When Sun And Moon Align - Undercover_Owl - 原神 (2024)

Chapter 1: The Leyline Abnormality

Chapter Text

Six years ago, the Akademiya

“I don’t think this is a good idea, Senior Kaveh.” Alhaitham glanced around the empty corridors of the Akademiya for the third time, as if the Matras would materialise out of thin air the second he looked the other way.

“Why so?” Kaveh pushed the window open, heaved himself on the sill and held his hand out to Alhaitham.

He didn’t take it. “If they catch us outside the dorms after the curfew, we’ll get into trouble. I don’t want to lose my scholarship.”

“Neither do I. Relax, I memorised the guards’ pattern and they won’t disturb us for at least half an hour. That is, if we don’t spend all that time quarrelling in the hallway.”

Alhaitham detached his gaze from the corridor and locked eyes with Kaveh. “What if your memory doesn’t serve you right and the guards appear here earlier?”

“I’ll take the blame on me and tell them I was being an irresponsible senior, who coerced his junior into sneaking out.”

The corner of Alhaitham’s lips twitched up. “Isn’t this the truth?”

Kaveh rolled his eyes, beginning to sound annoyed. “You could have stayed behind, if you really didn’t want to come along.”

“I never said this.” Finally, Alhaitham took Kaveh’s hand and pulled himself up on the sill. “I hope whatever you want to show me is worth the trouble.”

“You bet it is.” The breeze of the night fluttered through their green Akademiya robes and without the dim candlelight from inside, the world was dipped into total darkness. Kaveh closed the window and slid off the sill onto the Divine Tree the Akademiya was built on. Its branches could carry a hoard of Sumpter Beasts and had the width of one as well. Carefully, he set one foot before the other. Kaveh had inspected this spot a few days earlier, but the familiar twigs and curves barely resembled the ones at daytime.

Kaveh followed the branch until the path got steeper. He had to climb the last part and pushed his body upwards by clinging onto notches in the wood, guiding him to the final spot. When he turned around, he was surprised to see Alhaitham following closely behind. No wonders – he recently started working out and it showed in his stamina and well-defined forearms. This development had attracted a lot of female students’ attention too, but Alhaitham only had eyes for his books. Something about it sparked a strange sense of satisfaction within Kaveh he never understood. It wasn’t schadenfreude. No, he didn’t find pleasure in those poor girls’ disappointment, but no other label fitted on this warm feeling either. How peculiar...

Alhaitham sat down close enough for their knees to brush against each other. “I sure hope you didn’t drag me up this tree for nothing.”

“Decide for yourself.” Kaveh raised his index finger to point up. In the infinite black of the night, a scarlet red moon shone brightly. As if someone had stabbed the gods and let a fresh drop of blood fall on the sky. “A lunar eclipse. You can’t see them from the dorm rooms, but here is the perfect spot to watch them. Lunar eclipses like this happen when…”

“… the moon stands in the planet’s shadow, also called the umbra, on a full moon,” Alhaitham completed his sentence.

Kaveh laughed. “Here I thought I could brag with my new knowledge.”

“But this isn’t just any lunar eclipse - It’s a total lunar eclipse.” Alhaitham’s eyes glowed more precious than all the stars together when he talked about something that piqued his interest. “Those are a lot rarer than the partial and penumbral ones. Total lunar eclipses happen roughly every three years. In those situations, some sunlight reaches the moon’s surface and grants it this prominent shade of red. It has something to do with the different wavelengths of colours. I read about this in the House of Daena recently. It’s a fascinating phenomenon.”

Kaveh knew this already and had witnessed how immersed Alhaitham has been in those books. After all, it was what set his idea for the risky trip in motion in the first place. “So, you like it?” Kaveh couldn’t bring himself to look at the moon when he found something even rarer to observe. Alhaitham seldom smiled like this.

“Let’s say, if we get caught now, it wasn’t in vain.”

“I take this as a ‘yes’.”

A comfortable silence enveloped the scene and filled Kaveh with a deep sense of serenity. The Akademiya liked to remind their students to reach for the stars and at this moment, they didn’t feel too far away. As if he only had to lift an arm to catch one of the glowing orbs in his hands.

Alhaitham cleared his throat. “I wanted to ask you something.”

“Under the moonlight? How romantic.”

“Nothing like this,” he said quickly. Although his tone didn’t waver one bit, a tint of red spread over his face.

Cute. “Alright, what is it?”

“I heard from a couple of students that the professors will assign joint research projects tomorrow.” Alhaitham sighed. “Unfortunately, it’s mandatory. I hate working in teams, but with you, it will be the least unbearable.”

“So, you’re asking me to be your partner? Research partner I mean.”

“That’s what I just said.”

“Let me think about it. As Kshahrewar’s most promising student, I’m highly sought after.” With a wink, Kaveh let himself sink against the tree trunk.

Alhaitham rolled his eyes. “Really? By whom?”

“Quite a lot of people. You would notice too if you didn’t bury your heads in books all the time.”

“I’m able to read and observe my surroundings.”

“That’s the genius of Haravatat for you. He can do two tasks at once.” Although Kaveh’s voice dripped with sarcasm, no ill intent hid beneath it.

And despite this, Alhaitham’s shoulders seemingly dropped, although he concealed it well under his ever-neutral tone. “So, that’s a ‘No’ I suppose? Well then, thanks for considering. I’ll ask someone else, if you don’t want to do the research project with me.”

“I never said this.” Kaveh co*cked a brow. “Quite the contrary actually.”

“You’re such a tease.”

“Learned it all from you.”

Alhaitham looked up to the sky again. “Half an hour will be over soon. We should get going.”

Kaveh dragged himself up and stretched his arms. The night’s cold had numbed his muscles. “A pity. I wished we could stay here forever.”

“Hurry up, time won’t stop just for you.” But his cold words didn’t match the warmth in his gaze.

“Not even if I ask nicely? I’m quite the charmer, you know.”

“If they catch us, I will take you up on your promise earlier.” Alhaitham was already halfway down the branch.

“Okay, okay, I’m coming.”

Today, Lambad’s Tavern

“You can’t be serious.” Alhaitham’s gaze darted between Kaveh and the bill. “You drank all this liquor and didn’t even bring Mora to pay for it?”

Kaveh rubbed his temples and closed his eyes for a few inhales – not because of Alhaitham, but because the floor wavered unsteadily since the last glass of wine. “Sorry, I forgot my wallet at home.”

“I know for a fact you didn’t. We live together. If there was as much as one Mora laying around, I would have seen it. Don’t you dare lie to me.” As Alhaitham got louder, the first signs of slurring bled through his voice. They both drank too much and the hefty bill proved it. Kaveh didn’t even carry enough Mora to tip the waitress.

“It’s been a rough week. Can’t you just pay?”

“Again? Give me one good reason why I should do that.” Alhaitham crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Maybe you’ll learn your lesson after you faced the consequences of your actions.”

Kaveh groaned. “It’s not fun for me either to be short on money. Archons, I’ll make it up to you another day. To you, this bill is nothing. Quit behaving like one nice act will kill you.”

“Just one? I’ve been generous enough to you. Without me, you wouldn’t even have a roof above your head. Where’s my ‘thanks’ for that?”

“The audacity. You have no right to act this high and mighty.” Kaveh’s face heated up – both due to the alcohol and the anger. “Your ‘generosity’ is founded on hollow ground. Technically, the Akademiya gave the house to both of us. I was meant to live there too if I had accepted their offer.”

Alhaitham’s smirk was like throwing oil into a fire. “So? Not my problem that you forfeited ownership. Legally speaking, it’s mine alone.”

“Hypocrite. You only abide by the law if it suits you. You know damn well we put equal effort into that joint research project, yet you reaped the rewards alone. Whatever the laws say, going on your beloved logic alone, everyone should get their share. Show your senior some respect.”

“Respect is earned. And you don’t even earn enough salary to finance your drinking habits.”

“That’s far enough!” Kaveh slammed a fist on the table. In the corner of his eyes, he noticed heads turning and conversations going silent. The liquor muted his embarrassment. “There’s not a fibre of empathy in you. Actually, you might be the first human to survive without a heart. Maybe the Akademiya would be interested in researching that and give you another house for it.”

“Strong emotions cloud the judgment.” Alhaitham wrinkled his nose as if he had smelled something foul. “For example, if you didn’t believe every sob story from the merchants on the streets, you wouldn’t drown in debt this badly. Those scammers abuse your gullibility to get to your wallet and you fall for their tricks every time. If this is what the renowned light of Kshahrewar has become, the Darshan has dissolved into a joke.”

“And that’s the reason I initially forfeited ownership. Living with a pyro slime would be less troubling than living with you. Even if it burned the house down, it still would cause less havoc.” The alcohol crushed all restraints on Kaveh’s mind. “You’ve grown into the most insufferable adult I’ve ever met. You miss no opportunity to throw obstacles my way and I hate it so much. No, I hate you so much.”

Alhaitham shoved the chair aside with a bit too much force, too fast and his grin lost its light-hearted touch. “Well then, good luck finding your pyro slime roommate. I for one will go home now.”

“What about the bill?”

“Get creative. That’s what you’re good at, no?”

“You can’t leave me here!” Kaveh wanted to grab Alhaitham’s arm. Too slow. His fingers closed around nothing. “Wait!” He chased after his roommate. The alcohol made the world spin and when he caught Alhaitham’s sleeve, he swore he would fall if he let go now.

Alhaitham glared at him, but he didn’t let go.

“Listen to me, idiot.” Kaveh took a deep breath. “I admit, it wasn’t the proper way to go drinking without telling you I was low on Mora. I am not proud of it and if I didn’t need those drinks so badly, I wouldn’t have asked. But work has been consuming all my Mora and time recently and I needed this break to prevent my descent into insanity. I’ll pay you back the bill, after I got paid for my commission, alright?”

Alhaitham’s face stayed immovable at the question. He pointed towards his earpieces. Unlike at the dinner table, the green gem embedded in the golden device had lit up. “Save your breath. I can’t hear you. Your rambling isn’t worth my attention.”

It was as if someone pulled a switch – and not only the switch on the earpieces. Kaveh couldn’t tell anymore whether the embarrassment or the anger burned his skin. “Don’t you have the decency to at least listen to me?” Somewhere he heard a shatter – probably his patience crumbling as he ripped Alhaitham’s earpieces off. “You can’t shut the world out, just because it doesn’t play by your rules. Oh Archons, I take everything back I just said. You don’t deserve my apology. Do you ever think about anybody but yourself?”

Alhaitham narrowed his eyes. “Kaveh.” His name sliced like a blade through the air. “Give them back.”

“You care about your damn earpieces more than you care about me.” The sharp edges of the device cut into Kaveh’s palm. “If you want them this badly, here, have them.” He wanted to throw them Alhaitham’s way, but the wine messed with his senses. Green and golden shards flew across the room as the earpieces shattered on the ground.

“No.” Alhaitham fell with them. He picked up the shards and a thousandth grimaces of horror reflected in the broken remains. The green gem, split horizontally across its surface, flickered weakly but lost the fight to its inevitable death. Without the light, the gold appeared muddy and dull.

Never has time moved slower. Even the background chatter halted and in the back of his mind, something told Kaveh to run. He didn’t listen. “I am so sor-”

“Do you know how hard it was to get my hands on those?” Alhaitham didn’t scream, but the sharp undertone provided the same effect. “I assembled them myself with technology imported from Fontaine. It took me a whole month to get the earpieces running, but it took you only seconds to smash them on the floor.”

Kaveh’s throat tightened. He bent down to pick up the remaining shards. “I… I didn’t mean to-”

“Stay away! You’ve done enough.” Alhaitham spun around and pushed Kaveh away.

He crashed into a table. White-hot pain exploded in Kaveh’s side. The collision sent his thoughts scattering and a pitiful whine left his throat. Gasping and coughing, he heaved himself up from the table. The pain faded in waves, but never fully vanished. Mainly because it was Alhaitham, who pushed him.

The alcohol had to mess with Kaveh’s sight again because he imagined seeing worry flash over Alhaitham’s face. Not the only concerned face in the tavern. Behind his back, whispers arose. “Is he alright?” passed through the masses and another muttered, “This looked nasty…”

“Everything’s fine,” Kaveh exclaimed to no one in particular and watched Alhaitham’s mien harden. He still clung onto the remains of the earpieces despite the red smears staining the gem shards.

“Your key.”

“What?”

“Your key, give it to me.” Alhaitham held out a hand, his voice deprived of any emotions. “You said you loath living with me and I am done with your antics. Why do we still bother to get along, if it brings only displeasure to the both of us?”

“What kind of sick joke is this?”

“The key,” Alhaitham repeated. “Now.”

Kaveh’s chuckle resembled rather a sob. “Ha, you’re kicking me out? I wondered when the day would come.” Slowly, he reached into his pockets. Part of him waited for Alhaitham to announce it was an empty threat after all. He would tease Kaveh for falling for this distasteful joke, and later, they would laugh about it in the comfort of their home. Together.

But his ex-roommate remained silent. Like a man turned into a statue.

At first, it were only Kaveh’s hands that were shaking, then it infested his voice as he slammed the key into Alhaitham’s palm. “At least a pyro slime would show me more warmth than you ever did.”

Kaveh stormed out of the tavern before anyone saw the wet sparkle pooling in his eyes, the quivering of his lips and his limp due to the ache in his ribs. When he put enough distance between him and the tavern, his resistance against the tears collapsed. I can’t believe he actually threw me out this time. Everything felt surreal as if stuck in a nightmare. From afar, he heard someone calling his name. Kaveh hoped it was Alhaitham, but a look over his shoulder proved him wrong.

One of his co-workers ran towards him. Her eyes lit up as she spotted him. “Master Kaveh!”

He turned around and kept walking.

“Master Kaveh, please wait! It’s urgent.”

“I’m busy.” He hated how pitiful he sounded.

“There has been an issue on the construction site.”

Kaveh halted. He closed his eyes and took one, two unsteady breaths to stop himself from breaking down. Cruel fate wanted to smash his head against rock bottom. “An issue you say?”

“Yes.” His co-worker fidgeted with her fingers. “My apologies for the inappropriate timing, but we aren’t sure how to handle the incident. I’ve been looking for you all evening.”

“It’s fine.” Kaveh forced a polite smile. “What’s the problem?”

“A Leyline has formed where we intended to lay the foundation for the building. We worry it will attract monsters and ruin our progress. You have a vision and are the head of the project, so…” She made some vague gestures.

“I see.” Kaveh imagined hearing the gods laughing from above at his series of misfortune. A hilarious joke to everyone but him. His body yearned to curl up at home and wallow in his misery, but there was no such thing as “home” anymore, and in the future, he couldn’t afford any more financial losses. “Bring me there. I’ll see what I can do.”

Kaveh had seen Leylines on his trips to Avidya Forest and the Hypostyle Desert, but none resembled the view before him. Unlike their cyan and golden counterparts, this Leyline pulsated in a saturated red like a bleeding heart, marinated in the same-coloured fog floating around it. His eyes narrowed. “That’s unnatural.”

“Maybe we should hire someone from the Adventurers’ Guild to inspect it,” his co-worker suggested.

Too expensive. “No need. I can handle it.” Kaveh didn’t feel half the confidence he radiated at this moment. “Stay back, I want to get a closer look.”

Kaveh approached the abnormality. His skin tingled as the Leyline responded to the dendro energy flowing through his vision as if it cried out to its own kind. Leylines are pure elemental energy after all, his mind supplied. And the red variant was no different. “I see no superficial difference except the colour. However, I’m no Spantamad scholar, so don’t lend my evaluation too much trust.”

“I understand. Master Kaveh, what should we do next?”

“I’ll get my claymore and Mehrak. Leylines Outcrops vanish after a few days, but the monsters it lures in are a concern, so I will stand guard until it disappears.” Not like I have anywhere else to go for the next few days. His remark about getting a pyro slime as a roommate might become reality after all. “Warn the rest of the team. We cannot get anyone injured due to carelessness.”

“Master Kaveh, with the utmost respect, are you certain you want to ward off the monsters alone? If not the Adventurers’ Guild, Eremites will assist you for a little Mora.”

Even ‘a little Mora’ blew their non-existing budget. “No, it’s too dangerous to-” Kaveh gasped and fell over as if an invisible claw ripped at his rib cage. His dendro vision lit up without his doing and the burning in his chest wasn’t of emotional nature anymore. The pain spread like liquid fire throughout his veins and scorched him from within. From miles away, the panicked cries of his co-worker cut through the red fog caging in everything.

It’s the Leyline’s doing, shot through his head. Kaveh opened his mouth to scream, but all he could breathe in were the pure clouds of elemental energy that clogged his lungs. His vision’s light wavered and his sight distort into a splotch of red. As the glow of dendro died, so did his consciousness slip away.

Chapter 2: Another World

Chapter Text

6 years and 7 days ago, Avidya Forest

Kaveh swayed between the world of the conscious and the unconscious. The darkness kept dragging him back to a timeless place, where his thoughts dispersed into an incoherent mess and drifted away with the next breeze.

A breeze. The wind. Kaveh grasped for any foothold in reality until the gust turned into human mumbling and mumbling into language.

“Is he dead?” a man asked.

Grasses rustled and something touched his face. “No, his breathing goes steady, but he isn’t responding. We should report this to the Adventurers’ Guild.”

Kaveh’s eyelids weighed heavily and the darkness invited him back with the sweet promise of numbness. The voices started to fade out into an unintelligible buzz as his consciousness threatened to escape. No, a small part of him protested, I can’t. Kaveh fought through the mist and slowly, he dragged his eyes open. The sudden brightness shot a jolt of pain through his skull, but he didn’t close them out of fear to lose the grasp of reality again. Tree crowns framed his view of the blue sky above. “What happened?” he wanted to ask but only croaked out a cough.

“Huh?” A woman’s face shifted into his vision and blocked out the sun. She wore the Adventurer’s Guild green-red attire and loose hair strains escaped her brown braids leading to the back of her head. She waved a hand over his face, which caused the world to go dark momentarily. “Hey mister, can you hear me?”

Kaveh moved his head just enough for it to count as a nod.

“Aberdeen, he’s awake!” The woman beckoned her partner to follow.

A second person entered his view, dressed in the same uniform. Aberdeen took a look at Kaveh and raised a brow. “Do you think he ate poisonous mushrooms? He looks completely out of it.”

“I didn’t.” The wine lost its influence, yet Kaveh slurred anyway. Like putting back the heartbeat into a corpse, the control poured back into his body slowly. With each passing second, more of the warmth the Leyline had robbed him of streamed through his veins again and perished the stupor that trapped his limbs and thoughts. The fog in his head receded until he didn’t need to fight anymore to keep his eyes open.

Kaveh propped himself on his elbows and hauled his torso up. The world wavered. Internally, he called for his vision and it responded with a flicker as if it just woke up too. The prickle of elemental energy underneath his skin had become part of him just like the blood in his body. Although the Leyline had cried out to the dendro vision, his elemental powers felt unchanged and flowed steadily. Yet fear pushed away any form of relief.

“Stay back.” Kaveh’s gasps were hoarse as if he hadn’t spoken in years. “The Leyline is dangerous.”

The adventurers exchanged a quizzical look.

“Don’t touch the red fog. Hear me?” Kaveh squeezed his eyes shut as a wave of pain jerked through his side the second he moved too rapidly. Instead of the sleepy daze corrupting his mind, a sharp hangover cut through his thoughts. With the veil of numbness dropped, all sensations, both pleasant and unpleasant, broke through the surface.

“Are you alright?”

“Just stay away from the red fog.” Kaveh waited for the ache in his side to pass. No matter how much the injury hurt, it didn’t match the pain of knowing its origin. He and Alhaitham bickered as if they would die without it, but they never meant to harm each other. Kaveh wiped away the itching in his eyes.

Never except last night.

Where would he sleep tonight with no Mora to his name and no house to call home? Contemplating this question worsened his headache.

“Mister.” The adventurer’s tense tone captured his attention. “What red fog are you talking about?”

“From the Leyline. Obviously.”

He expected fear or even alarm, but not the pitiful smile one gave a child that fell over on the ice after being told to be careful. “Of course, from the Leyline.”

“You don’t take me seriously. The Leyline is…”

… gone? Kaveh looked around and reality clashed with the image in his mind. The forest glade didn’t resemble the construction site he passed out on. Not one brick interrupted the idyll nor did any trace of the red Leyline loom over the green backdrop of the forest. Only the silhouette of Sumeru city’s rooftops in the distance slipped him a hint of their location. “Did you carry me to a different place?”

“No, we found you here.”

Kaveh rubbed his forehead. Something was wrong. He had attended a few mandatory classes about Leylines, but no scholar ever mentioned their ability to render humans unconscious – let alone teleport them. Did the alcohol paint over reality or did the red Leyline differ in more than colour?

The adventurer kneeled down before him. “Mister, what’s your name?”

“Kaveh.”

“Kaveh, please tell me. Did you eat any strange plants, fruits, or mushrooms before you collapsed? The nature of Sumeru’s Forest is often more foe than friend, no matter how colourful and sweet it appears.”

“I told you already I didn’t eat any strange mushrooms or the like.” Kaveh suppressed a sigh. “Tighnari would be pretty upset with me if I did.”

“Who?”

“Tighnari. He’s the chief forest ranger of the Avidya Forest. You probably heard of him.”

Puzzled expressions crossed the Adventurer’s faces. Again.

Kaveh hated that look. “What’s wrong?”

Aberdeen cleared his throat. “I’ve been stationed in Avidya forest for years, but I never encountered someone by the name ‘Tighnari’. With his rank, I would have heard about him for sure.”

“You are kidding me.” Yet neither of them looked in a mood to joke. “Tighnari, the forest ranger of Gandharva Ville. Long fennec ears, often sarcastic, but kind-hearted? He’s close with the General Mahamatra too.” The more Kaveh talked, the quieter he got at the lack of a reaction. Desperation shattered through his voice. “You have to know him.”

“Did you indulge in any hard liquor before you passed out?” the woman asked softly.

“I mean, yes, I was drinking with Alhaitham, but not to the point of blacking out. I know my limits.” The mention of his ex-roommate made his rib cage tighten. “I am not drunk.”

“Did Mister Alhaitham accompany you? Should we search for him too?”

“No need.” Kaveh barked out a sour laugh. “By now, he probably sits comfortably at his desk at the Akademiya, doing his damn well-paying scribe job.”

“Scribe?” the woman echoed.

“I thought he was a student at the Akademiya.” Aberdeen frowned. “His peers of the same Darshan often complain about him at the tavern, whenever I go for a drink. It’s hard to miss since he has quite a reputation – of the good and bad kind.”

“Alhaitham’s ‘unique’ personality and intelligence have always attracted admiration and hatred likewise. Though they waste their breath, if they believe either matters to him.” Kaveh couldn’t ban the pungency from his remark. He used to think he was different, that he could break through the scribe’s walls, but he only hit another one. “Though Alhaitham graduated years ago. You probably misheard something.”

The woman narrowed her eyes. “Hold on, I think I remember you as well. Aren’t you studying at the Akademiya too?”

“I used to. Nowadays, I work as an architect. You probably know the Palace of Alcazarzaray.”

“Palace of what?”

A sigh escaped him. “North-East of Sumeru city, the home of Lord Sangemah Bay.”

“There is no building there. No one dares to build so close to the cliffs.”

Kaveh stared at them like they spoke a different language. The hangover and pain in his ribs proved that he drank with scribe Alhaitham yesterday, yet the adventurers acted like Kaveh was the crazy one – they even denied his beloved palace.

“If he’s from the Akademiya, we should get him to the Bimarstan as fast as possible,” the woman whispered to her partner before she turned to Kaveh. “Can you walk?”

“I think so.” Perhaps it was best to follow the adventurers to get them checked by a doctor as well. Kaveh pushed himself back up on his feet. Despite his carefulness, each move stung. As confused as the adventurers were, they still showed him kindness and helped him to not trip on their way back to Sumeru city.

During their travel, Kaveh noticed more oddities. His clothes sat looser than they did the day before. The neckline of his shirt had sunken down to his navel, which made his attire look more revealing than intended. His gloves didn’t fit anymore either and puffed up when he bent his fingers. A bad hunch twisted his stomach and at their arrival at the city gates, it shoved his sanity over the edge.

Maybe he did eat a mushroom. Maybe he was still drunk. Maybe he lay knocked out somewhere in Avidya forest and had an obscure nightmare.

Because this wasn’t the same Sumeru city he left yesterday.

Overnight, buildings had evaporated out of existence and resurrected older ones in their place. Shops stood at the wrong places and whenever they passed familiar merchants, they rather resembled their daughters and sons with their youthful looks. Worst of all, no one but Kaveh seemed concerned in the slightest. People exchanged greetings and went about their day like it was normal that Sumeru regressed numerous years in time.

Aberdeen halted. “You look pale. Something amiss?”

“I think I’m about to throw up.”

At least afterward, Kaveh had proof that nothing but wine had been in his stomach. No strange mushrooms or plants, and not even a decent meal. Arguing had consumed all his time, leaving none to eat.

“I need a break.” Kaveh slumped against a bench at the side of the road, close to the Akademiya. His stomach was empty but filled with nausea. The throbbing ache in his skull and ribs were a sad reminder of the truth everyone forgot in the land of knowledge itself.

Kaveh has never regretted his Darshan choice, but now he wished he had studied under Spantamad, the research of the seven elements. His knowledge about Leylines was limited; he only knew they consisted of pure elemental energy and possessed the ability to store memories. No one mentioned they could defy space and time too. Wouldn’t such an important detail be more talked about? Although Kaveh wasn’t sure how the Leyline did it, it explained why no one knew of the Palace of Alcazarzaray and why Tighnari and Alhaitham didn’t yet work in their future jobs.

A shadow fell over him as Aberdeen’s bulky figure stopped next to him. “Are you well again? The Akademiya isn’t too far away anymore either.”

“One more second. I just have to-”

“Senior Kaveh.”

He went stiff. This voice. Familiar yet foreign. Its sound tore Kaveh’s heart apart and mended it back together simultaneously. He forced his gaze down to the floor tiles because he couldn’t bear looking at Alhaitham. His guilt, shame, and anger had no roots here. In this world, the earpieces weren’t broken and the keys not taken away, but the memories persisted and pierced deeper into his chest as the familiar stranger approached.

“Where have you been all day? You missed the lectures and your Darshan leader wants to-'' Alhaitham took in a sharp breath. Although Kaveh didn’t see his face, the pause said enough. He felt Alhaitham’s stare scanning him from head to toe, fully taking in his pitiful state. It made Kaveh’s skin prickle. He was cowering already, but the too-big clothes made him look even smaller while he clung to the bench as if the next breeze could burst his fragile being into pieces.

Alhaitham’s complaints fell to a whisper. “What happened to you?” To everyone else, he appeared calm in his speaking manner, but Kaveh spotted the shiver and hesitance swinging in every syllable. The composure was a façade.

Even if Kaveh knew how to respond, his tongue prohibited him to speak. He didn’t dare to move, but his heart hammered so fast, it might have broken another rib.

“We found him unconscious in the Avidya Forest. He seems a little confused and has trouble walking, so we are heading to the Bimarstan,” the adventurer explained, “His symptoms are reminiscent of consuming poisonous plants or berries, although he sternly denies eating any.”

Alhaitham didn’t answer right away. Kaveh could hear the gears turning in his head and clicking into place. This wasn’t good. “Allow me to take him to Bimarstan instead. You two must be exhausted after the long walk from Avidya Forest and I happen to have some free time on my hands.”

The offer sounded polite, but that wasn’t his intention. It didn’t take a genius to know something was off about Kaveh and Alhaitham wanted to know why. A scholar’s curiosity. “Students at the Akademiya don’t know ‘free time’, so don’t feel obligated to accompany me.” Kaveh’s whisper fell short of being just a louder exhale. “My rib barely hurts anymore too, so let me go alone.” Not waiting for a response, he sat up and immediately sunk back with a hiss.

“So irrational.” Sighing, Alhaitham made a gesture signalling the adventurers to leave. “I’ll take it from here. Thank you for your help.”

“Naturally. May the Dendro Archon protect you.” The adventurers said their farewells and merged with the crowd.

Kaveh tried to lift himself up again. He flinched when Alhaitham wrapped an arm around his back and pulled him up to steady his attempt at walking. In the past, they used to do this when one of them, mostly Kaveh, was too drunk to carry themselves. His throat went tight. The evening before twisted every good memory like spreading poison.

“Lean on me. It will release pressure from the broken bone.” Alhaitham’s whisper brushed cold against his panic-hot skin.

“Thanks,” Kaveh choked out. He made the mistake of looking up and a million thoughts shot through his head at once. Meeting Alhaitham’s eyes, he saw two people. The scribe, who demanded his keys back with a gaze so cold it made him shudder, and the Haravatat student, who hardly hid the concern seeping through his features. There was something mesmerising about the second one that held his gaze hypnotised. A fondness without annoyance or disdain spoiling the tranquil image. Kaveh hadn’t seen this look since they parted ways over their joint projects back then.

Even when Alhaitham narrowed his eyes, his voice was sprinkled with affection underneath. “You look pained. We better hurry to the Bimarstan, because clearly, your injuries are worse than you admit.”

Kaveh didn’t object.

They continued their walk in silence, but the lively chatter Kaveh’s unusual state attracted compensated for it. Some students dared to approach him and asked about what happened and each time he responded with half a smile and a mumbled excuse. If he hadn’t denied eating anything suspicious earlier, this would have served well as an explanation.

Noticing Kaveh’s reluctance to answer, Alhaitham stepped in the next time someone asked, although his answers lacked smiles and flowery words. For once, Kaveh didn’t mind it. Even having shifted the majority of his weight on Alhaitham’s broad shoulders, the injury occupied every corner of his mind and the way to the Bimarstan seemed longer with every step.

“You’ve been rather quiet today.” A statement, but Alhaitham said it like a question.

Kaveh inhaled through his mouth to hide the fact that he was out of breath already. “Truthfully, I am just exhausted.” He scared himself with how brittle his whisper sounded. Small and hushed as if he was one wrong look away from falling apart.

At that, Alhaitham’s grasp turned firmer as if he feared Kaveh would collapse without the extra help. “You make people worried, Senior. Your unwillingness to share what has caused your current condition only adds to the distress.”

“This wasn’t my intention.”

“Then what is your intention?”

Kaveh closed his eyes and grimaced. By now, he practically lay in Alhaitham’s arms to prevent his fall. “I’ll tell you everything later, alright? Even speaking is exhausting right now.” The white lie made his skin itch. He prayed to the gods above that once the doctors treated him, a good explanation would magically pop up in his mind. Partially because the actual truth resembled a fever dream and partially because he began to enjoy an Alhaitham unaware of their friendship’s downfall…

Chapter 3: Haravatat’s Most Discerning Scholar

Chapter Text

6 years and 7 days ago, Bimarstan, Akademiya

Bruises coloured Kaveh’s skin blue and black where he made acquaintances with the tavern table. Although the doctor endeavoured to be careful, having a stranger poke and touch his sore injury burned up his patience. Alhaitham initially held Kaveh’s hand to stabilise his walk but had forgotten to let go. Now, Kaveh clung to it tightly whenever the pain in his rib flared up. He was convinced, if he held on firmer, the Bimarstan would have another medical emergency.

“You are lucky.” The doctor stopped the inspection and scribbled his insights down in a notebook. “The rib didn’t puncture your lungs nor damaged other internal organs. If it did, you would hardly sit here. This, however, is fairly easy to deal with. If I may ask, how did it come to this injury?”

Kaveh awaited this question ever since they set foot into the Bimarstan, yet hit a blank wall in his mind anyways. “Yes, about the injury…” He cleared his throat and begged the Archons above for inspiration to strike. “It’s... it’s a little embarrassing to be completely honest.”

The doctor gave him a reassuring smile. “Trust me, I’ve heard it all in my five years on the job. Nothing will flabbergast me.”

Kaveh’s eyes darted around the room. The sterile equipment laid out on the table, shelves squeezed in the limited space and on display, vials with concentrated herbs, flowers, and even Fungal Spores. The silence rang loudly in his ears. Fungal Spores… “I, uhm, I got attacked by a group of Fungi.” Kaveh laughed to mask his nervosity. “I drank a bit too much at the tavern, went out for a midnight walk, and noticed them too late. They managed to knock me out too it seems. Sorry for causing all the trouble.”

“It’s alright. As long as you are more careful next time, there is no need to apologise.” The doctor stood up and disappeared between one of the many shelves. “Now then, let’s treat your little faux pas.”

Kaveh released a breath of relief. The doctor had swallowed his lie.

“A Fungi attack?” Alhaitham repeated the words slowly, testing the sound of it, and his gaze fixated on Kaveh as if the truth was written all over his face. “There are no signs of elemental traces on you.”

“Well, I suppose they have already faded. After all, I don’t remember how long I was laying there.” The intense stare made Kaveh’s skin boil like kissed by a Flaming Flower. “Doesn’t matter anyway, does it?”

“The injury is more reminiscent of a blunt attack and not burned by the elements too.”

“Astute observation.” Kaveh took a slow inhale and cursed Alhaitham’s name in the process. Even back then, his junior has been annoyingly attentive. “I must have fallen on a stump or crashed into a tree in an attempt to dodge their attacks. I was drunk, alright? My memory is still fuzzy and I was as much surprised about the injury upon walking up as you are.”

The doctor returned, holding a salve that oozed with Dendro energy. He sat back down and continued his work. “Beware, this procedure will sting, but it’s necessary if you don’t want to use a cane for the rest of the month.”

“Alright, will do.” Although Kaveh’s biggest pain wasn’t his injury anymore but the way the conversation with Alhaitham evolved into an interrogation. If the work of a scribe ever bored him in the future, becoming a Matra would be a fitting career path.

“How much did you drink?” the next question followed.

Fine, he would play along. Staying silent stirred up more suspicion than it covered. “Maybe two or three glasses of wine. Four at best- Oh Archons.” Kaveh gasped. The salve set his insides ablaze, making him squirm on the chair. He would have fallen over if Alhaitham didn’t hold his hand still.

“Relax, I can’t treat your injury if you move too much.” The doctor continued covering the broken rib with the salve. Alhaitham couldn’t complain anymore that there weren’t any elemental traces on Kaveh, because now, there were too many. The aura of Dendro shot through his broken bones and loosened the shackles restricting his lung, allowing him to breathe in without feeling like the air was on fire.

“Are you alright?” Alhaitham switched the look of distrust for alarm.

Kaveh didn’t like seeing either one. “Yes, all good. It just caught me off guard.” Dendro was the element of life, able to restore deceased plants even if the withering devoured them all, and, apparently, their healing capabilities reached beyond recovering flora. Despite the pain, Kaveh felt his rib reluctantly merging back into its previous position. Out of breath, he sat up straight again. “Four glasses. One more or less, since my memory doesn’t serve me as a reliable source.”

Alhaitham nodded to show he had heard his whisper. “I see. Did anything else happen at the tavern?”

“Like what?”

“Like anything that explains your choice of clothing.”

Heat surged into Kaveh’s face. His eyes dropped down immediately. The pants passed as slightly oversized, his gloves a bit baggy, alright, but his shirt’s neckline had already offered a generous view in the future. Now, the thin fabric threatened to slip off his shoulders and after the doctor’s treatment, he could have taken it off completely with the same effect. If the panic didn’t warm him from the inside, he would have trembled from being so exposed.

“On second thought, maybe I prefer to miss out on the details.” Given the faint signs of blush on Alhaitham’s cheeks, Kaveh’s silence had made him reach his own conclusion.

The corner of Kaveh’s lips curled up in amusem*nt. His poor innocent junior. Let Alhaitham think he had an eventful encounter that night as long as it dragged his attention far, far away from the truth. “Speaking of which, I’d be most grateful to you both, if you could keep this incident for yourself. Frankly, this experience has been humiliating enough without the whole Akademiya knowing about it.”

The doctor nodded. “Of course, I am bound by professional secrecy.”

“And I do not indulge in gossip,” Alhaitham added.

“Great. Then that’s settled.”

“Do you experience any other symptoms besides the ones we already discussed?” The doctor continued to check Kaveh for other ailments but only found minor bruises. In the end, he prescribed him painkillers against his headache and urged him to return immediately, if the condition of his health worsened. The bones healed back together, but their state was still brittle – elemental energy could only do so much. Kaveh expressed his thanks and they said their farewells with Alhaitham being unnaturally silent during all of it. A dog that didn’t bark only waited for an opportunity to bite.

The painkillers threw their warm veil over Kaveh’s body and killed the ache in his skull with its soothing heat. With his sense of alert fading, exhaustion remained. The desire to catch up on two days’ worth of sleep grew strong enough to nearly persuade him to rest right here and now on the benches next to the Bimarstan’s exit. But at last, he showed restraint.

Alhaitham stopped in his tracks. “Oh, Kaveh...” he sighed. The sound swayed between amused and irritated. “Don’t you feel any remorse?”

An immediate “yes” stuck in Kaveh’s throat – the reasons for a bad consciousness stacked up from past to present. Numerous choices to fill a life of regret with the broken earpieces enthroned on top of it. He silenced the guilt like shutting the mouth of a crying child and summoned an expression he believed to be an easy-going smile. “Remorse? You’re funny. What for? I do regret my last glass of wine if you are referring to this. I will drink more responsibly next time.”

His smirk didn’t reflect on Alhaitham’s serious face. “You might fool the adventurers, the students, and the doctors, but you will never be able to fool me. Make it easier for the both of us and drop the act.”

“We’ve known each other for so long and you distrust me nevertheless. Hurtful, you know?” Kaveh covered his irritation with an exaggerated chuckle. It was too loud and hollow.

“You’re capable in most forms of arts, but not acting. Cut it out, it’s getting on my nerves.”

“We have a habit of doing that, getting on each other’s nerves that is. Isn’t it just an ordinary day for us in that regard?”

“On ordinary days, you don’t serve me a plate of lies and expect me to eat it up.” A frown was etched into Alhaitham’s forehead and it deepened the more Kaveh feigned innocence. “I just want to know who did it. That’s all I’m asking.”

Kaveh lifted an eyebrow. The confusion wasn’t pretended this time. “Who did what?”

“You will actually make me list the evidence. I can’t believe it.” Alhaitham’s glance flickered around the empty hall, checking whether anybody listened in, then he turned to Kaveh with something akin to disappointment clouding his eyes. It stole away whatever retort Kaveh had prepared. “Where do I even start? You didn’t fight with Fungi – that much is painfully obvious. Rather, I believe your predicament originated from a disagreement between humans. That explains the lack of elemental traces and why you are so hesitant to talk about the incident since it most likely happened while you were intoxicated. If you just tripped or encountered other monsters, there would be no reason to lie. Furthermore, you’re a lightweight and easy to argue with when drunk. I can attest to that. It isn’t far fetched to believe you got into a bar fight for example.”

“Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.” Kaveh dropped the smile. “I admit, I’m a bit more open to debates after a few glasses, but it happens with you exclusively and we bicker anyways from sunrise to nightfall. I’m not a fight-thirsty drunk nor do I attract many enemies. Except for you, I get along quite well with most people actually. Is it so hard to accept that I had a clumsy accident with some Fungi?”

“The evidence doesn’t speak in your favour, dear Senior.” The dismay oozed through his voice, although it didn’t leak through his otherwise calm demeanour. Kaveh had seen him angry on numerous occasions, but never this… hurt. It caused each lie to grow more reluctant to leave his mouth.

“Then the evidence shall shut up,” Kaveh pressed out between gritted teeth.

“If you refuse to admit the truth, I have two hypotheses as to why.”

“This is it! My drunk night out isn’t your research project. Stop treating it like one.” Kaveh turned on his heels. He was ready to march off, but Alhaitham jerked him back by the wrist.

“Hear me out. Either, you’re too ashamed to tell what really went on, because you acted in a way you cannot support sober anymore, or…” Something in Alhaitham’s expression shifted. From harsh lines of anger into something softer, dipping into a dash of fear. “Or, whoever's bad side you got on, they are an immediate danger. Bad luck is your most loyal companion and for the sake of your ideals, you look trouble in the eyes way too fearlessly. I believe last night it glared back with mischief. So, who did it? Who broke your rib?”

“It’s, uhm, well…”

“Did they threaten you?”

“No! Really, just calm down.” A series of incoherent stutters spluttered out of Kaveh’s mouth. A thousand different answers flew through his head; none fit to say out loud. Hunger and sleep deprivation gnawed on his mind, turning his thoughts viscous and too fast simultaneously.

“Who was it?”

“It’s…” you. “…complicated.” Kaveh grimaced as if talking caused him pain. Alhaitham saw through his sorry excuses yet the truth was worse. Both options blocked, he cowered in the dead end his mind was, swirling every thought together in a fit of panic. He took a step back, Alhaitham a step forward, until Kaveh’s back hit the wall. Trapped, both mentally and physically.

Alhaitham stared down at him, narrowing his eyes. “Complicated? There isn’t much that is complicated to me. Is this new enemy of yours truly so terrifying that it makes you anxious just talking about them?”

“No, no, you got it all wrong.” Kaveh whined. “Neither of us meant to hurt each other. It was an accident!” Kaveh’s hands flew up to his mouth like he could push back what he just said. But it was too late for that.

Alhaitham’s eyes lit up. “So, it weren’t Fungi after all?”

“Alright, I admit it, I admit it!” Kaveh screamed. He sank against the wall and so did his voice drop to barely a whisper, quivering. He hadn’t slept properly in two days and forgot when he had his last meal, which turned simple tasks like walking and holding a conversation into a challenge – let alone a battle of wits with the smartest graduate of Haravatat. “Yes, I drank too much at the tavern and got involved in some heated discussions. I said things, that I didn’t mean, to someone who means a lot to me. It was my fault, the fight, everything. I accidentally destroyed something important. Or rather, it was really important to that person – either way, I shouldn’t have done this. That’s also how… how I earned my injury. The broken rib. It was an accident, it- it was- I never wanted to harm anybody. I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to.” The image of Alhaitham blurred before his eyes. Kaveh had to stop himself from talking, otherwise, the tears would flow as freely as his words did. One humiliation a day sufficed.

“Kaveh…” Back in the tavern, Alhaitham had spat out his name in hatred. Now, it rolled off his lips like a prayer to a deity that threatened to fall apart in front of him.

Kaveh was too weak to withstand any more debates. One more word from Alhaitham and he would spill every secret he ever kept with no glint of resistance. “Leave me alone. Please.” Weakly, he pushed against Alhaitham’s chest to make him move out of the way. He could have pushed against a stone wall with greater effect.

Instead of stepping back, Alhaitham closed the little free space between them. His arms wrapped around Kaveh’s back, firm yet tentatively, revealing just a small hint of hesitation.

Kaveh melted into the embrace like a drowning man reaching for anything that would hold him over the surface. He dropped his heavy head on Alhaitham’s chest and hid away from the curious looks of other students. His body trembled and although the cold wasn’t to blame, having the warmth of Alhaitham’s body so close alleviated his shaking. If the gods were looking, they probably suffocated on laughter. Past-Alhaitham comforting him for the arguments with Future-Alhaitham. His life was a joke worse than any of Cyno’s.

Alhaitham stayed silent for seconds, which felt like hours, until he managed to say unusually quietly, “I didn’t mean to make you upset.” It cut close to an apology.

Kaveh made a hushed noise that hopefully conveyed something like “It’s alright”. This version of his future-roommate had done nothing wrong.

“I was just afraid that… Nevermind. Don’t place all the guilt on your shoulders. Even the smartest researcher messes up sometimes. Imperfection is human nature, no matter how hard you want to fight it. Even someone like me is not immune to our biology’s burden.” Alhaitham brought up a hand to card through Kaveh’s hair, slowly and strangely soothing. “You said it yourself - it was an accident. You had no control over this nor was it your intention to harm. So why make you bear all the responsibilities alone? That makes no sense.”

Kaveh’s face twisted into a pained scowl. “You don’t understand.” Alhaitham lacked too much context; if he knew their history, his answer wouldn’t resemble this one in any way. Their joint project had left a crack on their friendship. A crack that spread ever since they moved in together until all shattered that night at the tavern. If it wasn’t this argument, it would have been another one to deal the final blow. Only a matter of time. Kaveh buried his nails so deep into Alhaitham’s back, he felt him flinch. Kaveh mumbled an apology and loosened his grip. In the other timeline, Alhaitham wouldn’t even look at him – let alone offer a hug. However fragile this moment might be, he wanted to stabilise it in his memories forever.

“I believe I do understand just fine.” He let out an exasperated breath. “You’re taking the blame for all that happened in the world. Again. Your empathy is your greatest weakness, it turns you blind to the most obvious truths. Think about it, isn’t it more reprehensible to intentionally hurt someone after they unintentionally destroyed something? If this person is as close to you as you claim, they should feel mortified by their actions – even more than you do.”

“Maybe my injury was just as much of an accident in the heat of the argument. Whatever the case, I don’t think it matters nor that they care. It became quite apparent that it’s better for us to never cross paths again.” Kaveh got quieter towards the end, more mumbling the last words than anything.

“Now you’re contradicting yourself.”

“Maybe. I don’t know.” Kaveh sighed. “Are emotions ever logical?”

“Not with you at least. You’re a mess right now, Senior.” Alhaitham shook his head slightly before he continued speaking in a hushed voice. “And am I right in assuming, you still don’t want to tell me with whom you had this eventful dispute?”

Kaveh would rather break a rib again than tell him about the confusing time mess. “You’re right, I just want to forget this ever happened and move on. This feeling is probably mutual.” The last remark came out more bitter than anticipated.

Alhaitham went silent for a few breaths. “I cannot say I am fond of that answer, but if you prefer it that way, I will stop asking.”

“Thanks.”

“Not for that.” Alhaitham’s glance wandered across the corridor and he tugged lightly at Kaveh’s shirt. “Come, let’s get you to the dorms. You’re drawing unwanted attention again.”

Kaveh didn’t need to look up to know his dramatic scene had convinced some students to slow down and gawp. The whispers behind hold-up hands had followed him ever since he entered the Akademiya and only quietened during his stay at the Bimarstan for a brief moment.

Kaveh let Alhaitham guide him back to the dorm room since it’s been a while since he last roamed those halls and also, it was difficult to find the way with his eyes glued to the floor.

Kaveh’s bed at the Akademiya could not compare to his home in the future. No, not home, he corrected himself, I got kicked out. But with his exhaustion pressing on every muscle, Kaveh could have fallen asleep on the hard wood floor just as fast.

Something rattled on the nightstand. Kaveh opened one eye and caught a glimpse of Alhaitham’s silhouette. “Hm?”

Alhaitham put something down in front of him, so close that the item itself blurred, but the delicious smell didn’t escape his nose. Alhaitham tipped against the plate. “Sabz Meat Stew. The leftovers from yesterday. You ought to be hungry.”

“Not really.” The wish to sleep suppressed the wish to eat. Especially because Kaveh feared nausea wouldn’t allow the meal to stay in his stomach.

Alhaitham slid the plate closer to Kaveh until the cold ceramic hit his cheek. “When was the last time you ate something?”

“Don’t know.”

“Look, I am not from Amurta and can tell you nevertheless, it is not healthy to neglect one’s appetite this long. Perhaps being satiated makes you see things more logically too.”

“As long as this stew doesn’t turn me into you, this won’t happen,” Kaveh grumbled. Still, he conceded to Alhaitham’s stubbornness and swung his exhausted body back up. Just a few bites to appease him, then he would fall back into his pillows. At least that was his plan.

But as soon as Kaveh started eating, his hunger awakened. He gulped the meal down so fast, afterwards his stomach felt even more empty than before. Upon seeing this, Alhaitham gave him his own share, which Kaveh consumed just as quickly before he laid down to sleep. Finally. He had yearned for this opportunity since today’s morning.

All seemed peaceful at last, but Kaveh knew better than to take anything by surface value. Alhaitham promised to stop interrogating him about yesterday’s events, but this didn’t mean he would stop thinking and investigating completely. Because when something caught Alhaitham’s curiosity, he didn’t stop until he found a satisfying answer.

This could become a problem.

Chapter 4: A Second Chance

Chapter Text

6 years and 6 days ago, Dorm Rooms, Akademiya

When Kaveh awoke, he thought he was still dreaming. A wonderful dream about his Akademiya days and it even included the image of a younger Alhaitham, bent over a desk with stacks of books to both sides towering around him. He probably attempted to get through all of them before they were due to return to the House of Daena.

When their eyes met, Alhaitham’s frown gave way for a smirk. “Sleeping beauty has finally emerged,” he dropped a sarcastic remark and drew a book from the pile. “Any longer and I would have been tempted to alert the Bimarstan again.”

Ah, right. It wasn’t a dream.

With a groan, Kaveh slumped back into the pillows, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. Rested and healthy, he could finally reflect on the recent incidents with a clear head.

So, the Leyline had thrown him years back into the past. Great. But how far? The fact that Tighnari hadn’t started working as a forest ranger and Alhaitham spent his free time preparing for exams granted him a rough idea about the time frame but nothing precise. Although, if Kaveh went around asking about which year he was in, Alhaitham might act on his threat to revisit the Bimarstan.

The “how” was more important than the “when” anyways. Luckily, the Akademiya symbolised the heart of the nation of wisdom. Knowledge streamed through every corner of this place and manifested in the grandest library in all of Teyvat, the House of Daena, and the sharp minds surrounding it. Finding prodigies and capable scholars here was easier than finding sand in the desert. Kaveh truly was the luckiest unlucky person.

“Are you going to play dead forever or finally get up?” Alhaitham had stopped writing and now his eyes scanned Kaveh intensively like he was his newest research project. Whatever he spotted, it caused his smile to dim. “You seem troubled. Is your injury acting up again?”

Without the reminder, Kaveh would have forgotten about the broken bones completely. Out of all his problems piling up, his health had managed to escape the list. Only a reddened spot on his stomach proved that it happened at all. “Quell your concern, the doctor did an excellent job. I’m still tired, that’s all. I feel like I need at least six more years of sleep to be properly rested.”

“Don’t be so dramatic, Senior. You’ve been sleeping for over a whole day. Let’s not make it two.”

“What? Surely it can be that long!” Kaveh sat up so fast, the faintest hint of pain sparked in his ribs. A look out of the window confirmed Alhaitham’s statement. The sun stood at its highest point in the sky, submerging the buzzing crowd down in the streets in golden light. If Kaveh listened carefully, he even heard the students buzzing through the hallways with enough books to crush a man with its weight.

“Actually, I’m just passing by to organise my notes and reading material.” Alhaitham slipped a paper between the pages and closed the book shut. Silver runes were engraved on the cover. “But if you hurry up, you can accompany me to the tavern for a lunch break. A good cup of coffee works nearly as well as a century of sleep.”

“Hah, funny suggestion. You know I’m broke,” the answer rolled off Kaveh’s tongue instinctively. In no place of time has he ever been able to hold onto Mora for long before it vanished in turn for a glass of wine, new furniture, or a bunch of key chains sold by a fraudster. The last time he went to the tavern without Mora caused the mess he was in. If he repeated that mistake, he didn’t deserve his title of a genius anymore. Although the injury had fully healed, his chest tightened when the memories crossed his thoughts.

Alhaitham stared at him like he was searching for something on Kaveh’s face and when he didn’t find it, he tilted his head in confusion and an incredulous expression graced his unfairly handsome features. “So what?”

“Huh?”

“Just let me cover the bill. You can pay me back some other time.”

Kaveh waited for Alhaitham to announce he was joking. Maybe a chuckle or a grin to indicate the inherent sarcasm, followed by a not-so-subtle brag about his own financial freedom and a backhanded insult about Kaveh’s spending problem. Something like this. He waited in vain. “You… you are actually serious?”

“Of course I am.” Alhaitham’s confusion morphed into suspicion. “You are behaving a little odd, Senior. Maybe you do need to seek medical attention. Possibly theFungihit your head harder than expected.” Why had he to remind Kaveh of his pitiful lie?

“No, no, all good! Just give me five more minutes and I’ll be ready. Wait outside for me.” Hastily, Kaveh pushed Alhaitham out the door, so he wouldn’t spot the wet gleam pooling in his eyes. Kaveh let his back drop against the door frame and took in an unsteady breath. Something cold rolled down his heated cheeks, then another one. Kaveh failed to put a label on his tears. Was it the joy of meeting a kinder Alhaitham before they broke apart? Or the resentment of knowing this sort of affection would forever vanish in the future?

Perhaps it was both.

Alhaitham’s acts of care struck the line, where Kaveh failed to decide whether he relished in the warmth of Alhaitham’s voice or got scorched by it. The constant reminder of their inevitable fallout rang in his mind like reading a book and knowing the ending already. Kaveh feared investing any emotions in their past friendship would make losing Alhaitham a second time hurt twice as badly. However, if there was a possibility to change the ending and rewrite their story…?

Kaveh shooed the depressing thoughts away. Making Alhaitham wait any longer might result in him walking off alone. No need to abuse his good mood today and Kaveh’s heavy head eagerly anticipated the offer of a free coffee.

He rushed to get ready and even reduced his long bathroom routine. The red hairpins had given up on holding Kaveh’s braid together, allowing blonde tufts to fall over his shoulders. He pinned them back up and changed into the myrtle green Akademiya robe with the white hem. The man in the mirror matched the younger self in his memories to the point where it gave Kaveh goosebumps. The fabric itched and he tugged at his sleeves despite them sitting perfectly fine already. He yearned to rip the robe off and slide back into his comfortable clothes of the present to escape the uncanny view. Alas, this wasn’t an option.

