CHAPTER 23:

FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE

Harry looked to Nahida as she explained her reasoning over breakfast the next morning. He didn't want to think hard on the implications of having to erase a being who was effectively his own mother. And he needed to be strong for Nahida's sake. He knew it was eating her up inside, certainly more than it was him.

After she was done, he said, quietly, "I really, really hope you're wrong, Nahida."

"So do I," Nahida said.

"As do I. That being said, I think we should divide our efforts for a while," Aether said. "While we were at the café, we ended up overhearing someone called Asfand arguing with someone about the theft of some Divine Knowledge Capsules. If I can get a hold of one, maybe analysing it could give you some answers as to what is afflicting Irmunsul."

"Old Asfand?" Dehya asked. "He's an advisor to the Corps of Thirty, I knew him back when I was working for them."

"I managed to inveigle him to speak with us," Zhongli said. "He recognised Aether and Paimon from news of what happened in Mondstadt, Liyue and Inazuma, and so was willing to part with more information. The Divine Knowledge Capsules had passed through Aaru Village, possibly from some cache in the desert. The shipment was intercepted and ended up in, according to rumour, Port Ormos. Aether, Paimon, Venti and Sirius have decided to go there to investigate…but I wished to try an idea."

"An idea?" Nahida asked.

"In finding the Tomb of Kasala," Zhongli said. "It was something Sirius mentioned offhandedly once. When you asked Harry why some wizard underground installations in Britain hadn't been detected by ground-penetrating radar, and he asked Sirius. I actually took note, but it wasn't until last night that I realised it could be used to help find the Tomb of Kasala."

"It'd be great if we actually had ground-penetrating radar," Harry said. "I've watched some Time Team, we could do with some geophysics with such archaeology."

"Actually, Sirius explained the concept of radar to me, even if he didn't understand ground-penetrating radar," Zhongli said. "I believe I could do the same thing with my Elemental Skill, Dominus Lapidis. It creates a stone pillar, a Stele, which emits a pulse of Geo energy through the ground. I am sensitive to the pulses it emits, and I am also the Geo Archon. I have used a similar method before to help my followers mine certain areas of Liyue by detecting lodes of valuable minerals."

Nahida and Harry's eyes widened in realisation. "So you could map out any underground areas!" Harry exclaimed.

"To a degree," Zhongli said. "Enough to gain some sort of approximation. From what the records show, the likeliest location for Kasala's tomb is to the west of King Deshret's mausoleum. But much of that desert is a veritable warren of tunnels."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Dehya grumbled. "When I was working with Jeht and her father under that ass of a scholar, we must've explored half of them at least while trying to find a way out. That being said, I don't think we were directly to the west of King Deshret's mausoleum at any time. In it and under it, sure, but directly to the west? I've got a fairly good sense of direction, you need it to be any good at travelling through the desert or the forest."

"Thank you for that information, Dehya," Nahida said. "So, in that case, Zhongli will accompany Harry and myself in going into the desert west of King Deshret's mausoleum, while Aether, Paimon, Venti and Sirius investigate the Divine Knowledge Capsules at Port Ormos. Aether, I'm not sure I need the capsules themselves. But anything you can find out about their origins, as well as who are interested in them. The Akademiya goes without saying, but other parties would be good to investigate too."

"Nahida…is there anything I can do while remaining here?" Dunyarzad asked.

"I've already exhausted what resources I can in terms of books and the Akasha System, Dunyarzad," Nahida said. "But I would like you and Dehya to keep an eye on matters here, on anything unusual, particularly activity relating to the Sages, the Fatui, or any rogue Eremite groups. We also need to confirm where Il Dottore is, and if Scaramouche is in Sumeru."

"Got it. I'll keep my eyes and ears open while guarding Lady Dunyarzard," Dehya said.

"But you'll be back in time for the Sabzeruz Festival, Nahida?" Dunyarzad asked.

Nahida smiled. "I wouldn't miss it for all the world…"

Dehya managed to give them a headstart, taking them via Teleport Monument to King Deshret's mausoleum proper, having been there on her misadventures with Jeht and her father. She then headed back once they had oriented themselves. Harry could Apparate them back once they were done.

