Chapter Text
I.
Kaeya was five years old when Khaenri'ah fell into the Abyss.
It was calm day turned nightmare when the earth began to quake. A great rumbling terror that cracked the earth beneath them as the sky split and the winds roared with drums of fire. The countless screams of the people accompanied the symphony of madness that followed the wrath of angered gods, and Kaeya remembers the fear pounding through his heart like the beat of a lost war. He remembers the horror and how his hands reached out for that split sky of fire, only to fall into the roaring darkness.
It's a sight that plays and replays in his mind until he wakes, and suddenly the sky is starless midnight and the eyes of Khaenri'ah are filled with molten gold.
Kaeya was five years old when Khaenri'ah fell into the Abyss. Kaeya was five years old when the shadows swallowed them whole.
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II.
The gold eyes are a symbol of the curse, they said. They need to go, they said.
At six years old, Kaeya wanders in a daze, wondering why the streets are no longer bright and why the people hide away in their broken homes. At seven years old, Kaeya finds himself running from the hunt that prowls the streets. At seven years old, Kaeya learns how to hunt back.
The bodies pile up because they never decay, and no one is prepared when they start to move.
Some of them are just that, dead men walking. Others are wrong with too many eyes and not enough limbs and holes in their hearts. Some of them fall apart at the seams and others just.... dissolve. They turn into shadows and are the hardest to hunt because they're everywhere.
Khaenri'ah is a living nightmare filled with monsters, and with one golden eye staring back at him through every mirror, he knows that he's gonna be a monster too.
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III.
Kaeya is eight by the time Dainsleif finds him in the crumbled castle, lost in his head as his shadows crack and hiss around him. Kaeya had become one with the Abyss that had bled into his veins and if Dainsleif were to strike him then Kaeya would hit even harder.
But Dainsleif does not do any of those things, not like the other who wandered into his once home. No- Dainsleif approaches slowly, bares his life ready for the taking until he is kneeling before the small prince of their kingdom. When his prince does not move, Dainsleif takes permission and brings Kaeya into his embrace.
Kaeya is eight when Dainsleif strokes his hair and makes the monsters go quiet again.
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IV.
Kaeya spends two years with Dainsleif and what little remained of the golden-eyed ones. They're all like him in some way, merged with the Abyss and half-shadow and not at all human. But they are kind. They are filled with laughter and hope and love, and so much beauty.Thus, Kaeya does not understand why they still treat him as something precious, as something to be worshipped, but Kaeya understands that they are alive.
Kaeya understands that they are living, so Kaeya learns to live too.
But on a starless night, Dainsleif kneels before him and cups his face with an artificial hand. The bough keeper is gentle and that makes the news all the more heartbreaking.
They are going to purge Khaenri'ah, Dainsleif says, and for that, they have to send Kaeya away.
Why can't I stay?!
Aren't I useful?! Aren't I your prince?!
Knight, you promised!
You promised you weren't going to leave me anymore!
Dainsleif takes all his anger, and when the tears run down his face, Dainsleif wipes them away and whispers softly into his heart:
My prince, I have wronged you.
You may no longer remember my liege, but you have protected us for so long. Exhausting yourself into what could have been an eternal slumber. The fate of Khaenri'ah lies in your hands, sweet prince, and you have already saved it once. Now all that's left are the sinners of a forgotten kingdom, and it is time to pull them up by the root.
Trust us, sweet prince, so we may forge your kingdom anew.
Trust us. For we will always return to you.
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V.
Kaeya stands dazed underneath the trees, staring up at the blue sky.
Kaeya thinks he is ten years old, when Dainsleif sends him away.