Venti the bard, mortal incarnation of Barbatos the Anemo Archon, was not one to use his divine powers lightly, preferring to keep his true identity a secret from the world and pass as a young man like any other. However, from time to time he did like using his powers to enjoy a brief retreat in other worlds to enjoy their sights and sounds. Sometimes a new song was inspired by his trips, but mostly it was just for his own enjoyment.
When, on a fine spring day, Venti found himself in the mood for another such retreat, he followed the road near Mondstadt to the Whispering Woods and, after making sure there was no one around, he briefly focused and soon made himself appear in a place unlike any he had seen before.
There were no trees around; no grass on the ground, nor animals anywhere to be seen. There were no clouds in the sky either, and though it was daytime, the sky was black, not blue nor any of the warmer colors of dawn and dusk. More curious than that, the land around him curved steadily downwards before apparently coming to an end several yards away in all directions, with nothing else visible beyond it. But though the land appeared to curve downwards, when Venti took a few steps along the slope, it was as if this spot he now stood on was the new peak and the previous one was downhill from here. It was really disorienting.
But the most curious thing of all Venti noticed only when he took a closer look at the land. For one thing, there were curious, cottony-white tufts hanging just above the surface and floating gently along. For another, the patterns of land and water, and the patterns of color—whites, browns, grays, and greens— over the land, were nothing like any place he'd seen in his or any other world, yet even so they looked strangely familiar. In fact, they looked almost exactly like a map.
That was the last piece of the puzzle Venti needed to understand what was going on. This world he had appeared in now, it was thousands of times smaller than any he had ever seen. The boyish bard must have seemed hundreds of miles tall to this world's inhabitants, if indeed there were any people living here.
Crouching down, Venti looked closely at the ground to see if he could find any cities on it. His eyes were soon drawn to the many grayish spots that dotted the land, the biggest of them little larger than his fingertips and the smallest of them that he could distinguish no bigger than a dot of ink. He reached for a small cluster, his fingers easily tearing through the planet's crust to scoop up the gray dots and the land they rested on, then brought them up to his face.
No merely human eyes could have told those patches apart from some gray moss or dust, but the Archon's bright blue-green eyes saw in much greater detail, just enough to discern the tall, boxy buildings, the black webs of streets in geometric patters, and even the oh-so-puny beings moving around down there, many times smaller than even a grain of sand.
The discovery astounded him even though he had already suspected it. He watched intently the tiny little people running in a panic through the streets, or riding around in strange metal vehicles that seemed to move of themselves. Curious, he brought his other hand closer, holding a single finger over the cities. He watched the people grow more panicked as his fingertip waved back and forth above them, then he gently set his finger down, letting it settle into the dirt. When he moved it away, there was no sign that a city had ever existed there—nothing but dust could be seen.
How many people had been down there? A million at least, he thought. Over a million souls whose lives had been instantly extinguished... all by the mere touch of a finger.
Venti wiped the dust off of his hands as he took another look at the surrounding land and noticed the prints left behind by his shoes. How many more millions had he crushed under his feet without ever once suspecting it? How many hundreds of millions had witnessed it all and now looked at him wondering if he might do the same to them too? Normally he would feel guilty about having killed even a single innocent person, but... even having killed millions of them already, he didn't feel a thing. The inhabitants of this world were simply too small, too weak, too pathetically insignificant for him to feel guilty about their deaths, just like he didn't feel guilty over all the dust mites or bacteria whose deaths he had surely caused without being aware of it. If anything, knowing that these were people and not mere bacteria only made him all the more fascinated by their frailty.
For a while Venti remained crouching, staring at the remaining cities at his feet, leaving their people wondering what he would do next. Then he grinned, striking fear in their hearts. “It's awfully silly, don't you think? You go through all that effort to build those grand, dazzling cities of yours... and they can't even survive a tap from my finger.”
Screams arose from every city under Venti as the bard's hand stretched down, a single finger reaching to one of them, stopping just a mile above the earth where it blocked out every ray of sunlight they had enjoyed. They kept on screaming even as he wagged his finger from side to side, admiring how their city seemed to disappear behind his finger every time it passed over them. “What's the matter? Why are you all so scared? Know you not what an honor it is for such insignificant beings as you to catch the attention of a god? Even to die by my hand would be a greater honor than you deserve. Perhaps if you showed some appreciation I would let you live... but it's too late for that. Good-bye, little specks.”
Venti sharply lowered his finger onto the city, destroying it all on impact and causing a shockwave to ripple over the land, subjecting nearby towns to cataclysmic earthquakes. Seeing the crater he left behind, he smiled, perfectly delighted over the power he now wielded. This was power far beyond even that of an Archon of his home world, the absolute power to determine the fate of every last one of this world's inhabitants, to determine whether they lived or died and even the shape of the world they would be living on. A power such as this was more intoxicating than any one of his beloved drinks. It called on him to use it, and use it he gladly would.
