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Kaveh gets a mysterious object as payment for his latest commission. It's a pretty locket, oval-shaped, shining gold and blue. Don't get him wrong, he likes it very much, the renowned architect could certainly appreciate the fine craft, but he feels… weird about the circumstances that led him to acquire it. The client vanished without a trace after sending the necklace via mail, and Kaveh isn't sure the locket is worth the amount of mora that he was due. He still keeps the locket though, finding it to be a very nice accent to his color scheme.
The next day, he meets up with his friends in a local tavern for their usual get-together, but the locket situation is still occupying the front of his mind, so he eventually complains about the whole incident to them. Tighnari sympathizes with him, but Cyno makes a snarky comment about his poor business skills. Sometimes Cyno reminded him of Alhaitham. He is usually kind to his friends, but sometimes he can get a bit harsh. Kaveh doesn't get affected, though. Usually. But not today, apparently. He feels annoyance flare up in him at the unnecessary critique he just received. He came here for support, not to get judged, damn it! So Kaveh responds in kind. Things start to get heated, despite Tighnari trying to defuse the situation. Kaveh just wants to go away. But wait, why does he need to go? How about Cyno goes away instead, if he can't act normal!
He finally snaps and tells Cyno just that, angrily slamming his cup in the process, pouring his anger into it. The next second, he finds himself confused as his hand is suddenly empty, and his friends grow still. The cup is gone. Not just shattered or flung away. It disappeared into nothing right in front of them. Cyno goes quiet while Tighnari tries and fails to make sense of what just happened. Kaveh is just shocked, meanwhile. How did he do that? Did he drink too much and was seeing things? His musings are interrupted by Cyno saying he swears to Dendro Archon he's seen this locket somewhere, but he doesn't remember where. He also says that something doesn't seem right about it. Tighnari seconds it as he puts his hand atop Cyno's, suggesting that maybe the locket's got something to do with the missing cup. Maybe it's a portal for a sub-dimension to stuff artifacts in, or something to this degree. These things do exist, after all.
Kaveh is a bit appalled, but decides to laugh it off, still thanking his friends for concern and apologizing to Cyno for his outburst. He swears he's going to investigate the thing, pays his bill and goes home, forgetting the promise immediately.
Next morning, he has a fight with Alhaitham over the ugly furniture he brought home. Its horrible bright colors don't fit in here, but of course the smart ass overwhelms him with intricate ways to tell Kaveh he's incompetent and to piss off. At least, that's how Kaveh hears it. His head hurts, and he didn't even get to drink a cup of coffee to alleviate some pressure on his head like he usually does, and Kaveh can't deal with this anymore. And so his fuse is blown yet again as he grabs and throws the horrid thing away in anger, swiftly turning away to go and drink a caffeinated beverage in peace.
He is too lost in his own thoughts to notice the piece of furniture never makes it to the floor, disappearing in midair. Alhaitham does notice, though, his eyes growing uncharacteristically large for a few moments. He tries to make sense of it. He remarks that maybe it was a trick, as he did not fail to notice dark green sparks flying from Kaveh's hand before the object disappeared. Then he remembers hearing of a famous magician from Fontaine making living beings appear and disappear in front of huge audiences, and no one is ever sure how he does this. Has Kaveh been practicing a similar art? Well, if he wants to change his profession to a more high-paying one, Alhaitham sneers in his mind, he should go for a clown instead of a magician, he has a natural predisposition to it. Cataloging this particular jibe for a later use, he decides he needs to investigate the trick behind the disappearing act to prepare for the next dialogue with his roommate. He won't ever admit it, but their conversations are the highlight of his days spent in a lazy and monotone job. Alhaitham is willing to put in effort if he'll get rewarded with another adorable funny pout from Kaveh.
His almost light-hearted attitude soon changes to a more serious one when Cyno meets him a few hours later, informing him about the weird locket and the disappeared cup. Something seems fishy about it, and they both decide to look for information on the accessory together.
