Chapter Text
There was only so much free time one could make during a PhD program, especially while trying to keep oneself afloat and fed. So, naturally, Tighnari didn't have much of a life beyond school, solely dedicated to his plant biology degree. However, during the dark hours of the morning at the cost of a sensible sleep schedule, Tighnari would indulge in online web novels.
Well. One online web novel. It wasn't even something he came upon naturally. Instead, an acquaintance of his had recommended it on the basis of his major, early in his first year. "I mean, you like plants, the web-novel's got plants… The story isn't that bad either, and, dude, you need to do something other than study," she had said.
And Tighnari couldn't find an argument against it, so he'd clicked on the link she had sent him and found himself begrudgingly entranced. The story itself wasn't anything too special, but Tighnari did find himself drawn to the characters and their complexity. It wasn't all too often that he found himself attached to fictional characters, but something about the characters in Prophecy of the Scribe captured his attention.
The first protagonist, Alhaitham, was charming in the fact that he borderline refused to do anything beyond necessary or what was outside of his own reasoning, but held a deep desire to know and understand the world around him. When the plot of the story kicked off, Alhaitham had been hesitant to take on the 'hero' role and subsequent 'savior' of the story.
Conversely, the co-protagonist, Kaveh, held a high regard for the ideal of saving everyone possible. Boundless empathy, for better or worse, Kaveh had dragged Alhaitham into the main plot line of the story, bickering with him the whole way. Tighnari had found the dynamic entertaining and engaging, enough so that it kept him reading until the story actually managed to make substantial progress.
Admittedly, it had been a slow start of a story, mostly covering character interactions and setting up plot lines for later. Though, most of those had become irrelevant when the Traveler had been introduced. Not that Tighnari minded! In fact, the Traveler had been an incredibly compelling character to intersect such a contained story. The Traveler and their companion, Paimon, had larger than life personalities and an overarching quest to find a missing sibling. Honestly, it greatly deepened the lore of the world beyond what Tighnari had originally expected.
Prophecy of the Scribe was a contained story about overthrowing an unjust system that operated disingenuously as well as holding secrets beyond what either of the protagonists had expected. The appearance of the Traveler brought about the unveiling of the Fatui within Sumeru's Akademiya as well as their quest to collect every Archon's Gnosis. At that point, Tighnari was beyond any point of returning to a sane life.
Tighnari found himself working a few hours in here and there to read, most of the time without impacting his grades. He did end up getting a less than desirable grade due to being in the beginning stages of his obsession with the novel, but quickly corrected that. The story was good, but not that good. At this point, Tighnari had been keeping up with the web novel for a good few years now, the completion of his PhD just around the corner, and everything had been going quite well.
Then the author updated.
Tighnari hadn't even left class before an online forum he'd joined was absolutely blowing up with chatter about the new chapter. Against his better judgment, Tighnari had peeked at the messages. Nothing insane had been happening recently in the story, so his expectations for the chat had been rather low.
He had never been more wrong in his life.
Once he was able to get off campus and back to his apartment, Tighnari abandoned his schedule for the rest of the day and opened up the recent chapter. Sure enough, the chats had not been lying. He read, reread, and then read the new chapter once again. Apparently, the author had decided to take a turn with the story and give a big middle finger to every single fan of the series.
Prophecy of the Scribe was quite notorious for not killing off plot relevant characters. There were certainly one or two deaths here and there, but those characters had clearly been written to die, the death flags were prominent and no one had been surprised when they were ejected from the story.
However, this was not the case. The current plot line was a simple desert exploration. A team consisting of Alhaitham and Kaveh (of course), the Traveler, Paimon, a bodyguard by the name of Dehya, a village guardian called Candace, and the General Mahamatra, Cyno.
And the author had just decided to kill off Cyno.
