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In Sumeru, dreams are something that even knowledge can’t solve. For it’s this mystery that intrigues one to enter, in hopes of solving the visions it shows. Although dreams here in Sumeru are rare. This has become known as a visionary gift created by the Archon's to those deserving of this blessing. However, the truth that the people in Sumeru do not know is that dreams are like the desert sands. You yourself can build and shape your dreams as if it is a sandcastle. But how will one do that?
It was time in Teyvat for the sun to sleep. A blanket of blues with stitched stars wrapped the sky. This prepared its people for another night of slumber. A full moon shone brightly, taking over as a nightlight for those stubborn to not sleep.
One of these is a lone jackal who awaited the moon to howl. Howl judgment. They say crime never sleeps, so for someone to catch a criminal, they were to never sleep. Cyno had long given up such a luxury. If he could live without sleep, he would choose so in a heartbeat.
The risen moon was just a signal for the nocturnal Jackal to hunt. By time it reached high up to the sky, Cyno had reached the desert. The desert was cold enough to wake anyone, and Cyno planned on starting there. Lightning was more awake when everyone was asleep and the lightning from Cyno’s vision burned the sands awake. He was ready to use this to awoke those who ran from their judgment. This stubborn thought numbed the coldness away, the same as when he worked under the heat of the sun.
With the current political events of the Akademiya, a lot of people took advantage of the Akademiya's weak leaderless state. Released contraband knowledge capsules, freely flown forbidden knowledge, illegal usages of the Akasha. This added more work to Cyno’s plate. With so much work under little mortal time, he had to sacrifice sleep. He’d be lucky to get 1-2 hours of sleep anymore. Deep down Cyno knew his body needed more rest. However this exploitative chaos angered Cyno awake. It was cruel how people attacked selfishly at defenseless knowledge just to hurt others with it, and Cyno wouldn’t allow a single one of them go unjudged.
One step into the sleepy silent sands Cyno saw something he would’ve never expected. His old teacher and partner Taj. This alive corpse roamed the desert, unaware that their existence was a crime to reality. Cyno’s mind circled in curious confusion. His mind recalled, “Didn’t he die? It was not possible for him to survive that collapse.”
Cyno knew his way around the desert. He spent a long time in it to know a mirage when he saw one. Yet his mind was stuck, it contradicted between the yes or no of Taj’s existence being a mirage. Cyno’s logic knew Taj died, yet intuition wanted to doubt this. Curious, the jackal stalked.
Taj entered the mouth of a temple of sand. Cyno pursued with caution. The moment that Taj would stop, standing still in the center of the pyramid, the Jackal would realize that he himself was the prey. Taj spoke, the lone echo alerted the hidden prey. “I know you have been following me, Cyno. You’ve gotten better at it.”
Cyno stepped out to confront what was caught. “How did you survive the collapse?”
“How? A question I don’t even know myself. All I remember is that for some reason the sands would stop, granting me freedom. I’ve roamed the desert ever since.”
“Well then, let me remind you I can’t let you go free?” Cyno huffed. He remembered the crimes left unpunished.
“Hm, and how do you suppose you’ll do that?” Taj’s eyes stared, paired with a confident grin.
Cyno expected resistance but the question threw off his expectations. When he pulled out his polearm he realized the true meaning of the question. Cyno discovered his polearm was gone from his person. He looked towards Taj with suspicion, “I brought my polearm with me, so where is it?”
“I did nothing if that’s what you’re implying.” Taj said.
Was that a truth or a lie? Cyno could foretell that no words could confirm either. “Whatever, judgment doesn’t need weapons.”
Cyno noticed, as he called his vision, the element wouldn’t respond. He looked at his vision, it rotted into a delusion. His body felt unusually relaxed. Too relaxed to control and command his electric vision. Too relaxed to even fight. His body just wanted to collapse and chat. “What did you do to me?”
“Please, why don’t we just sit and talk like we used to.” Taj softly smiled.
Although stubborn about it, Cyno eventually caved and sat down on the sand. Taj sat down beside him gazing deeply at the moon.
“I remember when I showed you the moon for the first time you asked me why the moon was so hungry? Then you said ‘because it’s only full once a month’ I missed that jokester side of you.”
“Crime is no joke.” Cyno sternly said.
“Stoic Cyno. No wonder you became the General Mahamatra. I really am proud of how far you’ve grown, you know.”
“Thank you.” Cyno looked down. His eyes were sadly happy by the compliment. Deep down he was lost in mindfulness. His tired mind decided to stay quiet for at least a second. He hadn’t realized how nice the night breeze brushing against him was. And, he had forgotten how nice silently sitting next to a friend was. Subconsciously Cyno knew he was going to arrest Taj once they got up. So maybe sitting here just a little longer was fine, right?
“You alright?” Taj said towards Cyno’s introversion.
“Yeah. I’m just really happy to see you again. I enjoy it.” Cyno’s body was relaxed by the comfort of the moment. Logic left Cyno’s thoughts, the temptation of human warmth comforted the thoughts that remained. The naive part of Cyno’s subscious wanted to stay in this moment forever.