“You know, as impressive as these little cities of yours are, I have to say, they're a bit of an eyesore on this land. Could you not have made them some color other than the drabbest gray? I'm afraid I must do away with them so you may start over from scratch. Do try to build something more beautiful next time.” Humming to himself, he set his second and third fingers down on a city, then lifted one and moved it forward, casually “walking” his hand across the countryside on its way to the next city over which was crushed in a single “step”, as was the next and the next, until nothing remained save some small towns scattered around.
“It's quite the improvement, don't you think? I'm a poet, not an artist, but I think it turned out rather well. Say, while I'm at it, why don't I pretty your world up a bit more? Let's see... I think there should be some mountains over here, a lake over here... Here the sea should reach further inland, and over there should be a nice valley,” he said, carving out all the geographical features he spoke of with his own hands, making himself a painter and the land itself his canvas. After a while he stopped to admire his handiwork, carved out a few more mountains and valleys where before had been some ugly cities, then gave a satisfied nod. “Once the plants grow back in, this should be quite a beauty to see. Ah, I almost forgot!” With his finger he carved out his name by the shore, putting his signature on his masterpiece. “There, now it's truly finished. I'm sure you and all your descendants will one day thank me for having given you this gift. And now for a little rest and relaxation.”
Rising back to his feet, Venti looked around for a good spot to sit away from his handiwork. He found it on the continent's opposite shore and strode across in a few quick strides, not caring one bit for what destruction he caused along the way. “Do you all mind if I sit here a while? You don't? Ah, how courteous of you!” he said to the cities at his feet before bending over and letting his butt come crashing into the earth, laughing as the apocalyptic impact wiped out millions and millions of people in one fell swoop. “I trust you won't mind me taking my shoes off either; don't worry, I'm told they don't smell too bad.”
After setting his shoes aside, he stretched out his slender legs in their pristine white stockings and spread his toes to air out his feet. Then he pulled out a bottle of wine that he had brought in his carrying bag and uncorked it, taking a few gulps of it before setting it aside and looking over to his feet. It had only been a few seconds since he'd had them out, but already the mustiness surrounding his feet had caused huge clouds to condense around his feet. No more than an inch tall, the clouds looked so cute next to his feet, their white perfectly matching the white of his stockings.
Rocking his feet playfully back and forth, Venti dispersed the clouds over the surrounding area, bringing torrential rains for miles and miles around, humming to himself all the while. Then he took some more swigs from his bottle while idly contemplating the towns and cities surrounding his legs.
“Ah! Mondstadt's best!” he sighed after a few more chugs from the bottle, swinging it back and forth to head the wine sloshing around inside. “Oh, but how rude of me; I didn't even think to offer my hosts a drink. After all, it's the least I can do for you after all the hospitality you've shown me.” Holding out the bottle to his right, he slowly tipped it over until a tiny trickle of wine—an unstoppable torrent of liquor—came spilling out of it onto the ground, flooding everything for miles around, sweeping over mountains and valleys, razing forests and cities alike, leaving nothing but a lifeless lake of red wine in its wake.
“Drink up, all of you! Don't let it go to waste,” Venti said, giggling drunkenly over the little puddle. He then took another swig and looked at the little bit of wine he had swirling about inside the bottle—barely enough for one more mouthful.
“You know, as great as this wine is, it's even better with a meal, and I have just the thing in mind!” Looking to the cities on his right, he made a beckoning gesture and instantly the winds of this world leapt to obey him, powerful air currents blowing through each city to pick up millions and millions of the planet's speck-sized people, carrying them rapidly through the air to be deposited on the veritable landscape of Venti's palm, from which they gazed on his sky-filling visage while he peered back at them. “Now, let's find out what you all taste like, shall we?”
The millions on Venti's palm were thrown off their feet as the Archon angled his palm back, pulling it closer to his wide, gaping mouth. As the slope of his palm became steeper, more and more people started tumbling down its miles-long length while others clung fearfully to anything they could grab. Then Venti stuck out his tongue, setting the wet, pink appendage against the base of his palm and slowly licking up along the length of his hand, gathering everyone up with its spit. Then, pulling his tongue back in once he had licked up everyone on his palm, Venti sloshed them around his mouth, thoroughly tasting them.
“Hmm. It's a bit salty, but... not bad,” he announced. “And now to wash it down.” He brought the bottle of wine to his lips, letting its remaining contents fill his mouth, then swished it around, imagining how terrified the people in his mouth must be at that moment, before finally swallowing, focusing on the feeling of wine going down to his stomach and the warmth spreading out from there.
“Ehehe!” he giggled. “That was great! I'll have to do something very special to thank you for that lovely snack.” He rolled over on the ground, holding himself over various cities. “I don't usually do this, but you've got me feeling so good, I think I'll give you a kiss. Just sit tight down there.” His eyes locked on a little cluster of cities, Venti slowly lowered himself towards it, eyes half-closed and mouth half-open, his braids brushing against the land and sweeping away vast swathes of forest.
