Act 1: The Key Who Caught the Wind
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My name is Sky Clavis and two months ago I was a normal kid living in a normal world.
The day started out pretty normally. Waking up from a dreamless sleep, eating breakfast and then going to school. Halfway through the day, things got really weird. A huge storm comes out of nowhere tearing apart the entire school and dark shadowy creatures appear out of thin air.
Naturally, I do the most sensible thing and run for my life. Along the way I find a girl surrounded by those dark creatures and rescue her. After I rescue her I somehow summon a key shaped sword called a Keyblade and start casting fireballs like it's a wand.
Afterwards the storm gets worse, chunks of the land get lifted in the air into this black hole in the sky and the girl I saved pushes me onto one of the floating chunks with a cruel smile on her face. Angered by her betrayal I'm forced to fight this giant shadow monster that ends with my world being destroyed and me, unconscious, floating in the void of darkness.
When I wake up, I'm on a beach, with only my backpack as proof of what happened. Confused, I walked around the beach a little bit before finding a fishing pole buried deep in the sand and the line out in the water. I pull out the fishing pole and fish out what looks to be a person.
That person is in fact you!
*******
Sky finishes telling his story to the floating little girl he had fished out two months ago since he'd arrived in this world.
"So let Paimon get this straight." The little girl now known as Paimon, scratched her head in thought. "Your world was destroyed by those shadow monsters-"
"The Heartless." Sky instinctively corrects Paimon, before frowning. 'How did I know that? I didn't know the proper term before.' He thought to himself, confused.
Paimon blinked before continuing. "The Heartless and then you somehow arrived in Teyvat?" She asks incredulously.
"Yup!" Sky nods, standing up and kicking the sand beneath his feet. "I can also use magic now, which doesn't make sense!" He says, summoning his Keyblade, Starlight, to his hand.
Paimon tilts her head in confusion. "Why wouldn't it make sense?"
Sky points Starlight towards the water and casts a fire spell, sending a small fireball at the ocean. "Because magic didn't exist in my world!" He says exasperated and dispels his Keyblade. 'And because I'm somehow in a video game!'
'Yep! I'm somehow in the world of Genshin Impact! Hit Gacha game, with a toxic fanbase and from what I hear, stingy developers.' Sky thinks to himself, ruffling his brown hair. 'Would this be considered an Isekai? I mean I am in a different world, but I didn't die to get here.'
A moment of silence stands between Sky and Paimon, at least until the floating mascot decides to speak up. "You know Paimon never really thanked you for saving her from drowning two months ago."
Sky threw a deadpan glance at Paimon. "Two months ago I couldn't even speak this world's language, much less understand you."
But the floating white haired girl carried on. "So Paimon will do her best to be a great guide!" She then floats a bit forward, enticing Sky to follow her. "We should head off. Let's get going!"
Sky grabs his backpack, slings it on his back and follows after Paimon. As he walks through to sand he allows his thoughts to marinate. 'Okay, so somehow I'm in Genshin Impact of all things, which still doesn't feel real. What do I know about this game personally? I played the game when it first came out, because everyone called it a Breath of the Wild clone. Then I played through the first act of the story since that's all that was available at the time then dropped it for years, only ever passively following what was going on online. I know the names of all the seven nations in this world, Monstadt, Liyue, Inazuma, Sumeru, Fontain, Natlan and Snezhnaya. The seven main elements in this world are wind, earth, lightning, plant(?), water, fire and ice. I know the names of most of the important characters and groups like the Archons, the Fatui and the Abyss.' Sky nodded to himself. 'Which leads to a big problem… WHERE THE HELL IS THE TRAVELER? Okay, let's keep calm… In Genshin Impact the player can choose between two twins; the male twin Aether, or the female twin Lumine. Depending on who the player chooses as the Traveler, the other sibling becomes the Abyss Royalty.' Sky pauses and halts his movements, looking back at where he and Paimon camped at the beach for the last two months.
