In Your Eyes: Empyrean Admonition

You Are Finally Rescued

Land of Upper Setekh, Great Red Sand, Sumeru

Alhaitham, Kaveh, and Cyno are greeted by the searing hot sun when they arrive at the Statue of the Seven near the Valley of Dahri. The wind blows sand at the group as they start to walk towards the ruins that Kaveh has pointed out.

"Curses," Alhaitham annoyingly mutters, "There's sand in my shoes."

Kaveh looks at him and sneers, "You always go to ruins in the desert, how are you not yet used to it?"

"I frequent the desert and I still don't like the sand," Cyno chimes in, "I've been there, dune that. Get it? 'Dune' because there are sand dunes in the desert and 'done' sounds alike."

Kaveh's mouth is slightly open at Cyno in disbelief. He is about to talk back when a powerful gust of wind hits the trio, making him choke on sand. Cyno pats Kaveh in his back and hands him a water canteen.

Alhaitham chuckles as he looks at his helpless roommate, "I really like your sense of humor Cyno and I'm pretty sure Kaveh would love to hear more sand puns."

Kaveh shakes his head as he splutters water and sand out, Cyno looks pleased.

"I actually have prepared a lot of sand and desert jokes," Cyno replies as he takes the water canteen from Kaveh, "What is the best snack to have in the desert?"

Alhaitham nods at Kaveh before turning to Cyno, "What?"

"A sand-wich," Cyno replies before he starts to walk away, "Because the desert area is full of sand so, if you bring a real sandwich and a wind blows when you're eating it, it will literally be full of sand."

"Kaveh loved that one," Alhaitham says, his eyes glinting mischievously, "Tell him more of your jokes Cyno, I'll be scouting ahead."

Alhaitham flickers off before Kaveh can even retort. The architect's eyes widen when Cyno turns towards him and begins to tell more of his sand puns.

The ruins that Kaveh mentioned look deserted and a lot of researchers have already gone through it. Alhaitham remembers at least a dozen researchers have requested access and funding for the specific ruin but they stopped granting access when the dormant Ruin Golem in the Valley of Dahri suddenly powered up and attacked anything that moved in its vision range. When the Vahumana researcher Afratu reported that the Traveler had turned the Ruin Golem off, the sages decided to call off any requests for research in this area for the time being. Kaveh however is an exception, the Light of Kshahrewar is given permission to check the ruins just because.

Alhaitham flickers around the area, making sure that nobody will notice his presence. He sees track marks from a Sumpter Beast at least 500 meters away from the ruins which means that whoever was here just came or left. A huge fallen tree trunk almost touches the building and two anubis statues guard its entrance, their lifeless eyes looking like they follow every step that Alhaitham takes as he comes nearer. The doors of the ruins are closed shut but looking at the marks on the ground, sets of footprints look like someone has run away.

Cyno and Kaveh appear shortly, with the General Mahamatras still explaining his last joke to Kaveh. The blonde man looks like he's about to explode but he is too courteous to stop Cyno, who's eyes sparkle in delight. Nobody wanted to listen to his new set of sand puns and Kaveh just let him talk, which makes Cyno glad.

"Haitham, looks like we're too late," Cyno remarks, his eyes picking up the traces around the area, "I can still catch up to them. I know both of you can handle this ruin."

"Easy peasy," Kaveh says as he conjures his suitcase out. "Let me open this door for you, madame."

Alhaitham scoffs and crosses his arms as he steps to the side. He sees Cyno run away following the prints still fresh in the sand. Whoever is running away from here needs to run faster, it's rare to see Cyno in such a good mood.