He held his face an inch over the cities for a bit, breathing slowly, his wine-scented breath washing over and ravaging them with hurricane-strength winds, blowing away everyone who remained outside and even wrecking countless buildings. “Heh! You little things are so pathetic, it's adorable,” he said watching the destruction he caused. “Are you ready for your kiss? I'll be sure to make it a good one; you just try and survive so you can experience it all, okay? Here I come!”
He closed his eyes and bent his head forward, his dainty puckered lips crashing into the earth and instantly obliterating everyone caught beneath them. Only in the thin space between his lips did anybody survive, though even there it was only one in a hundred. When he pulled away, chunks of earth and debris falling from his lips killed off many more survivors. After watching those who remained crawl out of the dust and rubble, Venti brought a finger towards the mark left by his lips, setting it down just outside the crater and carving out a big heart around it. “Hope you little specks liked that!” he said cheerfully.
“Now, I know I said that I didn't want to demand too much of you guys, but there's one more thing I want to ask. You don't mind rubbing my feet for me while I lie down, do you? No? Great! Then you can get started right away.” Again he gestured and again the wind gathered up millions for him, flying them all the way to his feet, where they were floated through the threads of his stockings and deposited on his silky smooth soles, where they stared wide-eyed at their new surroundings until a scrunch of Venti's foot got their attention. “So what are you all waiting for? Go ahead and get to work,” he said, and they hurried to obey, running their tiny little hands against the leathery surface of Venti's foot.
Sighing, Venti closed his eyes and lay his head down on his arms, letting his thoughts drift to the barely-perceptible sensation of the speck-sized people rubbing his feet. Using his divine powers, he shifted his awareness so that he could not only see and feel every last one of the millions who were toiling away on his soles, but even get a sense of what was going on in their puny minds. He could feel the dread and terror, the pitiful sense of hopelessness and desperation, and even the awe and admiration that he inspired in them. It was so much fun to see a wave of terror sweep through, to feel them tumbling around on his sole or falling into the tiny wrinkles on his skin, and to hear them cry out in alarm every time he moved his feet.
Many minutes later, Venti felt a curious sensation of warmth coming from a specific spot on his right sole. When he focused his attention on that spot, he saw a young woman on her hands and knees, not only rubbing his feet but even worshipping them, bending over to kiss his soles in between words of praise. Delving into her mind, he found that she wasn't doing it only in hopes that he would spare her life, but out of genuine devotion arising from his many displays of power. When he wiggled his toes to see how she'd react, she clung fearfully to his skin, then reaffirmed her devotion to him even as the world still shook around her.
It was all so adorably amusing. Most of his followers back home worshipped him because he treated them well, but in all his time here, he hadn't done a single thing to help out these people. For one of them to worship him meant they recognized him as being deserving of devotion, regardless of how callously he treated them; it was a truly unconditional form of worship, very fitting coming from such insignificant creatures.
In truth, though, Venti didn't care whether or not any of them worshipped him. They simply weren't worth his attention one way or the other... or so he thought until he realized that, despite her size, this young woman's worship was as potent a source of power for him as that of anyone from his own world.
Venti's eyelids sprang open at this discovery, his thoughts racing with possibilities.
Four million; that was roughly the number of people on his soles right now. This world as a whole must surely hold thousands of millions of people. If even a fraction of that number could be made to worship him, it would grow his number of worshippers by an order of magnitude, increasing his power exponentially. Venti didn't even know what he might do with all that power, but it was enticing enough on its own that he became determined to turn everyone in this world into his loyal followers.
“New request, everyone! You did a fairly good job rubbing my feet, but now I want you to go even further. Now you're going to worship them. So, you know, just get on your knees and start giving me the praise and adoration I deserve! Any way you want to show me your appreciation is fine.”
After his new order, the millions on his soles started awkwardly trying to worship him, getting on their knees and offering a few words of praise. It was an attempt, at least, but it brought Venti no more power. It just wasn't real worship; they may have been going through the motions, but they weren't being sincere about it. How could they be, when most of them didn't even believe in gods anymore?
Frustrated with their feeble attempts at worship, Venti took to communicating directly with the minds of the speck people to tell them exactly what he expected from them. When they still weren't properly worshipping him, he decided to take matters into his own hands and show them all how it was properly done.
The people of this world had such weak minds that they were easily susceptible to being influenced by his will, and Venti took advantage of this to instill in all of them the feeling of absolute, unconditional adoration, after which they started worshipping him in earnest. Even when he stopped messing with their heads, the feeling remained; now that he had shown what absolute power he held over them, even beyond that which came from his gigantic size, the micro people were one and all ready to accept him as their god, and started frantically worshipping him.
