What is the meaning of 'eternity'? Is it to live in an unchanging world or to remain stagnant in unflowing time? For centuries, Ei had sought the answer to that question and even now, she was not any closer to finding it.
"'Forever' is a curse. To remain unchanging throughout that is worse."
"Enlighten me then Aether, why do you think so?"
Her pursuit for the answer to eternity began one day under the leaves of the sakura trees. As she sat beneath the sakura blossoms, surrounded by her cherished friends and family, she thought to herself, 'If only this could last forever.' But what is 'forever'?
In contrast, her twin sister, Makoto, desired the 'present'. She wanted to cherish the moments that exist currently because it would be something that would cease to exist. Beauty is fleeting and that is why she loved the world and the people whose lives were only but a fraction of theirs. But what does it mean to live in a world that is gone in the next second? What is the meaning of the 'present'?
"It is precisely because we know that this scene is but a fleeting shadow that we should enjoy it all the more," Makoto said as the sakura blossoms fell all around her. Ei stood at her side, still not understanding the meaning of what she had said.
Where Ei constantly strived to find the answer, her sister lived everyday unburdened. Where Ei remained unchanging in the world, her sister would move with the world. Where Ei remained steadfast against those who tried to destroy her, her sister stood with the people and rallied them.
Was it any surprise then, when Ei gave up the seat of the Electro Archon to her?
Even when Ei was the one who slew everyone, even when she was the one victorious in terms of power, even when she knew that her sister was unable to stand against her might, she sacrificed herself so her sister could ascend the throne. In that fleeting moment as the world went dark, Ei remembered her life from past to present and wondered if this was why Makoto sought 'transience'.
(After her sister brought her back to life using the Gnosis, Ei never mentioned that moment to anyone.)
They lived as one identity after that. There was no Raiden Ei or Raiden Makoto, there was only the Raiden Shogun who ruled over the entirety of Inazuma. Where Makoto became the face of the Raiden Shogun, Ei became the shadow. The world knew of the Raiden Shogun, beloved by her people by her love and compassion and at the same time, showed no mercy to those who pointed their blades against her. As time went on, the Raiden Shogun remained unchanged and that suited Ei just fine.
However, even if the Raiden Shogun remained unchanging, the rest of the world did not.
Teyvat was soon engulfed by the flames of war once more, this time between the Abyss and Celestia. The ground became tainted with blood from both the mortals who lived above and the monsters who dwell in the Abyss. The sky was dyed red from the scorching fire that burned countries to the ground. People cried for the gods to save them from the monsters and the gods answered their pleas, but for every monster slain, there would be a new one taking its place. It was not long until the gods fell to the creatures. Not even the archons were strong enough to defeat them and come out unscathed.
By the time the war finally ended, Ei had lost almost everyone.
The first of her friends died prior to the war, just at the beginning before the world was set ablaze. She was slain by the serpent god, Orobashi, and in turn, Ei slew the serpent god. Her second friend went insane and turned her blade against Ei. Ei defeated her in a single strike but could not bring herself to finish her. She fled, leaving a trail of blood and never to be seen again. Her third friend became corrupted in both flesh and mind and disappeared in the dead of the night. It was not long before she found the tainted earth of where her friend perished.
The last death Ei saw was her own sister at the end of the war. She died in Ei's arms, the Gnosis safe in Ei's hands and her bloody blade by Ei's side.
"If you could choose to trade the Gnosis for your sister's life, would you have done it?" Aether asked. Ei closed her eyes as she thought about the question. As time ticked ever onwards in the unchanging world of the Plane of Euthymia, the conclusion she came to was one that she cannot express.
(The Gnosis was not worth the life of her sister. It was never worth her life. She would destroy the Gnosis if it meant her sister would be spared, but such thoughts might bring about the wrath of Celestia upon her.)
When the Raiden Shogun returned to Inazuma, the people cheered for the archon's victory. Ei remained stoic throughout the whole affair until after the doors closed shut behind her and her world became shrouded in shadows, that she broke down and cried. Ei had tried to use the Gnosis to bring her sister back the same way she had done for her, but Makoto never answered her call. Was the bond she had for her sister not strong enough?
"Did anyone else grieve for her?"
"No. As far as the world was concerned, there had only ever been one Raiden Shogun."
One day, as Ei walked down the streets of the city of Inazuma, she could not help but notice how everything looked so different from the Inazuma before the Archon War. Everything about her country had changed since the day she was born. The progress of the people and the evolution of the city reminded her of Khaenri'ah. And if her people continued down that path, then Inazuma too would fall like Khaenri'ah. However, if her country became unchanging and embraced eternity, then there would not be a second cataclysm.
"Where there is progress, there must be loss."
"There would be loss with or without progress. At least with progress, we can strive for a better tomorrow."
After Ei discovered how to transfer her consciousness to objects, she knew that this was the first step to finding the answer to 'eternity'. With this, she would ascend to true immortality, no longer bound to the physical limitation of a body, god or not. However, she needed a body that could exceed the capabilities of her current one. How then, was she to create a body that could rival that of an Archon at their full might? She looked then to the Gnosis in her hand and an idea came to mind.
By the time she created the perfect vessel after countless failures, years had passed since the people of Inazuma had last seen their Archon. However, Ei was lost in her quest to seek eternity. Her eyes no longer see Inazuma and her ears no longer hear the cries of the people.
