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If the world knew the pain that she had endured, they would surely pity her. Wallowing in the pity of strangers sounded addicting. Intoxicating. If one allowed themselves to grow used to such a practice, they would never escape the soupy pit of self preservation. Lying to oneself to preserve their mental state. That was for the weak. Pretending that nothing was your own fault, that you weren’t responsible. How could someone grow sick of what they had always craved? Craving eternity had been all that was important to Baal. Now? She felt empty. Painfully empty. She still ruled her nation with an iron fist, but it had grown so boring. She had seen it all, without someone by her side. Watching people come and go had become her least favorite thing. She doubled down on closing the Inazuman gates. No one needed to come, and no one needed to leave.
No longer did she care for her people. She was a tyrant with no interest in her own country. What stung worst of all was the waiting. Baal was waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. Uprisings were quelled at her behest. People still trembled at her name, at her appearance, even at the symbol of the Electro Archon that was painted on banners all across the town. People were always screaming her praises, but Baal had finally realized they weren’t actually genuine. Everyone only wanted to appease her. It was so patronizing. Whenever she appeared amongst her people, they cried the same things.
“Hail the almighty Raiden Shogun.”
“Thank you for visiting us, we are honored greatly by your presence.”
“We could never amount to your greatness.”
And while they were all true, they didn’t mean it. Baal knew it was true, but no one else believed it. They were all petrified of her, trying only to say what they thought would please her. And for a long time, she had believed they meant it. No one had meant a thing to her since Sara. No one said anything meaningful. Sara was able to talk back to her, able to make everything seem so nice. The heavenly energy that radiated off of Sara hadn’t resonated with Baal since her passing. Now, she had to find something else. But what else was there? Everyone was so boring to her. Her soldiers sent in new applicants to be her right hand every decade, not a single one had pleased her. They were all worthless, begging for a vision that Baal refused to hand out.
Her people seemed to believe she was a charity for them. Giving out visions like the other fools. Visions were divine, not toys to be trifled with. Baal was disgusted when she saw her counterparts handing out visions like candy. Had they no shame? Watching a cyan encrusted vision change hands from that worthless bard to some random person. How did that bastard even get to Inazuma? It upset her beyond measure. Even her people’s will to rebel was gone. When Konomi and the rest of them passed, Baal had no reason to do anything. She would pry every vision from the hands of her people, returning them to where they were meant to be. Baal herself, had two visions. One was her own, that she had possessed for ages. Affixed firmly about her waist as it always had been, the other was Sara’s. A relic to her, hidden in her braided hair. She had learned how to do it herself, finally. Braiding has been so hard, she missed the feeling of Sara’s nimble fingers carding through her dark hair. It was something that couldn’t be replicated.
Nothing Sara did could have been recreated. It was so disappointing, watching her world get taken away so soon. A couple thousand years wasnt the eternity she wanted, but Baal was so sick of existing. Her world was imperfect, the other archons chuckled at her. Spit in her face by dumping their foolish visions on her people. Morax and that stupid bard tossing their visions into her land. Inazuma wasn't made to be tainted by the likes of the other archons. It was sickening, watching them pretend they cared. They were just as selfish as she was. At least Baal accepted it. Baal knew exactly who she was. Her people didn’t say it to their faces, but their lies were enough to solidify it.
They thought she was a selfish monster, who would destroy their way of life. All she was trying to do was immortalize Inazuma. Take its glory days and cement them as permanent. It was so upsetting, the way her work was disregarded by her fellow archons. By her people who she tried her damndest to protect. They probably didn’t see it that way, they wouldn’t understand. It was embarrassing, the ignorance her own people possessed. Didn’t they understand the sacrifices she made? Sure, it was fair. They would never understand the extent. Especially when parts of it were selfish. Baal knew she was selfish. Her wants were above the people’s, but they weren’t often harmed by her actions. Not in her eyes. She would have loved to be ruled over by herself.
Still, the loneliness was crippling. She felt that the other archons flaunted their openness. The way they just popped up in their lands and they formed connections with their people. Able to be both loved, revered, and hidden. At this point, Baal knew she was none of those things. She had only been that to Sara, the woman who was gone. Forever.
Eternity had grown tiring, and Baal found herself growing afraid of what she had created. She had tried to end her whole country once, the nation had no need to continue if they were going to be ungrateful. It would give her peace of mind if it meant she could keep her world perfect. Would ending Inazuma bring Sara back? Baal had rationalized it in her mind. Memories of people she hadn’t even known had begun to poison the memories of Sara. Sara was becoming fainter in her mind day by day. Baal didn’t know why memories of worthless guards were creeping into her mind, destroying what recollection she had of Sara.
Sara smelled like the sakura petals that fell from the trees each year. She liked how Baal prepared food, on the rare occasion the archon didn’t ask someone to do it for them. Sara was great with a bow, a markswoman who never missed her target. Unstoppable, she had been unstoppable. Yet even Sara couldn’t escape the dark claws of death. Her dark winged beauty had slipped away, into the eternal throes of death.
Perhaps eternity wasn’t always beautiful.
