They say the mask makes the man.
I always thought that was a metaphor—until I spent the next hour wandering the upper levels of the Citadel, still wearing this damn thing, and realized something chilling.
No one questions the mask. No one questions me.
Guards straighten when I pass. Lower-ranking Fatui agents bow without looking up. Even the walls seem to recoil in my presence. All because of this name—Capitano. This armor. This silence.
But underneath?
I'm still just some guy. A gamer. A nobody who got unlucky—or lucky, depending on how you look at it—and woke up in the skin of Teyvat's biggest enigma.
I find a room that looks like it belongs to me. It's massive, minimalist, cold. Not a single personal item in sight. Not even a book. The bed doesn't look slept in.
Did the real Capitano ever sleep?
I collapse onto a chair near the window. The view stretches out over Snezhnaya—snow-covered rooftops, black spires, wind howling like it's mourning something.
I finally let myself think:
What the hell happened to me?
I died. That much I remember. Then… the voice. The void. And now this.
Is this reincarnation? Possession? Did Capitano die and I got… recycled into his body? Or is he still in here, buried under the surface, waiting to take it back?
The thought sends a chill through me.
Then—something shifts.
A low hum pulses in my chest. A pressure. Like something ancient and coiled has stirred just beneath my ribs.
I grip the arm of the chair. My vision blurs for half a second—then sharpens, more intense than ever. I can feel things. Hear things. The snow falling miles away. The heartbeat of a guard down the hall. The weight of steel in the floor.
I stand. My boots thud like thunder.
What is this?
I raise my hand instinctively—and shadows ripple around my palm. Not like elemental power. Something older. Denser. Like gravity and darkness fused.
I clench my fist—and the energy vanishes.
"Control it," I whisper. My voice rumbles through the mask like an oath.
Then I hear it.
A whisper—not mine. Not human.
"You are not him. But you are close."
I freeze.
"Who's there?" I demand. Stillness answers.
No one in the room. Nothing in the halls. But I felt it—like something spoke directly into my mind.
I walk to the mirror. Stare at the silver mask.
Capitano stares back. Still, quiet, unreadable.
But now… I swear I see something in the reflection. A flicker. A crack of red behind the eyes. A shape inside the armor. Watching.
I don't know if I'm becoming Capitano.
Or if he's still here, waiting for the moment I let my guard down.
Either way—
This isn't just a game anymore.