(This short story was originally published as part of the Fes 2025 event pamphlet. We’ve translated it for fun. Let’s go!)
As a cleric at the Skydome Temple, Shukra understood all too well that all matters, great or small, were decided by a single person.
If Mistress Medicine of the Thirteen Buddhas told the Skydome Temple to jump, they would ask “how high?” That was a fundamental truth of life at the temple.
Today, the temple shook at its foundations as Bhaisa prepared for her first vacation in quite a long time. No one could remember the last time she had taken any time off, maybe not even Bhaisa herself.
Bhadra, the current Year Keeper, sighed as she saw Bhaisa off.
“You don’t have to take such a short vacation, you know? You could leave more of this year to me.”
“It’s not that I don’t trust you, Bhadra. I just think a short vacation would be best.”
Shukra stayed hidden as Bhaisa left the Skydome Temple, and started shadowing her. The girl still worked at the temple, but she still styled herself the Divine Cat, and planned to form her own group of Divine Generals. Employed as she was by the temple that had formed the original Divine Generals, her plan ran counter to the temple’s mission, but after recent events she had gained official approval.
Tailing Bhaisa was part of that plan to form the new Divine Generals. 500 years ago, Bhaisa’s ancestor had founded the Divine Generals, and Bhaisa herself was in charge of the current group.
“Everything I learn from Lady Bhaisa should be a great foundation for my new Generals!” Shukra thought as she boarded the same ferry as her boss. Fortunately for her, the ship was busy enough to hide in the crowd unseen. Even more fortunately for her, Bhaisa had chosen to take a ride on a ship instead of flying. Shukra counted all of these as good omens for her mission to observe Bhaisa.
Everything that happened after that disabused her of those notions.
The first stop on Bhaisa’s travels was a backwater island. She went to the wilderness, and started gazing at a giant boulder. Shukra remembered that she used gems in her magic, and would spend quite some time searching for gemstones.
Shukra kept her watch, but after the sun had reached its peak, she yawned and thought “This isn’t going to be useful at all.” As she started to think of going home, some scruffy-looking men showed up.
“What are you doing here, lady? Been waiting for us to come and show you a good time?”
The group of five had nothing but trouble written on them. Shukra wasn’t worried for Bhaisa at all, though. She was more interested in how Bhaisa would take care of the problem. She didn’t know all of the details, but Bhaisa could take a gem and launch an attack from it strong enough to drive off a primal beast. Coupled with her power of flight, this group of thugs would never lay a finger on her.
As Shukra straightened and refocused her attention, she noticed that Bhaisa had already readied a gem.
“One-year lapis brilliance.”
“Augh!”
Light shot out from the gem and struck one of the men in the stomach, causing him to cry out in pain.
Shukra started to shout “Already?” in disbelief before clapping her hands over her mouth. The thugs hadn’t done anything yet, and she didn’t even know if they really were thugs or just locals.
Bhaisa didn’t seem to care, and didn’t let up her attack.
The thugs(?) screamed and fled, and Bhaisa didn’t even blink as she kept launching beams of light at their fleeing backs. The thugs(?) let out cries of surprise and fear as they fell, and in mere moments they were all laid flat.
Bhaisa continued her search for stones after that, and returned to the harbor before night fell. She left the fallen men behind her, and after Shukra checked to make sure they were still alive, she followed Bhaisa back.
Bhaisa’s wild ways continued on the next island, which had been split between two opposing factions. The two factions had split their tiny island in two and spent years battling for dominance. The ferry stopped on the west side of the island, but Bhaisa’s destination was on the east side. She was denied passage at the checkpoint.
“War is about to break out. No one’s going to be able to head east for a while, so you should just turn around and go home, ma’am.”
Shukra questioned a local innkeeper for more information, and thought that even Bhaisa wouldn’t be able to have her way before she got a sinking feeling in her stomach and snuck her way to the prospective battleground.
She watched from the bushes as angry battlecries from the western army were answered by even louder shouts from the eastern force. Arrows rained from the sky, and blood rained after them. As more forces moved to engage and spread the fighting, a single figure appeared in the sky.
Both armies stopped and looked upward, dumbfounded. For a moment, they may have thought that a goddess had descended from the heavens to stop the war. Shukra thought that for a moment as well, until she realized that it was Bhaisa.
“Ten-year lapis brilliance.”
Shukra barely made out Bhaisa’s mouth as she spoke those words, and a mass of light rays rained down from the gem she held before her to the ground below.
The battlecries changed to screams as the rain of light came down. There was nowhere to hide, as the attacks came from a height that no arrow or spear could reach. All the soldiers could do was make themselves as small as possible, and wait out the onslaught.
“This isn’t a battle, it’s a disaster…”
Bhaisa disappeared from the skies for a moment before reappearing with a person held in each hand.
