Genshin Impact: Reborn Engineer

La Chasse aux Flammes... of the games that Mother could have had them participate in, this was by far one of the tamest, it seems that she was in a good mood when planning the events for today.

She behaved as she was split into a group of five, unfortunately Peruere wasn't by her side this time as she and her team were led into the dark corridors the game would take place.

The main goal of the game was to gather as many lit candles as they could before time ran out. Lit candles were stationed randomly around the various darkened hallways in varying amounts. Each team had a specified table to place their candles on at their drop point. Teams were allowed to decide what groups left to search for candles and which stayed behind. This was important since the ones who left were allowed to use any means to bring candles back to their group, either by finding candles, stealing from other group's collections, or by beating up the competition and taking the candles from them directly.

Any candles that went out were considered lost points, so it wasn't unheard of for teams sending individuals specifically to blow out the collected candles of other groups.

Clervie was only one of two of the older members in her team, the other three were new additions to the hearth and had not been trained much in combat yet much less combat in the dark. Looking at her peer, Clervie and them had a brief unspoken conversation before agreeing that she would be the one to go while they stayed with the new kids.

Walking through the pitch-dark hallways, Clervie held a hand to a wall and did her best to not make a noise. Her eyes were wide as she tried to look around to spot any hint of light in the darkness. She didn't know how long she had been in the darkness, time was immaterial, the only way to gauge the passing of moments were the steps she took on her path and her quiet breaths.

She came across an intersection of halls, holding on to the right wall, she followed it down to her left side when her eyes met a pair of glowing red X's angled down at her.

Stifling a yelp, she met the pair of glowing X's with her eyes, "Peri?" she asked, though it was obvious who they belonged to.

"Hmm" Peruere responded, as her X shaped eyes moved to scan the surroundings, not caring to answer the question with more than a grunt of acknowledgement before she started walking off again, ignoring Clervie, she had her own team to support after all.

Clervie stared at her friend as she passed, though she was a nice person at heart, her eyes were quite unsettling, especially in the dark. Waiting a few minutes for her heart to settle down, Clervie turned and went down the corridor Peruere had not ventured through. Kind as she was, the girl was solitary by nature, worked best when working solo, and would not tolerate any tag-alongs, especially from opponents during a competition. 

After some exploration, Clervie came across a table with three candles sitting on top of it. Though she was tempted to run up and grab the candles and flee back to her group, she stopped and hugged the wall behind a pillar just outside the light given off by the candle. she heard some scuffling, as she saw a young boy round the corner, his face lit up as he spotted the candles and as he walked towards them another figure swiftly ran into him, knocking him down and starting to wrestle him trying to bind him with rope. surging forward, Clervie grabbed a candle and ran through the door she had entered from, kicking the figure attacking the boy in the head on her way out.

she made her way back to her group as swiftly as she could, occasionally having to cover the flame with her hand to prevent it from giving away her position as she avoided being perused. 

In distant areas she could her yelps and screaming, the sound of fists and blunt objects making contact with flesh, objects falling to the floor. Making it to her area, she was met with her team and a girl her age on the floor unconscious. Making it over to their table, Clervie placed the candle down, signifying one point being added to their total and the start of the challenge of protecting their hoard as the light would draw the attention of any other teams passing through. She met the eyes of her team, the boy her age nodded telling her to go again, his face resolute with the scratches on his face and neck from his previous fight.

Clervie continued to go out, sometimes finding candles, sometimes having to hide from or fight the other kids. One time while she was searching, she cane across a set of five candles, she took two, blew out one and broke it against the side of a cabinet, placing the remaining bottem half with the wic in her pocket before heading back with the still lit candle.

Soon, the sound of bells were rung throughout the hallways. The kids who were conscious followed the sound, finding open doors with light on the other side, the unconscious children would have to find the exits on their own later unless their team spent the time to find and carry them.

Clervie waited outside one of the doors where the children were being grouped, she was waiting, looking for Peruere, but not seeing her. Did someone actually manage to beat her? Thought Clervie. Then, the sound of something heavy being dragged could be heard as Peruere entered the light, dragging a large rug covered in a pile of unconscious children of various ages. dropping the end of the carpet after having dragged the children over the threshold, Peruere moved to Clervie's side.

Together they stood with the line of kids still awake, as they waited for the adults to tally the candles each team had collected.

Neither Clervie nor Peruere's team had placed first, that honor went to a team made up of several of the older children who had folloed the other teams to their bases and either stole or snuffed out their candles leaving them at the top with a total of 7 candles, Peruere's team had 5 with three having been stolen or blown out while she was away, and Clervie's team with 4 having had two of their candles stolen. The remaining teams had been unlucky enough to be located nearer to the first team's location and were constantly harassed.

Finally it was time for presents, Clervie was called forward to a table with a small pile of presents. Some of these were genuine, and some were traps that while embarrassing to be hit with, were thankfully non-lethal.

Gently testing the first box, shaking it slowly from side to side while feeling its weight, and tapping the side with a finder, something felt off, so she turned the top away from herself as she pulled the top off the box open. with a loud popping noise, a mechanism inside the box flung a few spoiled eggs out, which splattered against the floor a few feet away. Crucabena clicked her tongue in disappointment.

Clervie proceeded through the presents, some were from the other children, small hand-crafted paper objects and cards and some were yous given by the adults. Unfortunately, Clervie was unable to detect all of the traps, the light dusting of glitter and charcoal staining her face and clothed attested to.

Finally, the last and largest present was placed in front of her, it was about half as tall as she was. Suspecting that this was most likely a trap, she crouched down near one of the sides of the box as she used a book she had received to push up the lid. However, the trap she was expecting didn't spring. Slowly standing, she looked into the box to find a gleaming mechanical dragonfly the side of a medium dog with what looked like a remote and a manual resting on the special cushions placed to protect everything contained within.

It was an interesting gift, far more intricate than any of the gifts she had been expecting, however she did not have the chance to test it as the sun had been claimed by the horizon and the adults were growing weary of overseeing the energetic children. With some help, the dragonfly was taken to Clervie's room to be stored.

Once she was alone in her room, Clervie carefully took out the broken candle she had stashed earlier and hid it behind a few of the books on her shelf, she then picked up the manual for the dragonfly construct and started to read it...

-To be continued