When they find it, they realize what Kaveh had actually done. Cyno is a bit scared uneasy, and Alhaitham is a bit disturbed. This situation can potentially get very bad very soon if they don't put a stop to it, so they rush out of Academia to find Kaveh and get that locket off him. Before it's too late.
Kaveh spent the entire morning in the Puspa Café, enjoying food and drinks in blessed peace, just like he wanted. Sure, he feels a bit guilty at his recent increase in aggressive attitude towards his friends, but he knows they are going to be fine. Like they always are. At least, he starts to feel better about himself. His self-confidence seems to grow with each passing hour, just as the locket starts to grow on Kaveh, he's enjoying it more and more, he feels… stronger, somehow. More secure. Who knew the right accessory could do wonders for his self-image?
Just as he leaves the tavern, the aforementioned friends find him, seemingly concerned about something, but as he moves to greet them, Cyno runs up to him and tries to reach the locket. Kaveh is overcome by a strange instinct telling him to protect the necklace, and so… Kaveh does.
He reacts with anger, making a swift movement with his case in a defensive gesture, barely missing Cyno's face by an inch and clumsily hitting a huge palm tree that was throwing shade on them just moments before the ordeal. Next thing he knows, the sun suddenly blinds him for a second. When he opens his eyes, he realizes why. The tree is gone. They all freeze.
Kaveh is… horrified, as his actions start to catch up to him, realizing all at once that HE was the reason things disappeared. He made that tree disappear by a mere touch and… he was intending to hit Cyno. Cyno would… oh Lord Kusanali, what is going on? Kaveh finds himself running, and he does not care one bit where his legs are taking him. He needs to hide, process things, and preferably not look into Cyno's eyes ever again, lest his guilt will eat him alive.
Alhaitham wants to go after him, but he stops himself. Cyno seems to be in deep shock. Somehow, he was not prepared to defend himself, failing to consider the possibility that Kaveh might retaliate, and his foolish mistake almost cost him his life. What kind of General Mahamatra was he if he couldn't even defend his friend from a dangerous artifact that broke the rules of the Academia? He failed him. Kaveh has gone on a dark path, and it's all Cyno's fault.
Alhaitham tries to snap him out of it, but when words don't seem to work, he, albeit reluctantly, grabs Cyno by his shoulders and walks him towards the Avidia forest. He knows how lost in thought Cyno can get, and he does not have the time to sit by him and wait, he needs to go after Kaveh. And so he decides to drop him off at Gandharva Ville under Tighnari's care. They always seem to seek each other out in their moments of distress, anyway, and Alhaitham would not trust Cyno anyone else, not in this state. What an unfortunate timing, though.
Kaveh, meanwhile, starts losing control as he runs, his distress causing his newfound power to go crazy, making every object that he comes in contact with (besides what his feet touch) disappear. It's scary, downright horrifying, and Kaveh only runs faster, as if he tries hard enough, he can run away from himself. He finds himself inside some cave as exhaustion settles in, dropping himself on a stone-cold floor a bit away from the walls, so they won't disappear… and cries. He feels angry, scared and helpless. He cannot grasp the concept of him killing someone, and yet he almost did. As he wallows in self-pity, he feels a slight tug on his consciousness, and a voice that seems to be slightly not his own tells him not to be afraid. His new ability is meant to fulfill his desire. In his mind, he hears promises of great power, as the locket is designed to give its carrier the power to make objects change their state of being. The price behind this power is that the locket needs to connect to the owner's emotions to define itself, feeding off the primary emotion, and once it takes a form - it can't be changed.
So that's why his client gave it to him, Kaveh realizes. He could have had the power to transform objects into something beautiful, turning sandcastles into stone castles in the blink of an eye. Oh, how wonderful it would be. His life could have become so much more joyful… if only that person had warned him of the necklace's properties. He feels anger bubble up, followed by shame. Thanks to this exact anger of his, he got the worst possible outcome. He was yearning to create things his whole life, he sacrificed so much for it only to get the power of destruction instead.
It wasn't fair. What the hell? Kaveh feels anger overtake him. He did not want this. Why did it have to happen to him? Didn't he suffer enough already?
He loses control.
