Recently, Kaeya's health was not good, he could barely eat anything, even his favorite types of alcohol could not be digested. Kaeya was clearly emaciated, his eyes sunken, his body was thin, he could not continue to work in the knight anymore, so he was helpless to stay at home. Diluc has always been watching him, he doesn't know why, maybe it comes from a little pale affection in the past that he himself knows should let go, but in the end still can't. One night, after dealing with a few treasure hoarders who were trying to get into the city to steal, Diluc stopped by Kaeya's house for a bit, this was his habit since Kaeya was bedridden, he wouldn't knock on the door, no bothering, and did not intend to contact, just stood quietly watching until the light in the room went out, signaling that the people in the room were asleep, so he could return home with peace of mind.

However, today was different, around midnight, when all activities in Mondstadt stopped, suddenly the door to Kaeya's room opened, he was wearing a thick coat, holding a large shawl in his hand, he seemed to be fully prepared, want to go somewhere. Diluc couldn't stop himself from following.

Kaeya walked very fast, although his steps were a little crooked, but he didn't seem to have any intention of slowing down at all, kept leaning forward, not even realizing that someone was following him, this road, Diluc knows, it leads directly to the Dragon Spine. However Kaeya didn't seem to intend to enter by the way the adventurers had explored, he groped a bit, then somehow found a tunnel deep in the mountain, Kaeya did not hesitate to enter.

This road seems to have been unused for a long time, very difficult to go, just the ceiling of the tunnel is built quite solidly, it seems that it will not collapse easily. Kaeya didn't care about those little things, kept walking like crazy, going a little deeper, he stopped and put that shawl on his body, this place is still a snow mountain, for ordinary people it's really not easy, let alone Kaeya still wearing cryo vision, unlike Diluc who has pyro vision support, Kaeya must have been shivering under the negative temperature of this area. Diluc wanted to step forward to help, but he couldn't find the reason, nor did he want to admit that he followed Kaeya like a pervert, let alone the reason he discovered the other's unusual behavior is because every night he lurked near his house. But it seems that Kaeya doesn't care too much, lights the lamp, groping continues to go into the deep path. After walking for a while, he stopped in front of a large old door. Kaeya touched some paths it, the door slowly opened, his body fell into the gap between the wall and the door when it closed in time. Diluc stepped forward, observing a little of this ancient relic, he tried to repeat Kaeya's movements, the door also obediently opened to welcome him.

Diluc entered, inside was an old dusty room, the room was quite small, only a set of tables and chairs, an old bookshelf and a warped used candle. Kaeya was nowhere to be seen, however in this small room Kaeya couldn't escape, there was only one possibility. Diluc went to the bookshelf, under the bright light of vision fire, he could find a book that had been touched, the dust there was less than around, Diluc tried a little, finally the bookshelf also moved, it rotated once, opening a passage again.

Old game, Diluc thought.

But as soon as he entered, a sword was pointed straight at him, no need to guess, that person was Kaeya. Kaeya looked even more emaciated than usual, his sword grip was also unstable, evidently the result of not eating enough. Kaeya was also surprised when he saw Diluc, then determined to hold the sword in his hand, he told him to hurry back, pretend that nothing happened today, go back to the winery and to sleep, forget everything there this is the right thing. Kaeya lost his usual sarcasm, the words that came out of his mouth were somewhat urgent, as if he was using the little strength he had left to try to say his will. Diluc didn't move, just stared at him, he knew that in this state Kaeya wouldn't fight him, actually in normal conditions it's just equal, it's just his best to be able to stand now, he was expecting him to return with a desperate effort.

Seeing that Diluc was still so stubborn, still realizing his condition, Kaeya finally lowered his sword to him, he threw away his face, started to want to kneel down and beg, brother, please come back, don't stay and here. Diluc didn't let Kaeya do that, he caught him, and then Kaeya started coughing, Diluc felt hot blood oozing out from between his fingers covering his mouth, Kaeya coughed up blood, as if he wanted to cough up his internal organs. .

Diluc didn't understand, after all, Kaeya was trying to protect something that even his life didn't need, he wanted to move forward, Kaeya stopped him, couldn't step over, couldn't. Behind Kaeya was another door, seemingly hiding a truth that Diluc himself wasn't sure he should see.

Diluc still decided to open the door, one hand carrying the weakened Kaeya, the other breaking the door, secretly hiding behind many doors, secretly as if he wanted to claim Kaeya's life, as if he already knew. There were a lot of glass tubes filled with water, like the experimental drink he had seen on Albedo's desk, only it was larger, rather old, and the water inside was also cloudy, but when Diluc looked onto it, there are people inside, many people.

But somehow it's just one person.

Just like Kaeya when he was young...

It seems they are all Kaeya.

