Chapter Text
Oh Demiurge, hear our cries,
Our land was abandoned by the gods,
And cursed to die a painful death,
But in the darkness your light shines through,
And your shades can not yet be felt in the air,
So there is hope.
Oh Demiurge, hear our cries,
Your divine grace will bless our land once more,
And we shall have peace once more.
For as long as you do not send down your accursed shades,
We have hope.
A warrior kneeled before a throne which was flanked by two large and burning pyres, the only lights in the room. The warrior was wearing a turquoise outfit adorned with vibrant feathers and he was wearing an eagle headdress with red and yellow feathers extending off it. He slowly looked up to the figure sitting on the towering throne, whose face was shrouded in darkness.
“Great Ahau, we have been receiving reports from the Eastern Port of outsiders arriving onto our shores. Their location is unknown, but we believe them to be near Ipep Mi ō .”
The queen flinched back, but then gave her response.
“More outsiders? The Captain said his accomplices would not be joining him. I want an Eagle Regiment deployed immediately, capture them and bring them to the capital. Find out where they are from.”
“It shall be done.”
Childe was leaning back on a large tree in the depths of the lush Natlan rainforests. He was wearing a topee and had a small bag on his shoulders. The forest was briefly covered in darkness due to a dragon flying overhead.
“You know, when you promised an adventure, I imagined it to be, what's the word, ‘fun?’ Yes, that was it.”
Il Capitano, the first of the Fatui Harbingers, was cutting through the vines and greenery to clear a path with a large claymore which he held in one hand. A slime pyro slime bounced by, and he stepped on it, causing it to combust into ash.
“Do not talk as if you know patience, child. I have been living in this land for months waiting for you.” He spoke deeply and was very authoritative.
“Eh, it couldn’t have been that bad. Natlan has some pretty good food.”
Capitano stopped cutting and looked back at Childe.
“I do have great respect for Natlan’s culture. It’s a shame they continue with all of their archaic traditions. Stains their great nation. And their Ahau is a fool, a child with no sense. Also, it's burning here.” Capitano continued cutting through the forest.
“Well maybe if you took off that ridiculous helmet it wouldn’t be so hot.”
“That’s easy for you to say.”
Childe created a small amount of water on his hand and threw it on his face.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?”
Capitano looked upwards at the great volcano in the distance.
“We are approaching our destination. Open the prophecy.”
Childe took a small scroll from out of his pocket and opened it. It released a large flash of teal light, causing Childe to fall back. He threw it on the ground. Slowly, he reached for it and closed it.
“Just because I was not looking does not mean I did not see that.”
“What?”
“Take your failure in stride instead of trying to hide it.”
Childe scoffed. “It would be much easier for all of us if you stopped speaking in riddles, old man.” He tossed the scroll over to Capitano.
“If any other harbinger heard you speak like that, you would be in the ground. But, this is not a time for discord. Her majesty has stated that her rebellion will be coming soon.”
“What! But comrade, her majesty-”
Capitano chuckled. “You shall know in due time, child.”
Suddenly, a low bellow was heard and a great flame was seen in the distance, which started quickly spreading through the jungle.
“Quite odd.” Capitano saw the fire in the distance and shrugged.
Childe was squinting to observe the fire. “That doesn’t seem natural. Seems like a monster produced it.”
“Well, let us see.” Capitano put his palm forward and a great spiral blast of fire emerged from it, tearing through the forest. Birds began to fly into the sky in fear and the screams of the native animals could be heard for miles. This created a direct path towards the fire. A creature holding an axe could be seen.
“Oh, it is simply one of those fiends. I shall dispose of it quickly. Here, I’ll let you get some hits in too.” The creature ran at Capitano incredibly quickly and swung at him with a red-hot axe, sending him flying towards a tree, but he caught himself. The creature was massive, and directly after hitting Capitano it swung its hideous face and great horns into the air, roaring loudly.
