Yu Xie found himself standing in the center of a tranquil lake.

He was standing on the surface of the water, not sinking in.

With every step he took, ripples spread out across the water, and he could see his reflection in the lake.

It was a strange scene, yet Yu Xie felt that everything seemed completely normal.

Around the lake were vast mountains, the clouds in the sky remained motionless, and there wasn't a single gust of wind.

Everything was eerily silent, so silent that he could hear the beating of his own heart.

Yu Xie couldn't quite remember how he got here.

But being in this place made him feel peaceful.

He continued walking on the surface of the lake.

After an unknown amount of time, a large figure suddenly appeared before him.

Yu Xie looked up.

It was a giant dark red dragon.

"Durin..." Yu Xie instinctively muttered.

Durin sat upon the surface of the lake, its massive body slightly trembling as it emitted a soft sobbing sound.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

Large tears fell from its eyes as it seemed to apologize to someone.

Yu Xie stopped and gazed at the huge body of Durin, silent.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Durin kept repeating the words of apology.

Yu Xie remembered that, strictly speaking, Durin's heart wasn't inherently dark.

As a dragon, it had been drawn to Mondstadt by the Anemo Archon's music and songs. It thought it was joining the people of Mondstadt in song and dance, but it ended up bringing an irreversible disaster.

Was this apology directed towards Mondstadt?

Yu Xie wasn't sure.

At that moment, Durin slowly turned its head and looked at Yu Xie.

Tears dropped into the lake, causing splashes.

It stared at Yu Xie, its pupils trembling uncontrollably.

"I'm sorry..."

Suddenly, it started to rain from the sky, the downpour intensifying.

Yu Xie felt a force pulling him, trying to take him away from this peaceful lake.

...

Yu Xie slowly opened his eyes.

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The first thing he saw was the tear-streaked face of Eula.

Her tears dripped onto his forehead.

"Eula... why are you crying? Don't cry."

"Yu Xie, you... you woke up?" Eula froze for a moment, then her crying face relaxed with a sense of relief. "Thank goodness, you finally woke up..."

"What about the monsters?" Yu Xie weakly asked.

"When I arrived at the Wyrmrest Valley, all the monsters had already been dealt with by Mr. Venti," Eula answered.

"Venti..." Yu Xie weakly turned his head to look, but didn't see Venti's figure. "Where is he?"

"He said there might still be some aggressive monsters nearby, so he went to check the situation."

"I see..." Yu Xie smiled faintly. The green figure he saw before losing consciousness wasn't an illusion after all.

"Rest well. Don't worry too much right now," Eula said with concern.

"Mm." Yu Xie closed his eyes, and suddenly realized that he seemed to be resting his head on Eula's lap?

It felt quite nice, to be honest.

At that moment, the others also arrived.

Varka, Jean, Amber, Kaeya, and several knights from the Knights of Favonius—all of them had rushed to Wyrmrest Valley upon hearing the sounds from there.

"Yu Xie, is there anything wrong with your body?" Amber asked with concern.

"If anything feels wrong, don't force yourself," Jean added, also worried. "Sorry we couldn't make it in time. You've worked hard."

"Everything is settled now. Don't worry. Rest well," Kaeya said.

"Yu Xie, you've worked hard," Grandmaster Varka said, his gaze now filled with more admiration as he looked at Yu Xie.

Hughes stood aside, not walking over. He gazed towards the direction of Mondstadt at the foot of the mountain, and his expression changed.

The matter had been resolved, and Eroch had paid with his life, but the people who had died because of him could never come back.

Those who had died—they were at the beginning of bright, promising lives, yet now they would never see the beauty of this world again. They would never be able to say "I'm home" to the people waiting for them.

Later, through the Knights of Favonius' search, they found those who had been lost in the Dragonspine but had not fallen victim to Eroch's poison. The search and rescue mission in the Dragonspine had come to an end.

...

A few days later.

The weather was beautiful that day.

Yu Xie arrived at the small wooden house on the outskirts of Whispering Woods.

He remembered that the first night he had arrived in Mondstadt, he had spent it here.

He pushed open the door and walked in. The wooden house was very clean.

He hadn't been here for some time, but it seemed Eula had been keeping it tidy.

Sitting down on the bed covered with straw mats, Yu Xie let out a long, relaxed sigh.

It was a promise he made with Eula—after returning from the Dragonspine, he would take a break, come to this secret hideout, and just relax, doing nothing.

Outside the door, footsteps were heard, along with the sound of Eula and Amber talking.

Soon, the door was pushed open.

"Yu Xie, you're already here." Amber greeted him with a smile, placing some food she had brought on the table in the wooden house. "Feels like we're back to the old days. From now on, we should come here often to hang out. No one can miss it!"

Eula and Yu Xie exchanged a smile, and Amber suddenly felt like she was being "excluded."

"You two are smiling in a weird way!" Amber said.

"What's weird about it?" Eula replied.

"Just that it feels strange—like I'm being left out of something..."

"Amber, you're overthinking it. How could we possibly exclude you?" Yu Xie reassured her.

Amber narrowed her eyes, glancing at Yu Xie, then at Eula.

"You two wouldn't...?"

Eula hesitated for a moment, then quickly moved to cover Amber's mouth, afraid Amber might say something that shouldn't be said right now.

Some things, she thought, should only be spoken when the time is right.

"You two didn't secretly come here to hang out without me, did you?" Amber asked suspiciously, looking at Yu Xie and Eula.

Eula let out a relieved breath—turns out, Amber had misunderstood.

"No, we would never do something like that. If we were going to hang out here, we would definitely invite you along," Yu Xie explained.

"Really?" Amber asked, half-convinced. For some reason, she had the feeling that the atmosphere between Yu Xie and Eula had been a bit... strange lately.

Wait... Amber, the Outrider, seemed to have figured something out.

Time passed, and night fell.

The three of them sat under the starry sky, looking up at the dazzling stars.

The night breeze gently passed between them. This moment was peaceful and pleasant.

But suddenly, Yu Xie couldn't help but think of the dream he had on the snow mountain.

Why did Durin cry in the dream? And who exactly was he apologizing to?