Chapter Text
''Nenorocit de porc'' spat Aventurine as he fell onto the sandy ground.
A few seconds ago, he was in Belobog with Topaz and her stupid pet when, for some reason, Conti got very nervous and ran away despite Topaz's screams.
And now Aventurine, wanting to help his friend, fell into a black hole created by the damn space pig and ended up...
...
In Sigonia.
In the deserts of his childhood.
Aventurine took a deep breath, standing up and brushing the sand off his face and clothes.
He couldn't see anything around him, but the desert had seen him born, and he knew which direction to go to find shelter, water, or some sign of humanity.
As he moved forward, his heart rate increased, forcing him to calm down, ignoring the flashes of horror from the past that came to mind every time he felt the sand on his feet, despite wearing shoes.
Feeling that burning Sun on the back of his neck.
Feeling that agonizing thirst.
''I'm not that child anymore, I'm not that child anymore, I'm not that child anymore,'' he repeated over and over, advancing through the vast desert without stopping. He knew that if he stopped, it would mean death.
And although Aventurine was not afraid of that bitch, there was no way he was going to allow his grave to be among the sand and heat.
So he moved forward, and forward.
He breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted some ruins, resting his back, but without sitting down for fear of not being able to get up again, in the first shade he saw. Guided by his sense of smell, he tried to detect the scent of water or vegetation, because if there were large ruins nearby, that meant there must be at least a small oasis.
Advancing among those enormous ruins, he was surprised to see an animal he had never seen before.
In Sigonia, the enormous lupoaică were common. Seeing a pack meant running out of supplies or even losing your life.
But that creature, although it resembled one of those horrible beasts, was more adorable and smaller.
Perhaps he was in a part of the desert he had never been to before?
He glanced briefly at the ruins, confused that he didn't recognize anything about them.
He knew the Sigonia desert and its ruins like the back of his hand. He had deceived the circle of genies thanks to that knowledge, so how could he not recognize those carvings and inscriptions?
What had happened there?
But he was in a hurry to drink water, or he didn't know how much longer his body could hold out, so he left his curiosity for another time, when, to the avgin's brief relief, the sun darkened.
Looking up, Aventurine saw a huge bird descending toward him, dodging its enormous, flaming claws.
No, seriously, WHAT PART OF THIS WAS IN SIGONIA!? WHY HAD HE NEVER SEEN A BIRD LIKE THIS MONSTER BEFORE?
The bird attacked him with rage, Aventurine summoning his shields, laughing at how much pain the blow had caused it as it crashed into those golden walls.
He threw his dice to hit the creature and make it leave. Or kill it, for that matter. But the bird screeched in rage, taking flight once more.
''You want to play, huh?'' growled Aventurine, his corner stone shining, ready for his transformation as he saw the bird descend again.
But before that transformation and before the bird's claws touched the sand, someone pushed Aventurine, pulling him into a small cave where the bird could not reach him.
The person who pushed him tripped over a rock, causing both of them to fall awkwardly to the bottom of the cave, Aventurine screaming in pain. He doesn't know how his bones didn't broke for that impact.
With great difficulty, Aventurine got up, watching as the bird tried unsuccessfully to sneak through where the unknown person had pushed him.
He snorted in disgust, for having been lost again because of an inconvenience.
''Divoneh shodi ya cheh belavi sarat omodeh!? Chatur jarat kardi ba on quarks moghableh konyl!!?'' shouted the person who had pushed him, Aventurine paralyzed, not understanding that dialect at all.
He knew that some Sigonian tribes did not share the same language. Heck, even the Avgin had their own dialect! But at least it was a language he understood! He could more or less figure out what they meant!
But this?
He hurried to plug in his language generator, praying that it would be able to detect and translate it instantly.
''Excuse me, what did you say?''
Aventurine lost his voice. And the color in his skin. And he could have sworn that even his blood stopped circulating at the sight before him.
The unknown person, slightly taller than him, with a more vivid blond hair and scarlet eyes, as bright as the plumage of that bird, looked at him clearly angry. ''I say you're a damn lunatic! How could you even think of confronting that bird!?''