“Mitachurl.” Childe quietly said to himself. He summoned a long spear made of water and hit it against the ground. The Mitachurl roared into the air and took a swing at Childe, but he nimbly jumped out of the way and lunged at the creature in the air, stabbing it in the shoulder. Capitano rushed at the Mitachurl, but it hit him to the side. The Mitachurl then ripped the spear out of its back and threw it at Childe, but it missed and hit the ground, exploding into water which flew in all directions, hitting the Mitachurl and causing it to rile in pain. Capitano then rushed the creature again and attempted to slash it down its stomach, but it blocked it with its axe. A barrage of water arrows came from the back straight into the Mitachurl’s open wound, and golden blood started dripping onto its mane. Childe jumped onto its neck and held it in a choke hold, and it started flailing in all directions to get Childe off. Capitano grabbed the creature by the leg using his free hand and lobbed it to the ground. When it tried to get up, Capitano held his claymore with both hands and stabbed it in its back. He pulled his sword out of the creature’s body and put it back into his sheath and Childe got off the creature. The Mitachurl started glowing dark red. Quickly, Childe threw a small ball of water at Capitano and it circled around him, forming a bubble shield around him. The Mitachurl transformed into a small ball of fire, which suddenly expanded and engulfed the forest in a bright light. The bubble shields around Capitano and Childe popped, but they were left unharmed in the explosion.
The jungle was left charred and desolate, with the grass left on fire.
Childe looked down at the creature’s axe. “Well,” he said quietly, “That was an adventure!”
“That was a good warm up. I let you get some good strikes in there, it would have been rude of me to not let you fight.” Capitano picked up the axe and observed it. So, the agents of the abyss roam this land as well. I suppose that makes sense. But fascinating nonetheless.” He threw the axe to the side.
“We must make haste, but first let us rest here.”
Childe looked around at the burning grass and trees.
“Are you sure you want to rest here?”
A ship was floating along the great oceans. Venti and Zhongli were standing on the side and looking at the waves and the sunrise, which illuminated the ship in shades of yellow and green. Venti took out a small flask, but Zhongli snatched it from his hands and hurled it into the oceans.
“Hey!” Venti squealed. “What was that for!?”
Zhongli did not look at Venti. “That was your twenty-fifth drink.”
“So?”
“Your twenty-fifth drink in the last 30 minutes.”
“A new record, I might say.” Venti stood up proudly.
“I could have sworn that Paimon was supposed to stop you from over-drinking.”
“Oh, I dealt with that issue.”
“You dealt with the issue? What exactly does that mean?”
Meanwhile, in the lower quarters of the ship, a strange rattling was coming from the inside of a metal box. A high-pitched voice could be heard coming from it.
“Hello! Can anyone hear Paimon!? Help!? I think Paimon’s about to pass out…”
Lumine sat on a chair nearby and was reading a book. Meanwhile, Zhongli and Venti were still talking.
“Well, Venti, you need to start being more responsible.”
“Don’t talk to me about responsibility! How much was this ship?”
“2,000,000 Mora.”
“And how much do you have?”
“... Unimportant.”
“Exactly.”
Venti took out another flask and was about to sip from it, but Zhongli managed to grab it from him again and threw it even farther than the first one.
“I will blow this ship off course!”
“Sure you will.” Zhongli patted Venti and walked away. Venti was about to create a gust of wind to knock Zhongli off the ship, but there was a strange noise coming from the ocean. Venti looked down and saw a tail flap out of the ocean.
“Ooh, a mermaid!”
A blubberbeast peeked out of the ocean, and Venti squinted at it.
“That is an odd looking mermaid.” Venti then took out his lyre and started performing a serenade.
In the lower quarters of the ship, a door slammed open, and Bennett jumped out.
“Guten Morgen, everyone!” He adjusted his goggles and coat. “What’s in that box over there?”
The beating from inside the box suddenly came to a halt. Lumine did not look up from her book.
“Nothing alive hopefully.” She said coolly.
“Um… okay! Well, I’m excited for another day of adventure!”
“We’ve been sailing on this ocean for the past 3 weeks.”
“Well I’m glad I’m sailing with my pals!”
“You're here because the Adventurer’s Guild promised us a 25% discount on the boat if we took you along.”