When the Raiden Shogun made her 'reappearance' to the people, Ei was meditating in the Plane of Euthymia and the Gnosis in the hands of her only friend left alive after the cataclysm, Yae Miko.
"Aren't you afraid that I might just sell this off?" Yae joked but her smile dropped slightly at Ei's reply.
"You understand the value of a Gnosis. Even if you sold it, I trust that you would have exchanged it for something of equal value, and that is no easy price to pay."
From within the Plane of Euthymia, there was none (except for Yae Miko who could only enter in times of emergency) who could reach Ei. In this world, Ei continued to meditate on the answer to her life's quest for eternity. In this timeless world, Ei remained unchanged and far away from any outside influence.
When her country closed off to the world, the Raiden Shogun dictated that it was for the cause of eternity. When her people were subjected to the Vision Hunt Decree, the Raiden Shogun ordered that it was all to reach eternity. When her people started to rebel, the Raiden Shogun declared them a hindrance to the road to eternity. And within the Plane of Euthymia, Ei remained oblivious to everything.
"Do you know the story of 'The Frog in the Well'?"
"No, but do tell me the story, Aether."
"Well, the story begins with a frog who lived in a well…"
When the Traveller arrived on Inazuma's shore, the wind that carried the whispers of his arrival was forcefully dispersed by the Raiden Shogun and the land that carried the message was stomped down. After all, the arrival of a random outlander was unimportant to the quest for eternity.
"Were you able to send your message to the Raiden Shogun?" Zhongli asked, sipping his tea while Venti strummed his lyre.
"Nay, she has ignored the whispers of the wind every day," Venti answered with a frown.
"I'm worried for Aether."
"You need to have more faith in him!" Venti said with a smile but Zhongli remained serious.
"I pray that nothing would come to harm for Aether, but I cannot shake off this sense of foreboding. Perhaps we should have followed him."
Venti stowed his lyre and placed a hand on Zhongli's shoulder. "Even if we did follow him, we wouldn't be allowed a glimpse. We cannot enter another god's realm without permission. And the Raiden Shogun has yet to take any action. Gnosis or not, Teyvat's laws, break we cannot."
When the Traveller obtained the power of Electro, granted to him by the Gnosis Ei had discarded, Ei remained lost in her own world. When the people of Inazuma began to flee in larger droves for safety, Ei remained unmoved in her own world. When the flags of rebellion began to move from Watatsumi, Ei remained undisturbed in her own world. When the Fatui began moving to surround the city so they may lay claim to the Gnosis in due time, Ei remained deaf in her own world. When the Fatui Harbinger controlled the Raiden Shogun with poisoned words, Ei remained blind in her own world. In all these happenings, until the day Ei was greeted by the Traveller who was thrown into the Plane of Euthymia, Ei remained oblivious and ignorant in her own world.
"So what did you get from resonating with Electro? Can you shoot fire from your eyes?"
"I think…I can see further now. And it doesn't hurt when I use my Elemental Sight."
"What? That's it? That's so lame! Wait…what do you mean it 'doesn't hurt'? Have you been trying to hide your injuries from Paimon again?"
By the time Ei met the Traveller for the first time, it was to him being thrown into her world by the Raiden Shogun with only a message from her puppet of his interference to her quest for eternity. However, rather than getting upset or angry or even just outright killing the intruder, Ei was curious. What was special about this person that the Raiden Shogun chose to send him to her? As the man stumbled around in confusion, his eyes shifted to Ei and his blade pointed towards her. Ei drew her spear and clashed against his sword.
"I don't like coming here," Aether said as he held tightly onto Paimon's hand as she led him towards where Ei was meditating.
"The Plane of Euthymia?" Ei asked, as she landed at the center of the world.
"Yes. Nothing in this world except you shows up in my Elemental Sight and yet, everything feels solid. What exactly is this place?"
The two of them traded blows, albeit one-sidedly as the Traveller continued to remain in the defensive. Ei could feel her disappointment with the Traveller rise as time went on. There was nothing special about the Traveller and the battle was starting to bore her. As Ei pulled the Musou Isshin, the blade Makoto had passed on to her, she was caught off-guard when the Traveller dashed forward to strike her using Electro to boost his speed.
The Electro-imbued attack did not affect her but the impact did, as she tried to immediately parry a sword strike that carried the strength of a meteor. The Traveller's blade slipped off to the side and its carrier was thrown to the ground. Ei pulled out the katana, empowering it with the power of Electro as she entered a stance. When Ei swung the sword, the Traveller tried to dodge but failed as he took the full brunt of the attack. He screamed in pain as he was thrown out of the Plane of Euthymia, the smell of electricity burning in the air. The portal closed behind the Traveller and Ei was once again left alone in her own world.
"Why did I hold back?" Ei asked herself as she stared down at her sister's sword. Perhaps it was because the sword in her hands was not the real weapon, but that alone should not have been the reason why.
As she returned to meditate after stowing her blade, she found her thoughts shifting towards the Traveller. It had been a long time since she had drawn the Musou Isshin. The battle, although short and one-sided, it had been enough to call out to the warrior side of her. However, her eternal world had no place for her desire to return to the battlefield. It was where she could look at her memories without fear of erosion, where she could live unchanged, where she could no longer be hurt by the people who did change, where no one could leave her behind anymore.
"I feared that if I moved forward, then those left behind would be forgotten."
And if the Traveller chose to stop her from her quest to eternity then the next time they meet, she will not hold back.
AN: After playing the recent quest in Genshin, I think it's about time to add Angst genre to this fanfic.