At first glance, the resemblance was perfect, but the longer he looked, the more differences he found. How Kaveh handled himself lacked the never-ending energy source he once has been, but instead replaced with more confidence in the way he moved. His poor mood made his face appear sharper despite his youthful features and there was a tiredness in his eyes that didn’t originate from chronic sleep deprivation. Almost perfect resemblance.

“We go to Lambad’s, not our graduation prom. Just put on something,” Alhaitham’s complaints came from behind the door. When impatient, he sounded a lot more like his future self.

“Hold on, I’m nearly done!” Kaveh exchanged one more sceptical look with the mirror before he went out the door.

They spent the walk to the tavern in silence. Since Alhaitham preferred to remain quiet, it was usually up to Kaveh to prompt a conversation, but the unspoken words fascinated him more today. Alhaitham’s shift in behaviour didn’t end with his offer to pay for them both. It was the small things, the light tug at his lips, the relaxed posture, and how they walked a little closer than Kaveh remembered. So close, their knuckles brushed against each other by accident and if Kaveh wanted to take Alhaitham’s hand, he wouldn’t even need to lift his arm. Had they done this back then as well?

They settled for a table nearby the windows and greeted Lambad with a curt nod on the way in. A waitress took their orders and still, no one talked. Kaveh thought this would stretch on for the whole day, but to his bewilderment, Alhaitham took it on him today to escape the silence. “Madam Faruzan will hold a lecture about ‘Deciphering the ruins of King Deshret and its mechanisms’ in an hour and it involves both the Haravatat and Kshahrewar Darshan. Mind joining me? From what I gathered, the topic appears quite intriguing and contains a lot of practical use too.”

Kaveh needed those lectures and seminars as much as a bird needed instructions on flying. He already figured out how to spread his wings, fly above the average and create masterpieces that struck the balance between aesthetics and practicability.

But past-Kaveh didn’t.

Alhaitham’s suspicion of him just dropped and neglecting his studies would threaten to overthrow Kaveh’s efforts. “Sounds great, I’ll tag along. Considering what I’ve heard about Madam Faruzan, there’s no better person to teach about this subject than her.”

“You are referring to the rumours I suppose?” A touch of disgruntlement swayed in his voice. “I heard them too. People claim she has been trapped for over a hundred years in ruins from King Deshret without ageing a day. Apparently, only after solving all the mechanisms she regained her freedom. If this was true, then she would be indeed the perfect candidate to teach.”

“But you don’t believe it, hm?”

The corners of Alhaitham’s mouth curled upwards. “No, not really. I reckon those people are exaggerating when talking about her past. Enough scholars have sought either immortality or to break free from the flow of time. In an ironic twist, most of those researchers met death sooner than they had without their experiments. To think Madam Faruzan tempered with time byaccident, it is a great luck – or misfortune – which I deem highly unlikely to happen.”

“Unlikely doesn’t equal impossible though. Are the rumours saying anything about how she achieved that accidental slip through centuries?”

Alhaitham let out a short laugh. “You too, Kaveh? You’re too gullible.”

Time froze. Coldness crawled underneath Kaveh’s skin and defied the humid temperatures of the tavern.You’re too gullible.That’s what Alhaitham had told him as well when their joint project collapsed. But not with a chuckle and a light-hearted tone. No, he had said it like it was a serious flaw, just as bad of an issue as a broken bone or a bleeding wound, something that had to be fixed. And the more he had talked, the more Kaveh got the impression Alhaitham believed him to be beyond repair. Too broken, too gullible, too sick for any cure to work. A chronically ill man that one could only pity.

“Kaveh?” Alhaitham’s voice grounded him back in reality.

“Sorry, I got lost in thoughts.” Kaveh flashed him a smile and toned it down immediately when it did nothing to appease the creeping suspicion on Alhaitham’s face. “You were saying?”

“I merely commented on your interest on the topic. So, you believe what they say about Madam Faruzan to be true?”

Kaveh weighed his words carefully. “Let’s phrase it that way, I am more optimistic about the rumour’s truthfulness. After all, bending time doesn’t seem that impossible to me in the grander scheme of things. So why can’t it happen to her?”Like it happened to me.

“I’ve never fully denied its possibility. Yet, tempering with time is not only a forbidden research topic, it also opens up paradoxes. For example, if someone travelled through time and killed their grandfather, said traveller wouldn’t have ever been born. And if he wasn’t born, he cannot murder his grandfather, hence the traveller lives. Tell me, how is the traveller alive and dead at the same time?”

“There must be a way to work around this paradox.” After all, Kaveh’s existence disproved all of Alhaitham’s points easily. But he could hardly say that out loud. “What if the time travel only worked up to a certain distance, a distance short enough to make violent paradoxes like those impossible? I’m talking about a couple of years, a decade at most. Besides, what kind of sick person would go through such a complicated suicide stunt? This seems improbable.”

“If you’re looking for excuses to make it work, some scholars suggested that if we assume our life is predestined and free will doesn’t exist, the traveller could never actually kill his grandfather. Fate simply wouldn’t allow him to. But I highly detest this philosophy, since it frees every human from taking responsibility for their actions. That’s a mindset I cannot support nor find realistic.”

“What an exceptional day, Junior, we actually found something we agree on. Determinism isn’t a philosophy that sits right with me either.” Although with Kaveh’s bad luck, sometimes it certainly felt like a higher power had cursed his life to be miserable. For every step forward, he stumbled two backwards. “Let’s assume time travel was possible somehow, how do you think they’d do it?” Deliberately, he poured a fitting amount of disinterest over his question to avoid soundingtooeager as if his skin wasn’t prickling with anticipation – someone like his Junior surely had an interesting answer.

Alhaitham’s brows pinched into a frown before his gaze drifted to a point in the distance. He contemplated for long enough to make Kaveh wonder whether he had fallen asleep halfway through, but at last, Alhaitham turned back to him with a shrug. “How would I know? I am but a Haravatat student. It’s up to the Spantamad to unravel the ways of our universe.”

“Seriously? It took you this long to admit you have no clue either?” Kaveh crossed his arms and gave a glare more bitter than the coffee he drank. “Oh I just know you did that on purpose to mess with me.”

And that glint in his eyes, the amusem*nt when Kaveh fell for his trap, it reminded him of the Alhaitham of the future once again. The same self-satisfaction. Not all fell victim to time. “Calm down, Senior, I’m only teasing you. You are pretty hung up on the topic though. I wonder if there’s a particular reason?”

Kaveh took a long sip from his cup to dodge an immediate reply. “Merely curiosity. It is an interesting debate, is it not? The topic touches core philosophical questions and challenges one’s mind to think outside the box.”

That answer satisfied Alhaitham. “It doesn’t surprise me that an idealist like you would find that subject appealing. Speaking of time, it’s time to go. Madam Faruzan’s lecture will start soon”

Kaveh has braced himself for all possible situations, but not the inherent boredomthe lecture turned out to be. The news Madam Faruzan presented had been declared common knowledge in the future already and thus severely lowering Kaveh’s interest in the topic. He only took notes as a cover and whenever a lot of other students hasted to write down their newly gained insights, he mimicked their eagerness.

Kaveh’s gaze roamed through the crowd, grazing over a couple of familiar faces and landing right back on Alhaitham. The Akademiya uniform’s green looked dull in comparison to the bright teal colour his eyes were and this close, his silver hair seemed a lot fluffier than he remembered. Like a bird that hadn’t fully grown its feathers yet.Cute.

Luckily, Alhaitham didn’t catch his gaping because, unlike Kaveh, he listened attentively to Madam Faruzan. His pen never left the page. A sight not uncommon – everybody prepared for the upcoming exams and Kaveh’s lazy streak depicted an exception. Halfway through the lectures, he gave up on pretending to listen and filled the paper with quickly sketched blueprints and perspective drawings. His mind travelled back to the commission he had taken before the red Leyline ruined the construction site and he scribbled this building down as well – for all the difficulties it caused, he still adored the design he envisioned.

Kaveh had been so focused on figuring out his past, he barely wasted a thought about the present after the Leyline incident. Now that he was “gone”, would they finish the project without him? Would anybody even notice his disappearance? Alhaitham didn’t expect him to return home anymore and the construction team most likely worried only about what his absence meant for their paycheck. Tighnari and Cyno didn’t stay in the city often since work demanded them to be in the rainforest or the desert. After a month or so, maybe they would find the lack of a bubbly blonde architect increasingly suspicious at least. And his mother… he hadn’t seen her ever since she moved to Fontaine with her lover.

Kaveh’s mouth went dry. He stopped drawing, leaving a dark ink splotch where the pen rested.Who will miss me?

“I am disappointed, Senior. You seemed so excited at the tavern and now you don’t even listen to Madam Faruzan.”

Alhaitham’s remark startled Kaveh. He pressed down too hard and ripped the paper. “Urgh, I actually liked that drawing,” Kaveh said a bit too loud, which gained him a sour look from the student sitting next to him. “And for the record, I do focus on the lecture.”

Amused, Alhaitham raised an eyebrow. “Oh, pardon me. My eyesight must be declining, because it looked like you were lazing off.”

“You don’t believe me, huh? Go ahead, ask me a question about the topic.”

Alhaitham thought about it for a second. “What kind of device did Madam Faruzan assist in making, specifically designed for King Deshret’s ruin explorations? Name its official title and function.”

Kaveh could barely contain a grin. Too easy. “I suppose you refer to ‘Vairambhaka’, although its name was later officially changed to ‘Vairambhaka Gear’. It handles escort, monster dispersal, sand-clearing, and works as an antidote for boredom among various other tasks. Quite a handy tool.”

Alhaitham peered down to his notes and his eyes widened in surprise. “Huh, I underestimated your abilities to multitask.”

“The nickname Light of Kshahrewar isn’t undeserved after all.”

“What?”

Ah, right, this far in the past, people hadn’t started calling him this yet. The completion of his magnum opus, the glorious palace, marked the birth of that title.

“Just forget I said anything.” For the first time today, Kaveh invested all his attention towards Madam Faruzan. A silent prayer dwelled on his lips, wishing for the abyss to open and take him just to flee the embarrassment. Alhaitham’s laugh, quiet enough to not disturb the other students, turned his skin even hotter. “That nickname is absurd. But fitting in a way, you are a bright mind after all.”

“Just focus on the lecture,” Kaveh muttered back.

As the lecture came to an end, Madam Faruzan entertained a few students’ questions while most of them fled the auditorium to not waste any second of their break. Alhaitham belonged to the second group of students and waited for Kaveh to hurry. He didn’t say it, but the way he drummed his pen against the table exposed his impatience.

Kaveh should join the few students asking questions to Madam Faruzan. In some ways, the ruins that trapped her for over a century manipulated and defied time just like the Leyline did. If confronted about it, she might have more useful answers than Alhaitham. In the best-case scenario, she could give him a hint about how he got here. Yes, he really should ask her.

Kaveh didn’t.

I have to find out what the Leyline did to me, both logic and curiosity spoke to him, but the voice of his heart had always sung louder. Why bother with the future, if the past treated him so well? He peeked over to Alhaitham and the smile slid on his lips intuitively. Their different worldviews and opinions didn’t collide but painted a beautiful contrast. Dark and light shades complimented each other to carve out a masterpiece of art. Their arguments reduced to bickering, it made words of appreciation come out so much easier when they didn’t hide any insults.

Yes, Kaveh thought to himself,the Leyline mystery can wait.

Chapter 5: Malfunction

Chapter Text

6 years and 5 days ago, East of Sumeru City

The sun had barely awoken, still cosily wrapped in its scarlet blanket behind the mountain tops unlike Kaveh, who strolled around the outskirts wide awake. The fact that most people were sleeping at this hour increased the appeal of his morning walk. With only the early birds and startled foxes as his witnesses, it didn’t matter if the Kaveh of the future showed through the persona of his past. He’d sacrifice his sleep for an extra hour of freedom again if it meant escaping the watchful eyes of the world. Although Alhaitham appeared merely amused by Kaveh’s nickname “Light of Kshahrewar” not all truths carried a similar low risk.

The path ended in the river that enclosed Sumeru City. Adhigama trees crowded the shore, stretched their leafy crowns over the water and covered passing-by travellers in its shade. Silence entangled the scenery, only interrupted by the water rippling and the howl of the wind.

It didn’t help. None of the idyllic atmosphere reached through the restlessness that followed Kaveh like a second shadow.

The promise of a peaceful stroll wasn’t the only thing luring him out this early. Kaveh had tried to fall asleep, but a strange feeling had troubled his mind and the more he ignored it, the stronger it became. It was the way one’s stomach swooped, if you roamed through the swamp areas of Sumeru and the ground sank underneath your feet. The short moment where you swayed between falling and keeping your balance. The rush of adrenaline before either holding onto a tree for support or clutching the air, resulting in an unfortunate descent.

Except it was a moment that stretched on for hours. Something felt amiss, but Kaveh struggled to identify the cause. Similar to having bloody limbs but not finding any injuries tarnishing one’s body. There should be no blood and there should be no foreign fear. Kaveh’s ribs had healed together and Alhaitham trusted him – life was good. Maintaining the act put a strain on his body, sure, but exhaustion was an old companion he kept in touch with regularly. Pulling an all-nighter for architecture commissions or pretending to be his younger self, the resulting tiredness was no stranger.

But what he felt now did not fit into any boxes and it grew more obnoxious by the hour. Perhaps it had been there yesterday too, just too faint to notice.

Kaveh pulled out his sketchbook and sat down near the shore. He tapped the tip of the feather against the page in a relentless rhythm. He had hoped the quick exercise would lead his mind elsewhere, but his thoughts circled back to the same question nevertheless. His distracted state showed in the drawings – lazy lines missing the shape of the landscape he tried to encapsulate.

Just when Kaveh considered ending his morning trip prematurely, something rustled in the grass next to him. Primitive shouts and clumsy stomps approached, accompanied by the clashing of rudimentary clubs against make-shift shields. A group of Hillichurls.

Kaveh closed his sketchbook shut and plugged the teal feather back into his braid. Unfortunately, he only invented Mehrak months after moving in with Alhaitham, forcing him to wield the claymore on his own during his life as a student. Not that Kaveh wasn’t capable of holding the weapon, but he needed his hands healthy to create art.

Maybe the Hillichurls would just go around and- Nevermind, they headed for his direction. Kaveh already spied their beige fur and pointy ears behind the bushes. He arose to his feet and drew his weapon. The blade dragged across the floor and engraved a thin line into the mud. Dendro was far more effective near a body of water – the exploding blooms should scare the Hillichurls away.

Speaking a silent command, he activated his vision and a green glow engulfed the claymore. The light sputtered, struggled and…

…vanished.

Kaveh summoned his elemental powers again and a short green flash flitted down the blade. Then nothing. Shock made Kaveh’s heart forget the next beat. What- how even?

“Ye ika!” The Hillichurl threw its club in rage. A series of alerted shrieks shot through the group of monsters as they spotted him too.

“Stupid vision, do something!” Kaveh cursed under his breath and shook the golden device. Not even a spark of Dendro graced the metal.

Something fast moved in the corner of his eye. He ducked away. The club hit the tree where Kaveh’s head had been just a split second ago. With a growl, the Hillichurl pulled his weapon back, revealing the mark the collision had left on the wood.

Kaveh scrambled to his feet. In an act of despair, he grasped for any trace of Dendro he could hold onto and forced it onto the surface with all his will. The claymore lit up. He trapped the green shimmer around the weapon and swung his blade at the monsters. His string of attacks followed no pattern, aimlessly hitting at the Hillichurls like a madman, fearing the light to disappear any second. Explosions of bloom cores blew up the idyll and spread panic amongst the monsters. Confused and scared, they turned on their paws and fled. Victory.

The second Kaveh let go of his iron grip on the Dendro flow, a flood of fatigue overwhelmed him. Panting heavily, Kaveh propped himself up on his claymore to remain standing. He didn’t dare to move, because the ground spun too fast. As if his vision had developed a mind of its own and chastised him for pressuring it into working.

This was why he felt off all morning. His vision.

Kaveh had found the source of the sinking feeling, but the wave of exhaustion overwrote any drop of relief. Visions were supposed to aid their wielder with strength – not rob them of it. How was this even possible?

Kaveh struggled to tell how much time had passed until he summoned enough energy to stand up and return to the city. Maybe minutes, maybe hours. Even when drunk, he maintained more elegance than he did on his way back to the Akademiya. Every step was a gamble and Kaveh bet on keeping his balance. But his lucky streak had run out.

After the third fall, Kaveh didn’t bother to get up anymore. He rolled onto his back and squeezed his eyes shut at the bright sunlight. Nothing of the dimmed glow of the early morning sun.

The next time he got up again, the world had stopped swaying, but the unnatural exhaustion persisted.

For the second time in two days, Kaveh paid a visit to the Bimarstan. Only this time, no Alhaitham steadied his steps on the way there. Mainly because Kaveh purposefully chose the path through Sumeru’s more hidden alleys instead of the big Akademiya entrance, which rid him of annoying questions, but also rid him of help. By the time he reached his destination, Kaveh regretted his choice. All the sleep, yet he felt none of its rewards. He prayed the doctors could make more sense of his predicament.

Kaveh’s first stop after the Bimarstan was Puspa Café. The medicine the doctors prescribed him hardly posed opposition to the fatigue, so later that day, he entered the House of Daena with an empty wallet and too much caffeine in his veins.

He wasn’t the only one who had been drawn to the library this noon. Students from all Darshans searched through the shelves, squeezed around the few tables and skimmed through their reading material, looking increasingly more stressed with each flip of the page. All the noises and rapid movements pressed heavily on Kaveh’s skull.

Among the crowd, he spotted Alhaitham sitting further off from the buzzing masses. He carried around the same books from last morning but the pile had shrunken by at least half its previous height. In contrast to his peers, he showed no sign of stress and even looked almost bored.

Kaveh slumped next to Alhaitham. Despite all the cups of espresso he had chugged down at the café, his legs felt like they were made out of slime condensate. “How’s my favourite Junior doing?”

“Where have you been?” Alhaitham’s gaze didn’t strive from the page. Not even a “Good, how about you?” or a simple “Hello”. Not that Kaveh expected any small talk.

“At the Bimarstan.”

“Randomly disappearing for half a day and re-emerging injured has become a new hobby of yours. I preferred it when you stuck to drawing in your free time. Didn’t the doctor tell you to take it easy with your freshly healed bones?” Alhaitham maintained a straight face, but his voice gained a soft edge.

“Quit jumping to assumptions, my ribs are fine. I only encountered a group of Hillichurls on my walk around the outskirts and that caused a little more trouble than anticipated.”

Alhaitham arched an eyebrow. “Oh, not Fungi this time?”

“You will never stop nagging me about this, will you?” Kaveh grimaced and nudged his Junior’s side. “Defeating the monsters would have been a matter of minutes if my vision didn’t malfunction.”

Alhaitham’s head snapped up. “What do you mean by ‘malfunction’?”

“Definitions and languages are supposed to be your forte, Haravatat. By ‘malfunction’ I mean exactly that – the vision denied me its support. Quite hilarious, really, the way I desperately swung the claymore with no elemental power to guide me. All my experiences in combat were thrown out the window.” Kaveh laughed. Alhaitham did not. If anything, his serious face hardened even further.

You’re supposed to mock me for my carelessness. But this Alhaitham strayed so far from amused, it caused guilt to bloom in Kaveh’s chest and take root in his lungs. “A-anyways, I figured out how to get a grip on my vision again. Not a big deal, it only cost me a little more strength than usual. I guess that just happens sometimes, right?”

“No. Machines can break and malfunction, animals can get ill and wounded, but the gifts of the gods do not just ‘stop working’. The divine defies most common threats.”

“Spare me that speech, I heard it already at the Bimarstan. According to him, what I described as a ‘malfunction’ is the result of overworking myself, which led to the confusion that made me unable to properly wield elemental powers. Hence, it’s an issue of the will, not an issue with the vision.”

The doctor had conducted a few different tests to check whether any exterior forces tempered with Kaveh’s powers, but found nothing. No poison, archaic artefact’s influence or sickness. On paper, Kaveh was the healthiest he had ever been. He had to stifle a bitter laugh at that thought. “Healthy” was the last word on his mind when he dragged himself to the Bimarstan after nearly passing out on his way there. Stress hadn’t caused his predicament. If it did, Kaveh would have never been able to properly wield the powers of Dendro in his entire life.

But Alhaitham couldn’t know that.

“I had noticed your increased restlessness, but I didn’t expect it to become a severe issue.” Alhaitham’s eyes locked on Kaveh. Again, this expression as if he attempted to read Kaveh like the books he just put aside. And going by the sparkle in his eyes, Kaveh was a fascinating read, something foreign that spoke to Alhaitham’s curiosity, a rune that was written in a language he didn’t understand.

Kaveh averted his eyes. "That’s my luck for you. Or rather, the lack thereof.”

“I don’t believe in luck nor fate.”

“Right, always looking through rational lenses. Either way, as long as I listen to the doctor’s advice, I am sure this incident won’t repeat itself. Let’s stop talking about it.” Kaveh put on a smile in the hope it would motivate Alhaitham to return the gesture because his overly serious expression fed Kaveh’s bad consciousness.

But Alhaitham didn’t even look at him. His gaze had dropped down to Kaveh’s waist, where the Dendro vision hung over his Akademiya robes. Its shimmer coloured the fabric light green. “Can I take a look?”

“Why? I just mentioned it has nothing to do with my accident. Stress caused the malfunction, not the vision itself.”

“I do share that belief, but it’s in a researcher’s best interest to gather evidence to support their theory. So, would you mind?”

Slowly, Kaveh detached the vision from his clothes and placed it on top of the notes. “If you insist...”

Alhaitham’s thumb skimmed over the glass-like material and traced along the golden edges and patterns engraved in the metal. He flipped the vision in his palm and observed the elemental energy pulsating within it like a heartbeat. Nothing differentiated it from the Dendro vision on Alhaitham’s coat. “It appears fine on the outside, but looks are deceiving. Sometimes there is more going on underneath the surface than the appearance leads one to believe. Therefore, I cannot count it as conclusive evidence. Don’t you agree?”

Kaveh ripped the vision out of Alhaitham’s hand. “Not everything in life is a riddle waiting for you to unwrap it. The vision looks alright because it is alright.” Alhaitham opened his mouth for a retort, but Kaveh cut him off. “If you have any doubts, go consult the Bimarstan.”

“I never said I questioned their diagnosis.”

“Good.” Kaveh hung his vision back in its place, stood up and turned to leave. “If you excuse me, I came to the House of Daena to study and-” Before he could finish his sentence, Alhaitham grabbed him by the sleeve. A gentle pull but firm enough to stop Kaveh in his tracks.

“Think before you act. If an unhealthy amount of stress caused this disaster, you ought to do anything but study. It’s embarrassing that I have to educate a Senior on that. Did all that coffee burn your senses away?” With the hefty bill Kaveh had created at Puspa Café, it would have been more impressive if Alhaitham didn’t notice the smell of coffee hovering over him.

“Failing all my exams will do wonders to my psyche, I’m sure.”

“And getting injured because you’re defenceless without your powers will boost your academic performance, no doubt.”

“You-” Kaveh brought a hand up to his forehead, hiding the frown with his palm. “It was a one-time thing only. I hadn’t slept well, just recovered from my broken ribs and noticed the Hillichurls too late. No wonder the vision responded poorly to my stress. Don’t turn a vulture into an illuminated beast.”

To Kaveh’s bewilderment, Alhaitham let go of him, albeit reluctantly. “If your luck matched your stubbornness, there would be no reason for doubts. At least stop doing those walks around Sumeru’s outskirts. They are quite the health hazard.”

“I suppose I can do that.”

Kaveh bid his goodbyes and walked off. Shame gnawed at his chest and sank its teether deeper with every step. He used to beg Alhaitham to show any signs of compassion, but now, what stood between Kaveh and this comfortable life with Alhaitham was Alhaitham himself. This man never failed to make anything he touched complicated. If he only ceased his suspicion and allowed Kaveh to accommodate to the timetravel’s consequences, he could peacefully repair a friendship that hasn’t ever been broken.

Kaveh headed for the direction of the Kshahrewar section in the House of Daena, threw a glance over his shoulder to see if Alhaitham returned to studying and walked past it to the Spantamad one. Memories flickered through his head. The way his vision acted up in the presence of the red Leyline, how it called out to it and denied Kaveh control. A little quirk at first, a big problem now.

His eyes dragged along the maze of shelves. Each turn revealed another row dedicated to the seven elements and the Leyline network. Even if he sacrificed months to get through all of them, nothing guaranteed his success and this was also assuming the vision behaved during all this time. Kaveh stopped in the middle of the aisle. Like searching for a special sand corn in the desert, but not knowing what set it apart from the thousandth identical waves of sand around him while succumbing to dehydration. If Kaveh were a lesser man, he might as well lay down and allow the dunes to devour him.

“Are you lost, cutie?”

“Excuse me?” Kaveh blinked confused. He had been too absorbed in his inner monologue to hear the woman approaching.

“I asked whether you got lost.” Her lips quirked up and she swung a brown strand of hair behind her ear. Purple roses held her braids together and their colour matched the Electro vision dangling around her neck. She suited her element well by how much power and confidence crackled behind every word. Not in the composed factual manner Alhaitham used to, but rather playful like she relished in social activities – which was definitely unlike Alhaitham.

“I guess I am a little lost,” he admitted.

“Hm, Kaveh from Kshahrewar, right? Look at how worked up you are already. Is the exam anxiety getting to you so badly that you even confused your Darshan?”

“How do you know my name?”

The woman laughed like Kaveh had told a hilarious joke. “You should be more surprised if I did not, cutie. You caused quite a fuss with your dramatic appearance yesterday. Half-passed out but reluctant to tell anybody about what happened – rumours have it you got into a fight. If the ladies weren’t swooning about the handsome genius before, an air of mystery is always attracting hearts.”

Kaveh cleared his throat, feeling the heat creep up his neck. This woman was saying absurd and embarrassing things. Let alone that nickname. “Thanks, but that wasn’t my intention. Also, you’re exaggerating about my supposed fame with the women.” Sure, he enjoyed some sort of popularity, but if they looked his way, it was probably because of Alhaitham, who accompanied him to most places since Kaveh was his only friend. How could one not stare at Alhaitham? A face with perfect edges and a jawline like carved out of marble, his effortless confidence and incredible intelligence. Ever since he started working out, it became even harder to avert one’s eyes.

“You still haven’t answered my question,” she pointed out, “Or did you only come here to talk to me?”

Kaveh had nearly forgotten she was there too. “My apologies, but that’s not why. I am aware that this is not the section of the library dedicated to the Kshahrewar, but I require some knowledge my Darshan cannot offer. Mind helping me, since you are from Spantamad yourself?” He nodded to the emblem of a red peaco*ck emblazoned on her shirt. Seven feathers stretched out of the bird’s body, representing the seven elements.

“You’re in luck, I feel generous today. Tell me what you want me to do and I will take good care of you.”

“Please, work on your phrasing,” Kaveh muttered to himself. Somehow, all that came out of her mouth insinuated more than the literal meaning. A rare talent of sorts. But he could look over her ridiculous choice of words for the sake of help. “I need an expert on Leylines.”

Something about that request caused her smile to widen. “That’s like asking for an expert on stars at the Rtawahist’. Can you narrow it down a little further, cutie?”

“Specifically, the Leyline’s influence on vision holders and possible risks and dangers. Do you know anybody well-versed in this subject?”

“I do. Allow me to introduce you to her.” She smoothed out wrinkles on her clothes that weren’t there, straightened her back and held out her hand to Kaveh. “I am Lisa Minci, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Just treat me to tea some other time and I’ll satisfy your curiosity.”

Kaveh’s breath got caught in his throat. Lisa Minci? In the present, she was the most distinguished Spantamad graduate in 200 years. After she left the Akademiya, Lisa would make headlines in the Steambird and her name would become sacred amongst the Spantamad scholars. Similar to the worship Kaveh gained for his achievements, mainly the palace. Cyno had mentioned Lisa a couple of times, but Kaveh hadn’t ever met her in person since she moved to Mondstadt early on. Yet words about her deeds travelled even further. If she had stayed in Sumeru, she would have carried titles similar to “Light of Spantamad” he bet.

Kaveh gave her an honest smile. He meant every word of his next sentence. “The pleasure is all mine, Lisa Minci.”

Chapter 6: Forbidden Research

Chapter Text

6 years and 5 days ago, House of Daena

“So, Kaveh of Kshahrewar, you want to know more about how the Leylines are influencing vision holders?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“Allow me to think about it.” Lisa’s gaze drifted afar as if searching through the endless corridors of knowledge she had accumulated over the years at the Akademiya, grazing over each topic and sorting through. “First of all, Leylines themselves aren’t inherently dangerous. They only pose an issue, if the outcrops lure in monsters or if the Leyline disorder affects the environment to a problematic degree. But since you focus on vision wielders specifically, this will be less of an issue since they possess a heightened resistance up to immunity. Guess we’re in luck, cutie.” With a cling, Lisa’s nail tapped against her Electro vision and a purple flash flew down the glass-like surface.

Kaveh didn’t dare to copy the stunt out of fear to summon another wave of unnatural exhaustion. Three Bimarstan visits in two days stopped being funny. “Are there any exceptions? Cases where people like us were more affected than the rest?”

“Possible, but extremely unlikely. Both our visions and the Leylines manipulate elemental energy. They use the same power, speak the same language, and know how to reply to shifts in the environment. Those without the aid of the gods are deaf to the disorders and lack natural protection. Take withering zones for example, it acts in a similar but more destructive way. It harms the ordinary folk irreversibly within minutes while people like you and me could spend days in its proximity without a scratch. Does that answer your question?”

“Yes.” No. Lisa’s explanation contradicted all of Kaveh’s observations. His co-workers discovered the red Leyline first without any visible damage or anomalies. Most of them hadn’t even ever seen a vision holder before meeting him, let alone showing talent in wielding the elements. And still, standing at the construction site, the Leyline had singled out Kaveh. For all the protection his vision was supposed to provide, it had succumbed to the foreign power almost immediately.

Enough questions to fill every shelf in the House of Daena cramped his head, but only one made it out. “Is it possible for Leylines to ‘corrupt’ visions?” Kaveh’s own Dendro vision bathed in an innocent green halo as if it didn’t rob him both of his power and strength this morning. This device from the gods lied even better than he did.

For some reasons, the question elicited a smile from Lisa. The kind of smile a mother gave its toddler when it spluttered nonsense, but didn’t want to hurt the child’s feelings. “I find your innocence adorable, yet I cannot help but feel like we have to tidy up some fundamental misunderstandings about Elementalism. First and foremost, a Leyline’s task is to record all that happens in Teyvat and store it in Irminsul. The outcrops you see are connected in a network that reaches from the peaks of Celestia down to the depths of the Abyss. However, Leylines don’t… How do I put this? Have you ever seen a ‘Kamera’? It’s a Fontaine invention.”

“Of course, I’ve used them a couple of times for my…” architecture commissions. “…studies.”

Lisa clasped her hands together. “Great, then you’re familiar. Imagine a Kamera that exists at any place in Teyvat simultaneously and takes photos at every moment. All those ‘photos’ end up in Irminsul, a big archive of sorts. Those Leyline disorders I mentioned happen whenever there is an overflow of elemental energy that powers the ‘Kameras’ in this analogy. The overflow can manifest in a change of climate, creation of elemental life forms or illnesses amongst other things. The Leylines themselves never harm one directly. Water doesn’t hurt until you’re drowning in it, does it?”

“I suppose you’re right.” Kaveh withheld a sigh. This conversation went in the wrong direction and dragged Kaveh’s patience along. Time to become more direct. “You mentioned the overflow can cause a shift in the environment, but could it also, I don’t know, manipulate time? Transporting things and lifeforms through past and future-”

“Cutie, I’d recommend you choose a different topic.” Lisa’s smile didn’t falter, but the playfulness behind her teasing died. Kaveh felt like looking into a mirror – he recognized the feeling in her eyes. Fear.

His mouth went dry. “What do you mean by that?”

“I assume you’re asking all those questions because of the upcoming joint projects, right?”

The mention of the joint project struck Kaveh like a punch to the gut. The shock kick-started his memories and everything fell into place. The lecture with Madam Faruzan, the day he and Alhaitham spent studying in the House of Daena, Kaveh remembered doing it once already. It didn’t mean anything back then, just another lecture, another noon spent studying together, another meal shared, until it was the last one.

“You look pale. Is everything alright, cutie?”

Kaveh nodded because his voice failed him. Out of all places in time, he had ended up in the one spot he hated even more than the present. The last week before Alhaitham and his friendship became another tale of the past. Kaveh forced his breath to steady.

No, not again. I won’t repeat my mistakes. They would sneak out to watch the eclipse again and Alhaitham would ask Kaveh to collaborate on the project. This time, the answer was ‘No’. Even if it ruined this evening, it saved every following one. Alhaitham practised a logical and blunt approach, a rejection shouldn’t get through his thick skin, and with his intelligence, enough other students yearned to collaborate with the prodigy of Haravatat. No big deal.

Kaveh faked a smile. “Sorry, I just remembered something important. Anyways, you advised me to pick a different topic. Why is that?”

“Right, you might not know this, but research on defying time is considered banned since the topic correlates with two of the six sins of the Akademiya. Even if your professor approved the project, they purged all entries on time manipulation decades ago. You won’t find anything in the House of Daena nor will I tell you anything.” Lisa’s features softened. “I like you, so I’d hate to see you getting in trouble for this.”

“Please, can’t you make an exception? I don’t even need the details, just some general information. A ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to my question suffices and I won’t tell anybody. It'll stay between you and me. I promise!” Desperation seeped through Kaveh’s feigned composure. “Please, just tell me. I need to know.”

“Usually, seeing men beg makes me weak, but I’ll have to stay strong for the both of us. Scholars who ignored the warnings and researched the forbidden either continued their life in exile, prison, or six feet under. Those are fates I don’t wish anybody to share.”

Kaveh gulped down his disappointment, but the sour taste persisted and stung his throat. He tried his best to not grimace. “I understand… Can I ask you another question then? Don’t worry, it’s nothing about forbidden research.”

“Go ahead, cutie.”

“With whom are you doing the joint project?”

“Why? Oh my, do you want to be my partner?” The corners of her lips quirked up and she curled a tuft of hair around her finger.

“Research partner, yes. You are well informed and I always found Elementalism intriguing.” Even more intriguing, if it saved him from collaborating on that disastrous project with Alhaitham.

“Allow me to think about your endearing offer. You’re sweet, but I have a lot of suitors to choose from and your knowledge about Elementalism needs some work.”

“What I am lacking in Spantamad knowledge, I make up with my Kshahrewar expertise. Trust me, I will make it worth it,” Kaveh said so fast, the words crashed into each other and Lisa had to halt him with a gesture of her hand.

“So eager. I like that. Let’s talk about this matter in a few days again over a cup of tea. Don’t forget, you still owe me.”

It wasn’t an outright rejection at least. “Of course, thanks for your help.” Although the conversation didn’t reap the fruits Kaveh hoped he sowed, it satiated his thirst for answers momentarily. The Akademiya did store knowledge about time travel, they only hid it away from its law-abiding students and scholars. If luck switched to his side, the sages also confiscated records on malfunctioning visions and time-bending Leylines. Finally, a new lead.

“Oh look, you’re not the only lost scholar. Isn’t this the quiet Haravatat guy?” Lisa nudged his shoulder and pointed behind him. Kaveh didn’t need to turn around to guess who it was. If curiosity killed the cat, Alhaitham had more than seven lives like the felines usually did. “They should put up more signs, before the next confused student barges in. Right, cutie?”

At the nickname “cutie” Alhaitham raised an eyebrow in silent question. Kaveh shrugged. He had no answer nor needed one. Lisa could call him whatever she pleased as long as she guided him closer to the truth – which she did.

“I am not lost. I was only passing through to return the series on King Deshret’s runes.” Alhaitham slammed the books on the table to underline his statement. “Did I disturb your rendezvous?” His gaze flickered between them and lingered on Lisa. But not those lovestruck eyes, no, he looked at her like he could impale her with his glare. Not the boredom or annoyance he usually graced strangers with.

Lisa didn’t seem to mind. “Not at all, we just finished our insightful conversation. It’s truly a treat to talk to Kshahrewar’s most talented student. See you soon at our tea date, cutie.” She gave Kaveh a wink before she walked off. Only when her purple silhouette fully disappeared behind the corner did Alhaitham take his eyes off, but his expression didn’t waver. As if the ghost of her presence was haunting his thoughts and hauling him down a gloomy trail of thoughts.

Chills ran down Kaveh’s spine. Alhaitham knew something he didn’t. “What’s that look for?”

“You won’t like the answer.”

“One more reason why I should hear it.”

“Forget it.” Alhaitham bent down to pick up the records on King Deshret’s runes, but Kaveh ripped the book out of his hand. Before Alhaitham was able to complain, Kaveh slotted himself between the table and his Junior and snapped, “Where is that bluntness when it’s needed? Come on, you’ve never been shy to announce what’s on your mind. Why do you look at Lisa like she has been sent from the Abyss?”

“Are you sure you want to know?”

“Yes, I am. Haitham, stop acting all dramatic.”

“If you say so...” Alhaitham leaned in closer and his voice sank to a whisper. His breath tickled against Kaveh’s skin, but each syllable came out cold and sharp. “Is Lisa the person that hurt you at the tavern?”

“What?”

“You heard me. Was it her? Did she break your rib? I’ve never seen you together, yet you act close to the point where she calls you nicknames. Going by her reputation, she is a genius and easy to talk to, bet you would get along very well. You mentioned the incident happened with someone close to you and if it was her, I have no doubt that a powerful mage with an Electro vision is fully capable of causing damage. Sweet smiles hide the foulest secrets.”

Kaveh heard Alhaitham just fine, but he didn’t understand. The questions reached his brain, yet the meaning arrived delayed. It was too absurd, too outlandish, too strange to imagine. Kaveh would have burst out laughing if it wasn’t for the alert in Alhaitham’s eyes, his dilated pupils. He’d only ever seen him like this in battle. Who did he want to fight? If he only knew the real culprit behind Kaveh’s broken ribs…

“Am I right or am I not?” Alhaitham became impatient. “Now you are giving me the weird look.”

“How are you still thinking about this incident?” it spluttered out of Kaveh with open bewilderment. He took a second to calm his head and added on a softer note, “Please, relax, it wasn’t her. I confess, Lisa talks a bit odd and I don’t know why she keeps calling me ‘cutie’, but I haven’t even ever talked to her before today, let alone started a fight with her. She’s innocent.”

“Are you telling the truth?”

“You can ask Lisa herself or anyone for that matter – they will all confirm it. I have nothing to hide.”

Alhaitham went silent, inspecting Kaveh for any trace of lies. The tension dropped off his shoulders and his movements became lighter like a burden has been lifted. He nodded. “Alright, I believe you.”

‘What? Really?’ Kaveh nearly screamed but held back at last. “I… I haven’t heard that phrase in a while, especially not out of your mouth. Nevertheless, didn’t you promise to stop asking about the night at the tavern?”

There it was again. Alhaitham’s teasing smirk – Kaveh had missed it. “I warned you that my answer will dissatisfy you but you insisted. Clearly, I’m not to blame.”

He rolled his eyes, hating that Alhaitham was right. “You think too much. Allow your head some rest.”

“I am in the best shape. The one who should be resting instead of working is you, my dear Senior, before you become a regular at the Bimarstan. Sometimes I really don’t get why they gave you the title of a genius.” Alhaitham planted his hands on the table surface, getting closer in the process and something else shone through the disguise of annoyance. “Now then, can I have my book back?”

In the heat of the disagreement, Kaveh hadn’t considered the intimacy of their positions. Blood rushed to his cheeks. The only thing stopping his shoulders from bumping into Alhaitham’s was the book he had stolen squeezed between them. Behind him the table, in front of him Alhaitham, who flashed him a way too satisfied grin. Almost like he wanted to prove a point. “What’s the matter? Did King Deshret’s runes pique your interest so badly, you don’t want to give it back, cutie?”

“Oh, cut it out.” Kaveh pushed Alhaitham off and pressed the book into his hands. He scrambled for a clever answer in return but hit a blank wall. Cutie, it echoed in his head. Somehow, it sounded different when Alhaitham said it. It shouldn’t even be in his vocabulary among all the insults they exchanged. Nicknames were a dead language to Alhaitham. Although his teasing had a habit of getting a strong response out of Kaveh, usually it was rage, not this surge of warmth in his chest. “I have to go,” was all he got out in the end, awkwardly turning around. The weight of his vision pulling at his clothes reminded him of the real purpose he came to the House of Daena.

“Where are you going?”

“Taking a break like you advised me to.” Because Kaveh needed to be rested if he wanted to steal forbidden research from the Akademiya. No, not stealing – borrowing. A quick peek inside, a short read, nothing major. A small price to save the life, where Alhaitham cared about his well-being and called him pet names, albeit jokingly.

Kaveh cursed the present for the sorrow it brought, but for once, his memories were a blessing. Specifically, the ones about Cyno. As the General Mahamatra, he kept his lips shut whenever pried for details about his profession and tentatively indulged in alcoholic beverages. Always so, so careful. Except for that one night.

That one night, which would become the key to the forbidden research.

Kaveh had suspected something was off the second Cyno joined him and Tighnari at the table. No smile, no greeting, only a brusque nod. In silence, he had opened his Casket of Tomes and lined up the TCG cards, waiting for Kaveh to do the same. If someone observed them from afar, they would assume Cyno lost the game horrendously going by his grave face, when in fact, he bested Kaveh without even focusing. Cyno remained quiet, avoided eye contact, and only spoke when ordering a new glass of wine.

Out of desperation, Tighnari asked him for a joke, but Cyno declined, saying he couldn’t think of any. Tighnari almost spat out his drink and demanded to know what had happened immediately. The alcohol had broken down Cyno’s resistance and loosened his tongue. Once he started to explain, everything flooded out at once, his voice so heavy, he nearly drowned in his misery.

Together with the Traveller, Cyno had investigated a case of Canned Knowledge smuggling. Usually, those tasks didn’t require the General Mahamatra’s attention, but they required Cyno’s since the rumoured culprit was an old friend of his, his Junior Taj. They used to work alongside each other until Taj got badly injured during a mission. The wounds forced him to resign. And although his body was bruised and scarred, his mind never left the Matra. So, as he noticed the widespread corruption in the Matra’s ranks, he took it upon himself to solve the case.

Taj honoured his duty more than his life. Literally. When the Matra dug him out of the quicksand, his skin was already cold. His sacrifice led to the collapse of the smuggling ring, but Cyno didn’t find it in him to celebrate, resulting in his poor state at the tavern that night. The story gave Kaveh goosebumps every time. If his dear Junior had thrown away his life for a mission, he wouldn’t have ever forgiven himself either.

Amidst the disaster, Cyno had casually mentioned the Restricted Repository he and the Traveller visited during their investigation to find out more about Taj’s father, who had researched the Court of Desolation despite the ban. It was the Akademiya's vault of forbidden documents, accessible only to the Mahamatra and their trusted associates. And soon Kaveh. This tragedy would cause one happy end at last.

The day after, he had sworn to a hangover Cyno to never abuse this newfound knowledge, but Kaveh made this promise six years in the future, so technically, it didn’t count yet. Right? Nor was it a big breach of trust. He would only sneak in, find the right file, fix his vision and no one would ever know.

No one.

Not even Alhaitham.

Chapter 7: Too Sweet To Be Sincere (Like Tea)

Chapter Text

6 years and 4 days ago, Lambad’s Tavern

Kaveh couldn’t look the waitress in the eyes and merely mumbled a curt, “Thanks” as she served his food. He suffocated the wick of the candles between his fingers. With a hiss, the light died and its ghost of smoke ascended. The setting sun crawled through the windows and drowned his table in a red tint, making his hands look bloody as he reached down to pull a small jar out of his pockets.

Pills rustled inside. He took out one of them and placed it next to the dish. Kaveh’s eyes kept flickering back to the other guests of the tavern, but everyone seemed too pre-occupied with their drinks and conversation to notice his doings. Good.

Using the curve of his fork, Kaveh crushed the pill into powder. After he broke down the sphere into a sugar-like substance, he checked again whether anybody was observing him. Still no. With a hammering heartbeat, Kaveh mixed the powder into the jam that came with the Charcoal-Baked Ajilenakh Cake and added actual sugar to cover up the bitterness.

He brought the small bowl up to his nose. The sweetness covered the foreign scent. Despite his best efforts, Kaveh’s hands trembled as he poured the jam over the dark-coloured pastry, drawing involuntarily zig-zag lines over the lustrous surface. He slammed the bowl back down. I can’t do this, something cried in him. You have to. To save your vision, another admonished.

Kaveh had tucked his Dendro vision in the pockets of the robe. Only a dim gleam hinted at its existence, barely resembling the vibrant beam of light it once was. More of his powers dwindled every day and the only help the Bimarstan offered were breathing exercises and those damn sleeping pills he just crushed up. And they would help fix the malfunction. Just not how the doctors intended to.

He picked the jam back up. No matter how delicious Lambad’s dishes were, tonight its sight made Kaveh want to throw up. The guilt played with his stomach and killed his appetite. Not like he planned on eating the Charcoal-Baked Ajilenakh Cake anyways.

After the last drop of jam had been distributed over the pastry, Kaveh called over the waitress. “What’s the most expensive wine you have on the menu?”

“That would be the Dandelion wine, sir. It stems from Mondtstadt’s most discerning winery and enjoys a glorious reputation amongst the locals. Legends have it that the Anemo Archon himself created the original recipe.”

“I’ll take a bottle of it.”

The waitress looked like she was about to laugh, but seeing Kaveh lacked all mirth, she composed herself. Kaveh’s poor finances were an open secret and no one would know better than the staff at Lambad’s. “Exotic beverages come at exotic prices,” she said carefully.

“I am aware. It’s a special occasion, so I don’t mind if it blows a hole into my wallet.” After all, how often did one break into the Akademiya to steal classified information? A special occasion indeed. A pity Kaveh would neither consume the food nor wine tonight.

“Alright sir, excuse me while I fetch the bottle.”

Kaveh walked out of the tavern with the jam-submerged pastry, the Dandelion wine and no Mora in his pockets. By the time he arrived at the dorm rooms of the Akademiya, the sky had bled dry and changed into his night coat. Having no free hand, Kaveh kicked the door open.

Alhaitham’s only reaction toward his arrival was a frustrated groan. He had propped his elbows on the desk, rubbing his temples and reached for the teacup that stood far too close to the edge. Before Alhaitham built his earpieces in the future, loud public spaces, like the House of Daena, regularly gave him a headache. The same earpieces Kaveh had broken. Right when he puzzled his heart together, it cracked again. Silently, he laid down the food and wine next to Alhaitham.

“What’s all that for?”

“For you. You’ve been burying yourself in research papers and books and are now the one to neglect your hunger. You didn’t even eat dinner.” Kaveh pushed the dish closer. A sweet scent hugged the pastry and the shining surface invited for a bite.

What was meant as encouragement caused Alhaitham’s frown to deepen. “You’re projecting your issues on me. I eat just fine.”

“No one can survive on ramen and coffee alone.”

“It’s cheap.” He nudged against the plate. “Unlike this meal. Are we celebrating something?”

“No, why?”

“This is expensive, especially the wine. If you’re wasting your Mora, there should at least be a good cause for it.” A silent question hovered in the small space between them. Why? It was written all over Alhaitham’s face, yet his eyes kept trailing off to the Charcoal-Baked Ajilenakh Cake. The growl of his stomach betrayed him.

Kaveh put on a confident smile. “We deserve a treat for our hard work and that’s reason enough. What’s all that Mora for if we can’t buy nice things?”

“I see why you’re broke all the time.”

He scoffed and lifted his chin. “Fine, I’ll take it back if you don’t want it.” Please say you want it.

“I never insinuated that.” At last, Alhaitham cut a piece out of the fluffy pastry. Jam dripped down the fork and painted a crime scene on the plate. He raised the bite to his mouth and stopped. “Where’s your fork? Won’t you eat as well?”

“I already did at Lambad’s. This meal is all yours.”

“I see.” The pastry vanished inside his mouth.

Kaveh averted his gaze. The urge to throw the cake away before one drop of the jam ended up in Alhaitham’s stomach made him nauseous. It’s necessary, he reminded himself, he’s too smart for his own good. He will stop my break-in if I don’t stop him first. But no matter how Kaveh turned and flipped it, feeding his best friend sleeping pills ignited his insides with shame. If Alhaitham ever found out… No, he won’t.

“How’s the food?”

“Good.”

Kaveh almost choked his words. “And… and the jam?”

“A bit sweet, but generally delicious nevertheless.”

The sugar successfully masked the pungent taste of the medicine. A victory that deserved as much of a celebration as a funeral did, and buried in the casket were Kaveh’s pride and values. He couldn’t watch this tragedy anymore. “I, uhm, I just remembered I left my wallet at the tavern. I’ll be right back!” Kaveh stormed out before Alhaitham was able to reply.

The twenty minutes he spent waiting outside felt like twenty years. The doctor promised him the pills would take effect in around half an hour and considering how Kaveh crushed them into powder, it should be even sooner. It’s necessary, played in his head in a loop, he won’t ever know. Stealing from the Akademiya required a foolproof plan and Alhaitham’s growing suspicion put the whole mission at risk. Better he slept through it all.

Half an hour had passed. Kaveh took a long breath and decided to go back inside.

Only crumbs remained of the Charcoal-Baked Ajilenakh Cake. Alhaitham lay slumped against the table, one hand hanging around the bottleneck, frozen in the motion of pouring himself a drink. A tranquil image, silver hair rivalling the glow of the stars outside, but knowing the cause carried a bitter aftertaste. Just like the sleeping pills.

Kaveh unclasped Alhaitham’s finger around the wine bottle and downed a big sip for extra courage. He needed it. “I am so sorry.” Kaveh looped his arms around Alhaitham’s waist and shoulders to heave him up. His body fell limp against him like a puppet with cut strings. Careful not to hurt him, Kaveh lowered Alhaitham onto the sheets and tucked him into the blanket. He picked up the papers that had fallen to the floor and cleaned up the ink puddle his pen had left. It was the least he owed him.

Having tidied up, Kaveh kneeled down until he was at eye level with Alhaitham. Dark lashes dropped a fade shadow over his cheeks and ruffled hair fell over his face. Still as a marble statue except for the raising and lowering of his chest, taking slow breaths.

“I feel so awful for mixing sleeping pills in your dinner, but I cannot allow you to interfere with my plans.” Kaveh’s fingertips brushed over Alhaitham’s cheek so gently the touch hardly counted. His wishful thinking wanted to convince him that the corner of Alhaitham’s lips curled upwards at that, just slightly, like his touch melted the man that had features carved out of ice. But it wasn’t real. The world could end and he wouldn’t wake up until the next morning. “Sleep well, Haitham.” Kaveh rose to his feet and left.

Now came the more difficult part: Getting into the Restricted Repository.

Kaveh had memorised the Matra’s location after curfew six years ago. Back then, it was meant to clear their eclipse-observing from any disturbances. If the Grand Sages didn’t lock Kaveh away for his daring intrusion tonight, he might ask Alhaitham again in four days to sneak out with him. But before the moon turned bloody, Kaveh had to get his own hands dirty and break into the heart of the Akademiya.

In the silence, each footstep stood out like thunder, only drowned out by Kaveh’s heartbeat pounding in his ears. Maybe this was a bad idea. But it was also his only idea. No one knew a fix for his vision and those who did were silenced by the Sages. Luckily for Kaveh, he never fit into the ideal the Akademiya laid out for him. He pursued the arts despite their disdain and followed his own mind rather than rules.

Carefully, Kaveh slid under the bridge that led to the House of Daena and followed the corridor until a small discarded bookshelf at the end of the hall broke the rigid order. Next to the grandest library in all of Teyvat, the shelf was a bad joke. The content of its books appeared random – cooking instructions next to travel guides and Inazuman poetry. Inscriptions faded and the pages had turned a sickly yellow. Enough to repel all scholars who didn’t know about the treasure between the lines.

Kaveh scrambled through the shelf and through his memory. Those innocent-looking piles of rotting leather and paper hid a mechanism according to Cyno. If one pulled two certain books at the same time, the trap door would open. One bore the title “Reden ist Silber” and the other “Schweigen ist Gold”. Kaveh was no Haravatat, but Alhaitham once taught him the basics during their joint project. Together, those two titles formed an old Mondstadt saying: Talking is silver, silence is gold. A sentiment Kaveh could get behind.

Found it! In the upper corner, the two novels hid like forbidden lovers in the shadows. Unlike the rest of the collection, they didn’t wear a cloak of dust but a sparkly exterior. Kaveh pulled them at once and the shelf creaked open with a long-drawn cry. Kaveh flinched. Did someone hear this? His eyes searched through the darkness. The darkness stared back unyielding.

After nothing happened for minutes, Kaveh slipped inside the Restricted Repository and closed the mechanism behind him. The door fell into place and the lamps lit up. Standing in the centre of the forbidden research collection, he couldn’t help but feel… disappointed.