Cyno looked up, the pyramid was open to the sight of the sky. It wasn’t different than any other night yet for once he could see the boundless secret stars hidden beyond the brightest stars. Clarity allowed him to see past the flat colors that constituted the sky and was enlightened by the hues of complex colors. The full moon swallowed his sight, its mystery and beauty wrapped Cyno under childlike wonder.
A feather cut the moon in half; this took Cyno’s attention. Cyno’s hands reached out for the feather, it falling gracefully into his hands. He twirled it which glistened a reflection of his own from a past he had long abandoned. Cyno wanted to show Taj but as he turned no one was beside him. Cyno was suffocated from the silent glares from the surrounding statues. The moon and feather mocked his lonesomeness. As strong as he was, the Jackal was saddened.
Cyno heard footsteps that came from behind. Underneath himself, Cyno spotted a shadow in the silhouette of his own. He turned around. The threat of a giant god, an entity incomprehensible, stood tall in front of Cyno. Anubis, The God of Mummification and Death.
The protection of the pyramids collapsed into the desert grounds. Anubis’s presence ate away the color and light of the sky, a flat void of black was left. Cyno’s body froze in awe, his mind mentally prepared for a battle far beyond his comprehension of the complexity of reality.
“You must have many questions. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Anubis, I am the God of Death. My role is to judge souls upon the scale.”
Cyno gulped. The logic of reality broke under Anubis’s presence. Around Cyno were his vision's elemental ribbons. Each ribbon was engraved with the boundless rules and laws of Teyvat. Ones that Cyno was to follow and persecute others with. The very knowledge Cyno swore to protect attacked the steps around him. This trapped him in a cage of lightning.
“Would you like to play a game with me?" The loud godlike voice of Anubis roared.
“What kind of game?” Cyno responded, his voice a speck compared to Anubis.
“A round of Genus invocation from the one who created it to another destined by it. If you win, I'll answer your questions. If I win, your soul is to be judged.”
Cyno widened eloquently with curiosity, “Alright. I’ll agree to your deal.”
Cyno then felt a sudden weight around his clothes. He searched his pockets to find a deck of cards, painted with characters of corpses that he clearly remembers. Some slaughter by him, some slaughtered because of him. All of them haunted his memories. For once, he had forgotten how to play. Each card was blurry with indistinguishable abilities. Cyno knew the rules, he stabbed memorization of them into his mind, and the rules in this game were the same. So why was it all forgotten right now? Without any thought, Cyno’s natural instinct towards the game caused his hand to play a card.
Each card that played, a corpse from the card fell behind them. Cyno refused to look at them. His focus at this card game was life and death. To falter was guaranteed to lose. As the god and human played their cards, each was eaten up by the other. This caused quick defeats on both ends, a tie of corpses behind them.
Both Anubis and Cyno had 1 character card left. Anubis’s remaining character was the Scales of Judgment. When the card was made active, behind the god rained a halo of scales. Cyno immediately connected these scales to the ones of justice. Behind his stoic poker face, Cyno’s eyes were enlightened, hypnotized by the scale’s presence.
Cyno’s throat choked himself. This reminded him he was still alive in this game. His only active card left was Taj. Cyno watched Anubis’s moves. Cyno hoped it could stall enough time for him to conjure a plan. Anbus played another card, A heart. This fell on the scales; the heart weighed heavy on it. Cyno instinctively checked his own heart, as if he feared Anubis already took it. When rationality came to him, he was unsure why he thought that in the first place.
The memory of Taj took damage. This twisted into Cyno’s turn. Cyno’s eyes overlooked the wounded card. He had no other card to attack, to protect, or to heal his partner. The moon light reflected against the tears of the card until its glimmer caught the attention of Cyno once again. He looked up, taken aback by how bright the moon was. As if it was falling closer towards him. This thought was more realistic than Cyno had initially thought and he reached out his hand. He had forgotten the feather was still clutched in his hand, so his eyes gasped as the feather in his hand turned into a card.
This reminded Cyno of a light novel he had recently read in Inazuma. In it the duelist was in a rough spot and pulled a card that shouldn’t exist. In Cyno’s hands was that very scenario, and they trembled by that thought.
Cyno’s thoughts were silent. Echoes of rules were the foundation of them. The pressure of his turn came from the waiting god. Cyno couldn’t ignore this manipulation of his deck, but he couldn’t tell which was right to do either. Will The God of Judgment see this as breaking the rules? Or would he count this unwritten scenario as a part of the rules?
The cornered human closed his eyes. A sigh would answer. Cyno clutched tight to his feather card holding it towards his chest. His other hand was ready to commend when the wind played the feather card for him. His eyes panicked by how light the card was.
In the scale fell a feather, so delicate and so light. It pushed against the heart on the other side of the scale, almost reaching perfect balance. Yet the heart that shielded the scales with 1 health left weighed heavier than the feather. A feather was weak and in one swift hit, Anubis killed Cyno’s final active character.