General Mahamatra Cyno was a beloved character by the general fandom and had an intense fan base of people who would fight tooth and nail in internet comment sections. Tighnari himself had struggled to find the character all that engaging, but that was mostly due to the author's own inability to give the man an actual backstory. There was obviously more to Cyno than what the story told, pieces of information left scattered and hidden within the text, but nothing concrete. It had irked him pretty early on when even the newly introduced characters were getting fully fleshed out stories and Cyno was left as the 'mysterious' character with an 'unknown past.'
No one was that unknowable, Tighnari refused to believe that. It had almost felt as if the author just simply didn't care enough about Cyno to write him as they had the other characters. And as the story progressed, it only ended up pissing Tighnari off even more. That was about the extent of his feelings for the character, mostly because he couldn't find himself attached to something he knew nothing about. Now he found himself utterly enraged at the pointless death.
He struggled to find any form of plot development to come from it, nor could the death be even used as a 'learning experience' for the main characters. It had just…happened. Nothing more, nothing less. Gone, a single night of mourning, and then they moved on.
In one chapter.
Good riddance.
The death had screwed over the rest of Tighnari's week. Time he should have spent studying was directed at scouring through the story and fan theories about Cyno. Searching for anything close to a warning for the death, maybe a hint of something more…. And yet. And yet. Nothing. Even the most dedicated fans struggled to find the author comments about the character. While the author was quite active with fans, replying to questions and giving some future hints about lore, there was nothing for Cyno. Which was quite baffling considering Tighnari knew the step by step process behind which Alhaitham turned stew into a pie.
It had gotten so bad that Tighnari had ended up complaining to one of his study group members about it. He wouldn't call himself inconsolable over the event, but he was thrown pretty far off his normal track. "This is what fan fiction is for," the guy from his study group sighed, long and deep. "Besides, writers make bad decisions all the time, did you see that finale for uhh," the guy paused. "I don't remember. But people were pretty pissed about that too."
Tighnari rolled his eyes. "It's not that hard to give characters at least a little bit of respect, they've done it with every other character in the series."
The idiot before him shrugs. "Maybe the character was supposed to be a one off sort of thing but fans ended up liking him so much the author kept them around?"
"I suppose, but that doesn't explain the lack of information about the character. I mean, years and years of writing this character just to scrap them at the end of the day?" it didn't make sense. It didn't follow the formula that every other character that the author had followed. It felt a bit like someone writing a research paper only to later come out and reveal it had been fake the entire time and that everything the scientific community had been referencing was actually fraudulent.
The guy thought about it, tapping his pen to his chin. "Maybe the author just got tired of the fans being crazy over the character?"
Clearly this man knew nothing. Tighnari leaned over and gave his study partner's computer a good look, eyeing an article. "The author of that study was exposed for research misconduct, you'd be better off with a different reference."
"Wh-" the guy's eyes go wide as he types something into his search engine. "Oh come on! I'm basing my whole paper off of that study!"
"Then you aren't writing your paper right," Tighnari tells him bluntly, feeling only a little satisfied when his table partner's head collides with said table.
Tighnari wishes he could say his life went back to normal after that week, but it seemed to only spiral further. He refused to let his grades be affected, but his obsession with Prophecy of the Scribe did get worse. He had never been one to mindlessly fixate on something for so long, or so intensely, yet here he was. It had been quite a while since that chapter had dropped and a few more had dropped after. It seemed that, like the novel, much of the fan base moved on over Cyno's death with relative ease. Shrugging it off and refocusing themselves on the next major story event.
Yet he couldn't.
Everything was now wrong and what was once a stable comfort of Tighnari's ended up bringing about more dread and stress than his own exams. But even taking that into consideration, Tighnari couldn't put down the story. Holding out some sort of delusional hope that there would be some closure on Cyno's untimely death. As time went on, that seemed to be nothing more than a fantasy.
Eventually Tighnari's mood soured to a point where even his fellow classmates could tell. A few people did try to pry, but Tighnari wasn't willing to admit that he was emotionally screwed over by an inconsequential character from a damn web novel. Absolutely not.
