Chapter Text
[Begonias]
A fanciful nature; Be cordial; Goodness; Beware; Send a warning.
···
There's runes etched into stone.
Kaveh reaches down and brushes his fingers over them, his left hand on a torch to provide light. His knowledge of Deshret language certainly comes in handy for these kinds of situations.
It definitely comes in handy, when he's purposely looking into Deshret architecture.
He had excused himself from his house for these next couple of days, informing Alhaitham beforehand. The other man barely acknowledged him, only providing a non committal "Hm." like that tells Kaveh anything!–
Alhaitham probably enjoys his absence anyway. Oh, well.
Deshret architecture has been something he has been mulling over while sketching out commissions.
After all, he's done some research before in the Akademiya. More knowledge of its civilization's architecture and structural foundations would broaden his expertise! He wouldn't be losing out.
So he's here, on a personal trip to the ruins of the Deshret civilization.
If Kaveh thought about it a little harder, he would've figured that bringing along someone more acquainted with the desert would be helpful.
It's all good, though! He can handle himself just fine.
His eyes travel up and down the row of runes as he pieces together the translation of the ancient language together. There's something about how some kind of dark power haunted the people of Deshret, how they went mad from it.
He can't quite suppress the shiver that runs down his spine. He's looked into the history of the civilization, knowing how it prospered once, but eventually fell into ruin.
Apparently from this so-called… forbidden knowledge? Kaveh mulls over this discovery and gestures for the floating briefcase that's been following him this entire time.
His trusty companion.
"Mehrak, would you be a dear and scan all this? Including the runes we're probably going to find later." There's a confirmative beep, followed by green beams that flash from her interface, covering all the runes he's run into.
He smiles, patting Mehrak once she's done.
She can't quite understand that action, but he doesn't mind. She provides so much company, especially when he's all alone in these dark and quite frankly, creepy ruins. Not only that, she's quite bright.
"Alright," Kaveh dusts his sand-coated hand on his pants, fully intent on exploring these ruins completely. Or, at least until his curiosity about its architecture is sated. "Let's continue."
The torch in his left hand flickers.
.
.
There's something in here with him.
Kaveh's skin prickles in the air. He raises his head from the runes he's been studying, moving his torch around with wariness.
He doesn't see anything, but that doesn't exactly immediately relieve him of the feeling of wrongness. It's too dark, too many blind spots.
"Mehrak," He calls. The machine makes an affirmative beep, floating closer. "Scan the area for any entities."
There's a soft green glow on his skin as Mehrak does what he asks, displaying the entire area as a projection afterwards for him to look at.
Kaveh carefully turns the projection, but there's nothing. No monsters, no people, nothing at all except the empty ruins. He relaxes just a fraction, but the frown on his face doesn't ease.
'Am I just imagining things?' He's had vivid visualisations, hallucinations before, when his sleep is nonexistent and he's barely existing. This time though, he knows he's gotten enough sleep. Passing out in the middle of an excursion was the last thing he wanted to happen after all.
He decides that he'll simply keep his guard up, in case.
Dragging his shoes through the sand, he continues to go further in. At least, until he sees more runes. They've been growing in number since earlier, talking about the tragedy that had befallen onto Deshret's people.
He doesn't need to be from Haravatat to know the sorrow, the pain, the desperation behind the runes. Kaveh can't help but feel bad for them, for things to go so wrong for innocent people.
Kaveh carefully points his torch at the next few runes. Hastily engraved. Panic. Hiding. Don't… He breathes, as if the air is suddenly heavier. The runes seem to break off, resulting in an incomplete sentence.
There's a row of runes beside the rushed ones, clean and methodical. A stark contrast that catches his attention and makes him raise an eyebrow.
Strange, but on closer inspection, the meticulously made runes seemed far more older than the one beside it. Yet simultaneously, too untouched. He thinks about this while translating the runes in his head.
Oh, Blessed King Deshret. May you continue to spread your wondrous power, those who could not handle the divine might of your ritual have all gone insane. We, however, will prosper forever. To our predecessors, the blessings of King Deshret are eternal.
Kaveh purses his lips. It seems as if there were some people who thought this ancient, evil was a good thing. Did King Deshret actually intend for this to happen though? He isn't entirely sure. He can't think of any reason why he would do all this if he did.
