Chapter 2: Shokai
It is a norm in Inazuma's traditional theater to join the names of a play's three acts together to form the play's name.
Perhaps a day will come when this body's
adventures
Will become tales to be passed along.
But for now, his third act is still ongoing.
On the island of Narukami, the majestic edifice,Tenshukaku, could be seen from anywhere, the home of Inazuma's Shogun reminding Inazumans of the protective, stifling omnipresence of their god.
Once home to the twin gods of Inazuma, it was now emptier, darker.
Resided by the former Kagemusha now Shogun.
Within the emptiness the sound of metal and wood clinking together could be heard.
Patterns of electro, created by the shogun lighted the room. As she sat working on the project in front of her, fine tuning the intricate machinery, her movements were precise and definite, a firm purpose evident in them.
A vast amount of time had passed since the beginning of the task but to the god of eternity it was inconsequential, a tiny spec in the infinity of eternity.
She made one final adjustment and the puppet's consciousness came into existence.
The puppet opened its eyes and saw the Shogun.
He rose to his feet, looking around in wonder, as though surprised at finding himself in this place. He was pale, his eyes glowed an indigo on his fair face, energy gleaming in them.
"Follow me." The Shogun ordered in a strong and rather agreeable voice.
She led him to another room, it had some complex mechanisms designed to inspect the workings of the puppet body.
He had wanted to ask 'who am I?' 'What does all this mean?' Scraps and shreds of thoughts were simply swarming in his brain but he was scared, so he curbed his curiosities.
When the Shogun left, he simply fell into a slumber.
The Shogun thought.
The puppet seems to be doing better than the previous models.
She seems to have mastered all the basic principles. After the necessary modifications, additional attempts and errs, the final blueprint she has envisioned should be possible.
After acquisition of the new data, the prototype had no use. She went to dismantle it.
Finding it seated where she had left it, she turned it around, electro dancing on her fingers, ready to melt the circuitry.
She stopped abruptly though, shocked.
For she saw tears streaming down its fair face, he was gently sobbing, a sad visage on his sleeping face.
Realization dawned on her.
She had not meant to give him emotions, he was meant to be discarded, merely a testament of her techniques, though she had changed the previous design a little, she didn't expect this. It seems some further modifications were needed, she filed this in the back of her mind.
Kneeling besides him, The Shogun put her hand on his shoulder.
"Are you scared?" She asked.
The boy awoke upon hearing the melodic voice and opened his eyes to see the god looking at him with a pensive expression.
His voice came low.
"Who are you?"
Who was she?
Lord of thunder, Almighty Narukami Ogosho, Inazuma's god, Raiden Shogun, Beelzebub, Raiden Ei.
"I am your creator"
"My mother?" The puppet said.
Mother. In all her millennium of existence this is the first time someone addressed her by that title.
She neither denied nor acknowledged it.
"Why was I created?"
As a transience in Inazuma's eternity? A god's blunder?
"..."
Her eyes traveled across his bare form.
"Come with me." She declared once again, yet this time the voice held more of its characteristic musical timbre.
She led him to her room and picked out a kimono, one of the many gifts sent to the Shogun.
She dressed him, but instead of dressing him in her colors, purple, color dear to Inazumans, the color of their Ogosho,
she chose a pure white kimono
"Are you still scared?"
He shook his head, he was just tired.
Laying out a futon on the tatami she tucked him inside.
"Sleep for tonight."
At Tenshukaku, Ei sat going through the Tri commission's reports in her personal quarters.
Though not many in Inazuma now knew her name just as not many knew about the twin gods, referring to her by the nickname of 'Raiden Shogun'.
She thought, things seemed to be proceeding satisfactorily.
The Shogun had, in recent years, eliminated much of the evil that plagued Inazuma.
As the Shogun strode across the land destroying all manner of wicked creatures, even the thunder that arced off her from time to time was enough to utterly destroy evil.
Remnants of the great catastrophe that befell Inazuma, this land that the people had worked so hard to build barely escaping being obliterated entirely.
But under the Ogosho's banner, through everyone's efforts, both the living and those who had passed on, Inazuma has started to heal from these wounds.
Over the long years, the road to eternity has been dark and desolate, but Ei has never wavered, not even for a moment.