It looked too normal. The chamber shared the architectural style of the House of Daena. Same dark wood shelves, same elaborate mint-yellow glass pattern and same hue for the floor and walls. If Kaveh didn’t know better, he would have assumed to have stepped into a simple storage room. A missed architectural opportunity to gift this place the air of mystery it deserved.

The only difference to the common libraries was the small paper slips on every book. Like a price tag, they dangled from every spine, showing the research’s topic and how the researcher had paid for his sins. Secret Text Interpretation Manual, the title read. The responsible Haravatat scholar had been sentenced to prison for life. Kaveh shuddered and searched through the other entries.

Mechanical Life Forms Research Data. Its writer got expelled – what a generous fate. Another Spantamad searched for the clue of immortality and found death. The pattern meandered through every tag. Lisa hadn’t exaggerated. All scholars who abandoned their virtues lost their life, their freedom or their dignity. Sometimes all of the above.

Each innocent paper slip told another tragic tale. A Kshahrewar that built his own demise. A Rtawahist who reached for the moon and never saw her beloved stars again. A Vahumana with a great passion for ancient life never experienced the full scope of his own. Cold dread crawled under Kaveh’s skin, begging him to turn around and flee, but the dying vision to his right dismissed every argument. He went too far to see the point-of-no-return anymore.

No wonder Cyno shot down every attempt at prying information out of him. Even as the General Mahamatra, the Akademiya wouldn’t hesitate to make him share the fate of the sinning scholars if he defied them. Another load of guilt pushed on Kaveh’s heart. How readily he tossed away his promise to him.

The longer Kaveh scanned through the entries, the more the shadows resembled Matra officers and every noise turned into a possible intruder. Whenever the floor creaked or the lamps hissed, a part of him died. So many risks, so few answers. Where there seriously no records of-

The next tag blew his worries away. Kaveh had to stifle a cry of joy and tears turned the faithful eight words blurred. Finally. The Leylines And Their Ability To Influence Time, a joint research project by a Rtawahist and a Spantamad scholar. Both had passed away in prison, but before their death, they wrote this thesis. In such a detailed report, surely the couple included a chapter on the consequences on vision wielders. He yearned to find out.

The second Kaveh’s fingers curled around the spine of the book, his arm was jerked forward. His heart forgot the next beat. He wanted to back off, but something hindered his movement. Where he had pulled out the book, vines had crawled up his wrist like a venomous snake and trapped his arm in a death grip. It coiled around Kaveh’s shoulder, cut off his blood flow, and pierced into his throat. Light enough to not cut open skin. Yet.

Kaveh pressed a hand to his mouth to prevent any screams from spilling. Archons above, what is this? Why- why can’t I get it off? With his free hand, he ripped at the shackles frantically and pierced his nails into the plant, scratching, cutting. As if enraged, the vine twisted around his other wrist and drew tighter the more he resisted. Any firmer and the plant would crush his bones.

Kaveh stopped, panting for air. A miserable cry welled in his lungs, but he didn’t let it out. Those were no normal vines. The spots where his nails marked the plant already faded and it oozed with elemental energy, streaming through every fibre of its malicious existence. Why had Cyno left out that part in his retelling? Wouldn’t the arm-trapping vines be important to mention?

“Kaveh of Kshahrewar, how unexpected to see you here,” a child's voice said.

He froze. His gaze raced through the room. The door was still closed and no one had entered, yet the words echoed in his head clear as daylight. Despite its youthful sound, great power crackled behind every word, making him feel smaller than a drop in the ocean.

“Who- No, what are you?”

The voice came directly from the inside of his skull. Like a thought that didn’t belong to him. “I am a bird in a cage. But even if you lock a sparrow away, its songs will breach beyond the bars and dance with the wind,” it answered in an eloquent manner unfitting of a child. She radiated the kind of wisdom Kaveh knew from his mentors but without the arrogance. Instead, curiosity shone through her voice. Not the suspicious kind Alhaitham liked to wear, but the innocent excitement of a scholar making a discovery.

Kaveh swallowed down a frantic laugh. “Oh Archons, I can’t believe it, I am officially losing my mind. I already hear things that don’t exist.”

“But I do exist. My apologies, I didn’t mean to scare you. I was only curious to see who had run into my trap.”

“Those vines were your fault?”

“Indeed. With what little prowess I possess I swore to protect the research that shall never meet the public’s eyes. In a strive for knowledge, your biggest enemy is knowledge itself. Although I do not agree with the way the Grand Sages punish scholars with a curiosity too grand for their mortal body, they are right in restricting topics that correlate with the seven sins.” Although the entity laid out the trap, she lacked aggression towards him. There was room to reason with her – hopefully, because Kaveh wasn’t sure how long he could stay still.

He lost the feeling in his arms and his legs ached where the floor pierced into flesh, knees tempted to buckle and make him fall. But he remained upright. The vines locked tight enough around his throat for him to abandon any idea of movement. “Believe me when I say I harbour no ill intentions. I don’t want to figure out the mystery of death or temper with life. I only want to repair my vision.”

“Why do you think it’s broken?”

“It has been acting up lately and loses its glow steadily. Whenever I try to use my powers, the vision either rejects me or I pay with all my strength for a spark of Dendro.” On a sour note, Kaveh added, “I asked the Bimarstan for help, but they blamed it on my stress.”

“Let me have a look.” The entity went silent. Kaveh’s vision sparked up shortly as if to greet the ghost and a faint presence lingered in the air from no certain direction. Like the scent of rain after a storm, it was everywhere.

“How peculiar.” The spirit lowered her voice as if they were exchanging secrets and her voice climbed up a pitch in excitement, “In my 500 years of observing Sumeru, I’ve never encountered a vision like this. It’s losing elemental energy like a bucket with a hole. I am afraid we don’t want to experience what happens when there’s nothing left to drain.”

“I told you it’s broken! At last, someone believes me, albeit some centuries-old spirit.”

She made a noise of amusem*nt. “I am not a spirit, but you might as well call me that. In a way, I am the ghost of my old self.” Mid-sentence, her cheerfulness plummeted as if Kaveh’s remark had grazed over an injury that had never healed.

Kaveh couldn’t stop all movement. The more he talked, the deeper the vines slit into his throat. “Ghost, spirit, whatever you are, I beg you to free me. I’ve been told the Akademiya stores records on cases that will help me ‘plug the hole in the bucket’ to continue your analogy. It’s my last chance. I won’t abuse this knowledge.”

“Hmm, you do catch my curiosity.” She picked her words carefully. “There is something interesting about you I cannot pinpoint. Akin to finding a blooming Windwheel Aster in the stormy lands of Inazuma. Flowers of this region aren’t supposed to take root in the electro-infused soil, yet here you are, blossoming and slowly decaying.”

“Does this mean you will help me?”

She went silent again. “It pains me to confess, but I cannot undo the trap. I can only stop the vines from growing further.”

“Why can’t you undo it? You made it.”

“Have you ever tried to take out a fire by adding more fire?”

“You do have a point…” Kaveh sunk into himself, shackled by the devilish vines curling around his arms and throat. He better get used to it, because if he didn’t find a solution fast, this wouldn’t be the last time he got handcuffed. Kaveh took shallow breaths. “Oh Sevens, this is a disaster. What should I do?”

“You’re not alone, Kaveh.”

A sad smile flashed over his lips. “Thanks for the comfort, spirit. I feel a bit better having someone to talk to.”

“No, I meant this literally. You are not alone. Someone has been observing you and they’re coming closer.”

Chapter 8: Ally or Enemy?

Chapter Text

6 years and 4 days ago, Restricted Repository, Akademiya

It took four words to halt Kaveh’s world momentarily.

You are not alone.

Not. Alone. The panic pushed his mind spinning, but his body went rigid. How was this possible? The Matra weren’t supposed to return this early. What did the spirit mean by-

Footsteps approached outside.

No! This can’t be happening. Kaveh threw his body against the wall and thrashed against the restraints. Pain jolted through his wrists. He forced back a whimper, stopped tossing and dragged his teeth over the vines. Not even a scratch. Kaveh’s vision flickered weakly as he spoke a silent command. Help.

“Don’t!” the ghost’s sharp admonishment shot through his brain, “It’s too dangerous.” A childlike voice, but a motherlike worry.

“I have to do something, spirit.” Kaveh grabbed his powers, but they ran through his fingers like clinging to water. This wasn’t a surge of Dendro, barely a wave and rather a ripple. A drop of green light to illuminate his suffering. “Archons, help me,” a prayer dwelled on his lips.

Nothing changed. Wherever his elemental powers had gone, they fled too far for the gods to reach. A mocking glow wavered uselessly to his feet as if laughing at him. Why did he pray in a room full of sinners’ works, anyways?

The ghost had promised to stop the vines from growing, but Kaveh felt his throat tightening nevertheless, his breath quickening. The more he resisted and squirmed, the darker the lights in the Restricted Repository became. In front of his inner eyes, he saw his own little paper slip dangling. Kaveh of Kshahrewar, imprisoned for stealing forbidden research. A ‘decaying flower’ the ghost had called him, soon rotting behind bars.

Metal screamed as the door of the Restricted Repository creaked open.

A beat of silence.

“You never fail to surprise, dear Senior.”

Kaveh blinked his tears away and the fuzzy splotch of colour hardened into a familiar silhouette. The harsh lighting of the Restricted Repository eliminated every soft curve on his face, resulting in a grim mask. Like the statue of a judgmental god, he stared down at him in a way that made the vines feel even tighter.

“Alhaitham?” A co*cktail of emotions turned Kaveh sick. It bore an aftertaste that reeked of confusion and dazzled his senses. Was this salvation or doom? A ray of sunshine or the light at the end of the tunnel? Was this even real? Maybe Kaveh had fallen unconscious long ago and his imagination cursed him with this nightmare. No way this actually happened, because…

“You are supposed to be asleep,” he sputtered out in bewilderment.

Alhaitham let out a chuckle. Not the amused kind, but dry and cold enough to freeze the blood in Kaveh’s veins. “Neither you nor I am dreaming.”

“But… how?” Memories flashed in and out of Kaveh's head. He went through every step and tumbled as he recognized his mistake. Oh no.

“You never watched me eat the cake, did you? You just assumed I did because of the empty plate.” Alhaitham came closer until he stood directly in front of Kaveh. “You have been behaving oddly for a while now, not to mention tonight’s evening. Even without the tons of added sugar, I would have discovered the – quite literally - bitter truth behind your sweet gift.” He grimaced.

“I am so, so sorry.” The guilt Kaveh had carried all night weighed down his voice. He almost broke his spine by trying to look at Alhaitham, but the restraints didn’t allow him to lift his head far enough. “I hated every step of mixing the sleeping pill in your food and waiting for you to pass out. I couldn’t even watch you eat it without the shame devouring me. You know me better than anybody else, so trust me that I wouldn’t have done any of it if there was another solution. But I couldn’t allow you to get involved in this mess. This doesn’t make my actions right though and I truly am sorry.”

“Elaborate on what ‘this mess’ is exactly. Unless you don’t actually mean your apology.” Alhaitham never screamed. Not in the present, not in the past, but the anger seeped through anyways. Even if a wounded animal made no sound, everyone saw the blood.

Which made it even harder for the next sentence to get out of Kaveh’s mouth. It stuck to the back of his throat, reluctant to be said out loud, but eventually coming out as a whisper. “I can’t tell you.”

“What did you say? Speak louder.”

“I cannot tell you what ‘this mess’ is. I will not elaborate. Sorry.”

“Oh, so you refuse? I thought I misheard.”

Kaveh flinched. There was no choice to be made. The only available path led him down a dead end. He couldn’t tell Alhaitham about the real reason for his break-in, about the Leyline corruption and his leap in time. If he did that, his second chance would blow up into tiny fragments of unfulfilled memories in an instant. “I can either serve you a lie or silence. What do you prefer?” His whisper was even quieter this time. It might have been just a thought Kaveh mistook for spoken words.

He didn’t need to see Alhaitham’s face to imagine the scowl engraved into his expression. “How bold. You do realise the situation you’re in?”

“I am aware.” Kaveh gave up on trying to look at Alhaitham and lowered his head in defeat. “This all will make sense in the future.”

“Trusting you would have resulted in my unconsciousness tonight.”

“And I feel terrible for abusing your trust.”

“Your actions do not match what you’re saying.” Alhaitham let out a long sigh before he spun around and headed for the exit. Each calculated step was a hammer blow in the silence.

“Wait, where are you going?”

Alhaitham kept walking.

“Stop, come back!” Kaveh’s breath hitched. He wanted to grab Alhaitham’s sleeve, but could barely stretch a finger in his predicament. “You won’t leave me here, right? Right? I am dead, if they find me. I mean it. They killed and locked away sinners for less. Stop walking!”

Alhaitham halted at the door. Silence stretched on for painful one, two, three seconds. “Hush. Be quiet or the Matra will hear you.” Barely a mutter, but the lack of noise turned it into shouting. Then he left.

“Haitham! Haitham, please, don’t go.” Kaveh’s voice wavered and cracked. There he had the answer to his question – this was doom, not salvation. He stifled a sob. “Ghost, are you still there?”

No reply.

“Spirit? Bird in a cage? Centuries-old entity?”

Nothing. The powerful presence no longer lingered in the air.

Only then it dawned on Kaveh how truly alone he was, his only company being the rows of forbidden research and their creators’ souls. Even the vines lost all life. After the spirit’s promise, they stayed at their place like turned to stone.

The last time Kaveh felt this alone was when his mother had announced moving to Fontaine after his father’s death. It had marked the turning point where a home just became a house. A house that tortured him with memories of things he couldn’t ever have again. A family. But at least, Kaveh used to collect distractions left and right - and Sumeru offered plenty. The city was a loud place, loud enough to drown out the whisper in his head that ached for companionship. Let it be the songs at the Grand Bazaar, the marketplace in Port Omos or the chatter at the tavern. They all rivalled for Kaveh’s attention and beat the sorrow.

But the Restricted Repository was quiet.

No sounds overshadowed his miserable quick inhales or the pain in his body that came from being forced into an unnatural position. He couldn’t even hold a pen to draw his mind away to graceful buildings. The sip of wine hardly sufficed in easing his predicament and even the spirit had left him.

Silence was the song of dead people. As more time passed, Kaveh became more acquainted with the tune.

Kaveh didn’t even put on a fight when the noises from behind the wall returned. His arms hurt too much to waste his energy on futile escape attempts. Another prayer laid on his tongue, but praying neither worked the first nor second time.

Internally, he braced himself for the confused Matra guard to find him. Whatever remained of hope tried to persuade him that not all was lost – Kaveh could put on a show and knit another web of lies to explain this “accident”. An explanation that didn’t involve deliberately stealing from the Akademiya. Should be possible, right? After all, not everyone was as suspicious and critical as…

“Alhaitham! You’re back…” Kaveh didn’t trust his eyes when he saw the man re-enter the Restricted Repository. A Déjà-vu hit him, except now something flashy lit up in Alhaitham’s fist. A sword.

“Of course I am back.”

“Don’t act like that’s something I was supposed to magically guess! I thought you abandoned me here.” Kaveh’s sight got blurrier with every syllable and a lone tear escaped him.

He knelt down before Kaveh. “My apologies for the scare. We’re even now for the, well, 'inconveniences' you caused me.” When their eyes met, Alhaitham’s rigid expression melted and revealed a flash of guilt as he took in the horror sprawled out over Kaveh’s face. Carefully, Alhaitham reached out and when Kaveh didn’t pull back, he brushed the tear away. His touch was soothingly cool against his panic-heated skin.

“You could have told me you were coming back. I already came to terms with either my inevitable death or life in prison.”

“Hmh, always so dramatic.”

“Oh, shut it. I’m serious.” Kaveh’s complaints missed the bite behind it like smoke without a fire, because deep down, relief warmed his heart. “What were you gone for anyways? Besides scaring the daylight out of me, of course.”

“I reckon we won’t cut you free with sheer will alone, no?” Alhaitham propped his weapon against the shelves. The blade mirrored the glow from his own vision, bouncing off the golden accents in the handle. The days when Kaveh’s vision used to shine like this felt literal years away.

“Free,” Kaveh repeated. A term he had departed with before Alhaitham reintroduced it.

“But allow me to ask, since you had some time to think, do you still refuse to tell me what’s going on?”

“Right…” Kaveh pressed his lips to a thin line to stop himself from blurting out anything stupid like earlier. He had neither the truth nor a lie to share but didn’t dare to remain silent either. What was left? Half a truth? Crumbs didn’t satiate a person, but fed curiosity. Better than starving either way. And if Alhaitham left him here again, Kaveh’s bruised heart wouldn't survive it. And neither the rest of him. “My vision.”

“What about it?”

Kaveh chose his next words cautiously. “My vision, it is the reason I’m in this predicament. Look at it yourself and you will understand what I mean. It’s in my pockets.”

Alhaitham’s slender finger slid into Kaveh’s robe. His hand moved against Kaveh’s waist, scrambling, until he fished out the useless gift of the gods. He twisted it between the index finger and thumb. To call the vision “glowing” was wishful thinking at this point.

Alhaitham’s brows knitted into a frown. “The light has gotten significantly duller since the last time we talked. Didn’t the doctors warn you? I imagine situations of this kind to be quite stress-inducing. Why are you vehemently denying yourself any form of rest and sprint so enthusiastically into trouble?”

“The doctors were wrong,” Kaveh spoke slowly. He weighed every word and tested its sound before he allowed it to be said out loud. Alhaitham, as a Haravatat, knew how revealing the wrong words could be and Kaveh had a secret to cover. “The Akademiya can help me, but they deny me access to the knowledge I need. Because the solution lies here, in the Restricted Repository. Every book you see has been marked as ‘forbidden research’ by the Grand Sage and got locked away. The responsible scholars have been handled similarly. Only the Mahamatra and the Sages are allowed to enter this place.”

Alhaitham’s eyes darted over the bookshelves, the paper tags and the hidden door like he’d never seen them before. The colour drained from his face. “I should have known. The mechanism was too elaborate to only hide a pile of old papers.”

“Do you understand now why I didn’t want you to follow me? Coming here is juggling with your life and freedom.”

Alhaitham’s ripped his stare off the room and glared at Kaveh. “Exactly. So, why are you here putting your life on the line? Your vision acted up and your logical conclusion was to break into the Akademiya’s vault of forbidden research? You cannot be serious. I expected more from the genius of Kshahrewar.”

“You don’t understand the severity, Haitham. When you caught me the first time, I attempted to use my powers to escape. You witnessed the results. At this point, my vision is a glorified flashlight.” Kaveh put his desperation on front display. One thing less he had to hide. “I talked to the best Spantamad scholar I know and still found no answers. If the smartest heads of the Akademiya won’t find a cure, I figured I needed a different approach and take matters into my own hands.”

“Is losing your elemental abilities worth losing your freedom? The majority of people live without powers to aid them.”

The advice from the ghost echoed in Kaveh’s mind. Your vision is losing elemental energy like a bucket with a hole. I am afraid we don’t want to experience what happens when there’s nothing left to drain… He shuddered. “I assumed to be well equipped enough to avoid getting caught. I possibly miscalculated.”

“Cut the ‘possibly’. How did you even find this room?”

“Pure luck. A drunk Matra told me about it.” Technically correct.

“Not having much luck anywhere else it appears.” Alhaitham narrowed his eyes at the vines like he expected them to get him next. Smart thinking. “What’s that all about?”

“It was a defensive mechanism to protect this chamber. I disabled it already, so you’re safe.” Kaveh chose to not mention the spirit. Alhaitham believed that mythical creatures like fairies, ghosts or Aranaras only lived between the pages of fairytales or in the imagination of children. And he had tested his trust beyond the borders of everything sane. “So, you think you can free me?”

“I wouldn’t have gotten my weapon, if I didn’t believe so.” Alhaitham’s smile fell and like turning a switch, the previous warmth vanished. “Before we proceed, I just hope that you were honest with me. If this isn’t the full truth, I will find it out anyways.”

Kaveh shivered internally. “I am honest.” He hated how easily the lie got off his lips.

A pensive look replaced Alhaitham’s wariness as he guided his attention back to Kaveh’s shackles. His index finger ran along the vicious vines around Kaveh’s neck and curled underneath it. He added a second finger.

The motion cut off Kaveh’s airflow. He choked out a startled noise. “Archons, Haitham-”

Alhaitham retracted his hand. Kaveh breathed a sigh of relief as air streamed back into his lungs.

“We’ll cut it close. Literally. There’s not much leeway for the blade so I need you to throw your head back as far as you can.”

Kaveh leaned back until he caught a glimpse of the ceiling. Being in such a vulnerable position with his throat exposed sent a prickling situation through his body from top to toe. It made him want to shift on his knees and avert his gaze, but neither was possible with the vines stretching his limbs mercilessly. So instead, Kaveh ignored it and peered up to Alhaitham. “Like so?”

He considered it for a moment, then shook his head. “I am not sure if this will suffice. I could slit your throat by accident from that angle.”

“You want me to suffocate? I can’t do any further.”

“Just a little bit more.” Alhaitham gripped the back of Kaveh’s head and pulled. “Like this.”

The sudden jolt pushed a gasp out of Kaveh. He glared at Alhaitham but shoved his complaints back down because breathing was hard enough already. “Hurry!” was all he pressed out between short inhales. In a different situation, having Alhaitham’s hand in his hair could have been more enjoyable.

“We’ll be done swiftly either way.” With one hand, Alhaitham held Kaveh in place, with the other one, he drew his sword and angled it on the vines. The dull side of the blade rested coldly against Kaveh’s chin, twisting and tipping lightly against his skin as Alhaitham figured out the right approach.

Kaveh found it hard to relax. He already tasted the blood on his tongue from a failed attempt that ended with a sword sticking out of his body. The thought twisted his guts.

“Calm down. You make it harder for me to aim if you shiver.” Alhaitham’s thumb drew soothing circles on the back of Kaveh’s head, stroking through his hair but maintaining a stable hold. The blade stopped fiddling and lined up just inches away from his face. “I am ready. Give me a sign, if you are too.”

“Go ahead.” Kaveh squeezed his eyes shut and forced every muscle of his body to turn still.

He felt the sword being lifted. A sharp sound. Kaveh’s winced, but Alhaitham kept his firm grip. He bit back a yelp and waited for the pain to pool in his throat. Nothing happened. The only ache in his chest stemmed from the adrenaline pumping through his heart.

“I cut off a big chunk, but it’s not enough. Allow me to try again.”

Another cut. The intensity jolted Kaveh’s chest forward. The pressure around his throat snapped and air streamed into his lungs, making him dizzy. “Thanks."

“Are you alright?” Alhaitham put down the sword for the sake of inspecting Kaveh’s throat. In spite of his gentle touch, his fingertips scorched him whenever they trailed over the marks the vines left.

Gently, Kaveh pushed his hand away. “Yes, I’m good." He panted, catching his breath. "At least as good as one can be after nearly getting strangled by a damned plant.”

“You still are able to complain, so it cannot be too bad.” Alhaitham proceeded with freeing Kaveh’s wrists. He fixated Kaveh’s arm to stop him from flinching, then a precise cut and the vines plummeted to the ground. He repeated the process on the other side.

When the last shackle fell, Kaveh nearly cried out of joy. His knees buckled and he sank against the wall of shelves. Wincing at the ache, he rubbed his freed arms as life flowed back into his limbs with an uncomfortable itch. He summoned a weak smile. “I really owe you a big tha-.”

There was blood on Alhaitham.

“Why didn’t you say anything!” Kaveh jumped on his feet. Too fast. His legs hadn’t fully adjusted yet and he tripped, nearly crashing into Alhaitham, if he hadn’t caught him first. “You’re hurt.”

A red trickle dripped down from a cut on his hand. The blade had grazed him by accident. Alhaitham, however, didn’t spare it one glance and instead kept his gaze on Kaveh. “It’s hardly anything more than a scratch. Not everyone gets himself in serious health risks every half an hour.”

“Shut up and give me your hand.” Kaveh took off the outer cape of his robe and draped it around Alhaitham’s palm. He smoothed out the surface and sliced off the remaining fabric that wrinkled and wrapped around itself.

“That’s unnecessary.” Alhaitham’s statement didn’t match the wisp of a smile tugging at the curve of his lips. The robe stuck to his palm like a fingerless glove. It could have been more stylish if it wasn’t for the rough edges and the scarlet red splotch that increased in size gradually. “We treated my injuries. Now it’s your turn.”

“The bruises? I doubt we can do much about them.”

“Not those.”

Kaveh blinked confused.

“Did our bright Light of the Kshahrewar already forget the purpose of his ‘visit’? Better act fast and review those scrolls, before the Matra catch us.” Alhaitham’s smirk reminded him of a wolf baring its teeth. He preferred to appear like a logical rule-bound machine in public, but in reality, he put on as much of an act as Kaveh did.

He mirrored the grin. “My, my, and here I thought you were the bad influence on me.”

“For the record, I still believe this plan of yours claims forever the peak of stupidity and recklessness. However, if we are stuck in this mess anyways and risked this much already, we might as well take our prize and fix your vision.”

“The thanks I owe you cannot be weighed in Mora.”

“Don’t fret, Mora I have plenty. It’s never what I’ve been after.” Alhaitham examined the rows of shelves. Regardless of Kaveh’s assurance that the malicious vines wouldn’t hurt him, he handled the books with a carefulness others handled a poisonous fruit. At last, curiosity won over caution and he took out a thick journal bound in leather. Over the years, the red ink of the title font bled through the pages like it had been stabbed repeatedly. “Join me. It was your stupid idea that got us here. Wait for too long and the Matra will break up our little research project. I won’t go to prison for you.”

“Relax, I memorised their pattern. We have an hour left at minimum.” Kaveh made sure Alhaitham was engrossed in another thesis when he reached out for the book that dangled on the edge of the shelf from his first attempt: The Leylines And Their Ability To Influence Time. He had never been a big fan of the Akademiya’s tasteless wide uniforms, but seeing how well the layers hid the bulge of the forbidden research thesis made him reconsider.

Chapter 9: Partners (In Crime)

Chapter Text

6 years and 4 days ago, Restricted Repository, Akademiya

“This is an interesting read.” Alhaitham skimmed through a thesis. With each flip of the page, his eyes grew a little wider, glued to the text. Either the book captivated him in a way that it snapped his usual composure or he didn’t care to prove anything around Kaveh. “This scholar wrote about artificial visions he called 'delusions'. They grant elemental powers to the wielder as well, except the delusion robs the holder of his strength over time. Humans, who are referred to as ‘test subjects’ in this chapter, showed signs of rapid ageing, loss of energy and declining prowess over the span of several days or weeks. Dare I say this sounds familiar?”

“You got my fleeting power and exhaustion right. Other than that, no, I got my vision for… for over a decade without issues. I would have noticed if some jerk switched it for a fake.” Kaveh had almost tripped over his real age. He decided to keep it vague, then it wasn’t a lie anymore. Internally, he frowned at how desperately he tried to hold the remnants of his honesty together.

"You raise a fair point. Well, when did the complications start?" Alhaitham put the thesis back.

"I first noticed something amiss with my vision when it denied me support in fighting the Hillichurls. I know, Hillichurls out of all monsters? It was humiliating. I met up with you right after I left the Bimarstan that day, remember?”

"Of course I do. However, is it possible that the origin of the malfunction happened earlier, but you only noticed it delayed?"

Kaveh averted his head to hide the flash of dread that flitted over his face. This man’s question hit too close to the target. Telling Alhaitham about his vision issue had been a mistake, but not telling him would have been a bigger one. Playing indifferent, Kaveh picked up a paper slip and pretended to read the inscription. "Huh, I don’t know. Like how much earlier do you suggest?"

“Like ‘The day the adventurers found you passed out near Sumeru's outskirts’-earlier.”

“That’s… very specific.” Kaveh had learned the best way to lie to Alhaitham was to rip out pieces from the truth and rearrange them in a way that they formed a new narrative. Close enough to what happened, but far enough to stay out of trouble. A patchwork of facts and memories to form a different reality. "This idea crossed my thoughts too, admittedly. With all the alcohol in my system, I barely remember anymore how I ended up there and I am still attempting to piece everything together. Everything that transpired before the adventurers found me is a blur."

“I have a suggestion to fill in the blanks.”

“Go ahead.” Please don’t say anything about Leylines or time travel. The paper slip creased beneath Kaveh’s thumb. Please, please, please-

“A revenge plot.”

"Excuse me?”

"Revenge, it’s only logical,” Alhaitham said with a certainty as if it was a fact documented in one of the many forbidden research articles he read through tonight. Right between the delusions theory and mechanical lifeform inventions stood ‘What my suspicious Senior tries to hide from me’. Alhaitham continued, “Let’s recap the events prior to your predicament. You got into an argument, stormed out of the tavern, continued to black out and awoke with a vision malfunction. This seems obvious to me. Whoever you angered, they abused your vulnerable passed-out state to exact revenge.”

“No!” it shot out of Kaveh’s mouth before Alhaitham finished his statement. This game of play-pretend lost all its fun by just imagining that absurd scenario. He should go along, let Alhaitham puzzle his own events together and agree to that version of reality.

But his tongue wouldn’t move to agree. The thought of Alhaitham corrupting Kaveh’s vision on purpose pierced a sharp ache through his lungs. How should he lie properly, if he didn’t find any truth to base his act on? “That's ridiculous. Absolutely mind-blowingly ridiculous. Stooping to lowly tactics is beneath their honour and I don’t want you to suggest anything similar again. It’s incredibly offensive.” Why did Alhaitham think so much about this incident anyways? This was the third or fourth time he brought it up. Kaveh’s ribs had healed, so what else was there to worry about?

“How typical of you. Believing in the pure good of the human is as nonsensical as believing it will rain Mora tomorrow. If put under enough pressure, humans strive for their own rescue and desire first. No matter how charming the smile, if they feel attacked, they strike back. It’s only a natural survival mechanism that can be found in every living creature. Although there are exceptions, most humans are like this."

“But you aren’t!”

Alhaitham made a face as if he barely held back a laugh. “What gave you that impression? Aren't our ideals of altruism and egoism clashing regularly? I’m not the common definition of morally ‘good’. Nothing I do is without gain.”

“Then what do you gain from following me, destroying my shackles and searching for a cure when our mere presence here puts us at risk? What is in it for you?"

"Quite a lot actually." Kaveh perked up at the change in his voice. Never before had Alhaitham smiled as sincerely as this. He shouldn’t even be capable of such fondness. It wasn’t an aggravating smirk, not a teasing grin or a mocking chuckle. Simply a genuine smile ghosting over Alhaitham's lips like a daring daydream. It disappeared before Kaveh was able to catch it.

"Knowledge of course,” Alhaitham said, “That’s what I gain. Knowledge. Without following you, I would have never found the Akademiya's forbidden archive. No other student will ever get to lay eyes on those reports. Isn’t that something worth risking? Especially in the nation of wisdom, one cannot discover a greater treasure.”

“Oh. I'm glad someone is enjoying himself.” The remark ended up sharper than intended. Kaveh didn't know what answer he had hoped for, but this was the one he should have expected. What else would lure Alhaitham out of safety other than a bunch of old books? Stupid damned books.

“I presume ‘enjoying’ doesn’t fit the occasion, but I’ll let it be. We’re here for a reason. Speaking of which, you should at least consider my revenge theory.”

I’d rather not, laid on the tip of Kaveh’s tongue, but he swallowed it down. “I don’t understand why it even matters who did this to me. That is, if someone is responsible for it at all. We’re here to figure out how to get rid of it.”

“And an essential part of this is to solve the origin. Knowing the source grants us a lead to go off.”

“We’re in a library full of leads. Just look harder.”

Alhaitham got silent. Something changed about his demeanour, but Kaveh couldn’t pinpoint the cause. “You trust that person a lot not to backstab you. I assume your statement about them being incredibly important to you was no exaggeration? You sound rather fond of them despite this argument.”

“It’s complicated. Let’s talk about that somewhen else.” How bold of Alhaitham to still attempt to wriggle out any details about the tavern fight. His determination was formidable.

After shooting down two plausible theories, Kaveh knew he had to spin together another explanation. Without any false leads to follow, there was nothing to block the path to the truth. However unlikely it was for Alhaitham to figure out his unique situation, it was the same man who easily spotted the sleeping pill in his food and saw through his façades in one blink.

Kaveh returned to the shelves, pulled out a research thesis he had discovered previously, flipped through it despite knowing the content already and handed it over to Alhaitham. “I suppose this one is your speciality.”

“Powerful Artifacts During King Deshret’s Rule,” Alhaitham read the title out loud and raised an eyebrow. “Captivating for sure. How is that relevant in our quest for a cure though?”

“Take a closer look. It’s about how ancient scripts and runes endowed artifacts with blessings or curses. They can enhance their owner’s strength or take it. Although the science behind it got lost centuries ago, those relics still exist. And the Akademiya didn’t appreciate the author’s deep dive into the more destructive nature of those artifacts. They can cause a lot of harm, it appears.”

“Is that so?” Alhaitham’s intense gaze caused Kaveh to feel like the walls he built were made out of glass. Alhaitham wouldn’t ever know. Kaveh hated keeping secrets, but he loved this new life and with the vision malfunction solved, nothing stood in their way of repairing what had been broken.

Alhaitham averted his attention back to the book and turned a page. “Going by the summary alone, the scholar tried to weaponize the remnants of the old civilization. Obviously, this didn’t sit well with the Sages.”

“Weaponize, huh? That fits your revenge theory, if someone did want to hurt me.”

“Not in that sense. It’s more about direct physical harm, not manipulation of visions.”

“It’s some form of clue.” Kaveh feigned enthusiasm and a pinch of desperation. Every clue that didn’t involve time travel or Leylines was a great clue. “We have to start somewhere.”

“Fine.” Alhaitham still wasn’t fully convinced but persuaded enough to read through the thesis. “Although I’m sceptical, I want to refrain from uncalculated decisions. If the source of your torment is a malicious curse, I reckon the ancient technology might be a good starting point.”

“I’ll search more through the paper slips in the meantime.” Kaveh pitied Alhaitham’s pointless endeavour. Watching how he immersed himself in the text pressed heavily on his chest. Either this or it was the book hidden underneath the robe. Probably the latter.

Whatever Alhaitham found out about those artifacts, it didn’t matter. The Bimarstan already examined Kaveh closely for curses or other afflictions. Nothing. He was supposed to be healthy. So, so healthy. Now that he’s gotten his hands on the thesis on Leylines and time manipulation, he had evidence to prove the doctor’s judgement wrong. Just a bit more pretending and waiting for the night to end.

And for all the risks the Restricted Repository presented, Kaveh felt strangely at peace while he sorted through the forbidden research. Albeit irrational, having Alhaitham on his side took off a big chunk of his anxiety. His ever-stable composure infected him too, resulting in a pleasant silence, filled with the rustling of paper and tentative steps as Kaveh did his rounds around the library.

He kept his distance from the Spantamad section delving too close to time-related topics. For the sake of his cover, Kaveh, however, did stop at every tag that mentioned anything remotely related to visions. When he lingered on one thesis for more than ten minutes, Alhaitham would detach his gaze from the book and ask whether he found anything. The response was a “No” each time. They slipped into a rhythm of reading, exchanging brief questions and repeating the process. It was easy to get lost in the routine.

Too easy. At one point, Kaveh suddenly perked up. How much time had passed? The Restricted Repository lacked windows and no sounds invaded through the walls from outside. Yet, judging by the pile of research they rifled through, they had spent a while here. Kaveh turned to Alhaitham. “How long have we been down here?”

“Hard to tell. Didn’t you promise to keep track?”

“I got distracted.”

Alhaitham frowned. “You know that distractions can get us killed, right?”

“I was focused on finding a cure and I’m tired, okay? We have a new lead and that has to suffice. Let us hide the vines before the Ma-” Kaveh’s gaze scanned the chamber. The floor was empty. “Where are the vines?”

Amused, Alhaitham closed the thesis shut and arose to his feet. “Didn’t you feel it too?”

“Felt what?”

“The vines were constructed out of pure elemental energy. Cutting and slicing them destabilised the structure severely. Eventually, they collapsed and returned to their original state – energy.” Alhaitham picked up his sword and held up the blade as an example. Not one fibre of the plant dirtied his weapon anymore. “Similar to how vision users' construction crumble after some time, even the Geo ones. However, waiting for it to happen naturally would have taken long enough for the Matra to catch you.”

“Don’t give me that look. If my powers weren’t fighting me constantly, I would have noticed too.” Without his vision, Kaveh was blind to elemental processes. He had picked up on the energy pulsating through the vines only because of its strong presence and the entity surrounding it. The fading intensity of the stream completely went past him, the cracks in the structure not visible to him, a mystery.

“Don’t bother. That’s why we were here in the first place. I informed myself about those curses according to your request and there are possible solutions I’d like to test.”

Utterly useless solutions, unfortunately.

“What a relief. Let us continue that conversation once we are out of here.” Together with Alhaitham, Kaveh tidied up the mess and sorted the research works back into their original place. All of them. Except for one.

Peeking through the gap of the mechanism door revealed how much brighter the halls have gotten. A faint glow engulfed the corridors. Not a good omen. The darkness wouldn’t cover their silhouettes anymore with the morning sun giving away their positions. Kaveh was halfway out of the chamber when he noticed that Alhaitham wasn’t following. “Are you coming?”

He stood in the middle of the room, a splash of apprehension in his eyes as he scanned the room thoroughly. “Any second. I am merely making sure, we left everything unchanged.”

Kaveh didn’t put it past Alhaitham to spot the empty place where the stolen book once stood. “There’s no time for that” he spluttered and dragged him out by the shoulder. Ignoring the complaints, Kaveh headed for the staircase with his grip unyielding.

The longer they waited, the more rays of sunshine shot through the windows and threw a spotlight on them for everyone to see. They had stayed too long in the archive. Time was running out, but they simply had to outrun it. As long as they kept a haste pace, there was a chance of arriving at the dorm rooms before the guards showed up.

Alhaitham stopped.

Kaveh nearly crashed into him. “Keep moving, you idiot,” he began to sputter as Alhaitham pressed a hand to his mouth and yanked him aside. His back got slammed against the doorframe and the impact drew a muffled groan out of him. Archons, what was that for? He couldn’t voice his question with Alhaitham’s hand tightly clasped over his lips. Kaveh was inclined to bite.

Then he heard it too.

Voices - they approached steadily. Four or five people. Six at best. Only scraps of the conversation reached them as the noises of their heavy footsteps and the edge of the spears dragging along the floor hushed out any other sound. The way the metal hissed as it met stone told him a fight would be an instant loss. What was one sword against a patrol of experienced fighters?

Alhaitham laid an index finger over his lips - a sign to remain quiet. That reminder wasn’t necessary. Even if Kaveh attempted to speak, his body didn’t listen as his mind was preoccupied with digesting the situation in front of him.

Flushed against the doorframe, the shape of the doorknob engraved itself in his back. The dent in the wall scarcely offered enough space for one person to hide, let alone two. No matter how Kaveh shifted and turned, he still ended up squeezed against Alhaitham, their legs and arms awkwardly entangled.

Kaveh felt Alhaitham’s chest moving underneath him whenever he breathed in and, in the spots, where bare skin accidentally touched, it burned in a way that swayed between pleasant and panic. Hunger had stripped his body warmth, but the proximity gave it right back. If all this failed to send his heart racing, another discovery did. Or rather, another problem: The stolen book.

The collision with the wall had bent the thesis and pushed it into Kaveh’s stomach with a force that made him glad he skipped dinner. Dreading Alhaitham’s reaction gave him an even worse bellyache. No way he didn’t notice the extra pressure. The wide layers of the uniform used to disguise the bulge up until now. In this position, not even swallowing got unnoticed.

To his surprise, Alhaitham didn’t meet his eyes. Almost purposefully, they stuck to the directions of the guards, who kept chattering without noticing the two students hiding a couple of metres away. A flustered flush of red crossed Alhaitham’s face. Was it because of the danger or…?

Oh no.

Oh no.

Heat surged up Kaveh’s cheeks. That stolen thesis caused troubles in ways he had never imagined. This was worse. So much worse. For a split second, he considered sacrificing himself to the Matra just to escape the embarrassment. No explanation got him out of this situation and it shouldn’t – better Alhaitham assumed anything but the truth. Still, it did nothing to soothe the shame.

When the guards finally marched on, Kaveh was the first to jump out of their hiding spot. “I’m so sorry.” The list for reasons to apologize grew longer by the day. Kaveh turned away and quickly re-adjusted the book into a more comfortable position underneath his clothes. Luckily, there were no mirrors nearby, because the man in the reflection would wear a red hue that rivalled ripe Sunsettias. Archons above, just struck me down.

“You should be sorry.” Alhaitham stepped out of the doorframe. “First, you preach urgency and caution and next you run face-first into a patrol. Unbelievable. Without me, this fun little adventure would have ended on a cruel note.”

“Ah, right… My apologies. I got so focused on escaping quickly, I forgot to check my surroundings.” Kaveh didn’t give the bickering his all. Maybe they could pretend nothing ever happened just now. Alhaitham excelled at keeping a straight face and what else was Kaveh doing this last week other than bluffing like life was beautiful? Yes, this could work out.

“You’re a little red, Senior.”

Kaveh had been too optimistic. He looked the other way. “Oh, am I? The light plays tricks on your eyes.”

“Pretty sure it doesn’t.” The smug grin on Alhaitham’s lips sneaked into his voice. Abashment faded swiftly with amusem*nt taking its place. Why did he sound so satisfied? “Another side-effect from the vision curse? Or something else?”

“Be quiet or the Matra might return. The journey has been hard enough.”

“Not only the journey.” At that comment, Kaveh’s cheeks burned even brighter. Alhaitham leaned in and added on a lower note, “Now, now, there’s no need to be ashamed for natural urges.”

Kaveh pushed him off. “I’ll have you know I’m currently resisting the natural urge to slap you.”

Alhaitham let out a short laugh in response. Luckily, he took the whole situation better than Kaveh. Another good thing about the past was that both knew they didn’t mean their empty threats. Jokes and bickering were a friendly exchange with no cruel subtext hidden. This was a reality worth protecting.

Once they reached the dorm rooms, Kaveh collapsed on the bed. The second he let his guard down, exhaustion overwhelmed him. Although it had only been one night, it felt like a week had passed ever since he had decided to mix sleeping pills into Alhaitham’s food. Nothing in this world could convince him to get up again. Not even the book pushing uncomfortably into his side.

In the back of his mind, he watched how Alhaitham crawled into his own bed similarly drained. Kaveh would have mumbled a “Good night” or even a “Sorry for all the trouble”, but he fell into the dark lull of sleep before a single word made it out.

Chapter 10: Knowledge Is A Weapon

Chapter Text

6 years and 3 days ago, Dorm Rooms, Akademiya

Judging by the noises outside, one could believe the world had just ended. Students screamed and hastened down the corridor. Nervous chatter spread through the masses who had collectively decided that the early morning hours were the best time to cause a fuss.

Kaveh sank deeper into the pillow to muffle the racket. He still heard them. Each yell stabbed right into his headache. Far in the back of his head, a tiny voice wondered what caused the distress, yet he couldn’t persuade himself to get up and inspect the turmoil. Each move was a challenge as if someone had replaced his bones with heavy steel. Languidly, Kaveh curled up and hid under the blanket. Over time, the fatigue drowned out the annoying sounds and steered him deeper into a dreamless daze where the chaos of the real world didn’t reach him. A warm place of bliss and ignorance.

Until someone ripped the blanket off.

Kaveh groaned at the cold evading his space. Blindly, he extended a hand, but all he caught was a light chuckle a few steps away, his arm swinging helplessly in the air. Begrudgingly, he turned to confront the culprit. Through half-lidded eyes, Kaveh peered up at Alhaitham who was holding his blanket hostage. “Seriously?”

“The Grand Sages called a conference. Attendance is mandatory.” The way he said it pulled Kaveh out of his daze. It was something about the way Alhaitham’s eyes flickered over the room like something was out to get him if he let down his guard once.

“Conference?” he repeated weakly.

“Yes. Haven’t you heard the Matra rounding up the students?”

“Regrettably so. It woke me up.” Kaveh fell back into the bed. As the stolen book squeezed into his ribs, last night’s memories crashed over his head. How they broke into the Restricted Repository, the conversation with the powerful entity and Alhaitham’s unexpected help. Somehow, they had escaped unscathed. Another alarming thought crossed his mind. “This conference… It isn’t about last night’s events, is it?”

“We won’t know if we stay here. Get up before the Matra drag you out.” Alhaitham threw the blanket back and continued to change into the Akademiya uniform with a look that suggested his mind roamed far elsewhere.

Not feeling like sleeping anymore, Kaveh rushed out of bed. He decided to hide the stolen book on the bathroom shelves while he got ready. How sacrilege it felt to shove this sacred knowledge people had died for between a bunch of towels in the last corner of the upper board. It was only temporary anyway. With Alhaitham as a roommate, not even Celestia was safe, so if he wanted to keep this secret well hidden, he needed a better long-term solution.

On cue, Alhaitham called from the other room, “Senior, how long is this going to take?”

“Nearly done.” Another lie. Kaveh kept losing time because each glance in the mirror reminded him of another problem. The bruises. The vines had painted blemishes on his wrists and throat in a reddish and purplish hue that stood out on his pale skin like a bleeding-out rabbit on a snowy backdrop. Brushing over the spots caused a sharp bolt of pain and even swallowing and talking made him feel the pressure as if the vines still strangled him. One look and people would be able to guess that Kaveh had an eventful night either way. This kind of attention was lethal.

He abandoned his usual attire for a shirt with a higher collar and put on the gloves from his future self. The stiff material rubbed against the injuries and got him hissing for air yet they completely concealed the bruises. He tugged the sleeves in and avoided rash movements to manage the hurt. Taking a painkiller just to be sure, he emerged from the bathroom.

“What took you so long?” Alhaitham greeted him.

“Had to contemplate what to do with this problem.” Kaveh rolled back the collar and grimaced at the sting it sent down his spine.

Alhaitham’s eyes widened a little as if he just remembered the vines' escapades. He reached out, then hesitated. “May I take a look?”

“Go ahead.”

Gently, Alhaitham’s finger hooked under the neckline and pulled it back. The brush of his fingertips caused a warmth in Kaveh that couldn’t be explained as pain – rather the opposite. His eyes narrowed as he studied Kaveh’s skin. “As expected. The vines did look vicious. I recommend you opt for scarves and high collars more frequently in the coming days. Are the bruises feeling as terrible as they look?”

“It’s alright, nothing I cannot deal with. Remember, I’ve been through broken bones and stubborn visions. This is hardly a scratch in comparison.”

“If you insist. Under normal circ*mstances, I recommend a visit to the doctor, but I’m afraid we cannot indulge in this luxury in this case.” Alhaitham let go of him. He exercised caution in his movements. “Let us hurry, the conference will begin any minute.”

They joined the crowd and the flow carried them to the grand auditorium. It was usually reserved for important lectures, but instead of his professors, Grand Sage Azar stood in the centre of the room, hands crossed behind his back and a face as if they were attending a funeral. Two rows of Matra guards surrounded both the sages and the hall to keep an eye on every person passing by like a pack of wolves scouting their next prey. Their weapons glimmered even sharper up close and he imagined how easily those blades cut traitor’s skin like paper.

Kaveh shivered and instinctively shifted in front of Alhaitham as if to shield him from the glares. He deserved those looks, unlike his innocent Junior. With all other seats taken, he and Kaveh were forced to sit in the last rows. Snippets of conversations were thrown around them, ranging from shrieks of excitement to statements that teetered on the edge of becoming a sob.

“…Why do they stare at us like someone got murdered? Oh gods, did you see...”

“…Seriously, I’ll miss my alchemy classes for this? I can’t believe I…”

“…and I do mean that! I’ve never seen so many guards in one place! How exhilarating…”

Grand Sage Azar cleared his throat. Loudly. The idle chatter stopped and so did Kaveh’s heart for an instant. Restless, he drummed his feet against the floor until Alhaitham pressed down on Kaveh’s thigh to stop him from fidgeting.

“Relax a little, Senior. The conference has hardly started.”

“I know, sorry.” Kaveh breathed a silent sigh. “I am still on edge after, you know, everything.”

Alhaitham’s scowl softened and he nodded as if to say, me too. He didn’t retract his hand and Kaveh welcomed the soothing motion. The success of the distraction was short-lived.

Grand Sage Azar’s glare scanned the crowd, waiting for the last conversations to stop until complete silence had taken over. Only then, he spoke. “Welcome students, professors, Matra, and everyone else who showed up early to attend this uncalled for meeting. Although this conference appeared on short notice, I promise its urgency is excuse enough. But first, let me clarify some aspects.

“The Akademiya is the heart of Sumeru. As long as it beats, talent will be forged into geniuses, who will secure and shape Sumeru’s future. Being a scholar isn’t only a title, it’s a responsibility. Once you have left the Akademiya, it’s your duty to spread wisdom in our nation and beyond, and it’s our duty to protect you on that path in life.” He’d always reminded Kaveh of a snake with his sharp, hissing way of talking and the venom dripping from every syllable. Did this man never smile?

“Let me illustrate this abstract scenario using a simpler comparison. If a naïve child sees a flame for the first time, its glowing warmth might tempt him to touch it. His parents pull him away because they know of the dangers of fire. Thereby, the wisdom of the elders prevents the youngling from scorching himself. Similarly, the sages have always strived to protect you for not all knowledge is equal. Some knowledge is the spark needed to burn down civilisations.”

Azar turned to the audience. The venom wasn’t in his voice only anymore, it leaked through the way his eyebrows arched into a mask of suppressed rage. “And in spite of our warnings and best efforts, one of you ran into fire anyways. One of you stabbed the hand that fed it and now we all bleed. With regret, I have to inform you that last night someone broke into the archive of forbidden research and now possesses dangerous knowledge. Current investigations suggest that the perpetrator stems from within since there are no signs of a break-in from outside and furthermore, it appears that whoever tricked the mechanism and outran the Matra was well aware of the Akademiya’s inner doings. A traitor sits amongst our rows.”

Azar had trouble calming down the auditorium after this revelation. Even after the Matra shouted commands, people screamed and gossiped. The noises faded out around Kaveh like being pulled underwater as the weight of the words sank in. This is my fault that they found out. The book gave it away. A cold shiver ran down his body. I did that to us. Kaveh’s breath got caught in his throat as he drowned in the realisation. This was no longer a faint risk on the horizon but reality. A nightmare coming to life.

A nudge to Kaveh’s side kicked him out of his gloomy trail of thoughts. “Stop that,” Alhaitham hissed.

“What?”

“That look. The guilt is drawn all over your face. You want them to arrest you right here and now?” Despite his harsh statement, there was a softness in his eyes.

“I’m sorry.”

“I told you to appear less guilty.”

Everything inside Kaveh longed to scream, but he tossed the urge away, let his eyes flutter shut and forced his muscles to relax. The show smile shouldn’t be this difficult for him anymore. He was an actor on a familiar stage, who easily changed into a mask of bliss and wore the costume of an easy-going demeanour. His eyes flew open. It was hard to tell whether the spark in his eyes was happiness or a tear held back.

Alhaitham nodded. “Better.”

Gradually, the crowd turned quiet enough for Grand Sage Azar to continue his speech. He straightened his back and waggled his index finger to underline his points. “Knowledge is a weapon. And a weapon in the wrong hands is a threat that puts everyone’s safety at risk. That’s why I gathered all of you today. I would hate to see my students suffer the consequences of one foolish person’s misstep. So, I call upon you today and encourage everyone to seek the Matra’s attention right away, if you spotted something suspicious last night or have evidence regarding the perpetrator. Mahamatra Cyrus will lead the investigation and might approach some of you with questions. Please cooperate and share anything that could be relevant to the case. In dire times, we have to work together for our own safety.”

“And to the one who trespassed into the Restricted Repository, I am sure you’re no complete fool since you’re entangled with the Akademiya. I encourage you to think and reflect on your deeds. We don’t seek vengeance. We only seek safety for our students and Sumeru. If you turn yourself in and cooperate with the authorities, we promise a milder resolution. And to everyone else, know that the Akademiya is an organisation unmatched and the Matra work on resolving this issue while we are talking. There is nothing to fear. Unless you betrayed us.”

If it wasn’t for Alhaitham dragging him to the exit, Kaveh would have remained clawed to the seat, rigid and pale like a corpse. It certainly felt like something died during this speech – probably his hope. At least his distress fitted in with the reactions of his peers, who didn’t care to keep the volume down anymore and make their concerns heard.

They made it out to the entrance, standing there wordlessly. Kaveh hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday’s lunch and it was impossible to properly digest the situation and come to a conclusion with hunger on the frontside of his mind. Also, he craved a distraction urgently. “Let’s grab something to eat.”

“We still have some Charcoal-Baked Ajilenakh Cake left,” Alhaitham said.

The suggestion pierced right into his chest and killed whatever Kaveh wanted to say. “I… I don’t think it would make much of a difference. I already feel like I’ll pass out if I blink for too long.” He added a hollow chuckle. This was supposed to be a joke, right?

Alhaitham made an indifferent sound. It provided no clue away whether he held a grudge or if his attempt at humour fell flat. While Kaveh still wondered whether to apologise or to change the topic, Alhaitham raised his voice first. “Anyway, I too would entertain the idea of breakfast right now. Lambad’s or Puspa Café?”

“Puspa Café.” Kaveh wanted to avoid meeting the waitress that had given him strange looks about his unusually expensive orders.

