Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

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The morning was gentle, the leaves of trees in the rainforest shimmer with morning dew, Sumeru city away from view, the only reminder of the existence of it was the distant city noises.

It had been a year since the first time the General came looking for them, and since that moment the life of the past forest ranger had been complicated in simple words.

The General Mahamatra kept chasing him, he didn't knew why he kept doing it, the sages were not longer forcing the General.

Later he heard rumors from some merchants that the Grand Sage was the one that now ordered the General; nothing made sense, he did not knew the Grand Sage, and he, despite being considered a genius between his darshan and the forest rangers, didn't thought his reputation could go as far as to get to the Sage.

The Sage had gotten himself a name in the two months he had as The Grand Sage, people said that he was cold and practical, the students from Haravatat, Vahumana and some from Kshahrewar appreciated this last trait; also, for some reason, he didn't assigned new sages and was taking control of all of the Akademiya (and nation) by himself, of course the General Mahamatra helped putting order.

The public opinions were really divided, some of the students (especially some of Rtawahist, Kshahrewar and even Spantamad) sustained that the new Sage almost never accepted their thesis and projects, some other students looked up at him as an example to follow, but all of the nation agreed that if the nation hadn't fallen yet, then he was doing a good job, and that it was better than a group of sages that believed in the same gods that had abandoned the nation of wisdom.

In all of that information Tighnari didn't appeared not even once, nevertheless the General kept coming for him and the girl; and about the girl, he had being teaching her words and facts about the world, he ended up teaching her his own knowledge about his darshan, over the time he spent with Collei he learned her birthday was on May eighth, her favorite food was pita pockets (he only figured that out by making them in a random Saturday), and she was as curious as any other girl.

Their new residence was more near the Chasm that nothing, it was a small cave where some scholars used to come to meditate, but after the gods were losing more and more popularity over time the cave was abandoned, it did conserved a small stove, and Tighnari had made two beds out of fallen tree leaves and some animal fur from some leopards he hunted.

He had been teaching the girl to use a bow in case of danger, Collei was natural at it, her movements were already as fluid as her masters and she had started to defeat violent fungus.

In general, their new life had as much comfort as they could have in their situation.

But this morning a different tone came within the air.

Tighnari wake up earlier than Collei almost everyday, today was not an exception, he started making breakfast as every other day, just to notice an ingredient missing, of course nothing too important he could get it in their next trip to Port Ormos, when he finished he placed the two plates in the table and continued with his morning routine, he went to take a shower in the closest river.

In the small cave, Collei woke up, she already knew where her master was, so she just changed into her daily clothes and went to sit on the table; just in time, Tighnari came back minutes after.

- Good morning Collei, did you slept well?

- Yes, though it was colder than usual, did you slept well too, master Tighnari?

- Yes, it indeed was a cold night -his tone when speaking with Collei was soft, he had learnt that the girl had panic attacks when loud noises and strong voices, probably related to her past- Collei, I will go to Port Ormos later, to get some resources we have run out of, do you want me to bring you something from there?

Tighnari sometimes used more difficult words to talk just to challenge Collei's vocabulary, Collei takes more time to answer but she always understand the final message.

- I would like some mango kulfi, or maybe some of those flowers bouquets they sell!

- Very well, I will bring some; please don't leave, and if you do, go back here when you see any signs of humans, and do not go near withering zones never, understood?

Collei had heard those same warnings almost everyday, she understood the danger and problems she would cause if she went outside in any moment, so she never left.

Tighnari had found some ancient books in the cave when they first entered, those books talked about gods and divine powers, most of the time she didn't understood what some of the books were describing, the words of the books were sometimes crossed out or censored with white spaces, but she found them interesting or at least challenging, so she never got bored of reading them.

- Yes, I understand, always.

- Very well, I shall be leaving then, I will return before eight, promise.

Collei gave a small nod to the last word and began picking up the plates in the table.

Tighnari grabbed a brown cape left near the entrance of the cave and began walking to the Port.

When he got to the Port Ormos he began going to the stands where the ingredients and some other things were being sold

Tighnari had enough mora for everything, even if he didn't reside with the forest rangers he had being running some errands for them, they paid him and he got rid of withering zones, when he was out of the akademiya eyes he used to do this with other forest rangers but due to his situation he refused to get help, he didn't wanted anyone involved with him, even less the forest rangers.

When all of his needs were already bought he walked to the kulfi stand it was busier than usual, but he was willing to wait in a line to get a mango kulfi, after all the man that sells the flowers Collei likes didn't seemed to be anywhere.

In front of him there was another individual with a cape, this one was short, even shorter than Tighnari, but the cape made him look taller than he was, when he got to the top of the line the man was still ordering, Tighnari was curious, and there wasn't really nothing to do except hear what the man ordered.

- Ah, General Mahamatra! Didn't thought you would come here in a work day!

.

.

.

Tighnari started to panic, the General was just infront of him, ordering, kulfi? In a work day??

He wanted to run before the man infront noticed him, but that would look worse, so he limited to listen their conversation.

- Yes, The Grand Sage was wanting some of this kulfi specially, he told me to come for it.

- With how young the new Grand Sage is I'm not surprised that he wanted some kulfi -the vendor said with a smile and a small laugh- eitherway, what will you order General?