Talk about insane, he doubts he would ever like to cross people who worship the Lord that much even if it meant their fellow humans suffer. Not like they'd exist today, of course. With the civilization being wiped out and all.
There's suddenly something shining at the corner of his eye and when he turns his head, he sees a red gem embedded into a wall near the runes he was just looking at.
'Huh, how'd I miss that?' He faces the gem, bending down to look at it more carefully. It glows menacingly, swirling with different hues of blood red.
In the darkness that seems to swallow everything, how'd he not notice this charming jewel? He's about to call for Mehrak, to scan this into his archive when he realises– he can't move.
He breathes. Okay, that's fine. Slowly, he attempts to move his limbs, fingers, anything. His body, instead of obeying him, stays still.
His breathing stutters under the sudden crash of panic.
'What?' Kaveh tries again, begs his body to move even just a little. His eyes still blink and move, his breathing is still there, but his joints, limbs… they stay completely in place.
His mind is running a mile a minute when his body finally moves. It doesn't follow what he wants though and instead, reaches out for the gem stuck in the wall.
Something screams in Kaveh, telling him that he cannot let himself touch that. He can't, he shouldn't, he mustn't. However despite the protests, despite his own vain pleas, his hand brushes against the crystal and–
So much screeching. There's blood everywhere. He flinches his hand away but it's too late.
There's someone,
something
whispering things Kaveh cannot comprehend – cannot fathom and he claws at his chest, his neck.
Scrambling for purchase as he feels himself collide with the wall, then the sand below.
The suffering, the sins of dozens⁶,
hundreds⁵ of people echoing
in his head – laughter that threatens to become white noise as his feet dig into the sand, curling and twitching as he wheezes.
It hurts, It hurts, It hurt s! He feels himself sob
Too many things, too many and it hurts him so badly. There's so much pain, sorrow, desperation, emotions he cannot even begin to fathom
p
o
u
r
i
n
g
into
his ? is it his? is it?
head
and there's blood blood blood, his stomach crawls and twists and he thinks his organs are going to explode.
Is he going to die, is he going to die? Will he die today because of a stupid mistake of his?
He wants it to stop, he wants it to stop,
someone make it stop!
There's something crawling in him, burning and searing– taking root in him, in his very being, very soul. His vision flickers, glows bright and yet–
He keeps screaming, but it doesn't deter the poison that seeps into his flesh.
H e scratches at his chest, foreign foreign foreign get out get out GET OUT
His mind is being pulled apart.
He cannot see where he is.
All he can see is red, red, red.
The torch on the ground extinguishes, and everything gets shrouded in darkness.
.
.
Kaveh sucks in a breath as his eyes fly open.
He sits up quickly, wincing when his blood suddenly rushes to his head and leaves his vision blurring at the edges.
He waits for the feeling to fade before taking stock of himself. He seems completely unharmed… What was he doing on the ground? He doesn't really remember.
Did he fall asleep?
Mehrak beeps at his side and Kaveh can't help the feeling of relief that rushes through him at seeing her safe and sound. It was good that nothing attacked them while he slept. (There's a nagging feeling, as if something is so, so wrong but it gets dissolved before he can even touch on it.)
The torch on the sand hasn't gone out, so he mustn't have been unconscious for long. He's incredibly lucky for it to not have, so he picks it up and manoeuvres himself to dust the sand his clothes have picked up off.
As much as he can anyway, some of it gets stuck due to the openings in his clothing. He grumbles, but tries not to make too much of a fuss. He pulls his shirt from being tucked, watching the rest of the sand fall out.
Once he's satisfied with what he's done, he looks around one more time briefly before deciding that he's finished exploring the ruins and getting the information he needs. Besides, with his sudden collapse, he doesn't think he should be staying any longer than he already has.
Kaveh sighs. It'll be a shame to leave all this behind, but it is what it is. He can look at Mehrak's archive to analyse what he's gotten later after he returns.
(‘Go, go back to Sumeru City–’ Something hisses.)
"Mehrak! Let's go." His briefcase flies to his side, chirping in response and he starts his
journey back.
He misses how the gem that was previously in the wall is now gone, and how the darkness behind him gets swallowed into his own shadows.
.
.