A warrior never backs from a challenge.
And that great catastrophe has only strengthened her belief.
To promise her nation an unchanging eternity.
A battle against time's march, with fate's absurdity itself.
That's the challenge she has undertaken.
The byproduct of which currently sat staring at her.
As the Shogun worked through the reports, the puppet sat there patiently looking at her, waiting for her to finish, another query on his lips.
She looked up, smiling lightly.
"What is it?"
"Mother, what's this?" He asked, his hands holding up a scroll he had found while looking around, indulging his curiosities.
"That's a smithing blueprint for the Raiden gokaden."
"What will it be used for?"
'The Shinuchi are offered to the craftsman's lord or deity. These are not built for taking lives. The others known as Kageuchi will be given to retainers for use as weapons. These will often be used to in wars and will be stained."
"Why do we need wars?"
"Since ancient times, wars have been divided into just and unjust wars. Unjust wars are born from the swelling of desire and the chaos of mortal hearts."
Heart? But do I have a heart? The puppet pondered
"How does one rid oneself of this chaos?"
"After purging all sentiment with merciless lightning. For true unchanging eternity is found only in the stillness that manifests itself when all noise is stripped away."
"Am I a mortal? Or a machine? Did you give me a heart?" He asked his creator
"Some answers can't be taught. Observe yourself also with one stormy eye and you will someday reach a breakthrough."
(Though the answer that he will arrive at the second part in his life will not be what his creator would have wished for.)
Filing this away to contemplate on later, he picked another scroll, titled "proof of concept"
Filled with intricate designs, mechanics and annotations in the Shogun's pen.
"That's your blueprint"
"Me?" He looked amazed, looking at the complex machinery drawn with black ink. ''And you made this?''
She nodded.
His eyes sparkled.
"That's so cool!"
She chuckled at that.
As the Shogun embarked on another campaign, this creation with no home was brought to the Grand Narukami shrine.
In the early hours of the morning, as the Shogun and the puppet descended from above the storm clouds, the shrine was empty with no visitors, the shrine maidens resting within the scarlet shrines.
It had a pleasant atmosphere, subtle and delicate scent of sakuras in the air and as the boy walked around taking it in, his mind at ease, a little bird perched itself on his shoulder.
The sun had risen a little and the crows caw was starting to be heard as the Guuji of the great shrine ascended the steps, spotting the puppet as she went past the cleansing shrine.
"You must be the boy the raven told me about." She said.
'"Who are you?" The boy asked.
"Eternity's servant and friend, Yae Miko.'' Answered the smiling youkai.
She looked around, her eyes finding Ei.
"She looks sad." The boy said following her gaze.
Ei was looking at the Sacred Sakura , with folded arms and a melancholic face
She had described before that she could sense Makoto's consciousness in the Sacred Sakura, that it had not existed forever as everyone has believed, though Yae was never convinced,
An illusion like this seemed beyond even Buer and Irminsul's power.
"Why is she sad?" He asked.
Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart, Yae thought looking at the god's face.
And Yae understood that pain, for she and Ei have both witnessed the loss progress can bring.
Looking at the Shrine she found herself reminiscing of Kitsune Saiguu whose shoulder she would perch on, and remembering Inazuma's bygone era.
Just like that, tears started collecting in the kitsune's eyes.
"Well lets make her happy then!" She said, smiling.
"But aren't you sad too?" Murmured the boy.
"The task of bringing a smile to her Excellency's face falls to me after all" Said the kitsune, wiping her tears.
''Will you bring out some sweets from the shrine?"
When he came back he heard a clear laugh fill the shrine and saw the youkai by the god's side and the god laughing.
What a smooth talker, and what a lovely yokai, he thought.
She would do anything for the god.
As the Shogun left and the day went on, the boy hung around the shrine.
The shrine maidens wondering who could the Almighty Shogun's guest, this innocent fair faced child be.
He observed the youkai. She looks so solemn, he thought.
How different from the morning.
As the day went on and visitors came to the shrine with wishes in their hearts, he played around the shrine questioning the shrine maidens, earning their laughter.
"So what are you planning to do with him?" Yae asked.
"I have decided to put him in a slumber." replied Ei.
It was a moonlit night and the two friends were strolling near Mt. Yougou, enjoying the view of the sea and sakura trees.