The heat was near-unbearable, though, and by the time they reached their destination, Harry was sweating like a pig. Cooling Charms only did so much, as did the hats and umbrellas they brought with them. True, the rainforest was hot and humid, but even with the humidity, it wasn't so bad, probably because of the shade many of the trees provided. He could see why Tighnari didn't cope well with the desert heat.

Once they came to a certain point, Zhongli called a halt. "I will begin. Please, stand back."

He closed his eyes, inhaled, and then snarled, "Quake!" A massive stone pillar, dark brown but with amber highlights, jutted from the ground, orange shockwaves pulsing out from it. Zhongli then walked a little way away, and then repeated the process, before standing between the two stone pillars, and closing his eyes, concentrating.

After a moment, he opened his eyes again. "Fortune smiles on us," he said. "There is a hollow almost directly beneath us, connecting to an artificial structure. The rock supporting the ceiling is fragile. Normally, it would still take decades before it caved in, but the tremors in the desert have weakened it. Stand well back."

As they did so, Zhongli crossed his arms, the Vision hanging from the back of his jacket glowing. Once more, Harry was witness to his Elemental Burst, which Zhongli had told him was called Planet Befall. A meteorite made from cubical blocks plummeted from the sky and smashed into the ground, causing a great fountain of sand to erupt, as Zhongli snapped, "Order guide you!"

A crater was opened up in the desert, a deep one. Harry, Nahida and Zhongli made their way gingerly to the edge, and peered in. "…Okay, hold on," Harry said, grabbing their arms and Apparating down.

The cave had a door at the end, an entrance to something. "…Is this the tomb?" Harry asked.

Nahida peered at what seemed to be hieroglyphs around the outside, and nodded. "The Tomb of Kasala. Let's get going…"

They ventured through the tomb, which was filled with greenery, oddly enough. Like the whole thing had been suffused with Dendro energy. They had to activate various devices to progress further, which activated an elevator that took them deeper into the tomb.

As they went deeper, they had to deal with more of the mutated fungal creatures. They also had to work out a trick to riding on another elevator to get to where they needed to go. And when they reached the tomb itself, it was almost like walking into an eerie but beautiful forest.

"Your predecessor's handiwork, I daresay," Zhongli commented as they headed up the hill, towards a large tree, covered in pink flowers like cherry blossoms.

"That jackal-headed statue at the base of the tree," Harry said as they approached. "It looks like Anubis from Egyptian myth…is that Hermanubis?"

"I believe so," Nahida said, before peering at the tomb at its base. "These are the lettering of King Deshret's people."

Zhongli took a photo from a camera he had brought with him, just in case. "Can you read it?"

Nahida nodded. Then, she blinked, before turning to a blue jewel inset into the floor. "And more than that…they left an actual audiovisual recording. An elegy from Kasala himself." She toddled over to the jewel, and activated it.

In a flare of blue light, the image of a man appeared. He looked not unlike Cyno, and not just because of the Anubis-like headdress. The same orange eyes with slitted pupils were present, and there were similarities with his face. But he was clearly much older, his hair was darker, albeit streaked through with grey, and his skin was mostly covered in the telltale scales of Eleazar. Vines also encased part of his body.

"Welcome, visitors to my tomb, that of Priest Kasala," the man said, his voice deep and resonant. "To those who seek treasures that were never yours, you will find nothing here beyond a few paltry baubles. But to those who seek that more abstract treasure, knowledge, you are welcome to what remains. But in saying this, I must warn you of the dangers of knowledge. After all, civilisation may be born of knowledge, but so too may it prove its end."

"…That's ominous," Harry said.

Kasala continued. "A disaster laid waste to our lands, our glorious civilisation. Knowledge that did not belong in this world, brought forth by the Scarlet King from the depths of the Abyss. It spread like a plague, infecting people's minds with crazed whispers, and causing dark grey scales to grow on their body, a stigmata of what we came to call Forbidden Knowledge. The land was not spared this blight, being stripped of its vigour, leaving only deathly silence."

"Shit, so your hypothesis was correct after all, Nahida," Harry said. "Deshret unleashed what became the Withering and Eleazar."