Later reports recorded those words spoken to the men in her hands – the generals of each army.
“You two have caused me a lot of trouble by holding your little war on such a nice, rocky field. You could have scratched the gem of my dreams. And what would happen then?”
The pride of each general prevented them from so much as flinching.
Actually, maybe it was the grip that Bhaisa had on each general’s throat that prevented them from flinching, or moving their heads at all. In that grip, even breathing was a doubtful proposition. As their consciousness faded, all the generals could think about was the long, long drop to the ground.
And so, because Bhaisa wanted it to end, the long war ended.
With the soldiers gone, a gentle breeze caressed the earth and Bhaisa could finally focus on searching the now-empty battlefield for her precious stones. She then casually went to the harbor on the east side of the island, boarded another ferry, and took her leave.
The heavily bandaged soldiers bid her farewell, and deep in their hearts they swore never to wage war again. Shukra slipped past the weary and wounded men, feeling pity as she made her way onto the boat.
Bhaisa continued to cut loose on the rest of her trip. She drove away all the monsters on one island. When her ferry was attacked by a rampaging primal beast, she casually threw it down to the Crimson Horizon. On another island, she singlehandedly stopped an avalanche that threatened to swallow the rest of the land.
Overwhelmed by display after display of Bhaisa’s might, Shukra fell to her knees.
“It’s impossible…”
“What’s impossible?”
“Mistress Medicine?!”
Shukra was sure that she’d been shadowing Bhaisa from so far away that she hadn’t noticed, but Bhaisa was standing in front of her, not even sweating from stopping an avalanche moments before.
How long had she known she was being followed? With so much power on display, maybe she’d known from the beginning. Shukra couldn’t muster up the will to ask.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to make my own Divine Generals…”
“Oh? You were so excited to do it.”
“The more I see how you work, the more I realize just how weak I am. I can’t do anything close to what you do. I can’t stop a war, I can’t singlehandedly defeat a primal beast… so how can I expect to found a group of Divine Generals?”
“I see.”
Shukra waited for Bhaisa to continue, but nothing broke the silence until she asked “Aren’t you going to cheer me up? Encourage me? Anything?”
“I don’t encourage people. I just say what I see. In some cases, the best course of action actually is to give up.”
“Is… is that so.”
Shukra pondered the statement. Maybe making a group of Divine Generals, famed and feared across the sky, was just a dream. She knew it was a long shot when she started, but should she just give up?
She felt a dark shadow starting to creep over her.
“That said, I know that encouragement is a good thing. It brings light to the world.”
“What do you mean, light to the world?”
“Come with me.”
Bhaisa took her onto another ship, and at the end Shukra found herself at the bustling Rat Temple.
“Hi, Bhaisa! Hmm? Shukra was traveling with you?”
“Wait, Lady Bhadra?! And Mapra is here too!”
Bhadra was enjoying the festival atmosphere, while Mapra’s eyes darted back and forth, trying to keep as much distance from the crowd as possible.
“There are too many people around… in this crowd, if someone tried to accuse me of something inappropriate, I would have a hard time proving my innocence.”
“You worry too much, Mapra~”
Bhadra brushed off Mapra’s concerns.
“I have to be careful… my life is over if that happens.”
Shukra didn’t know what was going on. She didn’t know why there were so many people at the Rat Temple, and she didn’t know why Bhaisa had brought her here.
“Um, Lady Bhaisa? What are we doing here?”
“The event I was looking forward to the most on this vacation is about to start.”
On cue, the whole town lit up, and all eyes were drawn to a spotlit shadow.
“Thanks for coming all this way, everyone!”
Shukra saw the oversized ears and gasped “Vikala!”
“This is gonna be a great parade, so come on and enjoy the show!”
The Eccentrical Parade began, with dancers on carts going up and down the streets. The bright lights and excited cheers turned the entire town into a dreamland, promising everyone in attendance that tonight would be a perfect night.
“I give you the gift of joy! Come have a great time with me!”
The crowd erupted in cheers at Vikala’s performance.
“Vikala’s having so much fun! Right, Shukra?” Bhadra called over to Shukra, who had become captivated by Vikala’s show.
“She’s doing her duty as a Divine General.” Bhaisa said as she watched the parade.
Standing by her, Shukra whispered “I’m going to make Divine Generals of my own. I’m going to see it through.”
As she watched the Eccentrical Parade, she found herself smiling, courage and determination welling up within her.
“This is why you brought me to this parade, isn’t it, Lady Bhaisa?”
“Don’t lose sight of your real goal. Watching me will teach you nothing. If you want to know what makes a Divine General, then you should watch a Divine General.”
Shukra responded with a “Yes, ma’am!” and returned to watching Vikala’s dance. No shadow remained in her heart. Bathed in brilliant light, the cat looked up to the rat and dreamed.