He felt no relief that the generator worked with that person's language.
Aventurine just stared into those eyes.
Those eyes, red as blood.
The unknown man sighed, massaging his temple. ''I almost had a heart attack when I saw that instead of running away, you were confronting it. What if it's a female with chicks? Do you really want to end up being devoured by chicks of your size?''
Aventurine still said nothing, his whole body trembling with fear and horror, finally catching the stranger's attention.
''Uh... are you okay?'' The blond man moved closer to Aventurine, concerned. ''Are you feeling dizzy? Come, sit down.'' He pointed to a couple of rocks that could serve as a seat. ''You've hit your head pretty hard, you should rest—''
''Kaveh!?'' Another voice suddenly rang out, this time a female voice.
The supposed Kaveh sighed, relieved. ''Down here, Dehya! Is the vulture still around?''
''We managed to make it go away.'' came another voice, also female. ''Do you know how to get out of that tunnel?''
''Yes, but this person seems to be feeling ill! Let's wait for them to recover before we leave here!'' The so-called Kaveh turned his gaze to Aventurine, the avgin breathing heavily and angrily, trying to calm their emotions, feeling them about to explode when the other returned to their side. ''You're bleeding,'' they murmured, concerned. ''Let me check you, please. Your wound could be—''
And Aventurine's emotions finally exploded when that person... that... that filthy Katican touched his hair.
Exactly the same way they grabbed his sister while stabbing her. Or when they tried to kill and abuse him several times, in his various attempts to escape Sigonia after the massacre.
Like him and his sister, hundreds of his people. His mother, his uncle, his neighbor...
And there was one again, ready to finish what its parents, its grandparents, its progeny had always wanted: to eradicate the Avgin.
The hand of this Kaveh was only dirty from the desert dust, but Aventurine swore he saw his sister's blood, and with an inexplicable hatred, the blond man lunged at it with the same ferocity as the vulture before.
The katican quickly moved away from him. He had good reflexes, no doubt, but Aventurine had lived through hell, and he promised that the katican would see the demon that had been formed after so much torture in his life.
He did not throw his tokens or raise his shields. His precious hat fell to the ground when he tried to blind the Katican with his fingers, and he did not even bother to pick it up, as he always did.
Surely, he would not have noticed that he had lost it, or that he always wore a hat.
His only goal was to make the Katican bleed, laughing like a wild, wounded hyena when he saw the Katican frightened and confused.
He heard the women from before screaming, closer and closer, but he didn't care because there in front of him was the murderer of his sister. Of his mother. Of his clan.
He put his hand in his pocket, baring his teeth like a predator, pulling out his gun, but no bullet hit the Katican when a kind of briefcase with eyes stood in front of him, protecting that crimson-eyed scum.
He fired as many times as he could until his reel was empty, the two friends of that wretch interrupting him.
One with dark skin and different-coloured eyes attacked him with a spear, while the other went to the katican's aid, but he wasn't going to allow it.
That filthy rat had to die, just like his innocent and sweet sister had died. His sad and weak mother.
How dare they protect someone whose eyes had been stained red by the blood it had spilled with its own hands?
He elbowed the woman, snatching her weapon, finally summoning his tokens to drive the strange lioness woman away from the katican's side, raising his spear, finally wounding the katican's face.
The bloody briefcase with eyes intervened again, and with the tip of the spear, Aventurine struck it as if it were in a baseball game.
It was the first time he had thought of that sport without remembering his beloved doctor. No. The only thing on his mind was revenge. It was blood.
Exactly as the Katicans had done to his clan.
He wielded the spear to aim it at the Katican's chest, who drew a broadsword to stop him, piercing the wood of the spear to keep it still on the ground. ''I DON'T WANT TO HURT YOU! BUT I NEED YOU TO CALM DOWN!''
How it dare... how dare that bastard to even suggest that?
With a cry of rage, Aventurine broke the spear in two, and with the sharp splintered wood, he lunged at the Katican's neck, who dodged him again.
