Chapter Text
A black meadow surrounded him, the blades of grass scratching his ankles as he walked through it, paying no mind to the stinging below. Above shone a sun made of red, its light blinding to the eye but when he looked away, the shine disappeared with it. There was no path to follow, nothing to hold onto, stretching beyond into darkness, the only sound his shallow breathing and the metallic rustle of the grass. A silhouette appeared out of thin air, its misty figure lacking colour and light but he could vaguely distinct it from the background.
It murmured, whispering words heard often in his mind, accusation, threats, too low to be audible but he had gotten used to the dream, had gotten used to what it told him. More silhouettes appeared, encircling him, their low hushes climaxing in screams of rotten nature, ones that he couldn’t bear repeat in his mind.
He was swallowed by the dark, giggling following him as a single red tear escaped his eye.
Kaveh opened his eyes, his vision obstructed by a book that he had read just before he fell asleep. He groaned, pushing it to the side. He had been working on a draft for another client, a small home for a three-headed family that had just enough money to fulfil their dream of their own home. Kaveh had done his best to use as little mora as possible while keeping the beauty of the built. The family always came together when they discussed the draft, the little seven-year-old girl had drawn the first idea for their home and Kaveh did his best to fill her vision with details.
It was bitter-sweet seeing the family smile over his draft, accepting the first one he sketched, only commenting on the prices. He had wanted to use maple wood as it was a stable option and the colouration was most befitting the build but it was rather expensive to import, one of the most expensive types. He substituted it with Cuihua wood as it was cheap and close enough in colour to match the overall design and though it was more brittle, a good coating should do the trick.
There were few other venues he had to cut to produce a constructing plan that was affordable for the family but it would be worth it to see them smile when their dream could turn into reality.
He obviously had cut the admission fee for him as he couldn’t take any more mora away from the family which meant he had to beg Alhaitham once again to pay his rent back later, every time he seemed to get more difficult to persuade, bringing forth a groan from Kaveh who would rather do anything but argue in the moment.
He pushed himself away from his table, a painting glass almost falling over if he hadn’t grabbed it, saving the drafts he made this night. He looked over to the window, surprised to see the sun up, its rays coloured by the painted windows. Kaveh put the glass down, sorting through his many papers to make it resemble order before leaving for a coffee. Though he had slept, it had been short and light, a slight headache creeping up as he entered the kitchen.
Alhaitham was already up, of course, eating the left-overs from yesterday, the Fatteh Kaveh had brought from Lambad, a coffee on his side.
By the seat opposite him another coffee was placed with cut up Sunsettia. Kaveh smiled, sitting down. Alhaitham normally didn’t bother making him breakfast as he knew that Kaveh rarely ate this early, his stomach not ready for a hearty meal. But a sweet fruit to give him energy should be fine, he hoped.
Alhaitham didn’t look up as he sat down, his mind most likely occupied by the shift he was soon to begin. Even though Alhaitham said he disliked his role as the acting grand sage, he did his best to fulfil his role, working earnestly just as he did as the scribe. Kaveh took a piece of the fruit, eating it slowly as he savoured the sweet tanginess of it.
“Sunsettias were on sale yesterday if it’s your desire I’ll buy more in the future.” Alhaitham said, his voice rough as it always was in the mornings.
“There’s no need, I forget to eat breakfast too often for you to bother with it.” Kaveh chirped between mouthfuls. “But there’s something else I have to confess.”
Alhaitham raised an eyebrow. “Let me take a guess, it’s about your rent. Have you again decided to cut your admission fee? You need the mora just as much as the family does.”
Kaveh rolled his eyes, he shouldn’t have talked with Alhaitham about his current clients, the less he knew, the less he would poke Kaveh about his recklessness. He set on his brightest smile, his voice honey-sweet. “Haitham, I promise it won’t happen again, I just couldn’t take the mora in good conscience, knowing that they would have barely enough to take care of their child. She’s only seven.”
Alhaitham pinched his nose bridge, avoiding looking at Kaveh whose smile slowly deteriorated as it wasn’t as effective as he had hoped. “If the family has enough mora for a home, they don’t need your charity. I don’t understand how you can’t see them scamming you.”
Kaveh sighed, sipping his coffee, the welcome caffeine waking his mind slowly. “I told you before, didn’t I? It has always been their dream to have a home of their own. If you were given the choice, wouldn’t you build your own home, designing it in a way suiting your taste? Who am I to deny them that? I’ll just work diligently on my next commission and I’ll have thrice the mora to pay you back.”
Alhaitham shock his head. “Do what you must, I’m not in the mood to persuade you.”
With that he stood up, leaving the house, his coffee half-full, Kaveh left behind with a queasy feeling.
Kaveh left soon after, taking Mehrak with him who was eager to leave the house, just as he was. He didn’t have anything particular to do today, meeting his client tomorrow, which meant he would buy some food for dinner and maybe pick up a book or two for Alhaitham as it seemed that Kaveh had offended him in some way. Though he wasn’t sure what he had done wrong, normally Alhaitham would have argued with him, trying to make Kaveh see flaws in his own reasoning but Alhaitham had been different today and he wasn’t sure how he should bring it up later.