“Well, I’m glad to be here anyways!”
“I’m not. We’ve gotten shipwrecked five times.”
“Well I’m sure that those were coincidences.”
Bennett sighed and climbed up to the deck. Suddenly, Paimon burst out of the metal box, gasping for air. Lumine looked up at her.
“Urgh, I thought you died. I was finally having a good day.”
Bennett looked in the distance and saw a large volcano as well as what looked like a small village.
“Oh, look at that. Land. Wait, land!”
Venti flew over. “Did someone say land!?”
“Yes, look over there! It’s a shame we’re going away from it.”
Venti blew in that direction and the winds suddenly changed direction and increased in intensity, causing the ship to be blown towards the land.
They landed at a small fishing village. A woman was carrying a net with a large bunch of groupers in it, A man was sitting on the dock and looking at the seaweed, a group of kids were chasing a small, winged dragon through the beach, and most noticeably a regiment of soldiers were firing barrages of flaming arrows at the ship. Bennett and Zhongli ducked down, and Venti put his hands out and sent a blast of wind at the arrows coming towards him, causing some of them to fly back at the soldiers. Screams started to come from the inhabitants of the village and the ship was now set ablaze.
Zhongli crawled to the side of the ship facing the village and peeked over, where he saw the warriors preparing to board the ship using makeshift ladders.
“Ok, let us handle this reasonably.” Zhongli stood up and put his hands up.
“Good morning gentlemen! We mean no harm!” Suddenly, Lumine appeared from seemingly out of nowhere and ran towards the cannons, mounting one of them and aiming it right at the warriors.
“I forgot the match!” She yelled. Lumine grabbed Bennett by the arm and swiftly dragged him over to the other side. A flaming arrow grazed Bennet’s head.
“Woah!” Bennett yelled. Lumine took his hand and put the fuse into his hands. “Light it!”
Bennet looked at her in confusion. “What?”
“Whatever, I’ll do it myself.” Lumine slapped Bennett across the face, causing him to release a small spark from his right hand, lighting the fuse. A cannon ball exploded from the cannon, hitting a small hut and killing at least four warriors and one civilian. By this point, the footsoldiers had mounted the ship and were pointing spears at all of them. Zhongli and Venti already had their hands up. Paimon flew up from the lower levels.
“What happened up here?” In the distance, a large flame appeared in the jungles. All the soldiers faced to look at it, and while they were distracted, Lumine took out her sword and stabbed one of the taller soldiers in the abdomen, the sword going directly through his armor and his body. The soldier fell to the ground and his blood started to seep through the wood and Lumine started stomping on his head. Lumine was tackled to the ground by two surrounding soldiers.
“Well,” Zhongli sighed, “That could have gone much better.” Lumine, Zhongli, Bennett, and Venti were tied up against the wall inside a shack. Paimon was put in a cage on a table originally meant for catching weasels.
“Well, since we’re all here together, I’ll sing a song!”
“Please don’t.” Lumine was trying to untie the knot.
“Aw, come on, it won’t be long.”
“No. Your songs are horrible.”
“Now that’s dead wrong. I’ll prove it to you, too. ♫OoOh!♫” Venti’s voice cracked and caused the windows to shatter. By the first note of the song, a military officer kicked down the door to the shack. He was wearing jade-plated armor, had darker skin, and was an imposing figure.
“What’s going on in here!?” He took out his sword and pointed it at Venti.
“Oh, I’m just singing.”
“Singing? I’m not sure where you people are from, but in my land that would not be considered singing.” He put his sword back into his scabbard. He then took a deep breath and continued speaking.
“I don’t have time for this. The Ahau’s emissary
told us to bring you people to the capital. And plus, there’s that stupid forest fire I have to deal with. ”
Lumine, who had untied herself, stood up. “I know what caused the fire.”
Paimon whispered from inside the cage, “You do?”
“No.” Lumine whispered back.
“What!” Paimon yelled in hushed tones. “Lumine, it is not good to lie.” Paimon shook her head.