Due to his own improper planning, Tighnari now found himself cramming for his exams on a cold night. Perhaps morning? He couldn't be exact on the time. A dim lamp illuminating his textbooks and papers scattered about, Tighnari was pouring over his texts. He turned the page of his textbook, the lamp flickered—
The room went black. Tighnari lifted his head to assess the situation and then—
A loud BANG!
Tighnari slowly opens his eyes, it's no longer dark and he is…well, it's definitely not his apartment. And isn't that a scary bit of information? Upon further inspection, nothing around him looks even remotely close to what he normally surrounds himself with. There doesn't appear to be any light switches in close proximity, but there is a light on above him. He spots a decorative lamp on a nearby table as well, though there isn't a noticeable cord anywhere he can find.
On the table, near the lamp, there's a stack of bound books that lack the waxy covers of his usual textbooks. The language is also not one Tighnari finds himself familiar with, but strangely enough, he has no difficulty reading it. His ear twitches and—
…
Carefully, slowly, Tighnari brings a hand up to his head and finds that rather than the human ears he has grown accustomed to over the twenty something odd years of his life, there are dog(?) ears atop his head. And good god can he hear just about everything. He's fairly certain someone just dropped a pencil in one of the rooms next to his. Tighnari stands still, taking in what he can of the new sensation. His hearing was never terrible, but now it's as if he has a stethoscope pressed against every wall in his room.
An overwhelming amount of noise filters into his head, keeping any reasonable thought from forming. Tighnari sits down on the bed he woke up on, realizing he also has a tail now too. He tries to keep himself from thinking about that too hard. Trying to recount what he recalls last, Tighnari rubs his forehead. His location, what he'd been doing, what on earth he'd been smoking potentially. Nothing substantial comes up in his memories, save for the power outage. Tighnari assumes he blacked out not long after that, but that still doesn't explain how he ended up here in a familiar yet completely unrecognizable body. His hands are his, he knows this. There is nothing different about them, save for the density of his nails perhaps. His hair feels just about the same too. Same length and color, from what he can tell.
Taking a deep breath, Tighnari decides he needs to find a mirror.
Which, evidently, is far harder than he expected. He supposes he should be grateful for the lack of vanity from the people he's ended up around, however, he needs to find a damn mirror. It comes to a point where he caves and asks a young woman where he could find one. She stares at him oddly for a moment, then some more, before figuring out he is not playing some inane mind game and that he really does need a mirror.
"I have one back in my room," she explains carefully.
"That would be great, thank you."
The woman packs up her books and Tighnari takes note of the one she's holding. "Ecology is quite an extensive field, isn't it?" he asks, hoping the question is broad enough to not sell out his own lack of knowledge about the current situation.
"Tell me about it," she complains, leading Tighnari down a hall. "I didn't realize how dense the topic was going to be when I chose this study. I mean, I get that it's important to understand it, but do I seriously need to know the relationship between fungi and people? Isn't it already obvious?"
Tighnari almost tells her no, and that a concerning amount of people are completely clueless when it comes to the intricacies of their world, but she continues. "The cryo ones are kind of cute, I guess? But they cause so many incompetent adventurers so many problems and I just-ugh. People are so stupid, why do I need to write about it?"
Now Tighnari's brain fully pauses. Sure, the ears and the tail were sort of understandable. Tighnari has done some weird things in his life and this might just be a really strange dream. However, cryo in reference to fungi is a very specific terminology that Tighnari has not ever heard within his own world.
He has only ever heard that used on a screen in a web novel.
Well. Fuck.
Tighnari sets that creeping realization to the side as the woman reaches her door, pushing it open. She returns after a moment with an ornate mirror, green and gold with dots of purple scattered throughout. "You can keep it," she tells him. "I can't remember the last time I used that one, my girlfriend bought me a new one not too long ago."