The tiredness of yesterday’s “adventure” manifested itself in the silence that held their breakfast in a tight grip. Kaveh didn’t even order a coffee since it had never erased his fatigue and only erased his Mora. The only existing cure for this all-enveloping exhaustion lay in an old leather attire hidden in their dorm room between the shelves of their bathroom. That damned book.

“Senior.” Alhaitham put down his mug, leaned closer and his voice plummeted to a whisper. “Just to be clear, don’t tell anyone about last night. No exceptions. It should go without saying, but you’re someone who likes to say a lot.”

“Haven’t you heard how silent I’ve been all morning?”

“Adapt that habit. They’re always listening.” Alhaitham’s glance went past Kaveh and he resisted the impulse to turn around. He nodded and they spent the rest of the morning chatting away on trivial matters in a desperate attempt to preserve the illusion of normalcy. If not for themselves, then for their audience.

Having finished breakfast, Kaveh was about to turn and part ways in front of the café as Alhaitham tugged him back by the wrist. “One more minute please.”

“What’s the matter?”

Alhaitham’s eyes scrutinised the area - they were alone – before they landed back on Kaveh. Unlike him, the coffee had taken effect and his pupils were open wide awake as if to miss no detail of Kaveh’s reaction. “There is one thing I’ve been pondering about all morning and I wondered if you have the answers I seek.”

Is this an accusation? Kaveh was proud of himself that his smile didn’t falter. “Well, two geniuses see more than one. What has been troubling you, my dear Junior?”

“How did the Grand Sages discover our trespassing this quickly? We got rid of all the evidence. We entered using the code in the shelves, put all the books back in order and not even the vines remained. It’s weird that they caught on immediately. We missed something.”

It had always only been a matter of time for Alhaitham to figure it out, but this was too early for Kaveh’s taste. “Well, what kind of response do you expect from me? If I were convinced that we left evidence behind, I would have addressed that yesterday. It isn’t worth focusing on the past anyways.”

“You’ve been saying this a lot lately.”

“Because you don’t follow my advice. Pay attention to the future, because that Matra guard is coming our way.”

Begrudgingly, Alhaitham shut quiet. He concealed his frustration well, but Kaveh noticed his lips pursing in frustration. When the guard walked past them, Kaveh flashed him a charming smile. He didn’t get one back.

“We’ll meet again later,” Alhaitham finally said, “Attend your classes as usual and stick to your routine. Any anomaly throws unnecessary suspicion our way and we want to avoid that. Don’t be late, don’t be distracted and don’t do or say anything stupid. Got it?”

Kaveh clicked his tongue. “I’m not a toddler.”

“Then it shouldn’t be too hard for the Light of Kshahrewar to follow those simple instructions, right?”

Technically, Kaveh had behaved oddly all week, so continuing to not show up to any lectures became the new normal. Alhaitham really couldn’t fault him for ‘sticking to his routine’, therefore Kaveh returned to the Akademiya, ignored the ongoing seminars and headed for the dorm rooms. He had longed for this opportunity all morning.

After today’s speech, no mistakes were allowed. Every misstep was a step towards prison or worse. Kaveh had checked three times if he locked the door, had blocked the doorknob with a chair, pulled down the curtains and went through all of it again just to be safe. Stumbling in the semidarkness, he retrieved the stolen book and entered the bedroom to light a candle.

He looked around. Still, no sign to be alarmed. Outside, the world went on as normal but it really shouldn’t because, for Kaveh, his life was put on pause. A second dragged on for eternity as he gripped around the book cover. His fingers quivered so badly that the page slipped between his fingers. He tried again, applied too much pressure and the paper ripped.

“Archons,” Kaveh cursed. A thought popped up in his head. Would he get in trouble for damaging the old thesis? Then he remembered he committed worse offences and calmed down.

This insignificant pile of rotting leather and bleeding ink was both the root and cure for his problems. Kaveh would have laughed if his voice hadn’t been scared off. He didn’t regret stealing the book, but he hardly endured the thought of getting Alhaitham involved in his crimes. Kaveh should dispose of the evidence and throw the book away to keep them both safe. The sooner he got this over with, the sooner they were free.

Kaveh gathered his courage and flipped to the first page. He read over the same text once, twice, thrice, but his eyes didn’t lie. Oh no. How he wished to blame it on his sleep-deprived mind, the flickering half-light or the smudged ink. In a rush of panic, he skimmed through the other chapters, but the result remained the same. If the thesis wasn’t so valuable, he would have ripped out the pages in his despair.

The whole book was filled with rows of incomprehensible runes.

All his efforts were wasted on another hurdle. It’s fine, I can translate them, Kaveh thought to himself as the disappointment threatened to carry him away. He had faced enough hardships to grow resilient to bad luck. Although this was pushing his limits. They are a Rtawahist and Spantamad scholar, why did they even get the idea to write in foreign script? He buried his face in his palms for a held-back scream. Asking a Haravatat fell out of option. Especially not the one his thoughts circled back to immediately.

The house of Daena was filled with information about all ancient languages known to Teyvat. It was also filled with guards. Not an option either. If he, a Kshahrewar, showed up to borrow a translation for the same runes as the stolen thesis he might as well turn himself in right away.

Kaveh mourned the Mora he had sacrificed in the past days because the last solution on his mind would demand him to sell the air out of his lungs if it was possible. Of course, a good future didn’t come at a cheap price. It's only a minor setback, he told himself. It cannot be too hard to get a translation.

Until then, he had to shield the thesis from any curious pair of eyes. Namely his nosy roommate. Even if Alhaitham didn’t know the details, his attitude this morning proved he suspected something. Rightfully so. As long as neither he nor the sages found out, the sparks of suspicion would cool down and die.

Coming up with a good hiding spot wasn’t the problem. The execution was. Not because of an inherent difficulty or risks, but because it required abusing his Junior’s trust once again.

Alhaitham owned enough books to open his own library. He had read through each one at least thrice except for one box of books that had remained untouched. Looking at it, future and past overlapped like pieces of the wrong puzzle forced together. Even after they had graduated and moved in together, Alhaitham had never opened the box. Kaveh still remembered stumbling over it numerous times while he cleaned up his once-home in the future. Covered in a blanket of dust, it had cowered in a forgotten corner of the attic.

The content of the box appeared rather mundane. The kind of stuff one could buy for a couple of Mora in any antique store. Only later, Alhaitham let slip that this box contained the inheritance from his grandmother’s library – at least the works he had deemed most important. She had passed away around the time he had enrolled at the Akademiya and as much as Alhaitham loved to pretend he was an emotionless machine he wasn’t a good liar either. Because of his parent’s early passing, she had taken on a parental role in his life and Kaveh knew the hurt from losing one’s parent firsthand. Even if he managed to forget it momentarily, his nightmares reminded him.

That’s why he was confident that Alhaitham wouldn’t touch this box, no matter what happened. Kaveh didn’t dare to unpack his father’s belongings either and as different as the two of them were, they shared a past with a similar taste of pain.

Kaveh opened the box carefully to avoid destroying the layer of dust on top. Still the same composition and belongings. Nothing had changed in six years. He put the thesis between the ancient collections and old-fashioned covers and it fit right in. He closed the box and began gathering whatever Mora he had left since he would need every single coin for the next step.

Chapter 11: The Last Supper

Chapter Text

6 years and 2 days ago, South Docks, Port Ormos

“You can go home now if you don’t like it here,” Kaveh offered for the fourth time in an hour. Each time, a bit more worry hung in his words.

Alhaitham shook his head resolutely. “It’s fine.” What he said didn’t align with the way he massaged his temples as if the motion alone could expel the migraine. Alhaitham tended to avoid noisy spaces if possible since they gave him a nasty headache over time. In the future, his earpieces prevented these cases, but during their Akademiya days, it was a chronic pain in the skull.

Especially in Port Ormos. Merchants screamed over each other to get possible clients’ attention, the streets were crowded to the brim and flashy colours and sounds at every corner drew their focus away. All this shortly after the conference at the Akademiya too, which had put his sensitive ears to the test.

“Seriously, I can tell you’re not enjoying this. Sit down at Djafar Tavern and I’ll join you in time. Most tables are empty around this time.” Before Alhaitham got the chance to object, Kaveh switched to a softer tone. He saw the concerns on his Junior’s mind as if they had been written out on his forehead. “I won’t run away or do anything stupid in the meantime. It’s in my best interest to keep a low profile too. Trust me.”

Alhaitham contemplated the suggestion, still digging his thumb into his temples. His patience had been worn down during the noon when they strolled around the stalls. “So be it, we shall meet again at Djafar Tavern then.”

Either Kaveh sounded believable enough or he had convinced himself there wasn’t much harm done to let his Senior out of sight in Port Ormos.

As Alhaitham vanished in the masses, Kaveh bid time by roaming around the booths, striking conversations with strangers and almost getting coerced into buying Aranara carvings at Acara Crafts. After the incident at the Restricted Repository, he didn’t eliminate the possibility of Alhaitham still observing him. He was as tenacious as he was intelligent. Both traits were the reason why Kaveh ought to be cautious.

After wasting another hour with no suspicious Junior in sight, Kaveh decided to finally follow through with his original intention. He wandered to the Eastside docks and left the public booths and crowds behind as he entered dark alleys that every rational-thinking human being would instinctively shy away from. The roar of the waves drowned out the sound of his footsteps as he made his way through narrow pathways.

Just like his memories had promised, a man stood at the roadside and observed the harbour from above with feigned indifference. Was his name Latish or Raunak? It didn’t matter. Inconspicuously, he had merged with the background and only looked up from the ships when Kaveh stopped right in front of him.

“Greetings, good sir.”

Raunak nodded curtly. He waited for Kaveh to continue talking.

Since Dori found herself entangled in all legal and illegal schemes, she had established a code to distinguish foes from friends. Kaveh had memorised it by now. “I came to do business. Are unripe Harra Fruits still in stock?” Code for Can I talk to Dori?

His demeanour relaxed. “Indeed, they are, but our stock is limited. Tomorrow we will be out of goods already. Do you wish to buy any flowers as well? Mourning flowers would look great on your person.” Dori won’t be in Port Ormos for long. Do you want to buy Canned Knowledge?

Kaveh shook his head. “No, I prefer Sumeru Roses.” I need products that are legally available on the market.

“Are you sure? We offer high quality, which comes at higher prices than most vendors demand. Do be aware of that.”

“I’ve already made up my mind. And please, pack them in Sumeru style.” I only require a small amount.

“As you wish. I will show you the goods once the Rishboland Tigers have carried on.” Wait until the Matra stop looking.

The merchant – Kaveh still wasn’t sure whether his name was Latish or Raunak – led him through another series of shady alleys until they reached a warehouse next to the river. A small pink-haired girl stood in front of it and supervised how her henchman shipped the cargo on board of the ship. Everything from her large purple hat to the bow on her pants was decorated with golden ornaments and trinkets. If the result wasn’t so blinding, she would have worn an outfit made out of pure gold – her favourite colour since it resembled Mora. Her eyes lit up as she noticed Kaveh. “I spy a new customer!”

Dori usually demanded a hefty bill, but half the price was paid for her confidentiality and reliable service. Given her relationship with the Akademiya, she would rather sink her money to the bottom of the ocean than cooperate with the Sages. There was no need to feel guilty about involving her either, since this avaricious merchant made sure to get compensated for the risk.

Dori gave her henchmen a sign to retreat and eyed Kaveh with a greedy kind of curiosity. “I’ve never seen you around here, young man. Which begs the question, how did you know about the code?”

“A friend told me.”

“Did your friend also tell you about our exclusive special deal for new customers? Thirty percent off on the first purchase over a 100,000 Mora. You don’t want to miss it!”

Not even two minutes in and Kaveh was about to get scammed. Dori hadn’t changed.

“Ah, I am getting ahead of myself. We didn’t have the pleasure of making acquaintances yet.” She held out her hand and Kaveh had to bow down to shake it. “I am Lord Sangemah Bay, but since your friend was so nice to recommend me, you can call me ‘Dori’.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Dori. I am Kaveh of Kshahrewar. It’s a delight to meet you in person at last.” The interaction let his stomach twist. Although they weren’t friends in his previous life, he’d come to know Dori, yet here, she saw a stranger. A random student among many others – not the discerning architect that built her famous palace. Only then, it occurred to him how this would be the new norm going forward with everyone else he had met in the future. Tighnari, Cyno, Collei... Why did this thought sadden him so much? Not like he couldn’t become friends again as he did with Alhaitham.

Dori’s energetic voice interrupted his gloomy discovery. “Tell me, Kaveh, what do you seek? Solutions for the next exams? Rare gems? Something way stronger than alcohol? No matter how outlandish, Lord Sangemah Bay will deliver for the right amount of Mora.”

Right, he came to do business.

“I need a translation chart for those runes, so I can translate the rest myself. The first chapter should suffice to identify the language and I’ll pay extra for a fast delivery.” Kaveh flipped his sketchbook open. In the spots where usually drawings and blueprints filled the paper, rows of runes had taken their place. He tore out the first pages and handed them over to Dori. The tips of his fingers were stained in the same bluish hue as the ink on the paper – the result of copying the content of the stolen book to his sketchbook for hours on end while the other students studied.

Behind her diamond-shaped glasses, Dori’s eyes widened a little. “I didn’t expect this request from an Akademiya student out of all people. Did your grand library not hold the answers?”

Kaveh hesitated.

Apparently, this was enough of an answer, as a big grin spread over Dori’s face. “I see. On second thought, don’t elaborate. I don’t need a reason to make Mora. Just know that I’ll have to add a fee for possible legal troubles, another one for my guaranteed personal confidentiality and one for swift delivery. If you hire me, you will receive the translation chart in approximately three days.”

“Three days? That will suffice.” How weirdly refreshing to not be pried for answers at every opportunity. Having said this, another worry gnawed on his mind. Kaveh inhaled deeply before he dared to ask the question he was dreading. “How much will this cost me?”

“Let’s see.” Dori tapped her index finger against her chin as she murmured calculations. “Since I offered you a thirty percent discount, the price fell to a mere 700,000 Mora.”

“Are you insane? I can get this on the market for a fraction of that price!”

“Then why don’t you?”

Kaveh clenched his jaw to stop himself from saying anything unwise.

“Exactly, you need me.” Dori had a nose for profitable business deals and sensed her client’s desperation like wolves smelled their prey from miles away. With Kaveh, she encountered a feast. “So, are you buying or not?”

Kaveh swallowed hard. He should have expected this outcome. “I don’t have that much Mora.”

“A shame.”

“How about 50,000?”

“I’ll do 400,000 at best.”

Luckily, Kaveh had dealt with enough complicated clients to hide his frustration. Spending so much time with Alhaitham, it was easy to forget his ability to put on a flawless smile. His Junior might be immune to his charm, but it still bewitched strangers and acquaintances. “Look, there has to be another way, I’m sure. I cannot afford a loan right now, but what if we turn this trade into a mutually beneficial deal?”

“Oh? Tell me about your suggestion.”

“I am Kshahrewar’s most promising student and soon I’ll graduate. I know you’re looking for an architect to design your palace and if you do me this one favour, I will build your home and offer a reduced price. Real talent is hard to come by, especially at exceptional prices.”

Dori’s eyebrows went up in surprise. “How do you know- Did your friend tell you about my plans to build, too?”

“No, this was merely a logical deduction. A merchant of your status requires a home to match your reputation,” Kaveh continued the façade without batting an eye. Building the Palace of Alcazarzaray a second time saved him the trouble from the first one. Since the original project had been born out of passion, he knew the blueprints by heart. “If you’re in doubt about my abilities, I can create a first draft or show you my previous projects.”

To his surprise, Dori shook her head with a smug grin. “No need, I already know of your talent, Kaveh. My informants at the Akademiya have their eyes peeled on interesting students that might be of use to me. In fact, it’s a funny coincidence that I already considered you for my project. As if our collaboration was destined by fate. Well, at least if you believe in fate. Do you?”

Kaveh had asked Alhaitham a similar question the other day. He thought about it and shrugged. “I don’t know. But if there is something like fate, I somehow got on its bad side.”

“And that’s when you take your destiny into your own hands. Like me and my magnificent Mora.” She clapped her hands in excitement at the thought of all her golden coins. It was almost unhinged. “Let’s save the smalltalk for later. Regarding my palace, I’m willing to accept your offer if you agree to take responsibility for any accidents that may happen during the construction. You can read all about it in the contract I’ll send you.”

Just like the first time. Only now, equipped with the knowledge of the future, no withering zone would crash Kaveh’s effort and bank account overnight. “That’s a big responsibility to ask of me. In that case, I have one more demand as well...”

At noon, Kaveh reunited with Alhaitham at Djafar Tavern. With the burden of the translation lifted off his shoulders, his movements had become lighter. Each step cost less strength and the world shone brighter. In three days, Dori would deliver the translation chart and with it the cure to nurse his elemental powers back to old health. He already felt the fading light of his vision in the fading strength of his body like a chronic sickness. The short walk through Port Ormos got him out of breath and if he forced the elemental energy out again, something told him the following sleep would be for forever. Luckily, this suffering would be a tale of the past in three days.

To celebrate the successful deal with Dori, Kaveh ordered – despite his dire finances – two drinks at the bar and carried them over to the table where he had spotted Alhaitham minutes ago. With a clink, he put them down and announced, “Here you go. Sorry for letting you wait.”

Alhaitham flinched at the sound with his palm still clamped over his forehead. The migraine hadn’t faded. He dropped his hand and nudged against the glasses. “I hope they aren’t drugged.”

The question pushed Kaveh off his trip of bliss. “Of course not! Didn’t you see me order them just now? Here, I’ll show you they’re harmless.” He took a big sip from the glass and slammed it back down.

Alhaitham stared at him wide-eyed. Oh no, this wasn’t the right action either.

Desperation pushed the words out of Kaveh’s throat faster. “Scrap that, you can have my drink. No, hold on, I have an even better idea! Take that Mora and buy your own one. That’s the safest option.”

When Kaveh reached for his money Alhaitham seized him by the wrists so abruptly, it hurt. “What are you doing? I was joking.”

“Oh. Right. I know this, obviously.”

Alhaitham let go of him, raised the drink that was supposed to be his own and downed it in one go. Not one drop left behind. His eyes flickered back to Kaveh as if he wanted to prove a point. “Forget about the drinks. How about we order wine instead?”

Kaveh let a silent sigh slip. “I’m tempted to indulge, but my wallet isn’t.”

“Good thing mine is. This round goes on me.”

Kaveh was about to retort, but Alhaitham interrupted him with the wave of his hand. “I wanted something stronger anyways and drinking alone is only half the fun. You do me a favour if you accept my offer.”

For all the suspicion Alhaitham regarded him with, it was Kaveh’s turn to stare at him with questions in his eyes. “I’ve had enough of your jokes if this is another taste of your humour. You don’t even like alcohol that much since it, and I quote, ‘slows down your cognitive abilities’.”

“Which is precisely what I need today. Even geniuses require breaks. So, mind helping me out or will you deny me this opportunity to relax?” Alhaitham’s request appeared genuine, but the feeling of missing something important didn’t leave Kaveh. Something that would explain the generosity. But given his past deeds, it wasn’t his place to question trust.

“In that case… fine, one glass can’t hurt.”

It didn’t stay at one.

The sweet smell of alcohol easily seduced Kaveh’s senses with the promises it whispered into his ear. Promises to dissolve his doubts into hard-to-catch thoughts that twirled in his mind and dispersed with the next breeze.

These prospects caused his heart to beat faster, yet he rejected the temptress. At least partially. Kaveh had to stay sober enough to not tear down the walls he so carefully constructed around his tapestry of lies. He drank just enough to fall back into a comfortable space of mind, but not enough to trip. As he felt his self-control tumbling with his laughter getting too loud, too tipsy, he put his half-full glass back down and ate some of the bread they had ordered.

Alhaitham abandoned his glass as well and redirected his attention to Kaveh. It had gotten late and the dim glow of the tavern highlighted the way his teal eyes sparked up with a shimmer of curiosity. “You haven’t told me yet what you were buying while I was gone. Mind telling me?”

Did he wait this long to receive a more honest answer? Not happening. The alcohol didn’t loosen Kaveh’s tongue enough for his lies were buried too deep. He propped himself on his elbows, leaned closer and flashed him a not-fully-sober grin. “I could tell you, but I don’t want to spoil the surprise.”

Alhaitham made a face as if his wine had suddenly turned bitter. “Surprises mean secrets.”

“The good kind of secrets.”

“I prefer to be the judge of that myself.”

Kaveh resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He would be a fool if he hadn’t anticipated this scenario. “Fine, you really want to know? Although it kinda ruins the fun.”

“I’m amusing myself already.”

“Of course you do.” In lieu of his better knowledge, Kaveh allowed himself another sip from his glass to gift him courage. He had become so fluent in speaking dishonestly, now that he wanted to say something he actually meant, it was a foreign language. “I noticed that recently…” He trailed off and started again. “I just wanted to say, I know I’m a lot to keep up with recently. I caused you a fair share of trouble, not to mention the most recent one, and I want to make up for it. So, I acquired you gifts. I know, it’s not nearly enough to apologise, but I figured it’s someplace to start.”

Kaveh retrieved a blueprint from his bag and swooped their glasses aside to make space for it. Thin white lines on a blue background constructed the image of a familiar pair of earpieces. Although Alhaitham had come up with the original innovation in the future, back then, Kaveh had helped to fix and improve it. Similar to the Palace of Alcazarzaray, he could draw the design blindfolded without any mistakes.

The nights Kaveh lost sleep because their tavern fight haunted him whenever he closed his eyes had become nights where he attempted to recreate the earpieces he had destroyed. The last favour he asked of Dori was the materials needed to construct them. The merchant had given him a funny look but asked no questions.

“It’s a device I’m currently working on,” Kaveh explained, “The earpieces filter out your surroundings in case the noises overwhelm you. Give me some time and they’ll be capable of playing their own tunes as well. To craft them I needed materials I wasn’t able to get in Sumeru city, hence the trip. I’ll put them together once we are back at the Akademiya. As I said, it was supposed to be a surprise but you insisted on knowing ahead of time, so I’m not ready. That’s on you.”

For a man who knew over twenty languages, Alhaitham found nothing to say. He tore his gaze from the blueprint up to Kaveh, opened his mouth and then closed it again with a confused sound. He was a man of logic and facts, but none of his calculations predicted this situation.

Seeing Alhaitham, the smartest man he knew, this puzzled was a sight worthy to be put into a museum. It was also adorable enough to elicit a soft laugh from Kaveh. “Our genius didn’t see that coming, hm?”

“Are you hiding something from me again?”

“Is expressing my gratitude for my partner in crime a crime in itself now?”

Alhaitham traced the lines on the blueprint carefully, almost hesitant as if fearing the design would crumble under his fingertips. A warm smile tugged at the corners of his lips and it reminded Kaveh of the same expression he’d shown the other day in the Restricted Repository. A warmth that was so addicting, Kaveh felt his own cheeks heating up.

“You constructed this all by yourself?”

“I’m a Kshahrewar after all. Building and crafting is our thing. Meanwhile, you Haravatat rather unravel the mysteries behind old runes and ancient language, which is fine as well, since I got you a book for that topic, too. Just wait until Dori delivers it in three days.” The best way to cover up his tracks was to hide it in plain sight.

“You bought from Dori?” Alhaitham perked up immediately like a dog ruffling his fur with Dori being the sly cat committing atrocities right under his nose. “She is a notorious scammer and will squeeze the last Mora out of you. You are foolish to approach her for simple goods.”

“Now, now, that’s no way to thank your Senior for a gift.”

Alhaitham fell quiet, seemingly struggling whether to keep up the suspicion or accept this unexpected twist. At last, he put down his guard. “Those gifts are very functional. I appreciate it.”

“See, there we go.” Kaveh didn’t know whether to blame it on the alcohol, the mood of the tavern or his tendency to act without thinking, when he leaned closer and brushed Alhaitham’s hair aside tenderly like calming a stray cat. Shining brighter than silver but soft as silk. With his Junior, opposites melted together.

Alhaitham went stiff. Then, he relaxed and laughter shook his shoulders. “You had enough drinks,” he mused, yet he closed his eyes with a pleased sigh.

“I had enough drinks? The pot is calling the kettle black, is it that?”

“Please, I’m hardly tipsy. Unlike you.”

They kept bickering back and forth until it was time for them to return to Sumeru City. Alhaitham covered the tab, as promised, and together they exited the tavern. Gazing up at the black sky made Kaveh realise just how long they’d been at Port Ormos. Only the moon pierced a hole into the darkness and acted as one of the last few light sources illuminating the harbour.

Kaveh turned to Alhaitham to comment on their late departure, but suddenly, he forgot everything he wanted to say. The wine had tinted Alhaitham’s cheeks rosy, which contrasted with his skin that resembled sculptured snow in the cold light of the night. Kaveh had given up on praying to the gods, but maybe they didn’t answer because he had already met a saint.

Like a painting coming to life, Alhaitham broke out of his trance, co*cked his head and a small smile flitted over his lips. A subtle pause. “Senior?”

Kaveh looked the other way, suddenly feeling caught. “Yes?”

“I wanted to ask you something.”

“Under the moonlight? How romantic.” The teasing remark flew off Kaveh’s lips naturally but just one second later, he choked on them. I’ve said this before. Back then, when we watched the total eclipse, he noted with hot-cold terror creeping down his neck. When it was Kaveh’s turn to ask, “Alright, what is it?”, he was frozen.

Alhaitham gave him a weird look like an actor going off-script. Before the silence grew uncomfortable, he continued talking, “I heard from a couple of students that the professors will assign joint research projects soon. Unfortunately, it’s mandatory. I hate working in teams, but with you, it will be the least unbearable.”

This is too early, spiralled through his head on a loop, He wasn’t supposed to ask me yet. Different setting, same scene, and Kaveh had forgotten all his lines.

Chapter 12: Sacrifice

Chapter Text

6 years and 2 days ago, Djafar Tavern, Port Ormos

For all the ruckus during the day, Port Ormos was silent now. As if the world held its breath to hear Kaveh's answer, too. He had none. Too early, was the only thing echoing in his mind. It’s too early.

“What I meant to ask is, would you like to be my research partner?” Alhaitham talked quietly and carefully as if courage left him whilst he spoke. He sensed the shift in the mood.

The longer the silence stretched on, the more Alhaitham's composure cracked. He was self-assured in everything he did - his studies, his arguments, calling out Kaveh's lies – but now it dawned on him that he had made a mistake without knowing where he stepped wrong. A different kind of confusion. One that hurt worse. Although he looked like a marble statue in the moonlight, he seemed more fragile than glass at this moment.

“Cat got your tongue?” Alhaitham tried their usual teasing, but the seriousness of the situation killed the joke.

Kaveh fixed his gaze on the ground, but the image of a confused, hurt Alhaitham still lingered on the forefront of his mind. He took a deep breath. Even if the last steps to preserve this new life took the most out of him, Kaveh wouldn’t collapse in front of the finish line. He had always harboured an ambitious nature. Especially when it came to Alhaitham. “I’m so sorry. I can’t. I’ve already asked Lisa.”

“Lisa?” Alhaitham repeated slowly like he tested the sound on his tongue. “That student you talked with the other day?”

“Yes, that’s her. You must understand. Would you decline a request to work with her? She’s a Spantamad genius after all. The best of her craft."

"Oh, so she's a genius."

Kaveh flinched as if he cut himself on Alhaitham’s sharp remark. “No, I don’t mean it like that! You’re incredibly intelligent too. It’s just… Our Darshans are too different. How would we even find a topic that works both with linguistics and aesthetics? I don’t think we-”

“I get it,” Alhaitham intruded with a sudden intensity. “You don't have to come up with ridiculous excuses to spare my feelings. I’m not as fragile as you are. It’s fine.”

“Do you really mean that?”

“Are you out of all people questioning my sincerity? Yes, it’s fine.” Had he shown any hints of distress before, Alhaitham had tucked all of them neatly away behind a look of indifference. Back to normal, except that he was so calm and composed, it came off as unnaturally stiff.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don't be. There’s no reason to apologise. I merely asked a question and you replied honestly. That means a lot actually given your recent behaviour.”

Kaveh had to press his lips tight lest he would announce a change of heart. He stole the cure for his vision, soon received the translation and evaded the joint project with Alhaitham successfully. It was everything he wanted even if victory felt like another loss. “I’m sure you’ll find someone else who wants to collaborate with you.”

“Obviously. My skills are no secret among my peers.”

They didn’t exchange a single word during their trip back to Sumeru city.

6 years and 1 day ago, Dorm Room, Akademiya

Alhaitham was long gone when Kaveh woke up. He slept longer each day, but always emerged less rested than the previous night. The malfunction’s fault. His vision lived on its last spark and burned up his energy. The pain was new though.

It started to hurt. The core of the ache bloomed in his chest and spread its roots throughout his body like the teeth of a wild animal piercing into his flesh. Part of him expected to see bruises or cuts in the places where the pain throbbed, but his skin was unscathed. Only two more days until Dori delivers the translation. For the first time, he doubted if two days were enough.

Kaveh took a painkiller to numb the new side effects and changed into his Akademiya uniform, adjusting the collar until it hid the marks on his throat. On his way to get breakfast – or rather lunch – he caught himself searching the crowd for a familiar silver-haired Junior. He had grown so familiar to Alhaitham following him around like a second shadow, his absence hurt in a way the medicine failed to silence.

Was he still upset about last night? The memories spoiled Kaveh’s appetite. Without Alhaitham’s questions, they could have enjoyed a fun stay at the tavern. If he only had more time, Kaveh could have come up with a more tactful excuse instead of indirectly insulting him. He made a mental note to apologise as soon as they crossed paths again.

His apology would come off as more genuine if he fixed the first gift in the meantime. Dori had delivered the ores to Ahangar, who ran the Shamshir's Smithy, where Kaveh picked them up after exchanging all the right codewords.

Assembling the earpiece back together freed his head from the worry and questions swirling around for once and he welcomed the distractions. Art had always offered an escape when reality became cruel.

The finished result resembled the one in the future down to the last gem. At least before it smashed into thousandth tiny pieces on the tavern floor. Kaveh inspected the device from every angle and smiled to himself. If Alhaitham saw this, he would forget yesterday’s disappointment immediately.

That was if he could find him. Alhaitham was neither at the House of Daena, the auditorium nor at the taverns and cafés. Kaveh asked passing-by students if they had seen his Junior but to no avail. As if Alhaitham had suddenly dissolved into air.

His last stop was Razan Garden. The area was directly accessible from the Akademiya and served a silence Alhaitham tended to indulge in his free time. Between Padisarahs adorning the path and graceful fountains, the green uniforms perfectly blended in but under none hid Alhaitham. Kaveh was about to give up and return back inside when a voice called next to him.

“Oh cutie, to what do I owe this unexpected visit?” Lisa purred. She sat under one of the gazebos, enjoying a cup of tea with the steam drawing faint clouds into the air.

“I needed a break,” Kaveh lied. He scanned the garden one more time and let out an exasperated sigh. If Alhaitham didn’t want to be found, further search was futile. Although it was out of character for his Junior to act this petty… How strange.

“Likewise. I don’t understand how people work all day without taking a moment to breathe. What do we work for if not the freedom to relax? What’s worth all the Mora in the world if we don’t take time to spend it?”

“And some poor souls have neither money nor time.” Kaveh added a chuckle to avoid coming off as miserable. He should have walked back to the dorms or finally attend his classes, but the search for Alhaitham got him exhausted. The dwindling light of his vision made falling asleep much more appealing. “Would you mind if I join you on your break?”

“Not at all.” Lisa shifted to make room on the bench. “You look thirsty. Can I offer you some Masala Chai?”

“With pleasure.” Kaveh waited for her to pour him a cup before he took a careful sip. The fragrant taste of cinnamon and ginger melted on his tongue. The added sugar eliminated the bitterness of the black tea base. Something about the sweetness didn’t sit right with him. A weird kind of Déjà vu. Kaveh gazed over the rim of the cup over to Lisa. "Have you considered my joint research request yet?"

"Naturally. I couldn't stop thinking about you, cutie.” She gave him a wink and refilled her cup.

“So, what do you say?”

“In all honesty, you pleasantly surprised me. I’m not short of pursuers, but in most cases, their passion isn’t directed to the seven elements and therefore wasted. Their excuses and ulterior motives bore me to death.”

Kaveh raised an eyebrow. “I’m afraid I can’t follow.”

“Many students who have asked me to collaborate confuse a research meeting with a date. I wished they would show more love for Leylines and Irminsul instead. I have no interest in doing all the work alone just because they think with the wrong body part.” Lisa stirred her tea with a spark of annoyance. Although her eccentric way of speaking tended to distract from her raw powers, she was still a master of her field. He imagined it to be quite disappointing whenever she thought to meet an equal, but their interest lay elsewhere.

“With you though, it’s different,” Lisa continued, “I can tell your heart has already found a home elsewhere, so I’m assured your interest is purely one of a scholar. And given your reputation, I don’t need to worry to be the only one contributing to the project. We’ll both satisfy each other’s needs. Isn’t that great?”

Kaveh almost choked on his tea. “Hold up, what was that first part about? My heart being someone else’s already?”

“That handsome Junior of yours - what was his name again? Alhaitham? I’ve seen lovestruck men before. He doesn’t hide it as well as he thinks he does. The same applies to you.”

The heat of the teapot couldn’t compare to the heat of Kaveh’s face. Flabbergasted, he stumbled for a response. “You- You must be mistaken. We’re hardly friends, let alone anything beyond it.”

“Why not?”

Why not? Such an innocent question. Lisa asked so incredulously as if it was truly a miracle that they hadn’t yet crossed the border of friendship. Did she see something he didn’t?

“It’s, well, It’s complicated. Everything is complicated with Alhaitham.”

“It doesn’t have to be. You’re interested in him, are you not?”

If she asked anything else, Kaveh didn’t hear it over the sound of his pounding heartbeat. The rest of his body responded for his mouth did not. Was he interested? Whenever he thought of Alhaitham, a strange warmth pooled in his chest and an overwhelming urge to shield him from harm. For everyone else, a trip into the past would have been terrifying, but the prospect of reconciling with Alhaitham had transformed a curse into a blessing easily. Now that Kaveh gained his friendship back, was it greedy if he still longed for more?

A grin spread on Lisa’s lips. She snipped with her fingers and tiny Electro sparks flew off. “So you are. Then it’s simple. Have you asked him out yet? Like, romantically.”

A nervous laugh bubbled in Kaveh’s lungs. “And purposefully making a fool of myself by getting rejected? Definitely not. I’m drowning in trouble already. No need to add romance problems to the list.”

“It’s natural to be scared of rejection, but wait for too long and time has run out and decided for you. Most prefer to choose as long as they still can.”

Lisa talked like she knew this topic as well as elementalism, but there were a lot of things she didn’t know about Kaveh. “Even if you’re right, now is not a good time for confessions. Things have become increasingly… tense between us recently.”

“Not the good kind of tension?”

“No, not the good kind.” With a sigh, Kaveh fell back against the bench. His eyes grazed over the Padisarahs and pathways for the hundredth time. Still no Alhaitham in sight. He pushed his disappointment back down. “There are things I cannot tell him for the sake of both our wellbeing. And no small ones either. It’s necessary. Yet, those secrets have nurtured a certain distrust, but I’m sure it’s only temporary. We’ll bounce back. We usually do.”

Lisa shook her head with a Tsk-sound like a scolding mother. “You’re an architect. You understand that if you build on hollow ground, the building is destined to collapse at one point.”

“The greatest architects work with unfavourable conditions and still create masterpieces.”

“Just don’t dig your own grave in the process, cutie. It would be tiring to find a new research partner,” she said half-jokingly.

Kaveh shot her a sly grin. “I can’t do that to you. I still owe you tea. Twice even.”

“Third time’s the charm.”

Kaveh kept Lisa company until she had to return to her classes. The conversation had long strayed to other topics but his mind lingered at the comments she had made about Alhaitham. About their relationship and her warnings. Her questions had poked in all the bruised spots and now a dull ache engulfed his heart. As much as she encouraged honesty, she didn’t know the harm the truth could cause. Sometimes, a good white lie made life more comfortable.

After Lisa had left, Kaveh decided to go back to their dorm room. Even if Alhaitham avoided him, he had to return at some point if he didn’t want to sleep on the stairway to the Akademiya. And when they reunited, Kaveh would finally get a chance to correct his poorly-worded excuse from yesterday, appease him with the earpieces and mend the tension. The gift had to lure out at least a smile or surprised gasp. With some hope, Alhaitham’s amazement would even wash away his suspicion for the moment.

The idea of it made Kaveh relax a little. A feeling that was short-lived and died the second he turned around the corner. A crowd of students had gathered in front of their dorm room. The volume of their screeches would have caused an instant headache for Alhaitham.

But that wasn’t what killed his optimism. It was the stern shouts of the Matra that sliced through the air and hit Kaveh like a knife to the stomach. He recoiled. No. What were they doing here?

Kaveh dashed through the crowd, ignoring the complaints and the name-calling. He got closer and closer and- Someone grabbed him by the sleeve and he almost staggered.

“You can’t go there right now,” a familiar voice snapped. White fluffy hair covered his left eye and the visible ruby-coloured one glared at him with a sense of authority he had already possessed in his younger years. “The Matra have shut off this area.”

“Cyno, in the name of the seven, what is going on here?”

Without the warmth of recognition, Cyno’s expression stayed frozen in a serious mask. No encouraging smile or silly joke to lighten the mood. “Can’t you see? My da- I mean, Mahamatra Cyrus has arrested Junior Alhaitham. They are restricting access to his room to look for evidence and…”

Cyno’s mouth kept moving, but the sound didn’t reach Kaveh. The world around him faded out as the meaning of the words sank in. He was shaking and his knees couldn’t be trusted to hold him any longer. When he fell to the ground, Cyno recoiled.

They arrested Alhaitham.

It didn’t feel real. Although Kaveh saw the Matra blocking the door, had listened to Cyno’s explanation and heard Alhaitham’s names echoing in the crowd, his mind rejected the idea. It had to be a bad dream. There was no way that…

They arrested Alhaitham.

That’s why he was gone all day. Not because of sulking or avoiding an awkward situation but because the Matra hat snatched him away. The guilt weighing down on Kaveh’s chest became unbearable. It should have crushed his ribs at this point.

They arrested Alhaitham. And it’s my fault.

“Cyno, where is Alhaitham now?”

“How would I know?”

Lisa was right. His house of lies was destined to collapse, but as long as he was its architect, he would do everything to assure it didn’t bury Alhaitham underneath it. “Hey, you over there!” Kaveh screamed at the Matra and walked up to them.

“Stay back. You are disrupting the investigation.”

Kaveh’s lips contorted into a smile without joy. More of a snarl. “Quite the contrary, I’m helping actually. You’re looking for the perpetrator? What a lucky day. He stands right here.”

“That’s nothing to joke about,” Mahamatra Cyrus warned.

“The only joke is your security measures. Talking is silver, silence is gold? Yes, wasn’t this the password to the Restricted Repository? Screw the gold, I will tell you all about how I stole that book.”

He’d seen Cyno’s father only on a couple of occasions and he always seemed like a kind man with an easy-going demeanour. Right now, he couldn’t differ further from his memories. Mahamatra Cyrus stared at him with wide-eyed disgust as if Kaveh had admitted to murdering kittens in his free time. “You won’t keep that grin up for long.”

Handcuffs closed around his wrists. The metal cut into old bruises and Kaveh held back a whimper as the Matra dragged him along. Guards covered both his sides in a human shield, their blades only one hand length away from his face.

People screamed. Their shouts mashed together into shrieks of hell. Kaveh kept his eyes glued to the ground to avoid seeing the disappointment in familiar faces. Without the guards surrounding him, he feared the angry mob would run him over. Maybe this would have been a more merciful ending. He should have been terrified, but to be scared, one needed something to lose.

It was time for a confession. Just not the kind Lisa has imagined.

Chapter 13: Blood On Your Hands

Chapter Text

6 years and 1 day ago, Grand Sage Office, Akademiya

With a low rumble, the elevator came to a halt. The sound bounced off the walls of the Grand Sage office and faded out like a wave crashed on the shore. A pull on Kaveh’s cuffs and the pressure on his back urged him to keep going. No one left him time to digest the news – they brought him to Azar, not the prison cell. What now? He had trouble contemplating with his heart beating louder than his thoughts.

Was Alhaitham also here? Kaveh spied between the Matra rows and caught a glimpse of a man dressed in a sherwani of different shades of blue. Golden ornaments bloomed on the chest and spread down to the wide sleeves. The pattern wrinkled as Azar crossed his arms, visibly upset at the disturbance. “You better have a good reason to barge in.”

Mahamatra Cyrus bowed his head in respect. With a swift gesture of his hand, he beckoned the other Matra to move aside to show off the prisoner in their capture like some kind of circus animal. “Grand Sage, I assure you we do. Our good reason stands right here. This student claims to be responsible for both the Restricted Repository incident and the resulting theft.”

“Oh? Maybe he will be more talkative. I am starting to believe this one is deaf.”

Kaveh followed Azar’s gaze and his breath stuttered. There he was. Alhaitham had clawed his fists around the edge of the seat, sitting perfectly still with a blank face. He understood why Azar called him “deaf” given he ignored their entrance completely as if the surroundings didn’t get through him. But the way he had tightened his grasp until the knuckles showed white upon their arrival exposed him. Kaveh would lie again if he said the purposeful ignoring didn’t sting.

“That’s not all, Grand Sage,” Mahamatra Cyrus continued, “Our raid proved to be successful.” He retrieved a thick stack of paper and leather. The cover nearly fell apart in collision with the desk surface and some pages were freshly stained with ink. “We found the stolen book in the suspect’s dorm room. It was hidden in a box of books that belongs to Mister Alhaitham.”

“I hid it there!” Kaveh interrupted simultaneously with Alhaitham’s gasp of surprise. The confession left his mouth faster than he could reconsider it. “It was me. I put the stolen book in the box!”

For the first time since their arrival, Azar bothered to actually look at Kaveh. Most eyes had a white shimmer in it but his were like looking into an endless well. It was almost unsettling. “And you are… who exactly?”

“I am the guy you’re looking for. Kaveh, of the Kshahrewar Darshan. I committed the crime.” Out of the corner of his vision, he noticed Alhaitham breaking out of his trance. Although he remained silent, his expression screamed,stop that. It only reassured Kaveh to keep going.

“Mister Kaveh, are you aware that you are confessing to a serious offence? If found guilty, you’ll suffer dire consequences.”

“I know.”

This wasn’t the right answer either. A frown formed on Azar’s face. “The way you’re not even hesitating makes me think you treat this too lightly.”

“Allow me to add something, Grand Sage?” Mahamatra Cyrus chimed in.

“You may. What is it?”

“Mister Kaveh told me the correct password to the Restricted Repository. Not only that, he also mentioned the sinner’s work before we even announced our findings. I believe an investigation is reasonable and will yield potent results.”

“Yes, that’s what I’m saying!” Kaveh would have hugged Cyrus for that statement if it didn’t earn him a blade in the stomach most likely. “See, I am definitely guilty. How much more obvious can I make it?”

“Be silent, Kaveh.” Alhaitham’s voice cut through the air with so much authority, one could believe he was the one sitting in the seat of the Grand Sage. Just another act. “Azar, I demand an attorney.”

Kaveh had never seen Azar laugh before – neither in his first nor second life. It was an ugly laugh, full of arrogance and schadenfreude like a humanised hyena. Through the echo of the wide hall, its sound shot down from every direction. “An attorney? Oh, you are mistaken. There is no trial for sinners.”

Mahamatra Cyrus hesitated. “But Grand Sage, according to-”

“Do you object to my orders?” Gone was the laughter almost immediately. It never fitted Azar anyway.

“No, of course not. I would never dare, Grand Sage.”

“Good. You, Kaveh, what can you tell me about this item?” Azar nudged the stolen book towards him. After copying the entire content into his sketchbooks, Kaveh had grown familiar with every page of it. If they let him, he could tell them enough to fill another book of this size.

“Where do I begin…”

Alhaitham answered instead. “Don’t say anything. It’s no use.” It wasn’twhathe said that made Kaveh shiver buthowhe said it. So tired, as if he had lost a war before even reaching for the weapons. A certain desperation where hope failed to bloom on dead grounds. What had killed his spirit so early?

Kaveh wanted to turn around and reassure Alhaitham to get him out here before evening, but he couldn’t even move his hands and none of his optimism reached through him. The only way out was through his original plan. Kaveh swallowed hard. “Yes, I recognise it. This book stems from the Restricted Repository. It had one of those paper slips on it that told you about the author’s fate. I believe a Spantamad and a Rtawahist scholar wrote this work but both died a couple of centuries ago. The text is written in a foreign script though it appears to deal with Leylines specifically.”

Azar nodded while he was talking. “Correct. And how do you know about all this?”

“Because I stole it.” Kaveh grimaced. “Haven’t I mentioned this often enough?”

“Yes, but elaborate, will you? We require all the details about the theft.”

“With pleasure. After I snuck out of my room that night, I waited for the guards to leave before I entered the Restricted Repository. Cyrus already confirmed that I know the password. I spent a few hours skimming through the archive, chose to take this book and hid it in our dorm room. I believe that’s what fuelled the misunderstanding. Although the Matra found the book in Alhaitham’s possessions, it was me who put it there. Have you not seen the surprise on his face after Mahamatra Cyrus announced his findings? I don’t have an alibi for this evening either and-”

Alhaitham interrupted him again. “Won’t you shut up, Senior?” A please hung in the air.

“Mister Alhaitham, mind your manners. Otherwise, I’ll have to make sure you’re physically unable to speak.” Azar adopted a sudden frosty tone and switched it out for feigned friendliness when he beckoned Kaveh to continue. “Go on, what can you tell me about the password? Only the Mahamatra and Sages are supposed to know about it.”

“Ah, yes, about that…” Even when silent, Kaveh still heard Alhaitham’s pleas ringing in his head. He didn’t want him to talk, but Kaveh didn’t want him in prison. As so very often, their arguments found no middle ground. He pushed the spark of guilt aside. “I figured out the password through pure luck and logical deduction.Reden ist Silber, Schweigen ist Gold.Talking is silver, silence is gold. What Mondstadt saying is better suited than this to hide a secret vault? You have to try harder to keep secrets from a genius.”

“Wouldn’t a Haravatat have better chances translating this line?”

“It was only a short sentence in a popular language. Everyone could have read it with little effort.” Kaveh shrugged it off as if the comment didn’t crawl under his skin. Why were they so insistent on Alhaitham’s guilt when Kaveh willingly put a target on himself? Something was off.

Azar adjusted his monocle. “Sure, this was just one quote. But a whole book of foreign runes is a bit harder to read.”

“I planned to translate it later. It didn’t matter which book I stole since I only wanted a taste of forbidden research.”

“This is getting too ridiculous.” Alhaitham’s fists slammed on the table. The cuffs shrieked like a metal whip, effectively drawing attention. “Your story has too many holes, Kaveh. No one finds a secret vault by ‘luck’ and who in their right mind steals a book they cannot read? Don’t get me started on your motive. ‘Just for the sake of it’? Really? Did all your creativity just jump out the window?”

“The Grand Sage ordered you to be quiet,” the Mahamatra warned.

Azar shook his head with aTsk.“Let him talk, Cyrus. Mister Alhaitham, is this a confession I hear? Do you admit to your crimes now?”

“I am merely pointing out the flaws in Kaveh’s logic. Nothing more. We shouldn’t bother listening to him when nothing he says makes any sense. Everyone knows Kaveh has a people-pleaser problem. He would confess murder any day for the sake of saving a friend. He is as credible as a blind and deaf man.”

“Excuse me?” Kaveh’s voice rose in pitch and volume. “Those are baseless claims! Have you not heard all I just said? How would I know about the password otherwise?”

“The real culprit could have told you.”

Kaveh rolled his eyes. “Yes, sure, this makes so much more sense. Are you listening to yourself? Why should-”

“They found myblood, Kaveh. You cannot argue against tangible evidence!” Alhaitham’s stoic expression shattered as if the burden of the knowledge had finally crushed his resistance. Through the cracks, the desperation leaked through, now soaking his words.

“What…?”

Kaveh waited for Azar to unmask this bold lie, but instead was met with an insufferable wide grin on the Grand Sage. “The truth is out. Indeed, in cooperation with the Bimarstan, our Amurta scholars found a perfect match for the blood at the crime scene, which led us to Mister Alhaitham.”

It was as if something swooped the ground away under Kaveh’s feet, making him crash down. He needed a couple of seconds to regain his senses as his head spun and skull throbbed. Blood in the Restricted Repository? How… and when?

Kaveh played the events of that night in his head again, went through everything they did, they said and then-Oh no.He wanted to scream, but the shock robbed him of his voice. He remembered.

It was the vine accident. At their first attempt, Alhaitham’s blade had slipped and drawn a nasty cut over his palm. Both of them had focused on slicing through the vines without slicing Kaveh’s throat, unaware of the red-dripping evidence. Only after the shackles lay broken on the ground, the injury became noticeable. Faced with much larger problems, one or two drops were easy to brush away. Or so they thought.

Alhaitham had insisted on checking whether they left any evidence behind. Perhaps, in the back of his mind, the incident had bothered him although he didn’t know why. If Kaveh hadn’t been afraid of getting exposed, if he had entertained his Junior’s request, if they weren’t so distracted… they could have gotten away.

With the new knowledge in mind, the same helplessness crawled into Kaveh’s heart. The evidence pointed towards Alhaitham. His blood in the archive, the stolen book in his belongings, the foreign languages sprinkled throughout. That’s why Alhaitham surrendered before a fight had even started. He was a master at manipulation, but words failed to mend those wrongs. And if they could, he refused to make sacrifices that pushed others into the Matra’s suspicion.

“I believe we’re done here,” Azar’s announcement interrupted his thoughts. “This is almost as good as a confession from Mister Alhaitham.”

Kaveh’s eyes gleamed with newfound determination. Between confusion and fear, an idea was born. “Wait, I can explain the blood as well!”

“Is this so?” Both Azar and Alhaitham regarded him with a more than sceptical expression.

“Yes, let me explain!” Kaveh used to thrive in the spotlight, but this sort of attention turned his skin feverish and made him painfully aware of his responsibility. Alhaitham had only given up because he didn’t go to the lengths Kaveh would. “I left out a few details from my previous recollection. Didn’t you wonderhowthe blood got there in the first place? It was too much to be a paper cut.”

“This is true... Well then, how do you explain this incident? And Mister Alhaitham, I’d like to remind you to not interrupt.” A thinly veiled threat hid underneath Azar’s innocent-looking statement.

“Of course.” Alhaitham’s answer resembled more of a sigh of defeat.

“Glad we came to an understanding. Mister Kaveh, you may continue.”

Kaveh spoke slowly to avoid going off-script. A word forgotten or added might decide their fate. “I admit, yes, Alhaitham was at the Restricted Repository. But to stop me. Since we slept in the same room, he noticed my disappearance and followed me out of suspicion. I feared this turn of events, so I prepared a dish from Lambad’s, hid sleeping pills in it and offered it to Alhaitham. They are the same pills the Bimarstan prescribed me just a week ago and the waitress from the tavern will attest to my purchase. The meal itself still lies untouched in our room. You can check later and will find that all I said was true. Evidently, my plan didn’t work out, so Alhaitham confronted me at the Restricted Repository.”

This was the part where his skills as an actor allowed no flaws. Kaveh adjusted his expression like brush strokes on a painting, gradually shaping the image of a conflicted man. He lowered his head, pursed his lips and played anxiety off as suppressed anger. There was no mirror to check his appearance, but the Matra appeared more alarmed, which had to be a good sign. This performance had no rehearsals. Camera, ready, action.

“Once Alhaitham understood that I had not only trespassed on Akademiya ground but specifically broke into the Restricted Repository, he was devastated and urged me to turn back immediately. His pleas to leave the forbidden vault alone still ring in my ears. I ignored the warnings and snapped at him to leave me alone.

“Seeing this, he threatened to call the Matra on me and out of panic, I attacked him. We fought, but I ultimately won and Alhaitham carried a bleeding injury as a result. In retrospect, I understand how poorly I handled the situation and feel deep regret. My sense of justice forbids me to let a man, who has such a strong belief in the virtues of the Akademiya, to get punished for treason.”

“After all your conflicting statements, I have to ask, do you have any evidence to back up your narrative?”

“I do. Alhaitham didn’t make my victory easy.” Kaveh rolled down his high collar. He pushed his gloves down as far as the cuffs allowed until they exposed the colourful blemishes tarnishing his fair skin. To his satisfaction, although the pain had long subsided, the visuals remained frightening.

An audible gasp wandered through the Matra and even Azar was taken aback. Kaveh hated this kind of staring even more, but if it successfully swayed their minds, he played along happily. Judging by the way their eyes latched onto the blotches curved around his wrists and neck, they started to believe.

Kaveh clapped his hands together like a performer announcing the end of his show. “And that’s the reason why you found Alhaitham’s blood in the archive. If anything, you should thank him for trying to stop me.”

Azar took off his suspicion gradually. At least he didn’t outright reject Kaveh’s story. “Why hasn’t Mister Alhaitham told us sooner about this?”

“Don’t mistake his silence for guilt. It’s fear.”

“I see.”