“Shut up.” Lumine went back to speaking in her normal tone. “Yes, that fire. It’s pretty obvious what caused it.”
“Oh is it now?” The officer looked skeptical.
“Yes, but you will have to take us over there to investigate. I need to confirm.”
The officer looked around to make sure nobody could see or hear him. “Fine. But do not let the Ahau know.”
“Yes, I will make sure not to let this ‘Ajaw’ know.”
The officer bent down to untie Zhongli.
“My name is General Toci, the Tlatoani of Ipep Mi ō.”
The officer took them in a llama-drawn carriage through the burnt jungle. Everybody except Bennett. As soon as he was untied and walked out of the shack, he slipped on a banana peel and broke both his legs. He then suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. Paimon was flying alongside the carriage. Strangely enough, there was a direct path to the Great Volcano, as if somebody had already been through this area and cut through the vines.
After a few minutes of silence, the General looked back at them.
“This…creature. What is it?” He gestured towards Paimon.
“Oh, I’m Paimon, the companion and best friend of-”
Lumine interrupted her. “Extra food.”
“What!” Paimon exclaimed. “You shouldn’t make such horrible jokes!”
“Who said I was joking?”
Paimon looked distressed, and then flew to the other side of the carriage.
The moon was now fully up in the sky and Venti had fallen asleep on Zhongli’s shoulder. Zhongli pushed him to the side. The General’s hand was on fire and he was holding his hand in the air as a source of light. Lumine was still refusing to tell the General what caused the fire, and eventually the General gave up and decided to try to solve the mystery himself, but his attempts were futile. By midnight, the General and Lumine were the only ones still awake. The General kept looking ahead, but spoke to Lumine.
“So,” he started, “What are you doing in Natlan?”
“Just visiting. Fontaine was starting to bore me, too much water. I would give it a 7.8/10. Of course, I was not expecting to have to cross over an ocean in order to get here. And, I still have to go back to Fontaine anyways. I think someone is filing charges against me. Again. I’ve already been to prison, and it sucked.”
“No, I know that is not the real reason. Why did you come here?”
Lumine did not respond, and so the General asked a different question.
“So, where are you from originally?” Lumine did not respond again. The silence was deafening, but it would be interrupted by rustling in the bushes. The General stopped the carriage and got down. He slowly approached the bush, at which point Capitano jumped out and grabbed the General, holding a flaming knife against his neck. The General attempted to fight back, but Capitano held his free hand over the General’s mouth and kept him down. The disturbance woke up the others.
Venti rubbed his eyes. “What’s happening here?”
Capitano threw the General to the ground. “Wait, you look familiar. Are you not the Archon of Monstadt?”
“The one and only!”
Lumine took out her sword and pointed it at Capitano. “Who are you?” She asked.
The General then stood up and pulled out his sword. “What is happening here?” He asked.
Childe walked out from the back holding a dagger made from water. “Calm down everyone, nobody needs to get hurt.”
Lumine looked back at him with confusion. “Weren’t you in jail?”
“No jail can hold me!”
Capitano scoffed. “He was bailed out. A few bribes and they let him free.”
“Ok fine, I did need minor assistance to escape that god-forsaken place. Fontaine has a really messed up justice system. Although, it was amusing to see what the Iudex did to those guards who accepted the bribes after they tried to flee the nation.”
“It was also amusing to see what the Fourth Harbinger almost did to you after she discovered you escaped without telling her.” Capitano said.
“No, that was not ‘amusing.’ And you!” He pointed at Lumine. “Weren’t you meant to protect this?” He pulled out his Hydro Vision. “When I left the fortress I found it at the bottom of a fountain.”
“Oh yeah, that. I ran out of change and needed to make a wish.”
“Well, I’m not sure what was in that fountain, but somehow I feel stronger than ever! Something about Fontaine’s waters just feels…cleansing. Anyways, that’s besides the point.”
“Then get to the point! Nobody has answered me about what is going on!” The General was starting to get tired, both because he hadn’t slept and because of how stupid the outsiders were.
