Chapter Text
Of all the forms the fabled relic of the “Ancient Dragon Ruin” could take, Kinich had not expected an old bracelet sitting in the sunlight on a pedestal engraved with worn inscriptions.
A slightly garbled, high-pitched voice echoed. “Who goes there?!”
“A Saurian Hunter for hire.” Kinich readied his claymore.
“Foolish human. Bow before the almighty K’uhul Ajaw!”
“And who, exactly, is ‘the almighty K’uhul Ajaw’?” Kinich called, still cautious. Though Ajaw sounded like an angry fourteen year old, his voice was threaded with cold, genuine malice.
“I am a dragonlord of old!” Ajaw screeched. “Obey me, or I’ll rip the skin from your bones!”
“The last of the dragons died millennia ago.” If Ajaw was truly a dragonlord, then Kinich would have been dead by now. Thus, this “Ajaw” was bluffing. “Right now, you’re just the relic I’ve been commissioned to get.”
"They were Sealed! Not died! And when I awaken, I'll destroy you and munch on your bones!“
"Right." Kinich sighed. The trip back was certainly going to be a loud one.
“Rah!” A mitachurl’s roar echoed from behind. Belatedly, Kinich realized he had forgotten to bar the entrance.
“Hehe, what a wonderful sound!" Ajaw’s voice gave Kinich the mental image of a comically evil villain rubbing his fingers together. “The puny mortal struggles against a monster. Who do you think will win?”
Kinich grappled towards the mitachurl with claymore in hand. Ducking beneath its axe, Kinich threw a wad of dust into its eyes. The mitachurl's limbs swung wildly as it clawed at its eyes, catching Kinich in the chest. He flew across the room, colliding with the pedestal so hard he saw stars.
Groaning, Kinich sat up, his claymore nowhere to be seen. The bracelet fell next to him with a dull thump.
“Oh, come on!” Ajaw whined, each word sending stabs of pain through Kinich’s skull. “I was comfortable up there! I—”
The mitachurl was still blundering about near the entrance. Kinich grabbed the bracelet. “Can you help me out a bit?”
“Hah! The puny mortal asks for help?!”
“You said you wanted to break your seal. How are you going to do that if you’re stuck in a cave? I can take you outside, if you cooperate.”
“You can break the seal?"
“Maybe. Maybe not. But don't you want to go outside?” Kinich asked. “Alternatively, I could toss you into some section of this ruin so remote that nobody will find you again.”
“A mortal dares to threaten me? Look at you! You’re on death’s door. You’re not tossing anybody anywhere! In fact, I could possess you right now. Force you to do my bidding!”
Something tugged at Kinich’s mind. He batted it away easily.
“You!---” Ajaw shouted.
The mitachurl roared again, finally having succeeded in getting the dust out of its eyes.
“Time’s up.” Kinich put on the bracelet. His grappling hook was a bit dented, but it might be enough to get out. But the mitachurl was still too close for him to retrieve his claymore, and Kinich didn't want to face the rest of the ruin weaponless. "Yes or no?"
“All right! Give me some phlogiston!” Ajaw shouted. “Puny mortal, do what I say!”
“And?” Kinich moved across the room, limping slightly on his left leg.
“Fine! I’ll help your pathetic butt. And I won’t possess you! I swear it on my Name.”
“Then I’ll uphold my end of the bargain.” Kinich allowed the last of his phlogiston to flow into the bracelet. A risky move, but sometimes risks were the only option.
“Aha!” A bright green, pixelated lizard popped into existence. “Bow before the great K’uhul Ajaw!”
Power surged through Kinich, rejuvenating his weary muscles. A dark green coil shot from the bracelet, wrapping itself around the mitachurl’s neck. A sharp tug, and it was over, the mitachurl’s body dissolving into dust.
Kinich grabbed his claymore and fled before Ajaw’s power gave out.
—
“See. I told you I’m powerful.” Ajaw hovered around Kinich’s head, circling him like an annoying mosquito. “Say your thanks to the Great K’uhul Ajaw, the almighty—”
“Thank you. And pipe down. We’re not out of the woods yet.” Kinich muttered. They were spending the night in an abandoned adventurer’s camp. Though they made good use of the tent and various supplies, they hadn’t dared use the fire, leaving their meal options to be raw grainfruit, stale jerky, and an overripe tomato.
Ajaw had taken one look and said he wasn’t hungry. Kinich had just shrugged and dug in. As he’d learned long ago, anything was better than an empty stomach.
It had been two days since they had met, and they were about two thirds of the way through the ruins. Ajaw had saved Kinich’s life at least five times, grumbling about how he was superior and shouldn’t have to interact with a mortal worm like him. Multiple times he had begun ranting about how many people he wanted to torture and kill, only stopping when Kinich threatened to shove the bracelet deep into his bag.
Ajaw had also demonstrated a remarkable hatred for humanity, yet Kinich found himself curious. Who was this foul-mouthed, misanthropic being that called himself a dragon lord?
Turning over in his bedroll, Kinich said “Let’s make a deal. I ask you a question, and you respond. Of course, we could both lie, but I’ll agree not to if you do the same.”
Ajaw screamed in outrage. “As if the likes of you could ever make a deal with—”
In the distance, a rifthound’s roar echoed.
