| [ Even the Prince of the Abyss Order doesn't maintain an iron grip over his forces.
It's not that he doesn't want to. It's just a measure of the sheer size of the organization. In any group unified under a single banner, there are bound to be differences of opinion, and not all in the Order like the idea of kneeling to a prince who is also an outlander.
What would he know of our struggles? they whisper, though it has been a hundred years since he joined their ranks and he leads them with a dedication that suggests he could fight for a hundred more. What would he know of our plight? He, who would lead sinners without sin?
Aether doesn't see it that way, of course. He's sinned in all manner of ways.
And this, what he's doing now — it's just another sin for which he must eventually atone.
There's been a rebellion. A small faction of Abyss Mages have broken off from the rest of the Order and declared themselves the true brotherhood. They have insinuated that Aether is an impostor, a false prophet of sorts, one who will only lead them into further chaos. They chafe at his elaborate methods; they would see their goals realized with greater bloodshed. This, of course, only appeals to the brutal nature of the mitachurls, the simplistic hatred of the samachurls. And most of the hilichurls don't know much better.
In a tactical decision, Aether chooses not to mobilize his forces and risk putting brother against brother. Instead, he has chosen to put down the rebellion himself. Alone.
That is how Kaeya will find him: standing calmly in the middle of an abandoned ruin in Mondstadt, breathing just the faintest bit heavily, watching the corpses of slain hilichurls turn to ash and fade away on the winds. ] |
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