- I will take one pistachio kulfi and a mango one

- Our most popular options, very well, here they are -The vendor said as he handed the General the two kulfis he ordered- i hope they are of your taste.

- Thanks.

The general had his hands busy, he had some paper bags in his arms, two coffees from Puspa Cafe, and all of those products probably for the Sage, somehow he managed to grab the two kulfis and started to walk away as fast as he could so he made it before the kulfi fell, it was obvious his way to the akademiya was going to be a long one.

- Oh! Tighnari!

The voice of the vendor way too loud for Tighnari, but for fortune the General Mahamatra didn't seemed to hear.

- Did your little girl wanted some kulfi again?

Tighnari was taken aback by the "little" after all Collei was already fourteen, not important to tell so he continued.

- Yes, could you give me one mango kulfi?

- Haha, of course, you shouldn't stay here so long with your situation, here they are -the man handed Tighnari the kulfi he asked- there you go

- Thanks a lot!

And so Tighnari started to walk to his next destination, home.

Collei had started to do her daily chores as soon as Tighnari left.

The first thing to do, was to wash clothes, that was an easy task for Collei, the river made it easy to do; after that, she started to wash some dishes, again with river water, and so her day kept going.

When her chores were done Tighnari still wasn't at home, it did not mattered, the trip to Port Ormos was long somedays, so she did her favorite hobby lately, reading, she grabbed one of the books she still hadn't read, the title: "The gods and the wisdom of Sumeru", it was to start an interesting title.

As soon as she opened it she felt like she had disrupted something, Collei decided to continue eitherway; The first pages described ancient civilizations, an already unknown desert for her, the book made it sound mysterious and powerful.

Afer that, the next couple of chapters were dedicated to the wisdom gods.

 

GREATER LORD RUKKHADEVATA 

 

Greater Lord Rukkhadevata is the original Dendro Archon who presided over Sumeru, She is the avatar of Irminsul ¹, Like Lesser Lord Kusanali she shared the tittle of "god of wisdom".

 

Greater Lord Rukkhadevata was once one of "The Three Eternal Companion-Gods" who co-reigned in Sumeru, alongside King Deshret and Nabu Malikata.

 

She created the akasha sistem, made to have forbidden knowledge, purged out of Irminsul.

 

She also made her successor Lesser Lord Kusanali, from a single branch directly from Irminsul.

 

Greater god rukkhadevata is the most powerful between she and her successor.

 

33

LƐSSEṚ LØRD KU§ANALĮ

 

Her divine name is Buer and also known as  Lesser Lord Kusanali; she shares her tittle with Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, both of them presiding over Sumeru.

The youngest of The Seven, she was created from the purest branch of Irminsul by the Dendro Archon, Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, to be her successor.

She is described as weak and her consciousness is linked to the Akasha System, and she is in constant meditation and haven't gone out of the Sanctuary of Surasthana since her birth 500 years ago.

Still her birthday is celebrated every year in the Ṣabżəruz Fe§ŧivał promoted by the grand sages.

Her popularity is very low compared to the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, she is often considered not being worthy of being the next Archon and that she is way to weak to even be considered a god.

While reading this pages, Collei felt an intense headache, her vision started to go black at the edges.

It was clear this book was more of a research made for experts in the theme and akademiya students, she couldn't understand most of the concepts in it and through her pounding headache she could barely get some meaning, but there was only a phrase left in that page so she finished reading it.

Grəaŧer Lord Ṛukkhadevata is deađ.

Leşser Lord Ku§anali will return any day now.

The fatui are iŋvolved, the sages won't let her go out.

Shɛ will be back.

This phrases where written with a different letter, the passive currsive letter was changed by a frantic and aggressive one, and even the tone seemed different, more personal.

Suddenly an intense amount of information came to his head his vision was now turning green and through what she could see there was a silhouette a small child, her hair was white and an intense color green was surrounding her.

But Collei felt exhausted, all of her head repeated constant strings of information they were overwhelming, her world started to tilt, the words started to blur her vision.

In all chaos, information came to her mind, it was clear and constant.

Through all her struggles, her deepest desire was to serve her people, she didn't knew how much they despised her; A new god will come through a mechanical soul and a collapsing heart, but she won't be remembered and even her last follower will be hunted down.

The akademiya must fall.

The path to the small cave was long and when he finally got there it was just before the rain started.

It was more silent than usual, he knew Collei liked to read the strange books he founded in the cave the first day, still he didn't thought it was a good habit, reading about false hopes of gods was deeply forbidden by the akademiya, and with the new grand sage, and the way he came to power, it didn't seemed like a good way to maintain a low profile.

One day he took a small look through the books, they seemed handwritten, that made it worse, it meant they were written by a sort of rebellious person; and even if he himself wasn't a fan of the akademiya, he wasn't in the best moment to rebel against it, for any reason.

As he entered the cave he noticed a heavy ambience, but he didn't knew why, Collei was deeply asleep in her bed and even if she had a small blood drop under her nose, that was a common symptom she had after working too hard or wasting too much energy, so he just cleaned her nose and covered her with a blanket.

He saved her kulfi in a small cryo bag he made with some cryo slime remains.

Through all of the weird things in the day everything had went well.

Nahida will keep waiting.

She is used to it after all.

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