"Oh, well, thank you," Tighnari says simply, holding the mirror delicately.
The woman smiles brightly, tilting her head to the side. "You know, everyone kept talking about how unapproachable you are, but you're kind of nice, huh?"
"Pardon?"
She laughs. "We should meet up some time and compare our notes, Archons knows I need it."
What.
"I'll see you later, Tighnari."
The woman waves him off and shuts the door on him, leaving Tighnari alone in a hallway to sit with his thoughts. He stumbles back through the halls doing his best to recall the way back to his own room. There's a different sense of balance that he has with the addition of a tail, but his body doesn't seem to be struggling much with it. He feels more sure of his footing, he supposes. Though, further investigation would have to be done to truly understand the extent of that.
He does eventually get back to his room and is finally able to fully address his appearance. Tighnari first takes note of the light green in his hair, it doesn't appear to be dyed either. The ears on top of his head bear a resemblance to a fennec fox and he does have a good amount of control over their movement. It's strange, being able to move parts of his body that were previously not there through instinct alone. His eyes are also a bit different, split in half with deep rust brown to a light teal.
After further poking and prodding at his own appearance, Tighnari settles into the realization that he is no longer in his own reality. He can't be. It doesn't appear to be a dream either, it's too detailed, he can hear everything, and the pulsating headache he's now nursing is not helping dissuade the theory that he might have landed himself in a different reality.
Specifically that of Prophecy of the Scribe.
An incomprehensible concept that shouldn't be possible. Yet an existence that is becoming harder and harder to deny with every passing second he spends awake. And with that Tighnari figures the next best course of action is to sleep off the headache and recollect his thoughts with a sound mind.
Miraculously, he manages to fall asleep.
When he wakes up, nothing has changed. He still has ears, still has a tail, still has a headache, and is still not in his apartment. And, it's not as if Tighnari can sit around and do nothing. Ultimately he decides to operate under the hypothesis that he is inhabiting another person's body. Similar to his own, yet different. There are notes scribbled onto paper that support this theory, as well as a class schedule hastily written out. Which leads to another issue, Tighnari isn't exactly certain what day it is or how to tell time. His over-reliance on his own world's technology is really coming back to bite him in the ass.
There is a calendar, though nothing is crossed off or even written on it, so not much points to what day it is. But Tighnari is nothing if not adaptable. He can figure this out, and maybe even get himself back home while he's at it.
Speaking of home. Tighnari knows he has exams coming up. He feels his ears flatten against his head, irritation already forming at the mere thought of him missing important deadlines because of a trip to another world. It feels ridiculous even thinking about it, but the idea of missing a class is bringing bouts of paranoia that Tighnari hasn't felt since his early years of study.
He'll figure it out.
He will.
It takes a full week for Tighnari to settle into a rhythm and figure out exactly what his life is like. He learns that the woman who gave him a mirror is named Shriya, a researcher for Amurta. Which is also his field of study. He is aware of most of this through his involvement with the web-novel, but to actually experience the inner workings of it all is another thing. He managed to figure out the layout of the Akademiya relatively easily with the bonus retention of the maps drawn lovingly by fans of the series.
His classes aren't too difficult either. Well, not difficult in the sense that Tighnari is mostly doing work he is already familiar with. He finds himself rather relieved that none of the work is uncharted territory. There are new species that he is having to familiarize himself with, but he's more invested than confused.
It's not every day that he gets to explore an entirely different realm of plant life. While their functions are mostly the same, the inclusion of visions, elements, and other fantastical functions of the world completely change the way plants are perceived. There's a part of it all that challenges Tighnari's worldview to the extreme, it's hard to truly wrap his head around the function of Dendro as an element and without proper research or access to proper outlets of observation, he's left with word of mouth and what he can find within the corners of the House of Daena.