“Have I not shown enough evidence to prove his innocence? I regret my actions and I confessed to them. What else is there to discuss?” Kaveh’s head hurt from rearranging the truth so often. Each time, he blurred the lines between reality and fiction a little more until he himself momentarily forgot the correct order of events. It didn’t matter. The only “correct” order was the one where Alhaitham emerged unscathed from this interrogation. One last lie to repent for all that came before. That was the plan.

“Mister Alhaitham, is this what actually happened?” Azar asked.

Kaveh saw the response in Alhaitham’s eyes before he even opened his mouth. Like looking into a mirror, determination flickered back and erased the high of a temporary success.Please, let me take the blame I deserve.Kaveh had offered him a better version of the truth. He only needed to accept it.

Alhaitham gave him a small smile that didn’t reflect in his solemn tone. “No. I neither have any recollection of a fight nor of stopping Kaveh. This story is completely made up.”

“Are you kidding me?” Kaveh almost screamed. How could he still refuse? “My bruises are for all to see and the time of their origin aligns perfectly with the break-in. You don’t have to play the hero twice! The facts are laid out clearly.”

“Are they really? The marks on your skin are easy to explain. You’ve been hanging out with Lisa a lot recently and she already calls you ‘cutie’ and wants to work with you specifically on that joint project. I don’t have to spell it out.”

Kaveh took in a sharp gasp. “The audacity. Are you really insinuating that I-”

Alhaitham turned to Azar. “No evidence other than Kaveh’s own words speak for him being guilty. After all, you found my blood, not his. His explanations keep getting more absurd and contradict each other. Why are we entertaining this nonsense? We’ve already established that this book is useless to anyone but a Haravatat scholar.”

Kaveh would have been tempted to slap Alhaitham if the cuffs didn’t bind his hands. “What do you call ‘nonsense? I proved all my claims. Just let me take the blame rightfully!”

“You talk too much.”

“Your arguments are unfounded slander!”

“Your stories ignore all logic.”

“Enough!” The echo of Azar’s shout filled the following silence.

Kaveh swallowed down his counter-argument and bit his lips until he tasted something metallic.Why can’t I take responsibility?For a man of logic and calculations, Alhaitham’s action made no sense.

Azar stood up, chin raised and hands crossed behind his back. Some people were alcoholics, but he got drunk on power. The way he talked he was more than tipsy on it. “Everyone, I order you to calm down and listen. No more of this childish fighting. I have made my final verdict.”

Already?Kaveh peered over to Alhaitham and met similar bewilderment. As the layer of surprise melted away, fear stood at its core. He held his breath, not wanting to make any unnecessary sounds lest he missed anything.

Azar savoured the moment of having everyone's full attention like other people savoured a fine sip of wine. His expression evolved from annoyance to a smirk that wasn’t to Kaveh’s taste. “In all honesty, I don’t care who of you two did it in the end. I only require the confirmation thatoneof you indeed committed the sin. That’s good enough for me. Cyrus, throw both of them into prison until we have organised the execution. Let’s make it public to remind everyone of our virtues. People forget too easily.”

“Understood.”

Kaveh couldn't tell if the scream was his own or Alhaitham's. “Execution?”

Once the word had corrupted his mind, it hijacked the rest of Kaveh’s system with grim images, one after another. A crowd cheering during their last day, too much blood after a few drops had betrayed them, and inevitably losing Alhaitham again. Though the mourning would be brief this time. An out-of-place laughter bubbled in Kaveh’s chest, a wretched sound that resembled more of a sob. It didn’t feel real. When would he wake up from this nightmare?

I can’t allow this. I can’t let them kill Alhaitham.

The Matra tried to grab him. Kaveh backed off and crashed into Azar's desk. Something cracked but the adrenaline numbed the pain. A hand reached for him and he kicked it away, barely hearing anything over the blood rushing through his veins. "Get off me!” He wanted to reach for his Junior, but the Matra blocked his way.

Mahamatra Cyrus jerked Alhaitham by the cuffs, forcing him into an involuntary bow.

“This isn't fair!” Alhaitham pressed out between strangled breaths, "How can you call yourself an honourable man and still follow these orders? How is this justice?" His Dendro vision pulsated like a racing heartbeat and a glow of the same colour engulfed his fingertips. The Matra readied their weapons, automatically defeating any hope of a forceful escape.

Anger mixed with desperation into a dangerous mixture. He pushed off his attacker. “Let Alhaitham go! You're murdering an innocent man. You-” Kaveh got cut off by a blade to the neck.

“Stop resisting.” This wasn't a warning. It was a threat. What were their lives worth after Azar announced to sacrifice them for a public spectacle? If they bled out in the office, the biggest concern would be the stained carpet.

Kaveh couldn’t see Alhaitham anymore but he heard the curses under his breath. In the reflection of the sword to his throat, a scared man looked back. His wrists were shaking in the cuffs and the office blurred together into a colourful mess.He blinked them away only for the world going blurry again seconds later as the Matra dragged him in the direction of the elevator. This can’t be happening. After chasing a second chance for so long, he refused to let it come to an end like this.

Chapter 14: A Deal With The Devil

Chapter Text

6 years and 1 day ago, Grand Sage Office, Akademiya

A sharp hiss escaped Kaveh as the Matra pressed him against the floor. The ceiling of the room stood askew and so did everything else in his head. Too many emotions blurred together into one painful stab to the chest. He could barely tell them apart except for the anger – anger at himself and his choices.

“Stay still!” Cyrus’s command cut through the tumult. Unlike Azar, who observed their struggle with a growing smile, the General Mahamatra sounded more conflicted, almost sorry, as his vague silhouette approached Alhaitham in the corner of Kaveh’s vision.

“Other scholars wereexiledfor similar crimes,” Alhaitham spat out with enough venom to kill a Sumpter Beast. “Why do we have to pay with our life? This is just a sick-” His words were muffled. Cyrus’ silhouette blocked the view.

“Haitham!” A jolt forced Kaveh up to his knees, almost falling again as he tried to sit up. It was as if time moved too fast for him to catch up. Everything spun, even as he squeezed his eyes shut. The alarm bells in his head rang too loud to hear his thoughts. He forced them silent and shut out reality to focus. Kaveh’s bad luck made him well acquainted with unfavourable conditions, but none ever threatened him with death.

How can we make it out alive?The Grand Sage didn’t care for justice. Even if convinced of their innocence, appealing to Azar’s morale meant falling on deaf ears.

WhatdidAzar care for? What could Kaveh offer that he would buy? What did he desire more than a spectacle to prove his power? The more questions cluttered his brain, the heavier his head felt and his focus broke. He had tried every trick and was out of cards now.

The elevator came back up with a lightpling.

“Gods above, help me,” Kaveh whimpered under his breath as the Matra shoved him inside.

Gods…

Gods!

Kaveh’s eyes widened as an idea struck him. In a last burst of energy, he spun around and screamed, “Azar, you just loveplaying God, don’t you? Maybe consultThe Doctorbefore you mimic powers that belong to aLesser Lord.”

The Grand Sage’s smile dimmed. “What did you just say?”

A hand clasped over Kaveh’s mouth. He bit down until he tasted blood. Someone screamed and the hand dropped. He talked faster, squirming in the Matra’s grip before they could silence him again. “Oh, I hate to be theHarbingerof bad news, but your secret isn’t safe. If I’m confessing, I should confess to everything.” Kaveh got Azar on the hook. All it needed was a strong pull. “I know who you’re trapping in the Sanctuary of Surasthana.”

The elevator doors were closing. Kaveh’s hope lived on its last breath.Was everything in vain?

“Cyrus, halt.” Azar stepped in. “Let this one stay. I want to have a personal chat with Mister Kaveh.” After a pause, he added, “I want to make sure I will not be mistaken in my judgement.”

“As you wish, Grand Sage.” The General Mahamatra was professional enough to cover up his surprise quickly as he dragged Kaveh back into the office. Kaveh almost cried out of relief. A lost battle didn’t mean defeat in the war.

“All of you, leave. Your presence is no longer required.” Azar dismissed the Matras. The resulting silence pressed heavily on Kaveh’s shoulder. Whatever he would say next, it had to be enough to trade their life out of death’s grip. He swallowed hard and found relief turning bitter.No pressure.

They sat in silence for one, two, three more seconds until Azar broke it.

“I suppose I ended the interrogation too early.” The look he gave Kaveh was different from before. More searching, slightly uneasy, as if he tried to guess his thoughts but failed miserably. “How much do you know?”

Kaveh felt only half as confident as the grin he put on. “Pretty much everything. Want to hear it?”

“Continue.”

In his previous life, Kaveh missed the overthrow of the Sages due to being stationed in the desert for a commission. Luckily, he used to live with the man who had not only led Nahida’s rescue but also cleaned up the messes the previous Sages left. Through Alhaitham’s complaints about the workload and his unwanted promotion, Kaveh had discovered more about the whole ordeal than the average Sumeru citizen. As he recalled these old memories, the pain from the past echoed in his heart.

Kaveh brushed the ache aside and started reciting the story just as Alhaitham had told him. No one built a god overnight – a project of this scale had needed a decade of planning. “Around this time, a Fatui Harbinger going by the name ‘Dottore’, more commonly known as ‘The Doctor’, has approached you with the prospects of replacing Lesser Lord Kusanali with a deity of your own. A puppet in Inazuma will be the vessel, but it will take a couple more years to get him to agree. This won’t be an issue, since this grants you enough time to search and experiment.

“You agreed to The Doctor’s offer easily since the Sages have always searched for more ways to ‘utilise’ our god’s power ever since they locked her up 500 years ago. Using the Lesser Lord Kusanali’s gnosis, you found ways to channel the powers of a god and abuse them for your own experiments. The Akasha terminals were only the start – a device disguised as help but really, it is just another mean of seizing control. I wonder how long it will take to finish the creation of the new god. Six years perhaps?”

Kaveh waited for Azar’s rage to go off like a ticking timebomb but he remained strangely calm. If anything, he appeared… intrigued? Pleased? Not even surprised. “Interesting, interesting, so it was you after all. You’re talking about the Akasha terminals as if it had already been implemented.”

“So what?”

“Do say, how did you figure all of this out? If you tell me now, I might lessen your punishment.”

Kaveh’s heart jumped at the prospect but crashed down just as quickly. There was no explanation. Finding a forbidden archive by “sheer luck” had pushed his chances, but uncovering the creation of a godby accidentwas a lie no amount of acting could salvage.

While Kaveh picked his brain for anything fit to shape into a nice excuse, Azar let out a short laugh that made the hairs on his neck stand up. “Just as I thought. Let me take an educated guess. Does it have something to do with the stolen book?” He kicked the sinner’s work as carelessly as if it was his old grocery list.

It took all of Kaveh’s strength to keep the smile plastered on his lips. “I have not the faintest clue what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play dumb with me, boy. Who are you?”

“I already introduced myself.”

Azar shook his head in feigned disappointment. “Whom are you pretending for? The guards are gone. There’s no need for a masquerade.”

Kaveh couldn’t disagree more. If this interrogation had been a play, this was the finale. Like the good actor he was, he wore his innocence seamlessly as he raised a brow underneath a mask of confusion. “I don’t know what you want to hear. I am Kaveh, just an ordinary student of the Kshahrewar Darshan.”

“You love your stories, don’t you?” Unimpressed, Azar slammed the sinner’s work back shut. His patience ran thinner. “I read this book myself once.The Leylines And Their Ability To Influence Time.Out of the hundredths of books in the Restricted Repository, this one made you risk your life when you could have stolen the clues to immortality or the formula to create gold. This leads me to believe the content of this book means more to you than any material treasure. So…” Azar stared at him like a vulture circling its prey. “Tell me, from which time period are you from? A couple of years in the future? A decade? A century?”

The question hit Kaveh like a flood of icy water. His mouth fell agape but everything he wanted to say was washed away by cold dread.He knows.

“So, I was right. How exciting.”

Kaveh shuddered. He felt stripped naked by the reveal and instinctively wanted to wrap his arms around him as if to shield the remains of his secrets. But the cuffs wouldn’t let him.

“What is the future like? Can’t be too rosy if you have chosen to travel here.” Although Azar loved his own voice too much, he had rightfully earned the position of the Grand Sage with his intellect. He was no moron, albeit easy to forget with narcissism dazzling his brain.

Kaveh tried to restore his composure – be it purely out of spite to kill Azar’s way-too-satisfied smirk. “I recommend you focus on the present first. If you’re not careful, you won’t live long enough to experience the future I came from.”

The corner of Azar’s lips twitched as if he struggled to decide between a grin and a scowl. “Are you threateningme? The Grand Sage?”

“Possibly.” With the initial shock fading out, Kaveh saw clearer. Azar knowing his secret changed nothing of the fact that Kaveh knew his. One of those two secrets was more destructive than the other. “Isn’t it a beautiful irony that you work with The Doctor, another sinner, but still dare to judgeus? If I and Alhaitham have fallen from grace, you received a reservation for hell long ago.”

“Are you here to lecture me?”

“No, I’ll let other people do this for me,” Kaveh purred, “Imagine the uproar this news could cause if it were to go public – The Sages and the exiled Harbinger working together to create a fake deity? Where have all the virtues gone? The people would be furious. We wouldn’t want this to happen.”

Azar wrinkled his nose. “Talkative, are we?”

“My silence is for sale if you pay the right price.”

“This won’t be necessary. I’ve never heard a corpse talking before.”

“Ha! Will you strangle me in your office, old man? Too bad you shooed away all the security.” Kaveh glared at him with the crumbling sanity of a man who had nothing to lose. He considered the idea of a fight and his muscles tensed up in response. A group of Matra were formidable enemies but a vain Sage who spent his whole life letting other people do the dirty work? Even with Kaveh’s suffering health, he deemed his chances noteworthy. Especially because the Grand Sage was a coward, too afraid to throw a single punch.

Azar shifted back in his seat, bringing more space between them in the process. “I will call the Matra back to the office before you’re even able to lay a hand on me.”

“This isn’t the advantage you think it is. The second I get the chance, I will tell everyone I meet about your little joint research project with the Fatui. Matra and students alike.”

“So what? They won’t believe you. The public will see another crazy scholar losing their mind and my Matra will assume you’d say anything to escape the execution.”

“Want to bet on it?” Kaveh propped his elbows on the table. He enjoyed watching Azar flinch at the abrupt movement. “I’ll let you in on another secret: You aren’t particularly adored in the public’s eye. People despise your demeanour and your readiness to disregard all morale. Some would jump at any opportunity to cause your downfall. Others might even suspect already that you’re involved in shady schemes. Take your trusted Mahamatra for example.”

“What about Cyrus?”

If Cyno’s father was half as attentive as his adoptive son, he had a hunch already. Just like Cyno in the first life. “Cyrus has caught every criminal who broke the law, yet you’re still free. Your title is the only reason why they turn a blind eye to your more minor deeds. Though, I imagine that holding Sumeru’s god captive and having dealings with the Fatui would be a sin too big to be overlooked anymore.” Schadenfreude had never been to Kaveh’s taste but today, he allowed himself a sip just today. “Once this knowledge slips through the Matra ranks and people start to ask uncomfortable questions, no fancy title will protect you anymore. The people will be angry. Maybe angry enough to organiseyourexecution. Do you want to risk that?”

“Reign in your tongue!” Azar’s jaw clenched. “I am your Grand Sage and I order you.”

He took one step too far. Kaveh backed off, holding his palms upwards like claiming a petulant child. He needed Azar scared, but not scared enough to act on panic. “Your secret is safe with me. That is if you let me and Alhaitham go. You have my word.”

“Your word means nothing. How do I know you’re not bluffing?” Azar narrowed his eyes. “You could have travelled in time purposefully to stop me.”

“Not everything revolves around you, Azar,” Kaveh said coolly, “If my true intentions were to stop you, I would have done that already. But you didn’t see me opposing your plans until you forced me into a corner. We both just want to live this life in peace without any trouble.”

Azar scanned Kaveh closely for any lies – he wouldn’t find any, they hid too well – and hesitated.

“What is stopping you?”It can’t be moral, Kaveh added in his head,you already proved how little you care about upholding virtues.

“Who else is in on it? Is this other student from your time as well? That silent Haravatat boy.”

“Alhaitham? No. I am the only one who knows about the god project.”So far.A couple more years and Alhaitham would rescue their god while Kaveh busied himself with a desert project. This was how time was supposed to flow.

“I don’t believe you.”

“If you require proof, take a look.” The cuffs clashed together as Kaveh reached for his pockets to retrieve his Dendro vision. If he still wore it publicly, he would have drowned in questions from concerned bystanders by now. In its current state, it was hard to tell if the gleam inside was a reflection of the sunlight or an actual glow. The elemental powers used to pulsate vibrantly like the heartbeat of a god, but now, the remaining light flickered as if afraid of dying.

“If you read the sinner’s work, I suppose you know about this nasty side-effect. You didn’t see it on Alhaitham. The contrary actually, during the, well, ‘exchange’ with the Matra, his Dendro vision lit brighter than ever before. I saw the lime green glow from across the room.”

Azar snatched Kaveh’s vision out of his hand. He twisted it between his fingers and in the golden frame, his grin reflected back. “Fascinating,” he muttered under his breath in the same way a scholar found destructive withering zones ‘fascinating’. On closer inspection, what he misjudged as intrigue turned into a strange sort of satisfaction. Satisfaction about what?

Kaveh seized his vision back and clutched it to his chest. Maybe showing him his weakness had been a mistake. “What’s that look for?”

Azar gave the question some thought. His lies didn’t come off as natural as Kaveh’s. “I’m just surprised that you’re indeed telling the truth. This makes you a very unique case. One that would be worth looking into by my scholars if you are amenable to that. I could reward you generously for it.”

“You have enough other experiments to entertain.” Kaveh’s hands clenched into fists at the mere suggestion of becoming the Sages’ guinea pig. He would have asked for Azar’s help regarding his vision, but if he did, the cure would be poisoned most likely. Kaveh still had the content of the stolen work copied in his sketchbook and Dori’s translation would arrive soon. Relying on the Grand Sage’s help was an unnecessary risk. “Do you believe me now or will it get nasty? My threat still stands.”

“Very well, I shall accept your offer.”

Wait, what?Kaveh blinked confused. Did he mishear? Just minutes ago, Azar had claimed Kaveh purposefully travelled in the past to undermine the Akademiya’s God project. Now, he just accepted the deal? Kaveh had expected more resistance. “Don’t you dare try to trick me.”

“I am not. We both need to trust since this is as risky to me as it is to you.”

“I suppose so...” Placing one’s trust into Azar’s hands was equivalent to throwing one’s fortune into the pit of a volcano. Admittedly, both had no reason to believe each other except for fear. Fear had to be strong enough.

“As long as you don’t interfere with the creation of the new god, the Akademiya will mean you no harm. Are those terms agreeable?”

Kaveh hesitated.Where is this change of heart coming from?“Almost. Extend the immunity to Alhaitham as well.”

“Of course, you and that boy will be fine. I’ll let the Matra drop the case and we’ll both forget the theft ever happened.” He offered Kaveh a hand. “Do we have a deal?”

Kaveh shook it awkwardly with the cuffs dragging his other wrist along. “Pleasure making business with you, Azar.”

“The pleasure is all mine.”

Kaveh hadn’t drunk a single drop of alcohol, yet he felt more light-headed and dizzier than a night at Lambad’s could ever achieve.We’re free?After rows of disappointments, Kaveh indulged in the rush of happiness tentatively, but the relief was too overwhelming to consume it in little sips.

The only thing ruining the taste of victory was Azar’s reaction to his dimmed vision. It still stuck in Kaveh’s head as somewhat strange. But what did it matter? As long as both of them were released, this tiny detail shouldn’t disturb him.

Chapter 15: Fate

Chapter Text

6 years and 1 day ago, Grand Sage Office, Akademiya

A déjà vu shouldn’t be uncommon to someone who lived his life for the second time. In most cases, Kaveh’s brain didn’t just trick him into thinking he had experienced the situation before - he actuallyhadlived through it once. When Alhaitham asked him to collaborate on the joint project or when Dori commissioned him for her palace, all those situations had played out in a previous existence already. Like rehearsing a scene where the actors improvised halfway through.

However, getting your own death sentence revoked wasdefinitelynew. Still, Kaveh got a déjà vu from the first time they had gathered around the Grand Sage’s desk. Similar to previously, an outer circle of Matra surrounded them with the two culprits seated in the centre.

Only this time around, Alhaitham’s blank expression showed scratches, letting his emotions seep through involuntarily. Kaveh only caught a quick glimpse when the guards brought him in and the lack of hope behind each of Alhaitham’s movements oozed exhaustion. A certain tiredness that kept one awake wondering when there would be no waking up anymore, forever.

Kaveh wished he could tell Alhaitham about their freedom already and put that smile back on his pretty face.Just hold on a little longer. We'll be free soon,he thought so desperately as if his Junior was a mind-reader. He certainly acted like it sometimes. Time passed slower the longer they waited.

“Has everyone settled? I have to make an announcement.” Azar wasted more of their time with pointless blabbering and chatting.

Just say it already.

After seconds that felt like hours, Azar stood up and continued, “I reevaluated my decision about the Restricted Repository incident and choose to retract my earlier statement about the planned execution. There is not enough conclusive evidence to justify the death penalty. Their lives will be spared.”

“Spared?” The General Mahamatra whispered in disbelief. Or was it relief?

“Yes, spared. Cyrus, call off the execution plans. Instead, I thought about a more… suitable punishment given their willingness to confess and repent for their sins. Mister Alhaitham, Mister Kaveh, you are hereby expelled from the Akademiya.”

“Bastard,” Kaveh hissed and jumped up from his chair. “This wasn’t what we agreed on!”

“Isn’t it all the same for you?”

Kaveh was too baffled by the reply to come up with a retort. How delusional was Azar if he believed this changed nothing? He sounded too serious for it to be sarcasm and this was what gave him chills.

“You are criminals and the Akademiya cannot let you walk off without consequences. If anything, you should show utmost gratitude for my mercy. You are free, are you not?” At that, Azar flashed a small grin – more fake than all of Kaveh’s lies combined but just as eager to hide something from them.

Kaveh gritted his teeth, reminding himself to not say anything unwise. He had pushed the Grand Sage as far as he could. Any further and they would both fall. He should accept the charges -for now – and think about other means of persuasion once they were out.

Azar raised a brow like he was waiting for something. When Kaveh kept silent, that damn grin returned. “You have twelve hours to pack your bags and get off the Akademiya’s property. If you choose to disobey, the Matra will accommodate you back to your cell. Understood?”

“Yes, Grand Sage,” Alhaitham answered instead.

Belatedly, Kaveh echoed even less enthusiastically, “Yes, Grand Sage.”

“This is what I wanted to hear.” Azar sunk back into his chair and made a swift hand gesture in the direction of the Matra. “Cyrus, set them free.”

The General Mahamatra led them out of the Sage’s office before he took off their cuffs. The second the Matra took off Alhaitham’s, he was out the door as if the fear of getting captured again chased him.

“Hey, wait for me!” Kaveh screamed but it was as if his shouts only encouraged Alhaitham to run faster. Gradually, Kaveh caught up, the distance between them shrank and-

Alhaitham stopped.

With full force, Kaveh crashed into him. Huffs and groans got slammed out of their bodies as they collided with the door to the House of Daena. He needed a second for the world to fall back into its angles.

“Can’t you just stop for a moment?” Out of breath, Kaveh pushed himself off to allow his Junior to stand up as well. “Look, I am sure you have a lot of questions for me and I’m willing to answer them now. I owe you as much.”

A strangled noise spilled over Alhaitham’s lips - a sound between crying and laughing, and the lack of any warmth in it made Kaveh’s blood freeze. “How stupid do you think I am?”

“W-what?”

“How often do you want to serve me another ‘truth’?” Alhaitham spun around. Kaveh backed off as if he had cut himself on the sharp edge in his voice. “You promised me the ‘truth’ already at the Bimarstan, at the Restricted Repository andnow? I can’t believe you think I fall for this thrice.”

“It’s not-”

“If your theft hadn’t gone south, would you have ever told me about the stolen book?”

Kaveh searched for any answer to quell Alhaitham’s anger, but he found neither lie nor truth effective. His response barely qualified as a whisper, more like a shaky exhale. “I… I don’t know.”

“But I know. You wouldn’t.” He sounded tired, tired of believing. The lingering prospect of death had scratched off Alhaitham’s composure, leaving the lines of agony engraved on his face exposed. A lot of knowledge was forbidden around these halls for being harmful but the most harmful knowledge was betrayal. “Kaveh, I am not a good man either. I am not kind or gentle, but I’ve always been honest. Was it too much to ask the same thing of you?”

Kaveh bit his lip to stop it from trembling, but he couldn’t get rid of the shivering from his voice. “I’m so sorry. I never meant things to play out this way and get you hurt. I swear by the Archons!”

“So now you’re sorry. What does your word mean after a series of lies?”

Kaveh flinched as he took another stab at his guilty consciousness. Although they stood close enough to wipe a tear off the other’s cheek, Kaveh felt like they were miles apart, Alhaitham drifting away further until hope was just a small dot on the horizon. “I know you have no reason to trust me, but please, give me another chance. I’ll answer truthfully this time.”

“You’re right. I have no reason to trust you.” Alhaitham’s expression contorted into a tortured grimace. “I really tried believing you. After we escaped the Restricted Repository and Azar held his speech, I had my suspicions about you. I just hoped to be wrong.”

“If you knew as much, then why did you let the Matra arrest you?” Kaveh’s throat tightened and each word took more strength to get out. “You should have told them it was me or at least allowed me to take the blame during the interrogation.”

“I’ve told you it was no use.” Alhaitham’s jaw clenched as he recalled the memories. “They had too much evidence against me. The foreign languages, my blood on the crime scene, the stolen book inmybelongings. Even I would think I was the perpetrator.”

“That’s not true! I gave you enough excuses to evade the charges and Azar bought my story until you refuted it. You actively arguedagainstyour innocence.” Kaveh’s voice crashed down to a desperate whimper. “Why?”

“What was I supposed to do? Watch you getting executed?” Alhaitham almost screamed towards the end. He tried to keep it together but the stuttering in his breath exposed him. “I reckoned Azar wouldn’t let us go easily and I am many things but not a killer. However much you betrayed me, I don’t want to see youdead. I do have principles.”

“And I didn’t want you dead either.”

“Really?” This time there was no mistaking it – Alhaitham laughed. A short laugh without a drop of happiness. “If you didn’t want me dead, you should have told me from the start about your plans. Kaveh, your unfaithfulness to honesty almost got uskilled.”

“But I persuaded Azar in the end!”

“Barely.”

Panic built up in Kaveh, making each word shoot out faster as if he felt his time running out. “I know this looks bad, but I can explain everything! Aren’t you curious why we aren’t rotting in the cells anymore?”

Alhaitham pursed his lips as if he had bitten on something bitter before he turned around to walk off. “Tell your ‘explanations’ to someone who still has faith in you.”

“Wait!” He grabbed for Alhaitham’s wrist.

“Leave me alone, Kaveh.”

“I’ll be honest this time! Just let me-”

“I saidleave me alone!” Alhaitham never screamed. Not in the past, not in the present. Except now he did and Kaveh recoiled at the power of it like a blow to the guts. He hated the sound because it hurt not only in the ears but also in the heart.

“Just stay away from me.” Alhaitham ripped himself free of Kaveh’s grip. “Whatever you did, whyever Azar let us go, I don’t care anymore. I’ve had enough of being played for a fool.” Alhaitham turned away too fast for him to see it properly, but Kaveh believed he spotted a wet glimmer in his teal eyes, making the orange accent look like dying ember. Did he… cry?

“Don’t even think about following me.”

It was only when Kaveh felt the pain shooting through his knees that he realised he'd fallen. Alhaitham’s leaving silhouette went blurry. Golden ornaments and green fabric bled together with the night like a star on the evening sky – and similarly unable to reach.

How… How could this happen? I tried to do everything right this time.A tear rolled down Kaveh’s cheek, then a second one and it became impossible to count with more and more streaming down his face. No matter how much he blinked them away, his sight went hazy all over again.

His breath hitched. Hadn’t he done everything in his might to stop their fallout? Kaveh had rejected the joint research project, he had gotten along with Alhaitham and even found a cure to his vision. Nothing should have stopped their happy ending in this timeline.

Then why did they still fall apart all over again?

The shards of their broken relationship pierced deeper into Kaveh’s rib cage and they hurt more as vicious sobs shook his body, wretched sounds that became even worse the more he tried to keep them in. He plummeted to the floor, clutching his chest like he could stop his heart from aching this way.

Was this cruel fate? Were they always destined to fall apart no matter what Kaveh did? Just like he had accepted the Palace of Alcazarzaray commission again and Alhaitham asked the same questions about the joint project anyway?

Kaveh gasped for more air, but there wasn’t enough air in the whole world for him to breathe as panic took over. Everything burned – his eyes, his lungs, his chest. And the tears kept flowing.Why did I think I could change anything?

Succumbing to sorrow, he fell too deep into it to tell apart time. It could have been minutes or hours of him lying on the hard marble floor of the Akademiya. At some point, there were no tears following anymore for they were all spent. In its place, a strange feeling of emptiness filled the void. Still far away from ‘fine’ but one step further from misery.

Some sailors used the stars to guide them home, specifically turning to the north star, a never-changing constant in the sky. If Kaveh was that sailor, then his night was pitch-black. Nowhere to go, no one to guide him. And a blind man ought to act cautiously with his next step.

The next step… this would be leaving the Akademiya before the Matra chose his accommodation for the next night and all nights after that one. Kaveh’s arms felt like they were made out of fragile glass as he tried to push himself up into a sitting position. He didn’t know where he took the strength from to fully stand up. His legs threatened to buckle, but he kept himself upright by gripping to the notches in the wall.Just one more step.

Like a ghost, Kaveh returned quietly to his old dorm room. He dragged one foot after the other, begging his body to not give up on him. And in the total darkness, Kaveh realised, there was no spark in his vision anymore. No glow, no light, nothing.

Kaveh held the vision up in the darkest part of the hall and squinted his eyes, but not even a faraway candle reflected in the glass-like material. The light had died at last. Its steady energy flow dropped from rapid pulsating to total silence.

Can the stolen book even fix that?Without its powers, the vision wasn’t anything more than another weight dragging him down.I’ll have to try.Kaveh let it slide back into his pockets. The gold once lay warm in his hand – now its corpse was as cold as any ordinary metal.

Alhaitham’s half of the dorm room was already cleared when Kaveh arrived. Even the box of his grandmother’s inheritance had vanished as if Alhaitham’s mere existence had been just a figment of a dream. A bittersweet dream.

Kaveh didn’t own much. He sold a lot of his stuff to get enrolled at the Akademiya and his mother took the rest to Fontaine when she moved in with her new lover. Packing didn’t take longer than ten minutes and the suitcase remained light although his exhausted muscles wanted to convince him otherwise. He thought back to Mehrak, one of his proudest inventions. For a moment, he liked to imagine the lines of light for eyes glowing at him from the suitcase.

Just another dying memory. Who knew if he even got the chance to build a Mehrak in this life?

Kaveh was about to leave when he noticed that Alhaitham hadn’t taken everything with him. The wine from Lambad’s tavern still stood on the desk.

Both craving and disgust filled him at the idea of drinking it. After all, it had been a gift to Alhaitham, even if the wine was meant to wash away a bad consciousness. Nevertheless, his thirst for any form of relief had been awakened.Never in both of my lives did I need alcohol as badly as I do now. Solitude would be more bearable with good wine as a companion.

It’s still a gift,the voice of guilt reminded him,even if Alhaitham didn’t take it.Kaveh’s finger curled around the bottleneck like he wanted to strangle it. The glass was warm – or was he too cold? If the list of problems wasn’t long enough to write a book about it, he would have worried.

Just a sip?He removed the cork, clamping it between his thumb and index finger. The scent of wine carried memories of the evening he tried to drug Alhaitham.

The glass shattering was loud enough to wake their neighbours. Kaveh’s hands no longer wrapped around the bottle, instead clawing to the air, shaking, as he stared down at the mess on the floor. The pool of wine spread rapidly, devoured the previously light-coloured carpet and gnawed at the soles of his shoes. Without the cracked bottle in the centre, their room would have looked like the Matra needed to start another investigation.I don’t deserve the wine. Not even a sip.

Kaveh stormed out of the room. His steps left red footprints. Tomorrow, students would wonder about them. Tomorrow, Matra and professors would panic at the stains. Tomorrow… Kaveh couldn’t imagine a tomorrow to exist with time standing still ever since Alhaitham lost trust in him, since the Akademiya kicked them out, since he failed, again. Did tomorrow really have enough appeal to keep going?

Kaveh slowed down. Exhaustion tempted him to stop but at the same time, he needed the motion to cling to whatever kept him upright. The stairs at the entrance of the Akademiya should have relieved his strained muscles but instead, the knowledge that he wouldn’t every be able to return made his legs heavier. Banned from the Akademiya… Still better than executed by the Akademiya. Free as a bird, but just as fragile and helpless as one too.

And now? His last Mora rested in some tavern host’s pockets and besides some other students, he wasn’t close with anybody in Sumeru to let him crash on the couch. During his Akademiya days, he had mostly hung around Alhaitham before their fallout. To Cyno, he was a law-breaking stranger and did Tighnari even know his name? He had gotten along well with Lisa, but they hardly knew each other for a week and the news about their arrest had probably spread like wildfire. Lisa was smart enough to not take in a criminal.

One couldn’t expect an arrow to land without aiming. Yet, Kaveh was starving on other possible options except for meandering around Sumeru city without a goal in mind. His mind bounced off a couple of locations but he dismissed them in the same beat.

Taking an inn without Mora led straight back to trouble. The rainforest held home to anyone – especially dangerous wildlife and flora. In Kaveh’s case, a Spinocrocodile only needed to nudge him the wrong way for he didn’t even have enough energy to sob. If he threw away his dignity and let Lambad see just how deep he had fallen, maybe he would allow him to stay in the guest rooms for a night?

Kaveh was still contemplating when something else caught his attention. Or rather,someoneelse. To his surprise, he wasn’t the only one wandering around aimlessly at three in the morning. He wouldn’t have even noticed the other man if he hadn’t immediately turned around and walked in the other direction as soon as they made eye contact.

Kaveh’s body reacted faster than a thought could form. It wasn’t hope that made him run over to Alhaitham. It was despair. No idea was a bad gamble if you had nothing left to bet and Kaveh set everything on clinging to Alhaitham’s arm even as he felt him struggle. “Please,” the plea slipped out between quivering lips, “Allow me to apologise even if I don’t deserve it.” He didn’t see Alhaitham’s reaction because his vision swam fuzzy too fast.

“Let go of me, Kaveh.” Despite the icy tone, Alhaitham didn’t push him off. In Kaveh’s state, even a gust of wind could send him tumbling, let alone Alhaitham.

“I beg you, please, I just wanted to prevent what happened six years ago.” Kaveh’s heart felt like the shattered wine bottle in their old dorm room, cracked into pieces and splattered all across. Everything looked too broken to piece it back together again. “Let me… just let… let me…” A sob robbed the words from his mouth. He gasped for air too fast for any syllable to squeeze between. The dead Dendro vision fell out of his pockets and crashed on the sidewalk. The more he panicked, the tighter the fear gripped around his throat.

And then, a different kind of pain pierced between it.

It spread in Kaveh’s chest, invaded his lungs and cut into his neck. He choked and coughed. Something hot and sticky dripped down his chin simultaneously as the metallic smell rose to his nose.

“Kaveh?” The shock momentarily washed away Alhaitham’s anger. He almost sound worried.

“It’s fine”, Kaveh wanted to say, but instead of words, he coughed out blood.

Chapter 16: A Spark Of Hope

Chapter Text

Six years and one day ago, Sumeru city

With a quivering hand, Kaveh wiped the liquid off his chin. His fingertips glimmered red.How is that possible?He didn’t get enough time to wonder before he gagged again. A sharp pain sliced through his throat and squeezed pitiful sounds out of him as blood dripped on the sidewalk. He let go of Alhaitham, expecting to crash beside the stains yet something kept him upright.

“What is happening to you?” Alhaitham had gripped his wrists and tugged him closer. His nails dug into Kaveh’s arm, almost painfully, and despite not being the gentle hug he longed for, it was the stability he needed.

“I don’t know. I-” Kaveh got cut off when another wave rocked his body. Spit and blood mixed in his mouth. He hunched over a cry spilled out as the metallic mixture entered his lungs. He gasped for air. Not enough. His breathing went off rhythm and his heartbeat jumped so frantically in his chest as though it wanted to break free.

“Calm down, your panicking only makes it worse.” Alhaitham’s voice swayed in pitch as if he struggled on whether to settle on anger or worry. Regardless, his grip remained steady and when reaching out to draw Kaveh closer, he had decided on ‘worry’ at last.

With a desperate whimper, Kaveh let his head fall on Alhaitham’s shoulder.I am trying to calm down,he would have shouted if his body had obeyed his commands. His throat burned at every inhale like the air was aflame. It scorched his lungs from the inside. The burning migrated to his eyes and made them watery. He couldn’t tell up from down apart if it wasn’t for the pair of strong arms pressing him close and grounding him in the blurry world.

“That’s it.” Alhaitham’s breath felt cold against his heated cheeks. “I’ll bring you to the Bimarstan.”

“No!” Kaveh squirmed in the embrace. Anything but that. “Not… Bimarstan,” he pressed out before another coughing fit took over. Azar had threatened to imprison them if they didn’t leave the Akademiya in twelve hours. Who knew how long their stay would take? It was too dangerous to return. He would rather suffocate on his own blood than risk Alhaitham’s freedom. Which wasn’t that unlikely, given the stench of blood engulfed all his senses.

“Hush, don’t speak.” Alhaitham switched their positions and made Kaveh lean over, which caused the blood to drip down directly instead of clogging his airways. “I won’t carry you anywhere if you refuse. We’ll stay here for now. Just promise me not to die, alright?” The seriousness of the situation killed the attempted sarcasm.

Kaveh nodded despite doubting if he could uphold this promise. With his bleeding throat and red trickles painting a new pattern on the sidewalk, he was almost convinced of becoming a liar again.

“It’s alright, I’m here for you. Don’t panic.” Gently, Alhaitham’s finger ran over Kaveh’s cheek and stroked back his hair to keep it from staining. His thumb carefully brushed over his temples while his other arm remained wrapped around Kaveh’s back to keep him from tumbling over. The relief only lasted until Kaveh was forced to choke again. The hot liquid stuck to his teeth, making an ugly sound as he clenched his jaw.

“Follow my breathing. Can you do that for me?” Kaveh clung to Alhaitham’s calm voice as it was the only thing keeping him afloat. He stopped resisting the sudden ailment, letting drops of blood and tears trickle down his chin as he tried to seize back control over his breathing.

“Good, you’re getting calmer. Keep that up.” Alhaitham’s fingers travelled downwards to sweep away the traces of tears. The motion was feather-light as though Kaveh’s skin was paper.

Just like his sight, time had become blurry. Kaveh gave up on keeping track of how long they stayed in this close embrace while Kaveh coughed out blood, and gradually, his heartbeat slowed down to normal.

“Yes, just like that.” Alhaitham brought his hand up to Kaveh’s neck and massaged it slowly with his thumb. “You’re doing well, Senior.”

The flow of blood finally stuttered and Kaveh’s breathing returned to its usual pace. Exhausted, he slumped against Alhaitham’s chest and found comfort in the warmth of his arms. He could have fallen asleep right then and there, yet he knew better than to give in to the temptation. The storm wasn’t over. The howling just announced a bigger tempest.

“Are you feeling better?”

Tentatively, Kaveh nodded and braced himself for getting dropped, now that the crisis had passed. He prayed that his limbs still harboured enough strength to hold him up.

But Alhaitham stayed. For now. “Do you know what could have caused the bleeding?”

“Not… sure.” Kaveh grimaced. His vocal cords were still sore and hurting, which turned talking into an experience as pleasant as scratching freshly healed wounds back open. “A lot has happened.”

“Like what?” Alhaitham let go of his hair, making it fall back onto his cheeks. Kaveh feared his answer had upset him again. Apologies bubbled in his chest, but before any of them got said aloud, Alhaitham dragged his thumb languidly down Kaveh’s lip to brush off the fickle blood crust that had formed. The soft touch made Kaveh’s heart flutter in a way that squeezed his lungs yet made breathing easier.

“Senior? Are you listening?”

Ah, right, Alhaitham had asked a question. Too many events had shaken Kaveh’s mind which sent his thoughts swirling together into incomprehensible chaos. But therewasone thing that had juggled with his health multiple times…

Kaveh searched the sidewalk for the golden sparkle of his dead Dendro vision. Alhaitham followed his gaze and picked up what once had glowed in a rich green but now hosted hollow darkness. “By the Archons, is this yours?”

He nodded again.

“Why doesn’t it glow anymore?”

“I’ve been trying to figure this out, too.” Kaveh shot him a weak smile. He tried to keep his statements short so as to not irritate his vocal cords even further.

Alhaitham inspected the vision closer but no matter how often he spun and angled it, he would find no light inside. Having realised this as well, Alhaitham tucked the vision back into Kaveh’s pockets. “Stand up. We’re leaving.”

We.Not ‘I am leaving’, but ‘Weare leaving’. The two of us. Together. It took that one word to infuse Kaveh with a newfound energy. In a rush, he stumbled back on his feet but overestimated himself and his knees buckled.

Alhaitham caught his fall. “Careful.”

"Sorry." Kaveh found a foothold again but then a flash of apprehension spoiled his enthusiasm. Where were they even going? “I won’t go to the Bimarstan.”

“I know. This is not where we’re heading.”

Kaveh relaxed. In that case, he harboured no objections. He would follow Alhaitham wherever he went without a moment of hesitation. To the Desert of Hadramaveth or the Lokapala Jungle, all the same.

Kaveh expected Alhaitham to lead the way, but he waited and scanned Kaveh’s face so intensely as though he didn’t want to miss a second of his reaction. “I believe you were about to say something, Senior. Before you coughed out blood.”

“Huh?”

“Something about ‘losing me six years ago already’? We haven’t even met at that time.” Alhaitham raised an eyebrow with his gaze fixated on Kaveh. “It’s an odd thing to say. Do you want to elaborate?”

The words left Kaveh’s mouth faster than he remembered his injury. “I thought you didn’t want to hear my explanations!”

“Are you the only one allowed to tell lies from time to time? I’ve changed my mind.”

“Weren’t you angry at me?”

Alhaitham’s expression hardened and the air got chiller. “Yes, I still am. You’re in luck my curiosity is greater than my rage.”

Somehow, Kaveh didn’t believe that curiosity was the only thing driving Alhaitham’s change of heart, but he wasn’t about to call him out given his own track record. Kaveh lowered his head to hide the tears of relief that gathered in his eyes. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me just yet.”

Kaveh peered back up. Many people described Alhaitham as a serious-looking person, but the face he put on right then made his usual expression seem like a welcoming smile. Even his whisper possessed a sharper edge like a knife to the throat. “If I sense just a fraction of dishonesty in your explanation, then this night will be the last one you’ll ever see me. I want everything or nothing, so don’t even consider feeding me half-truths. You ought to not mistake me for being humorous because I wasn’t joking when I said I am sick of your poorly kept lies.”

Alhaitham’s icy glare pierced right into his soul, which made it hard to focus on coherent sentences. His injury had gained Kaveh a piece of sympathy, but this didn’t mean Alhaitham’s grudge over being played for fool simply evaporated. No, the anger had lingered underneath the surface only to break through a second time. Kaveh chased this new chance and blurted out much too fast, “I swear on my life, this will be the end of my lies.”

Alhaitham’s mien softened ever so slightly. “I am still doubting whether trusting you again is a good idea. You better prove my doubts wrong, Senior.”

“I will.” Kaveh chose to keep his sentences brief again as his sore throat protested at every syllable.

“But before you explain anything, I suggest a change of scenery just as I said earlier.” Alhaitham turned around, beckoning Kaveh to follow with a nod of his head. “Are you able to walk?”

“I’m sick, not drunk.”

“You would have tasted the sidewalk if I didn’t catch you the first time.”

Kaveh wished he could blame his stained voice for his lack of response, but he simply had no answer to that.

He suspected Alhaitham wasn’t quite trusting in his health either because he kept a slow pace, walking at arm-length and passed quick glances whenever he thought Kaveh wasn’t paying attention. And while his legs did feel like they were made out of cotton, the prospect of earning Alhaitham’s forgiveness fed him motivation to keep going.

Luckily, they didn’t need to walk for long until they reached their destination. Alhaitham pushed the doors to the inn open and headed straight for the upper chambers, only stopping at the stairs to wait for Kaveh to catch up. The receptionist had long abandoned her post and most of the guests had already fallen asleep, making them the only two left to haunt the corridors.

“I booked a room earlier,” Alhaitham explained as he guided Kaveh to the door. Apparently, he hadn’t had time to unpack his stuff yet, because his suitcase leaned lonely in the corner of the room. In the limited candlelight, its shadows dragged onto the corner of the bed.

Kaveh put his luggage beside it, sat down on the sheets and threw Alhaitham a questioning glance, but he had already slipped into the next room. Moments later, Alhaitham emerged with a glass of water and a basket of fruits that had presumably been placed there by the innkeeper.

“For your throat.” Alhaitham passed the glass to Kaveh and slotted the basket between the candles on the nightstand.

“Thanks.” The cool liquid soothed the hot-dull pain echoing at the back of Kaveh’s throat. He emptied the glass quickly and carried on with the fruit basket. After biting into a Zaytun Peach, he realised just how long he had neglected his hunger. The sweet aroma reawakened his appetite and after the first basket had been picked clean in minutes, Alhaitham hurried to get another.

“You didn’t need to do that. Any of it,” Kaveh mumbled as he skimmed through the second collection of fruit pieces. A ripe Harra Fruit with vibrant red petals caught his attention, but he felt a little bad biting into it, knowing he owed even more to Alhaitham. It almost spoiled his appetite.

Alhaitham plucked an Ajilenakh Nut from the variety of fruits with a smirk adorning his lips. “Oh no, you misunderstand. Making sure you’re satiated is entirely self-beneficial. If you pass out due to not eating, I won’t get my answers tonight either. So, better make sure you finish your basket.”

Under ordinary circ*mstances, this comment would have sparked bickering between them, but tonight, Kaveh was just relieved he could cling to Alhaitham’s statement to lessen his guilt. Once the second arrangement of fruits had disappeared into his mouth, part of Kaveh’s strength returned and his mushy thoughts turned easier to grasp. The fruity sweetness had swept away the iron taste of blood, which nudged him closer to feeling ‘alright’ again.

“Are you ready to give answers or do you need another basket?”

“No, two have sufficed. Thanks.” Suddenly, the Harra Fruit Kaveh had just eaten laid heavy in his stomach and the sugary taste soured into bitterness. He took another sip of water to bid time before he put it back down and took a long breath. “I’ll explain everything. Just let me warn you, the truth is more outlandish and abstruse than any lie could ever be.”

Alhaitham scoffed. “Are you looking for excuses?”

“No, no! I am honestly trying to warn you. Because I will sound like a madman once I start dissecting my miserable situation and I don’t even know where to start but-”

“I know where to start. Has it something to do with the Leylines?”

Kaveh forgot everything he was about to say next. “How did you know?”

His surprise must have shown because the corner of Alhaitham’s lips twitched upwards. “Easy. Recently, I talked to the adventurers that found you on the outskirts. After asking a couple of questions, they told me you stammered something about a ‘red fog’ and ‘dangerous Leylines’ upon waking up. The adventurers dismissed it as hallucinations and drunk chatter, but I know better than that. Given your sudden fascination with the most famed Spantamad scholar and your theft of a Leyline-related thesis, I suspect it's important, right?”

Kaveh’s surprise melted into a fond smile. Of course his Junior would have discovered the connection by now. “You’re absolutely right. I cannot fathom why I ever thought I would be able to keep secrets from you.”

“You flatter me, yet there are still a lot of things I failed to deduce. I collected pieces of evidence but nothing fits together to form the full story. Care to enlighten me, Senior?”

“Yes, just… just don’t freak out, alright?” When Kaveh tried to turn his experiences into words, his tongue refused orders. After guarding his secret for so long, he shoved it down too deep to pull it back to the surface. Kaveh had ripped the truth apart so many times to fit his narrative, was he even able to puzzle everything back together? The familiar hands of panic pressed around his neck. Its grip tightened the more seconds passed by. He had to say something. He promised it.

“Kaveh?”

“Yes, sorry. Give me a second…” Nervous laughter flared in Kaveh’s chest. He threw sentences together in his mind but no combination of words seemed good enough to describe the time manipulation. There was no way to gently introduce Alhaitham to the idea that his Senior was actually from the future. That everything had been one big farce. Kaveh’s biggest lie was acting as someone he had ceded to be.

What if the news scared Alhaitham? Or worse - what if he got mad that Kaveh pretended to be someone he was not? He had just arrived at the inn and already feared having to leave again. Panic squeezed his airways. What an irony it would be to get kicked out twice. Was he destined to end like this in every timeline?

“Kaveh.”

“I… I don’t know how to phrase it. Give me one more minute.”

“I don’t believe it.” Alhaitham’s smile fell and the spark in his eye dimmed, then died, before he turned away completely. Although Kaveh didn’t saw his expression, he heard Alhaitham’s voice tremble from thinly veiled disappointment, tainted with drops of anger. “Is the nature of your secret this horrifying or do you simply have this little faith in me?”

“I fully trust you!”

“Then prove it.”

It dawned on Kaveh that he was cornered in a dead end. If he stayed silent, he lost Alhaitham, but if he spoke, he risked the same outcome. In short, whatever the truth did to them, it couldn’t break something that already lay in shambles. “Haitham, I am not who I claimed to be,” Kaveh said, slow and clear, because he wasn’t sure if he had the guts to repeat himself. “I am from the future.”

Chapter 17: The Flickering Light Of The Sun I

Chapter Text

Six years and one day ago, Inn at Treasure Street

Alhaitham’s head snapped back up and his eyes widened. “What… what did you just say?”

“I’m from the future.” Kaveh took in a shaky breath. He hated the sound of his words. This secret had been locked away for so long, it felt wrong to let it breach his lips and escape.It’s out. There’s no turning back. “And by future, I mean about six years from now. This isn’t a joke. Do you understand why I said the truth is more abstruse, more absurd, than any lie could ever be?”

Meeting Alhaitham’s eyes was like gazing into a mirror – the same blend of shock and terror looked back. Only for different reasons.

“Please don’t freak out.” He raised his hands slowly as though he calmed down a startled cat. Alhaitham flinched. Kaveh’s resolve broke and he dropped his arms. “I’m sorry.” The apology came out so naturally, even though he didn’t know what he was apologising for exactly.

Alhaitham continued to stare in disbelief. His eyes flickered up and down Kaveh’s figure as though he searched for any flaws that exposed how he didn’t fit into this world, any hint that showed how the man before him didn’t belong here. It was only logical, there should be some sign that unravelled Kaveh’s strings of lies. Yet, on the outside, only the Senior Alhaitham knew, looked back. Innocent eyes, fluffy blond bangs and a body that fit into the Akademiya robes perfectly. No trace of the architect, who drowned in debt and washed down his issues with wine.

Kaveh could practically hear the questions dashing through Alhaitham’s head and although he voiced none, Kaveh answered regardless. “My body has adapted to the… change. But the rest of me - my mind and my memories - defied the jump in time. Don’t let my appearance fool you.”

The first layer of surprise wore off and gave way to a different expression, one that was more difficult to pinpoint. It was similar to the way Alhaitham looked at ancient runes he struggled to decode, yet another emotion burned in the amber-coloured accents of his eyes simultaneously. If Kaveh still owned enough Mora, he would have spent it all just to figure out what was going on in Alhaitham's head.Do you believe me? Or will you call me a liar?

The silence dragged on.

With each passing second, Kaveh found it harder to sit still. The tension gnawed at his composure and sent his breathing back to an irregular pace.Just say something, damn it,he prayed, but his wishes went unheard. He hated how quiet it was. Unbearable.

Since Alhaitham didn’t break the silence, Kaveh took it upon himself. “You… you already figured out the importance of the Leyline. This is, I mean, I should explain how- you want to know what they did, right?”

Kaveh tumbled over his words, failing to form coherent sentences. He almost didn’t hear himself over the doubts screaming in his head.I should have never confessed. This was a mistake. Why is he silent?I screwed up again.“Well, uh, the Leylines were the reason I’m, well, trapped here. It was an accident! It sounds crazy. Even I think I sound crazy. But I’m not crazy! When I touched the red Leyline - I know,red? Why this colour? - anyways, it sent me to the past. At least I think that’s what happened. I’m not sure. Every scholar told me this shouldn’t be possible. But if it happened to me, it has to be possible. Right?”

The only response was the twitch of Alhaitham’s eyebrows, which arched into the beginning of a frown.

Panic surged painfully hot through Kaveh’s veins and the urge to run burned brighter than ever. He tried to read his expression, but Alhaitham was a language Kaveh didn’t speak. His small frown could mean anything. A sign of suspense? Boiling rage that almost overflowed? Or the instinct to flee in fear?

What are you thinking?Kaveh had never considered himself particularly shy, yet as he opened his mouth again, the question stuck to his tongue. He was scared of the answer, but the uncertainty of not-knowing scared him more. His confidence was reduced to a small whisper. “Now that you know all this, are you afraid? Are you angry?”