Alhaitham finds Kaveh half an hour later by pure luck. He hears him before he sees him. He was hitting things with his bare hands. Rocks, trees, bushes - anything on his path. As Alhaitham almost reaches him, Kaveh swings his fist to hit a boulder a couple of feet tall and notices a little too late that there's a little fox sleeping on top. When the boulder disappears, the poor fox starts falling down, and while it could probably survive the fall, Kaveh comes back to his senses momentarily, his empathy causing him to instinctively try and catch the animal. Both of the men's eyes widen as they realize just what is about to happen. He touches it and the fox lets out a painful cry, disappearing a second later. Kaveh is frozen solid for a while. Then he starts crying. Then laughing. Alhaitham watches in barely hidden concern as hysteria overtakes his friend, realizing he doesn't have the slightest clue about what to do.
Kaveh tries to make his power work on himself, hitting himself in the face, pushing Dendro bursts out, but it just doesn't work. He feels his mind break under overwhelming guilt. He wants to die. He would rather die than kill anyone, he… he couldn't bear the reality anymore. He was starting to drift away from it when a soft touch seemed to spark electricity on his shoulder. Only then does he register Alhaitham there, standing over him. He is frozen in fear for a moment, wondering if he's going to disappear now too, but his dear friend remains there, solid. It seems that his curse only works when Kaveh is the one initiating the touch. But still.
"What… what do you think you're doing? You could have died just now… stupid."
"But I didn't. I just confirmed a theory I had."
Alhaitham tries and fails to come up with a script to follow. How do people comfort each other so easily, without much of an effort? It was never easy for him. He had to memorize social scripts just enough to be left alone, assuming he wouldn't need to have excessive knowledge in this area to succeed in life, but now? He felt something close to regret. Regret. Hmm. Regret comes from guilt. Kaveh might be feeling guilty right now. Alhaitham reviews what he knows about him at the speed of light. He knows that Kaveh has ridiculously high moral standards, how much he values living beings, how deeply he seems to feel about everything, and how he easily puts others' needs before his own, and Alhaitham remembers him passing out in a desert just so a couple of critters wouldn't go thirsty. What a dork. He finds himself feeling irritation and fondness in equal parts at the realization that his little dork is hurt because of his high moral standards. He is probably thinking he is a villain for accidentally going against his moral standing. He decides to try and talk at Kaveh's level. Even if it's uncomfortable. He needs to try. Who is he gonna mutually annoy and then make up with otherwise?
And so, he starts talking to Kaveh about his feelings. He establishes that, despite what the blonde is thinking right now, Kaveh could not possibly want to hurt anyone, as he is too soft to be a villain. He confirms that he saw everything, and that the fox's unfortunate demise was an accident, and, even if it's painful, Kaveh can get past this. But… uh. How, exactly? Alhaitham draws a blank here, thinking about what else could he possibly say, absentmindedly rubbing Kaveh's shoulder in the same spot he rested his hand earlier, and Kaveh seems to react to a sudden comforting gesture. He looks a bit more aware now, the physical contact grounding, his hand twitching to grasp Alhaitham's, but not forgetting just what he is now. He must isolate himself from everyone, he thinks, it would be better this way. He wouldn't be able to bear it if he caused someone else's death. He would rather experience touch starvation if it meant never feeling such overwhelming guilt ever again.
Alhaitham is still struggling, as dealing with feelings and comforting someone wasn't his strong suit, but then he finally remembers what Kaveh said to him sometime ago, deciding to mirror him. It seems to fit. He tells him that his friends are going to be there for him. That he is going to be there for him. That he will never be left alone, whether he likes it or not, and that… he is a very precious person to all of them. Alhaitham also adds that he will decrease his playful jabs at Kaveh by 80% to show that he is very much sincere in his intentions to, well… be there for him. Something in Kaveh stills at Alhaitham's tone then. He's calmed down, and now he starts to realize just how much emotional energy Alhaitham must have put into this. He is positively shocked and suddenly finds himself a bit smitten, a slight blush appearing on his cheeks. He has always buried these feelings under layers of annoyance, but he is stripped naked of all his masks right now. He knows just how big of a gesture it was for Alhaitham, and for the first time since this nightmare started, he is feeling something pleasant, warmth blooming in his chest. He turns his head to look at Alhaitham through tears, showing a small, but sincere smile, and the latter is just glad that Kaveh seems to snap out of whatever spiral he was in, finally responding to him.
