Chapter Text
Somehow, Kaveh knew Lessor Lord Kusanali had died without ever seeing it for himself. But, as he, Alhaitham, Cyno, and Tighnari were racing to Lessor Lord Kusanali’s location he got an overwhelming feeling, it was hard to describe what it was but all at once his senses were overwhelmed with new information, things he couldn’t see before, smell, hear, and new information flooded his brain.
Kaveh feels like he’s burning up and deep down something feels wrong within him, within a second he’s on the ground and it feels like all the dendro energy in the world is pulsing through him.
He’s able to sense when Alhaitham, Cyno, and Tighnari stop and turn back to him, they’re all calling out to him but there’s another voice in his head he’s barely realising is there, it sounds familiar and as it becomes clearer he registers it as Lesser Lord Kusanali. She tells him to open his eyes (he didn’t even know they were closed) and when he does open them he’s no longer in the streets of Sumeru, instead he stands under a large glowing tree more beautiful than anything he could imagine and he knows it can only be one thing.
“Irminsul…” He gasps and then realises the figure behind him.
As he turns around he’s met with Lesser Lord Kusanali, she smiles at him as if nothing has happened.
Kaveh isn’t even able to get all his thoughts together before Lesser Lord Kusanali begins speaking, “This must be a lot for you, becoming an Archon” She looks at him with guilty eyes, “To be honest, I was unsure about doing this but I decided to stand with my resolve.”
“Lessor Lord Kusanali I-” Kaveh sighs, “Why me, why not let a new god be born or choose someone else I’m not qualified to be an Archon.”
Lesser Lord Kusanali walks over to him and grabs his hands, “I was like you once, unsure if I’m fit to be an Archon but believe me when I say this Kaveh. You are the only one who has a near perfect grasp of what it means for Sumeru to be a nation of wisdom.”
A near perfect grasp of what it means for Sumeru to be a nation of wisdom? Him? He’s just an architect, one that’s in debt, who drinks a lot, and has to live with their junior. “That still makes no sense! Ugh, if i’m supposed to be the new god of wisdom I shouldn’t be so confused, and besides is this,” He points to what he’s pretty sure is Irminsul, “What I think it is? And, how are you here?”
“Yes, this is Irminsul. I chose this spot mostly because I didn’t know where else to talk,” Lesser Lord Kusanali giggles to herself, “As for me, I guess you could say I’m just a manifestation of conscience.”
She shakes her head, “Regardless, even though you’re the new Dendro Archon you don’t need to have all the answers. I wish we could talk more but there’s people who need you, so go to them Kaveh.”
Lesser Lord Kusanali, still holding his hands, nudges at him to crouch down and when he does she hugs him then whispers, “And please, call me Nahida! We are essentially the same, you and I.”
Nahida lets go of him and when he looks back at Irminsul a doorway is in front of him, or it may be a portal. Large flower petals hover in the sky and he wonders if he exits through them, he looks back at Nahida who nods at him and Kaveh pulls the petals apart and steps through them and back to where he was in the streets of Sumeru.
✦•┈๑⋅⋯ ⋯⋅๑┈•✦
When Kaveh steps through the light blinds him, he raises his hand to shield his face from the sun then looks behind him and notices a large flower bud behind him, two of the petals have been spread apart and he realises he was in there. When he looks back in front of him he’s met with three familiar faces who look at him worryingly.
“Kaveh, are you alright?” Tighnari asks, bracing himself in a way to probably catch him if he were to pass out.
Now that he doesn’t feel like he’s been sleeping for ages and isn’t extremely groggy anymore he suddenly remembers about Nahida and looks around them, “What about Nahida!?”
Alhaitham looks at him concerningly, “Do you not remember? We received a distress signal from Lessor Lord Kusanali and began racing over to the Sanctuary of Surasthana where she was, but along the way you passed out then got encapsulated in that flower bud.”
“Even with the distress signal we decided to stay to see if it’d open up since when we tried to pry you out of there the petals wouldn’t budge, besides Lessor Lord Kusanali also called upon Dehya, Nilou, and a few others so we figured they’d be able to hold out for a while.” Cyno begins explaining.
Does that mean they don’t know? He had felt her death and the knowledge that he’s now the new Dendro Archon confirms that but if they’ve been here this whole time then… and what about the others? Are they hurt?
“Kaveh, you seem different? What happened?” Alhaitham suddenly questions him.
He clenches his hands, “We need to go to the sanctuary, Nahida she-”
It seems he doesn’t need to say anything else as they all seem to understand part of what happened and begin running to the sanctuary, when they get there he spots Dehya, Nilou, and Hat Guy gathered around. In the middle Nilou holds the body of the fading away previous Archon. Off to the side he notices Hat Guy eyeing him.
They all freeze at the sight, even him who already knew about this but now- seeing Nahida’s body as it fades away makes it more real.
He walks over to Nilou and looks at Nahida for a moment before walking over to Hat Guy, “Why are you standing so far? I know you cared about her, as she did you.”
“So it is you then,” He states, “I don’t know if I’m more surprised about that or the fact that the gnosis is somehow within you now despite not even being in Sumeru.”
Suddenly, Kaveh is hyper aware of how different his body feels. Within him, he feels the gnosis and upon releasing that he also noticed that he doesn’t actually feel tired or hungry really.
“Kaveh?...” He hears someone faintly call out and he turns around to see all his friends staring at him.
Behind him he hears a quiet voice, “Tell them, you’re their Archon now. Mortals need consoling in their time of need.”
That's right, he is no longer a mortal.
“Are you okay?” Tighnari asks again, “You seem different and there’s still that instance earlier, you're not hurt are you?”
“What is it, Kaveh?” Alhaitham walks over to him, “Tighnari is right, you do seem different, but it’s something about your energy. What happened?”
He breathes in and then begins, “To put it simply, when Nahida died instead of letting a new god be born she decided to choose someone else to become the new Archon instead.”
“And that person,” Alhaitham looks at him with an expression he can only describe as shock, “Is you?”
Gasps are heard among the few people with them and Kaveh nods his head while looking at the floor and then Nilou gasps again and Kaveh’s head snaps up. He looks at her and sees Nahida is almost gone, he walks over to her and crouches down and watches as Nahida’s body fades away.