Time passes, and Tighnari has yet to wake back up in an apartment. Has yet to hear an alarm go off. It takes a bit, but he does eventually settle with the fact that he is well and truly stuck in this reality. He could likely talk to the Traveler whenever they decide to show up, though from what he's gathered that's quite a ways away from where he's currently at. The Akasha system is still used and heavily relied on by the students and citizens of Sumeru alike. Tighnari had attempted to use his out of mere curiosity, but the thing didn't quite fit right on his ears and it gave him a headache after about an hour of use. That alone would have been enough to put him off the system, but knowing what they are truly used for doesn't help to put his mind at ease.
He has also come to realize that most of the students are quite…well. Tighnari doesn't want to call them unintelligent, because everyone has the capacity to learn. But there are some fundamental misunderstandings that they hold that Tighnari cringes every time he hears them. Such as now, stuck in a lecture hall with a speaker going on about the propagation of a particular flower that Tighnari knows is wrong. It's itch that makes itself known in his hands, the want to reach out and correct. Tighnari has spent far too long learning and relearning this subject to let such blatant misinformation go without correction. So he raises his hand and prepares himself for the worst. Scholars are not known for taking public challenges well.
This scholar, however, does seem pleasantly surprised by light brought upon their own blunder. He calls Tighnari up for a more thorough explanation, so that's what he does. The man is receptive and immersed, asking relevant questions and taking Tighnari seriously. It's a productive conversation and Tighnari can feel the weight off his chest after their chat.
It's only when he returns to his dorm that night that he happens upon another option he hadn't considered since waking up in the world. A green Dendro vision dangles from one of his tassels. He holds it in his hand, carefully turning it over, feeling the energy within it. It's reaching out to him, a subtle buzz through his veins that calls for him. Tighnari touches the glass and watches as green particles emit from it. His chest tightens as he watches the particles pulse with a soft glow. Soft and floaty. Like fireflies.
It's beautiful.
It's terrifying.
For the first time since he got here, Tighnari grieves the loss of his previous life.
The more he settles into a routine, the more time he finds freed up to do other things, such as study groups. He was no stranger to the gathering of students all desperately trying to help one another pass their classes, though he was surprised at every one's insistence on his help with their assignments. Sure, Tighnari had a vast amount of botanical knowledge through years of study and immersion with the subject, but he had assumed the students of the Akademiya would be more reliant on their Akasha than on him.
That assumption was proven wrong somewhere between the second and third week of him joining in on an already established study group. Apparently the Akademiya is full of gossips and suddenly a mass of students are all grappling for Tighnari's attention. Not that he minds helping them, in fact, he's quite pleased at their eagerness to learn, though he suspects most of them are hoping for direct answers from him. Rather than being an all-knowing vat of knowledge, he's been pointing students towards studies he's found himself and doing his best to encourage them to put their own minds to use.
Framing it as 'his method' seems to work better than telling them outright to go and look for something. A gentler 'this is what I do' seems to be what they want to hear. An illusion that if they follow 'Tighnari's method' that they too will achieve grades like his. And while he has never once proclaimed that this method works, students seem quite pleased at the outcome. Of studying. Tighnari is promoting healthy studying habits.
He feels a bit like a conman.
And while no one calls him out on it, he does eventually notice the bonus set of feet that seem to trail behind him. While it's almost unnoticeable, Tighnari's ears pick up on bugs sneezing. So while he cannot seem to spot whoever is watching him, it's hard to miss the distinct sound of footsteps always a moment behind him.
At first he thought he had been losing his mind, stuck in a world that wasn't his own for too long he'd started hallucinating footsteps behind him. Then he'd tested it out, stopped abruptly in front of windows, appearing to have his attention caught by something just beyond, but catching an extra moment when the footsteps didn't stop fast enough. He was creeped out at first. Stalking wasn't something he'd expected when he'd woken up in Prophet of the Scribe, but he quickly turned it into a game.