He sighed, annoyed that again nothing seemed to go his way. Kaveh quickly found his way to the market, the loud bustling of the people audible miles away, the colourful stalls crowded by various people, most of them Sumerian, indicated by their earthy coloured clothes and the darker complexions.
He tried his best to push his way through the mass, dodging small children that ran through the crowd, giggling with no care in the world, halting at various stands to scoop out their selections. Most food sold in Sumeru wasn’t imported, Sumerians holding onto their own traditions and supporting their local farmers. He picked up few vegetables, glabrous beans, mushrooms, onions and potatoes before stopping at the meat stall, buying a slab of meat from a shroomboar, the meat of them more tender than from normal boars, a nutty flavour to it.
Content with his purchases, he turned to leave, Mehrak flying close behind him, letting out a mechanical chirp. She lurched in front of him, peeping even more loudly then before. He frowned before realising he had forgotten the books. Quickly he walked over to a booth filled with books from the Akademya, few new arrivals presented at the top of the piles, to his luck one of them was a book focusing on analysing the changing language through the long history of Sumeru, something Alhaitham surely would find interesting. Kaveh also took a quick look through the poetry collections as there was a particular poet he was interested in, Kagemni, who wrote quite beautiful love poems, having shifted his poetry from reciting stories regarding King Deshret to it.
He began humming as he left the bustling market behind, the streets emptier as he found his way back home.
Just before he walked up the incline to the house, he was stopped, a hand clasping his wrist. A small child with reddish eyes smiled at him, holding a curious item up to him. Kaveh inspected it closely, it wasn’t something he had seen before, a small cube that had intricate machinery to it, written on it in a fond unfamiliar to him. It wasn’t an ancient script either, he had seen enough of those to recognise them. It was mesmerising.
“Do you want to buy it? It’s only a thousand Mora.” The child asked, smiling though it didn’t reach their eyes.
Kaveh stepped back for a moment, contemplating. The offer was inviting as the cube looked more expensive than the price let on. It might be an ancient relict, one of a kind. It would be foolish to let the opportunity pass. He handed over the mora, taking the cube carefully from the child who vanished immediately down another street.
But he paid no attention to it, his eyes focused on the cube in his hands as he found his way back home, walking to his room without his eyes leaving the intricate cube.
Alhaitham wasn’t home yet so he knew he could work at in unperturbed. He waved over Mehrak who gave him a small screwdriver with which he carefully nibbed at the small openings of the cube.
An arrangement of lines ran through it, little indents where they met. There was no button, no lever to activate it and even the screwdriver couldn’t pry it open.
He huffed annoyed, scratching his head to think of another option. “Most likely I have to read out the scripture but it’s unknown to me.”
An idea sparked in his mind, he jumped up, running over to Alhaitham’s room. Kaveh would normally never enter his room without permission but he wasn’t there to snoop around, he just wanted to take a quick look at the books of ancient scriptures Alhaitham had.
He quickly glanced over the clothes strewn on the ground, the small Aranara statue Kaveh had made for him, standing on the window sill and the many books that littered any available surface.
Kaveh shock his head, he never understood how Alhaitham could live in such disorder, it would distract his mind too much. Though he was glad to see that he had kept Kaveh’s statue, away from the chaos on its own pedestal.
He turned to the book shelves, reading the spins one by one, skipping those languages he knew and opening those he didn’t. Many of the books were ancient, the paper yellow with age and so unbelievable thin that he was scared to break one whenever he touched them.
But it didn’t matter how many books he looked through, coughing at the dust spewing out of the books, he didn’t find what he was looking for.
Suddenly, Mehrak peeped, lightly tapping with her corner against a book placed particularly high. Kaveh summoned the power of dendro, his vision lighting on his side as he strung the magic around the book to retrieve it from above. The book itself had little tear, a bit of sand sticking to the cover but the dark-blue book looked almost new. The pages were tinted black, a white scripture on it as he leafed through it. The cover said: “All knowledge on Latin”.
Kaveh returned to his room with the book, seeing the letters he had seen on the cube printed on the pages. It was easy to decipher, every letter had a single pronunciation to it, and he didn’t have to understand it to say it aloud.
He slowly pieced it together, Mehrak watching over his shoulder as he wrote down the last of the letters. He cleared his throat, picking the paper up in one hand and the cube in the other. Kaveh read out what he wrote together, hesitance in his voice as he didn’t want to fail once again.
“Arte magicae ignoti mundi nostros invenires. Expergiscere intellegere quid ipsum deest et tum viam domum invenis.”
As soon as the words left his lips, Kaveh felt an unsteadiness overcome him. The cube burst open, revealing the reddish core that implanted itself between his collar bone. A burning pain surged through his body, throwing him trembling to the ground, gasping for air until his vision darkened.