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Chapter 5 — The Spark That Calls Him "Papa"
Silas had barely walked an hour toward the distant city when the Song inside him jolted—sharp, bright, and explosive, like a firework detonating in his chest. His hand shot to his sternum, teeth clenching.
This Song wasn't Alice's.
It was related to it.
Same rhythm.
Same undertone.
But youthful.
Raw.
Untamed.
He had no time to process it before a shrill voice pierced through the forest:
"DODGEBOMB!!"
Silas spun.
A small red object arced directly toward his face.
Reflex took over.
His arm flashed up.
He caught the thing mid-air—
—and realized it was a bomb.
"…oh hell."
BOOM!
The explosion smoke swallowed him whole, echoing through the clearing, scattering leaves and birds in every direction.
Silas walked out of the smoke coughing, burned around the edges of his coat, hair standing up at awkward angles. Yet he wasn't hurt—just irritated.
"What in the Song was—"
A tiny gasp.
He turned.
A little girl stood on a rock, wearing a red outfit plastered with clover patterns and a huge backpack nearly bigger than she was. White hair, round red eyes, tiny elf-pointed ears.
She looked like Alice.
Too much like her.
The girl stared at him with pupils wide as saucers, mouth open.
Silas expected fear.
He got the opposite.
The kid lit up like someone had just handed her a mountain of explosives.
Her voice trembled with joy.
"Papa?"
Silas blinked so hard his eyes hurt.
"…what?"
She jumped off the rock and sprinted at him at full speed, arms wide. Silas instinctively stepped back, hand on his blade—
but the Song inside him pulsed.
Recognize.
Resonate.
Family.
"What—hold on—kid—!" Silas barely registered her grabbing his leg like a koala. "Why are you calling me—"
Klee beamed up at him, cheeks flushed with excitement.
"I knew it! I knew it was you! Mama always said you were super strong and scary and cool and fought monsters and blew things up too!!"
Silas stared down at her, utterly lost.
"Mama?"
"Alice!"
His heart—what remained of it—nearly stopped.
He crouched, steadying his voice. "Alice. Your mother is Alice?"
Klee nodded vigorously, bobbing like a spring.
"And… you're saying I'm your—"
"Papa!" she declared proudly. "I can feel it! Mama told me I'd know the moment I met you because your Song would match mine! And it does!"
Silas froze.
Deepwoken instinct kicked in—
Song recognition was absolute.
It could not lie.
It could not be faked.
Which meant…
His body felt light. Hollow. Unsteady.
"Alice… had a daughter?"
Klee nodded again, then tilted her head.
"Mama said you came from far, far away… and that you might take a long, long time to find Teyvat. But she always believed you would!"
Silas looked toward the sky.
Alice had known.
She expected him to arrive.
But Klee wasn't finished.
She puffed up her little chest, proud and determined.
"Klee's been waiting to meet Papa forever!"
Silas swallowed hard. The world blurred—not from emotion, but because the Song inside him fought to adjust to new truth.
A child.
Not just any child.
His child.
Born of a night he hadn't understood until now.
Raised in a world foreign to him.
Carrying the same echo of the Song he now carried in his bones.
Silas slowly placed a hand on her head.
"Klee."
She grinned up at him, eyes shining.
"Yeah?"
"…Where is Alice now?"
Klee's smile faltered.
Just a little.
Not fear.
Not guilt.
But something heavier.
"She's gone on an adventure again," Klee whispered. "A really far one. Even far for Mama."
Silas's jaw clenched.
Klee looked down, small hands gripping his coat.
"But Mama told me that when you finally came… you'd take me with you to find her."
Silas exhaled a breath he didn't know he'd held.
"…Then that's what we'll do."
Klee lit up again, bouncing in place.
"YEAH! Papa and Klee adventure! We're gonna find Mama and explode—"
"No exploding."
"Awwwwww…"
Silas sighed.
He had crossed worlds searching for Alice.
He had expected a reunion.
Instead, he found something far more complicated—
and far more precious.
A little girl who shared Alice's eyes.
A child who called him "Papa."
And a new quest he was utterly unprepared for:
Find Alice. Protect Klee. Survive Teyvat.
And try just try to stop the kid from blowing up the forest.
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