Chapter Text
“Honestly, jumping from the Plane of Euthymia to wandering mortal. As immature as ever, my beloved Ei.”
Atop Tenshukaku sat a kitsune, stroking one of her tails as her eyes followed a disguised immortal walking among the crowds. She sat under the menacing puppet, the Raiden Shogun, who had now inherited the entirety of Inazuma - which would be maintained properly by Ei’s friends. The Shogun’s umbrella reflected the moonlight back to the skies, shrouding her entirely in the shadows.
Ei took one look back at her palace from under a dirty ragtag hood she had looted from a bandit. With one step forward, the brown-robed Ei disappeared entirely into the fields of people, eating and celebrating in the market.
The voice of the young Buer echoed.
“The strife engraved upon a Gnosis… You’re talking about the Archon War.”
“Teyvat’s peace was not easily won. I didn’t personally participate in the Archon War, but the way I see it…”
“All those losses were meaningless.”
Ei couldn’t see. She was rushing forth with her Musuo Isshin, slashing through the darkness. She could see the red spray of blood appear, vibrant, wet, cold. The sounds of hillichurls and ruin guards falling cluttered her mind while generals and commanders yelled orders to face the apocalypse.
She slammed head first into a ruin hunter. Her eyes opened and the sky was red, just like the day of The Cataclysm. The Battle of Tunigi Hollow was in full swing as she dashed leftwards to dodge Morax’s meteor, which hit the ruin hunter and turned it to stone.
She remembered this scene.
She rushed past Rhukkadevata and Barbatos who had been pushing back the void. One slash with her Musuo no Hitotachi cut down hundreds of enemies. Ei saw her sister, cornered in the back, helpless, exhausted. Her stance was wavering as one knee was on the ground. Her blade was cutting at air, trying to scare the void-corrupted swordsmen away.
“Makoto!” she yelled. She wanted to save her. She had to save her.
She leaped forth across the field of writhing hillichurls, who had horrors stricken across their face. She was once again in the shadows. She was not afraid. Wielding her blade she cut forth, like she did at Yashiori. The vertical strike hit the depths of hell to the height of heaven, splitting the world in two. A wave of electro shrieked in the air, as the Musuo Isshin dissipated.
The light shone down from the skies, as the great snake fell in twine. The scene revealed itself; before her, she saw her sister, laying on the ground.
“Please. PLEASE!”
She bolted forward, wasting no time. She fell to her knees, turning Makoto upwards to face her. As one tear fell, and her vision cleared, she saw a familiar, smiling face.
Kunikuzushi smiled. “Miss me?”
She violently woke up, her robe barely keeping itself on as her upper body entered a battle stance. She was in Chinju Forest. Rays of light hit her eyes through the blankets of leaves. She coughed, panted and sniffled in exhaustion, as she helped herself into leaning onto a tree.
She was very hungry, having not eaten properly in three days. She looked at a nearby naku weed. She was apprehensive to eat it; It had a living, pulsing electro structure; vein-like, like a living animal. Her hunger pushed her to give in. She closed her eyes and bit into it, wincing at its bitter taste. She continued to chew as she opened her eyes and stared off into a local stream, a dribble of purple running down her chin. She had been cutting down trees with her bare hands so as to not damage her blade. She planned on making a small raft and drifting to Liyue, where she would never be recognized.
She finished her breakfast and continued her work. The tree beside her was her next target, as she flattened and stiffened her hand into a chop, imbuing it with her electro energy. She struck the tree, creating a little dent on its side. She went in for another, taking a quick glance around her before spotting odd mortals approaching.
“Hey lady, everything okay there?”
A large crimson oni approached her with 6 other friends, and a cow. All of them were wearing rice hats with a red emblem on top, except for a green haired girl with an electro vision. Ei debated beating them up and stealing their cow to eat. Her mouth watered and her vision blurred as she stared down the cow, who was now fearing its life.
“Ushi, don’t be afraid. This kind lady won’t hurt you! Not with the Arataki Gang by your side!”
Ei looked at the oni. She knew she had heard “Arataki” somewhere before, but couldn’t quite put her finger on it. She decided to ignore them, thinking that theft was too lowly for someone of her caliber, even if she was no longer the shogun.
“Little lady? You didn’t answer me, what’s going on? You okay? Everything good?”
Ei was now annoyed. “Little lady?” she repeated, her eyes glowing violently violet. Electro crackled around her hand as she slammed it into the tree, cutting the tree down in one fell swoop.
The oni backed off in fear. The green hair girl stepped forward. “The boss here is sorry. He’s just curious.”
Ei understood that the green haired one was the brain of the group, and decided that she’d expressly talk to her. Ei exposed her fake electro vision, now tucked under the belt of her cheap kimono, to dispel any questions.
“I am just an adventurer training on trees.” she said, politely bowing her head. “I received my vision yesterday, and I am learning how to use it.”
Before the green-haired girl could respond, Ei’s stomach rumbled. She grabbed another nearby Naku Weed and began chewing on it as the green-haired girl raised one eyebrow to question Ei’s behaviour.
“We can treat you to lunch.” said the green-haired girl, instinctively.
“Hey, hey, did I agree to that?” asked the oni, asserting his presence.
“Can we, boss?”
“Yeah.” he bluntly replied.
“I can not return to the city.” said Ei, fearing that she might be recognized.
“Are you… a runaway?” said the green-haired girl.
Ei began formulating a fake origin story in her head. “Yes, I am a runaway.”
The green-haired girl was deep in thought. “I can disguise you. Don’t worry about it, we won’t bring you back home if you don’t want to return home.”
“How may I trust you, if I do not even know your name?” said Ei, now sitting on the tree’s stump.
“My name’s Kuki Shinobu.”
She looked back and began pointing at people. “That’s Akira, Genta, and Mamoru.”
“The kid is-”
“Hanakado!” he yelled, hand raised to the air. He smiled and bowed, putting his hands together. “Grandmaster Hanakado.” he said, in as deep a voice as possible.
“And I’m Arataki Itto, One and Oni!” The oni entered a squatting stance, and gave a wild face. The gang laughed, and Ei smiled, feeling somewhat at home. Ushi moo’ed. “He says, ‘I am Ushi, it’s a pleasure to meet you.’”
Ei felt ashamed for wanting to eat such a kind cow. “My name is Kei. It is a pleasure to meet you too.” she said, shaking Kuki’s hand, while bowing at Ushi.