Thinking back to when he first woke up in this world. 'The Traveler must have existed, because when I woke up there was already a fishing pole out in the water and when I pulled at it, Paimon came out Not only that there was already some camping equipment laying around. That couldn't have been a coincidence. So then where the hell are they?' He sighs, before turning back and continuing to follow Paimon. "Did i… replace him or her somehow? No, that shouldn't be possible." He mutters out loud, before stopping and eyeing a locked Teleport Waypoint. "So that still exists, huh?" Sky extends his hand out to touch the Waypoint not expecting anything to happen, but to his surprise the Waypoint shines from red to blue, signaling its activation and rising in the air slightly. "What the what?" This shouldn't have happened, only the Traveler is supposed to be capable of activating the Teleport Waypoints, alas that seemed to finally break Sky's morale as he falls on his rear and buries his face in his hands and lets out a muffled scream. "AAAAAAAAAH!!" He hopes Paimon didn't hear that. 'What the hell is even going on anymore man! Am I in a game or real life? My whole world is gone, Mom and Dad are gone! I can use magic! I got fucking Isekaied into a Gacha game of all things! What even is real at this point!-'
"Sky?" The weeping boy looks up from his hands to see Paimon, who came back to check on him, looking at him concerningly. "You're crying, are you okay?" She asks, concern written all over her face, concern, Sky doesn't think the little mascot has ever shown inside the game.
'But it's not a game anymore is it?' A voice affirmed in Sky's mind.
Sky wipes the tears from his face before giving Paimon a weak smile. "Yeah, just remembered some bad stuff but I'm fine now!" He says, before standing and wiping off the sand from his butt. "I managed to make this thing pop out. Do you know how it works?" Sky distracts Paimon, by pointing at the Teleport Waypoint he had just activated.
Paimon's face lights up excitedly. "Oh, these are Traveling Waypoints! Lost travelers use these to know where they are." She then looks a bit closely at the Waypoint realizing that it's glowing blue and floating. "Wait, did you activate this? How?"
Sky shrugged. "I have no idea, I just touched it and then…" He gestured at the Waypoint with his hand.
Paimon hummed, a little disappointed that Sky didn't have an answer. "Well then let's keep going! Maybe we'll find answers some other day!"
The two walk for a bit, going from the sandy beach to grass and stone footing, but they reach the end of their path. A large chunk of stone towering over Sky blocks the path.
"The path ends here - Guess we'll just have to climb." Paimon says, but instead of climbing, she just flies over the blockade.
Sky looks up, doubting he could climb on such a smooth surface, but to his surprise he's able to grip the wall pretty well and climb up with minimal effort. "Freakin weird." He mutters to himself, before following Paimon.
"So Sky, what's your plan for now?" Paimon asks, floating beside the Keyblade wielder.
"Hmm. I guess," Sky summons Starlight to his hand. "Finding out more about the Keyblade. I recall it being really effective against the Heartless, so learning more about it might help me understand my situation better."
Paimon gains a smug look as she looks forward. "Then let's take the route we planned!" She says, making Sky wonder when the route was ever planned. "We're off to… a Statue of the Seven!"
"We're in Mondstad right? So that means the statue here represents Barbatos the Anemo Archon, right?" He asks, continuing following Paimon. The floating girl in question nods to his deduction.
"That's right! Barbatos is also known as the God of Freedom. He's probably the only Archon who doesn't lead Mondstad directly. Allowing the people to lead on their own, unlike the other nations!"
Sky hummed thoughtfully, remembering his playthrough all those years ago. 'Yeah, I think I vaguely remember that actually.'
"Oh, wow!" Paimon calls out as floats closer to the ledge. Sky follows suit, wondering what Paimon sees.
"Wow, indeed!" Sky responds breathlessly, seeing the magnificent view of the region of Mondstad. He wishes his phone still had battery so he could take a photo! "Hey, is that Mondstad City in the distance?" He asks, pointing in the direction of the far away city.
