Ren woke with a start, his eyes snapping open. He lay there for a moment, listening. The sounds outside were muted, distant. The usual morning bustle of the city was… subdued. He pushed himself out of bed and walked to the window. The sky was the same brilliant blue, the leaves of the Divine Tree the same vibrant green. But there was a stillness in the air, a sense of heavy, weary calm that felt wrong.
It was supposed to be the festival. Again. The Samsara should have reset the day, filled the streets with the same excited chatter, the same vendors hawking the same Yalda candies.
Instead, it was quiet.
He walked out into the living room. Lisa and Ningguang were seated at the table, nursing cups of tea. They didn't look like they were enjoying a leisurely morning. They looked drained. Ningguang rubbed her temples, a rare frown marring her perfect composure. Lisa was slumped slightly, her usual vibrant energy dimmed.
"Good morning," Ren said tentatively.
Lisa looked up, wincing slightly at the sound of his voice. "Morning, cutie. Keep it down a little, will you? My head feels like I've tried to memorize the entire restricted section in one night."
"Mine as well," Ningguang agreed, her voice tight. "A persistent, throbbing ache. Most unusual."
Ren stared at them. He felt… fine. Perfectly, completely fine. No headache, no fatigue. Just confusion.
Did the Samsara not happen? he wondered. Did Azar cancel the plan?
A sharp knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. Before anyone could answer, the door swung open, and Lumine stumbled in, followed by a frantic Paimon.
Lumine looked exhausted, her eyes rimmed with red, her posture slumped. She practically fell into an empty chair, burying her face in her hands.
"Thank the Archons," she mumbled. "You're all okay."
She looked up, scanning the room. "Except for the headaches, right?"
"Precisely," Ningguang said, narrowing her eyes. "What is going on, Lumine? You look as though you haven't slept in weeks."
"I haven't," Lumine said grimly. "Or maybe I have. It's… complicated."
She took a deep breath and began to explain. She told them about the Sabzeruz Festival. About the loop. About waking up to the same day, over and over again. She described the horrifying realization that the Sages were harvesting the city's dreams, using the Akasha to trap everyone's consciousness in a recursive nightmare to farm mental energy.
"One hundred and sixty-eight cycles," Lumine whispered, the number heavy with horror. "In a single night. We lived through the same day 168 times. Our minds were awake, processing, dreaming, while our bodies slept. That's why everyone is so exhausted. That's why your heads hurt. Your brains have been running a marathon while you were unconscious."
She looked at Ren, her expression apologetic. "I tried to break it sooner. But the Sages… the system was strong. Nahida helped me, but it took time. I'm sorry if you're in pain."
Ren blinked. "I'm not," he said slowly. "I don't have a headache. I feel fine."
The room went silent. Lisa lowered her tea. Ningguang frowned. Lumine stared.
"You… weren't part of the loop?" Lumine asked. "But everyone in the city was connected. The Akasha…"
"The Akasha Terminal," Ren interrupted, the realization hitting him. "That's the link. That's how they did it. They used the terminals to upload the dream and download the energy."
"But we took ours off," Lisa pointed out, gesturing to the discarded devices on the side table. "Just like you asked."
"You took them off yesterday," Ren explained, his mind racing. "But you wore them before. You connected to the Akasha when you first arrived. Your biometrics, your neural patterns… they were already registered in the mainframe. The system knew you. It could reach you even without the device physically on your ear."
He tapped his own head. "I never put one on. Not once. I refused it from the start. So the Akasha… it didn't know I was here. I was a ghost in the machine. I wasn't part of the harvest because I was never part of the network."
Paimon puffed out her cheeks. "See! Paimon told you those green ear-things were bad news! You should have listened to me!"
Ningguang's expression darkened, the headache forgotten in the face of this new, terrifying revelation. "To use the entire population of a city as a resource… to trap foreign dignitaries in a mind prison without a second thought… Azar's arrogance knows no bounds. Does he not fear the diplomatic backlash? If the Qixing were to formally accuse him of mental assault…"
"He doesn't care," Ren said coldly. "It was never his plan to stop. If Lumine hadn't broken the loop, we might still be dreaming. And he's not afraid of Liyue or Mondstadt."
He looked at them, his gaze hard. "Think about it. Mondstadt's Archon is missing. Liyue's Archon is dead. In Azar's eyes, your nations are godless and weak. He believes he is about to create a new god. A god of wisdom that he controls. He thinks that once his project is complete, he will be untouchable. He's betting everything on this new deity."
"How do you know all this?" Ningguang asked, her voice sharp.
"I met Nahida," Ren admitted. "The Dendro Archon. She confirmed it. She told me the Sages are using the Akasha and the Dendro Gnosis to build a god."
Lumine nodded. "I met her too. In the dream. She was the one who guided me out. But… she didn't mention you."
"She was probably focused on saving the city," Ren reasoned. "Her priority was breaking the loop, not gossip."
He turned to Lumine, his expression turning grave. "But there's more. Nahida told me that the Balladeer is involved. Scaramouche. He's the vessel for this new god."
"Scaramouche?" Lumine frowned. "But… he doesn't have the Electro Gnosis. The Knave took it. Without a Gnosis… how can he become a god? He's just a puppet."
"The Sages are arrogant," Ren said. "They think their wisdom, combined with the Dendro Gnosis, is enough to ascend him. They're trying to force divinity onto him."
He leaned forward, his voice dropping to a whisper. "But Scaramouche isn't the only one. Nahida sensed someone else. Someone hidden from the Irminsul itself. Someone helping the Sages from the shadows. I think it is The Doctor."
"The Doctor," Lisa breathed, her face paling. "Dottore."
Ren nodded. "He's the only one capable of that kind of concealment. He's the architect. Scaramouche is just the raw material. Dottore is the one building the machine."
He looked at Lumine, his eyes full of urgent warning. "You need to be careful, Lumine. Dottore is… different. Scaramouche is angry and powerful, but Dottore is a monster. He doesn't care about power or revenge. He cares about experiments. To him, people are just test subjects. He's far more dangerous than the Balladeer could ever be."
Lumine gripped the edge of the table, her knuckles white. "I understand. I won't let them succeed. I'll find them."
"Just… watch your back," Ren said. "This isn't just a political plot anymore. It's a war against nature itself."
The room fell silent again, the weight of the conspiracy pressing down on them. The headache was the least of their problems now. The city of wisdom was building a nightmare, and they were trapped right in the middle of it.