Zhongli turned around to look at Childe. “Good morn-I mean night Childe. How’s your day been so far? Also, congratulations on winning that fight. You really put up a challenge!”
Childe took out some gold coins from his pocket and tossed it towards Zhongli. “I already know what you need, just take it.”
Zhongli counted the coins then looked back up. “I’m going to need a bit more than 5 Mora.”
“How much?”
“Around 2,000,000. Well, there was that dinner at Dawn Winery. Around 2,001,200.”
“Two million!? Well, I do know a guy at the bank. Maybe he can- wait no! You still owe me for that dinner four weeks ago!”
“Well in that contract in Article 18 Clause 4 it stated all debts would be disregarded assuming the lender died, was captured, or was arrested in a foreign land.”
The General attempted to punch Capitano, but Capitano grabbed his head and blocked him.
Capitano looked down at the General. “It is not honorable to attack a man when he least expects it, General. I now understand why the Ahau speaks so poorly of you.”
The General looked up at Capitano. “You have spoken to the Ahau? Wait, are you the Captain?”
Capitano ignored his question. “I am Il Capitano, first harbinger of the Fatui. You are now all prisoners of the Fatui. If you follow our instructions, you may be spared.” Venti and Paimon had already fallen asleep again. Zhongli attempted to speak up, but Childe whispered something into his ear and Zhongli’s face became incredibly stern. “Lumine, let us listen to them.”
Lumine sat quietly for a second, until she finally said, “Fine. As long as we can make this quick.”
The ride towards the volcano was silent. The General tried to steer the llamas back, but they refused to listen. An hour later, they reached the Great Volcano. A spiral pathway to walk up it had been carved into the mountain. Capitano looked up to the peak of the volcano.
“The ancients of Natlan made incredible architecture. A fascinating civilization.”
Childe sighed. “We get it, you love Natlan.” He said tiredly. “Can we just get on with this. We’ve been walking for an eternity.”
“We are almost done, child. Hand me the bag, you watch over the prisoners.”
“No! We already came so far, I’m not missing out on this.” Capitano grabbed the bag from off Childe’s back and started scaling the volcano. After a few minutes of waiting, Lumine seemed to have had an electric lamp go off in her head. She looked at Childe.
“So this is the Great Volcano of Natlan? The one spoken about in myths?”
“Um, I believe so.”
Lumine punched Childe and jumped out of the carriage, kicking him in the process. She started running up the volcano.
Lumine managed to get to the top, gasping for breath at the top. The oxygen levels were starting to decrease and the heat from the active volcano was starting to get to her. Childe followed shortly behind. Capitano, who was getting some objects out of the bag on the other side of the volcano, looked over at them.
“I thought I told you to stay behind! No matter, if you’re here, at least help me with this. Let us see if the pharmacist was correct.” He tossed over an ornate urn, and Childe managed to catch it, almost dropping it. Capitano took out the scroll and fully opened it, where it was now glowing a blinding scarlet-red. Lumine attempted to jump into the volcano, but Childe grabbed her by the cape. Capitano began reading from the scroll.
“E uey voide, tlakaki in inotsaka in yolitika! Great Abyss! Hear my call!” The magma of the volcano started bubbling and the sky turned dark blue.
“Gather, children of the Abyss, we come to you from the land of the living! The ancient spirits may stir in their dormant graves, and yet their whispers are hidden in the dark! The shroud between life and death shall be cut, and the dead shall be resummoned from the land beyond!”
Capitano closed the scroll and yelled at Childe, “Throw the ashes in!”
Childe opened the urn and was about to empty it, but then he held it back. “Do I dump it or just sprinkle the ashes!?”
“What!?”
“How do I empty the urn!?”
“Throw it in!”
“You should have just said that! It took me a long time to sweep up all of these ashes, I’m not messing it up!” Childe dropped the urn into the volcano and grabbed Lumine to stop her from jumping in again. Capitano took out a sphere of obsidian and threw it into the volcano, but instead of being devoured by the lava it simply floated above the volcano. The obsidian started to melt into a liquid and it started to take the shape of a woman. The General made it up the volcano by this time and gasped.
