A Thousand Years of Solitude

The opening of a Springvale hunter's fantastical tragedy—where does misfortune begin? What are the start and end of a thousand-year solitude? Book One of A Thousand Years of Solitude parts the dreamlike fog of Godson's life for you!

Many years later, when Godson caught his own ankle in a trap he had laid, he would surely remember the afternoon his father took him into the city for the Windblume Festival.

Godson's life was without doubt unhappy, yet he never recalled when that unhappiness began. His childhood passed in Springvale; under the care of the spring spirit, the hunters there lived quiet, untroubled days.

In the summer of Godson's seventh year, his father took him into Mondstadt to see the Windblume circus. It was Godson's first time in the city. The scents of candy and roast meat, glittering colored paper and lights, the clown who tamed wild boars and the conjuring magician left him dizzy with wonder.

In those dazzling memories of the same year, Godson vaguely saw his father walk into the festival crowd, pass under a wooden arch labeled in big letters "Stack-High Contest," and grow farther and farther away. Yet his attention was caught by a shining spring spirit.

Perhaps a few years older he would have understood that festival spirits were only actors hired at twenty Mora a day—but a child's mind is always full of dreams and fancy.

Godson fell asleep to the spring spirit's gentle stories, and wandered alone exploring in a thousand-year cycle of endless dreams. In an adventurer's dream he saw delicious rainbow fruit pulp pour from the mouth of an ancient relief. Just as Godson stepped closer to look, the dream was shattered by a clamor.

"Run!" His father's terrified fat face, smeared with juice and meat sauce, filled his vision.

Over his father's shoulder Godson saw a tower of roast meat rearing in red twilight, slowly tilting this way amid the crowd's cries—

While fleeing, Godson's father knocked over a stout lady, wrenched his own back, and as his legs gave way he put all his weight on his son. Then the falling roast, with people's screams, came crashing down…

The Knights spent three days fully clearing the square of roast meat, lettuce, and all sorts of garish ingredients, carrying away spectators soaked through with meat juices, and had to announce that future Windblume festivals would be held outside the city.

And so, overnight, Godson's household lost two hunters and gained two patients. The only compensation they received was a gilt champion's medal that arrived two days late.