Chapter 52

Somewhere, near the borders of Mondstadt.

In a huge rock formation, resembling that of a cave.

Lumine laid down on her side, staring at the rain as she began to think.

Her brother was on her mind for the majority of the time, but after meeting Paimon and entering Yomite's party, she began to think less of it and live more at the moment.

Where was her brother anyways?

Who was that god that took him away?

Will she ever see him again?

She hoped that she will one day know the answer to all of those questions.

However, the current question was, was Yomite going to come back soon with food?

And why was Paimon making weird noises?

"Paimon...?" Lumine slowly panned her head over to Paimon.

She saw her floating around the fireplace, hoping for some food to magically appear on her plate, her mouth wide open, drooling.

Paimon made strange low growls, almost like a zombie.

"Uhhh... Paimon...? Can you stop making those noises? I know you're hungry, I am too, but we need to wait..."

"Paimon's hungry..." Paimon frowned as she turned her head over to Lumine.

She then bared her teeth at Lumine and made biting motions, "Paimon wants food!"

Her usual cuteness was nowhere to be seen, and instead, a face of hunger and malice replaced it.

Lumine sighed. "I'm hungry as well, Paimon, but just wait until the party leader comes back. He'll be back soon, I know it. He won't leave us here. I trust him."

"But Paimon wants food now!" Paimon floated over to Lumine. "Paimon can't wait any longer!" Suddenly, two small hands grabbed Lumine's forearm and sank her teeth into one of her fingers.

"Argh!" Lumine yelled out in pain.

She shook her finger around, trying to get her off, "Stop it, Paimon! I'm not food!"

Paimon bit down harder as she tried to keep her grip. "Lumine...Emergency food!"

Eventually, after some struggle, Paimon gave up and then floated back over to the campfire without another word, though she did give Lumine a death stare.

Lumine let out a long sigh, shaking her finger around to ease the pain. "I'll go check on the Party leader, stay here, and watch over the camp. We'll have something to eat soon, okay? No Lumine emergency food!"

She began to pack, taking her sword and some bear traps with her that she would go and place outside in hopes of catching a wild boar.

She had no idea what was wrong with Paimon. She never acted this way.

While she was often hungry and she hit her hunger limit many times before, Lumine remembered her being much more patient, back when they first met, in the wilderness.

Tonight, she was simply, as if, out of this world.

As Lumine was about to take off, the fire went out. She could hardly see.

"Paimon, what just happened? Are you okay?" Her voice echoed alongside the rock walls of their shelter. "Paimon? Where are you?"

No response...

"Paimon...?"

She called out again.

Then she heard her voice. "Are you scared, Lumine...? Ehehehe..." Paimon's laughter echoed throughout the cave.

"Seriously, Paimon? Come on, stop playing around." It was much colder without the fire, adding on to that, she couldn't see well in the dark and the rain outside didn't help either.

Lumine was looking around her, searching for Paimon. Her hairs stood on end. Something about this didn't feel right.

As she continued searching in the darkness, she felt herself get caught up in something.

Almost immediately, her arms and legs were bound behind her body, tightly constricted with a rope that almost cut into her skin.

Lumine squirmed. "Paimon! Help!"

She felt only the cold and the dampness of the cave's floor. She wanted to move her arms, but she knew that she couldn't do so. She had lost the strength to even lift her head.

Something or someone was holding her down.

The fire had then magically relit itself into a dark, green color. The fire continued to lick at the edges of the slabs, burning where it could.

The glowing fire managed to leap and bounce off the cold walls of the cave. It was mostly controllable, but it was definitely an energetic beast, and Lumine felt the intensity of it from afar. It wasn't anything like a normal flame.

Paimon then, stepped forward into view, now much bigger, and taller than Lumine.

She was the size of a Mitachurl!

Somehow, Lumine felt that she saw this form somewhere before, but she couldn't remember where or when.

"Paimon! You did this!? Let me go!"

Yet Paimon ignored her pleas and instead, held out a large butcher knife.

It seemed to materialize out of thin air, "Paimon learned a new recipe, it's called a chicken...mushroom... and...HUMAN skewer!"

Everything seemed to happen in a flash.

Lumine was picked up and tied to a spit right above a pot of boiling water and the dangerous green flame that was already making it hard for her to breathe.

Lightning crashed and roared outside as

Paimon hungrily stared into Lumine's eyes.

"W-Wait, Paimon, don't do this!"

"Now you get to know how it feels like, to be an emergency food, Lumine!"

Lumine gasped, "Paimon, I'm sorry about that, but it's just a joke! I didn-"

She wasn't able to finish her sentence as she was interrupted by the seething pain in her stomach.

"Ugh..."

A sharp blade dug into her abdomen.

Piercing through her flesh, it kept going, and she knew, that if she was any slower in intercepting it, the blade would just continue on until it reached her back.

"Pai...mon..." She spoke the name of her beloved companion, holding her gut with her tied hands.

The sound of rapid drumming inside of her mind controlled her breathing, and it seemed no matter what she did, she couldn't get enough air from her lungs.

"It's way too late now, food!" Paimon giggled. "Lumine...Emergency Food!"

She tried to speak, but only a rasping sound emerged. It was as if she was trying to communicate underwater, and the last of her strength was disappearing.

With the last of it, she weakly struggled to untie herself. The hand on her shoulder, however, pushed her down, right into a sizzling pot of boiling water with ingredients inside of it.

***

Deep into the night, Lumine jolted on her bed, gasping for air.

For a moment she wondered if her heart was still beating. It was hard to think. Her whole body felt heavy as if it was being weighed down by an invisible heavy blanket.

The world inside of her mind was in pieces.

Luckily, it was just a dream, and she woke up from it.

Everything was fine...

Everything was alright...

She wasn't going to be eaten...

'...What a nightmare...It felt so real...'

She then remembered she was sleeping in one bed with Paimon, but looking around, she couldn't locate her anywhere.

She silently hoped that Paimon only went back into her usual dimensional space, instead of preparing boiling water with a pot...

Just then, she heard the voice of someone, shouting.

"Hu Tao! That's enough! How in the hell do you even stay in that state!? Wake up!"

Lumine cautiously gawked at the intruders of the room, but luckily, it was just her friends, Yomite and Hu Tao, who were for some reason, fighting in the middle of the night, in the middle of the room.

Specifically, it was Yomite who was trying to get Hu Tao back into her bed.

"I kicked you out of the room and locked the door, and you came back through the window, you creep! I kicked you out again and closed the window, yet you lock-picked the door with your spear!! Tell me! How is it possible to be sleepwalking and still lock-picking a fucking door!? What, do I gotta start putting salt lines in front of the door to ward off evil spirits!? Why do you keep coming back here!?"

"..."

Yomite was currently in a standing arm wrestling match with Hu Tao, and it seemed like they were at it for quite a while.

"Just go to bed already!! Aaah!"

"..."

Lumine felt she was still dreaming, so she took his advice and laid back down, ignoring whatever was happening.

But deep inside of her mind, she resolutely swore that she would act much nicer towards Paimon, starting tomorrow.

Sweet dreams.