Diluc put Kaeya down on a chair with a back in the center of the room, wanted to go deeper, but was held back by Kaeya, he couldn't speak anymore, only using his eyes begging, painful, hoping he wouldn't dig into this secret. Diluc was torn between wanting to bring Kaeya back to Mondstast for treatment and continuing to learn about this room, but without letting him think further, the sound of breaking glass drew his attention. Kaeya heard it too, he laughed sarcastically, finally telling him with difficulty to bring him inside where the noise was earlier.

A "Kaeya" who broke through the glass tube came out, lying naked on the cold ground, eyes closed, seemingly not awake yet. Kaeya left Diluc, pulled on his shawl, and took off his coat to keep him cool. The child was still shivering from the cold, and Kaeya continued to undress him, even though he wasn't much better himself. Diluc couldn't help it, approached to stop him, took off his coat for the child on the ground. Diluc took the child to the outside room, using fire vision as a heating tool, Kaeya hugged the child and he hugged Kaeya from behind to keep him warm. Kaeya smiled and said it's convenient to have pyro vision, I wish I didn't wear cryo vision.

Diluc stiffened, scolded him for having the strength to talk nonsense, let's explain these things. Kaeya was silent for a moment, finally snuggling into Diluc's embrace, as if he was looking for some courage, but in the end was left speechless. Diluc knows this is difficult for Kaeya, he uses his warmth, finally helping him to sleep. Then Diluc left the warm vision, let the two 'Kaeya' one big and one small hug each other to sleep, and went inside by themselves.

This room was larger than he expected, filled with glass tubes in the shape of 'Kaeya', there were also a lot of broken glass tubes, there were probably many other 'Kaeyas' who managed to break the tube out. Thinking of his adopted brother, he shivered a little, Kaeya must have also sat on the cold ground like that. In the middle of the room was a glass coffin, inside was a sleeping person, needless to say, it was also a small Kaeya, about the same age as he was when he was adopted by his father, just like him at that time, but he is respectfully placed in this glass box, inside is a cushion, on his body is full of wires, it seems that something is always transmitted to his body, keeping it alive for hundreds of years.

This must be the work of Khaenri'ah, the person lying in the coffin must have been a big figure.

Following those pipes, Diluc was horrified to find that they were plugged into many withered corpses, they were like sacrifices used to maintain the existence of the 'god' - who was sleeping in that glass coffin. Beside the coffin was a large book, seemingly corroded with time but still readable, it was like a diary, each person would write a few pages, each section was marked with number. The latest part is 00xxx, written quite neatly, dated about 10 years ago:

"Leave the number 00xxx in a rich manor house near Mondstadt, there is a beautiful vineyard, but today there was a big storm, but I saw someone come and take him away, fortunately, although even though he's a bug, he can probably hold out for about 10 years, the previous two only lived for 1 or 2 days... But I taught him the 'story', and used up all my knowledge of 20 years of teaching, he'll probably be fine.

"Anyway, we all carry the same set of prince's genes, we all inherit his wisdom, I'm sure we'll be fine.

"But I have some doubts, will the revival plan succeed Why does it feel so far away, it's been almost 500 years, everyone seems to have forgotten about Khaenri'ah...

"What am I thinking, for the sake of the kingdom, I can't give up."

Diluc's head was buzzing with so many questions and assumptions, he seemed to understand but he didn't want to understand, the truth was so painful, so painful beyond his imagination that he didn't want to think about it. Diluc frantically flipped through the previous pages, the earlier it became more difficult to understand, as if they were written in an ancient language, later the new language gradually changed eventually to the current common language.

He began to understand, this was a project of Khaenri'ah, who in the glass coffin was the prince, the khaenriah used all of their techniques and resources left before being destroyed to put the prince to sleep, at the same time create many copies of him, these clones all have the same intelligence and memories as the prince, they have the task of living and finding the opportunity to restore the ancient country in the future. Because they are only copies, their bodies are only used to digest and grow 'like a normal person', other functions such as reproduction are cut, if they are eligible they live for about 20 years, accumulating knowledge from Teyvat, re-enter what they know into the information bank in this room, and then use that knowledge to pass on to subsequent copies, continuing to seek hope. When a clone completes its life cycle, they return here, awaken the next child, take them to another kingdom, becoming 'spy' for Khaenri'ah. In the end, they will take the place of the dried corpse before them, becoming the nourishment that continues to feed the prince. This way, when the prince wakes up, he will have enough knowledge and equipment, ready to rebuild Khaenri'ah.

The Khaenri'ah, have no faith in god, they only believe in themselves, sending hope to the future.

.

Diluc wanted to vomit, all of this was too horrible for him to accept, he realized that Kaeya, Kaeya sleeping out there was just an incomplete body, bearing a number, a blind mission, a never ending spin, a curse from the past.