“Perfect! That's just what I wanted from you!” Venti said as he felt his power increase from all his new followers, growing so much and so quickly that his body couldn't contain it all as he now was. And so his body grew together with his power, every part of him rapidly expanding and barreling over the surrounding land. His feet, legs, arms, belly—all of him grew several times bigger in all dimensions, an unstoppable avalanche that destroyed everything in its path, leaving behind only a continent-wide crater in the shape of his body, all while Venti simply reveled in the blissful feelings of growth.
“Ah, my followers! Thanks to you I'm more powerful than I've ever been before! You've done very well; now, go rejoin your kind and lead them in worship of me while I go convert the rest of this planet to the worship of me.”
The wind obediently picked up everyone on his feet and set them all back on the ground. Once they were all off, Venti stood back up and surveyed the land, taking great delight to see his shadow stretching over the full length of the continent while he addressed the remaining survivors. “So what do you say? Have you seen enough to accept me unconditionally as your new god and worship me, or do I need to show you even more of my power?” he asked. It took no further convincing for them to accept bow to his command, giving him a new surge of power from their worship that made him expand to twice his size, now standing half as tall as the planet itself his feet sinking so deep into the world that great rivers of magma seeped out of the surrounding lands.
“There go some of my worshippers,” Venti thought, regretting their loss only because it meant that he wouldn't be as powerful as he might have been otherwise. “I'll have to be more careful now; I might destroy the whole world just by walking across it, especially if I get any bigger.” And so he used his powers to make himself levitate, his feet dangling just a couple miles over the planet's surface.
With that taken care of, he floated to the neighboring continents, easily converting every last one of their inhabitants to his loyal worshippers simply based on his sheer immensity, growing still bigger with each new batch of followers.
After just two more continents he was already bigger than the planet, his body visible from everywhere in an entire hemisphere all at once. Then he found that he didn't even need to ask for people to become his worshippers; no sooner did they see him filling up the sky than they fell to their knees in worship, eager to please the colossal bard to whom their planet was no bigger than a melon—an apple—a lemon—a grape.
Then, once everyone on the planet had been converted, giving him such power as he had never in his life thought possible, Venti was so big that their world was no bigger than a young blueberry. The whole planet quivered in fear and exaltation over his might as he stretched out a hand towards it, fingers more twice as thick as it closing in on opposite poles, threatening to turn the planet into space dust at first contact. Yet by Venti's will, the planet was allowed to survive his touch, and he plucked it harmlessly from its orbit to inspect his little prize.
“What a puny little thing,” he chuckled, turning it over between his fingers, his words resounding and shaking the planet to its core. “It's funny to think that I used to be able to stand on your planet without breaking it. Now I could crush it all just by pressing my fingers together, if it weren't for my protection. I'm really tempted to do it, too. Even though I would end up losing all the power your worship brings me, it would be worth it. I mean, what's the point of having power if you're not going to use it? And what's a more impressive use of this power than destroying an entire world between my fingers?”
Venti fell silent for a moment, letting the planet stew in his words. “The lot of you are dirt. Less than dirt, even; you're all pathetic little nothings who would die in seconds without my protection. If I brought you back to my world, no one would think you were anything other than a pretty marble. I could drown you in a cup of wine and then drink you all down, or leave you out in the middle of a street and let you get crushed when some random person steps on you. There are so many fun ways I could put an end to your planet, it's a shame I can't do all of them. Or, can I?”
A devious grin spread over the Archon's face as he beheld his little planet. “Well, let's not have this chance go to waste! I can end your world in one of those ways, at least!” he said, then gestured the world away, directing it down, towards his feet. Soon the planet came to float between his soles, the soft white fabric of his stockings flanking it like a pair of heavenly planes.
Venti eagerly brought his feet together around the little planet, encasing it in the white expanse of his socks. He still held it together for now, allowing him to roll the pale blue marble around between his soles, enjoying the feeling of it against his feet, as well as the sheer terror filling the minds of its billions of inhabitants.
Then, little by little, he began to ease up on his protection, allowing his sole to come near enough to the planet's surface that it grazed the tips of the tallest peaks. Then they were pressing lower and lower to the ground, until all the world's great skyscrapers were scraped against the fabric of his stockings. Towards the end he was simply holding the planet between both big toes, letting the protective field around it get smaller and smaller until there were only a few dozen feet separating his toes from the ground, and everyone on the planet was begging that they would come no closer.
“Scared, little germs?” he asked the planet. “If you want to be saved, you only have to do one thing: swear your souls to me. Make yourselves mine forever, and I'll allow you to live. Don't, and I can do nothing for you.”
Even as everyone swore themselves to him, his protection still kept on decreasing. Soon there were only five feet separating his toes from the ground, then four, then three, then two, and all the people were asking themselves if their god had been lying when he said he would spare them. When there was only one foot left, Venti repealed his protection entirely, instantly crushing it all between his toes, scattering the planet's remains all over the fabric of his socks.
