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“How does it look, Yae?”
“Just wonderful. I’m sure that this vessel will serve you well.”
They opened their eyes.
Their first independent action.
“Oh my,” a pink one said, surprised.
“It’s…not supposed to do that, is it?” The purple one said.
“I’m afraid not.”
“What should I do with it?”
Their eyes hurt. They had an urge.
And they blinked.
“It would be too cruel to kill this sentient vessel,” the purple haired one said. “Perhaps it can find purpose on its own.”
Purpose? What was purpose?
“Give it a name then,” the pink one suggested.
“Your name…is Kunikuzushi.”
Kunikuzushi. They internalized that name.
“My, my, setting this one up for a grand destiny, aren’t you?” The pink one laughed.
“It just…came to me.” The purple one said.
They had learned much under Ei and Yae’s direction. They learned how to walk, how to speak, how to eat, how to read, write, fight, and many other things.
“Why do you refer to me as ‘it?’” They asked.
“Because…you have no gender. You aren’t a living being. You are a construct. Therefore, you are ‘it.’” Ei answered.
“I do not like being ‘it.’”
Their first rebellion.
“Then, what would you prefer?”
They looked in the mirror. Their form, an exact replica of Ei’s. Ei was “she.” Yae was “she.” They didn’t want to be “she.”
“I want to be ‘he.’” He said.
“Are you certain?” Ei asked.
“Yes. I like ‘he’ better than ‘it’ or ‘she.’”
That night, he cut off the luxurious locks of hair that tumbled from his back. He dressed in a more masculine style. He referred to himself using masculine pronouns.
He didn’t want to be Ei.
He was himself.
The Inazuman countryside was vast. It buzzed with creatures, some small, some big, all living together in the islands.
It was on these travels, Kunikuzushi met humans.
“What is a young man such as yourself doing out in the wilderness?” The old man called to him.
“I am…walking,” he answered.
“A wanderer, huh? You must be hungry. Come to our home, we’ll provide a nice cooked meal and a place to sleep for the night!”
“I do not require sustenance nor sleep to function.”
“There’s no need to be so stiff! Come!” The old man pulled him along to a small house, tucked away in the mountains.
There, the old couple treated him as if he were their own child. He stayed with them, tending their crops and fishing in the streams for many years.
Until they passed away.
It happened quietly. They passed away in their sleep, one after the other.
Only he attended their funerals.
He would leave offerings at their altars.
“Death isn’t necessarily an end,” Yae had told him. “It is a transition point from this world to the next.”
He hoped they were content in the next world.
One day, he returned to the home to find it on fire.
“Good riddance,” someone scoffed.
“Why?” He asked the person. “Why have you set this house on fire?”
“My parents left me this house. It’s worthless as it is, but the land could be used,” the man answered. “This area is rich with crystal marrow. I could make a fortune!”
“Your parents wishes-“
“Why should I care what the dead think?”
Kunikuzushi thought humans were generally good natured. Kind, loving, caring for others. This human…was not.
He continued to meet unkind humans. Greedy humans. Humans that wanted to use him.
It disgusted him.
Humans…were disgusting.
That’s what he decided.
“I’m leaving Inazuma,” Kunikuzushi declared.
“Very well then,” Ei, or something that looked like Ei, answered. “Be on your way.”
“Do you not care? I am your first creation! You made me, Ei! Come out here and face me!”
“Do not speak her name, Kunikuzushi. I am the Raiden Shogun. I will carry out the ‘Eternity’ she seeks.”
“What do you hope to gain from this? This endless search for eternity? Trapping yourself in a prison of you own design? You are so wrapped up in seeking this ideal, that you can’t what is right in front of you.”
“That may be true, but in the face of the pursuit of ‘Eternity,’ it is inconsequential.”
“Are you saying that your people- that I am inconsequential?”
“Yes.”
“You disgust me. You act as if you are so above the humans you rule, but you are just as selfish, as greedy as them. I won’t return to Inazuma. Enjoy your eternity without me.”