That had become increasingly clear as the years went by. Years felt like days to Baal, they all blurred together into nothingness. Why did she even have to try and pretend she enjoyed the eternity she had achieved? It was worthless without Sara by her side. She loathed her people, she loathed her peers, she loathed herself. But she also was obsessed with herself.
Baal had tried to end Inazuma. Tried so hard, but she couldn’t. The storms she would conjure up fell flat, the crashing thunder and flashing lightning was weak when it came to fruition. Almost as if something was holding her back. Could it be herself? Having achieved her eternal goal just to decimate it all… It seemed embarrassing. Every time she would pace her room and screech out; “I can’t do this anymore!” Baal would still be there. She couldn’t escape the prison she had crafted for herself.
Now felt like the right time though. Sara had been gone one thousand years, and Baal was still doing the same thing. Nothing had changed. No visions were granted from Baal, the last person she had given one was Sara. No one aspired to the level of divinity Baal held as her standard. So why would she waste the gift on them? They would never understand how careful one had to be with a vision, even if Baal wasn’t the most careful herself. She was the exception. The eternal exception at that.
Gently, Baal traced a hand over the wooden wall of her chambers. It was time. Sara called out to her from beyond her eternity. She was sick of the prison she created for herself. Baal could break free — Taking everyone with her.
“Not a single soul has ever rivaled the almighty Raiden Shogun and won.” The words were spoken aloud to no one but herself. She hadn’t allowed anyone into her chambers since Sara.
“I created the safe haven of Inazuma, and I shall be the only one to take it away. No one but me will destroy my utopia that I created.”
Was she blind to the strife she had caused her own people? Perhaps. Baal selfishly thought every action she took was pure and good. The things she did were to protect her people, but also for her own benefit. If no one has a vision, no one could dethrone her. Things had aligned perfectly for Baal, and she would be the one to ruin that. No one else. She was the one in control of herself, of her life. Allowing anyone else the satisfaction of her demise wasn’t allowed. If it was the last thing she did, Baal would destroy her nation and thus, herself.
“I will not allow anyone, to take from me my creation.” She continued speaking to herself, mumbling words under her breath. If only Sara could see her now! Wouldn’t she be proud? The thought of the woman’s pride made Baal giddy. She deserves Sara’s praises, they were the only ones that had meant a thing to her. Everything else could go up in a hazy storm as far as she was concerned.
Quickly, the woman got to work. Baal went through her chambers, unbraiding her hair and tucking Sara’s vision between her breasts. She wanted the memory of her beloved as close to her heart as she could be. If she perished that close to something of Sara’s, perhaps it would reunite them. Baal stared at her reflection in the glass, her hair billowed out around her, almost cocooning her in a deep purple. Reaching out, she pressed a finger against her reflection’s cheek. What a strange feeling. Ending oneself intentionally. She was ready.
Her eyes went next to her polearm, tucked safely near the door. She grasped it, feeling the lightweight weapon in her hand. A soft tingle ran through her fingers, the steady hum of electricity reminding her of her abilities. As she walked towards her balcony, she kept her gaze on the sky. “Blasted sky,” she muttered. Her focus stayed on it, watching as storms rolled in and lightning began to strike the grasslands of her nation.
How long had she been watching the lightning strike her land? She liked it, watching herself destroy what she had cultivated. Baal took responsibility for Inazuma, even if it had been there before her. It was her world. She pushed herself up on the ledge of the balcony, charging up her polearm. She could feel it vibrating in her hands, creating sounds that would be called troubling by anyone else. Not the Raiden Shogun.
Holding her polearm close to her, Baal closed her eyes. “This is how it was meant to be,” she said softly. “I am the only one strong enough to end my own reign. There will never be another almighty Electro Archon like me. I’ll see to it.”
Then, she plunged to her death.
Strands of purple hair wrapped around Baal, almost giving her a warm embrace as she just kept falling. She would see Sara again, she had to! As she fell, she knew she should feel shock, but all she felt was sick relief. She had served her duties, and reached her goal. Eternity bored her, it was lonely. She didn’t need it. “Let it be known,” she screamed as she fell.
“Let it be known that the Raiden Shogun will never be replaced! I am the greatest, and as such, only I will be able to end my own reign. My own nation! I cannot go alone, I want Tevyat to scream my praises. We will be reunited in another world, and I hope to all the archons that the world is ready for a life without me, or Inazuma. As we are the greatest nation that has ever been! We will go down in history!”
Her hands tightened around the polearm, and an electric current she hadn’t expected rushed through her body. It happened before she hit the ground, the warmth of the current dulled any of the pain. She could see her! Sara was right there, dancing in her vision, flickering. “Sara, I’m coming home,” she cooed under her breath. A large shock, and explosion came from her body hitting the ground.
Baal, the Raiden Shogun, was no more.
However, her land remained. The scorched earth that surrounded her broken body went on for miles, and surprisingly, her people mourned her. It seemed they had appreciated her, at least a bit, or perhaps they feared the worst. Their god was dead.
Baal didn’t care. She was standing beside her body, staring at it. Right beside her, was Sara. “I couldn’t do eternity anymore,” she said softly. “I just couldn’t.” Sara’s gaze said it all, as the shorter woman threw her arms around Baal.
“Finally,” she proclaimed. “We’re together, again.”
And they were, that was all Baal could have ever asked for.