Chapter Text
(Approximately 400 years ago in Sumeru...)
Bright sunlight beamed down in the depths of the desert, creating scorching temperatures that allowed little to grow or thrive. The air appeared distorted from the intense heat, with occassional winds whipping sand about, hot enough to feel painful on the skin. There was nothing to see but ruins surrounded by sand dunes and athel trees for miles, making the desert appear vast and endless. Within this harsh environment, a student from the Academiya was studying the ruins intently, his nose close to his journal as his scribbled down and interesting information he uncovered. A gust of wind blew suddenly, knocking the pen from his hand and flipping through the pages of the notebook, now covered in sand.
"Shit," he swore under his breath once the wind died down, "the ink's hardly even dry." He flipped back to where he was; the notes he'd jotted down were now somewhat smudged, but still legible. Sighing, he stood up, dusting himself off and closing the journal shut, which he then tucked in into his bag. He began making his way to another section of ruins when a bothersome voice beckoned him from the outskirts of the desert.
"Zandik!" another Academiya member shouted, "We're leaving now!" Zandik scowled and muttered to himself, irritated that he had to work with this group of students. He begrudgingly rendezvoused with the others, keeping to the back of group as he skimmed over his notes again. He wished to research this on his own, however the Academiya officials strongly disagreed with this, as he'd acted without their authorization more than once before. He found the concept to be absurd; he felt he should be able to research as he pleased, whatever the subject matter may be. However, that was not the case and he was now forced to be somewhat supervised during any sort of expedition.
Chatter amongst the students arose as they traveled out of the desert and back through the jungle towards the Academiya. Zandik remained in the back, isolated as much as possible from the others. One student caught on to this and fell behind, meeting at his side. He blew air through his nose, annoyed, trying to ignore her attempts at conversation.
"Hey," she started awkwardly, "what're you doing back here?" She didn't really seem super interested in talking; it was almost as if she was trying to pick apart his character. Couldn't she see he had no desire for conversing?
"Does it matter, Sohreh?" he said flatly, not looking up from his journal. She made a face, finding him and his response cold and rigid.
"Fine," she huffed, giving up the attempt to understand what his deal was. Zandik shrugged and continued to analyze his chicken scratch from today's expedition. Soon, nighttime approached and the group set up camp; they'd travel the rest of the way back tomorrow.
For a moment, Zandik felt as if someone was watching him. Like eyes boring into the back of his head. He glanced around, uncomfortable, but found nothing. Shrugging it off, Zandik assembled his tent somewhat away from the others and settled in, information he learned today running through his head. Some of the machinery and material seemed to be from long ago, and it fascinated him. He began to imagine how to bring things back to the Akademiya, although the higher-ups would be furious. This made him snicker. After some time he dozed off, thoughts of foreign ruins and enraged Sages lingering in his mind.
The next morning, the group ate breakfast and gathered their things to set off back to Sumeru City. The jungle was pretty humid that morning, with dew gathered on the grass and hanging plants. The ground was soft from the moisture and mud stuck to the bottom of Zandik's shoes. It irritated him.
Eventually the cluster of students reached the Academiya, and Zandik broke off from the crowd, heading towards the building where he lived while enrolled. It wasn't much, not a fancy building by any means, but it gave him a place to stay.
He swung open the creaky door and entered, opening a window to light the room. His desk was situated a few feet away from it. It was very cluttered, with papers strewn about and sticking out of the drawers. Notes and sketches were plastered all over the wall above it, the paint behind them hardly visible through the mess. He slumped into his chair, dropping his bag to the floor, where it's contents spilled out. Ignoring the rest of the junk on the ground, he picked up his journal from earlier and set it on the desk. He flipped to a blank page and connected the new information with his previous notes, writing quickly yet somewhat illegibly. Where could the ruins be from? Possibly Khaenri'ah? They seemed to align with other Khaenri'ahn relics found. He was lost in thought for several hours, constantly scribbling down theories and information. His writing slowed as he grew drowsy, his eyelids drooping. After a few moments, Zandik fell asleep at his desk, pen in hand.