They stay like that for a while, looking warmly into each other's eyes until Kaveh breaks the trance to say a small "thank you", and in return Alhaitham answers with an eye-roll that he's just glad his tenant-slash-best friend is finally back and ready to leech of his mora, his tone fond. They both laugh and simultaneously reach out their hands to help Kaveh stand up and go back home. They will find a way to fix all this, together.
Except a familiar horror settles in Kaveh. He is too late again. In a moment of weakness, he forgot.
Alhaitham goes rigid, giving out a choked sound and disappearing only a second later, his scared eyes the last thing Kaveh sees before his vision goes dark, and his soul is split in half.
Kaveh screams.
Ten years later, Kaveh finds himself standing in a burned wasteland. It used to be his home. But he stopped caring about it a long time ago.
He tried everything to bring Alhaitham back. He went to all corners of Teyvat and consulted all scholars, adepti, youkai, even the Dendro Archon herself. Irminsul did not have any solution. Once a person is dead, they stay dead. That cursed thing's power was set in stone. He could not change it. Alhaitham is truly gone. No one could bring him back, even if they got the locket. After that, Kaveh lost all hope, he lost all will to live, and that's when the locket ignited his anger anew, turning it into dark flames of vengeance that fueled Kaveh to this day. It made Kaveh go insane.
The world failed him, and he was too far gone to care now. He wiped out a couple of cities, and when he came to - all his remaining friends were gone, and he was in a prison of Nahida's own making. His locket couldn't be taken away without his consent, and so he was imprisoned in Dendro Archon's former "cell", except in a standing position. All of his body except his feet were kept restrained and isolated from any touch, and he could only gaze at something through the shining green power of Dendro Archon. He didn't really care much about eyesight anymore, though, or any other thing, as he became completely unresponsive. And they did try to convince him - to give up his locket, to confess his sins, to react at all. They really tried. But after five years, Nahida and her advisors decided that enough is enough, the whole country was howling for retribution as it had barely recovered from the tragedy that monster caused, and they sentenced him to death for the attempted genocide of the people of Sumeru.
He escaped when they brought him to his execution. He's completely deranged by this point, fueled only by his locket's dark powers, running around and playing deathly tag with terrified by-standers, inevitably catching them. Nahida, bless her soul, tried to recapture him again, and if Wanderer survived the initial wiping of Sumeru city, he would have stopped her from doing so without a plan or reinforcements, but alas. She was touched by Kaveh too. Sumeru collapsed the following day. The world began to decay slowly, much too slowly for the Destroyer's liking. The process took time as people of all nations came together to support Irminsul, desperately wishing for a new Dendro Archon to come and bring hope to the world, but it never came true. After 5 years spent fighting a world war, Kaveh… won. He had fun, as much as his broken husk could have, but he was tired. He's already avenged his lost love, this cursed world paid for his suffering. He is… very tired now. There's no more fuel for the locket to absorb and support him with, and he sinks to the ground.
As he looks over the wasteland, he has a moment of clarity. He remembers his life before the locket. He misses his friends and his beloved so much… and he's going to join them now. There's no one else left to delete, after all. There's nothing, not even a whisp of wind. No more rage, no more pain. And thanks to the collapse of the dendro, the polluted air made it too hard to breathe. Kaveh is still mortal, after all. He's going to die soon. His locket faintly buzzes, softly saying goodbye, praising him for fulfilling his desire, and Kaveh only laughs at his companion's goodbye in irony as he falls limp. There's nothing to rest his back or head against, but it's the least of his worries.
He starts to drift away to the thoughts of meeting his loved ones, wondering just what he is going to say to them first. That he's sorry? He's happy to see them? Then it clicks. His last thought is an answer to his uninterrupted musings.
"I love you."