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Rex Lapis, the God of Commerce, Lord of Geo, Prime of the Adepti, God of History & Wealth, the Groundbreaker, the Warrior God, currently known to his friends as Zhongli, was tired. He had fought his enemies and conquered them, protected the people of Liyue, and filled the land with mora. His flesh and blood made currency for the people to support their endeavors in their work, hopes and dreams. For thousands of years he had guided the people of Liyue as those he had known fell away from his side to death, madness, erosion and betrayal. Of the original seven, only he and his old friend Barbatos remained. Of his loyal Yaksha, only Alatus was left. Of all the adepti that had stood with him through the years, only a handful still walked in the world. His lovers were dead or imprisoned in cages of his own making, and he had never felt more alone.
Zhongli had longed for retirement for many years, but there had always been some sort of crisis which pulled him back into the mantle of Rex Lapis. Whether it was war, famine, flood, plague, or another god gone mad, the people needed him. Time and again he had pulled humanity back from the brink, offering his support so that his people might prosper. Liyue had grown strong under his leadership. It had been several hundred years since the last calamity, and Zhongli hoped that perhaps this time he could actually retire.
He had been working undercover at the Wangshu Funeral Parlor for some time now, testing out life in the mortal world. Living among his people gave him a different insight into how they prospered, and he both appreciated the hum of life around him as well as found it a bit intimidating. Humans seemed to always be in a rush, and he often found himself taking his time to appreciate things that others had long forgotten. Still, he enjoyed his work at the parlor, putting spirits to rest and giving those who yet lived comfort in difficult times. Often those who gathered for funerals would enjoy the stories he could tell them and seemed to find comfort in his presence. It was not the way he normally supported his people but he enjoyed it all the same.
Another bright point in his life was Childe. Originally, their relationship had been nothing more than a ruse to keep abreast of the Fatui’s movements. Childe seemed to find him charming, and genuinely interested in listening to what he had to say. Zhongli was not so naive as to believe that what Childe let him see was his true self with no masks, but he did seem to smile more readily and have more happiness in his eyes than during his interactions with others. Originally Zhongli had been expecting to need a stronger mask of his own, but apparently his persona of helpless man down on his luck was enough to keep Childe from realizing who exactly he ate lunch with every day.
He had been keeping an eye on the Fatui since they landed on his shores, knowing the Tsarita’s agents had their own agenda in Liyue regardless of the pretense of diplomatic endeavors. The Tsarita had no love for her own people, and he could certainly not trust her with the people of Liyue. Yet war was the last thing he desired, so he watched, and planned, and determined that there was something that the Fatui could do for him after all.
Through his various dinners and walks along the seaside with Childe, as well as some judicious listening at doors and windows while disguised as a fox or hawk, Zhongli learned of Childe’s mission to obtain his gnosis for the Tsarita by any means. Perhaps a human would have taken offense at this, for someone who was becoming a dear friend to turn out to be an assassin. For Zhongli, it was simply the way things were. Childe was loyal to his god, and his god wanted Zhongli’s gnosis, so Childe was determined to acquire it. His loyalty to his god was admirable, even if Zhongli personally doubted that the Tsarita valued Childe in return. Who could say what Childe would choose if he learned the truth and was forced to choose between his friendship (one of the only ones he seemed to have cultivated after years in Liyue) and his loyalty?
Zhongli did not intend to present Childe with this choice. It would be unfair to ask this of him, to put him in between the wills of two gods. Instead he contacted the Tsarita on his own. He offered her a contract - his gnosis, in return for her assistance in testing the people of Liyue. He took great care in the writing of the contract, because while he wanted to test his people he did not want them to come to great harm. The Tsarita in turn took the contract very seriously, and negotiations took nearly six months before they were both pleased with the results. The end result of the nearly three hundred page document was rather simple in the end - if the people of Liyue successfully defended themselves from Childe’s schemes, Zhongli would hand over his gnosis. If he had to step in, the Tsarita would instead free Childe from her service and give him to Zhongli instead.
Perhaps he should have considered how exactly Childe would feel, to have succeeded in bringing Liyue to her knees and be rewarded by his goddess by being given away. Perhaps he should have thought about how his dear friend would see him once he knew Zhongli was yet another god who had manipulated and used him for their own ends. And yet Zhongli did not trouble himself with these thoughts. Liyue would show her strength, and repel the Fatui, and he would descend to live the rest of his days among the mortals, free of his divine burden.
Unfortunately for everyone involved, this was not what happened.
His people fought valiantly against Osial, combining their strength with the Adepti and that of the mysterious Traveller. Ningguang even sacrificed her Jade Chamber, the prized monument of human ingenuity, to seal him back to the watery depths.
It was not enough.
Zhongli felt his future plans die around him as Osial rose once more, full of wrath and madness borne of pain. He summoned his spear, his robes materializing over him as he stepped into the mantle of the Lord of Geo once more. All of Liyue watched as their god ascended to the heavens and threw down his spear, rock raining from the sky to pin Osial back into his prison. The people still needed him, and so he would be Rex Lapis once more, to guide and protect them until time eventually eroded all that made him who he was, and he joined his lovers in madness.
Thus did the mantle of Zhongli pass, and be absorbed into the consciousness of the god Rex Lapis, Lord of Geo. He would endure, as he had always endured, until he was ground back into the dust from which he was born. This was his contract with the people of Liyue, and he would honor it.