Journey of a Yaksha; Weeping Begonias
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dividers by @/enchanthings
Time had been cruel to you, as a Yaksha you were cursed gifted to live a long life. Yet the power that ran through your veins could not protect you from the suffering and illness you had obtained for being alive so long. Your memories began to wilt, to turn to ashes like the numerous plants and fauna during the war.
The earliest you could remember was not when you were but a baby or fawn, but it was when you were a weapon of war. The blood in your veins hailed from that of Yakshas, a race no doubt dwindling due to the ongoing war, a war to pick from the best of the best among the gods of Teyvat, to ascend and become Archons.
Yakshas were strong, illuminated beasts. Because of their strength and appearance, they were used in the War, to fight for the God they believed to be the best choice for Liyue, the region they were born in and grew to protect.
And because of that blood, you had been taken and enslaved by a cruel God. A god who would raise his hand towards his own allies. The God used you and your powers to slay and take lives, it did not matter if the life was innocent or not, if it was a god or mortal. Your God did not care, all he focused on was ridding the path he trekked on of any obstacles.
What you remembered then on was simply a life of bloodshed. You could not die, you could not truly live, for your entire being and individuality was taken by that God. And just like your memories, you emotions and self began to erode, leaving nothing but a husk, a perfect weapon of war.
You watched as the blood of your God wet the coarse dirt, you stood there like a statue, eyes casted down on the divine being.
The God who you once saw as nothing but Strong and Invincible seemed pathetic as he began to choke on his own blood, you did nothing to help with his injuries nor did you listen to his orders. Not because you couldn't, you simply didn't wanted to.
He was ready to sacrifice numerous lives, young and old, weak and strong, man and God, yet as he laid there on the ground, begging for help, nothing wanting to perish, you could only say...
"You who took so many lives, killed and plundered. . you should have been ready for your life to have been taken too." You chuckled, how did you let yourself be enslaved by such a God?
you began to laugh as the light in his eyes deemed, your only regret that day was that you did not kill him yourself.
What came after the death of your God was a new found freedom. One you did not want to relinquish to any other person but yourself. You decided to then leave the region and began travelling to the other regions, despite the ongoing war to chose an Archon.
Your first stop had been the region of Mondstadt, a cold desolate region covered by layers upon layers of white soul. There were two Gods battling for the throne that Celestia offered, one was Boreas and the other Decarabian. You did your best to avoid them, which was easier than you thought as the two Gods were stations northwest of the region.
"What is it you are looking for?" you turned to a wisp of wind, "I do not know." You answered truthfully as you turned away, hand held out as you watched the snowflakes rest on the palm of your calloused hands. The blood had dried, leaving a red stain on your hands.
As you explored the region you had met an elemental being and a bard, as well as a clan whose name was Gunnhildr. "Then if you have no plans, would you please lend us your aid?" the bard asked, his fingers strumming the harm in his hands.
It was relatively peaceful as long as you were away from the two Gods, yet you knew you could not stay there. Your powers were that of Dendro, and living in such a cold place will do you more harm than good.
So in the end you had to part ways with the group and head to a different region. By the time you had made it to Inazuma, there was a God that was chosen to become an Archon already, as there was no other competitors left in the nation of Electro, at least that was what you thought.
You had the pleasure of meeting her, a woman of elegance and beauty, Makoto was her name. She was never alone, if its not her friends or attendants, then she was always accompanied by her sister, Ei.
Both were strong in their own ways and believed in 'Eternity' albeit in different perspectives. Makoto believed in the beauty of transience, which was something constant in the world. While Ei had believed in something she had described as 'stillness.' Such words had been beyond you at the time.
Being raised and used as a weapon you had not received education outside of knowledge needed in the battlefield. So that was where Makoto had came, offering to teach her the beauty of humanity, and the things that "were outside of war."
That period of life in your memories were beautiful, but just like Makoto's ideals, it was transient. For when the snake God Orobashi came, there began a new war which led to you having to leave.
The idea of war and more bloodshed had disgusted you, but more so it traumatized you. Not in the way that you cried or your body tremored, but in the way how you began to shut down. Retreating behind a wall of indifference and withdrawal.
It was Makoto who suggested you leave and continue to journey across Teyvat for a home.
"I hope you come back again though." she said brushing your hair one last time. "Me and Ei will miss you."
". . ." you remained silent, unable to find the right words to respond with, from the mirror's reflection you could see Makoto smile softly behind you, "Please be careful."
You bobbed your head, looking at your clenched fists. A feeling began to grow in you, but it was not bloodlust or anger, it was something else, resembling the crashing waves of the ocean or the faces the bard had made along with the others as you had left mondstadt.
You set sailed on a boat provided to you by Makoto and Ei along with directions that led you to Sumeru, the nation of Dendro. Sumeru was maintained by three gods, who unfortunately you did not have a pleasure of meeting. That was where you reached your journey's end (or so you thought), deciding the forests of sumeru would be a good place for you to rest.
