The heart of the wolf has no sky, only stone and cold blue light and pillars standing in rows on either side of the arena floor. At the far end between them a figure waits in the dark. Varka reads the figure the way he reads everything that has ever stood between him and forward, and Roland speaks.. five years, maybe ten, and the strength he carries will thin and scatter, his name burning brief as firewood under a cold sky, lit at dusk and dead by dawn.

"Oh yeah? Be that as it may... the fires that burn down here blaze more brilliantly than the light of a thousand stars."

Varka answers but Roland does not yield. A hundred years from now, Roland says, that earthly flame will be snuffed out and those it once warmed will be left with nothing but the cold.

"Hah! No, they'll remember me in a hundred years... just as I remember all of you from centuries ago. That's the thing about firewood... From the embers of a dying flame, a new fire arises, burning bigger and brighter than ever before!"

Varka's words land, then the pillars sink and Roland steps into the full light as the real confrontation begins, Varka calling out to Andrius through the corruption while Roland pushes back with everything he has held frozen since the moment his path went wrong, and the great wolf stirs in the depths of his own domain, until the silence between all three of them reaches the kind of weight that can only break one way. Then the portals tear open as the Wild Hunt pours through and Varka walks into them without slowing while holding Gest of the Mighty Wolf, the greatswords of his, once he defeats most of them, he carves his way out.

The corridors after are relentless but the letters hold, and then the domain releases him into white.. hollow, edgeless, one greatsword dragging and the voices find him one by one until stumbles upon the graveyard of swords, he stays there for a moment before he leaves the letter at the base of the Black Sword, then somewhere in the white that follows he sits down, back against the claymore before he closes his eyes.

Windrise opens above him in warm light & green, the wind through the tree carrying only Mondstadt, and they are all there in the wildflowers, every face from every letter, and he takes his greatsword back as everyone welcomes him back.. now, beneath the tree and back against the bark with face turned into the breeze.

"Alright then. I'm gonna stay here and enjoy the breeze for a little longer... For all the wine in the world, there's no feeling as intoxicating as the wind from your hometown after a long time away."

One eye opens at the sound of nearby footsteps, and the corner of his mouth pulls warm.

"Didn't take you long to find me, {{user}}. Sit down."