TW: Contains character death
Indarias was born from the heart of fire, in one of the many summers of Liyue. She loved to dance and play under the sun's gaze. She would share her fire to the mortals to starve away the cold and to cook their food. She was soft and having been born after the Archon War, she had never seen the destruction the war had wrought across the land. She was free-spirited, doing what she wanted at her own pace. She was unbounded, free to laugh and be happy.
It was a surprise to many when she was one of the adepti who answered Morax's call for yakshas to defend Liyue from the evil left behind from the war.
Many had expected her to quit after her first battle, to leave as soon as she had seen blood spilled from one of her comrades or her own. Many had not expected her to rise up and become one of the five strongest yakshas.
The 'Five Yakshas' were a close knit group. To Indarias however, the 'Five Yakshas' was family. The others of the 'Five Yakshas' thought the same as her, though Alatus would probably never admit it.
Of the 'Five Yakshas' however, Indarias was closest to Bonanus. Bonanus was not just her friend, her comrade, or her sister. Bonanus was so much more.
Love was dangerous, especially so to a yaksha. Emotions could foster new bonds and it could deepen the ones already existing. However, emotions could also break those bonds. Emotions could destroy one's being.
Indarias did not care what people thought about emotions. She did not care about the warnings from the people around her. She did not care about what it would mean if her love was not accepted. She was not the kind of person to hesitate when it came to her feelings.
She fell in love with Bonanus of the 'Five Yakshas' and Bonanus accepted her love. The two were bound together by Luhua Pool at the turn of summer with Morax's blessing, and Indarias believed that this was something that would last forever.
(But good things were not meant to last forever.)
Indarias, with the other yakshas, defended Liyue from the corruption and evil seeping out from the angered gods sealed beneath the earth. They kept up the defences for years, never once had they complained about the duties given to them. But it was impossible for anyone, even gods and adepti, to keep fighting forever.
It started with constant pain and nightmares that ate into their souls, the neverending tiredness that laid at the forefront of their minds. It started when the yakshas started to fall one by one, whether by the evils that took advantage of their weakened state or by the madness born from the toll that destroyed their minds. It started when the first of the 'Five Yakshas' fell.
The 'Five Yakshas' tried to support each other, to stop their own from falling to the corruption devouring inside. They chased away the pain with the bonds of family and love. They chased away the nightmares by sleeping together and waking each other when the nightmares descended into their dreams. They filled the whispers of madness with lively conversations about anything, from the weather to the scenery and sometimes of each other. They held each other as their body succumbed to the pain, even when their screams hurt the heart of the one holding them.
Bonanus never complained when she was forced to hold Indarias during some of her episodes. She never complained even when she herself was suffering. Indarias had believed, hoped, that as long as Bonanus was by her side, she would never fall.
It was a strange feeling to know when time has run out. The day had started normal, Indarias had woken up by Bonanus' side. The nightmares of her killing her loved one had left a bitter taste on her tongue but it was quickly forgotten as Bonanus snuggled closer to her. Unfortunately for Bonanus, duty called for Indarias. Indarias left the adeptal realm with a promise to Bonanus to return before night fell.
Indarias never returned that day. After she slew a band of roaming shades, the darkness she held back burst forth and devoured her soul. She screamed in pain as her sanity crumbled and the flames that once danced with her consumed her and the entire forest she had been in.
When the first of the 'Five Yakshas' finally fell to the karmic debt, all the fire that lit up the yaksha's adeptal realm went out at the same time.
It was Bonanus who found Indarias burnt corpse in a sea of blackened tree trunks and the wails of her broken heart echoed through the night.
The Yaksha of Fire burned and her body turned into ashes, her final words lost in the flames. Where her life once burned brightly in the sea of devastation, only embers remain of what she once was.