Ye Ruo's author note blazed at the end of Windhaven's latest volume, a spark to ignite Mondstadt.
His new work, Old Mond: Eyes of the Tower King, promised a saga millennia old.
Three thousand years past, the Demon God War raged, a brutal clash for the Seven's thrones.
The Lonely King of the Tower and the Northwind Sovereign dueled over Mondstadt's fate.
Karlafian, the Tornado Demon, and Andreus, the northern titan, once ruled these windswept lands.
Barbatos and a nameless boy would rise from this chaos, their tale soon to unfold.
The teaser closed with a tantalizing nudge: "Stay tuned!"—and Mondstadt erupted.
Taverns, markets, and eateries buzzed, the news a wildfire through the city's veins.
"Oh my stars—Ye Ruo's dropping a new book!" a baker cried, flour dusting his awe.
"It's the Demon God War, three thousand years back—an age lost to us!" a merchant marveled.
"Two demon gods slugging it out for godhood? That's mythic!" a bard strummed excitedly.
"Mythic battles, fallen gods—my blood's pumping already!" a guard roared, fist clenched.
"I'd never heard of Karlafian or Andreus—Wind Knight's digging deep," a seamstress mused.
"You're green—that's the old tyrant's ruins out there," an elder coughed, nodding west.
"Fair point—still, most of us don't know squat about that time," she conceded.
"For common folk, those tales blew away long ago," a farmer sighed, leaning on his cart.
"Only noble archives might hold scraps of that ancient lore," a scholar speculated.
The crowd's wonder swelled—history's dust stirred by Ye Ruo's quill.
Time had scoured Mondstadt clean of such primordial echoes.
Vanessa's legend, the Liontooth Knight's rise, dominated the city's songs.
Her epic—from slave to founder of the Knights—lived in every child's chant.
The Ballad of Vanessa rang through streets, a hymn of rebirth and valor.
Jean's office cradled a copy, its pages worn from reverent hands.
Before her, though, the Demon God War faded into fractured whispers.
Mond Tower touched the tyrant's reign, but only through a girl and an orphan's lens.
Kanria's chaos, centuries later, had shattered even those threads.
Mondstadt forgot the Four Winds' guardians, their temples crumbling to ruin.
The Lonely King's era, older still, was a ghost to all but the eldest clans.
Ye Ruo's vow to resurrect it struck like thunder, awe rippling far and wide.
This uproar dwarfed Idol Debut and Windhaven's earlier waves.
Once published, it'd blaze hotter than anything he'd penned before.
Readers pored over his words, dissecting each hint with fevered glee.
"Barbatos as the lead? That's our wind god stealing the show!" a brewer cheered.
"I crave a tale that's epic and raw—Barbatos'd love it too," a poet grinned.
"Inazuma's got their Raiden reincarnation yarn—now we've got our god's story," a trader boasted.
"Ye Ruo's framing it so grand—it'll outshine Inazuma's book, mark my words," he wagered.
"Who's this nameless boy, though? No name's a tease," a maid pondered.
"Sounds pivotal—mysterious too, like a shadow in the wind," her friend mused.
"I'm camping out for release day—I need this now!" a young smith vowed.
"Count me in—line starts at dawn!" another echoed, eyes alight.
The fervor pulsed, a tide set to sweep Mondstadt for weeks.
Word would spread beyond the walls, fame coiling ever tighter.
In the Knights' headquarters, Jean snatched a rare breath from her desk.
She flipped through Windhaven, landing on Ye Ruo's bombshell note.
Her eyes widened, "Demon God War? Lonely King, Northwind King, and Barbatos?"
"How does Senior Ye Ruo know all this—enough to weave it whole?" she whispered.
"Even I only grasp scraps of that time," she admitted, brow furrowing.
Her Gunnhildr lineage tied her to Mondstadt's ancient roots.
Historian Eckhart Gunnhildr, kin of her blood, had sifted the past's shards.
His Little Biography of Gunnhildr stitched together noble-era fragments.
It traced their line to a tribal chief amid the Lonely King's reign.
Three thousand years ago, Gunnhildr led refugees across icy wastes.
Jean knew the Tower King's shadow, but its depths eluded her.
Details eroded, leaving only echoes in her family's lore.
The Windblume Festival bore his mark, warped into a rite of love.
Most Mondstadters forgot its grim origins, chasing freedom instead.
Ye Ruo's dive into that abyss left Jean stunned, reverence blooming.
His quill would resurrect a lost age, a feat beyond her imagining.
The system thrummed, fame surging with each whispered rumor.
He'd spun modern hits—now he'd claim Mondstadt's primal soul.
Barbatos and Dvalin loomed next, but this was his grandest leap.
Mondstadt's streets hummed, its people unwitting heralds of his rise.
***
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