Breeze Between the Boughs: Selected Tales

Centuries ago scholars collated and recorded the poems of many nameless Mondstadt bards, compiled them into a collection, and named it "Winds of the Forest."

—Story Extracts—

"Winds of the Forest" and "Winds of the Lakeheart" are two volumes of narrative verse. Scholars collated the poems of many nameless Mondstadt bards; the two volumes were thus compiled.

Bards' songs, to earn listeners and Mora, often exaggerate or invent and distort history; most content has low credibility. Yet splendid imagination and gifted rhetoric crossed a thousand winds of time and thus survive to this day.

...

"I retell things of remote antiquity; the poet raises his throat to sing."

"(Then) the gods dwelt in the mortal dust; how many springs and autumns of the human world."

Having told of that ruin and of Vennessa's story, the poet began the tale of the wind dragon. He recited: "The story I tell comes from remote antiquity, when the gods still walked the human world." At that time a dragon bearing Anemo was born in the high heavens (note 1). It slowly descended, full of curiosity for all things of the world.

It landed in a village and was struck with stones by terrified people. The dragon did not understand the words people spoke in fear.

It landed in a graveyard and heard only the continuous sighs of grieving people. The dragon did not understand the words people spoke in sorrow.

It landed in an orchard and was cursed by angry people who had lost their fruit trees. The dragon did not understand the words people spoke in anger.

The human world was too complex and tangled. The dragon was puzzled, yet still wanted to try.

Until one day the dragon heard the sound of the Skyward harp. "Skyward" was the lyre's name, and also the companion of the Anemo Archon. Drawn by verse, the dragon alighted beside the best singer under the sky.

People began to panic—for a mighty elemental dragon and the great gods who rule the mortal dust have rarely lived in harmony.

"Look how beautiful it is, how gentle," said the wind's singer.

"But we do not know what it is thinking," said the people.

Melody and verse drew dragon and people—what magic was this? The dragon decided to stay by the singer, for it too wished all things to understand its heart. It learned human speech and the techniques of the wind's singer.

...middle omitted...

Later ages all regarded it as one of the Four Winds that guard Mondstadt.

"The ancient nation's black sun set; the bright pearl lost its light.

"Gold lost its color; white silk was stained dusk-yellow."

That was another story of the lost underground kingdom of Khaenri'ah.

When the Black Sun Dynasty fell, calamity broke through the ancient walls and spread across the continent. The alchemist called "Gold" fell into sin and bred great numbers of pitch-black beasts. The pitch-black great serpent—the evil dragon Durin—rose from the sea; shadow pressed upon Mondstadt. At that time the line of the Lionfang Knight was vacant, and the Knights of Favonius's eagle banner could not fly into the wind.

Continuous lament finally called forth Mondstadt's god again—the wind's singer. The Skyward harp was plucked again, and the wind dragon was summoned again.

Now Mondstadt had only the wind dragon to rely on. Evil dragon and wind dragon fought a life-and-death battle in the storm.

The wind dragon won at last; it bit the evil dragon's throat yet swallowed toxic blood. That toxic blood was distorted gold—the power that collapses mountains and ruins the earth.

The wind dragon guarded Mondstadt; it thought thus people would understand it. So it sank into long sleep.

The Skyward harp played a mournful tune.

The Skyward harp said: when you next wake, you should be free. A dragon that should fly free in the high heavens—all things will in the end understand your beauty...

(Note: Life born of elements, if it settles, becomes Slimes; if it rises, forms Crystalflies; a few become dangerous elemental monsters. Dragon-form elemental beings are rare and powerful, able to match the Archons of old.)