Honkai Star Rail (READER)

Blade - Eye to eye

He was sane once. 

To that very notion, sanity now eludes him like a plague. Rest is not offered to the damned and the wicked. Both of which Blade was categorized into more often than not. 

Damned to live a cursed life, an unending existence and cycle of pain. 

Wicked like a broken harp that can only play a dire symphony of cackled notes. 

Such was the tale of the Xianzhou's own brilliant blacksmith. A genius to his craft, like Michealangelo or Da Vinci; his mind was a fascinating mosaic. Hammer striking iron-bladed instruments of war like the most beautiful paintings. One would never think that death could be so peaceful, but under the sharp tip of his weaponry, such was the brilliant result. 

Which was why it was so much more devastating when he turned his instruments of skill against the heavens. Cursing them with the vile distrust in his heart, like water and oil, he was cast from the Xianzhou. 

To see him now was like a punishment from the Jade emperor himself, face-to-face with the incarnation of love, so far removed from peace. His hair too turned a shade of heartlessness, only mirrored in the one who had made him like this. 

Slamming Dan Heng into the wall with a ferocious vitriol that matched the wrath of heaven. This same scene had played out near a thousand years prior, when you had almost ended the life of the very same Vidyadhara. 

--x--

A burning inferno overtook the land like a steaming pot. Fire taking hold over every side of the battlefield. Your mind was a turret of pain, constantly firing attack after attack. 

Sometimes that hate-filled passion worked against you. Lashing out in inexplicable ways towards those you cared about most. It was cruel, to put them through the explosion of words that poured through your mouth like molten fire.  

Could they really blame you? The leader at the forefront of the assault against the abundant Mara-struck. Your role in this war was to kill everything inside you, in order to destroy an enemy, you once loved like family. 

"Commander, we are short-handed. The mara-struck are too prominent in the west to keep up our defenses. We must-" 

"Shut up. Just- shut up." Your barked back, shoving the officer out of your tent. Listening to them ramble on and on about how you were losing this war was no more helpful than bringing the enemy a set of tea. Would they like you to sit down and try talking to the Mara?!? 

You needed time- a place to think. You needed to go somewhere you wouldn't feel so angry. 

Who better to talk to than the blade-smith himself? 

Barging in unannounced, the clamoring of steel to heated steel was akin to a symphony. At that point anything would be more welcoming than the horrified cries of your brethren. Slouching upon his straw mat beside his workstation, you could hear the bang of his hammer slow to a halt. 

"Y/N, you can't keep coming here to clear your head." 

"Right, why don't I just ask the enemy to help vent. You're obviously too busy smacking iron together like a caveman..." You shout back, a bit too loud. Wincing at the strength behind your words, it was always an unintentional friendly fire when you broke his concentration. He only wanted to work in peace, yet here you were, disturbing him incessantly. Like a child searching for attention. 

"That wasn't what I meant." He sighed, placing down his tools with a light clank. 

"I- I will leave."  You muttered with a scowl. It should have been an apology, but he knew you better than that. He knew how remorseful you were, even if you keel over dead before you apologized.