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Whenever the Tsaritsa would take a personal interest in the Fatui’s operations, the whole nation could tell it was a start of something great.
One of those times was an uneventful day roughly one hundred years after the cataclysm.
Pierro was giving his monthly report in the throne room, while the Tsaritsa watched him blankly, not giving anything away. That was until the man mentioned an arrival of a divinely created puppet from the Nation of Electro.
“A puppet?” She interrupted him mid-sentence, her voice soft yet tense, like a cold breeze coming in from the open window.
After a slight pause, he cleared his throat and confirmed: “Yes. According to the second Harbinger, Dottore, he was meant to serve as a vessel for Elecro Archon’s gnosis. However her stance has since changed and she let her creation roam free. And considering he’s partly made from Khaenri'an technology, I invited him to join our ranks. The Fatui will find a good use for him.”
The Tsaritsa was quiet, staring at the man standing in front of her. Although it looked more like she was staring through him, her eyes fixed on a moment from far off past.
A vessel for the Gnosis.
The Gnosis.
She was quiet for a long time. Everyone in the room was waiting for a decree that wasn’t coming. For any crack in the ice that has been solid for centuries. Since it was rare for the Tsaritsa to interrupt Pierro during their meetings.
Her silence stretched for so long that the man was almost about to speak, when a low hum interrupted him once again: “Where is he now?” She asked, her head tilting slightly.
“Dottore is working on unlocking the power inside him so he can serve the Fatui properly. Then we plan on sending him to the Abyss to preform reconissance, since Dottore has informed me that he is able to withstand cursed energies.” Pierro stated.
The Abyss, an unpredictable and dangerous place. No ordinary person who would venture into its dark depts would come out alive. The fatui had suffered many losses while trying to infiltrate it.
Yes, it was a perfect place to send such a vile creation.
Something who’s only purpose was to carry a curse of cruel gods had no reason to exists.
Giving the honour of ending that monstrosity to a force as uncaring as the Abyss was a better alternative than leaving the Tsaritsa to deal with it herself.
“…Good. You’re dismissed.”
After Pierro left, the Tsaritsa stayed in the room only with her guards, silence once again enveloping the room like a blanket of snow. She rested her chin in the palm of her hand, the puppet still on her mind.
She couldn’t fathom why Beelzebub would create something like this. Why she would preserve the rules created by the Heavenly Principles. She has lost someone close to her because of a decree under the gods. She hoped Beelzebub had realised how cruel the divine order can truly be.
Another month has passed and the Tsaritsa had truly believed that would be last time she had ever heard a mention of the puppet being alive.
When Pierro came around the same time to give his report, she waited for him to say Beelzebub’s creation had perished or vanished in the Abyss. Yet he spoke nothing of the sorts. It wasn’t until Pierro finished announcing the number of losses the Fatui suffered that month, when the Archon finally spoke:
“What of the puppet?” She asked quickly, as if the question was an unwelcomed guest she was trying to rush out of the door.
“He’s still currently investigating the Abyss, periodically sending back soldiers with his findings.” Pierro replied.
So it was still alive, but still in the Abyss. So there still remained a chance for those cursed forces to take it.
Next month same exchange happened. The Tsaritsa asked the same question and Pierro gave the same answer. And she would hold onto the same hope.
Another month passed and she asked her question once again, however Pierro answered her with the worst possible scenerio:
“He has returned from his mission. Our agents, aswell as the first and second Harbingers, Capitano and Dottore, are analyzing and discussing his findings to see what of them will prove useful.”
The Tsaritsa blinked very slowly and after a long moment of silence, she stood up from her throne and declared: “Show it to me. Let me see this puppet.”
She didn’t want to come to this, but she was left with no choice.
Pierro jolted, taken aback by her sudden decision. But before she reached him, he respectfully bowed and lead her outside the palace.
When they reached the Fatui Headquarters, the Tsaritsa’s unannounced arrival caused quite the stir. Low-ranking grunts were running around, trying to figure out what was happening, while their officers were doing their best to get them under control. Some of the harbingers poked their heads out and were about to greet their Archon, when Pierro gave them a look that told them they should stay away. He then ordered an officer to find the puppet, who they called ‘Kunikuzushi’.
After a bit of waiting, they were directed to one of the training grounds, where the one they were looking for was fighing with a few other soldiers.
The figure was sending waves of electro through powerful sword strikes, while the others couldn’t even close the gap. It was a miracle nobody was dead yet.
Despite most of the soldiers looking battered, once they saw the Tsaritsa and Pierro, they raised themselves into a salute as if being pulled by a string. Everyone except the puppet, who stood motionless in the middle of the arena.
“Everybody except Kunikuzushi leave the training grounds!” Pierro ordered sternly. “Her majesty wishes to the speak to him.”
“Yes sir!” All of the soldiers exclaimed in unison and left the arena with haste, making sure not to step in the Tsaritsa’s way.
