Genshin Impact: The Origins

The Thunder of Eternity

The whole dojo was still in silence. This was getting awkward. But finally, my father raised his voice.

"The winner of the battle is Shahasra?"

I'm pretty sure I heard a question mark too, like he still wasn't sure about this. The whole dojo burst with amazement. Everyone started to yell with joy. My uncle came to me and hit my back.

"No one ever parried my 7th form before, not even your father. I can see potential in you, son."

My parents' faces filled with joy. But, I could sense something wrong with me. My body started to get heavier, my eyes started to go blank. Before I knew it, I collapsed to the ground.

I could hear everyone calling to me, but I couldn't get up. I ended up unconscious.

********

(From Raiden Ei's point of view)

We were born as the daughters of the Shogun. My sister and I are twins, but her health isn't as good as mine. She has asthma, so she can't perform sword arts, but she's smart and elegant. Our father loved us, but an issue pushed him to the edge: the Emperor having daughters meant we couldn't become the next Shogun because we are women. It meant we had to marry into another clan, and then that clan would take control of Inazuma. Other clans would take action when we turned 16 years old. My father didn't agree with this. All the wars they fought off would just end like nothing.Recently, my uncle adopted a boy. I knew my aunt couldn't bear children anymore, so I think they came to that decision. But after hearing this, my father came up with a cunning plan. If one of us married him, the Raiden clan would hold authority over Inazuma. Marrying your nephew would not be wrong because it was a common thing to do in clans to hold authority within one's own clan.

My sister didn't argue about it, but I strongly refused. I didn't want someone to save us. I didn't want to marry someone I didn't even know. I wanted to prove to my father and everyone else that I would be strong enough to rule over Inazuma. After convincing my sister to help me, we came up with a plan: I would serve as her body double. She would rule Inazuma, and I would protect it.

My father arranged to train us under my uncle. I don't think it's because he trusted us, but rather he thought if we went to live with our nephew, we would come to like him.So, we went to our uncle's castle today. They warmly welcomed us. My uncle and aunt greeted us warmly. Beside them, there was a boy whom I presumed to be my nephew. He had black hair tied in a little ponytail, black eyes, the same as me. His name was Raiden Shahasra, as my father had told me.

After we arrived at the castle, the feast began. Many samurais were talking with him, and he was acting so friendly with them. Everyone respected him, though I didn't understand why.

"I heard you've mastered all forms of the Isshin style despite your age," my father asked him.

"Yes, uncle," he replied.

I nearly choked on my food, but somehow I managed it. What did he just say? He mastered all the forms of the Isshin style. It's impossible. The Isshin style is the hardest sword art style. There's no way he mastered all those forms.

"Yes, it's true. I can vouch for him," my uncle replied.

They must be kidding, right? There's no way he mastered all these forms. But then my father invited him to a duel. Why is my father going so far with him? Is it because of us? I started to think as we walked to the dojo.

"It's not because of us," my sister replied to me, as if she read my mind.

"Then why?"

"The heads of most major clans are here today. Our father wants to prove how strong their future shogun is, that's all."

"Is he aware of this?" I asked

"Probably not" Makoto Replied.

********

The battle began. Shahasra and my father started to fight. I thought Shahasra would go down in a second, but he went toe to toe against my father. He dodged my father's attacks, countered them, and pushed him to the edge. Then my father used his 7th form on him, Musou no Hitotachi, also known as the deadly one-shot sure-hit guaranteed technique. No one can dodge it or parry it. But Shahasra... he parried it like nothing and landed a counter-blow on my father's head.

This left me completely speechless. I looked at my sister, and everyone seemed stunned.

"Umm... did I do something wrong?" he asked, looking around at everyone.

Really, he just parried the most dangerous sword form, and yet this was his reaction. He didn't even scream 'I won'. Everyone started to praise him.

"He's not bad as your future husband, right?" Makoto asked me while trying to hold back a laugh.

"Shut up, please," I replied. "And the same goes for you, sister. You'll marry him too."

Makoto said nothing but chuckled.

But soon after, Shahasra collapsed to the ground. They carried him to his room. Aunt Shinano asked me to take care of him because she wanted to smack my uncle and father for pushing Shahasra to the edge. Makoto stayed with her. I went to Shahasra's room with the servants. They laid him on his mattress and went outside. So, it was just him and me in this room. 

This was awkward, but I had no choice. I started to look around his room. It was pretty well arranged. On a table, there was a blueprint for some works, and there were many bookshelves. After looking around, I knelt beside him. The cooling cloth we had put on his forehead was now dried. I took it and put it in the water bucket near me. After that, I leaned forward to put it on his forehead again, but suddenly he woke up.

********

(On Shahasra's point of view) 

I felt something cool touching my forehead, prompting me to open my eyes. What I saw was a girl with purple eyes leaning towards my face.

"Aghhh..." I let out a startled cry, which seemed to startle her too, and our heads bumped into each other.

"Ouch, that hurt," she began to rub her head.

"I'm sorry. Are you okay?" I asked.

"It's not a big problem. Don't worry," she replied.

"Let me check," I said, gently removing her hand from her forehead. As I suspected, there was a bruise on her head.

"Sorry about that," I apologized.

"Don't worry. You have a bump on your forehead too, bigger than mine," she replied.

We both started to laugh.

"The way you screamed, I'll never forget it," she teased.

I felt embarrassed. "You startled me. By the way, I never asked your name. My name is Raiden Shahasra. What is yours?"

She stopped laughing and replied, "My name is Raiden Ei."

"The thunder of eternity," I mused, realizing the meaning of her name.