The sky was red, as if some catastrophe was approaching; the black-and-white ground had lost the previous flowers and birds, leaving only withered desolation.
Aside from the red, this world seemed to have lost all color.
The feeling of new birth was gone; what remained was only a 'locust swarm passing' sensation, without a trace of vitality.
Everyone's hearts were gripped, especially Dunyarzad's; she watched everything unfolding with worry—the Teyvat script subtitles on the screen were still identical to Nahida's words.
Nahida, who had just opened her eyes, hadn't even had time to familiarize herself with this unfamiliar world before a group of people found her.
[Nahida: "In the dream, the Knights of the Flowers and their attendants found her."]
Several adults surrounded Nahida, discussing something; one of them directly bent down and grabbed Nahida's hand.
The previous Knight of the Flowers had knelt on one knee and extended a hand, waiting for Nahida's response afterward—nothing so forceful.
This forceful attitude naturally drew everyone's attention, but what drew even more notice was that the Teyvat script subtitles finally changed.
This time, the subtitles differed from Nahida's words; they read: 'Dreamed of the day the sages found her.'
The sages unceremoniously grabbed Nahida's wrist, disregarding her thoughts entirely, pulling her away.
[Nahida: "'O Archon, we've finally found you—everyone is looking forward to meeting you.'"]
In the scene, Nahida furrowed her brows in a figure-eight, shaking her head slightly; feelings of grievance and confusion overflowed the screen—she was unwilling, she was afraid.
Yes, a newly born god who knew nothing yet, who had only glanced at this world once, being treated like this by a group of people—how could she not panic?
Everyone furrowed their brows; irritation began to rise—the subtitles on the screen read:
['Oh heavens, where has Greater Lord Rukkhadevata gone? We were all looking forward to seeing her.']
Now everyone understood the subtitles' meaning—this was the truth of what Nahida had seen and heard back then.
The scene cut; Nahida arrived before the Palace of Purity in Sumeru, surrounded by Sumeruans.
However, not a single person's expression was happy; they all hung their heads, expressions sorrowful.
To them, this day was not Nahida's birthday, but the Flower God's death anniversary.
Nahida's expression in the scene was endlessly sad, timidly looking at the surrounding citizens.
Facing everyone's dejected, sorrowful, even angry gazes, Nahida was bewildered.
Why? Why is everyone looking at me, but it seems like they're not looking at me?
Why look at me with such eyes?
[Nahida: "The festival of the birth of the Lord of Flowers began, with people happily circling around her."]
No one was happy, nor circling around her; the people stood stunned in place, sobbing softly.
The subtitles read: ['Realizing Greater Lord Rukkhadevata had passed by her side, the sages were grief-stricken.']
Indeed, the sages even attributed Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's place of death to being by Nahida's side.
So, when facing Nahida, they had not a shred of joy; they couldn't see Nahida, seeing only the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata that Nahida 'symbolized.'
Nahida in the animation sat collapsed in the flower cage, extending her hand wanting to hold on, until disappointedly lowering it—the sages hadn't glanced at her once.
They turned away, leaving without even looking back.
[Nahida: "Until Nahida boarded the flower cart, waving goodbye to everyone."]
This time's subtitles were long, a full two sentences.
['In the end, Nahida was imprisoned by the devout believers,']
['In the end, Nahida could no longer seek help from anyone.']
In the very end, Nahida opened her eyes once more; this time, there was no flower cart—she was in a prison cage, unable to move.
['The flower cart jostles along, Nahida opens her eyes']
['She says, Nahida's birthday is today']
The screen went entirely black, only subtitles and Nahida's voice remaining; what she said was:
['Happy birthday.']
['Nahida']
An uncelebrated birthday could only say 'happy birthday' to oneself; it had been like this for five hundred years.
The final screen held only one sentence: ['Wisdom is the enemy of the God of Wisdom.']
Dunyarzad cried; she wouldn't deny Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's dedication, but the Dendro God wasn't an invisible deity either!
She had seen her! The one her gaze had always beheld was Nahida, was Buer!
Even if the her in the dream hadn't truly seen Nahida, what her eyes had 'beheld' had always been.
So, when she saw everyone in the scene looking at Nahida, yet not at Nahida, her heart filled with sorrow.
Look at her! She is our god—she is a gentle god!
She is Nahida—she is not a nonexistent god!
Dunyarzad sobbed uncontrollably, gasping for breath; this time, even Dehya momentarily forgot to comfort her, immersed in the story.
Collei held back her emotions without releasing them, her lips trembling.
Why is the first story I learned to read after finally learning to read this one?
Alhaitham showed no joy or sorrow; regarding the successive Grand Sages all choosing to imprison the little Dendro God, he could think of the reasons.
It was nothing more than fear of punishment; in the end, only those who agreed to imprison the little Dendro God could become Grand Sage, while those who wanted to release the little Dendro God were all marginalized.
The Akademiya wasn't a paradise for scholars, but a monopoly for academic cliques.
The Grand Sage wasn't something you could become just by being capable; it required support from the interest groups under you.
They weren't like Ei, without overwhelming force to crush everything, so they had to play these political games.
It was because of these boring things that Alhaitham had no interest in becoming some Grand Sage.
Now, those Grand Sages who imprisoned the little Dendro God had hit a bottleneck; their 'wisdom' could no longer advance—they couldn't see the path ahead and were afraid of falling.
The more vested interests they were, the more they cherished themselves; they didn't dare to trial and error.
So, they once again began pursuing the god's wisdom, hoping the god would lead them.
Yet they still didn't dare release the little Dendro God; for this, they chose to create another God of Wisdom to guide them.
From this, it was evident they weren't some sages proving human wisdom or leading humanity forward.
In reality, they were just a bunch of academic cliques loyal to interests—that was proven everywhere in Sumeru's story.
The Akademiya was full of 'toll points' set by academic cliques; talented people had no choice but to turn their knowledge into 'currency,' exploited bit by bit.
Defections, burials of talent, suicides—these were commonplace in the Akademiya.
Alhaitham's low profile, on the other hand, meant he was exploited very little.
But now, it seemed he couldn't stay low-key anymore... sigh, did he have to act as proxy?
===✧✦✧===
Character Voice Lines · Furina: About 'Gazes'
"Ah, you're asking me about this... hahahaha, I'm performing very well now, won't have that kind of gaze anymore, mm-hmm, won't anymore."
[Hi everyone~ Just a quick note! I just graduated from college, to celebrate, I did a mass release on Patreon for all of my stories. Thank you so much for your support. I'll still be continuing the stories for the foreseeable future.]