As he was met with no answer again, Kaveh’s patience snapped. His voice rose both in pitch and volume as despair overflowed. “Alhaitham,what is it?For Archon’s sake, say something! Please. You’re driving me insane.”

“Neither.”

It took Kaveh a moment to realise he didn’t just imagine the answer. “W-what?”

“I’m neither scared nor angry.” Alhaitham released a long exhale and a shaky smile settled on his lips. He almost looked sorry as his gaze flickered back up. “If anything, I’m… curious. I want to know more about your ‘situation’.”

“Curious? Justcurious?” Nervous laughter rose in Kaveh’s chest. His stifled chuckles sounded more like sobs before he realised that he did start crying again. Had he caught a fever during his midnight stroll and hallucinated this? His head did feel hot and his stomach sick. “I don’t get you. You just accept that I’m telling the truth? Seriously? Aren’t you shocked? Flabbergasted? I know I was. Time travel, that’s insane!You’reinsane for not freaking out. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing – I just don’t understand how you’re still sitting there socalmly.”

Alhaitham placed his hand atop Kaveh’s to stop him from fidgeting. The flicker of a serious demeanour replaced his smile.Kaveh would be Sumeru’s boldest liar if he claimed his heart didn’t jump at the contact.

“Calm down, Senior. Lest you cough out blood again. I don’t know what you anticipated, but I had my own theories, too. If there was an easy explanation for your weird behaviour the past week, I would have figured it out already. The fact that I remained clueless up until now, I expected the unexpected.”

“You’re confident in your abilities.” Kaveh felt as if time was running too fast and he failed to keep up. He was mentally prepared for every reaction but that. “Still, that cannot be all there is. I don’t believe it.”

“You’re right, it isn’t. In truth, I already sensed that you weren’t the same person ever since the adventurers rescued you.”

He shuddered. “How?”

Alhaitham fell silent to order his thoughts. When he spoke again, an unexpected fondness entangled his words. “Hm, how shall I explain this? At the core, you’re still Kaveh, my dear Senior who brims with passion for the arts and shows kindness even if the world around him doesn’t. Your appearance suggests nothing amiss either…”

“But?”

“But…” Alhaitham made a face as if whatever he was going to say next laid bitter on his tongue and was hard to swallow. “But, on other occasions, you’re a stranger who happens to look like Kaveh. The way you carry yourself got heavier as if you broke a bone that never properly healed. Your naïve enthusiasm matured into determination and your new recklessness scares me. You’re still fragile inside, but if you break, then the shards are sharp and not to mess with. Lately, you’ve been more guarded too as if you’re on the run. But from what? Or whom? I’ve wondered whatactuallyhappened during this one night you disappeared since it left such a deep impression on you. I couldn’t imagine anything to cause such a drastic change.” Alhaitham’s quiet chuckle lacked all mirth. “Little did I know, that one night was actually six years to you.”

A cold shiver flowed down Kaveh’s back and left goosebumps in its tracks. Alhaitham read him like a book he’d flipped through a dozen times already. He tore open every hidden page and read between the lines. “You’re quite observant. Why do you even need my help? You know most of what happened already.”

“No,” Alhaitham said so fast, that Kaveh didn’t even get time to finish his sentence. “I barely got snippets of evidence that paint roughly a frame of the whole story. I’ll gladly let you fill in the gaps. Preferably, start at the beginning. You promised it.”

“And I don’t intend to break my promise.”

“Then please, go ahead.”

Kaveh’s thoughts swirled in chaos. He rifled through his memories back to the moment he awoke to two confused Adventurers. “After I arrived in this world and got brought back to Sumeru city, I noticed something was amiss. Buildings moved overnight and the people I knew looked more youthful. By the time I ran into you, the truth had already dawned on me. I was in the past. Having realised my strange circ*mstances, I saw a second chance within the misfortune.” Kaveh coated his voice in an extra layer of indifferences to hide the spike of guilt that tore his heart open every time he thought about the future. “In my first life, I made mistakes that have haunted me up to this day. And this Leyline accident gifted me the opportunity to undo those regrets.”

“What kind of regrets?”

“Do you remember the joint research project?”

Alhaitham grimaced at the mention. “I do remember your crude rejection.”

Shame heated Kaveh’s face. That awkward encounter had branded itself in his mind forever. “I’m sorry, I really am, but I had to decline.” He got quieter towards the end until it was but a sigh. “This project… it destroyed our friendship.”

Kaveh avoided looking at Alhaitham because speaking already became difficult enough with the weight of memories driving tears into his eyes. “It was an ugly argument. We both poked into each other’s flaws, not knowing the damage we caused. I used to think of our differences as complimentary, but that night proved that we both fell without any common ground.”

Kaveh narrated the events like a bystander from afar. Telling the truth didn’t require him to indulge in the nasty specifics – How much their separation hurt, the cruel things they accused each other of and how he still laid awake some nights with the argument replaying in his head. He brushed away a tear before it could roll down. “A-after this incident, we didn’t see each other for years. Maybe pride held us back from apologising, maybe we lost hope trying to fix anything. I don’t know. We never talked about it.”

“I’m sorry. That’s incredibly unfortunate.” Alhaitham’s answer sounded hollow as though he didn’t know what to feel. He opened his mouth as if to say more, but only silence followed. A phantom sadness haunted his face for events that hadn’t happened yet and wouldn’t ever. This conflicting pain drove his speechlessness.

Kaveh’s heart clenched at the sight. “I apologise. This has to be extremely weird for you to hear all this.”

“It’s alright, I asked for it.” Alhaitham dismissed the topic a bit too fast, a bit too harsh.

“Those old future-events don’t matter anyways. It played out differently this time!”

Alhaitham returned Kaveh’s smile only half-heartedly. Even if he claimed it was ‘fine’, the phantom sadness continued ghosting over his expression. It took a liar to recognise one. “By avoiding the joint research project, you wanted to stop… this argument? Right?”

“You catch on quickly. Yes, that was the plan and it didwork out at first.” Kaveh sighed. “Ignoring our few bumps at the start, our personalities didn’t clash but sang in tune and you called me a ‘friend’ again, which was all I asked for.” He couldn’t help but feel like he told a lie again. His conversation with Lisa got him thinking that ‘friend’ wasn’t the accurate label he aspired to be. Regardless, Kaveh refused to make this explanation even more complicated by addingthatinto the mix.

“Kaveh? May you continue?”

“O-oh, of course!” Kaveh cleared his throat. “Anyways, as much as I treasured the blessing of the Leyline, it came with a price.”

“The ‘broken’ Dendro vision.”

“Exactly. Whatever the Leyline did, my vision didn’t survive the track through time unscathed. The Restricted Repository was supposed to shed light on its origin.” Kaveh fished the Dendro vision out of his pockets and dangled the useless golden piece between his fingertips. Despite his endeavour to keep Alhaitham out of his dealings, he had found a way in regardless. “I had planned out my theft carefully, but the trap and your involvement overthrew those efforts. I panicked, slipped up and thus we ended up in the Grand Sage’s office.”

Alhaitham frowned. “Oh, I vividly remember that. Rather, tell me about the part I don’t remember. Like how you convinced the Grand Sage to let us go again. I already have suspicions.”

“Easy enough. The way we got in was the same way out, actually. I blackmailed Azar with information from the old present, but I had to sacrifice my disguise in the process.” Thinking back, he got goosebumps from the way the Grand Sage had grinned as he let them go. Why he let them leave was a mystery to Kaveh too.

“I see. The pieces finally fit together. Almost.” Alhaitham plucked the dead Dendro vision out of Kaveh’s grip and flinched barely visible at the difference in temperature. Usually, visions radiated warmth but this one laid in one’s palm colder than Shneznaya’s snow. His narrowing eyes glared back in the black lifeless surface. “You’ve stolen the thesis to cure your elemental powers, right? Yet, your condition worsened. Does this mean the book was useless and we trespassed for nothing?”

“No. Or more honestly,I don’t know. I haven’t translated it yet.” Kaveh ruffled through his hair with a drawn-out sigh. “The thesis is written in a foreign script, so I bought a translation chart from Dori. I hope she won’t cancel the deal given our arrest.”

“Senior.”

“Huh?” Kaveh perked up at Alhaitham’s change in tone.

“You cannot be serious.”

“What? Did I say something wrong? I-”

Alhaitham cut him off with a shake of his head. On closer inspection, he almost sounded offended. “You wasted your money. Why would you trade with a notorious scammer who owns a rudimentary understanding of languages at best? A good translation is an art form in itself – and you ought to be familiar with the concept that cheap art cannot compare to quality.”

“Are… are you miffed that I didn’t ask you for help?”

“No, those emotions are beneath me,” Alhaitham said quickly. A rosy tint coloured his cheeks. “I simply find your judgement of the situation rather impractical.”

Kaveh failed to hide a grin.Cute. Though he stifled his chuckles so Alhaitham wouldn’t think he made fun of him.

“That’s no laughing matter. You forwent your chance at translation and now the book is back in the Akademiya’s grip.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, my dear Junior.” Kaveh jumped off the bed and rummaged through his luggage. He pulled out a sketchbook, flipped it open and laid it out in front of Alhaitham like a proud cat presenting the mice it caught. “There you go,” he purred, “I copied the entire script before we travelled to Port Ormos. It’s a good thing my fingers are used to drawing for hours on end.”

“I retract my earlier statement.” Alhaitham picked up the book. He skimmed the pages and then stopped with a quiet, “Oh”.

“What is it?” Kaveh peeked over to where Alhaitham had stopped reading but the writing on the paper wouldn’t reveal its secret. To him, this was a random alignment of lines and squiggles. To Alhaitham, it was the reason for a smirk forming on his lips, looking oddly satisfied.

“How peculiar. I haven’t read those runes in a while and didn’t anticipate finding them in this work either. They’re rather rare. Even someone as well-connected as Dori would have trouble finding someone capable of translating.”

“Can you understand the text?”

“Naturally.” Alhaitham huffed as if the question had insulted him. “The runes stem from the age of King Deshret’s rule, but the language was only spoken in a couple of villages that lasted less than a century, which means most scholars don’t bother to learn it. Except for a handful of relics, there’s no practical appliance.”

“Does this mean this book is ancient?”

“No. On the contrary, the thesis itself isn’t older than a century. It uses modern grammar, deviates from traditional spellings and refers to events that transpired after the fall of King Deshret’s civilization. It’s more likely that the scholar who wrote it chose an uncommon language to hide his sins from the average people’s eyes. Clever idea, but not clever enough, otherwise the thesis wouldn’t have ended up in the Restricted Repository.”

Somewhere during his coughing fit, Kaveh’s hope had bled out, but now that Alhaitham offered his help, he dared to believe in the cure again.I can still fix this. Fix everything.“If the language is that uncommon, why do you speak it?”

The corner of Alhaitham’s mouth quirked up. “Oh, I was bored. In the event that a relic regarding this language does appear, the Akademiya would be dependent on my help due to the lack of experts. I considered it a feasible investment for the future.”

Kaveh rolled his eyes. At least Alhaitham’s cunningness hadn’t fallen victim to the river of time. “Good job, genius. But if you expected to make Mora with your expertise, I’ll have to disappoint. I got nothing to pay.”

“You can always pay me with more answers. There are some more things I’d like clarity on before I start the translation.”

“Ask away.”

The book snapped shut. “Except for our disastrous joint research project and a vague ‘Leyline incident’, you mentioned nothing of the future. I imagine more than that happened in six years, no?”

That one question pulled the switch and their earlier laughter faded into an echo in the corner of his mind. “Oh. Yes, of course.” Kaveh’s smile faltered. He stared out of the window at the starless night in an attempt to avoid seeing the conflicted sadness on Alhaitham’s face. Just the sight of it made his stomach twist. “After our fallout, we eventually met again. I became a renowned architect and you became the Grand Scribe of the Akademiya. Unlike your stable job, my career experienced its regular ups and downs and ironic enough, in one of my worst ‘downs’, we reconnected.

“After some back and forth, we even lived together and reclaimed a piece of our harmony. But, no matter what, it was never quite the same again between us. The consequences of the joint project and the years of unsaid apologies had damaged our relationship seemingly beyond repair. What we had left was prone to breaking and at the night of the Leylines, it finally snapped.”

Alhaitham didn’t stop him, so Kaveh took it as his sign to continue. Reciting the events got easier if he kept his focus on the midnight sky and pretended that he was holding a monologue, rather than describing their fallout to an Alhaitham that hadn’t experienced anything similar yet. “We got drunk at the tavern and started arguing again. I don’t even remember about what anymore. I apologised, you didn’t hear me, and I ripped off your earpieces. When I wanted to give them back, I slipped and they broke. That was the last drop that caused everything to overflow. You reclaimed the house key, I stormed out of the tavern and, well, I already explained the Leyline accident.”

Only because of the total silence, Kaveh heard the sob. It stood out like a drop of blood on a snowy willow and the vibrant sound echoed in his mind and broke his resolve. “Haitham?”

Alhaitham had turned the other way. The weak candlelight threw shadows over his features, making it hard to get a good peek. The sketchbook’s old paper hissed as his grip got tighter and left marks on the cover. “You left out a detail,” he said in a calm manner that contradicted his demeanour. People thought of him as unfeeling only because they fell for his act.

He would reject all accusations if Kaveh called him out on it, but playing along felt just as wrong. Hesitantly, he nudged Alhaitham’s grip open and switched the sketchbook for his hand in a silent gesture of comfort. Alhaitham had done the same thing earlier and although he flinched at first, he didn’t pull away. Kaveh brushed his thumb over his quivering palm, speaking softly, “Well, maybe I left out a detail. This was a brief summary after all. What did I miss?”

“You didn’t mention how you broke your rib.”

“Oh.”

Oh no.

It was as if winter had arrived prematurely. Kaveh shuddered. His tongue froze to his mouth, unable to reply right away. I can’t tell him. If he touched the once-bruised spot on his ribs, it only hurt in his heart that clenched at the thought of telling Alhaitham. But I promised…

Starting to panic, Kaveh picked his words carefully. “If you insist, I will tell you how I got injured, but I strongly advise you against it. You’re better off dropping the topic. It’s not important.”

This was the wrong thing to say apparently. Alhaitham tensed up. “This question appears to upset you. For what reason?” His thirst for answers and a sip of suspicion mixed into a harmful concoction that Kaveh dreaded the side effects of.

“It’s just an unnecessary detail. Trust your Senior on this one.”

“You deny me the truth?”

“No! I’m not. It’s just-” The words died on his tongue. Worry held Kaveh in a chokehold, dreading his reaction if he continued talking and exposed who actually caused his wound. Alhaitham suffered enough because of memories he didn’t remember, experiences he’d never lived, and feelings he shouldn’t feel. Kaveh couldn’t put this burden on him as well. Just the idea of it, watching how Alhaitham’s curiosity soured into shock and then desperation, made his stomach churn.

Wrapping the accident into a warm coat of lies grew more attractive by the second. An alcoholic should know better than to reach for the next bottle just like Kaveh should know better than giving in to the temptation. He hadn’t learned anything after all. “If you really want to know, I was clumsy and crashed into a table. Not a big deal. If anything, it’s embarrassing.” He laughed. Alhaitham did not.

“Liar.”

“H-huh?”

“Who injured you?” Alhaitham’s hiss cut the air like a knife. “You promised me the truth.”

Kaveh recoiled at the force of it. He ran out of options but refused to pick the only one left. He cursed his Junior’s stubbornness, cursed the evening in the tavern and the Leylines. Where did everything go so wrong? “Please…” He blinked away the sting in his eyes, teetering on the edge of begging. “Please stop asking.”

His pleas must have gotten through Alhaitham because he deflated. “I see…” Whatever anger or hope had drove him forward, it vanished. The weight of its loss turned his voice heavy as if talking was torture. “So, that confirms it.”

“Confirms what?”

There was so much pain in Alhaitham’s eyes when he faced Kaveh. His lips trembled and the wish to be wrong was written all over his face. “Was it me?”

Chapter 18: The Flickering Light of The Sun II

Chapter Text

Six years and one day ago, Inn at Treasure Street

Was it me?

Kaveh got dizzy from jumping between replies, trying to find the right one.Neither lie nor truth sufficed.Of course not, you’re spluttering nonsense, laid on the tip of his tongue, right next toyes, it was you.When Kaveh opened his mouth, only a miserable whine came out.

It was impossible. He had burdened Alhaitham with enough knowledge and this one could break him. Yet, silence was an answer too.

Kaveh couldn’t do anything but watch how the glimmer of hope in Alhaitham’s eyes went out like the last candle in an empty room. One flicker before dull darkness claimed the space.

“Ha, I was right.” Alhaitham used to say this with pride during their bickering, but never with so much abject horror as the meaning of his words seeped in like slow-acting poison. He looked down at his open palms in the realisation of what they were capable of in another future. His face became sickly pale.

“Junior, hey, please listen to me,” Kaveh spoke softly as if any abrupt movement or loud noise would shatter Alhaitham. Turning around, he blocked the view of his old injury and placed a hand atop Alhaitham’s shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything.”

Alhaitham stared back blankly. Nothing of what Kaveh said reached him. Only because they sat so close, did Kaveh catch the words he whispered, repeating them like some sort of prayer. “It doesn’t make sense. I wouldn’t ever…” …harm you.He didn’t dare to say the last two words out loud. Maybe it was easier to deny the truth that way.

Alhaitham was a man who acted on set principles. He kept a level head, he never screamed, he never cried. But one by one, all those rules had come crashing down. Witnessing this amount of despair on Alhaitham made Kaveh feel like this room didn’t host enough air to breathe. It was wrong. All of it. This shouldn’t have ever happened and it wouldn’t have, if he didn’t toy with time.

“Of course you wouldn’t ever intentionally hurt me. I know that. You’ve been nothing but kind to me ever since I arrived.”

His words simply bounced off Alhaitham’s grim mask.

“Please, believe me. I don’t blame either of your selves’ for what happened and neither should you. If anything, I owe you my earnest gratitude. You brought me to the Bimarstan and got my injuries treated.”

“No, I need to thank you for answering so truthfully.” The forced smile fitted on Alhaitham’s face as much as the sun on a night sky. “I appreciate your honesty, especially regarding the difficult and uncomfortable questions. I received enough answers for now. Since you upheld your promise, I shall stick to mine as well and translate the thesis. Try to catch some sleep in the meantime.” He talked like an actor, who forgot to practise, thus reading his script off the pages. The content was right, but the performance lacked conviction.

“Haitham-”

“Good night.”

When Alhaitham reached for the sketchbook, Kaveh seized him by the wrist. A bit too forceful, judging by the hiss in return. “Don’t play indifferent now. If you want me to be honest, is it too much to ask the same thing of you?”

“I’m simply acting rationally. Your vision is our priority.”

“No, youare my priority. I can tell you’re upset, so why even try to cover it up?” Kaveh let go of Alhaitham’s arm, pushed the sketchbook aside and rounded his words with a soft smile. “I know you’re tired as well, so don’t waste your energy on keeping up a pointless act.”

Alhaitham pursed his lips and Kaveh braced himself for a harsh rejection, but then his frown melded into something more pitiful. His shoulders dropped and the tears he wouldn’t show Kaveh heard in his voice. “I… I don’t understand it. None of it.”

“What don’t you understand?”

“Everything you said about the accident sounds right but feels so wrong. It’s entirely illogical to take responsibility for something Ididn’t do, yet…” What Kaveh mistook as anger was actually frustration. Frustration about an issue that didn’t have a solution, because it shouldn’t have been a problem in the first place. Alhaitham lived by rigid rules, where every fact and feeling got sorted into neat little boxes, but the emotions stirring inside him right now fitted nowhere.

“Naturally, feelings don’tmake sense– that’s kinda the point. Particularly in this twisted case, but that doesn’t make them less valid. Don’t condemn yourself for the way you feel, it’s alright.” Gently, he cupped Alhaitham’s jaw and swept away a tear while quiet sobs bubbled out of him. Underneath his palm, Kaveh felt him shivering again. It was easy to forget that this Alhaitham was six years younger than the one he knew since he’d always acted more mature and serious than his peers anyway. But right now, seeing him so frightened and fragile, his true age showed.

“Back then, neither of us harboured ill intentions. It was an accident,” Kaveh continued to speak softly. “When your future-self pushed me away, I don’t think he wanted to hurt me. I was just unlucky. In a way, it’s justified though, for I destroyed something of yours as well. I broke your earpieces, you broke a rib. We’re even.”

“How is that even remotely the same?” He groaned and rubbed his temples like trying to chase away a headache. “Sorry, I still can’t think clearly.”

“Don’t apologise. It’s completely normal to be upset over everything you’ve heard. Surely, your exhaustion amplifies the misery. Get some rest. Tomorrow everything will look a little less awful.”

“Rest?” Alhaitham repeated like it was a foreign word he had yet to learn.

“Yes, rest. This has been the longest day in my life and I reckon the same goes for you.”

“But I have to fulfil my promise first.” Alhaitham’s gaze fell onto the sketchbook that lay abandoned on the edge of the nightstand.

Kaveh shoved it aside. “Another night without elemental powers won’t kill me. On the contrary, you look close to passing out.”

“I can say the same thing about you.”

“Which doesn’t refute my point, does it? That’s exactly why you should give that brain of yours a break.”

Kaveh readied himself for more resistance but apparently, he underestimated how tired Alhaitham was, because he didn’t try to argue any further. Those past days had pushed their limits until they showed cracks. “Fine, I suppose that since I booked this room, I might as well make use of the bed. Otherwise, this would be an unnecessary waste of Mora.”

Whatever excuse suits you best, he thought to himself. Only then, another issue dawned on Kaveh. Alhaitham had only booked a one-bed room and he wouldn’t dare to trouble his Junior with re-booking, especially with his own tight budget. He didn’t cover up his dilemma very well, because Alhaitham promptly asked, “What’s the matter, Senior?”

“I’m just contemplating where to sleep.”

Although his eyes were still bloodshot, he had enough guts to murmur, “That’s a stupid thing to contemplate over.”

“Easy to say for you. You have the bed.”

Alhaitham’s sudden frown told him that somewhere down his train of thought, he had taken a wrong turn. “And you’ll sleep here too, no? I fail to see the issue.”

“What? ‘Here’ as in, ‘the same bed’-here?”

“Where else? You’re just as tired, if not more, and there’s enough room for two. If you insist on your own room, you should have paid with your own Mora.”

“No, no, that’s not it. I wasn’t sure if you- Nevermind that.” Feeling his face getting warmer, Kaveh decided to end the conversation early and just go along with the suggestion. It sparked a little relief that Alhaitham, despite the circ*mstances, quickly found his way back to his beloved logical demeanour. Maybe especiallybecauseof said circ*mstance, he clung closer to what he knew best.

Kaveh blew out the candles and, still a bit hesitant, slipped under the blanket. Admittedly, ‘enough room for two’ was a generous euphemism, given that to fit comfortably on the sheets, they had to lie almost back to chest with their limbs getting into each other’s way. Luckily, Kaveh was too exhausted to properly digest the situation – otherwise, he wouldn’t have caught any sleep.

Six years ago, Inn at Treasure Street

Kaveh had just fallen asleep when the morning sun pried his eyes open. Blindly, he groped for his pillow and pulled the blanket over his head to shut out the annoying flood of light. Just before he sank back into his slumber, he noticed something amiss.

The other side of the bed was empty.

Kaveh’s eyes flew back open. The thoughts of sleeping disappeared in a blink as his gaze dashed across the room and landed on a silhouette near the windows. Alhaitham had nudged the curtains open, letting in a sliver of light to illuminate the book in front of him. Captivated by his work, he didn’t even notice that Kaveh had awoken. Occasionally, he mumbled something incomprehensible to himself, wrote it down on a separate paper and flipped the page.

Kaveh remained perfectly silent and tried to catch his whispers, but the words Alhaitham put together escaped him. The language resembled none he knew. However, what hedidrecognise was the scarlet-golden wrapper around his sketchbook. This meant Alhaitham had started translating already. “You promised me to rest.”

Perhaps the morning sun played tricks on him, but it looked like a smile was flashing over Alhaitham’s lips. “I did rest,” he said without looking up from the runes.

“For a couple of hours at best.”

“That’s an understatement.”

“Is it really?” Kaveh’s mutter didn’t hold much conviction with the drowsiness slurring his voice. “The sun’s been barely up. That much time can’t have passed.”

Alhaitham hesitated. He laid the quill down, slid a bookmark between the pages, and turned to face Kaveh. “That’s the evening sun, not the morning sun, Senior. You’ve slept for an entire day.”

“What?” Kaveh wanted to retort, but then he spotted the empty plates on the nightstand that hadn’t been there when he fell asleep. Alhaitham’s clothes weren’t stained with blood anymore either and he had almost finished translating too judging by the bookmark placement. No matter how ambitious, doing this all in a few hours was unlikely.

If his fatigue didn’t persist no matter how long he slept, Kaveh would have noticed earlier. Being awake or asleep was all the same. An hour or a day, none cured his exhaustion. All thanks to the Leyline’s curse. How long can this go on until I reach my limits and-

Kaveh flinched when Alhaitham sat down on the sheets too and scrutinised him from the drying blood in the corner of his mouth down to his pale palms. “Sleeping did you no favour. You look even more sickly than yesterday. Do you taste anything metallic? Or a tightness in your lungs?”

“No, I’m alright. A bit tired perhaps, but that’s to be expected.” Kaveh’s raw throat still stung whenever he talked too loudly and the aftertaste of the disaster lingered. Still, compared to yesterday’s flare-up, he didn’t feel like he was dying anymore, and he considered this an improvement.

“Good. I wouldn’t want to explain to the receptionist why there are blood stains on the furniture.”

Kaveh rolled his eyes. “As long as that’s your only concern.” His annoyance was just a facade. Internally, his heart jumped at the fact that Alhaitham felt well enough to indulge in playful bickering. In this strange chaos, their little banter was a piece of normality to cling to while everything else warped beyond recognition.

However, the tranquillity didn’t last long. Not with Alhaitham abandoning the bickering for a serious tone almost immediately. “I need to talk with you about something.”

“In that case, I have something to say as well.”

“You go first.”

Kaveh laid out his words carefully. Knowing how Alhaitham operated, even if he appeared content, his expression didn’t always match what he felt. “Regarding last night, have you calmed down?”

“I was never not calm.”

“Oh I remember that very differently. Don’t preach honesty if you tell these blatant lies.”

“How annoyingly persistent of you.” The echo of last night’s pain resonated in Alhaitham’s sigh. “Fine. I suppose I have to admit that the news affected me in some way. The concept of time travel is scandalous enough in itself, let alone the knowledge about what I have done in another timeline. Naturally, I detest the idea that there’s a future version of myself, who would hurt and kick out his boyfriend. How can all this new knowledge not shake even the most rational of minds?”

“I’m not blaming you for feeling confused and upset. It’s a lot to process and-” Kaveh stopped mid-sentence. “Did you just say ‘boyfriend’?”

“Husband?” He tried again.

“No, no,no. That’s even further off.”

“Oh.” Alhaitham cleared his throat. The red tint spreading over his cheeks overthrew his efforts at appearing unbothered. “Since you mentioned we used to live together in the future, I logically assumed that… Nevermind, I misjudged the situation. Just forget about it.”

It was too late for forgetting. The idea had already triggered a chain reaction of thoughts that made Kaveh’s head spin. “You thought we used to be a couple in the future? Like, romantically?Like arealcouple?” The sound of saying those words out loud dropped sweet on his tongue and lingered in his chest.

“So what? I blame the recent stress for my lapse in judgement. You ought to be familiar with that.”

Rewinding back to last night, Kaveh remembered skipping the details that led up to their complicated living situation, since it didn’t seem important to mention. Still, jumping to conclusions was unlike Alhaitham. Unless he had gathered enough evidence to support his theories, he usually kept quiet and observed further. So, did this mean…?

Alhaitham’s theories often evoke strong emotions that made Kaveh’s blood pressure spike. And so they did once again, only for a different reason. A reason he’d just figured out recently during his conversation with Lisa. He decided to take a risk. “I guess I just can’t believe that thisis the conclusion you drew out of everything I told you. You guessed everything else so well. How come you fail now?”

“Even geniuses are only humans. Is it really so outrageous that I was wrong in my assumptions?”

“Well, you can make them right.”

Alhaitham blinked. “Huh? I’m afraid I can’t quite follow.”

“Oh please, you’re fluent in so many different languages. Try reading my body language for once.” Kaveh moved close enough to hear Alhaitham’s breathing pick up and deliberately dropped his gaze down to leave no room for misunderstandings. It only needed a tilt of his head for their lips to touch, but a flash of apprehension forbade Kaveh from doing so.What if I made a wrong assumption too? What if he doesn’t feel the same?

Those doubts didn’t survive long when Alhaitham put on the same sincere smile he’d shown when Kaveh asked why he helped him at the Restricted Repository. Back then, it didn’t make sense why he would put himself at risk and search the archive’s collection for a cure. ‘Knowledge’ was the answer back then and fittingly in a researcher’s fashion, Alhaitham studied Kaveh’s face intensely when he leaned in and whispered, “I’m starting to understand. Would you allow me to test a bold theory, Senior?”

“Please, go ahead.”

Alhaitham cradled Kaveh’s face between his palms and languidly brushed his thumb over the outline of his lips. The sensation sent a rush of heat through Kaveh’s body that made him close his eyes and part his lips in anticipation.

His reaction drew out a low chuckle from Alhaitham. “Indeed, your body language is quite univocal.”

“Just kiss me already, you tease. If you keep stalling, I might just change my mi-” Kaveh didn’t get to finish as a pair of warm lips captured his.Oh.For a touch this soft, his thoughts crashed hard and he almost forgot how to breathe.

Before he could process the situation, Alhaitham pulled back again. The smile on his face was reminiscent of the pride when he won an argument, just more fondly, because his past-self had always been much gentler without the weight of their fallout dragging down every interaction.

Now that he got a taste, Kaveh hungered for more. He took Alhaitham by the chin and went in for a second, fiercer kiss that was responded to with a pleased hum. It was more addicting than alcohol and the second they parted, he felt the withdrawal symptoms and chased the next one.

Planting one hand on Alhaitham’s chest, he pushed him down into the mattress. The bed quivered. He felt the vibration of a confused gasp that grew into a breathy moan as his index finger hooked under the collar of Alhaitham’s shirt and pulled. The Akademiya robes had always hidden way too much anyway.

Kaveh took a second to appreciate the sight. Under the light of the evening sun, Alhaitham looked like he’d fallen out of a royal painting, drawn with sharp lines but soft eyes, silver hair framing a face that was coloured with a pretty blush, too fazed-out to come up with a retort. For a man who believed so little in aesthetics, he looked like a work of art.

Kaveh lowered his head and pressed his lips against Alhaitham’s throat, earning a gasp in return. Encouraged by his reaction, Kaveh placed another one right above his Adam’s apple and sucked on the spot until he felt nails digging into his back. Alhaitham probably didn’t even notice that he did and that thought made him dizzy in a way even Snezhnaya’s firewater couldn’t rival.

A tug at the back of his head brought Kaveh back to reality. He obliged and looked up. Whatever he wanted to say, the only thing that got out of his mouth was a heavy pant as Alhaitham took the opportunity to plant faint kisses on the curve of his neck while his hands moved from Kaveh’s shoulders to his waist, pressing him close.

Kaveh’s eyes fluttered shut, hyperaware of the arm wrapped around him and how Alhaitham’s lips travelled upwards until they met Kaveh’s again for one more sweet kiss before they both parted to catch their breath. “So, what does this make us?”

Alhaitham flashed him a teasing grin. “What do you want it to make us?”

“Oh, I don’t know, you already made some compelling guesses. Boyfriend? Husband?” Kaveh laughed and flopped back on the bed. “I’m just kidding. Let’s take it slow and think about rings later. We have all the time in the world after all.”

Something about that last sentence flipped a switch in Alhaitham. His smile became brittle, then fell completely. It almost made Kaveh think that their making out had been nothing but a daydream with how fast the mood crashed. “About that…”

“Stop making this scary face. Don’t tell me you regret what we did already.”

“No, that’s not it. Quite on the contrary actually.” The previous fondness flickered back into Alhaitham’s eyes, though clouded with worry.Worried about what?

Kaveh wanted to rewind to five minutes ago, where they still lay there smiling and in bliss, almost desperate to turn the mood back around. “Is it because of our dim future? Sure, the whole ordeal with the Akademiya is troublesome, but I’m confident I’ll be able to figure something out with Azar. With your help and my knowledge of the history that is about to happen, we’ll find a way back in.”

“No, the situation with the Akademiya isn’t what concerns me.”

Kaveh tried a teasing remark, hoping it would rub off. “Well, it should. How will you become the Grand Scribe of the Akademiya if saidAkademiyahates your guts? You see the contradiction, no?”

“Kaveh, you misunderstand.” Alhaitham clenched his jaw. The way he tried to find the right thing to say reminded Kaveh an awful lot of himself in the past week, though he saw no reason for Alhaitham to feel the same way. After almost getting executed, every other problem shrank in comparison.

“Well then, educate me, oh dear Junior. What’s the issue?”

“Remember how I mentioned that I need to talk to you about something? Before we got‘distracted’? It’s about the book you asked me to translate.”

Chapter 19: The Flickering Light of The Sun III / 'Till Death Do Us Part

Chapter Text

6 years ago, Inn at Treasure Street

The mention of the forbidden thesis crushed the fragile flash of bliss. Kaveh had chased the meaning behind the runes for so long, but even if the text was just gibberish to him, Alhaitham’s frown was easy to read. “There is no cure, is it?”

“What gave you that idea?”

“Why else would you glare at me this miserably?” He sighed. “You figured out I’ll be sick forever and now you don’t have the guts to tell me.”

“Then I need to apologise for giving you the wrong impression.”

Kaveh perked up. “So, thereisa cure?”

“Yes… Sort of.” Despite the announcement of what should have been happy news, Alhaitham gritted his teeth. He seemed on edge and his eyes darted around the room restlessly, as if the shadows would grow fangs if he looked away.

His demeanour raised Kaveh’s concern. “This uncertainty doesn’t suit you, Junior. Give it to me straight. Do you know how we can recover the light in my vision or not?”

“I do. I just need to confirm some details first.” Alhaitham used to bristle with self-confidence on all kinds of topics – even when discussingaestheticshe shared strong views – so this newfound hesitation came unexpected. Maybe it wasn’t because he doubted his reasoning but rather because he disliked the conclusion he drew. “Senior, how far away are we from your future? I need it down to the day.”

“Six years.”

“Exactly six? Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. Today would have been the day you asked me to team up for the joint research project. I won’t ever forget that.” Kaveh forced a light-hearted laughter to shoo away the thoughts that rose at the mention of their joint project. The regret about that day used to visit him on sleepless nights and slipped into his nightmares. The dreams had only stopped ever since he arrived in the past.

“Interesting, that matches with my theory. I suppose you could call this our ‘joint research project’ too.” Keeping a straight face, it was hard to tell that Alhaitham had tried to make a joke.

“I guess…” Not wanting to dwell on the topic, Kaveh quickly added, “Anything else you wanted to ask?”

“Indeed. Tell me, when you touched the red Leyline, did you ever look up? Now, now, don’t make that face. I’m serious. This isn’t a joke.”

“I don’t think I looked up? I was kinda preoccupied.”Preoccupiedwith becoming homeless that is.Kaveh shrugged. “But I honestly don’t fully remember. Why does it matter?”

Wordlessly, Alhaitham walked over to the windows and ripped the curtains open. “Think again, Senior.” The sky had thrown the dark dress of the night over its evening robe, but a tint of the red from before still shone through. Though it was impossible to see more from his current position.

Kaveh rolled off the bed and took a few uncertain, wobbly steps. If Alhaitham noticed the decay of his health, he didn’t say anything. Instead, he kept his eyes fixed on something behind the window panes.

“What am I even supposed to see? It has gotten too dark to make out anything,” Kaveh mumbled to himself before he propped himself on the sill and followed Alhaitham’s gaze. Then it struck him.

In the infinite black of the night, a scarlet red moon shone brightly. It was as if someone had stabbed the gods and let a fresh drop of blood fall on the sky.

Kaveh gasped as his memories overlapped with reality. “Of course, a total eclipse! I should have known. Archons, how could I forget the most important detail of that night?”

The sight triggered a chain reaction, filling his brain with bittersweet images that he had successfully suppressed up until this point. Kaveh wasn’t sure whether to smile or frown. “If our meeting under the blood moon hadn’t bore disaster, it could have been a quite lovely evening back then. Even you admitted the beauty of this rare natural phenomenon. With them only happening every three years, they do deserve to be viewed properly.”

“Did you realise what you just said?”

“Ah, sorry. I didn’t mean to ramble about a different reality.”

Alhaitham shook his head, getting impatient. “Not that. Repeat your last sentence.”

“With them only happening every three years, they-” Heat streamed to Kaveh’s face. “Oh gods. That’s why you asked. If we’resixyears into the past…”

“…there was a total eclipse too when you touched the red Leyline,” Alhaitham finished his sentence. A smile ghosted over his lips. “Good thing you studied architecture and not mathematics.”

“I’ll have you know that architects need to know maths too. Otherwise, our drafts would never make it into reality,” Kaveh shot back with no fire behind his remark. “I reckon you don’t bring up this fun fact just to boast your intelligence, no?”

Alhaitham smirked. “Well, that’s a nice bonus, certainly. In all seriousness though, yes, the eclipse is related to your case. If one of us had studied astrology, we would have figured out this mystery long ago. Lucky us, the co-author of the forbidden thesis was a Rtawahist and knew all about how the constellations of the stars and planets are affecting our world.” He paused. “Specifically, how the position of the sun and moon during a total eclipse relate to the stability of the Leylines.”

“Meaning, the blood moon caused the unusual Leyline disorder?”

“Precisely.”

Lisa had told Kaveh all about how disorders were a symptom of an overload of elemental energy, but never once had he questioned its cause. It didn’t seem relevant back then. “So, it’s the eclipse’s fault I’m here!”

“No, but I admire the confidence,” Alhaitham said bluntly. “While the blood moon did create the abnormal overload, it didn’t send you through time. It only provided a greater prowess of elemental energy than average.”

“In turn, it’s the Leyline’s fault I’m here?”

“That’s not it either. Think about it for more than ten seconds, Senior. If Leylines manipulated time naturally, even in just rare cases, we would have more records of this happening. But there are, you included, only two incidents. The other one is the author of the forbidden thesis.” Alhaitham held up the sketchbook to make a point.

With a groan, Kaveh let his head sink against the pane in frustration. “Archons, just spit it out. I’m out of ideas.”

“Don’t give up so easily.” Alhaitham drummed his index finger against the cover of the sketchbook. The pages were filled with marked passages and little notes scribbled on the page. “You talked to Lisa about Leylines. What else did she teach you about the disorders?”

“How I’m supposedly immune to them because I wield one of the seven elements.” Kaveh threw a disdainful glare at his vision. “As if. This useless piece of scrap metal didn’t protect me at all. If anything, it made everything worse.”

“And that’s where you’re wrong. Again.”

“Oh? Has my Junior gone blind? Do the results not speak for themselves?” Kaveh dropped his vision on the window sill. The red glow of the eclipse reflected in the glass-like orb, fooling one into believing a tiny glint still lived within the golden frame. “The light is dead and my health descends a downward spiral. If coughing out blood is the way the Dendro vision ‘protected’ me, I’d rather live without its help.”

“Because you don’t understand the way it has helped. We don’t have enough time left to waste, so allow me to explain.” Alhaitham picked up the dead vision and grazed over the edges with much more care than Kaveh did. No, not ‘care’. ‘Respect’ suited better, especially when he started talking with awe echoing underneath his whisper. “A vision is the manifestation of one’s greatest ambition. A wish so strong, it impresses the gods above and blesses you with a fraction of their powers.”

Alhaitham tore his gaze off the dead vision, but a piece of the lack of light had gotten stuck in his eyes when he met Kaveh’s gaze. “And your ambition, my dear Senior, your silent cry to undo your regrets and banish the guilt, got heard. You called out and the Leyline responded. Through the overflow of energy caused by the eclipse, the Leyline fulfilled your wish and granted you a second chance in the past. This wasn’t an accident. This wasn’t an unfortunate coincidence. This was intentional.You wanted this. You wanted this so badly, your powers merged with the Leyline’s and transformed an ambition into reality. That’s how you defied time. You see it’s actually-”

Alhaitham kept talking, but Kaveh didn’t hear him over the sound of his pounding heartbeat. “I did this? No, I didn’t wish for this. Or did I? This cannot be. This is all… my doing?”

Kaveh’s brain rejected the logic, but his heart knew it was true. He remembered the despair of their friendship shattering under the pressure of their fallout. The memories of the hopelessness were still vibrant in his mind like fresh drops of blood. Even if he never said his wish out loud, he’d longed tojust make everything right again.The tug at his vision he felt, it was the Leyline listening to his wish.

And did he not enjoy his slip through time? Even without knowing the cause, Kaveh had greeted this new world with open arms, ready to embrace their second chance. And despite the bumps along the way, they didn’t crash this time. It was a success. His wish came true.

A piercing, “Senior.” cut Kaveh free from his train of thoughts. Alhaitham hovered over him, gripping his shoulders. “Pull yourself together. We can fix that.”

Kaveh nearly smiled. How ironic. Nothing needed repair. Thiswasthe fix. “I wield a vision, but am stillblindto its help, huh? Good thing you’ve been able to see it clearly.” He plucked Alhaitham’s hand from his shoulder and intertwined their fingers, yet the frown stayed.

“I cannot feel pride for discoveries that aren’t thanks to my own deductions. The thesis pulled all the loose pieces together.” He sighed and crouched down to Kaveh’s level. “You’ve always been a passionate person, but I never expected your beliefs to hold so much power.”

“Neither did I.” Part of Kaveh still felt like this was a dream he’d soon wake up from. “When you say my wish did ‘this’? What’s ‘this’? Did I alter Irminsul?”

Alhaitham’s grave face fell for just a second to chuckle at the absurdity. “Don’t gettooambitious. You’re a human after all. Humans cannot alter Irminsul. To actually permanently change fate itself, you need the powers of an Archon or an Archon-like entity. All you did was plant a small ‘branch’ in Irminsul when you arrived here. Nevertheless, impressive work.”

“A branch?” Kaveh echoed.

“Yes. Upon your arrival, the timeline diverged into two – the one you came from and the one you live through right now, which is the branch.”

Kaveh rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming up. “Oh Archons, still, this sounds way too big to be allmydoing.”

“And there lies the problem.”

“Which problem?”

“You feel it already, don’t you?” Kaveh’s stomach twisted at the drop in Alhaitham’s voice, sounding more like he held a funeral speech than explaining the research. “This ‘branch’ feeds off elemental energy. The overflow from the Leyline sustained it for only two days. Do you still remember what happened after that? The reason you visited the Bimarstan again?”

“The vision malfunction.” The pieces clicked into place. The more he found, the more Kaveh regretted every silent curse and complaint he’d issued because of his vision. “This is what kept the timeline alive. My vision!” It didn’t just send him to the past, itkepthim there too.

The advice of the spirit echoed in his mind.Your vision loses energy like a bucket with a hole. Apparently, all of it poured into powering his mere existence in this other reality after the Leyline had been drained. No wonder it dimmed. Sustaining a human’s existence cost more energy than it could supply.

“Now you see what I meant by ‘help’. Both your vision and your red Leyline spent their energy on keeping you here.”

A bad hunch crawled up Kaveh’s neck and wrapped its ice-cold fingers around his neck, squeezing his airway as he tried to speak. “Haitham?”

“Yes?”

“If neither the Leyline disorder nor my vision are sustaining this branch right now… what else is?”

“So, you finally realised.” Alhaitham avoided meeting his gaze. “Take a guess.”

When Kaveh wanted to say his guess out loud, his throat went dry; though not the same could be said for his eyes.It can’t be…He vividly remembered what happened once the light had died. Even though the water should have washed away its taste, the metallic stench clung to the back of his throat again. The images of blood on the sidewalk returned to the forefront of his mind. It didn’t take a genius to connect the dots.

“Senior, are you alright?”

Kaveh swept off the tear before it could fall. “No, I’m not alright and that’s the point. This branch is feeding off my life.”

To his horror, Alhaitham nodded. “As expected of Kshahrewar’s brightest mind, you’re correct.” There it was again. The same serious misery that had taken over, when Kaveh had mentioned how they had ‘all the time of the world now’. “Life is the purest form of elemental energy. The devotees of the Tsaritsa even craft ‘delusions’ to harvest the life of the wielder to convert it into one of the seven elements. Similarly, this branch eats away at your existence.”

“And if I got nothing more to give to the branch, I will-”

“Yes,” Alhaitham cut him off. No need to say it out loud.

Kaveh should have been terrified. The prospect of death should have evoked panic. Knowing that soon, his heart would become tired of beating and his muscles would lose strength, it should have triggered his survival instincts. This world would squeeze the last spark of life out of his body yet the only question on his mind was, “And what will happen to you?”

Alhaitham squinted his eyes, confused. “To… me?”

“Yes, you. If this timeline collapses, what happens to you and everyone else?”

“We already have a place in Irminsul, on the original timeline.”

“And the Alhaitham of the future will remember nothing of what happened during my stay here. Am I right?”

“That’s not important.” Alhaitham had pretended patience well, but now the urgency broke through, his words becoming a bit more unsteady and his gaze sharper. “Kaveh, get your priorities straight. We have to get you out of hereimmediately. Otherwise, you’ll die in both worlds.”

“So, that’s the ‘cure’ you were talking about?”

“The ‘cure’ is to send you back home the same way you arrived. The total eclipse destabilised the Leylines and we need to seize this chance.”

“Can’t the branch feed on the power of the Leylines again?”

“This is not how it works.” Alhaitham’s hands twitched as if he were barely holding himself back from shaking Kaveh by the shoulders just to make him understand. “The energy needed to sustain the Leyline here is exactly as much as the Leyline possesses. The energy needed to keep mein this timeline is nothing less than the energy my life gives. You, Kaveh, you have no roots here. External energy of the Leylines and your vision were necessary to sustain your existence. If you were a god, maybe you could have lived longer, but alas, you’re mortal.”

His poor Junior had read the runes so well, but he didn’t read the room at all. “So, if I understand this correctly, my ambition needs to call out to the Leyline again to transport me back to my future?”

“Exactly. We should hurry before the night is over and-”

Kaveh placed a finger on Alhaitham’s lips, preventing him from continuing. He answered his questioning glance with a bittersweet smile of his own. “Junior, there is no need to hurry. This plan will not work.”

“Why should it not?” An answer wasn’t needed. Judging by how Alhaitham’s face lost colour and urgency merged into terror, he had figured it out at last. It was painful to look at to see him realise that…

“I have no ambition to return,” Kaveh said.

“You’ll vanish inbothworlds if you stay here!”

“I know.” It cracked his heart to see Alhaitham so conflicted over something so insignificant. Gently, he cupped his Junior’s face and caressed his cheeks as if to sweep away the look of terror. His warm smile was unrequited. “Everyone dies at some point in time and even if mine is a lot closer, this can’t stop me from enjoying every second I have left. I fought to change my destiny and now that I succeeded, you expect me to surrender to fate?”

Alhaitham seized his wrists and pushed them off, fury in his eyes. “The combined powers of the Leyline and the vision lasted less than a week. What makes you think you’ll live any longer?”

“Life is the purest form of elemental energy. Maybe it’s also the strongest.”

“Snap out of your delusions, Kaveh. You coughed out blood just hours ago – you’redying.” When he was furious, Alhaitham resembled his future-self. The aggressive bite behind his shouts was so familiar, though the wrath was born out of ill-placed worry. “This isn’t a life that’s to die for and I don’t understand what convinces you otherwise.”

“Because you haven’t seen the future.” The memories from a different time stuck to Kaveh like tiny splinters in an open wound. They were impossible to pull out and they stung when his thoughts grazed over the events in his mind. “If I were to go back now, there wouldn’t be anyone waiting for my arrival. I wouldn’t even have a place to return to. All I have is debt, lots of it.”

Kaveh’s throat tightened. “I bet I’ll have to pay for the destruction the Leyline caused on the construction site too. And then what? My friends are busy enough with their own life. I wouldn’t want to burden them with my financial and emotional situation. And perhaps my mother would finally let go of the past when I’m not the reminder of my father’s death anymore. And us…” The splinters stabbed deeper. “There won’t be an ‘us’. We’re less than strangers.”

“You’re lying to yourself. It’s lies all over again. This is not how-”

“Junior, calm down. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life arguing with you. Literally. Haven’t you figured out by now that an ambition, that was great enough to alter time, won’t be swayed this easily?”

Kaveh dropped to one knee. He wished it was intentional, but in truth, his legs didn’t hold him anymore; he became weaker by the minute. However, he didn’t let this dim his smile when he took Alhaitham’s hand and placed a soft kiss on his palm. “Haitham, let us be together until death do us part.” And he meant every word of it.

Chapter 20: The Fading Glow of The M̴̡̩̃̊́̎̾̊͜ö̵͙́͛̈̒͛̆o̴̠͑ņ̴̯͑̍͆̌̎ I

Chapter Text

?̶̨̪́͛̉͋̀̋͝?̷̺̱̦̬̣̩̗̱̆̎̄͑͂̍̉́̕?̶̭̭̊͂͑̾̓̾̊̍̌́͘͠ years and ̴̫̏ͩ̈́ͅ?̴̛̟͓̻͕̄̿̈́̔͠?̶̨̧̢̤̟̦̟̜̜̻̲͙͚̖̬̈́̒̓̅̀̏͌͐́͛͒͘̚͝͝?̷̘̙̙͇̮̙̀̎̎̇̈́͊̔̎̈́̅̃̄ days, Office of the Grand Scribe, Akademiya

For the third time, it knocked on the door to the Grand Scribe office. “Alhaitham?”

He recognised the voice of the General Mahamatra Cyno, and for the third time, Alhaitham ignored him. His pen lingered on the page of the astrology book, highlighting the words “Total Eclipse'' and “Leyline”. The letters started merging into one another and swirled into an illegible dark puddle. He attempted to refocus by blinking the fatigue away.

Cyno entered anyway. “I hope I’m not disturbing.”

“You are.”

“Then let me cast courtesy aside and ignore that comment like you ignored me. I’ll make it brief. Tighnari and I invite you to meet at Puspa Café this weekend.”

No matter how often Alhaitham read the same sentence, the information refused to stay in his head. The page creased under his grasp. The additional distraction didn’t help either. “Play TCG on your own, Cyno. I’m not interested.”

“I think you are. We’re not meeting for TCG; It’s about Kaveh.”

“Kaveh?” The mention of that name squeezed his heart painfully. For the first time, Alhaitham looked up from the book. Was Cyno kidding him? No, he wore a serious face that used to spread his reputation of seemingly entirely unapproachable. “Did you discover any clues about his disappearance?”

“I wish, but my Matra haven’t found any more clues since last time. Sorry.”

“Then no, I’m not interested.” Alhaitham picked his pen back up, irritated that he wasted time on this conversation when he could’ve advanced his research in the meantime.

“Don’t dismiss me that quickly,” Cyno warned with an authority that had criminals cowering but didn’t faze Alhaitham. The General wasn’t scary once one got to know him personally. “Put that book down and listen to me. We are gathering everyone Kaveh was close with to plan his funeral. Since you knew him best, your input would be much appreciated. Has this finally piqued your interest?”

It did.

“A funeral?” Alhaitham slammed the book shut with enough force to shake the table. A stack of books collapsed and spilled over the floor but he couldn’t care less. The audacity to even make that request. “Read the room, Cyno. I am not in the mood for your awful jokes.”

“I wouldn’t joke about the death of my friend.”

“There isn’t even a body to bury! Imagine how upset Kaveh will be when he returns to Sumeru just to see everyone has declared him dead.”

Cyno took off the frightening act and spoke gentler in the way one would talk to an injured stray dog in need of rescue. “If he returns. It has been almost a month, Alhaitham. My Matra have exhausted every possible lead and didn’t find a single trace. It’s as if he dissolved into thin air.”

“And because your lowly recruits gave up, you expect the same of me? Do it like the Milleliths and show some more tenacity.” Alhaitham glared at him from across the desk.

“These ‘lowly recruits’ even searched outside of Sumeru to no avail. Can you claim better results from your investigations?”

“I have some theories, but thorough research takes time. Especially because I’m neither a part of Spantamad nor Rtawahist.”

This conversation was going nowhere. Determined to not let Cyno and his preposterous suggestion about pointless funerals distract him, Alhaitham dedicated his attention to the files once again, scanning his notes. It was maddening. The textbooks and interviews with countless researchers parroted each other, tracking back and forth between the same old arguments and circling back to the same issue: Leylines can’t hurt vision bearers. They missed one crucial puzzle piece. Somewhere they went wrong. But where?

“Tighnari worries about you.”

For some reason, Cyno’s remark made Alhaitham’s chest tighten a little. He pushed that odd feeling aside and sorted through his notes and the map of constellations that covered almost half of the desk in the hopes that it would discourage Cyno from bothering him. It didn’t.

“Collei worries too, and frankly, I find myself more concerned about your mental well-being as well. You’re not even trying to make peace with what has happened. Not that I blame you. Losing Kaveh isn’t easy to stomach for any of us.”