Living in the rain forest area of Sumeru was fun, peaceful, and perfect for a yaksha such as yourself. You were able to become in tuned with your element, there was no frost or snow that covered and hindered the growth of plants like in mondstadt, there was no electro that hurt you like in Inazuma, and there was no more war and bloodshed unlike in Liyue which greatly reduced mother nature's presence.
You built yourself a hut up one of the more giant trees in the forest, you were able to live off on the rivers and berries there that you could harvest. There were not much people in the area you had made your home in.
What served as your company however were cute little creatures, aranara as they called themselves, and called you Nara Vana. Any humans or remotely human looking individual they had addressed as Nara, however Vana was something you would come to realize meant the forest. It was rather fitting as a dendro in tuned Yaksha.
They regularly visited you, giving you some small tokens like flowers or fruit and in turn you would protect them when you saw they were in danger, spend time with them and help them with anything else. When they had trusted you a great deal, they had introduced to you their Queen, a beautiful woman with white hair, who did not at all look like how you imagined (you thought she would be an Aranara, not a human!)
However all good things would come to an end, their visits dwindled until it stopped entirely, leaving you by your lonesome in your home.
And then there were the rumors, rumors you'd hear from passing humans, travelers making their way out of the region.
There was a sickness in Sumeru, one that greatly affected life. It sapped the energy from the fauna in the forest, turning once verdant green life to withery brown death.
The withering, as people began to call it, a curse that decays life. Once blue waters turned murky, unhealthy for consumption, once strong and bouncy mushrooms you had once jumped on for fun, shriveled into nothing but an empty husk, that should you even try to touch it, would wither to dust.
As a Yaksha aligned with the dendro element, the place that once became your home turned into your own undoing. The withering began to attach itself onto people, a true disease. A disease you could not find a cure to.
So you fled, hoping your conditions would not worsen, you turned back to Liyue. Your mother nation.
But your timing was unfortunate as a cataclysmic event had started upon the continent. The chasm had caved in, destroyed and evacuated. You yourself had to scale the mountains and take a longer detour than necessary up north, it was at Lumberpick Valley did you find the answers you were hoping for.
The Archon of Liyue as well as that of the other nations had left, going to the kingdom of Khaenri'ah for war.
As you looked at the destruction that was brought to the chasm, it made you remember the pains of the Archon war. You who were inflicted with a disease that was currently untreatable, who could you ask for help? certainly not the archon of geo, Morax, for you were once a vassal of one of his enemies, and even then, what could you even offer in exchange?
You did not want to swear your loyalty to a God you do not know, because that was the same as giving them your freedom.
So despite the effects of Eleazar taking its tolls on you, you continued on with your journey. You could not join the city of Liyue, you could not go back to Sumeru as there were still no news of a cure..
Inazuma was far away to travel to, you'd fear your time on the boat would be the final nail to the coffin, and while Mondstadt was more closer, you had found out due to their archon, Barbatos, it was no longer a desolate wasteland of snow and ice, so you set to mondstadt.
Your journey north of Liyue was hard, the disease began eating away at your vitality, dark scales began to grown across your skin, your limbs were no longer strong, sometimes locking up causing you to often trip and injure yourself.
By the time you had come to Wuwang Hill, most of your body had began to shut down, you were crippled and all you could truly use were your arms to pull your body across the dirt.
it was raining harshly that night, the drops of rain lightly hitting your hardened skin, you didn't feel a thing, your body was like stone, hard, devoid of warmth and unfeeling.
you were close to Mondstadt, all you had to do was go through the stone gate.. you hoped Barbatos would be able to treat you. however a landslide had occurred due to the rainfall causing you to fall down a slope, your legs being buried by dirt.
you were tired, so tired and scared, as your eyes began to close due to the fatigue.
realizing that you would not be able to reach the nation of freedom, you decided, as a last ditch effort, to put yourself into a deep sleep. Using the last of your powers, you made a flower grow so large it could swallow you whole! and it did, before disappearing underground, only for it to open centuries later when the effects of Eleazar had decreased enough for you to walk again.
🍃 you did not know that Queen Aranyani was the Dendro Archon.
🍃 you have been inflicted with Eleazar during your time in Sumeru, when you put yourself in a coma, it serves to heal and reverse the symptoms, but you will still be inflicted with Eleazar and it will appear again.
🍃 the reason why you'd ask help from Barbatos than from Morax, was because you thought that the archon from the Nation of Freedom would not ask your freedom as compensation for his help.
🍃Reader is very intuned with nature as a dendro element user, and as an illuminated beast from dendro (im just making shit up but shushh) you were more vulnerable to the withering.
🍃 your power is also from nature/dendro, as you were already weak, going on a trip to inazuma, a boat in the middle of water, would have actually killed you since there were no plants to get energy from.
🍃 weapon is up to choice, you can leave suggestions in the comments, the most often weapon type commented will be chosen.
part 2 is a work in progress.