"Why not have someone from the tenryou commission take him under their wing? He could be a useful servant, he seems devoted to you'' Suggested Yae.
"I do not wish to force him into servitude."
"Perhaps it's because I feel like I owe him something for the love he shows, I do not wish to assert control over him , or manipulate those emotions. It would be dishonorable to use the title of mother he attached to me."
"And you will not destroy him?" Yae halted, looking at the god.
Ei knew not to underestimate her friend's intelligence, that Miko's concerns might very well be the future.
"He is a blank slate, a disaster waiting to happen." She also knew where those concerns were coming from.
Yet destroying her own creation she put feelings in, so cruelly…
"Well if you have decided…"
"I hope he will forget me and live out his own life, finding his purpose and understanding himself." So said the Shogun, not realizing how unforgettable their bond will be for the puppet even for centuries after.
A few days later the Shogun asked the boy to accompany her to Shakkei Pavilion, he followed unsuspectingly not knowing this would be their last meeting.
Maple trees covered the outside filtering the sunlight, on the inside it was a beautiful building with woodwork and painted tapestries.
Once inside, the Shogun placed a hand on his his head, electro overflowing, not to dismantle but to lull him into a sleep.
He started feeling lightheaded.
"I wish for you to live your life, unbound by the strings that comes from being my creation." Spoke the Shogun.
As his body fell, she caught it.
Seating him down, she put a golden feather hung by a thread around his neck.
"If the day comes that you roam these lands, I bestow upon you this feather to mark our connection. This feather will make sure yokai or human under my rule will befriend you." Declared the Shogun.
As the last embers of his consciousness started to fade, he saw the Shogun cover his head with a veil.
"To protect you from the elements in your days of wandering." Whispered the Shogun.
He remembered these as the last words from his creator.
Soon the puppet fell in a peaceful sleep, in blissful timelessness and forgetfulness, unburdened by any yesterdays or tomorrows.
The Shogun sealed the domain where it and the boy would remain in stasis till the dawn of the first act of his life, which will turn out to be very brief by fate's cruelty.
Inside that musty Delusion factory hidden in the wilds, Yae met the puppet in his second act, centuries later by a twist of fate
"Leave that poor traveler alone boy"
'"And why would I do that? What makes you think we are friends?" he drawled. "Unless there is something in it for me?" he added in the same cool monotone.
Yae looked at the boy, remembering him gamboling about the shrine. The puppet who had long ago sought her for assistance, carrying the golden feather. His expression was distraught about his friends' plight.
"Since your creator herself didn't raise a finger against you, as her servant I will not either. She saw in you a life worthy of a chance. Take this, Gnosis, and think of it as your second chance, for your fate may yet change," said the kitsune tossing a purple chess piece in his direction.
He caught it, stunned for a moment. He stared at the piece with an inexplicable longing, then looked back at the kitsune, quickly returning to his usual cool façade. He spat out a laugh.
"Hahaha, you and your high and mighty words... Fine, I will take my leave kitsune, these thundering archipelagos make me sick anyway. I have no interest in my incompetent partner or her collusion with your corrupt officials. What a farce built on a tapestry of lies! But, such is this world." He turned to leave as he finished the monologue.
"The feather that I sent back, do you still have it?" The yokai asked in a teasing tone.
The puppet left without answering.
"So whats the story behind this beautiful feather you hang from your vision?" Pestered the boy's friend at the Akademiya.
"This gold ornament is a proof of identity granted by the Almighty Shogun." He remembered those words.
This feather was not able to protect his friends, though they had all believed in their god, what he himself had believed in.
As he had jumped into that blazing furnace, covered in dust it had lost its metaphorical shine.
Yet, as for why he chose to wear it….
"Oh, is it some sentimental story like that doll you carry around? You know it does not agree with your personality." Teased his friend.
"Huh how irritating…"
In the background thunder flashes again.
"I am also interested in how you got your vision , its so cool you can fly do you think you can give me a ride to the Akademiya next time?"
His vision, granted by the Anemo Archon, god of freedom.
Freedom
Hmm how childish, to demand freedom from someone.
There is no such thing as true freedom, even the wind and can not blow on forever.
"You want to use me as some sky taxi? The audacity to even make that request"