The tightness worsened. Alhaitham had to remind himself to stay calm to not crumple the map he held. This was valuable research material. “I won’t mourn a living man,” he hissed.

It was silent for long enough to make him think Cyno had left. Minutes passed and a long-drawn sigh disproved the idea. “Tighnari says it’s not healthy to fall asleep in a desk chair. At the very least, you should go home and rest. You can continue your research tomorrow.”

“I appreciate your advice.”

“No, you don’t. You’ll stay in this godforsaken office regardless of what I say.” Cyno sounded frustrated. At last, footsteps moved away from Alhaitham’s desk and the door to the Grand Scribe office opened with the screech of wood grating against marble. “I’ll tell them that I tried, but please, reconsider your decision. The meeting will be this weekend, noon at Puspa Café. I’ll keep a seat free for you.”

The door fell shut and when its echo faded out, it only left a perfect silence behind. Except Cyno’s presence still lingered akin to the feeling of waking up after a nightmare. How could such a bright mind surrender so easily to this ludicrous belief? Kaveh wasn’t dead. He was out there, somewhere. He had to be.

Alhaitham shook his head as if to shake off the gloomy mood Cyno carried in. He turned to the astrology book despite his eyelids getting heavy simply by glancing at the page. Just one more chapter. Maybe the answer to his problems was only one page flip away. Or so he had told himself for the past month.

?̶̨̪́͛̉͋̀̋͝?̷̺̱̦̬̣̩̗̱̆̎̄͑͂̍̉́̕?̶̭̭̊͂͑̾̓̾̊̍̌́͘͠ years and ̴̫̏ͩ̈́ͅ?̴̛̟͓̻͕̄̿̈́̔͠?̶̨̧̢̤̟̦̟̜̜̻̲͙͚̖̬̈́̒̓̅̀̏͌͐́͛͒͘̚͝͝?̷̘̙̙͇̮̙̀̎̎̇̈́͊̔̎̈́̅̃̄ days, Sumeru City

Alhaitham’s back hurt on his way to the café. Just as Cyno had predicted, falling asleep in an office chair was not the most comfortable place to rest. Those nights at the Akademiya posed both a hazard to his health and sanity. He still had no solid idea about Kaveh’s whereabouts despite having access to the grandest library in all of Teyvat. Where the hell are you, Kaveh? Even when he wasn’t around, his roommate was a total enigma.

As conventional research kept wielding disappointing results, the more unconventional research methods became increasingly attractive. So much so, that they blinded him to the danger of pursuing them. There was one idea Alhaitham had wanted to try for some time but always postponed because of the inherent risk. In the worst-case scenario, his friends would need to plan another funeral. In the best-case scenario, there would be no funerals at all.

The choice was obvious. A gambler couldn’t win without rolling the dice. For once, Alhaitham would lay his luck into the hands of the gods and pray his theory proved correct. Or in scientific terms: a calculated risk.

Now, he simply needed to dissuade his friends from foolish ideas until his plan had taken effect.

Since Alhaitham hadn’t gone out in a while, he almost forgot about the common horror of social gatherings. The crowd at Puspa Café was overwhelming. Strangers accidentally touched and bumped into one another. The patrons shouted so loud, that even the noise-cancelling function of his earpieces would have struggled to block out the sounds if he had worn them. Without them, it was even worse. He hadn’t found time to repair the earpieces ever since he and Kaveh…

“Alhaitham!” Cyno waved and beckoned him to come over to their table. He moved to make space on the bench. “I’m pleased to see you showed up after all.”

Alhaitham didn’t sit down. The unfiltered noises from everywhere crawled under his skin and dug into his skull, a pressure announcing an upcoming headache. He didn’t intend to dwell here any longer than needed. “Don’t get your hopes up too early. I’m only here to warn you to not hastily plan a funeral before we can be certain of Kaveh’s…” His breath hitched. “…death.”

His request was met with rows of conflicted faces – wavering between the worry he knew and the frustration he gradually got used to. A lot of people showed up. He even spotted some old friends. Nilou exchanged a careful glance with Dehya, who shook her head in reply. Even Dori had travelled all the way from Port Ormos to meet up, balancing on her orchid Jinni that bristled with pure electro, yet the light wasn’t as vibrant today. Not only her - everyone looked a little gloomy.

Tighnari’s fennec ears hung low. “It’s unfortunate, but not unexpected that you think this way.”

“Which translates to another rejection.” Alhaitham’s brows pinched into a frown. “I just need more time. At least postpone the planning by another week.”

“Again? And after that week’s up, will you ask for another one?”

“After that week’s up, I’ll have Kaveh back here, alive.”

“Right…” Tighnari’s tail twitched, almost hitting Cyno. “Alhaitham, we know you’re grieving and it’s natural to get emotional, but-”

“Emotional?” Alhaitham felt the blood rush to his head. “I am not getting emotional. Actually, I am the only one thinking logically here. Humans can’t disappear and Leylines can’t harm vision wielders. If we believe the witnesses, there needs to be a third option. You’re an academic. You know better than to believe anything without sufficient proof, so why are you making this so hard for me?”

“You speak of a ‘third option’. What would that look like?”

“I…” he faltered, “I have yet to discover that, but I’m optimistic I’ll find it.”

“So, you have no idea either.” And there it was again. The same damned look Cyno gave him at the Akademiya too – a face that read like an invitation to get himself checked at a mental hospital. “How about we go outside for a bit and talk? I’m sure there’s a lot you want to get off your chest.”

“I don’t want your pity; I want your help finding Kaveh,” Alhaitham spat out between gritted teeth. Desperation seeped through the cracks of his composure. “Please.”

“And we’ve given you that help. Remember?” Tighnari stood up, meeting Alhaitham eye to eye. “Cyno interrogated the witnesses until they teared up, Dehya used her connections throughout the deserts and we even hired the Traveller, who has seen almost every corner of Teyvat, and still returned empty-handed. I checked for poisons, curses and every spell in the book. Still, nothing. It’s not like we want to consider his demise, but we have nothing else left to believe.”

Murmurs of agreement roamed through the crowd. Alhaitham hated how he saw himself in the exhaustion he spotted on the others; the frustration of a fruitless hunt, worn down by an endless search. It made his existing headache that much more excruciating.

Tighnari spoke in a calm manner, which would have been soothing if it wasn’t for the content of what he was saying. “Look, as someone who works in the field of medicine, I’ve come to terms with the fact that life is incredibly fragile and breaks easily. It happens at the most unfortunate times to the least deserving people. And realistically speaking, with no sign of life, there’s nothing we can assume but the worst. Kaveh being alive may not be impossible, but incredibly improbable.” A pause. “And another thing you might need to hear: Alhaitham, it’s not your fault that Kaveh vanished.”

He flinched. The switch of topic hit him off-guard. His mouth went dry. “Of course it’s not. That would be preposterous to assume.”

“I am emphasising this because I fear that you feel responsible for Kaveh’s fate and that’s why you obsess so much over searching for someone that cannot be found.”

Something heavy constricted his lungs and Alhaitham found it hard to retort anything right away. “Ha, rejoice, you’re completely wrong. How can I be blamed for not anticipating something so unexpected? Feeling guilty for Kaveh’s fate would be entirely illogical.”

“I’m glad we agree on that. Because if you felt responsible – which you don’t – I’d reassure you that whatever happened to Kaveh was out of your control. You couldn’t have known the consequences once he left the tavern.”

“Yes, I couldn’t have known…”

Kaveh’s disappearance wasn’t Alhaitham’s fault. There was no need to think about what would have happened if Alhaitham hadn’t shut out Kaveh’s apology, if he hadn’t pushed him against the table, if he hadn’t drunk all that wine, if he had run after Kaveh, if he hadn’t poked fun at his finances, if he hadn’t raised his voice, if he hadn’t mentioned the joint project, if he had paid the bill, if his last words to Kaveh hadn’t been a demand for the house keys and his last memory weren’t of him storming out of Lambad’s tavern.

It was pointless to think about how that could have possibly led to Kaveh staying in the tavern, Kaveh hiring the Adventurers Guild for the Leyline issue, Kaveh and him not arguing, Kaveh not getting injured and Kaveh not moving out of their shared home, where they would return to like every other night because each of them had one of the two house keys.

Yes, it didn't make sense to contemplate any of this, because Alhaitham wasn't to blame. He let out a shaky breath and peered over to his friends. Tighnari looked at him as if he was waiting for something. Did he ask a question? “Sorry, can you repeat that?”

“I was saying that his mother, Faranak, is travelling overseas from Fontaine to attend as well. She wants to see the place her son spent the past years living in and she’ll probably ask to move his belongings over to her home nation. Is this alright with you? We expect her to arrive within the next few weeks.”

“Sure.” It wasn’t my fault, echoed in his head, No one could have predicted this outcome. Not even me.

“You should sit down with us. Do you want a drink perhaps?”

“No, thanks.” I’m innocent. It was an accident.

“Let’s resume with the planning then. Alhaitham, which flowers do you think would fit best on the coffin?”

This was his cue to remind everyone how Kaveh wasn’t dead, but the reply didn’t get past his thoughts. Everything was too loud. The voices in his head argued in disparity and talked over one another, doubts he didn’t like to listen to, guilt that he rejected and the cries of a disgusting, utter helplessness. Alhaitham clutched his head as if he could shut out the noises that way. “Please excuse me.”

He spun around and headed for the exit. He’d almost reached the door, when Tighnari shouted, “Don’t do anything dangerous. Hear me?”

Alhaitham stopped, clenching the doorknob until his knuckles ached. “I’m stubborn, but not reckless. I won’t do anything that would warrant you to worry.”

If Kaveh was here, he would have called Alhaitham out on his lies. It was comically easy to see through the dishonesty. But his friends didn’t know him as well as his Senior once did, so they relaxed at the promise and waved him goodbye without any suspicion.

He wished his thoughts would just stop; all the noise made his head spin and his eyes water. I am not responsible for Kaveh’s fate, he told himself yet the burning ache in his chest disagreed. He himself wasn’t sure why he’d started to dedicate every free second to searching for his roommate. Was it because he hated a disrupted routine? Because mysteries intrigued him? Or because he couldn’t stand the silence after living with Kaveh for years? None of the answers hit the mark.

In the end, the reason didn’t matter, did it? Alhaitham shut out the nagging voices and pushed away the emotions that fitted no label he knew. Feelings had no place in science. The only important thing was that Alhaitham had an idea on how to figure out what happened to Kaveh. The more “unconventional” research method.

The only catch was that its success depended on the cooperation of a specific person. Teamwork has never suited him. The last joint project literally ended a friendship. Though without her help, he might as well join Tighnari and Cyno to discuss the colour of the coffin. He scoffed internally. Just thinking about it made the feelings he refused to deal with harder to ignore.

Leaving Puspa Café behind, Alhaitham treaded the familiar path to the Akademiya. However, today he didn’t plan on stopping by his office or the library. His true destination was the home of Sumeru’s Archon, the Sanctuary of Surasthana, an impressive building perched atop the crown of the trees, befitting of a god. The walls of the Sanctuary merged with the tree, winding around the trunk and embracing the branches. A certain architect used to love this design style.

“Halt,” the guards stopped him in his tracks. “State the reason for your visit. If you request an audience with the Lesser Lord, please schedule a meeting in advance.”

Alhaitham had no nerve for their antics. Without the meeting at the café and his infuriating headache, maybe he would have framed his next words more politely. But alas, he snapped, “Don’t you recognise me? I’ll give you one more chance to reconsider. Nahida will be most displeased to see the way you handle her one of her saviours.” Something inside him shrivelled in disgust at having to play the fame card. He detested the attention that had followed after the overthrow of the Sages. All that noise didn’t fit into his ideal of an unremarkable and quiet life.

Regardless, it was said ‘fame’ that made the guards splutter unfinished sentences and hastily open the gate to the Sanctuary of Surasthana. One of them even apologised for not recognising the once-acting-Grand-Sage. He paid them no mind.

The hall inside was bigger than the Grand Bazaar and just as expensive as all its offered goods combined. Golden pillars and glass coloured in varying shades of green enveloped the place that hosted a grand centre room, where a small child rested on something akin to a giant blooming flower.

The clovers in her eyes lit up once she noticed her visitor. Although she donned a youthful appearance, once she started talking, her true age revealed itself. “Alhaitham, what a delightful surprise to be able to welcome you at my humble abode. What brings you here?”

“You don’t know? I thought you could read people’s minds.”

She chuckled; apparently not offended by the crude remark. “While this is indeed within the range of my abilities, just because a dusk bird can walk, doesn’t mean that walking is its preferred way of transportation.”

“Meaning?”

“I’d rather not intrude on my visitor’s privacy by peeking into their thoughts. It’s rude.”

“Fine, then I suppose the old-fashioned method will have to do.” He sighed and his guts twisted, wondering whether this was a good idea after all. Even if it was mediocre at best, it was the only option left. “Nahida, I have a favour to ask of you.”

Chapter 21: The Fading Glow Of The M̤̱̳͍̲̼͆̀̅̀o̷̱͔͍ͣo̸̗̠̓̃ǹ̷͖͔̳͇̳̞͑ͣ II

Chapter Text

?̷̶̸̡̢̛̛͍̣̠̫͇͚͉͙͓͔͚̪̖̟̃̂͗ͫ́̍ͬ̄́ͪ̏̈ͫͩ̀͘ͅ?̶̴̴̡̛̛̻̻̘̖̲̥̘̭̖̲͙̭̖̙̞̩̀̒͆ͭͦ̀̓ͦͨ͊͐ͥ̿̀͆ͭ̎̒͢͠͝ͅ?̴̨̳̦̻͓͚̥̬̫̱̄ͩͤ̍̽̐ͧͬ̿̏ͦ̆̏̄͐͗̍͊ͮ̏ͩ̈́̕͜ͅ,,years and ?̗͈̇̉͡?̚҉̪͕̙̬̯͔̘?͗͂̓҉̖̜̺̫̗̝ ̴̫̱̏ͩ̈́ͅ days, Sanctuary of Surasthana

“A favour? What kind of favour?” Nahida hopped off the flower and approached him. Dendro-green sprouts bloomed where her bare feet met the ground. “I gladly help out wherever I can. I’ve long wished to properly express my gratitude for you have freed my wings.”

“Forgive me for being so direct. Without the Gnosis, how powerful are you?”

“If you require strength that can transform whole regions, I’m afraid I need a couple more centuries to perform. Although, a small mountain I can do.”

Alhaitham let out a pleased hum. “That’s more than enough. All I need is an artificial Leyline disorder. This should be well within your powers.”

“Indeed.” She clasped her tiny hands together with a smile. “Creating an overload of elemental energy is easy as cake.”

“Did you mean ‘easy as pie’? Nevermind that. I don’t need just a common Leyline disorder, but a destabilised one. Is this alright with you?” Alhaitham wasn’t an impatient man, but the silence between his question and Nahida’s reply gnawed on his nerves. Seconds had never passed slower. Heneededthe help of his Archon – no one else possessed both the powers and connection to Irminsul to exert control over the Leylines. If she too denied him help…

“A destabilised one?” she repeated, “You speak of these ‘red disorders’ I presume? These are more difficult than pie.”

This is not how you use that idiom, at all.

“Still, for an Archon, even one as inexperienced as me, this poses no issue. When do you need my help?” Nahida glanced up at him with big green eyes that could snatch the answer right out of his head if she wanted to.

Alhaitham let out a small breath of relief. “Tomorrow, about an hour after midnight near the outskirts of Sumeru.”

“If that’s all you ask, I’ll gladly assist.”

“I owe you my earnest gratitude, Nahida. If there’s anything you need me to elaborate on or have questions about, I propose you’ll ask them now since I might not be able to do so later.”

“Oh no, it’s fine.” She shook her head lightly.

“This includes all the relevant topics, not just the technical details.”

“I understood that, yes.”

Alhaitham waited for the inevitable catch but only created an awkward silence instead. This was too easy. If humans doubted him, he expected a god to hold even higher standards. “You aren’t even curious as to why I ask for this favour?”

Without a beat of hesitation, Nahida said, “No, I already know.”

“Huh. So much about ‘it’s rude to peek into a visitor’s mind’.”

“I didn’t peek. Pinky promise! It’s just that you’re acting rather predictable.”

Something inside of Alhaitham bristled at being addressed like this. People called him a multitude of colourful words – apathetic, rude, cold – but never once had someone described him as ‘predictable’.He didn’t like the sound of it. “I suppose it’s expected from the goddess of wisdom to predict the actions of her people.”

“Your praise is much appreciated, but I still have a long way to go until I reach a sufficient understanding of humanity.”

“So, you know of my doings and won’t try to stop me?”

“Try to stop you?” Nahida co*cked her head in confusion as if that idea hadn’t even crossed her thoughts until now. None of that surprise made it into her calm child-like voice. “Why should I interfere? If life is a vast ocean, I am a seagull gazing down from above, simply observing. I acknowledge that you made a decision, thus I will not stand in the way of your ambition, regardless of the outcome.”

“Ah, you maintain impartiality. A reasonable stance to choose. So be it. Thank you for honouring my request, Nahida.”

Alhaitham’s solemn mood didn’t dim her smile in the slightest. “Don’t mention it. It’s the least I owe you.”

“I shall excuse myself then. I still need to run some errands for tomorrow to work out as planned.”

“Farewell, we’ll meet again at the outskirts.”

She accompanied him to the gate and the guards bowed to them on his way out. Exiting the Sanctuary of Surasthana was like stepping into a different realm entirely. The chilly night outside formed a stark contrast to the bright halls dipped in gold. Though the success of their meeting warmed Alhaitham in a way the night couldn’t defy –there was hope that eased the burden on his heart. With Nahida’s assistance secured, he only needed one more item. Luckily, the tavern wasn’t too far off on his way home.

Lambad raised his hand in a greeting when he spotted the familiar patron entering. “Ah, Alhaitham! Here to pick up K-” He stopped himself and tried to bridge the awkward moment with a sorry laugh. “What am I saying? Excuse me, old habits die hard. Is there anything you’d like to order? The first one will be on the house. Consider it an apology for my slip-up.”

“Don’t apologise. Once Kaveh returns, we’ll fall back into our old routine anyway.”

“Yes, of course.” Lambad was a professional and restored the polite smile with ease, though Alhaitham could practically hear his doubts. No one believed in Kaveh’s return. Kaveh’s client already gave the project to someone else, people gathered at the Palace of Alcazarzaray to mourn its famous architect and researchers dissected his unfinished blueprints. Kaveh had a lot more fans ever since he’d vanished.

“What would you like to drink?” Lambad nodded to the menu drawn with chalk on a blackboard. “It’s on the house.”

“One bottle of frigid snake wine.”

He laughed. This time, it was sincere. “Oh, you cunning scribe. I can’t blame you for seizing the opportunity to snatch our best wine.”

“I’m not buying it for the economic benefit nor my own pleasure.”

“Sure.” Lambad went to the back of the shop to fetch said bottle and placed it on the counter. In the same casual tone, he continued, “Whatever the reason be for your purchase, please drink responsibly.”

Alhaitham froze. What did he just say? Never in all the years he visited this tavern had Lambad ever felt the need to remind him of safe drinking. If anything, the advice was usually directed towards Kaveh. If it wasn’t impossible for mortals, he almost believed Lambad read his mind. Alhaitham wrinkled his nose. Had he actually become this predictable?

Silently, he took the wine and left, since he hated to make promises he couldn’t keep. With that, his small errand run concluded. There was no need to go to the Akademiya tonight, so he headed home for once.

No one greeted him when he unlocked the front door. The silence had moved in a month ago and stretched itself comfortably throughout the living room, kitchen and bedrooms. It accompanied Alhaitham when he read on the divan. It haunted the house when he tried to sleep. And, sometimes, it filled the whole space to the point where it forced away all the air in the room necessary to breathe, mostly at night when one’s mental defence was low and easy for traitorous thoughts to slip through. He generally preferred a quiet environment, but not this kind of ‘quiet’. This house was silent in the same way a graveyard was.

Alhaitham put the wine bottle down on a crowded shelf near the entrance. He wasn’t focused and the remedy for his lack of attention was a metallicthudand something shiny flashing in the corner of his vision. With a sigh, he bent down to pick up the remains of his earpieces. No need for haste. It was broken anyway and one more splinter of gold and green didn’t mean anything.

Some of the pieces had already gotten stuck underneath the shelf and Alhaitham was too tired to scrap them back to the surface. He should have thrown the whole device away anyway. Trying to repair the earpieces would cost him more scratches than the thing was worth in Mora. If he was even able to repair it on his own.

While Alhaitham built the first prototype, Kaveh oversaw its maintenance, changed parts and added new features ever since they moved in together. Thanks to the genius of Kshahrewar, Alhaitham never needed to worry about his earpieces. This was, until it broke, also thanks to the genius of Kshahrewar.

He put the remains of the device back on the shelf. Something about it hurt, but looking down at his hands, he caught no scratches from the splinters.

?̶̤̮̺̱̮̬̲̺̱̟̰̝̳̽́̋̋̃́̈̄͊̎̓́̀̊̚̚?̷͎̳̈́̈̓̾̓̾?̴̫̫̟̟̤̯̱̲̬̓́ years and ?̶̨̻̜̹̖͔̙̼̺̱̮̜̑̀̓̿̇̈́̈̑̎̅̾̈́͜?̴͎̣͘͠?̶̡̺̲̬͖͍̺̺͕̙͊̽̑̉͐̽̅̐͝ ̴̫̱̏ͩ̈́ͅ days, Alhaitham’s house

Alhaitham never remembered his dreams. He only recalled a rootless sadness that faded out as he woke up and cracked his eyes open. Aggressive sunlight flooded the entire room instead of the soft morning glow he expected. One glimpse at the clock confirmed his suspicion. It was long past noon. He’d overslept. If he hurried, he could still make it to his office and hope that no one noticed his absence.

Though, Alhaitham didn’t find a single reason in himself to care. Even if the Akademiya chastised him, so what? He turned around again and closed his eyes, wishing for the dreamless sleep to lure him back in. He had a whole day to waste until he met up with Nahida. The pile of books on his shelves didn’t pique his interest, the lovely weather failed to convince him to go outside and even the hunger didn’t seem urgent enough to crawl out of bed. Somehow, it all didn’t really matter.

The hours passed by and Alhaitham’s mind swayed between sleep and reality. His mind was heavy and it weighed down the rest of his body. At some point, the hunger became harder to ignore and as the evening sun nestled itself between the mountaintops, he surrendered to his whining stomach and got up to search the kitchen for anything edible. He even took a shower just to occupy himself and once he’d gotten dressed, enough hours had gone by. The dreaded wait came to an end and endowed the day with meaning again. It was time for the final preparations.

Alhaitham retrieved the frigid snake wine he bought at Lambad’s and placed it next to the case file on Kaveh’s disappearance. The edges of the paper already curled up and showed stains and wrinkles from being flipped through so many times. After all, it was the first report Cyno had handed him, a quick timeline of the events, although the content hadn’t changed much throughout the investigation except for additional footnotes and minor details.

By now, Alhaitham was probably able to recite the report from memory, but with so many variables outside of his control, he couldn’t afford carelessness. Thus, he picked up a quill and started reading.

8:30 pm

Mister Alhaitham, Grand Scribe of the Akademiya, and Master Kaveh, Master Architect, arrive at Lambad’s Tavern, where they order the first drink of the night.* Patrons remark a tense mood between the two men which is, according to the regulars, “quite common” between them.

10:00 pm

Co-workers of Master Kaveh first notice the red Leyline on the construction site. After some discussion, they agree to notify the head architect, Master Kaveh, on how to handle the issue. Miss Sasani, one of the co-workers, volunteers to search for him.

11:23 pm

Mister Alhaitham and Master Kaveh plan to depart from the tavern and get into a heated fight over the bill. The argument ends with Master Kaveh smashing a pair of golden earpieces (see also: Reference Pic #2) and Mister Alhaitham taking back the keys to their shared living space.

11:40 pm

Master Kaveh leaves the tavern, heavily intoxicated*. Mister Alhaitham stays to collect the broken scraps of the earpieces. He declines the help from the patrons.

There was a footnote added to two entries, which referred to the bill for their tavern stay. The numbers on the paper became harder to read and Alhaitham felt sick again as if he had swallowed something foul. Who cared about the bill? A Mora was worth much more to Kaveh than it was to Alhaitham. It was supposed to be teasing in good fun until it stopped being fun, it wasn’t even teasing anymore and certainly not ‘good’. They wanted to see blood.

The passing time and the hangover had eroded his memories of that night, but some lines still echoed sharp and clear in his mind like fragments of his broken earpieces still pierced into the floor.“You miss no opportunity to throw obstacles my way and I hate it so much. No, I hate you so much,”Kaveh spat at him, face contorted into a grimace of raw disdain. No joke, no teasing. The man, who believed in the goodness of every human, made an exception just for Alhaitham. They were always ‘special’ to each other.

He would like to blame the alcohol for his actions after that, but he was in control just enough to purposefully ignore what was right. Something about Kaveh’s words triggered an urge in Alhaitham that wanted to push the argument further and let him squirm just a little longer before Alhaitham paid. But they had already forced this argument to the brim and that was the push that shoved it off.

He never expected to hold onto the second house keys for long either. First thing he did after waking up was check the front door for a disgruntled roommate perched against the wall, begging to be allowed back in. But no one came, also not the following day or the day after that. He still held on to the second key.

Alhaitham forced his mind elsewhere. He digressed. What happened at Lambad’s didn’t matter anymore, only the solution to the problem did. He continued reading.

11:43 pm

After a tedious search, Miss Sasani finds Master Kaveh in front of the tavern and informs him about the issue on the construction site immediately. She describes him as “heavily distressed” and “irritated”. She also notices a slight limp and he clutches his right side.

0:35 am

Master Kaveh and Miss Sasani reach the construction site. Witnesses commonly describe the Leyline in the centre as “not differing from common Leylines in anything but their colour – a vibrant red”. Later, researchers from the Spantamad Darshan confirmed the risk of unnatural Leyline disorders due to the constellation of the stars during a total eclipse.

0:39 am

Master Kaveh rejects Miss Sasani’s suggestion to hire the Adventurers Guild and decides to personally take care of the issue. He promises to get his claymore and toolbox “Mehrak” to guard the construction site from elemental beings whom the disorder attracts.

0:42 am

Miss Sasani describes a “blinding red flash” when Master Kaveh comes into contact with the Leyline disorder and a smaller “green flicker”. She hears someone scream and finds that Master Kaveh has vanished. The Leyline “gradually dims in saturation and brightness”.

0:50 am

Mister Alhaitham settles the bill at Lambad’s Tavern and leaves. He heads home and goes to sleep.

1:35 am

Miss Sasani arrives at the Akademiya and notifies the Matra. The active officials take alarm at her state of distress. She is unable to form coherent sentences. It takes twenty minutes to calm her down.

1:45 am

Miss Sasani’s state is stable enough to explain the incident.

2:20 am

The Matra accompany Miss Sasani to the construction site. They find neither the Leyline nor any trace of Master Kaveh. However, vision wielders later find the remains of elemental traces on the scene that confirm the Leyline’s prior existence.

After that, the file referred to the Matras’ first written record of the scene. Alhaitham stopped and circled the important paragraphs like some sort of checklist. His pen lingered at the “limping”-part. He still wasn’t sure why the report remained rather vague here. Either Cyno wanted to save him the embarrassment of including their physical disagreement or the Matra didn’t deem the events noteworthy enough.

Either way, even if everyone chose to avert their gazes, the truth still stared at them. Alhaitham injured Kaveh. His quill dug into the paper, a dark dot growing on the spot.

Alhaitham wasn’t aware of his own strength and when the earpieces fractured into thousandth shards, the alcohol had already blurred his restraint. Their argument tipped over the edge of friendly banter and in that moment, he’d just wanted, no,neededsome space and shoved Kaveh away. With too much force, too harshly, and too fast to regret it.

For someone who claimed to value logic and facts, he hadn’t given his actions a second thought. How pathetic that his bright mind went dark in this situation. Maybe this was why the accident bothered him so much: It contradicted his values.

No later when Kaveh struggled to get up again afterwards, the consequences of his actions should have forced Alhaitham out of his frenzy. He should have done something, anything, Archons, why did he not realise that he’d crossed a line? Why didn’t he help Kaveh up and owned his mistake?

The quill stabbed through the page and the paper snapped. Ink spilt like blood from an open wound.

“Archons.” Alhaitham backed off lest he stained his clothes too. A small puddle drowned the entire entry and blacked out the letters. Whenever his focus scattered, disaster occurred. At least this time it was a broken quill and not broken ribs.

He cleared up the mess and threw away the dripping case file. It wasn’t needed anymore, because soon, his research would bear successful results. He’d already checked off everything for his plan except for two things.

Alhaitham picked up the bottle of frigid snake wine. There was no need for glasses. If he remembered correctly, taking into account the bill in the case file, Kaveh had emptied an entire bottle before they argued.

Alhaitham lowered the bottleneck to his lips and didn’t put it down until he’d downed the last drop. He grimaced, unable to enjoy the fine beverage, because the next step spoiled its taste with bitter anticipation.

He should act quickly before the alcohol took away his precision. No matter how tempting the idea was to wait until the wine numbed his senses, as he’d told Lambad already, this plan wasn’t set out for comfort. This whole ordeal relied too much on luck already and if he wanted to call himself a reputable researcher, he would seize control wherever possible.

Even without the alcohol taking effect, his head spun when he stood up. His fingertips traced along the edge of the kitchen table – around the same thickness and height as the ones in Lambad’s Tavern. Only that theirs was crafted out of Brightwood and donned different carvings around the corners. Still, it probably felt all the same crashing into it.Don’t think and simply do it,he encouraged himself,this is the only way I can perfectly replicate Kaveh’s disappearance.

Yet, Alhaitham’s body defied the will of his mind and caged his muscles in a rigid tension, unable to move. Should he have asked someone else to “help” him? He could already imagine the horror on Tighnari’s face at that request. No, his friends would never agree to hurt him and he didn’t trust a stranger with his health either. Which left only one option.

Alhaitham threw himself against the table. He gasped, but the pain ebbed down quickly to a lightly throbbing sting. How pathetic. This wouldn’t do. His instincts of survival held him back. He was scared of getting harmed, but abandoning his plan frightened him even more.

Alhaitham acted quickly to rob himself of any chance to overthink. The second time, he screamed. It almost drowned out the noise of a nasty cracking sound. Blinding pain overwrote his senses with immediate regret. He lost foothold. His back collided with the wall.

He wanted to never breathe again as each inhale pressed against the broken bones, moved them and sliced into flesh.Is this how Kaveh felt?He found little comfort in reminding himself that by the time their argument reached its crescendo, the wine had already dulled his roommate’s senses.

Taking short, rapid breaths, Alhaitham propped himself up on his elbows. This time, the pain stayed. At last, he was successful.Toosuccessful even – something wet pooled around his ribs and fabric scraps laid torn off underneath the table, edges glimmering with a red rim. If the first attempt was too weak, his enthusiasm had gone overboard at the second try.Hopefully, that won’t mess with the plan.After all, he strove to mirror Kaveh’s condition as precisely as possible.

Alhaitham hauled himself up and staggered, gripping the same table that caused his agony. Choked groans tumbled out his mouth between gritted teeth. He gasped for air, but never got enough. Moving was torture, but so was standing still. For a brief moment, the wish to seek out the Bimarstan instead was strong enough to make him cave.

That was until he fumbled for his key. The keychain of a small lion peered up at him from where the golden and silver keys stuck together. Almost as if the pale empty eyes glared at him with sorrow. He knew the answer without even asking the question. If he wanted to return the second key to his rightful owner, he needed to attend the promised meeting with his Archon.

Chapter 22: The Fading Glow Of The M̴̡̩̃̊́̎̾̊͜ö̵͙́͛̈̒͛̆o̴̠͑ņ̴̯͑̍͆̌̎ III

Chapter Text

?̷̶̸̡̢̛̛͍̣̠̫͇͚͉͙͓͔͚̪̖̟̃̂͗ͫ́̍ͬ̄́ͪ̏̈ͫͩ̀͘ͅ?̶̴̴̡̛̛̻̻̘̖̲̥̘̭̖̲͙̭̖̙̞̩̀̒͆ͭͦ̀̓ͦͨ͊͐ͥ̿̀͆ͭ̎̒͢͠͝ͅ?̴̨̳̦̻͓͚̥̬̫̱̄ͩͤ̍̽̐ͧͬ̿̏ͦ̆̏̄͐͗̍͊ͮ̏ͩ̈́̕͜ͅ,,years and ?̶̨̧̡̡̜͙͉̭̘͇̮̞̳͍͙͈̖̱̹̝͙͍̮̘̾̑͗̂͌͂́̑̆̔̓͒͂̇̓̂̒̈́̿̍̂̽̊̌͛̍̾̑̔̎̚͘̕͝͝?̴̛̯̣̪̥̖̙͂̾̃̃̾͂̅͘ͅ?̶̺͔̮̯̙͎̲̠͍̘̝̝̲̭͔̟͙͚̦̪͍̥̙͎̤̰̒̑́̐̌͌͒̑̀̓͛̆̓̍̚̕̚ ̴̫̱̏ͩ̈́ͅ days, Sumeru City

Alhaitham dragged the collar of his cape deeper around his neck to shield himself from the eyes of nosy pedestrians. Panting heavily, he clutched his other hand around the ache in his side, palm feeling increasingly slick. The wine had numbed his injuries by a fair amount, but the alcohol’s grasp was still too weak to shove off the weight that crushed his lungs tight with each breath.

Both his injury and the alcohol-induced daze turned each step he took into a fight against his own body. The ground seemed to warp, his feet didn’t quite land where they were supposed to and every tumble sent a sharp pain to his ribs. He grabbed onto a lamppost to regain balance. Curses in all sorts of languages slipped past his lips between sharp gasps.

Just a bit more…

Although Alhaitham perfectly recreated Kaveh’s situation, he wasn’t him – and certainly not regarding his tolerance for alcohol. At least now he could reassure himself that it was the right choice to get the ‘preparations’ done before his senses dulled. In that state, he wouldn’t have been able to judge how much force was too much. Though his sober state didn’t decide better either.

Keeping up a rhythm of stumbling and holding on to anything in his way, he dragged himself through Sumeru city until he reached the city gates. Shortly before his sorry silhouette entered the guard’s view, he slipped into the shadows and slumped against a house wall that didn’t catch the light of the street lanterns. A strategic break to restore his strength, lest the Matra take alarm at his state.

Alhaitham inhaled through his mouth and exhaled a shaky whine. His legs became increasingly unsteady, but he didn’t trust himself to get back up if he sat down. Ineptly, he wiped the sweat off his forehead and noticed too late the red smudge it left on his skin. To protect his own courage, he purposefully avoided looking down, but seeing his palm coated in so much red called back the flicker of panic. This pesky fear wouldn’t ignore the ache in his ribs and begged him to turn around to seek help.

Though the only whisper that convinced Alhaitham was the voice of reason, reminding him of his objective. He invested too much in this plan to give up. Besides, if Kaveh walked all the way to the construction site in a similar state, then Alhaitham wouldn’t let his roommate beat him. He’d always loved the thrill of competing with an equal, be it in a physical battle or a battle of wits. Even if he lost, the excitement was a fair consolation prize. Kaveh never missed an opportunity to test him and Alhaitham accepted this challenge as well.

With a grunt, he pushed himself up, gripping onto every nook and gap in the wall to steady himself. The longer he lingered, the more he risked getting recognised by people. Seeing the Grand Scribe bleeding and intoxicated would unnecessarily frighten them. Or even worse - they could act on their fear and take him back to safety themselves since they didn’t understand that sometimes danger handed out tempting rewards for giving it a chance.

As Alhaitham approached the city gate, he draped his cloak around the wound and held his breath to not alert them with wrenched gasps. The guards graced him with nothing more than a glance and a curt nod before their attention strolled elsewhere.

Next time he met Cyno, he should tell him to switch his underlings out for more attentive personnel. Not that he particularly cared right now, given that it worked out in his favour.

Alhaitham passed through the gate with little grace. His shoes clashed with one of the Matra’s spear, making him almost fall. Muttering apologies, he strived forward without slowing down. Just one foot before the other, over and over again. As long as he focused on the next step, he would be fine. He would be-

Darkness ambushed him.

Next thing he knew, he looked at the starry sky from a different angle. The ground feltwarmagainst his back despite what should have been a chilly night. And not just warm, it almost seemed comfortable. Splintered branches, jagged pebbles and dried leaves invited him to rest. Didn’t he just spend his whole day in bed? Where did all this fatigue come from?

Shouts reached him from afar. Although Alhaitham couldn’t dissect their meaning, the urgency in their screams reawakened his senses. Apparently, the guards weren’t slacking off after all. Alhaitham pulled himself up, slowly, because he knew he didn’t have the strength for a second attempt.

Keeping his stare fixed on the path in front of him, he continued, ignoring whatever the men from the gate shouted. They weren’t allowed to leave their post anyway. Or were they? Better walk faster to reach a safer distance…

He clenched his cape and the fabric whined, completely soaked through.Just don’t look down. The construction site cannot be too far off.For a second time, the world became harder to hold on to like trying to not fall overboard on stormy sea. Right when Alhaitham was about to lose his foothold, someone grabbed him by the sleeve. In the corner of his eyes, he spied a child-like face that had gotten pallid in shock.

“Alhaitham?” He didn’t recognise Nahida’s voice right away since he’d never heard her speak with so much open terror. Her gaze fell on the growing red stain on his abdomen. Alhaitham wanted to turn the injury out of her line of sight, but the wine messed up the communication between his will and his legs.

He stumbled over his own feet. The collision with a tree shoved a miserable groan out of his lungs and his knees buckled. Nahida softened his descent by guiding him down slowly until he sat on the grass. Even after he stopped moving, the world continued swaying.

“I assumed you would attempt to recreate Kaveh’s situation, but I didn’t foresee this…” She swallowed hard and vaguely gestured to his injury. “…this level of commitment.”

“I’m a scholar at heart,” was the only thing Alhaitham got out with what little air reached his lungs. If talking didn’t make him feel so dizzy, he would have elaborated on the importance of controlling every variable. Although “control” wasn’t the correct word when his legs defied his command to remain standing.

“This is a concerning amount of blood. How did it come to this?” Before Alhaitham even got the chance to reply, she said, “On second thought, please disregard my question. You shouldn’t talk when it clearly pains you to do so. May I just…”

Light ignited in her clover-eyes. She stared at him so intently, that Alhaitham practically felt the invisible force flipping through his memories and peeking into his thoughts. Nahida neither blinked nor moved. He wasn’t sure if time even passed if it wasn’t for his ragged breaths.

Flinching, her hands flew to cover her stomach on the same spot where the blood pooled on Alhaitham’s shirt. She blinked, confused like she’d just woken up and peered down at her open palms as if expecting to see them covered in the same red. On her face, he read surprise without the joy of discovery. “I understand now…” She talked slowly, half her mind occupied with digesting everything she’d just seen. “I’m amazed you arrived here conscious. It dismays me how the city guards did not lend a clearly wounded man their aid. The sharpest sword becomes a dull blade in the hands of a careless wielder.”

“It’s alright. Can we just get started already?” Alhaitham grew impatient. Nahida’s behaviour fed the anxious voices and he’d rather get this done before the doubts got to him first.

“Are you certain you want to proceed despite your predicament?”

The fear hit Alhaitham worse than the blow to his ribs did. If Nahida revoked her offer, his last plan was impossible to execute. No one else wielded the power to manipulate the Leylines. “You agreed to help me.” He sucked in a sharp breath and winced at the ache flaring up. “A god’s promise should be worthsomething.”

“Cease your worries, I will not abandon the promise I made to you.” Nahida spoke softly yet self-assured and it put Alhaitham’s concerns temporarily at ease. “Rather, I wish to fulfil my promise to the best of my abilities, which simply isn’t possible under the current circ*mstances.”

“How so?”

“I, too, read the case file and I believe Kaveh’s state doesn’t compare to yours. If he carried similar wounds, he wouldn’t have gotten up this quickly in the tavern. In the witness report, Miss Sasani described neither any blood on Kaveh nor an inherent difficulty in talking. He appeared healthy apart from a limp and complaints about mild pain. You on the other hand…”

She paused as if to search for the right words. The look of abject horror reflected in her eyes when she glanced over to Alhaitham’s blood-stained clothes. “Simply put, you’re too injured to call this a proper replica.”

“What’s done is done. Want me to put the bone back in its place?”

“Not you, you’re a mortal. Allow me to help.” He backed off when she reached out. Nahida gave him a reassuring smile. “I won’t do anything that goes against your will if you refuse. However, I presume it is in your best interest to conduct this experiment as accurately as possible. Or am I mistaken?”

“No…” Alhaitham clenched his jaw, struggling to build a coherent string of thoughts. The arguments she used sounded like ones he would come up with. Did Nahida know what to say because she peered into his head? Or was the flaw in his logic this painfully obvious?

“I’ll leave the ribs that don’t threaten your vitals untouched for now. The bleeding however concerns me and so does your irregular breathing. Allow me to inspect the damage.” She extended her hand – with no resistance this time - and peeled off Alhaitham’s soaked cloak. He instinctively averted his eyes, but his mind already supplied images of torn flesh. He got nauseous. It didn’t help that even though Nahida executed every move with care, it still stung whenever she grazed the wounded spots.

“This will hurt a little, but nothing worse than anything you’ve dealt with already.” A faint glow embraced her fingertips and illuminated the lower end of Alhaitham’s torso as she placed her palm on the ripped fabric.

Alhaitham twitched when something hot spread through his body from the inside. The heat flooded his veins and coerced broken pieces to return to their rightful place. Gradually, the tight shackles around his ribcage loosened, then fell, as fresh air streamed into his lungs without hurting. What was torn mended back together. The fog in his head receded and the world didn’t spin as fast anymore until it hesitantly stopped entirely. The scorching heat was the last to leave.

Nahida withdrew her hand. “How are you feeling?”

“Better.” Alhaitham inhaled deeply. “Much better.” The pressure in his side remained, but at least said pressure didn’t crush his airways anymore. Finally, it was quieter too with the small whisper of survival appeased. Almost appeased. A different danger still loomed.

“Take rest before we continue. We cannot risk you passing out.”

Alhaitham shook his head decisively. “My delay cost us enough time. It’s already well past midnight and I cannot miss the right moment.”

“I shouldn’t be disappointed, since I expected that reply.” The conflicted smile wasn’t befitting of her innocent appearance. She stood up. “But you’re right, the goddess of wisdom doesn’t go back on her promise.”

Nahida stepped into the centre of the construction site, which was framed by barriers erected by the Matra and abandoned materials Kaveh’s co-workers left behind. She climbed over the debris and stopped at the same spot where the first Leyline once stood. The world had gone quiet like an audience awaiting the start of the show and Alhaitham had front row tickets.

She closed her eyes as the air around them charged with tension as elemental energy streamed towards her like moths yearning for the light. The ground shivered and creaked. Alhaitham hauled the cloak over his head to shield himself from the rain of twigs and leaves. A hoard of dusk birds fled the scene with a startled cry and silhouettes of smaller animals rushed through the bushes.

Streaks of smoke broke through the floor and gravitated towards the centre. They flickered between gold and cyan fast enough to make Alhaitham’s head spin worse. The ground cracked again. More glowing smoke gathered in front of Nahida, swirling like planets around the sun. Crackling sparks flew off the Leyline as it darkened. It hissed and squealed as though it put up a fight before a dark red bubbled out of the light, drowned everything and conquered its place as the dominant colour. The quivering stopped.

“It’s done.” Nahida took a step back to examine her creation. “This should resemble the Leyline of that night perfectly.”

She pranced back to Alhaitham to help him get up. Under the red light of the Leyline, the blood on his clothes became almost invisible to the eye. “So, this is what he saw a month ago...”

What went through Kaveh’s head in that moment? Was he scared? Confused? Or worried because of the damage the disorder wrought? The palace of Alcazarzaray once faced similar issues with the Withering Zones, which marked the start of Kaveh’s quick descent into debt. Maybe if his financial situation didn’t look so hopeless, maybe if he had a home to return to, Miss Sasani could have convinced him to let the Adventurers Guild handle the problem.

He shook his head. None of this was relevant. The past didn’t matter. Only the future was worth considering with everything else lying outside his control.

Nahida misunderstood his troubled expression. “You mustn’t be afraid. I will monitor your condition throughout and interfere if necessary.”

“No need.” Alhaitham approached the Leyline carefully to not trip. His heart beat faster, yet it wasn’t out of fear but anticipation. For months, his research hit dead ends and looped in circles. Books and scholars repeated themselves with their empty theories. For the first time in weeks, hope was more than a dream on the horizon but something reachable, almost in his grasp.

As he got closer, pressure built up around him and the air became heavier. Tips of red smoke nestled around Alhaitham’s ankles and nudged him as if encouraging him to take one more step. Standing in front of the Leyline, its pulsating cloud resembled a human heart, throbbing with elemental energy.

The entry in the Matra report jostled itself to the forefront of his mind.Miss Sasani describes a “blinding red flash” when Master Kaveh comes into contact with the Leyline disorder and a smaller “green flicker”. She hears someone scream and finds that Master Kaveh has vanished.

If everything went according to plan, Cyno only needed to replace the names for Alhaitham’s report. He briefly wondered where the Leyline would send him, but ultimately decided that pondering was pointless, since he’d find out soon regardless.

Despite having gone through the situation a hundred times over in his head, his imagination missed mentioning the overpowering rush of adrenaline of a wait coming to an end. It was time. The blood rushing to his ears drowned out every other noise and the world narrowed down to him and the disorder. The ‘whats’and ‘ifs’had bothered him for too long already. He deserved answers.

Taking one last breath, Alhaitham took the final step.

Chapter 23: The Fading Glow Of The Ḿ̵̬͈̻̲͕͓͇͕͍̤͉͇̥̭̖̜̬̗͖̥͕̦̥̄̅͌͆̂̍̅̇̿͐̑̃͗͛̈́̍͒͋̄̾̿͊͌̃͝͝͝ͅͅő̷̠̬̞͈̮̭̤̣̠̯̤̞̹̇͐̆̉̏̌̋͂́͛̎̍́̀́̄͛͛́̔̇̒̔͂͘͝ơ̸̡̧͓̱̪͓͖̦̗̭̹̟͓͎̙̣̗̳̥̤͉͚̝̫͖͎̙͖̝̼͊͗͆͂̑͗͗̓̕̕͠ͅn̴̢̧̨̼̭͖̬͈̬̰̥͔̺̩̻̟̪̼̫̺̳̥͈̮̠̽͆̔͗̈́̉͒̀̐͌̑̽̿͑͑̄̿̒͋̔̋̐̕͜ IV

Chapter Text

?̷̶̸̡̢̛̛͍̣̠̫͇͚͉͙͓͔͚̪̖̟̃̂͗ͫ́̍ͬ̄́ͪ̏̈ͫͩ̀͘ͅ?̶̴̴̡̛̛̻̻̘̖̲̥̘̭̖̲͙̭̖̙̞̩̀̒͆ͭͦ̀̓ͦͨ͊͐ͥ̿̀͆ͭ̎̒͢͠͝ͅ?̴̨̳̦̻͓͚̥̬̫̱̄ͩͤ̍̽̐ͧͬ̿̏ͦ̆̏̄͐͗̍͊ͮ̏ͩ̈́̕͜ͅ,,days and ?̷̶̸̡̢̛̛͍̣̠̫͇͚͉͙͓͔͚̪̖̟̃̂͗ͫ́̍ͬ̄́ͪ̏̈ͫͩ̀͘ͅ?̶̴̴̡̛̛̻̻̘̖̲̥̘̭̖̲͙̭̖̙̞̩̀̒͆ͭͦ̀̓ͦͨ͊͐ͥ̿̀͆ͭ̎̒͢͠͝ͅ?̴̨̳̦̻͓͚̥̬̫̱̄ͩͤ̍̽̐ͧͬ̿̏ͦ̆̏̄͐͗̍͊ͮ̏ͩ̈́̕͜ͅ years, the construction site, outskirts of Sumeru City

Everything happened all at once. Red smoke surged into Alhaitham’s lungs. Foreign powers bolted down his torso, crawled under his skin and seized control. His gasps grew into a muffled scream. He wasn’t sure whether his blood pressure rose out of fear or excitement.

The Leyline shook his powers from the inside and a flash of green sliced through the monotony. As if gaining a life on its own, his Dendro vision lit up and glowed bright enough to illuminate the whole glade. Just like the report said it would. Somehow, the action felt familiar as though it resurrected a buried memory that only his body remembered while his mind had already forgotten. What a strange déjà vu.

Alhaitham’s whole body tingled uncomfortably as the red clouds engulfed his being as if trapping him in an impossible tight hug. He surrendered without a fight, closed his eyes and awaited his fate with a heartbeat faster than the flickering of his Dendro vision.

Everything stopped so abruptly that Alhaitham didn’t catch himself in time when the Leyline let go of him. He tumbled over and violently coughed out red smoke. The spell was broken. His vision conceded control to its wielder and life consisted of more than two colours again.

Confused, Alhaitham threw himself back into the Leyline. He braced himself for the force that toyed with his powers like it was a pebble on the roadside. He waited for the red cloud to engulf him and to turn his mind mushy from the elemental energy buzzing through his body.

To no avail. Other than the tense aura emitted from the heart of the mist, it did nothing. The Leyline didn’t attack, it didn’t play with his vision and it didn’t trap him. It behaved like any other boring, ordinary, useless Leyline.

His heart stuttered. How can this be? It worked just seconds ago. Alhaitham tried again. He advanced into the red cloud until the lack of air forced him to retreat. No matter how much smoke entered his lungs, no matter how often the disorder burned his skin, the result stayed the same. The prickling sensation that accumulated in his chest wasn’t due to the Leyline now. That’s it?

“No, this can’t be. It’s not supposed to go like this!” Alhaitham’s gaze darted across the construction site, yearning to see if anything had changed. It didn’t. It was the same damn construction site where his blood decorated the floor and where a worried Archon observed his every move.

Although Nahida had pulled the pieces from his lungs, Alhaitham could hardly breathe. His plea was a pathetic excuse of a whisper. “Why won’t it work? Why? I tried everything.” His voice cracked and broke into a sob.

Whatever strength carried him to the Leyline fell apart and without its guidance, he dropped to his knees. “Isn’t this a perfect replica?” How is it still not enough? Feelings he’d shut out for weeks crept to the surface and whispered vile threats into his ears. For once, he had no retorts. Alhaitham didn’t know how to appease his fears, he ran out of arguments to outwit the panic and he failed to persuade the agony to leave. He lost.

Heavy tears fell from his eyes and once they breached his defences, Alhaitham was unable to stop them from streaming down his face. Sobs shook his body as the tears washed off the blood stains, raining down in white streaks. Cowering over, Alhaitham buried his face in quivering palms, completely at the mercy of the overwhelming pain born out of thoughts he never wanted to consider.

His lungs were working just fine, but Alhaitham couldn’t get enough air nevertheless, pathetically gasping between sobs. His thoughts bounced from one gloomy thought to the other, too fast for him to follow. It made him dizzy.

“Alhaitham?” Nahida whispered hesitantly. She crouched down next to him. Her movements were awkward and stiff as if she was figuring out a strategy on the go.

He didn’t catch enough air to answer. The experiment was supposedly perfect. What did they miss? What made Kaveh so different? What did Alhaitham need to do for everything to stop hurting so much? It was too much. His composure crumbled under the pressure like tearing on an open seam, stitches ripped from a barely closed wound, exposing the lies he once believed in.

“Are you…” Nahida scrapped whatever she wanted to say, and tried again. He recognised an echo of his own pain in her voice. “I’m so sorry. I, too, believed this experiment would yield more hopeful results. This is quite… devastating.”

Alhaitham blinked the glossy film away only for the looming Leyline to get unfocused again with the next sharp pant bubbling out of his chest. The implications of their failure caught him in the dead end of his mind. Nowhere to flee, but not fully ready to face the horror either. “Nahida?”

“Yes?”

“Do you…” His words grew incoherent the more he spoke. “…think Kaveh is still alive?”

“Oh.” Nahida must have read his mind again because there was no way she understood Alhaitham with how wretched he sounded. “This will sound strange coming from the goddess of wisdom, but I truly do not know. If the secrets of Teyvat were easy to figure out, we wouldn't need institutions dedicated to unwrapping the universal truths. Scholars have searched for centuries with each discovery opening up more questions than answers.

“That being said, the best way to predict the future is by looking into the past. You've always been diligent and determined when a topic caught your interest and in the pursuit of knowledge, you’ve surpassed many of your peers. If Kaveh is still out there, I believe you are capable enough to find him, even if others call it impossible. Rescuing a god is a deed most deem impossible as well and you accomplished it. That's why I gladly obliged your request.”

You evaded my question. “That’s neither a ‘yes’ nor a ‘no’.”

“Life isn't black and white.”

“I know.” Rather, it felt grey. Befitting an artist, when Kaveh disappeared, he had taken the colours with him. His vanishing drained the saturation of everything around him, redrew simple tasks into chores and turned days duller, becoming indistinguishable from one another. Kaveh contained so much life and energy that without him, everything else looked like a funeral in comparison. And he would know of funerals.

