In the past I had been the Sun Queen, Himiko; the first and the last. None could deceive me, none could threaten me. I had the love of my people, the loyalty of my storm guard, the love of my general, and the respect of all who knew my name.

Now, I am rage and suffering, a storm bound in dead flesh. A human soul permanently anchored earthward. I have not been human for a very long time.

I can no longer obscure my face with my hands to hide my misery. Thus the clouds shield my eyes. I can no longer scream my agony to the heavens over which I have dominion; the winds have become my voice. My wails are thunder, and my tears feed the lakes and rivers of my island kingdom.

I no longer know how much time has passed since I interred myself to this lacquered husk. This was meant to be my prison, a way to punish myself. A self imposed exile of my spirit.

I was arrogant, and my pride elevated me to great heights before my fall. I lost everything, and in my despair I decided that I deserved this. I was wrong; not wrong about what I deserved, but wrong in a more selfish way.

I have been unable to rule, and my kingdom has collapsed around me. My suffering is without end and my isolation is maddening, I can no longer put an end to the storms that rage at the edges of my fraying consciousness. Only my storm guard have stayed with me, their loyalty undying. They have become another wall of my prison.

Over the centuries others have come, and I have stranded them here, all of them. Each time I have hoped to be found, but my storm guard are ceaseless in their duty. None who threaten me survive long. The storm guard are as devoted as their general had been. They defend my corpse even as it rots, and I am unable to command them otherwise. I can only watch, and rage, and wait in agony for something to change.

I have not given up my hope that I will be freed. There are survivors on this island, a cult which worships me as a goddess. They are horrible, repugnant, their leader is the sort of man I would as soon have flayed as permit him to bow at my feet. Despite this, he may be key that permits my escape.

He knows the ritual that can free me. Shameful as it is, I would take a new body if he could find one suitable. I swore I would never again commit such a crime, but such is the hell I have endured that perhaps I can take just one more. What comes after I am free, I do not know. There is nothing left for me, perhaps with the strength of my new body I will cast myself from the castle ramparts, and embrace the winds of my domain a final time.

Yes, so many lives have been destroyed by my arrogance, my vanity, and my ceaseless rage. I think perhaps those lives should be avenged. Even my own.