“No!” The General reached for his sword, but Childe hit him over the head with his bow and knocked the General to the ground.
“Tell your Ahau that she has one more chance to give up her gnosis! If not, I will bring ruin to this land!” Capitano yelled at the General. “This is merely our first step for our plans in Natlan!”
The silhouette turned into a shade of crimson, and it extended its arms. Two red butterfly wings made of fire formed on the silhouette’s back. Venti flew up to the top of the volcano.
“Can everyone quiet down!? I’m trying to get some rest!” He looked and saw the floating silhouette. “Hey, I recognize that person!” Childe stared in awe at the figure, and Capitano continued his speech.
“Rise, lost soul, return to the land of man! Let go of your chains and become one with the living once more! Rise!”
Interlude - A Killing on Watatsumi and an Ambush on Eternity (Inazuma)
It was a cold night on Watatsumi island. The moon was covered by thick clouds, and a fog inundated the landscape. General Gorou, who had just gotten back from his mountain-climbing trip in Liyue, of the Watatsumi Army was dusting some vases, when he heard the shatter of windows upstairs. His ears perked up.
“An intruder! I shall deal with this swiftly.” He took his bow and quill off his stand and nocked an arrow to the bowstring. Stone crystals accumulated on the arrow head. He slowly walked up the stairs, and as he walked tried to think of something cool to say when he caught the thief. He saw a shadowy figure at the top, and he slowly pointed his arrow at the figure.
“Freeze! Freeze? Is that the best I can do? Wait, how about this. It’s time for paw-nishment! That’s even worse.” The figure turned around and revealed its Oni mask, startling Gorou and causing him to fall down. He shot his arrow on accident and it hit the intruder’s leg, causing him to stagger back. The intruder took out a Shashka and lunged at Gorou, but Gorou jumped back. Gorou took out an arrow and tried to stab the intruder’s back, but the intruder rolled out of the way. Gorou jumped onto the intruder and tried to wrestle the Shaska out of his hands, but the intruder pushed him off. The intruder got up and threw a small ball of ice at Gorou, which froze him in place, leaving him paralyzed.
That night, loud howls could be heard from Gorou’s house. In the night, a merchant from Yashiori was visiting Watatsumi, where he saw a man wearing an odd mask limp through the streets. As he was walking, he saw that the man dropped a small blood-stained card onto the ground. The card was a bright purple and had three golden circles on it.
The Watatsumi Army found Gorou dead the next morning. Blood was splattered all over the floor, and they found multiple stab wounds in his chest.
In Sangonomiya Shrine, a meeting was occuring between the highest ranked members of the Watatsumi Army. They were all sitting around a rectangular table, and Divine Priestess Kokomi was leading the meeting. She had tears running down her face. Swordfish I, Ueno, slid a small paper card across the table to Kokomi. It was purple and had three golden circles on it. The insignia of the Kujou Clan, the clan which acts as the Shogun’s loyal military through the Tenryou Commission.
“Last night, a man wearing a mask was seen walking through the streets with an injury on his leg. Supposedly, he had this card on him.”
Kokomi wiped away her tears. “I-I still don’t understand? Why Gorou? What did he do?”
Officer Kaida Ryouma stood up. “Divine Priestess, have you seen Gorou’s comments about the Shogun? I’m surprised the people at Yae published it.”
“I have not seen his comments. What di-did he say?” The Priestess was still trying to stop herself from sobbing.
“Please excuse me, Divine Priestess, but I do not feel comfortable saying it in a holy site. He was very…courageous to have used the words he used.”
“He-he was courageous.” She smiled slightly.
Ookubo Daisuke, the recently promoted high officer of the army, stood up as well. “Divine Priestess, to put it simply this is an act of war. The Shogun assassinated our top general. I highly doubt it was for such a petty reason like newspaper comments. She is clearly preparing for a war against us! We must strike first!”