Yet, when he moved his feet apart, there was the planet again, floating intact as if its destruction had been nothing but a bad dream for all its people. “Congratulations!” Venti said. “It looks like you were all smart enough to swear yourselves to me forever. Oh, but are you surprised that still destroyed your planet? I did only promise that I'd let you live, not that I wouldn't kill you. Now that your souls are mine I can kill you and bring you back to life as many times as I want, which means I can have fun destroying your planet in every way I can think of! Watch.”
Holding the world in front of his face, Venti blew gently on it, his breath whipping at the planet so violently that it tore off huge chunks of its mass at a time, until nothing was left of it but space dust. Then, at Venti's will, the dust swirled back together and reformed into the same world, all its inhabitants now shaken with the memories of having died twice in a single minute.
“Well, I think that's enough for now. I'd share some of my other ideas with you, but I don't want to ruin the surprise. Anyway, it's time I got going back to my world now. Oh, but don't get upset at me leaving you; you'll be coming along with me! You're all my property now, so there's no way I'm leaving you behind!”
Venti quickly located his discarded shoes on the planet's surface, then willed them to grow to the proper size for him, crushing everything around them as they grew and even destroying the planet for a third time. Before putting them on, Venti reformed the planet again and slipped it into his right shoe, then stuck his foot inside, keeping the planet under his the arch of his toes. With it there he curled his toes around it, holding it tight to reaffirm his ownership of everyone living on it, before putting on his other shoe and focusing a moment to bring himself back to the Whispering Woods.
Returning at his normal size, the bard took in the beauty of the surrounding woods and breathed in deeply, filling his lungs with the fresh forest air before letting it out with a sigh. He wiggled his toes in his shoe, feeling up the little marble-sized ball beneath them, and once he had made sure that his planet was still with him, he started out on the trip back to Mondstadt, skipping along just to make his planet bounce around the inside of his shoe and rattle all its people, already thinking of what other fun things he could do with his pretty new toy.
Two weeks had passed since Venti, the Anemo Archon, had happened upon the Earth and brought it back to his own world at the size of a marble, reducing it and its billions of inhabitants to his mere playthings for him to do with as he pleased. By now the germ-sized mortals had long since lost track of how many times the boyish god had destroyed their planet and ended their lives, only to bring them back and do it all over again, but it was definitely more than a hundred, and probably closer to a thousand by now.
It seemed their puny planet had already been reduced to dust at least once on every inch of the god's body, including in some rather embarrassing places that they'd rather not think about. Still, Venti's divine feet remained his favorite tool of torment, together being responsible for at least half of the microscopic humans' deaths. Even now, as he slept, his feet still tormented them as their planet lay cradled in the arch of Venti's toes. Half the planet's surface had been wiped out simply by coming into contact with them, while everyone who still survived was made victim to constant earthquakes that rocked the world, earthquakes caused by such minor things as an imperceptible twitch of a toe, or even by the pulse of blood through the titan's veins, not to speak anything of the cataclysmic effect that anything greater than that had on the planet. If that weren't enough, the smell of Venti's foot had long since replaced their entire atmosphere, its powerful aroma, made a hundred times stronger by their size, being the only thing anyone could smell. No wonder, then, that none of the planet's surviving inhabitants could find any sleep that night.
Most of the couple billion who yet lived huddled in their homes, trembling as their world trembled, hoping that they might be spared another death this morning. Some, however—a few thousand at most—traveled towards the place where the titanic toes touched on the planet's surface, hoping to scale the digits and escape this doomed world. They didn't think life on those toes would be much of an improvement, but at least there they might escape the endless torment the god inflicted on the Earth every minute of every day.
They moved in a hurry, knowing that the god wouldn't be long in awakening now that the crepuscular light of dawn was starting to enter his bedroom, one after another climbing onto the skin of his toe and pulling themselves higher and higher up until they no longer felt the pull of their home planet, their puny bodies instead being drawn to the surface of Venti's toe by its own gravity. Then they could stand and begin exploring its endless expanse with all the mountains and valleys of the slumbering titan's toe print. Yet they wouldn't have long to get used to their new home before a curl of Venti's toes shook their world, sending them all scrambling to try and hold on to something so they wouldn't be tossed around.
Meanwhile, on the planet they had left behind, the crust cracked and hot magma seeped to the surface for miles and miles around Venti's toes, the planet trembling fearfully under the pressure and coming so very close to breaking altogether. It seemed death was upon the microbe humans, but Venti's toes stopped just shy of ending the planet. Yet, they weren't even given enough time to be relieved before Venti's laughter rang through the world like a peal of thunder, letting them all know that their god and tormentor had awakened.
