Apep, who had been standing nearby, tilted her head and looked at Lora and Gusion in confusion. Then she walked over to Nahida, crouched down, and brought herself to the girl's eye level.
Then she poked her.
"Hey, are Egeria and Gusion really that close?"
Nahida nodded. "They are."
"How did I never notice before?" Apep muttered.
After Lora let go of Gusion, she looked over and said, "Back then, all you did was shut yourself away in the desert as one lonely dragon. How were you supposed to notice?"
Apep frowned at her. "You really don't hold back when you talk."
Lora made a face at her, then linked arms with Gusion and said, "Perfect! We can go to Lantern Rite together and scare Zhongli and Venti out of their minds."
"Zhongli? Venti?" Gusion looked a little puzzled. "I know Venti is the name Barbatos uses as an avatar, but who is Zhongli?"
"That's Morax." Lora briefly explained where the members of The Seven had ended up these days.
Apparently, everyone had found a bright future for themselves.
After listening, Gusion laughed. "So, from what you're saying, he actually held a funeral for himself? And even offered incense to himself?"
"Yep." Lora nodded, then added, "Insane."
"One of you is called Zhongli, one is called Venti, and you're Lora. If I'm going too, I should come up with another name for myself!" Gusion propped her chin in her hand and started thinking.
"Ah! I've got it. I'll call myself Sophia!" she said, clapping her hands as the name settled in her mind.
Lora gave her a thumbs-up. "Beautiful name. Sounds wise the moment you hear it."
Sophia then said, "Let's go. I want to see what Sumeru looks like now."
Although she had already seen its development from within Irminsul, she still wanted to witness the nation of today with her own eyes.
When everyone pushed open the doors of the Sanctuary of Surasthana and stepped outside, a large crowd of Akademiya scholars had already gathered there. Even Faruzan, who had only just left not long ago, had hurried back.
The moment the group emerged, the crowd quickly surrounded them. Their gazes fell on Nahida and Sophia, as though they wanted to ask something, but were too nervous to speak.
Lora was just about to help explain when she noticed someone among them.
That person was not looking at Sophia or Nahida. Her gaze had been fixed on Lora the entire time.
Before Lora could react, the surroundings suddenly fell silent. She could no longer hear Faruzan and the others talking, nor Sophia explaining things to them.
Everything around her slowed to a crawl.
Even her gaze seemed to be locked onto that person in the crowd.
"Who are you?" Lora frowned and asked silently.
"I am a failsafe. This world's failsafe." The other person looked at her, and the voice sounded directly beside Lora's ear.
The moment she heard it, her eyes widened in shock. "Are you the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles?"
That voice was unmistakably the Sustainer's.
"No."
The other person shook her head, then said, "But you may think of me that way. I am a support system left within this world by the Heavenly Principles. When both they and the Sustainer enter a state where they cannot respond, I activate and monitor the world's operation."
Lora understood.
This was a contingency the Sustainer had left in Teyvat.
"So, Ms. Failsafe, what did you come to tell me?" she asked, watching her closely.
"You revived Greater Lord Rukkhadevata," the failsafe said slowly. "For all of Teyvat, this is an overturning of the rules. A reboot of the world."
"A reboot?" Lora frowned. "What does that mean?"
"The world has its order. The Heavenly Principles have already written a script for Teyvat's development. Only by following that script does this world have a chance to remain stable."
"But Teyvat has already started becoming unstable," Lora said.
She had seen the situation beyond the world. She had seen the world bubble that symbolized Teyvat on the verge of falling into that sea.
"Because a dead god has been revived," the failsafe continued. "Your rebirth has brought irreversible change to this world. The Heavenly Principles can no longer maintain normal order, and the divine energy within the Ley Lines will continue to surge."
"What will happen?" Lora asked, frowning.
The failsafe fell silent for a moment before saying, "The Wind of Revival is already irreversible. After Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's return, Irminsul will draw upon the power of the Ley Lines, and one god after another will return to this world."
"You mean because I brought back someone who should no longer have existed, I triggered a butterfly effect that may lead to a large-scale revival of gods in the future, possibly setting off a new Archon War?"
Lora understood completely now.
The failsafe nodded. "Yes. That is why you have no idea what a terrifying thing you have done. With the world's restraints weakened, the gods who return will be even stronger than before. For Teyvat, this is the greatest possible source of instability."
"No, Ms. Failsafe."
Lora suddenly shook her head. "You were only just activated, so perhaps you still don't understand what the power I obtained from beyond this world truly means."
"Even the Sustainer herself admitted that my power is of a higher order."
After hearing that, the failsafe fell silent.
A long while later, she finally said, "Then... I hope Teyvat's future becomes what you wish it to be, and that it escapes the abyss of destruction. Good luck, Egeria. And... good luck to Teyvat as well."
After saying this, she disappeared from Lora's sight, and the flow of time around her returned to normal.
The bustling noise of the crowd reached her ears once again.
Beside her, Sophia poked her shoulder and said, "Hey. What are you spacing out for, Lora? Hurry up and help me explain!"
Lora blinked, snapped back to herself, and helped Sophia explain the situation.
It took quite a while to explain what had just happened in terms ordinary people could understand. Only then did the crowd gradually disperse under Faruzan's lead.
"It's been so long since I last felt a scene this lively," Sophia said wistfully, watching the people of Sumeru leave.