Chapter Text
Chapter 1
Dripping blood, pained squeals…
“Hold still, this isn’t making it go any faster you annoying animal.”
A scapal shined in the dim light.
“Where were we?”
The blade was driven down into flesh.
…
Ifa shot out of his bed with a gasp. His heart pounding in his chest as he tried to calm his breathing…
Another nightmare? Ifa thought, these nightmares have been happening more frequently lately. He looked around as the dim moonlight barely illuminated his bedroom, Cacucu sleeping soundly not too far away.
Ifa took a breath as he ran a hand through his hair. He didn’t understand it, he always had nightmares, but they happened so few and far between he never thought much about it. Even Ororon's dreamcatcher didn't seem to work… Not to mention, these nightmares don't seem… random.
Even he could tell, these dreams would play out, same thing over and over, some events seem directly linked to others. He's spoken to shamans from the Masters of the Night Wind, even speaking to Citlali as well, but nothing could be done about them. No dreamcatchers, rituals or de-stressers worked. They happen ever so often, vivid yet vague. He always felt a sense of dread every time he had these. He could see blood and medical tools, dim phlogiston lamps in dark caverns. He would hear the pained sound of saurians, yet he couldn't make anything out. Only the sharpness of a scalpel managed to remain clear but nothing else.
That also… didn't help the other issue… Ifa never really told Ororon or even Citlali about it. The tribe doesn't really question it either beyond just the Chief or Cusco asking about his well being…
Ifa still doesn't like the gap in his memories.
He remembers something about his parents, but nothing concrete, just a vague feeling that he had them, at some point, somewhere. He doesn't even remember when he got his Vision. He just… woke up with it in his hands, no memories of anything before all of that.
That was, that was quite some time ago. Several years back, he doesn't even remember. The only living thing with him at the time was Cacucu, an injured qucusaur who he patched up with the medical kit he found and they've been together since.
These nightmares, they've been happening a lot more often as of late, for reasons he didn't know. Its been bad enough he actually started to lose sleep again. He doesn't know why.
Ifa took another breath as he looked out the window, before grabbing his patient book and started to flip through the pages. Going over patient diagnoses with injury and infection records always helped getting his mind off things… hopefully it'll help with the nightmares too.
Ororon was worried to say the least. Ifa usually was up earlier than this.
“Everything okay?”
Ororon turned to see Kinich walk up to him, a few parcels tucked under his arm.
“Oh, Kinich, good morning. What are you doing out here?” Ororon asked.
“Citlali asked me to deliver some materials to her. Are you heading out somewhere?” Kinich asked.
“Ifa was supposed to meet me here this time around. Wanted to help gather some vegetables from the garden to bring over to the clinic.” Ororon said, “He's usually an early riser but it's quite late in the morning now…”
“In that case, let me finish these deliveries to Citlali and we can go check on him together.” Kinich said, “Ajaw said he's been out of sorts again anyway.”
“I TOLD YOU HE'S A QUACK!” Ajaw bellowed suddenly as his pixelated form exploded into existence. “Why must you insist on taking me to him of all people?!”
“Because he's the best one.” Kinich deadpanned, “Besides, he fixed you up last time.”
“He didn't fix me you dolt!” Ajaw shouted.
“Then why did you get better after his trip? What did he do?” Kinich asked.
“You… We… Grrr… FINE!” Ajaw suddenly decided to vanish back inside the bracelet.
“You sure you want to join me?” Ororon asked, glancing at the space Ajaw once filled up.
“I'm sure, I need to head over there anyway. I'll find a way to make Ifa repay me for filling in for him here.” Kinich said.
“O-Oh, alright, thanks.” Ororon said.
“Besides, I wanted to ask about your farm.” Kinich said, “I planted the radishes like you told me, but they definitely seem like they could use more tending to, I can't tell just yet if it's because of location or something else.”
“I'll happily tell you about it, there's a few different tricks when it comes to dealing with the radishes.” Ororon said.
He and Kinich didn't start off as close, but after Ororon tended to Kinich during a bout of abyssal sickness, they ended up getting close. Mostly because Ororon wanted to talk to Kinich about food cultivation near their respective homes.
It didn't take long for Kinich to finish his deliveries to Citlali, and before long, the two had gathered up all the vegetables Ororon wanted to take to Ifa and the two were in their way.
However, when they reached the tribe, Ifa’s clinic door was closed and no one was inside.
“...That's strange,” Ororon noted, “Ifa isn't here.”
“We would have ran into him if he simply woke up late.” Kinich said, “He left for something.”
“Kinich? Ororon? What's going on?”
The two turned to see Chasca walk up to them.
“Have you seen Ifa anywhere? We got some vegetables for the patients.” Ororon said, “Ifa was supposed to come out to pick them, but he didn't come, so Kinich helped me out.”
“I see, I did spy Ifa heading out just northeast of here. I don't know for what exactly though.” Chasca said, “Is everything okay with him? Uncle Cusco said he looks more exhausted than usual.”
“Ifa's been having nightmares.” Ororon said briefly, “A lot of them recently. The dreamcatchers Granny and I made for him don't seem to work. Even some basic rituals didn't work, so Ifa hasn't been able to sleep much recently.”
“I see… in that case, let me come with you.” Chasca said, “I know my way around that area, the sooner we find Ifa, the better.”
“Sounds good to me.” Kinich said.
Dottore couldn't help but hum for a moment as he stopped inside a cave. He brushed a hand against the wall and bits of dried up blood flaked off.
“Doctor?”
“Segment Theta hasn't been here in a long time.” Dottore noted, “Strange… we've scoured a lot of Natlan in the past few days and yet no body or sign of him is here…”
“Perhaps he's still alive?”
“Potentially, but how he's alive is another question.” Dottore said, “I lost all signs and contact of him a long time ago. Not in the manner of death, but seemingly just vanished. When I was forced to destroy my other segments, he did not appear among them. It's… curious. But regardless of his current state, we need to retrieve him. The materials I used to make him resemble a natlanese were very hard to gather and merge into a segment. I'd rather not leave those materials to rot.”