Sachitel

The Second of the aeternalist angels, Sachitel had always resented her position as such, as though chronology makes her less valuable than the first. Everything she did is "second," from her rediscovery of Classical Thaumaturgy to her empire, the Second Aeternal Society. In the convoluted mythology of Aeternalism, Sachitel was assigned the role of "consort." Yet the writer of these myths, the sixth angel Sydiah, placed herself at the apex. The second angel resents her for this. The first angel, Zaphenim does not seem worthy of the rank. His thirst for power was foolhardy. For Sachitel is not worth mentioning the others, the timid one or the boisterous twins. Sachitel felt as though she were just one part of a set, reduced from the most cursed woman in history, empress of an arm of the galaxy, bane of Eos, to a deuteragonist.

Sachitel's reign of terror began in 1487 CE, by the traditional calendar. She recognized no such calendar, centered on Eos' rotation. She lead armies of magi and crushed so-called "civilizations." Their trinkets and spacecraft rendered trivial by raw magical might. When she entreated The Benefactor, that ancient spirit gave her the greatest army of magi the universe had ever seen, all Tannjens transfigured through some unknowable method. Her army looted worlds as far as Florathel, shoveling a great deal of their loot into The Benefactor's maw as payment. When it was satisfied, Sachitel's campaign ramped up further.

Without an understanding of physics, she gathered philosophers and wise men. She wanted to create a garden for herself, a proper monument. They advised her, and over decades, her magi hurled comets at Zushilo. They brought in billions of slaves to purify the poisonous soil and their dead bodies nourished it. Compasses functioned on Zushilo which the wise men said made it a good candidate for terraformation. Indeed, Zushilo remains inhabitable to this day, but Sydiah turned Zushilo, Sachitel's crowning achievement and earliest terraformed planet in the modern era, into her capital. Sydiah's empire, Sedrua, had their mark all over it. All the wars they put it through, all the bombardment they couldn't stop, all the development that paved over Sachitel's world. She'd have rather never returned to see it in this state.

Sachitel was one of seven individuals that Octarch Eleleth resurrected using the Anabasis Engine in 9637 CE. Though her memories were unclear, as they were sourced mostly from the collective unconscious, she had no experience cooperating. Since a very young age, her every command was said to have been from God. Disagreeing meant death, so there was no difference even if Sachitel hardly felt holy herself. What she felt as she emerged onto that stage, Eleleth examining her and commenting in his grating Zythyn voice, was small. Thaumaturgy had advanced by leaps and bounds—Eleleth would have been perhaps a low-ranking officer in her magus army, but his technique was so refined that he could do as he pleased to any of them. She felt small, not inferior, but younger somehow. Eleleth was overjoyed when Sachitel lashed out at him because of this—immediately he subdued her as the crowd cheered.

Sachitel trained hard, but modern thaumaturgy did not come easily to her. Zaphenim grew immensely powerful, however. One day, he sat down in Eleleth's office and reclined. He ruled Aurothiya since that day, atomizing anyone that had anything to say about it. Sachitel slipped into her role as consort and got some amusement watching her "peers" squirm under Zaphenim's thumb. When he decided that Aurothiya was not enough, he began picking fights with surrounding nations. He got the war he wanted when the Confederacy of Borealis and the Imperator's Church declared war. The resulting War of the Ancients was a chance for Zaphenim to fight the greatest magi of the age, though many more went after Sachitel and the others much to his dismay. Sachitel nearly perished several times. During Aylathiya's Ignominy, Zaphenim started taking on the greatest spirits of the age, leaving Sachitel to rule in his place. He came back, bloody and missing limbs, and Sachitel smiled down on him.

Sachitel was later arrested, though she put up quite the fight. Imperatrix Lorelei Avana-Drusus sentenced Sachitel with one count of treason, thirty counts of war crimes, and one count of sexual assault. That last one puzzled Sachitel until she realized Zaphenim must not have died after all. She wondered if they'd give Zaphenim the same charges.

"A funny thing this modern society is," were her last words. She got the usual treatment for treason, a scorching hot replica of The Imperator's Crown. Since the Imperator contained a powerful spirit within, that of Mars, they could withstand its immense weight. Fifty-thousand Kilograms bared down on Sachitel's head and neck. She had the worst fate for traitors executed by this method, strong enough for the crown to slowly sink rather than to crash down like a guillotine. Though it was over quite quickly.