It was a fun way to test his own attention while also trying to catch sight of the person pursuing him. He hadn't spotted them yet, but he thinks he'd been able to smell them. Another perk of no longer having a human body. Many of the students within the Akademiya have a specific smell to them, a perfume they frequently wear, or lack thereof. This person, though, smells quite warm and earthy. It's different enough from the rest of the Akademiya students that Tighnari is certain that this belongs to the person watching him.
Tighnari's game ends after a day packed with lectures and students trying to pull him every which way with questions. It's only once he manages to escape into the House of Daena do the students suddenly disperse. In fact, they leave him quite quickly, practically scrambling out of the general area. Tighnari hears footsteps, though they're coming towards him and not shying away.
Shifting his gaze away from the now absent students, he sees the person who's been following him. He's both completely floored and unsurprised. Honestly, Tighnari should have seen this coming. He's spent enough time reading through the world of Prophecy of the Scribe to know how paranoid the Akademiya tends to be with their scholars. Especially those who are violating the rules. As far as Tighnari knows, he has never broken one of these rules, so the sight of the General Mahamatra is a little bit startling.
"General Mahamatra," Tighnari addresses the man, taking in the sight.
He's wearing a dark charcoal coat with ears atop resembling that of a jackal. White hair pokes out from beneath the cloak and bright red eyes meet his. Tighnari had never put all too much thought into the appearances of the characters he'd read about. General features, sure, but nothing more complex than that.
He almost wishes he'd tried to imagine Cyno more now. The man before him is quite breathtaking, posture drawn back and spear held perfectly vertical. He'd be quite the intimidating figure if Tighnari could focus long enough to remember he's probably being accused of academic fraud.
Ah.
That.
"You're Tighnari, right?" Cyno says slowly.
Tighnari has to take a moment to regain his composure. He might have sought out Cyno himself had he known his voice would have sounded like that. "You'd be right," Tighnari hums. "Though, you already knew who I was, didn't you?"
Cyno's eyes do widen for a fraction of a second. Tighnari almost misses it. "I like to be certain," Cyno says in place of an admission.
Tighnari accepts that answer, not willing to push his luck too much. "Why is the General Mahamatra looking for me?" Tighnari decides to ask, he can hear someone gasp from somewhere behind him.
Nosy students.
"The Akademiya took note of your involvement with other students, it was put under scrutiny due to possible corruption," the General explains succinctly.
"Ah," Tighnari sighs. "Well, I presume you found what you were looking for?"
Cyno nods. "I did."
Oh. Well, Tighnari might be going to jail. "And…?"
"And nothing, your work is honest."
So. Not going to jail. The two stare at each other. Tighnari mostly out of befuddlement, and Cyno likely because he doesn't know how to exit the conversation. Tighnari is half expecting Cyno to turn on his heel and just leave. Which, given what he does know about the character, wouldn't be too far off of normal behavior. "You know," Cyno says instead. "I once heard that the library is the tallest room in the building."
Tighnari blinks, trying to find the double meaning in the words. The House of Daena certainly is one of the largest structures built into the Akademiya… Though, Cyno's words might be a threat. A bad one, but he can't completely rule out the possibility. Apparently, Tighnari's silence is permission for Cyno to continue. "Because it has the most stories."
What.
"What."
His words don't even come out as a question. Just a statement of his confusion. "Because there are so many books in here," Cyno begins to explain. "And books, they contain stories. Like how buildings have stories, so once could use the two terms interchangeably depending on the context. And if you're looking for the tallest building, you would assume that the number of stories would translate to height, but libraries also have many stories. Get it?"
Tighnari can't even give the guy a proper response. Years only knowing a cold, distant, empty character and weeks of angry spiraling over the lack of information, all for the man to be an absolute dork. Cyno, the General Mahamatra, one of the most powerful and feared characters within Prophecy of the Scribe, is a dork. With very bad puns. And what Tighnari finds to be the most unforgivable part of it all, is that he is enthralled by this revelation.