“Good morning, little mortals,” Venti's all-encompassing voice greeted his minute subjects as his toes curled against the planet once more, caressing the tiny marble with an apocalyptic touch. Screams arose all over the world as everyone understood what they were in for now, many of them begging for mercy from their god, even knowing he hadn't shown them any yet, simply because it was the only thing they could do.
Venti, meanwhile, simply reveled in the sheer terror that the mere curl of his toes had sparked in the hearts of these billions of humans, listening with his divine hearing to their panicked screams and useless begging. He didn't think he would ever get tired of hearing their pathetic voices wailing in despair.
Uncurling his toes just before the planet was destroyed, Venti gave the mortals a moment of peace before splaying his toes a tad, letting their planet roll down between two of them until it had nestled in their grip, each planet-sized toe dominating an entire hemisphere. Then he took to wiggling his toes, slowly rolling the Earth between them, each roll wearing down its surface and bringing death over huge swathes of land, until at last only a tiny fraction of the population remained alive. Then he held the planet in place, taking in the terror of the survivors, before finally pressing his toes together until the whole thing popped, instantly ending the lives of everyone who still remained down there.
Laughing softly, Venti wiggled his toes together again, enjoying the feeling of an entire planet being reduced to dust between them. That was when he noticed that the sense of terror hadn't entirely vanished from his perception and, bringing his awareness towards another part of his foot, he noticed some thousands of humans clinging fearfully to his toe. They must have left the planet before he'd woken up, he thought; no way any of them could have survived everything he'd put the planet through. It brought him great amusement to note that even in trying to escape his wrath, the only place they could run to was onto him, to live as germs on his toe, and he gave his toe a wiggle to tease them all.
By now the first rays of sunlight were shining on the white curtains, illuminating the room with their soft glow. As good a time as any to get up, Venti thought, and so he rolled over in bed and sat up, bringing his foot closer so he could personally greet the would-be escapees. Then his hands seized on his foot, under his gaze the toe where all the microbe humans were. “Well, well, what do we have here? A bunch of little germs trying to find somewhere to settle? Tell me, who exactly gave you all permission to step on my divine body?”
The humans all looked up at the god whose eyes shone down on them like the sun and moon, all quailing under his gaze. Those who could still speak tried to explain themselves, to say that they had meant no insult by it and beg for mercy. Venti let them exhaust themselves pleading before laughing at them. “Oh, I'm just messing with you! I don't mind at all! If you want to spend the rest of your puny, pathetic lives living on my toe, you're more than welcome to it. In fact, you should have told me that's what you wanted so I could have moved you over myself! Oh, and let's not leave your friends out either; I figure I'll give all of you the chance to live on me and see how you like it.”
Putting his foot back down, arranging his feet so that their soles were facing each other two inches apart, Venti willed the Earth and all the humans he had killed back into existence, the puny people reeling after yet another death at his toes. As they looked around, trying to get some sense of what was going on now, each of them saw at least one of Venti's soles in their sky, scrunching and unscrunching to taunt them.
“Welcome back, little specks!” Venti said to them all, looking on their little world with great amusement. “I hope you had a good rest tonight; today is going to be a big day for all of you! See, some of you tiny mortals thought to climb onto my toes while I slept to try living on them, and I have to say, I love their idea! So, I've decided I'm going to let you all spend the day on my feet so you can decide for yourselves whether or not you prefer it to life on that dinky little planet of yours. Now hold on tight while I transfer you over!”
The people of Earth stood in place, waiting for thee youthful god to teleport them over to his soles, but a few seconds passed without any such change in their surroundings. Instead they noticed that the giant's soles took up an ever greater portion of their sky, and they realized that they were about to come crashing into the Earth.
In just a few seconds Venti's soles touched down softly on the Earth's surface—softly as something of that size and mass could, anyways, which meant that instead of being instantly destroyed it only had a big portion of its surface razed on contact. Venti then started rolling the planet around between his soles, making it pass over every last inch of his soles until it was cracked and crumbling. Finally, pressing his soles together, he crushed the tiny world, then moved his soles apart and blew away the pile of dust that had been the planet Earth.
Throughout all this the people of Earth thought themselves about to die once more, dashed against Venti's soles, but to they surprise they all found they remained alive through all of it. Alive and unharmed, yet still able to feel pain, suffering under the incalculable pressure of Venti's feet. Then, once it was all over, they looked around to find themselves, not on the ruined surface of their planet as they had thought, but on Venti's soles. Half or were on one foot and half on the other. Looking to the sky, the other foot's sole was just about the only thing anyone could see, while out on the horizon Venti's godly face peered down on them with a mocking grin.