Anubis broke the silence, “You have been judged by the scales.”
Cyno was indifferent in expression. No words came from him. Only his eyes moved. They looked down, drew across the sands a reason he failed.
“You, guardian of judgment. You’ve carried the work off a god. I can respect that. For that I'll answer your minds question.” Anubis continued.
Cyno looked at him, he was silent by surprise over the god’s words, “Why do you think the Akademiya changes its rules so often? Man made rules are flawed. Needing tests, sacrifice, and judgment to protect. In order to create a new rule, you need to break the flaws of the old ones. Is this itself right or is it wrong? Heh, good question.”
The human stood still. He soaked every word breathed from the god. Clarity and confusion remained in Cyno’s thoughts. Cyno looked up into the eyes of the God of Death recalling his deal. Worry startled Cyno’s steps. “Has my time come so soon? I-”
Anubis bared teeth, long and sharp. The teeth were large enough for Cyno to see his entire reflection. Something he wished to not see. It felt as if he was executing himself.
In one quick bite Anubis swallowed Cyno whole.
Cyno’s concept on what death would be like became foreign as his eyes opened. The vessel of what’s left of his body felt hollow. His heart, the only sensation left, heavily pulled him deeper against an endless void. The logic of gravity was abandoned and the contradiction of falling restlessly against a calm void weakened the stripped mortal.
“In the end you are human. You can’t stop all the injustice in the world even when you sacrifice your entire life to it. You’ll eventually grow up and realize this. Matra’s eventually hurt the innocent they swore to protect through their so-called rules. You aren’t the exception.”
This echoed against the walls of Cyno’s reality. This mocked him. Cyno wanted to shout, scream any voice to object the thoughts trapped in his mind. But his voice betrayed him. He remembered the dead aren’t allowed to speak.
Cyno jumps awake, gasping for air. Grasping at his heart, feeling if he is alive. Sweat on him is pooling cold dripping needles. Cyno’s eyes are bloodshot, darting around the puzzle pieces of thoughts to explain what he is experiencing. He notices that he is in a bed both familiar and unfamiliar. Specifically the Traveler’s hotel bed.
“Don’t worry, you are safe.” A voice gently spoke.
Cyno turns towards the voice, “Lord Kusanali? Why are you here?”
Nahdia nervously rubs her hand behind her head, “Right now might not be a good time to tell you. I just want to know, how are you feeling?”
“I feel strange. What did I witness just now? It feels like a real memory yet I have never seen such strange imagery before. I even saw the dead. I saw Taj. It’s all so confusing.” Cyno rubs his hand on his head trying to grab the logic of his memories.
Nahida smiles gently, “What you had is basically a dream.”
“A dream? So that is what dreams are like?” Cyno looked down, his neutral face hiding under thought.
“Yes and no, what you had was a little more complex than a normal dream. Why don’t you tell me more about your dream over some coffee.”
Steam skates on the brewing of coffee. Nahida silently prepares it, waiting for when Cyno is ready to speak. The cup eases Cyno’s mind and although made imperfectly, Cyno drinks it with gratitude. Cyno speaks of how he found Taj in the desert, how they reminisce memories under the moon and how he met the god of death, playing against him in a TCG battle.
Nahida respondes, “Ah, I see. It sounds like it was a lovely dream. You got to see your teacher and play cards against the archon himself.”
“Yeah, I quite enjoyed seeing Taj again. This God of Death though? Anubis, I think he said his name was. He puzzles me, there’s no such Archon called that as I recall. The dream felt so real, I couldn’t even distinguish it between a real memory. I never would’ve guessed dreams held such power.”
Nahida bit her lip in worry, “Actually that’s why I'm here. Normally dreams don’t evoke such strong confusion in feelings. The traveler and I found out that a Kshahrewar researcher who called himself Moseis manipulated the Akasha to produce dreams towards those dealing with grief including the researcher themself. These dreams produce a realistic dream based on the person's loved one who’s died.”
“I see, and I presume that’s why I saw Taj?”
“Yes, however these dreams are long, to an unhealthy amount, to the point where the person forgets their responsibilities. In fact, you yourself were in that dream for a few days.”
Fury twitches Cyno’s blood red eyes, illuminating personal vengeance. “How dare he.”
“This is why once the researcher wakes up, I'll leave him up to you to give him the punishment he deserves.”
Cyno speaks through respectful resentment, “Of course. I promise he will not get away with this.”
Nahida, who is confident in Cyno, stands up heading towards the door. Before she steps out her head tilts towards Cyno, her smile writhes in a cheeky manner, “Did you know you are very talkative when you sleep?”
As the sun rises high, Cyno’s task is to seek out this Moseis researcher and give them the punishment they personally deserve. Nothing would steer Cyno from this goal. Nothing except for a conversation he happens to pass by.
“Traveler, the researchers said they would rewrite the rules for Genius Invokation TCG and roll out a new version of the game.”