But Aventurine was quick, spinning on his feet, managing to grab his cloak and pull it towards him, so that he could get his hands on that neck.
Before he could even plunge that splintered wood into that fragile neck, he remembered his sister.
How he found her corpse.
How she, like most children, had her throat slit. What was the need for that? WHY DID HIS SISTER HAVE TO DIE THAT WAY?
But the katican elbowed him in the stomach, only managing to scratch his neck with the splinters, managing to take away that dangerous stick and raising his head to headbutt him, making a clean cut in his chest with his broadsword.
Aventurine roared in pain and helplessness at not being able to end its life once and for all, throwing himself at him again, this time with nothing.
Only his bare hands.
He knocked him to the ground, praying that he had cracked its skull with that tackle, just as the wretch had done to him before.
He managed to land a blow before the Katican kicked him in the stomach with his knee, but Aventurine did not give up, grabbing his face with his nails, scratching his skin as best he could, wanting to show his rage. His hatred.
Making him see that there was still an avgin alive, and that he would not allow any katican to remain not only alive, but with their body intact.
The katican also hit his nose hard with his fist, kicking again, now below the jaw, but even that did not allow him to escape from Aventurine.
''Desperate?'' laughed Aventurine, looking at the terrified face of the katican. ''And you're not feeling even half of what my sister felt—AAAGGHH!!
The stupid box with eyes electrocuted Aventurine, but the avgin still refused to give up, grabbing that piece of metal and raising it to end the life of that elusive katican once and for all. And he would do it with his own fucking creation, what great poetry!
But he had completely forgotten that they were not alone, and the lioness woman kicked Aventurine hard in the side, finally pulling him away from the badly injured Katican.
Aventurine quickly got up from the ground, dodging all the blows the woman tried to land on him, but unable to reach the damn Katican.
The other woman, unarmed, also went after him, managing to subdue him, Aventurine screaming like a madman because he couldn't fulfil his objective, his gaze never leaving the figure of the Katican.
He didn't know what gave him more resentment and rage, discovering that there were still Katicans left, or that this scum was looking at him with such confusion and sadness.
But his heart could no longer bear it, nor could his nerves; travelling through the black hole, returning to Sigonia, being back in the desert, encountering a katican and that cruel battle... Aventurine finally collapsed, exhausted.
Dehya and Candace caught their breath, the guardian immediately turning to Kaveh, asking about his condition.
She looked at the wound on his face, Kaveh assuring her that he was fine.
''CAN SOMEONE EXPLAIN WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED!?'' Dehya shouted, as she tied up the unconscious stranger to ensure he wouldn't try to kill them again. Well, Kaveh at least.
The two women looked at the architect, who shrugged. ''I've never seen him before! Maybe he got angry because I stopped him from attacking that vulture!?''
''He looked at you with too much hatred for it to be simple anger like that. It's as if... he knew you from before.''
''Well, I don't know what I've done to make someone I've never seen before want to end my life!!''
The three sighed, exhausted, Dehya asking what they should do with him.
''He tried to kill a brother of the sand. Execute him would be—''
''We're not going to execute him, Candace!'' Kaveh snorted. ''Whatever... whatever happened or whatever this person is doing to me, we have to help him. He's clearly not well.''
Kaveh snorted indignantly, blushing when the two women looked at him with a smile he didn't like one bit. ''It's a relief to know you're okay.''
''Yeah… Once again, you're worrying about others before yourself. It's clear that psychopath hasn't damaged your brain.''
''SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU!''
But they saw the stranger struggling in his sleep, Candace protecting Kaveh as a reflex, sighing with relief when he didn't open his eyes again. ''Should we call Cyno?''
''I think... it's best if we question him ourselves in the village of Aaru before bringing him to justice.'' Candace grimaced at Kaveh's suggestion. ''I don't think this man is well, Candace, and subjecting him to more stress could make his condition worse. Please.''
The woman looked at Dehya for support, but the eremite agreed with the architect, sighing irritably. ''But he'll be detained, and if he tries anything, even the slightest thing, I won't hesitate to end his life, is that clear?''