Alhaitham sat up, still not facing his Archon. He was tired. Even crying exhausted him. “I just don’t get it,” he whispered shakily. His breathing had calmed enough to form full sentences. “How can someone disappear and leave no traces? It’s as if Kaveh never truly existed. Even his face vanishes from my mind when I try to imagine it.”

“Really?” Nahida co*cked her head to the side, perplexed. “But your dreams are the most vivid ones I’ve seen in years. I wouldn’t have assumed you had trouble picturing him.”

“I don’t dream.”

“Yes, you do.” She spoke with so much certainty that Alhaitham almost second-guessed himself.

“I don’t. I’ve barely slept for weeks, let alone dream.”

“I see...” Nahida went quiet for long enough to create an uncharacteristic silence. A faint edge of hesitance laced her tone. “I suppose I’ve possibly mistaken them for someone else’s then. My apologies for causing confusion atop of the existing predicament. Indubitably, Kaveh is on enough people’s minds these days. That sparked the mix-up I presume.”

“It’s fine.” Alhaitham didn’t really care. Not about dreams, not about Leylines and not about how his Archon watched his sanity decaying. It got silent again except for small, weak gasps. Time passed weirdly when one’s whole world consisted of the Leyline in front of him and the terror it caused. For all the blood that covered his lower torso, there was none on his chest. How ironic; this hurt worse than crushed ribs.

The leaves rustled as Nahida shifted. She had enough time to think and the determination shone through her uncanny, bright green eyes that were soft and piercing simultaneously. “Although I cannot alleviate your mental misery, would you let me take care of what I can control? You’re still wounded.”

“Sure.”

She spread her fingers over the blood-soaked end of Alhaitham’s shirt. His ribcage got lighter as the scorching sensation mended the last broken bones together. His relief about being healed was dampened since he barely felt the effect.

“Thanks.”

“Not for that.” She summoned a soft smile that seemed to say ‘sorry’. “Have you decided on what you'll do next?”

What will I do next? The question echoed in his mind, hit no answer and got lost in a dull ache. Alhaitham shrugged barely noticeable because even this small motion was draining. “There’s not much to do. Besides writing a funeral speech, I suppose.”

Only the faint pause was a sign that his remark caught Nahida off-guard. “So… you believe Kaveh’s no longer with us?”

“What are my other options?” His throat tightened. He fought to push the words out of his mouth before he choked on them. “I exhausted my last lead. There’s nothing left to try, nowhere left to search and nothing else to think. If I keep insisting that Kaveh is alive without as much as a plausible theory, let alone any evidence, I would just be the lunatic people say I am. Given everything that happened, it’s natural to draw the conclusion that Kaveh… That he…”

Alhaitham’s vision blurred and the image of the Leyline smeared like blood on a glass pane. No matter how long he stared at the mist, it wouldn’t reveal its secrets. It wouldn’t tell him why it killed Kaveh and why his vision reacted in a way that Alhaitham’s didn’t. Nothing made sense with Kaveh. In the end, you surprised me again, Senior.

“The results aren’t desirable. That much is true.” Nahida maintained a calm demeanour although a small stuttering revealed that she lost just as much faith as Alhaitham did. If even the gods despaired, the truth was final. “Although, the Leyline certainly did something once you approached it. I wouldn’t count it as a total loss, albeit not the result you hoped for.”

“I’m sorry, Nahida, but just ‘something’ isn’t enough.”

“Right, I understand.”

“Please, don’t bother trying to cheer me up. It only makes both of us feel worse. You already fulfilled your promise and it’s depressing to see you struggle.” Alhaitham spoke over twenty languages and none of them had vocabulary that could ease the burden. Not even the words of a god.

“I am not doing this out of a sense of obligation. I truly want to help.”

This flash of naïve hope over something so hopeless, this altruism born out of a good heart, reminded him of someone. If they had the chance to meet, Kaveh and Nahida would have probably become good friends.

“In all honesty, yes, I don't really know how to deal with this situation. I cannot say I fully understand or relate to grief. Although sometimes I get the feeling of missing someone I cannot remember, I haven’t ever lost someone particularly close to me. I do, however, have observed a lot of people that do. All their fates and lives differed greatly but across all, I noticed similarities. Those who cling to the past are keeping a metaphorical knife in their stomach. You think you heal but you only grow accustomed to the ache. Naturally, pulling the blade out hurts even worse. All the freshly healed skin gets torn open and it bleeds worse than the first time it stabbed you. However, only with it gone can the wound close and your body heal. It will leave a mark, but at one point, you’ll be able to live with the mark and breathe freely again.”

Out of all the wisdom his god blessed him with, only one piece of information actually stuck in his hazy mind. Alhaitham couldn’t even blame her. “At last, you don’t believe in Kaveh’s return either.”

“I’m not taking sides. I am simply sharing observations.”

“It’s alright. You’re allowed opinions too, Nahida. Especially ones that come so naturally.” However much Alhaitham treasured his Archon's advice, he struggled with her metaphorical blade. It’s not that he lacked the desire to get the blade out, he just didn’t know how to grab it.

When it threatened to get silent again, Nahida rose to her feet and tugged lightly at the side of Alhaitham’s cape to get his attention. “We should return to the city. You’re weakened and in need of proper rest. I believe this is the best possible option right now.”

He didn’t find that it made much of a difference if he was here, at home or anywhere else, but for his Archon’s sake, he hauled his body up and took one last glance at the construction site.

The gloomy mood of the hour even infected the Leyline. Its glow had dulled in comparison to when Nahida first created it. The misty cloud gave up on its vibrant red as though it had wept and washed off its saturated colour in the process, now looking watered-down and miserable.

“Alhaitham, are you able to walk? Or are your injuries still troubling you?”

“No, I’m alright. Lead the way.”

Walking the path to the city was more strenuous than the first time. Although his muscles didn’t revolt anymore when he took one foot before the other, now he didn’t find it in himself to want it.

In spite of her size, Nahida oftentimes walked further ahead and regularly stopped to wait for him to catch up. They continued this pattern until they ended up at the Sanctuary of Surasthana, where they quietly bid their farewells. Nahida had offered to walk him home too, but Alhaitham quickly shut her down. No need for any more futile attempts at consolation.

Sluggishly, Alhaitham trotted down the Akademiya stairs. In hindsight, he started to regret rejecting Nahida’s offer to accompany him further, since he was now left with neither distraction nor encouragement.

Being at the Akademiya awakened memories that both hugged his heart as much as they crushed it. The branches of the divine tree that surged up into the heavens took him back to the night he and Kaveh climbed it to watch a total lunar eclipse. To risk getting caught by the Matra just to watch the moon was foolish, yet Alhaitham once found himself surprisingly willing to take the risk. A once sweet memory turned bitter.

That was another issue. Although Kaveh had left, his presence lingered everywhere. The House of Daena brought Alhaitham back to their study sessions, the paintings at the Grand Bazaar reminded him of Kaveh’s artworks and whenever Padisarahs sprouted on the side of the road, he heard his roommate explaining in detail why they matched the Palace of Alcazarzaray so well.

The rims around his eyes hurt but no more tears came out. Nahida’s analogy was wrong. Rather than a knife, it was more like a thousandth needles. A lot of small thoughts, memories and regrets that made it impossible to avoid all of them. Although leaving the Akademiya would drastically decrease many of the intruding reminders for now, he decided and continued down the stairs.

Alhaitham had dragged himself to the main building when he heard them. The Akademiya was usually empty around these early hours – the sky barely cracked open to a muddy red - so it surprised him to still hear voices. Especially because they were familiar ones.

“I swear I’ve already told you everything, General Mahamatra. I don’t remember anything else.”

“Please, try to think a little harder. Did Kaveh say anything that stood out to you before you reached the Leyline? Did he behave differently? Or was his-”

“I don’t know!” The woman emphasised every word. Judging by her quivering, she stood either close to snapping or breaking down crying. “I really don’t know. I’ve already told your colleagues everything I remembered. I retold my story so many times and nothing has changed. If anything, my memories are getting hazier.”

Cyno let out a defeated sigh and muttered something too quiet for Alhaitham to understand except for a, “Fine. You are allowed to leave, Miss Sasani.”

“Thank you, General. Thank you so much.”

Footsteps quickly approached the entrance and the door to the main building swung open. Kaveh’s old co-worker stormed out of the building. Alhaitham turned around but apparently not fast enough to remain unnoticed.

“Alhaitham?” Cyno stared at him as if to make sure he didn’t hallucinate out of tiredness. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask the same of you.”

“Well…” He hesitated, getting quieter as if confessing to a secret. “I considered what you said to me at the tavern and I figured there’s nothing to lose by interrogating the witnesses again. It was worth a try. Not like I expected fruitful results or anything, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt either and…” He stopped mid-sentence.

“And what?”

Cyno’s eyes widened and when Alhaitham followed his gaze, he found the cause. Admittedly, the dried blood on his stomach did look frightening. “Before you say anything stupid, Nahida already took care of the injury. It’s all healed.” To prove his point, he poked the once-wounded spot.

“Oh. That’s… that’s good.”

Alhaitham practically heard the questions racing through Cyno’s head and he was too tired to answer them all today, so he turned to leave. But not after letting one last quiet remark slip. “Regarding what Tighnari asked me, could you tell him that Padisarahs would fit best on the casket?”

Now that was a different look of horror on Cyno’s face. One that didn’t fade quickly either.

Alhaitham could only assume Cyno would redirect his request because he didn’t linger long enough to hear the reply himself.

Once he reached his house, he sank right onto the bed. Dead streaks of fabric hung down from his torso where the red stains had dried to an itchy crust. Yet, to go all the way to the bathroom to shower and switch into fresh clothes seemed so exhausting. Just the idea of it made his body feel heavier.

Alhaitham only found sleep because his body was more tired than his mind was. Although, it felt more like ‘passing out’, which was why it took him some time to notice the knocking on the front door. It started lightly enough for Alhaitham to ignore it in the hope it would discourage whoever wanted to talk to him.

However, the longer he lay there in his half-conscious state, the more aggressive the knocks became. A certain urgency in the gesture. Did Cyno seek him out because of his dishevelled appearance at the Akademiya? Did Nahida want to comfort him with one more analogy? Maybe the ‘news’ even reached Tighnari already and he decided to stop by?

When the knocking turned into a pounding against the front door, Alhaitham worried that whoever waited outside would break the lock, if he didn’t get up quickly. Begrudgingly, he crawled out of bed. It hadn’t gotten much brighter than when he arrived home. Maybe an hour or two passed. Who made a ruckus at such an ungodly hour?

Chapter 24: A Total Lunar Eclipse I

Chapter Text

Six years ago, Inn near Treasure Street

The looming end of the world wasn’t as scary as people made it out to be. It was almost peaceful even. Slumped against Alhaitham’s chest, Kaveh observed the stars on the night sky that sparkled like gemstones on a tiara with its ruby red moon as the centrepiece. Just as they did in their first life. The only exceptions were that they hadn’t climbed the divine tree – unless they wanted to fulfil Azar’s dream of a public execution - and that neither of them would see the sunrise most likely. Though these details were easy to gloss over.

Kaveh considered to inch closer to the window to get a better view, but he didn’t trust himself to keep balance with his health rotting away. There was no need to cut his lifespan even shorter by accidentally falling off the sill.

And still, it could have been peaceful, if Alhaitham’s slightly uneven breaths and the way his body tensed up didn’t tear down the lie of tranquillity. He’d fallen quiet for a while now and Kaveh knew better than to interpret his silence as defeat.

Slowly, he threw his head back far enough to glance right at the eyes that focused absently at a point behind the sky with eyebrows drawn into a frown. Still scheming, thinking and plotting. A small sigh escaped him. When would Alhaitham stop treating Kaveh’s decision like a puzzle for him to solve?

Kaveh shifted and let the tips of his fingers trail up Alhaitham’s cheekbones as if to smooth out the frown. “Junior, please stop suffering on my behalf.” His arm quivered like the simple action could snap his bones from the pressure. Before it got too noticeable, he let it drop against Alhaitham’s shoulder, just gentle enough to make it seem deliberate. “I’ve chosen my fate and if you accept it too, we could enjoy it together. Doesn’t that sound lovely?”

“Not like this.” Alhaitham captured Kaveh’s wrist and dragged his thumb down his still slightly shaking arm. Despite his disgruntlement, he executed the action with care. “See that? One little movement and your body trembles. And despite your health noticeably declining, you don’t see the fault in your argument.”

“But-”

“You’re not receptive to reason, so let us skip pointless arguments. We cannot afford to waste our time with those.”

“I suppose we agree to disagree then. Usually, I don’t mind, but this situation is as unusual as it gets.” Alhaitham’s sour mood threatened to spoil Kaveh's optimism as well, but he had sacrificed too much to give up easily. He preferred to take his final breath with a smile. “At least we agree to value our remaining time. That’s some common ground to build on. I too think we should indulge in more worthwhile activities than arguing and sulking.”

“Although our definitions of ‘worthwhile activities’ don't align.”

“Why so sure?” Kaveh was determined to get this man to enjoy the time they had left, even if Alhaitham dodged all opportunities at fun so far. “Is there anything you've always wanted to do but never got the opportunity to do so? We have time now.”

“Having a stable and boring life I presume.”

“No, I meant more like an ambition or passion. Something grand, something to strive for, something to-” die for. He cleared his throat. “You get my point. It’s not like any actions will have consequences now. We could burn the city down and no one would even remember it once the branch withers. So, what do you desire?”

“Survival is a strong ambition. At least to most people.”

Surviving and living isn’t the same thing, sat on the tip of Kaveh’s tongue, but he forbade himself from saying it out loud for the sake of preserving peace. They didn’t last five seconds without igniting a debate.

After a small pause, Alhaitham abandoned his sharp tone in favour of asking, “Is there anything you have always wanted to do but never got the chance to?”

“There is indeed.” Kaveh turned around, ignoring the trembling of his limbs, and drew Alhaitham closer. “And I’m doing it right now.”

Alhaitham’s small gasp tickled against his throat and Kaveh hummed pleased when he lowered his head and answered the silent request with a kiss. No shyness inhibited his movement and at last, the warmth they shared managed to melt Alhaitham’s icy front. Kaveh felt a hand moving up his spine that stayed even when they pulled away. The gesture made him feel safe for more reasons than preventing his fall. He nudged him closer so naturally as if affection was a fluent tongue to this Alhaitham.

Although the kiss tasted sweet, it left on a bitter note. “See what I mean? You’ve never held me like this in the future. If I did anything remotely similar, you would probably think I’m drunk and push me off.” Not that it mattered. In this world, other realities were as real as a dream. And once one had woken up, even the worst nightmare lost its scare.

While the first silence was tense, the tension had now become a different, more enjoyable one. Kaveh wanted to preserve this memory for the afterlife. A pity that their idea of a happy ending was painted in different colours with Kaveh’s noticeably drawn in the red of the same hue as the moon on the sky and the blood sprinkles that sprouted on his robe like mourning flowers on a forest clearing.

Yes, it was so, so peaceful. Enough so, that his eyelids became heavier and his muscles relaxed. Alhaitham’s body felt warm, but maybe he’d just gotten colder since his own heart didn’t beat with the same enthusiasm as it once did. Gradually, his eyes fell shut and-

Kaveh jolted up. He almost fell over, if Alhaitham didn’t catch him.

“What’s the matter, Senior?”

“I… I almost fell asleep.” Kaveh shuddered. A fresh surge of adrenaline put the drowsiness to sleep. There was no telling if he would open his eyes again once he gave into the fatigue. “Let us do something different, something more active. I’m determined to make our time left count. Now that I think about it, there’s one thing I’ve wanted to give you for quite some time, but we kept getting interrupted. I suppose there’s no time like the present. or, well, rather the past.”

Alhaitham raised a brow. “Another surprise?”

“We’ve talked about this at Port Ormos, remember? Admittedly, with everything that happened in between, it slipped my mind too.” Kaveh bent over to reach for his luggage – quickly before his strength left him - and pulled out a golden device haphazardly thrown between his sparse belongings. He winced at the cold metal biting into his palm. Either the prototype was still rough from the haste work or his skin became brittle to the point where he cut himself on dull edges.

Alhaitham plucked the earpieces from his grip. “Yes, I remember. You showed me the blueprints at the tavern.” He turned the device around, meeting a reflection of his frown in the surplus of golden details. “Delicate handiwork as expected of our Kshahrewar prodigy. The people will miss your invention and architecture in the other life.”

Kaveh chose to gracefully overlook that last remark. “Try them on. I cannot take full credit for the design though, since you created the first prototype once and I only improved and tweaked its features. They are supposed to be able to play music as well, but I didn’t get that far. Maybe I’ll add the features another day.”

“Sure, some other day.”

They both knew there wasn’t such a thing.

Before the silence became grating to the ears, Alhaitham put on the golden earpieces. He fumbled with the cables and shifted the device until it sat comfortably. The awkwardness with which he handled the earpieces differed so greatly from the images in his memories, the effortless swiftness of his hand as if the earpieces had become a part of him.

No matter how much Alhaitham adjusted the earpieces, they never sat right. “They don’t quite fit.”

“Archons, you’re right. I forgot that I planned the design half a decade later. Of course, they would be too large now. Don’t worry, I can fix it.”

As he reached for the earpieces, Alhaitham pulled them away. “It’s fine. I’ll keep them for now. If I originally designed it, I’m sure I’ll find a use for it.”

It was a frustrating image. The earpieces almost sat perfectly, resembling the scribe he knew. It was an illusion that crumbled the longer one looked and spotted the tell-tale signs of the past.

The earpieces momentarily distracted Alhaitham, yet it was a far cry from getting this man to enjoy the hours they got. “How about we get something to drink? Loosening up a little could do us well.”

“Alcohol is a bad idea. You ought to not worsen your poor health.”

Kaveh huffed. “Oh please, I won’t live longer just because I held back on one glass of wine.” He would be lucky to have enough time left to drop dead from alcohol poisoning. “I won’t waste these hours sulking in this inn room. So, are you coming or…” Kaveh stilled as a metallic taste pierced into his throat. “…not.” On instinct, his hand flew to cover his neck as if expecting a wound. Which was there – just not on the outside.

“O-on second thought, I’ll fetch a drink for the both of us. Just wait here for me.” Kaveh gripped Alhaitham’s shoulder to push himself up on shaky legs. If he interpreted that metallic stench right, he’d rather Alhaitham needn't watch.

“That’s pointless. Just sit back down.”

“No, we will enjoy this timeline until its last second.”

“How stubborn.” With a small sigh, Alhaitham sat up as well. Only that he moved effortlessly while Kaveh was out of breath just from awkwardly stumbling over to the door. He wasn’t sure what possessed him to think he’d be able to walk when his arms quivered from stretching a finger

Needless to say, Alhaitham had no trouble catching up. Like a second shadow, he hovered by Kaveh’s side and pulled him back by the wrist when he tumbled. Dipping into a mixture of honest worry and annoyance, he asked, “Do I need to carry you?”

“Please, I’m not that weak.” What a bold-faced lie.

Kaveh was painfully aware of how time unravelled the threads that held his body together. The burden of sustaining a different reality crushed his health and soon, the glimmer in his eyes would go out just like his Dendro vision did.

Until then, he would bathe in the light he got as long as it existed. If he got Alhaitham to throw his worries aside and relish in their time left, it all would have been worth it.

“Are you sure you don’t need a hand?”

“Very sure,” Kaveh mumbled between gritted teeth. He latched onto the railings of the stairs and started his careful descent. Though it was less “walking” and more “gracefully falling” while clinging to the railing for support. The urge to cough grew and only fear kept Kaveh mute. No need to ruin the carpet with a new pattern.

Kaveh expected to get chastised for his stubbornness, but Alhaitham remained strangely calm for someone who lashed out at him half an hour before. Was this acceptance settling in or something else entirely…? He didn’t comment any further on Kaveh’s sorry state and almost sounded calm when he asked, “You said something earlier that got me thinking.”

“I hope it was the thing about respecting my decision.”

“No, I still believe your reasoning is flawed. What I meant is that you said I had no passion or ambition.”

Kaveh winced. For once, the timeline’s curse held no blame. Did that comment upset Alhaitham? He didn’t sound aggrieved, but the way he acted rarely translated into his actual thoughts. Maybe he was so drawn to complicated enigmas and riddles because he was one himself.

Kaveh held onto the railing and stopped to catch his breath. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have been so brusque. I admit, you do have things you’re passionate about, just not anything we can do within a few hours.”

Something akin to a smile ghosted over Alhaitham’s lips and he nodded softly as if he’d expected that reply. “Possibly.”

Something about his reaction unsettled Kaveh as if they were speaking different languages. Maybe because they seemingly agreed on something instead of arguing again? Or because smiles became rare with his Junior?

For the last steps of the staircase, Kaveh clung onto Alhaitham’s arm for support. The main hall was empty except for a grumpy-looking woman around their age, who played TCG against herself behind the counter. Half-heartedly, she rolled the dice and watched them clash into each other and settle on one of the seven elements. The front dice showed ‘Dendro’.

Kaveh leaned against the counter, shifting his weight. “Excuse me?”

“Huh? Oh. What can I do for you, good Sirs?” She hastily scrambled her deck together.

“I’m aware this might not fall into your usual area of responsibility, but could you fetch us a bottle of wine? We’ll add a good tip I promise.” Kaveh’s apologetic smile suffered from the creeping pain in his throat, turning it more forced than hers.

The receptionist wasn’t thrilled and her polite tone failed to convince otherwise. “Uh, sure. White or red wine?”

When Kaveh opened his mouth, no words came out. But blood. His body seized up as it got into his lungs, gripping onto the counter as chopped coughs rippled from his chest. The woman screamed in terror.

Kaveh wished to apologise, but he didn’t get a single word out under the wretched coughs. He backed off and crashed into something- no, someone soft. Alhaitham caught him before they both fell.

“Archons, why is this happening on my shift?” In the corner of his vision, the woman hectically hurried around the foyer. The TCG cards scattered across the floor.

“It’s alright, don’t panic,” he croaked out. Kaveh wasn’t sure if that message was directed to himself, the scared woman or Alhaitham who looked almost equally horrified. “It’ll get better. I’ll be fine.”

“Stay calm. Panic only makes it worse.” Alhaitham pressed him closer as if fearing Kaveh would just collapse otherwise – which wasn’t far-fetched.

Kaveh pressed a hand to his mouth, twitching whenever the blood threatened to spill into his lungs. His body went rigid and the disgusting taste of iron filled everything.

“I- I will notify the Bimarstan,” the receptionist announced.

“Please don’t. They won’t be of any help,” Alhaitham said without even looking at the woman. “Also, we’re banned from the Akademiya.”

Given the terror on her face, the woman seriously contemplated if the minimum wage was worth the night shift. “In that case… is there anything I can do for you, Sir?”

“The wine. White wine,” Kaveh pressed out. He put on a reassuring smile, but that only freaked her out more. Maybe because of the blood dripping from the corners of his mouth. His smile fell. “Please. We don’t have much time. Just get the drinks.”

“You cannot be serious, Senior,” Alhaitham hissed.

“Why not? Wasn’t this why we got down here?” Kaveh tried to stifle his coughs even though his throat felt like a knife sliced him up from the neck down, sinking deeper with each tick of the clock. Just a few more hours or minutes until it hit the vitals. “We still have time. It will be alright.”

"Stop talking." Alhaitham stroked through Kaveh’s hair in an attempt to calm him. It might have worked the first time, but that was just a peek into the awaiting horrors. Good thing Alhaitham held him so close because Kaveh would have slipped and fallen otherwise with his body quivering, a consistent trail of blood dripping down his chest.

“Senior, hold on a little longer. Please, give me one more hour.” A hint of fear bled through Alhaitham's voice. So, the confidence was play-pretend after all? “For Archon’s sake, give me just a bit more time, will you?”

Before Kaveh even got to open his mouth, he lost his foothold in reality.

Six years ago, the outskirts of Sumeru

Kaveh had always imagined death as painless. Yet, his heart hurt beating against his ribcage and his body ached as if the wind could bruise his flesh. He dragged his eyes open. From his clothes to the person carrying him, a red film drowned his reality as if every other colour had died prematurely. Since corpses didn’t breathe, he supposed his time hadn’t run out yet.

The world tumbled in the rhythm of the steps of the other man. If he continued holding him this gently, sleep would tempt Kaveh again. Luckily, before that happened, he got lowered onto the red grass. No matter how careful, Kaveh got dizzy from the movement regardless. The hand at his side kept him from collapsing.

“Kaveh?” Out of Alhaitham’s mouth, his name sounded like a prayer. “Don’t pass out. We’ve almost made it.”

“I’m sorry… I thought we had more time left.” Kaveh groaned. Even breathing irritated his raw throat.

“Save the apologies for another life. Let us not waste time. Senior, can I ask a favour of you?”

Kaveh grimaced – and not just because talking was straining. At least the sting proved that he was alive. Only dead people were unbothered by everything. “I know what you’ll ask. I cannot wish myself to return to the future. I don’t have that ambition.” Considering the empty darkness behind his Dendro vision, even the strongest wish had no room to blossom anyway.

“It’s nothing regarding that.”

“In this case, ask anything you want.”

“Will you give me a second chance?”

Kaveh blinked confused. “What for?”

“It’s the only thing I’m asking.” Alhaitham talked faster than normal as if he could outrun time this way.

“There’s nothing in the need of forgiveness.” A rasping gasp interrupted his sentence as though his body was too weak for actual coughs.

“Not right now, but that changed in approximately 6 years. Do I have your word?”

“Of course, I’ll forgive whatever you view as misdeeds.” Kaveh was pleased to see that this once, his smile was returned.

“Well then, Senior...” Alhaitham leaned over and pulled Kaveh up on his knees. Finally, he’d found the source that plunged the world into a monotone colour palette – a red Leyline, looking like it got cut out from Kaveh’s memories and pasted onto this different world. The fact he didn’t feel the overwhelming elemental pressure radiating from the heart of the mist despite standing almost right next to it proved that his vision was truly dead. Not even a tickle or buzzing reached him.

His gaze trailed back up to Alhaitham. Perhaps it was due to the ominous lighting of the Leyline, but there was a sparkle in his eyes that unsettled Kaveh. Akin to the moment when Alhaitham followed him to the restricted repository and revealed Kaveh’s plan had failed – the same glint of being one step ahead at all times. When he noticed Kaveh’s staring, his look softened, but the unsettling spark remained. “I trust that you’ll honour your promise, Senior. I won’t remember if you don’t.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Ignoring the question, Alhaitham plucked a dangling flash of gold from his uniform. He knelt down, took Kaveh’s hand and trapped a warm round object between their palms. The thing pulsated rapidly like a heartbeat accelerating in fear and its green light bled through the cracks of their intertwined fingers.

“Haitham, what’s that for?” Something was wrong. Even before Alhaitham answered, Kaveh knew he’d lost. It was like smelling the smoke before seeing the fire.

“You accused me of not having any 'real' ambitions. I’m afraid I have all the evidence needed to refute your point.” He pressed the Dendro vision firmer against Kaveh’s palm. The hot glass-like surface branded his skin. “The thesis said it requires a wish strong enough to shake time. It never specified whose.”

Kaveh’s stomach dropped as if the ground had given way underneath him, plunging him into a free fall. The shock punched the air out of his lungs; his reply a raspy pant. “No, no- you can’t do that!” Frantically, Kaveh tried to pull himself free. He jerked at his arm and pulled at Alhaitham’s wrist, but in his state, it was less “pulling" and more of a weak “tugging”. He would have had more luck fighting against these devilish vines again. He could barely raise a hand – what made him think he could win against Alhaitham? His shoulder slumped down in defeat. His breath came out in short gasps, short of becoming a cry. “Let go of me. Immediately.”

Alhaitham’s grip was unyielding, but an apology resonated in his voice. “I’m afraid I can’t. If we had more time, I would have convinced you that the future isn’t as black as you paint it. Atlas, I have to settle on showing you instead.”

“You know nothing of the future. No one wants me there – myself included.” Despite not moving an inch, Kaveh's hands trembled worse than ever. “Put the vision away lest you make a mistake.”

“I’ve told you once before, I’m not a killer. I won’t let you die.” Alhaitham sunk down on Kaveh’s eye level and robbed him of his protest with a kiss, lingering a bit too long as if to savour the memory, even if he wouldn’t remember it. There was a desperation that unsteadied Alhaitham's smile and blurred the edges of his voice.

Tears gathered in Kaveh's eyes, that were too heavy to hold onto them. His words slurred. “Step away from the Leyline. I beg you. We still have time left.”

“This isn’t a discussion we’ll reach common ground on.” Alhaitham slid off the earpieces and pressed them against Kaveh’s chest. “Take them back, since they weren’t made for this time anyways.”

This sounded an awful lot like goodbye. Kaveh could hear the clock ticking closer to his end. A noise that lingered between a sorry cry and a bloody cough rippled from his chest. “Haitham, Junior, please. The other world isn’t worth returning to.”

“That’s the biggest lie you’ve told so far.” Alhaitham unclutched one hand from the vision to nestle Kaveh's face in the curve of his palm. His thumb brushed away the teary streams and swiped blood-stained strands away with a swift motion of his hand. His hand felt soothingly hot against Kaveh’s face. “Senior, what you mistake for a ‘goodbye’ is only a ‘see you later’. We will reunite at a different time.”

The glow of the Dendro vision breached beyond their fingertips; shining bright enough to rival the Leyline’s red. The green light embraced Kaveh almost comforting and caressed his fragile being. Parts of the light got stuck in the tears rolling down Kaveh’s cheeks. “But things will be different ‘later’.”

“Lend me your trust, Senior. I promise you won’t regret this.”

“You better keep your word, because I will remember if you don’t.”

That elicited a smile from Alhaitham’s stoic face, sincere and filled with an emotion that tasted bittersweet. Although more of the bitter side showed when he said, “I’m afraid we have to part for now. I’ll see you soon, Senior.”

Kaveh got no chance to say it back, as a push to his torso shoved him back. Red light mingled with the green, turning into a dark concoction. He braced himself for the inevitable impact with the ground but his fall never stopped. It just kept going until red turned into black and his consciousness surrendered to the will of the Leyline.

Chapter 25: When Sun And Moon Align

Chapter Text

In the Outskirts of Sumeru

The darkness lingered like an uninvited guest unwilling to leave. In the void, time had stopped moving. Seconds resembled hours and up looked no different from down. Kaveh tried to open his eyes and move to see what had become of him, but his muscles refused to cooperate, still sleeping.

He almostdidn’trecogniseitwhen a warmth bloomed from his chest. It ran up his limbs, tickled them awake, and seeped deep into his skin. It was hot, searing even, without scorching his flesh as it slipped into his veins and coursed through his weakened body like streaming water reanimating a dried-up river.

The wave of elemental energy washed over Kaveh with enough intensity to jolt him awake from his involuntary slumber. Carefully, he cracked one eye open, then, a second later, the other one.

The sky was still red.

As the fog in his head receded alongside with the void’s grasp, one question stood at its forefront. Was it foolish to hope that…?

“Junior?”Kaveh croaked out and flinched as the taste of iron pierced his tongue.

No reply.

Admittedly, thisneedn’tmean anything. After all,Kaveh’swhisper barely reached the same volume as the windandhedidsense a presence of elemental energy nearby.Alhaitham’splan could have failed regardless.Nothing is lost yet.

Not wanting to strain his throat any further,Kaveh propped himself on his elbows and sat up.He froze. His armdidn’tshake,andhis skindidn’tbreak at the touch of the ground. Even the dizziness dissipated. Did this mean…?

Kaveh forced himself to look up. Where once nature sprouted, cold bricks and debris had reclaimed the space. Tangled-up footsteps scattered over the construction siteandthe ground had split into cracked pieces where the Leyline emerged from the soil, leaving only holes in theroot’splaces.

No...

Kaveh’sgaze jumped from one corner of the construction site to the other, searching for any flaws in the view laid out in front of him.Thiswas wrong. It had to be wrong. After all, how did an overwhelming power of elemental energy hang in the air without a single Leyline around? It had to be another vision wielder or-

His eyes halted at a familiar flickering, trapped in the broken ground. Inside the golden frame of the vision, a spark resurrected within like a trapped firefly. The glow was weak and muted. Without its elemental presence, Kavehwouldn’thaveevennoticed the light inside. For so long,he’dsought a solution to return the glow in his vision, but now the of sight it made his stomach churn.

He fell back into the dirt as all strength left abandoned him. The red morning sky smeared into one scarlet hue. Of course,Alhaitham’splan had been a success. The man was a genius, afterall, his mind supplied with a pinch of bitterness. Not that he should have ever doubted his Junior’s abilities. If Kaveh’s leaking elemental energy hadn’t put him in a haze, he would have seenAlhaitham’splan coming long ago and correctly decipher the contemplative look in his eyes as mischief.

Alas, Kaveh lacked the foresight, which now robbed him of his sight in the form of unshed tears threatening to spill. Alhaitham,beingthe linguist of the two ofthem,could call it whatever he pleased, but toKaveh, their parting was a“goodbye”nevertheless. A“see you later”would require the other persontoactuallylook forward to meeting againandthescribe of this timeline had taken a clear stance when he demandedKaveh’skeys.

The past he could have lived flashed vividly in his head, but the Leyline had reduced the past week to another wishful fantasy. It was hard to grasp its loss when the phantom pain of Alhaitham grabbing him and shoving him into theLeyline still throbbed in his limbs,when his lips remembered their bittersweet parting kiss and when the silent apology had etched itself into his memories. Becausememories were all Kaveh had left.

Kaveh stared at the sky until it becameclearerto his eyesandthe pathetic sounds stopped falling from his lips. Althoughhe’dcalmed, his chest felt hollowasif no other emotion dared to take the place of his misery.

What now?

Albeit tempting, he could hardly lay in the grass for three years until the next eclipse. Even if his vision responded to theLeyline’scall again, it would only grant him another week until his untimely demise.

Kaveh found no reason to get up, until someoneelse’srequest echoed in the back of his memories.Will you give me a second chance?It’sallI’masking.

He cursed his weakened mind for not noticing earlier. Naturally, Alhaithamhadn’tasked for a second chance in this time but theotherreality. How truly hopeless.Alhaitham’swishhadn’tsurvived the six years. The ambition he once held had broken down into pointed shards that stung whenever his thoughts hit the topic.

Yet, as much as Kaveh deemed it a fruitless pursuit, abadconscience held him back. Maybe this Alhaithamwouldn’twant to face him again, but theJunior he got to know had only given him one conditionandKaveh would be an awful senior if hecouldn’teven keep a simple promise. For all the lies Alhaitham endured, Kaveh owed him honesty at last. Besides, being back in this rotten world meant he would need to face the Grand Scribe sooner or laterregardless, since all of his belongings rested atAlhaitham’shouse.

He never actually had a choice, did he?

Kaveh sighed. As he rose to his feet, the tightness of his clothes reminded him of another issue.He’doutgrown his Akademiya uniform during half a decade. The once loose sleeves hugged firmly around his arms, almost reaching his elbowsandthe shirt sat tight enough to coerce him into throwing up. However, that could also be an effect of all the blood he swallowed.

He tugged on the fabric when something else grabbed his attention. The hem of his shirt had taken on a reddish colour that carried over to the back of his cape and pants.Kaveh’smouth went dry.Thiswasn’tall hisownblood, right? Gradually, the soaked fabric seemed to wrap around too tight, pressing out a startled gasp from his lungs.

Kaveh ripped off theshirt,only held together by dried blood andfaith,and cast it aside. His other‘souvenirs’of the past, no longer fitting into this world, received a similar treatment.

Yet, even after stripping down, he found no injuries other than the sting in the back of his throat that subsided gradually. It brought Kaveh no comfort. If the blood on the ground underneath himwasn’this own, it meant someone else had lied there similarly injured at theexactsame spot Kaveh woke up on. The coincidence that made him shudder.Especially since the blood would have needed to be fresh to stain his clothes this effectively.By the Seven, was this also theLeyline’sdoing?

Kaveh rejected this thought in favour of focusing on the mission ahead. The cape of the Akademiya uniform had always stretched itself loosely around his figureand wouldstill proveusefulto wrap around his torso. Besides, the hood disguised his features from nosy bystanders. He also decided to keep the pants despite them sittinguncomfortablybecause hedidn’twant his first encounter with Cyno to be in his office when the Matra took him in for public indecency.

And thus,in spite ofhis little faith, he planned on meeting the man that had forsaken him.

Alhaitham’sabsence became even more apparent once Kaveh started his walk to the city. Although a steady sparkle burned in his vision and theleechon his health had let go, he was nowhere near healthy. His strength bruised from the pressure of sustaining a whole timelineandhis heartbeat jumped frantically in a pitiful attempt to readjust.

The citywasn’teven in view whenKaveh’sbodyalreadyscreamed for a break. To catch his breath, he slumped to the ground near a riverbank and seized the opportunity to wash out thestranger’sblood from his clothes. Thinking about this weird coincidence made the tiny hairs on his neck stand up.

By now, the sun had fully crawled up from behind the mountain tops and admired its visage in the reflection of the water. Further up that very same river, Kaveh had once encountered Hillichurls and discovered that his vision steadily lost elemental energy. The memory pulled at his heartstrings.

Unlike the sun, Kaveh found no pleasure in gazing into the river. The layer of blood and dirt that coated his face made him look like a murdered corpse that dug itself free from the grave. The weariness in his movement and the pathetic fragment of light adorning his vision only amplified this impression.

Kaveh kneeleddownon the mossy shore, propped his elbows on the ground and splashed his face with water. Hedidn’ttrust his resurrected strength fully, so hedidn’tlean too far over the edge as he washed off the traces of the past on his skin and clothes. The water was cold to the point where it almost hurt. Despite this, Kaveh scrubbed away every inch of dirt he could find until his skin turned red even as his finger shook due to the frigid temperature. Anythingto bide time.

His effortswere rewarded. The second time Kaveh peered at his reflection, a tired – but alive - man shot him a weary glance back. The blooddidn’tleave his clothes quite as willinglythough. Darker spots on the fabric still hinted at the stains with a red tint. Good enough. If Alhaitham allowed him to explain himself, perhaps it would give Kaveh enough time to snatch some fresh clothes before he got thrown onto the streets.

As he dragged his now-soaked self through the city, he considered what to say once he met Alhaitham. Kaveh let a couple of sentences go through his head. Nothing hostile, nothing inherently provoking, just something to test the waters before hetook a dive.

“I’msorry for disturbing you in the early hours. Can I come in so we can talk?”Neutral enough.Thisshouldn’tignite an unsolicited argument. Hopefully. Kaveh mumbled the lines as he passed a couple of civilians on the streets. Althoughhe’dtrodden this path numerous times in the past, it feltas ifit had doubled in length during his absence. Perhaps because now, he was aware of his every step as he approached disaster.

With everything changing so fast lately, he was surprised to findAlhaitham’shouse no different from the day he last saw it.Stillthe same building with a viridescent roof curving into a tapered shape, carried by two pasty pillars, and completed by the single vase guarding the front entrance.

Only the Sumeru Roses on the window sill shared no resemblance to the plants Kaveh had bought before he vanished. The flowers hung their lifeless heads over the rim of the pot. Their once-violet blossoms had long wilted into crumpled pale pieces that got picked apart by the wind.Alhaitham must have neglected his plants out of spite. Otherwise,theycouldn’thave decayed in just one week.Althoughitdidfeel like an eternity had passed since his last visit.

Kaveh slowed down at the doorstep, resisting the urge to turn around and drop this foolish idea.“I’msorry for disturbing you in the early hours. Can I come in so we can talk?”He rehearsed the lines in his head, hummed them to get used to the sound and took a deep breath.

Kaveh reached out but paused before his knuckles hit the door. Part of him wanted to reach into his pockets and pull out a key out of habit. His body almost physically defied him, asking to be let in like a stranger to a house he’d called home for years. Kaveh grimaced in disgust. Better to make thisquick,before his courage abandoned him. He crossed the remaining space and knocked.

Kaveh held his breathso astonotmakeany noise that could overshadow the sounds of footsteps approaching, someone getting up,ora keyturning in the lock. But all he heard was hisownheartbeat hammering in his ears.

Maybe Alhaithamdidn’thear him the first time? Kaveh knocked again with more force.Hetook a stepback and mentally prepared himself for the moment the doorwould swingopen.

Except that never happened.

The anxiety that made his heart beat took the form of irritation. Peeking through the blinds, Kaveh caughtAlhaitham’skey carelessly cast asidenext tohis shoes. So, he was indeed home. Did Alhaitham ignore him on purpose?Not wanting to talk one word with the person who broke his earpieces and wallet?Maybe healreadyrolled his eyes at the persistent knocking and mourned the earpieces that could have silenced the noises.

As the scene took shape inKaveh’smind, therealworld lostit*shape.“ForArchons’sake, I made a promise,”he muttered as he knocked again with enough force to make the door quiver. His fist slammed against thewood,over and over again. His frustration streamed into each hit.

Until he heard it.

Someone moved behind the door. Afamiliar metallic cling of thekeyparts clashing into each other as they turned in the lock. Either the person behind the door saw no urgency for hasteorhis impatience dragged seconds into minutes.

No matter how much time Kaveh got, itwasn’tenough to brace himself for the moment when the door finally swung open.

Timestoppedlike a breath held in his chest. All the lines Kaveh had prepared froze on his tongue as he gotto fully take in the sight before him. Adulthood had erased the youthful softness fromAlhaitham’sface and replaced innocence with angular features and lean cheekbones. The exhaustion had sharpened his features and coloured the bags beneath his eyes as if his body had forgotten the definition of a good rest.

Tufts of ruffled hair fell over his face and cast a hard shadow overAlhaitham’steal eyes that stared at Kaveh through a veil of gathering tears. The lips that usually pressed into a tight scowl started to trembleanda sliver of the other Alhaitham flickered through for the blink of an eye.

“Kaveh?”

If Kavehhadn’tseenAlhaitham’slips moving, he would have refused to believe this wretched sound came from him. His voice wasbuta shadow of his usualself;a faint whisper that teetered on the edge of breaking down.

Whatever wrath had possessed Kaveh fell apart at the pleading call of his name. Without theanger’slead to guide him, he found nothing to say back.Each time he had replayed this scene in his head, their encounters had him begging for a chance to reconcile orto deflect the anger of his once-roommate.He expected them to get into a fight that could wake up all of Sumeru, butthesilence between themdefied his expectations.

As Alhaitham stepped into the light, the morning sun exposedthe waythe shock had drained his skin of all colour. Even the way he moved had the hollow grace of a ghost when he reached out. His hand hovered in the air just before Kaveh as a sudden hesitance halted his motion.

“Are you…?”Alhaitham tried to say before his words melted into the beginning of a choked sob. His hand dropped.

Kaveh captured his wrist and pulled him into an embrace. Perhaps it had become second nature from his time spent in the past.Perhapshe saw a glimpse of the hopehe’dbeen promised. Either way, feeling Alhaitham tremble in his arms and hearing hoarse cries bubble out of his chest tore downKaveh’sremaining defences. He pulled his once-roommate closer as if to shield him from whatever horror had shoved him to the brink of sanity.

“Haitham…?”the whisper slipped from his lips, full of concern. Kaveh almostdidn’ttrust his eyes. Did the Leyline alter reality a second time? Did he lie unconsciously on thegladeand hallucinated? It was one thing to see a younger Alhaitham break down. Back then, his Juniorhadn’tyet matured into an aloof persona and slipped up sometimes.

But the Alhaithamaftertheirfalloutwore a callous expression as his day-to-day face without his composure everwavering,because hesimplyexcelled at everything he tried. A sarcastic smile was the most Kaveh had ever gotten out of him. Up until nowatleast. What kind of horror had befallen this household during his absence to warrantthisreaction? He feared the answer.

Alhaitham clung tightly toKaveh’sframe with desperationlacinghis actions as his nails etched intoKaveh’sback. The view almost sliced his heart in two.Just who hurt you, my Junior?Kaveh squeezed his shoulder in a silent promise to stay and let his hand glide upAlhaitham’sneck to run it softly through his hair.

His slow caresswas rewardedas the sobs died down.Alhaitham’schest that sank and roserapidlyadopted a gradually steadier pace as he buried his face in the arch ofKaveh’sneck, appearing so much smaller and fragile in Kaveh’s hold despite their negligible height difference. By this point, Alhaitham had shifted most of his weight on him as if fearing hisownlegs would betray him. Kaveh was too well acquainted with that feeling asto ever push himaway. The thorn in his heart sank deeper each timeAlhaitham’smuffled sobs reached his ears.

“Haitham…”The question tormenting his thoughtscouldn’tstay trapped in his head forever.“I’venever seen you this agitated. What happened to you during the week I was gone?”

Thiscaused Alhaitham to freeze momentarily as if the question had startled him out of his frenzy.The sound he madestruck the fine line between confusion and a startled cry. He tilted his head upwards, revealing bloodshot eyes that stood out so uncharacteristically on the face of the man who never cried.

Whatever Kaveh wanted to say, he forgot all about it when his arm strived lower to the area aroundAlhaitham’swaist and suddenly held scraps of fabric between his fingers. Alhaitham flinchedandone look down told him the reason why. The vibrant red pierced his eyes.“Archons,you’reinjured. Whydidn’tyou tell me earlier? I would have-”

Alhaitham seizedKaveh’swrist and placed it gently back on his shoulder.“I’mnot injured. It has healed.”His efforts to keep his voice steady were pitiful.Yet, indeed, underneath the crust of dried blood, healthy skin peeked through.Nevertheless, the shirt soaked in red offered a vicious scareandthe placement of the injury reminded him of something…but what?

He had no time to linger on the question.Not with more pressing matters around. “If not the wounds, thenwhat’sthe cause of your distress?I knowwe’renot on the best terms right now, but you can tell me. Please. Iwon’tmake fun of whatever it is, I promise.”

The look Alhaitham gave him was completely foreign to Kaveh. Neither anger nor annoyance – both Kaveh was rather accustomed to - yet Alhaitham’s mouth drew into a thin line, visibly upset. A glossy shimmer adorned his eyes when he gathered his composure and asked,“Did you say‘aweek’?Do youtrulybelieve you vanished for just aweek?”

“Yes? Should I have any reason to doubt that?”WhenAlhaitham’sfrown deepened, he suddenly felt sick. The same kind of nausea when one built the foundation with the wrong materials and the ground gave way, trapping you in a second of free fall wondering if the impact would hurt. Hedefinitelymiscalculated. Somethingdidn’tadd up here.“Haitham, please tell mewhat’sgoing on.You’rescaring me.”

“Amonth. You disappeared for over a month, Kaveh.”Alhaitham’slips quiveredandthe trembling carried over into his speech.“Many people declared you dead already, so excuse me for getting a little… overwhelmed.It’snot every day that the supposedly deceased show up on your doorstep.”

Alhaitham’s mouth kept movingbutKavehdidn’thear him over the chaos of thoughts rushing through his head.A whole…month?The news sliced through his mind like an adept sword slashand sentwhat he treated as factsscatteringinto uncertainty.Thiswas impossible. He had counted and celebrated each day in the past, so there was no way more than a week had gone by.

Or was it? A painful idea twisted his guts. Why did he assume time would pass the same on every branch? After all, he barely knew a fraction of what had happened to him, never mind the specifics of Leyline-related time travel.

Kaveh’sgaze darted through the room as if he saw the house for the first time and then landed back on its lone owner, whose troubled gazedidn’tspeak a foreign language anymore.The week Kaveh had spent at the past Akademiya translated into one month of Alhaitham wondering what had become of his Senior the night they went out drinking. A month that passed longertheless evidence they found.A month of dwindlingfaith,that eventuallyforced the ever-so-logical Alhaithamto only draw one conclusion.

A month that ended with said dead roommate returning to his door, looking just as shocked as he was.

Puzzling these new pieces of information back together revealed an unlikely picture. Merelyconsidering the option made an invisible force grabKaveh’sheart tight enough to make himwonder,whether it was an embrace or a chokehold.“Does this mean you were upset because of…”His breath stuttered as if just as scared.“… because of my disappearance?”

“Surely you cannot ask this in all earnest.” For a fraction of a second,the old Alhaitham showed, featuring a snarky scoff, before a softer note washed it off like ripples destroying the reflection on thewater'ssurface. His smile fell. “Is the answer not on clear display?”

“Idon’tknow. I thought…”Kaveh trailed off. Nothing he had thought stood the test of reality. It made his head spin. Images of their fight at the tavern played vividly in his memories, yet theman before him acted nothing of the brute that had kicked him out without the tiniest hint of regret.In fact,the longer he looked at Alhaitham, the more hewantedhim to return to his stoic self instead of staring at him as if his next breath depended onKaveh’sanswer.

The confusion in his thoughts bled into the desperation of his voice. “I… Ijustdidn’tforesee this reaction.”Which was the understatement of the decade. Part of him still feared Alhaitham would suddenly sneer at him and declare this as one big, cruel joke as some sort of revenge for the week of worrying. Yet, not one spark of humour shone through Alhaitham’s demeanour.

If anything, the forced smile on his face tasted bitter; spitting out the question reluctantly. “Then whatdidyou expect?”

He sounded so hurt that Kaveh immediately lost the couragenecessaryto say any of the actual reasons that plagued his soul. He promised to leave the lies to the theatre and novels, but at the same time, not one sound left his mouth. He averted his eyes, still feeling the other’s gaze burning into his side.

“Kaveh, look at me.”

Alhaitham had long since mastered a tone of authority as the former acting Grand Sage. Yet, this struck a different tone. Not a command, but a plea, which convinced Kaveh to slowly raise his gaze again. By now, Alhaitham stood close enough for Kaveh to spot the red-rimmed eyes and feel his breath coming outat an uneven rate.“You are doubting the honesty of my reaction, no?”

Kaveh wanted to protest but found no rebuttal. Everything he believed to be true took the face of another lie. Hehardlyknew what to trust anymore. Did he misread Alhaitham’s intentions too?

“Perhaps you were expecting a more… indifferent welcome? Anger even? Is this correct?”

Kaveh winced. Alhaitham’s brutal honesty hit like a slap to the face. Even withoutreceivingan actual answer, he read the thoughts of his expression effortlessly as if Kaveh was just another book from his grand collection. No matter if past or present, he’d always seen right through him.

Alhaitham paused as if giving him the chance to refute his theory. When nothing of the sorts happened, the harsh lines forming his face became more apparent in a hurt grimace.“Tell me honestly, Kaveh, do I truly seem indifferent or angry to you?”

The bad feeling from before stretched its claws around his chestonceagain, causing his breath to stutter.“No…”

“And remind me, when was the last timeyou’veseen me cry?”Alhaitham’sstare was unwavering, taking in every detail of his reaction.

Kaveh hesitated, although the answer appeared in his mind almost immediately.This bittersweet look before he got shoved into the Leyline. “During our student days, probably.”

“And still,you’requestioning my sincerity? A genius of your calibre should have spotted the flaw in his theory by now, my dear Senior.”Kaveh recalled the warmth in his words from six years agoandthe sharp line he used to draw between his Junior and the Grand Scribe faded into a gradient.

When the creeping realisation finally stared him directly in the eye, Kaveh felt like a blind man who just saw the world for the first time. Although time had shaped both of them and sharpened their character as they outgrew their old selves, at its core, he recognised the Alhaitham he met at the Akademiya, who risked the Grand Sage’s wrath and threw away his remaining time so that Kaveh’s wouldn’t come to an abrupt end.

He struggled to tell whether the warmth spreading in his ribcage was his heart bleeding or healing backtogether;pounding to an unsteady beat that matchedAlhaitham’s. Theredidn’tseem to be enough air in the room, when he tried to put the dazzling revelation into words, “Does this mean you actually-”cared?

A sob bubbling from his lungs interrupted Kaveh’s sentence before he got the chance to finish. His tears streamed down heavy with emotions he had bottled up, now breaking and spilt to the floor. With each one rolling down his cheeks, his body felt a little lighter as if he could get blown away with the next gust. Every gasp accompanied by blurry vision washed away a little more of the weight he’d carried for almost a decade and without it, the exhaustion of the past days caught up to him, turning his head dizzy and his limbs weak.

A pair of steady, paper-calloused hands cradled his face and kept him grounded. Alhaitham carefully ran his thumb across the streak of tears to brush them away, but it was no use,Kaveh’sview blurred again. For a split moment, he saw Alhaithamtwice,before he blinked them away.

It was the last thing Kaveh saw before it was his turn to get tugged into a hug far too gentle for the man who consisted of so many hard lines.It was nice to lie his weight on him without the fear of getting pushed off. Alhaitham’stouch felt like coming home. His words were a familiar melody that calmed him as his personal lullaby,andwhenhe glanced upagainthe image of the past and future overlapped. The smile gracing his feature spoke of a‘welcome back’,a far cry from a‘goodbye’.

Kavehcouldn’thelp but mirror the smile as an affection welledupinside him and swallowed whatever doubt had survivedupuntil now.The tears sent his voice wavering. “You kept your promise to me, thank you.”

Alhaitham’sbrows twitched into asmallfrown.“What promise?”

“It’salright. You told me youwouldn’tremember. All that matters is that I do.”

He tilted his head, even more puzzled thanbefore,at the riddle Kaveh laid out for him.“With all due respect,you’remakingverylittle sense, Senior. Just where have you been during all this time?”

And finally, Kaveh picked up the courage to finishthe lineshe’dprepared.“I’mafraidthere’sno short answer to this question. Can I come inperhaps, so we can talk?”