Paimon nods. "Yup! But first we're going to the Statue of the Seven right there!" She says, pointing to the statue of Barbatos that is closer to their position.
"Why? Are we gonna pray for some answers?" Sky jokingly asks as he and Paimon start making their way down the cliff.
"Yeah, kinda!" Paimon says sheepishly, to which Sky laughs.
It didn't take long for the duo to reach the statue, especially with Paimon telling Sky some trivia about the city of Mondstad. Although, now Sky had to deal with his next obstacle:
Water
A small river surrounds the small island holding the statue. Paimon floats over to the miniscule island, telling Sky he can swim over.
"Paimon, I'm not swimming in the water with my backpack on!"
"Then just leave it for now and swim over!"
"But then I'll get wet and then I'll get sick! Hypothermia is no joke! And what if a slime comes by and destroys it?"
The two argue back and forth for a few minutes, until an idea pops up in Sky's mind. 'Would that actually work though?' He thinks before summoning Starlight, pointing it at the water and casting: "BLIZZARD!" Ice shoots out from the Keyblade, hitting the water and freezing a large portion of it solid.
Sky walks over the ice, joining Paimon with a smug grin on his face. "Yeah, yeah! Laugh it up!" Paimon says with a pout.
Sky, meanwhile, makes his way closer to the statue depicting Barbatos, or as he's more familiar with, Venti. 'In the game the Traveler would touch the statue to gain a new element.' He looks at his hand and then back at the statue. 'I've already activated a Teleport Waypoint, so why shouldn't this work?'
He reaches out, touching the base of the statue and…
The wind answered.
The orb in the statue's hands glows a teal green color, before an orb of Anemo energy flies out and enter's Sky's head! Sky's eyes widen as his mind is filled with knowledge of the wind.
*******
"You have learned the power of Anemo."
*******
Sky's eyes widen as he summons his Keyblade, lifts it upward and casts: "AERO!" His body becomes surrounded by wind magic, casting a protective dome around him.
Paimon looks in awe, clapping her hands. "Ooh! Did you just feel the elements of the world? Seems all you had to do was touch the statue and you got the power of Anemo! As much as they may want it, the people in this world can get a hold of powers as easily as you do…"
Sky dispels his Keyblade, letting the wind spell run its course. "I don't think I gained power so to speak. It's more like I learned how to create wind?" Sky tries to explain.
Paimon hums in though before noticing some Pyro Slimes appearing in her peripheral vision. "Ooh! How about you try out your new Wind Magic on those slimes over there!" The floating girl says, pointing at the enemies.
Sky summons Starlight in his hand and calls out the new defensive spell. "WIND!" Anemo magic surrounds him keeping him safe from the Pyro Slimes onslaught. And to Sky further surprise, the swirl of wind absorbs some of the Pyro Slimes fire, turning the defensive wind into a swirling inferno! "So I can combine elements for different effects and it looks like the Slimes aren't affected by fire." Sky mumbles, deactivating the wind spell and striking one of the Slimes away. "Then let's try this! WIND and FREEZE!" He calls out again, surrounding himself once more in a protective swirl of wind, only now it's infused with the chilling power of ice. The Pyro Slimes took serious damage from the combined spell.
Once the Slimes were defeated, Sky hoisted the Keyblade on his shoulder and grinned. "Nothing to it!" He says as Paimon applauds him.
"Nice going! Paimon didn't think you could combine spells like that!"
"Well I saw how the wind spell was affected by the slime's fire and I figured, why shouldn't this work."
"Aww… Paimon's so jealous! Why doesn't Paimon get cool fighting powers!?" Paimon then looks in the direction of Mondstadt City. "Anyway we should head to Mondstadt, we might find some answers there."
And so the boy from reality and the game mascot continue to make their way towards the city. With Paimon continuously dropping trivia on Sky.