boy always looks so tired." "His eyes are so sad for someone so young." "It's like he's seen too much."
They weren't wrong.
The loneliness was the worst part. Not physical loneliness he was surrounded by people. But the loneliness of being the only one who understood. The only one who knew what was coming. The only one who remembered Earth's last days.
Some days, he wondered if he was going crazy. Was he really reborn, or was this some dying hallucination? Was Teyvat real, or was his mind creating it as his body died in nuclear fire?
But no. It was real. Ten years was too long for a hallucination. The pain was too real. The boredom was too real. The isolation was too real.
He'd survived Earth's apocalypse by dying.
Now he had to survive Teyvat's apocalypse by living.
And he had no idea how.
The Abyss was coming. The Fatui were planning something. Celestia was watching from above. And he was just a ten-year-old kid with meta-knowledge and no power to do anything about it.
Ten years of waiting. Ten years of watching. Ten years of being powerless.
Arthur looked up at the darkening sky and let out a long breath.
Then he smiled. A small, wry smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"What a mess," he muttered to himself.
And that's when it happened.
Warmth bloomed in his chest. Not painful, but noticeable. Like someone had lit a candle inside his ribcage.
Arthur blinked, confused. He looked down.
Golden light was seeping through his shirt, growing brighter with each second.
His eyes widened.
No way.
The light gathered in front of him, swirling and condensing. It was beautiful like watching stars form in fast-forward. The golden glow began to take shape, solidifying into something physical.
And then it was there, floating in the air before him.
A Vision.
Purple and crackling with electricity, the Electro symbol gleaming on its surface.
Arthur stared at it, his wry smile frozen on his face.
Slowly, almost reverently, he reached out and grasped it.
The moment his fingers touched the Vision, lightning danced across his skin. Not painful more like static electricity, but alive. He could feel it. The power, the potential, the connection to something greater.
He stood there in the plaza, under the oak tree, holding his Vision as purple lightning flickered around his hand.
For the first time in ten years, Arthur Lawrence smiled.
A real smile.
"Finally," he whispered.