“Quiet!” Sitting up, Kinich grabbed Ajaw by the tail. “Don’t attract the monsters.”
“Like you’re entitled to give me orders!” Ajaw’s face turned bright red. His jaws opened and closed, pixelated saliva flying out as he shouted. “I tricked your stupid butt back in the cave. Now that I’ve got enough phlogiston to take physical form, I can see myself out!”
“Go ahead.” Kinich removed the bracelet from his wrist. “Leave.”
“I would, but I-- I--" Ajaw stammered, his face turning bright red.
"So you can't see yourself out."
"I can! But then I won’t be able to watch you get torn apart by MONSTERS!” Indignant, Ajaw yelled the last word.
“That’s it.” Kinch shoved the bracelet into his bag. Ajaw disappeared, but his voice remained, albeit a bit muffled. “I’m leaving you here. For both of our safety, noise making privileges are rescinded for the rest of the night."
A large shadow crept across the opposite wall. Abyssal energy wreathed the yumkasaur that stumbled into their cavern, its eyes black and movements half-crazed. Kinich sucked in a breath. There was no cure for abyssal contamination this bad. Quickly, he shoved his bedroll and the remaining food back into his pack.
Kinich paused, his gaze lingering on the contaminated yumkasaur.
“What are you doing?! Run?!” Ajaw screeched.
“It’s suffering.”
“Then let me out!” Ajaw’s voice shook slightly, his tone forced as he added “I’ll delight in killing it!”
“That might be the kinder option.” Kinich murmured. “But nothing comes without a price.” He had no idea how many monsters would join it, nor how much effort it would take to dispatch it.
Before he could decide, the yumkasaur locked eyes with him. A sharp roar echoed through the cavern, and Kinich realized it was blocking the exit.
“Are you going to help me this time?” Kinich took out his bracelet once more. “‘Delight in killing it and all?’”
Ajaw was uncharacteristically silent. A flash of green, and the yumkasaur was in front of him, its tail sweeping into his side to send him airborne. Instead of crashing into the wall, Kinch hung suspended by his bracelet.
“Ugh, why are you so heavy, you giant lug!” Ajaw screamed. “Finish it! And make it quick!”
A bright green rope looped itself around the Saurian’s torso, pulling Kinich towards it so that he could bury his claymore in its heart.
—
“You’re a Saurian Relic, aren’t you?” It was the night after, and if Kinich’s navigation was right, they would exit the cave tomorrow. Tonight was his last chance to ask Ajaw everything he wanted to know.
“And so what if I am?” Though Ajaw’s voice was its usual annoying pitch, his volume was slightly more tolerable. “The abyss is nothing. A farce. An utterly useless sham!”
“You wish to regain your power.” If there was anything Kinich had learned from Ajaw’s monologues, it was that.
“And when I do, I’ll make the whole of Teyvat bow at my feet. I’ll possess the leaders of each tribe, I’ll—-”
Kinich waved him off. “I have a proposition. One that I think will be mutually beneficial.”
“And what proposition could a worm have that interests me?”
“This worm has nearly gotten us to the exit.” Kinich held out a hand towards Ajaw. “I want to keep using your power after we leave the cave. Of course, I’d offer something in exchange.”
Kinich didn’t have a Vision, or any particularly good fighting skills to defend himself. But if he could keep Ajaw’s power….
It was a long shot, but worth trying nonetheless.
“Ha!” Ajaw chortled. “You dare presume–”
“Is there anything you would want in return?”
“Your body.” Ajaw answered without hesitation. “Let me use your body to wreak havoc on Natlan!”
“I’m sorry. I can’t let you have that. I appear to be currently using this body.”
“When are you not? Worthless human.”
“When I’m dead.” Kinich shrugged and turned away.
“Accepted.” Ajaw flew in front of him, a sly, pixelated grin on his face. “Eighty years is nothing in the face of my eternal life.”
“What did you say?”
“I said, deal accepted. Your puny lifespan will be over in the blink of an eye.”
It took Kinich a moment to understand what Ajaw was offering. His corpse for Ajaw’s power.
While being stuck with Ajaw for a companion was far from ideal, at least now Kinich could keep an eye on him. He would also get the fun bonus of saurian powers. It wouldn’t be like Ajaw could do much with the body of a Visionless wandering Saurian Hunter.
“Instead of merely lending me your powers, I want your full obedience.” Kinich held out a hand. “Then you may do what you wish with my body.”
“Fine.” Ajaw growled. A green glow emanated from Ajaw’s tail, a rope twining itself around Kinich’s wrist, binding them in life and death. Power flowed into Kinich, ancient magic and secrets of saurians long gone. Then came Ajaw’s feelings, immature laughter and blood, the sick joy of torturing an enemy and curiosity, and the tiniest, faintest, spark of grudging hope.
Hurry up and die already. Ajaw’s voice filtered through, clear as day.
A final surge of power, and it was over, a carved obsidian shard hovering in the air in front of him.
Malipo. An Ancient Name beckoned.
Kinich’s jaw fell open.
Ajaw cackled. “My new human, bearer of an ancient name! I suppose I’ll take that too!”
Kinich lifted a hand to touch the glowing stone. Glancing at Ajaw, he didn’t register its light. He only hoped he wouldn’t regret this.