Nahida nodded, but gestured for him to stay silent. "The damage would have been irreparable, had it not been for the intervention of Greater Lord Rukkhadevata," Kasala said. "She bade our king and his priests to build great temples that pointed to the sky, and infused them with the divine essence of life. By that point, only Aaru Village preserved the embers of our civilisation. But that was but a short reprieve, for as long as Forbidden Knowledge existed in this world, it would forever blight Teyvat. In the end, my eternal lord, our king, chose to sacrifice himself. In helping him, Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, sacrificing much of her strength, assumed the form of a small child. Ever since, I have guarded one of these temples. But my time draws near. As I prepare to close my eyes for the last time, I see before me that noble deity once more. Now that I think of her, I no longer dear death. I sense that the spirit of life will abide with me in my sleep eternal. And so, I ask of you as my final will, children of the desert…cling to past grievances no longer. Instead, hold tight to the memory of this act of benevolence, and remember and honour the sacrifices of both the Scarlet King, and Greater Lord Rukkhadevata…"

The hologram flickered and faded away. Silence fell for a time, a contemplative one. It was Zhongli who filled it. "It seems your hypothesis has been confirmed, Nahida, at least in part," the Geo Archon said, his arms folded. "We now know that, somehow, King Deshret called forth this…Forbidden Knowledge from the Abyss. Why, we don't know, but given his historical attitude towards Celestia, we can infer that he may have intended rebellion."

Nahida nodded solemnly. "The question is…how to get rid of it? I already have ideas, but I want to have full access to Akasha to do so…and to do that, I need to wrest back control of Sumeru from the Sages."

"…Nahida…if erasing Rukkhadevata from existence will remove Forbidden Knowledge from the world, and thus potentially stop the Withering and Eleazar," Harry said, "then that means…we can't use that as a means to win over the populace anymore."

"…I know," Nahida said quietly. "We'll have to find another way. For now, let's just get back. Oh, but first, we'll have to consider a way to conceal this place, just in case…"

Zhongli and Nahida hit upon a solution. To prevent the hole from potentially hurting people, Zhongli used his Geo powers to create a ridge of rock on one side of the hole, one that one needed to climb over quite a bit, while the other, he eroded away so that, instead of a hole, there was a gentle incline. Nahida, meanwhile, layered the door with as many charms as she could, ensuring it couldn't be seen normally unless one knew it was there, or had it pointed out to them. The Fidelius might be a waste for now.

Still, what they had seen and heard had shaken them. Even though the puzzle they had was mostly complete, it still shook them to their very core. They could only hope Aether, Sirius, Paimon and Venti had had better luck in Port Ormos…

In the distance, a man watched them Disapparate. The man was non-descript, seemingly a rather average Eremite. In fact, this was one of the instances of Il Dottore, disguised. He then went over to where they had been, noting the Geo Energy used to form the ridge and shape the hole until it was more of a cave entrance than a hazard. He walked in, and frowned when he felt what was something trying to deter him from investigating any further.

But this was Il Dottore, the Second of the Fatui Harbingers. A man who had multiple iterations of himself, all with a strong will of their own. He pushed past the spells to the door.

Interesting…he thought to himself. Was this your doing, Nahida or Harry Potter? Or was this something else? Either way…you cannot stop me.

With that, Il Dottore opened the door, and walked inside, ready to discern any secrets that lay hidden within. No knowledge would be kept from him. The Akademiya couldn't stop him, so why would some musty old tomb do so? No, he would get what he desired, no matter what. For that was who he was…

CHAPTER 23 ANNOTATIONS:

So, Harry, Nahida and Zhongli have learned the truth…but it seems, so too will Il Dottore. Oh shit…

Also, would you believe I just got Neuvillette with my first 10-roll? I'll be spending the next little while exploring the Institute area of Fontaine, if only because Fate/Samurai Remnant is coming out soon, and I'll probably be playing that a lot.

And then, there's Arlecchino. Is it me, or between what we know of Lyney, Lynette and Freminet, and a few scenes I have seen from the latest chapters on Youtube, is she the most morally complex of the Harbingers so far? I mean, aside from Scaramouche, who retconned himself out of the Harbingers, anyway, and even then, he was pretty much a card-carrying villain until he learned the truth. La Signora and Il Dottore were pretty much outright villains, while Tartaglia is a blood knight with too much loyalty to the Tsaritsa. Arlecchino, though…she's definitely got something else going on apart from her work for the Tsaritsa.

Anyhoodle, as mentioned before, the next chapter may not be out until the Christmas update. Hope you enjoyed this one anyway…

No numbered annotations this time.