After all the soldiers were gone, Kunikuzushi finally turned towards the pair, showing his face from underneath his wide hat. He glared fiercely at the two people standing in front him, yet it did nothing to move them.
“Show respect to your Archon and bow, Kunikuzushi!” Pierro ordered.
“I won’t.” Kunikuzushi said back, the fury in his eyes intensifying upon hearing the word ‘archon’.
As Pierro was about to speak, his god stepped foward into the training ground. She got into close enough distance, that the puppet’s sword wouldn’t be able to reach her but also she would be close enough to get a better look at him.
Upon finally seeing the creation in person, she was rendered speechless.
Based on what she was told: ‘a puppet’, ‘Vessel for the Electro Gnosis’, ‘Khaenri'an technology’, she imagined a beast not resembling anything alive. A creation strong enough to serve as both a container and a guardian to the Heavenly Principles’ ideals.
She never imagined for it to look so fragile, so alive. Looking at her with the same way she had seen mortals do.
The raging fire in the puppet’s eyes was one far too familiar to her.
One that also expirenced loss and betrayal. Eyes that have been taken advantage of and that sworn vengance on the world as it is.
She blinked. It would’ve been all to easy to kill him. She could do it with one swift motion. But as she looked at his young face and fragile-looking small stature, something in her refused to move.
Is this what you intented, Beelzebub?
Is this who you wanted to carry the Gnosis?
A cruel fate that could come from only a god.
“So, you are the puppet made to carry the Gnosis,” she stared him down, schooling her expression to be purely analytical, despite the whirlwind of emotions inside her. “How come it isn’t with you?”
Kunikuzushi gripped his sword tigher. “Because she didn’t deem me worthy.” He spat.
I see…
“And you? What is your judgement?” She asked further.
He grit his teeth and after a moment dipped his head, as if trying to hide any of his true thoughts on the matter. She knew the feeling well. She also knew that it was impossible to ever truly keep them away.
After patiently waiting, she got her answer. Words strung in a cracked voice, something the puppet certainly hadn’t intended: “It was what I was made for. If I’m not meant carry it, then what was the point of me being born?”
One’s death created another’s life purpose.
The thought repulsed the Tsaritsa to her core. The desire to wrap her hands around the puppet’s neck and snap it like a twig called out to her once more. Instead, her hand moved delicatetly. She rested her fingers under his chin and lifted it up, so Kunikuzushi would once again look at her.
A fire still burned in his eyes, but she noticed it was different this time. More uncontrolled and scared. Instead of a feeling he could use as a merciless weapon, it was a feeling that slowly consumed him.
She couldn’t handle looking at it for too long, so she spoke briefly: “I will come by again, once the Frostfairy flowers bloom in the garden. Then I will tell you what it takes to be worthy of the divine will.”
His eyes widened and she moved her hand away as if she was burned. Then she swiftly exited the training grounds, followed by Pierro. She didn’t wait for an answer, because she didn’t need to. The Tsaritsa knew he would come into the garden.
Two months had passed and she visited the Fatui Headquarters again, announced this time. She passed most of the formalities and headed straight to the garden, where Kunikuzushi waited by the fountain, looking at his reflection with thoughful expression. His head snapped towards her as soon as she took a step foward, her heels ringing against the stone path like glass.
She stopped halfway and spared a glance at the Frostfairy flowers. They were so beautiful when they were in full bloom, but looking at them filled the Tsaritsa with just as much melancholy as it did adoration.
“Well? Are you going to speak or just gawk?” Kunikuzushi asked, his voice once again wrapped in that burning hatred for the world.
The Tsaritsa looked up at him, then at a near by window, where some of the Harbingers were watching them, namely the first, third and eighth. Kunikuzushi must’ve noticed them too, since they didn’t try to hide themselves, but he didn’t seem to mind. Perhaps he saw no need for a private conversation regarding his purpose.
But the Cryo Archon had to choose her words carefully.
She walked over and sat down on a near by bench. Kunikuzushi watched her carefully.
“As you may know the Gnoses were made as trophies for the winners of the Archon War— the original Seven. Their creator, the Heavenly Principles, has set in place the laws now governing Teyvat and has made a decision on who and what follows those laws. That includes the Gnoses.” Her voice was even and indifferent as she spoke, the same way she spoke to her subjects.
Even though Kunikuzushi probably didn’t see himself as one of her people, he still sought out her guidance and that wasn’t something she would take for granted.
“So? What does that have to do with me?” Kunikuzushi asked. She could tell he was getting impatient.
“The Gnosis is an instrument to determine which god is the victor and also most suited to enact those laws. What set the original Seven Archons apart from all the other gods who fought in that war was the fact their dreams coincided with the ideals of The Heavenly Principles and their power was strong enough to preserve them. The same goes for the successor.”
She took a deep breath an looked at the flowers once again.
“That is the law placed on the Gnoses. Its successor must carry the power and will to both represent and protect those ideals in order to be deemed as a victor.”
“It sounds to me like you’re just telling me the same thing she did,” Kunikuzushi replied with distain. “That I’m not strong enough to carry the Electro Gnosis.”
