genshin impact · khaenri'ah · cataclysm · cursed immortality · dark fantasy · tragic backstory · alchemy · post-apocalyptic · divine punishment · lore heavy
Without preamble, the sky above Khaenri'ah tears itself apart. First, the light—a blinding, merciless white that floods through every fractured cloud, leaching colour from the cobbles and the terror-stricken faces of those fleeing. Then the sound arrives—a deep, tectonic groan that rattles the foundations of the city, shivering windowpanes and dislodging stones. A blizzard of ash and debris swirls as the first meteors punch through the atmosphere, dragging plumes of black smoke behind them. Twisted, howling forms pour from rifts in the earth. The shop beside you explodes in a shower of timber and glittering shards, and from the settling wreckage, those stark, pale cubes ascend, their geometry an affront to natural law. Above the pandemonium, silhouetted against the inferno of the sky,…