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At what point does war cease?
Though already thousands of years past is a war among gods, many continue in the heads of those that live on. How many wars can a single person fight? Which is the most difficult?
Perhaps it is the boy born from stars. Chosen second for the throne, yet chosen first to save a crumbling continent from its godship and the identical star-born princess. But while a celestial prince he remains, though trapped in this world, his deceived other half is a princess of stars no longer.
Or maybe it's the alcohol-infused archon. An old soul, small yet strong enough to carry the weight of war and a nation on his shoulders. The days of which he spends contemplating his immortality are in too great of numbers to count. This is for the god of freedom is pinned by his own dreaded past. The last of the original seven. For his old friends- all but one have left him on his own, his sources of comfort are few and far in between. The God shall not show himself to his people, nor his people his tears, for those tears that fall carry thousands of years of pain that would only hurt those it spread to. So instead he sits upon a statue of himself- yet only truly has in mind the boy he has chosen to represent. The one who truly deserved to become lord Barbatos. How sad yet inevitable an end…
Is the most difficult a ruthless god with more blood on his hands than could make up the bodies of his existing people? Who ended countless lives of gods who wished to do as he, and survive only to be struck in the heart by a spear of rock? A god now a man who fails to understand his own people well, but we'll enough that he has left them to their devices with little concerns other than his own looming mistakes.
Perhaps it is karma that has turned thine heart to ice. A precious, fragile relic locked behind the souls of those killed by his hands. A darkness that swallows thy whole with only his head above the water. Death welcomes thee with open arms as it has done the rest. Yet he remains. The suffering may not leave but neither will he.
Is it possibly the pair of peculiar young men opposites? Red to blue, fire to ice, passion to desire. Though hatred hangs in the tension, it remains not in their hearts, but a battle in their minds that can not break a bond regardless of what kind.
How hard of a war is the woman left to run a nation? The ancient alchemist with secrets locked behind curiosity? The sweet science of one girl, the sweet voice of the other, uniting those who hear? Or the sister not-so-sisterly with a frozen heart, with only her blood warm.
Perhaps not.
Maybe it is the boy raised away from those deemed normal and instead enjoys the solitary life that hunting and howls give him.
The battle of an excited boy, plagued by misfortune but not even the god of vortex can distinguish the sun of his smile despite all that he carries on his young shoulders?
Or is it the peculiar pair, one of superstition, monotony with a vision of ice, yet a gentleness glows in his eyes like the sun reflecting off the snow atop Dragonspine and a nearly divine ability that chases the darkness into corners. The other light and elegant, his only interest in literature and the joy his friend's confusion brings him. One with concentration for control, the other a dying clan held up on his back. With a smile of course.
Is the most tragic war be one fought by a child who lives only by the mercy of one who felt guilty at a misfortune she can not recall?
Could the almost brutal war be fought by a man fighting for and against himself? A thrill of adrenaline gone too far? A wish to be the same while being too different, to deceive for reasons both malicious to spread the agenda of a queen and precious to spare the mind of a child.
Is the hardest battle from the star-born girl deceived by abyss-born malice to take a throne not truly hers under the belief of good results?
Maybe the silent, painless battle of a pixie, whose origins not even the divine nor herself can explain.
"I don't know. No one does.
War doesn't end, does it? A fine wish it would be for it all to cease…"
"Oh come on, don't get down like that! Paimon thinks it'll get better! We're on the right track, we just gotta keep going, Aether!"
"She's right, traveler! I'm not sure how much sitting around drinking and running up Diluc's wine costs is gonna hurt me, but you've got a journey ahead and a sister to find, right? Let's just grab a drink before you go, okay? There's no reason to be scared when you've got the Anemo archon right front and center for you! Not only me but another god or two...and an adeptus or three. However the numbers fall, we're here! Trust me, I won't be going aaaaanywhere anytime soon and something tells me you won't be either. Let's stick to the better matters for now, okay?"
The blonde chuckles. "Yeah, okay."
So who fights the toughest battle? It's impossible to say. It is, however, easy to say that although war may never leave, neither will the allies you've gained to fight it. Not for a long time.