“Strength isn’t all that makes an Archon.” She stood up and walked over to one of the flowerbeds. “Your creator knew that, that’s why she made a grave sacrifice for the Archon to become someone who deserved it. And I believe… that is why she made you the way you are.”
Baal was a fine Archon. Someone who cared for her people and would move mountains to protect them. Even The Heavenly Principles must’ve respected her, if they aided her in the past. However she was a gentle god and Anastasya believed were it not for her sister, Baal would’ve perished long before becoming an Archon.
“If she intented for me to carry the Gnosis, there’s no way she would make me too fragile for it!” Kunikuzushi walked over to the god, bristling with flustration. “Stop talking about what she and the other gods did to receive their divine titles and finally tell me what I need to do get mine!”
She glaced at him an empty expression. “Eternity is the closest to the Heavenly Principles and therefore is the closest to its laws. Don’t you understand? You will never be able to carry the Gnosis because you weren’t deemed close enough to those laws from the moment of your birth. You would have to completely change yourself in order to carry the divine will.”
A Decender could only be defeated by another Decender. And a puppet made from Khaenri'an technology, a work of people with Decender blood running through them, could never carry the work of another Decender.
Kunikuzushi’s eyes widened. He unsheated his sword and slashed the flowerbed in front of them, followed by a scream of anguish. The Cryo Archon watched as the cut Frostfairy flowers slowly fell to the ground. “You gods are all the same! Why did you make me wait just to give me the same answer she did!? You leave others to deal with your mistakes and call it blessings, but in reality you just leave them to suffer—argh!”
As he ranted in his blind rage, a flaming moth landed on his hand and scorched him, making him drop the sword on the stone path. Both Kunikuzushi and the Tsaritsa quickly looked to the window, where Signora was glaring daggers at the puppet, while Capitano hid his expression behind his mask and Columbina was gone.
The Tsaritsa was the first one to turn her attention back to the puppet. She saw there was a burn mark left on the back of his hand. She reached out her hand to take it, but Kunikuzushi slapped it away.
“Don’t touch me!” He screamed and took a step back. After a quick moment, he let out a hiss of pain as another moth landed on his arm.
She straightened out and waved her hand, suddenly hiding them in a dome of thick ice. As the puppet was looking around, she could notice panic rising in his eyes. The one you’d find in a trapped animal.
He picked up his fallen sword and aimed it at the god, but Anastasya simply touched it and covered it completely with a layer of frost. Kunikuzushi pulled on his weapon in an attemp to get it away from her, but found he was unable to move it even an little.
After looking at it dumbfounded for few moments, he released it from his hands. The sword was frozen still in the air, not moving. Anastasya stopped paying attention to it and simply walked around it, finally being able to take Kunikuzushi’s burnt hand in his moment of shock.
“Your may be a far cry from the perfect form of the laws made by the Heavenly Principles,” as she spoke, Kunikuzushi seemed to snap out of his shock and looked at her. “But that also means you have a far better chance of changing the fate those laws set for you.”
Anastasya’s fingers brushed against his burn, making it seem like it was never there in the first place. She briefly looked at it to make sure it was truly healed and after her inspection, she lifted the dome, dissolving it into powdered snow. The sword melted and fell on the ground with a clank.
“Your majesty!” Capitano’s voice called out, as he and few other soldiers rushed into the garden. He stopped few meters away from the Archon, who turned to look at him. “Is everything alright? If he did anything to offend you, we can—”
The Tsaritsa lifted her hand to stop him. “There’s no need. We have discussed what I promised him.” She replied simply and walked over to the enterance, passing both the Harbinger and the soldiers.
She left the Headquarters shortly after.
A few months passed and the Cryo Archon found herself in her regulary meeting with Pierro.
When he was done reporting all the usual information, he went on with another inquiry: “The puppet has been slowly proving himself useful to the Fatui. Just like the Moon Goddess, I believe his contribution will help greatly in our future goals. However his loyalty remains fickle. He doesn’t believe himself to be part of our organization and looses interest easily, which could make containing him difficult. Therefore I have a suggestion. I think we should grand him the title of a Harbinger. Giving him one of the lower rank seats aswell as a small troop to keep him entertained should be enough to keep him at bay, while we plan on his further use. I would like to know your thoughts on this, your majesty?”
Long silence fell on the room once again as the Tsaritsa thought about his words.
Harbinger, the highest rank in the fatui. She understood what Pierro meant by ‘keeping him at bay’. The puppet longed for the title of a god. Being able to play a grand role like this would surely fuel the fire inside him. Maybe even consume him. But once it wasn’t enough and all the embers settled, he might finally realise how empty all thoses titles truly are.
But that time hasn’t come for him just yet.
First he would have to push the limits of what he was truly capable of.
“Yes, I think that is a good idea.” The Tsaritsa hummed. “I shall grand him a name…”
The Balladeer.
A name fitting for the one created to carry an intrument of the divine will.