Officer Ryouma looked at Daisuke in shock. “Excuse me!? We cannot be so hasty! We do not know if the culprit was affiliated with the Shogun at all, they may have just supported them. We must do more research and then come to a conclusion. I suggest a full investigation-”
The Divine Priestess stopped him. “Please stop! Our greatest general, a good friend of all of us, was killed and here we are just talking about the issue. We must act soon. Officer Ryouma, try to be reasonable. This was clearly an attack by the Kujou Clan, and thus we must retaliate.” Kokomi turned around and looked out of the window at the soil of Watatsumi, which was turning more white by the day. The Watatsumi Mitama Omatsuri had not been carried out in months. She sniffled again.
“In the name of the Great Serpent, the Ancestors of Enkanoymia, I hereby declare the separation of Watatsumi from the Inazuma Shogunate.” She turned her head back. “Officer Daisuke, you will be appointed Interim General in the absence of General Gorou. Prepare for war. This meeting is dismissed.”
The members of the Watatsumi stood up, bowed, and left the shrine. As Interim General Daisuke prepared to leave, he adjusted his necklace. The necklace had a glowing light blue orb on it, and on the orb was a cross-shaped symbol which had four circles on it. He started coughing heavily, and he slightly tapped the necklace, causing the orb to stop glowing and resulting in the General becoming suddenly better. He limped out of the room.
Simultaneously, in the great palace of Tenshukaku, a festival was occurring. Today was the anniversary of the day the great Shogun, the eternal peace keeper, defeated the serpent Orobashi. To celebrate, the Shogun decreed that the common people would be free to visit the imperial palace and bask in her glory. For the first time in years, security was relaxed at the palace. But, on the inside of the palace, a meeting was taking place. A guard was moving some barrels, and another guard walked inside.
“Bei’ar, is that you?” The guard adjusting the barrels did not respond.
“Oh, right, secret phrase.” The other guard took a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it. “The sapphire sun shall set soon. Kind of a tongue twister.” The guard he was talking to looked back.
“Yes, I am Bei’ar. Are you Hideaki?”
“Yes, that’s me. I just needed to ask you something.”
“Ask away, but make it fast. These Mondstadt bombs are such low quality, they’re taking forever to set up! It’s as if a child made them. But, it’s the Marionette’s orders.”
“I just don’t understand why! Why do these innocents have to die!”
“Hideaki, we are living at a precipice in our history. Where are you from?”
“Kannazuka, sir.”
“Kannazuka! I am too. We know more than anyone what the Shogun has done. She has allowed our island to be in a state of eternal war without ever trying to mediate peace, she forced the Mikage Furnace to shut down, she has cut our island off from vital resources, the list goes on! Her ineffective rule shall finally come to an end!”
“You didn’t answer my question! Why do these innocents need to die!”
“Sometimes, sacrifices have to be taken for the betterment of the world.” Bei’ar looked outside.
“It is almost noon. The others should already be in position. Hideaki, are you ready?”
Hideaki looked outside as well, and then took a deep breath. “Yes, I am ready.” Bei’ar closed his eyes and said one last sentence. “Glory to her majesty, the Tsaritsa.” He then lit the fuse.
The festival was starting to get more crowded. Children were playing the various games in the stalls or eating the sweets chosen specifically by the Shogun for the festival. Most exciting of all, however, was that the Shogun would be making a special appearance to perform an ancient ritual. Both priests and commoners alike had come to witness it.
Inside the Tenshukaku, Raiden Shogun was eating her fifth batch of sweets. The Shogun stated out loud, “I do not understand why you wish for me to consume this many sweets. They have many detrimental effects, such as cavities, cancer, acne-”
Ei, currently inside the Shogun’s head, stopped her. “I do not understand why you do not like them. Eternity takes quite some time to attain, might as well have some fun along the way. Shogun, remember your Directives.”
The Shogun stopped for a second, then responded, “I understand.” The Shogun went back to eating, until she was interrupted by one of her attendants.
“Great Shogun, the ceremony is about to commence.” The Shogun stood up and went outside. She stepped out, resulting in a flurry of cheers from the crowd. Just as she was about to make a speech, there was a flash of light, and the cheers quickly turned to screams.