“So be it.”
Kunikuzushi turned his back on the Shogun, on Ei. He was going to see the world, with one goal in mind:
To crush the “Eternity” Ei sought.
Teyvat was vast. Filled with all sorts of humans. But Kunikuzushi couldn’t see any good in it anymore. A cynicism had ingrained itself deep in his very being. Humans were ugly, selfish, despicable creatures.
The winters of Snezhnaya were more unforgiving that any rainstorm that Inazuma could summon. He trudged through the snow, the way forward was obscured by the blizzard.
“What have we here? A vagrant from afar?” A voice called through the flurry.
A man stepped forward, a strange mask obscuring his face. “Aren’t you cold?”
“Move,” he grunted.
“You’re certainly a strange one! Say, wouldn’t you like to come to my residence? You won’t get anywhere in this storm.”
Kunikuzushi eyed the man suspiciously.
“…if I have no choice, then.”
“My name is Dottore. What is your name, wanderer?”
“My name…I have no name,” he lied.
“That makes things easier for me.”
Dottore conducted experiments on his body, testing its limits. How much cold could he stand? How about heat? Could he be poisoned? What would happen if he was stabbed?
Kunikuzushi learned the cruelty of humans firsthand. Dottore performed each and every experiment with an unnatural glee that scared him more than any divine punishment.
He learned quickly that resistance would only be crushed. So he shut down. He accepted every bizarre experiment, every form of torture.
He believed this was his life from now on.
It was in this experimentation that Kunikuzushi’s powers were unsealed.
He had no idea that Ei sealed his abilities. It only fueled his anger.
“This is quite impressive. Electro powers without a Vision. I don’t think I’ve seen this before,” Dottore hummed thoughtfully.
Kunikuzushi did not speak. Speaking lead to further experimentation.
“I think this could lead to something quite interesting,” Dottore laughed darkly. “Would you consider joining the ranks of the Fatui?”
Finally out from under Dottore’s thumb, Kunikuzushi worked his way through the ranks until he held a position of leadership.
It was there he learned something new.
That humans were easy to manipulate.
“You,” he pointed to one of his subordinates.
“Yes sir?” He said.
“Kneel down right here.”
“…what will this accomplish-“
“Are you questioning orders?”
“No, sir!” The agent got on the ground as instructed.
Kunikuzushi kicked him.
Again.
Again.
“Tell me how much you like it,” he hissed at the agent.
“It’s- an honor- to receive punishment- from my- superior-“ the agent grunted out between kicks.
Kunikuzushi laughed.
He laughed heartily.
He was no longer the one who was hurt.
He did the hurting.
Soon enough, he worked all the way up to the position of Harbinger. He kneeled before the Cryo Archon to receive his new position.
“Do you swear loyalty to my cause?” She questioned.
“Yes, your Majesty,” he replied.
“Will you stand beside me as I tear Celestia down from its lofty throne?”
“Yes, your Majesty.”
“Then, I hereby anoint you with a new name; Scaramouche, the Balladeer. Raise your head.”
Kunikuzushi died, there and then.
Scaramouche rose in his place.
“My child, what is it that you hope to accomplish as a Harbinger?” The Cryo Archon asked.
“I want to learn the truth of this world, and show my creator the error of her thinking.”
“Oh? And who might this creator be?”
“The Electro Archon.”
The Cryo Archon had a mysterious glint in her eyes.
“Very well, as you support me, I shall support your efforts,” she declared.
Scaramouche learned the secret history of the world. Of the atrocities the Archons committed. Of a nation struck down for their hubris. Of the force who watched from atop their throne in the sky, watching as their creations writhed and struggled to find meaning in their own existence.
He wasn’t horrified.
He found it hilarious.
Every being was just like him. Puppets with their strings cut, with no guiding hand to control them.
He laughed. He laughed harder than he ever had in his entire existence.
If all these people were just puppets…
…then someone had to be the puppeteer.