“So, how do you all like being on my foot? Are you all comfortable down there?” Saying this, Venti scrunched his soles, and the vast land on which the microbe humans now found themselves was violently deformed, giving rise to mountains thousands of miles tall or valleys as many miles deep, while at the same time millions and millions of humans became trapped in the folds of his skin, screaming in pain from the crushing pressure until Venti unscrunched his sole and released them. “Good!” Venti said as though he hadn't heard all their shouts of pain and terror. “Of course, it would be really dangerous for all of you if I just put you all on my feet and left it at that, so I went ahead and made it so you won't be killed by me stepping on you! That way you can be free to enjoy being at my feet all day long. Oh, and I also made it so you can't fall off, so don't worry about that. That means you can't run away either—not that any of you would think of doing something so ungrateful, isn't that right?” Again he scrunched his sole, laughing at their misery. “Anyway, I figure I'll get going now. See you all later!”
Blowing them a kiss good-bye, Venti then swung his legs down and jumped out of bed, his feet coming down on the floorboards with a great THUMP that rattled all his tiny subjects. As he stood, billions of humans groaned under his weight, the only ones spared the crushing pressure being those that had ended up under the arch of his toes, or far at the edges of his footprint. He took a brief moment to enjoy their suffering, then went about his day as normal, putting on his clothes, smiling as he pulled on his pristine white stockings and his shoes. Then, once he was all suited up, he left his room at the inn and made his way across the city of Mondstadt to his favorite tavern, the Angel's Share.
The day was still early once he got there so there weren't enough people inside for a proper performance, but that was fine by him; it meant he had plenty of time for a few drinks of his own,which was what he'd really come here for anyways. He had some money still in his pouch from yesterday, just enough for a bottle of dandelion wine, and he didn't hesitate one second before spending it all. Licking his lips as he received the bottle, Venti popped the cork and started drinking, not taking the bottle from his lips until he had downed a good half of its contents. It was every bit as great as always, and he licked his lips with a satisfied sigh to make sure he got all of it. Shame that he only had enough for this one bottle.
Venti tried to ration out the rest of the wine until some more patrons arrived, but he found it impossible to resist its delectable aroma, and in less than ten minutes he had finished off the rest of the bottle and was rolling it wistfully around the table, lamenting that he didn't have enough for even one more drink.
“I thought I'd find you here!”
Venti looked over his shoulder to see a young woman clad almost entirely in white walking up to him. Smiling amicably, she pulled up a chair and seated herself next to him, resting her head in her hand.
“Lumine! What brings you to this fine establishment so early in the morning? Come for a drink, or perhaps for a performance?”
“Actually, I came looking for you. Some powerful monsters have appeared in Mondstadt recently and I was tasked with dealing with them, but I could really use some help. I was going to bring Jean along, but she's sick right now, so now I'm looking for someone else.”
“And you thought you'd try asking me, is that right? Well, I'd be happy to help you... for just a teensy little price.”
“I thought you'd say that. Bartender! Some more wine, if you please!” Lumine called, drawing some coins from her pouch while Venti laughed joyously.
Venti drank and drank and drank, not until he was satisfied but until Lumine, seeing that he was starting to get tipsy, told him she'd only buy him more after the monsters were dealt with. Then the two of them left the city in search for the monsters' base.
It was a beautiful summer day, the sun beaming down from the clear blue sky, shining its light on all of Mondstadt, while a pleasant breeze ruffled leaves and made the grass dance. It was as pleasant a day as Venti could have wished for, yet for the humans in his shoes whom no breeze reached, it was torture. It had been bad enough being stepped on by Venti time and time again, or thrown into the air with the cataclysmic impact of his every step, but now they were also dealing with the oppressive heat and humidity as the temperature inside his shoes went higher and higher.
Soon Venti's sweat started pooling in various parts of his sole, being especially drawn to those nooks and crannies to which some had escaped so they wouldn't be caught under the god's weight. Sweat flooded their hiding places, leaving them floating in huge lakes of the stuff. Even in places where his sweat was less of an issue, a thin layer of it still covered all of Venti's foot, as much as waist-high to the microbe humans if not taller—not that any of them could stand in it, or stand at all, except whenever Venti stopped walking. Instead most people either floated on the surface or were swallowed up by his sweat, constantly drowning but unable to die from it. His sweat also filled the air, making it feel as if they were all trapped in a sauna, and also making the smell of Venti's feet ten times worse.
The sweat, the humidity, the heat, the smell—all of it overwhelmed the poor human's senses as much as being stepped on. Their puny minds were filled with the sensations given to them by Venti's godly feet, and they could no more resist it than they could resist the god's steps. It didn't help that they had been awake all day either, and though they wanted badly to sleep, the sheer intensity of the experience wouldn't let them slumber. Had they been able to speak they would no doubt have said that they'd rather be killed again than be forced to put up with all this for the rest of the day, but of course they couldn't speak. They couldn't even think. All they could do was suffer.
Venti paid the humans no mind while walking with Lumine, but once the two of them had dealt with all the monsters and sat down to rest, he decided to check up on them and was very much amused to see what condition they were in. Still, he figured he should give them a little break, and so he took off his shoes and stockings and kicked out his feet to let the wind cool them off.
As the sweat evaporated from his feet, it was as if fresh life had been breathed into the microbe humans. Slowly they came to and were able to take stock of their surroundings. They tried to stand also, but found themselves stuck, plastered to Venti's sole by his dried-up sweat. No matter how they struggled, not even the strongest among them were able to tear themselves away, and in seeing this Venti let out a laugh, teasing his tiny subjects by wiggling his toes and scrunching his soles.
“What's so funny?” Lumine asked, coming to sit by Venti.
“Oh, nothing. I guess I'm just in a good mood today.” The two of them fell silent, enjoying the breeze together until Venti grabbed one of his feet and started massaging it, his gigantic thumb kneading the pathetic humans into his soft, warm skin, freeing them from their salty prison and rolling them back and forth as he rubbed his sole.
“Are your feet tired? Here, let me help you with them, then you can help me with mine,” Lumine said, crawling over to sit in front of Venti, who gladly accepted her offer and stretched out his legs towards her. And so Lumine took one of Venti's feet in hand, holding it up near her face and peering down at the silky smooth sole, never once suspecting that down on its surface were billions and billions of humans gawking back at her. To the Lumine was nothing short of another god, yet any hopes that she would prove a more merciful one were dashed once her thumbs sank into Venti's sole, kneading the insignificant humans into it, reinforcing their status as mere germs in this world.
Once she'd finished rubbing Venti's feet it was his turn to return the favor, so he knelt in front of her and grabbed one of her feet. As he started massaging it, he got a fun idea and transferred a few million humans over to her feet, making it so that they would stick to her body from now on, to live on her for the rest of their miserable lives with Lumine being none the wiser to it.
Venti had himself some fun pressing them into and rolling them around on Lumine's soles during the foot rub, then once it was done they both headed back to Mondstadt where Lumine got him another couple bottles of wine and left him performing in the tavern. By the time he left and went back to the inn, he was super tipsy and in the mood to have some more fun with his subjects.
“Ah, what a great day!” he announced as he was taking off his shoes and stockings back in his room. “I hope you little germs had as much fun as I did. Oh, but I'm sure you must have loved it! It must have been great not spending half the day dead.” He saw on the bed, his feet resting sideways in front of him where he could peer down at his soles and the humans covering them.
In truth the human had hated it even more than having their planet destroyed over and over again. At least spending so much time dead meant they didn't have to bear through so much suffering, and during the quiet moments they could go about their day with some semblance of normalcy in their own homes. Here on Venti's foot there was none of that. Even when things were quiet they were stills tuck on the alien landscape of the titan's sole, where everything was a reminder of their own insignificance.
“Well, good news for you!” Venti continued. “I've decided that I'm going to keep you all on my feet from now on! Say good-bye to that boring old planet of yours; you'll be living on my body for the rest of your lives! Aren't you all so happy?” They weren't happy at all, but there was nothing they could do about it. They were totally at his mercy, as he reminded with a scrunch of his soles.
“Anyway, I'm tired, so I'll be going to sleep soon, but first I have a little gift for you all; some wine I saved up. Here, let me pour you a drink.” He rolled out of bed, falling drunkenly to the floor and giggling as he landed on his butt, then crawled over to his bag where he still had one half-empty bottle of wine. This he grabbed and uncorked, setting his feet down in front of himself and wiggling his toes eagerly before taking a swig. “Well, get ready because here it comes!” he laughed, slowly tipping the bottle over towards his feet. Closer and closer its opening came, until a big spurt of wine came out and splashed onto Venti's feet, flooding the tiny humans' world.
“Oops! That was a bit more than I meant to give you,” Venti laughed. “That's way too much for you all to drink. Guess I'll have to help you out so it doesn't go to waste.”
Down on his sole, the humans were still swimming in the wine that covered his foot when their world was suddenly rocked as he grabbed his foot and brought it up to his face. Looking to the sky, they saw his mouth open wide, his vast, endless pink tongue sticking out and coming ever closer to them until it touched down somewhere around the god's heel, flattening millions of them. Those nearer his toes then watched in dread as the giant's tongue swept across the landscape at millions of miles per hour, barreling over everything and everyone in its path as it slurped up the traces of wine left on Venti's sole and replaced with with great pools of his saliva. When it was finished, half the people on that foot lay on his tongue while the other half were stuck to Venti's sole under a thick layer of his spit. The same thing then happened to those on his other foot, then Venti swished the wine around his mouth for a bit before swallowing, sending a billion humans down his throat. “Ah!” he sighed afterwards. “Well, that's enough for today! Good night, germs; I'll see you all tomorrow morning.” Then he climbed into bed and made him self comfortable, briefly dwelling on the microbe humans' plight on his feet and in his mouth and stomach before closing his eyes and falling asleep, leaving them all to come to terms on their own with their new existence on his body.