Act 1: The mysterious stone tablet - Chapter 1 (I)

Treading carefully through the darkness and completely disoriented, Kyusaku extended his hands in front of him, desperately searching for a wall or anything that might help him figure out where he was, when the tip of his fingers brushed against something strangely warm and soft, like some sort of cloth; his fingers could guess the shape of a body under it.
He stopped in his tracks, even slowly taking a few steps back, as a feeling of uneasiness washed over him before slowly raising his head, only for his eyes to meet the empty ones of a decayed body wrapped in silk, towering over him, its dark and dried up skin a sharp contrast with the pure white and still clean cloth.

The elf froze in place, eyes widening and heart racing; he couldn't look away, no matter how much he wanted, as if something had rendered him immobile safe for his trembling hands. The corpse's eyes, despite being long gone, were looking directly at him; he felt it, and it also felt like they were getting closer and closer to him, until they were dripping blood onto his face – and his body still refused to move.

Tears welling up at the corner of his eyes as the drops of blood turned into crimson waterfalls intending to drown him, he was finally able to force his eyes shut.

·༻𐫱༺·

The elf woke up with a gasp, completely drenched in sweat and not in his bed anymore. A chill ran down his spine as he could still feel the gaze of that mummy on him. Even though he really wanted to change into drier clothes, he had the urge to get back into his bed and hide under the covers instead, still shaking from his dream. It's been a while since I had a nightmare like that...

Thinking back on it, he had been plagued by nightmares and strange, ominous dreams for almost three years now, and he knew it was probably not going to stop anytime soon.
And aren't they getting worse, too? At first, the dreams seemed incoherent, and to be no more than ordinary dreams, although some of them were particularly unsettling; however, with time, he was starting to feel like the nightmares were getting scarier. Not only that, but there had been a few occasions where they bore a clear resemblance to events that would occur later...
Neither him nor his partner – or anyone else in the Archives for that matter – had been able to determine the cause of all this, but he seemed to see the future in his dreams, though usually in a very cryptic way. I must be cursed... Yes, that's the only explanation!

His long ears twitched at the sound of his door opening and he timidly took a peek from where he was hiding to see that it was just his partner; although he could barely see anything in the dark and without his glasses, the man's fiery red hair was unmistakable.

"Miyaji..." He called as he came out of hiding, a little relieved to see him.

"Did you have a nightmare again?" The young man asked while gently closing the door, being careful not to make too much noise; after all, some of them were very light sleepers with very good hearing.

Kyusaku nodded and shook his head as the vivid images of his dream came back despite his best efforts to erase them from his memory. He looked at Miyaji again, hoping to take his mind off it; he was now sitting on his bed and looking patiently at him, waiting for him to tell him what had scared him so much.
Embarrassed, the elf looked away, crossing his arms over his chest and looking everywhere in his room except at his partner.

"You're gonna make fun of me again."

"Alright, I promise I'll hold back."

He thought it over for a moment. Miyaji did refrain from teasing him when he asked him to.

"I saw a mummy with bleeding eyes," he said with a sigh.

His partner pondered it for a bit. "Isn't it just an ordinary nightmare? You're terrified of the dead, so isn't it normal to have that kind of nightmare?"

But the elf shook his head. "I don't know, it felt different somehow. I don't know how to explain it, it's just a feeling I have."

Miyaji shrugged. He believed him, but he didn't have an explanation either.

"Then I guess we should probably keep an eye out for mummies in the next few days."

Kyusaku nodded, although he hoped they wouldn't encounter one at all.

"Come to think of it, how did you even know I had a nightmare again? You always show up just when I have one. Don't tell me you're the one causing them..." He accused him with an exaggerated gasp.

"If I had the power to influence dreams, I'd be giving you more pleasant ones. I just heard you, that's all."

He did fall off the bed, but he still looked at him with suspicion.

"But I didn't make any noise..."

"I heard you fall, rush back to your bed and then nothing. I know you well enough to figure out you were probably terrified of something and rushed over to comfort you," the redhead explained with a grin.

Too embarrassed to look at him, the elf averted his eyes. "I'm a grown man and I need someone to comfort me after a nightmare. How pathetic."

"Really? What I see is that despite being a grown man you have someone rushing to your side when you're scared. Isn't that great?"

Others would have just mocked him or sneered at him.

"When you put it like that... maybe it's not so bad. Still, I'm much older than you, so it should be the other way around! But there's nothing I can do in return."

"Are you sure about that? Appearances can be deceiving, you know!" He replied with a smirk as he got up, leaving him speechless. "Well, if you're feeling better, I'm going back to my room."

Kyusaku almost reached out to grab his sleeve, but held back at the last moment, biting his lower lip. It's just an annoying nightmare. I'll get over it.

·༻𐫱༺·

Kyusaku did not get over it, as was evident by the dark circles under his eyes when Miyaji joined him for breakfast. He didn't take the time to comb his long blue hair, though he regularly looked completely disheveled after not sleeping for days to finish his research, so it wasn't out of the ordinary. He chose to sit in a quiet corner of the cafeteria, yet the slightest bit of chatter from the other side still worsened his headache.

"You look terrible," his partner commented as he sat in front of him.

He looked up from his food for a second. Miyaji had clearly just taken a bath, was wearing clean clothes with his usual, perfectly arranged gold jewelry, and his long red hair was neatly pulled back into a ponytail. In comparison, Kyusaku looked like a hermit who hadn't seen the sun in weeks.

"Thanks, I know," he replied, looking back at his plate that he didn't have the energy to finish.

"You should have asked me to sing you a lullaby if you couldn't sleep."

The elf rolled his eyes and decided to ignore him, not having enough energy to deal with him, when he realized that his partner was completely serious.

"... I don't need a lullaby, I'm an adult."

"Is there a law somewhere that says that lullabies are only for children?" His partner retorted with a smile.

Not knowing what to say, he just shrugged and remained silent; silence which was soon interrupted by a loud voice that kindly reminded him of his headache.

"Good MORNING!"

"Tsubari, pipe down," the elf grunted, covering his face with his hands, pushing his glasses up as he did so. "Unless you pay for the headache medicine."

"Wow, you look terrible!" The half-beast commented, his smile unchanging and his small wings fluttering as he talked. "You should take care of your health a little more! After all, you're already 100 years old."

Kyusaku glared at him, immediately becoming defensive. "100 years old is on the younger side for elves. Our average lifespan is around 600. Some can even reach 800!" He added.

"Oh, but, you know, considering your lifestyle, I'd say you're already halfway there!"

The elf forced a smile and changed the subject. "Anyway, do you have a job for us?"

"That's right! Some of the younger Archivists found a stone tablet with carvings on it, but they can't identify the language, so I thought a veteran Archivist like you would be able to help."

"Alright, alright! I'll take care of it! Just leave me and my age alone!" He angrily accepted, slamming his fist on the table.

The bird thanked them before turning back; their smile had not left their face even once. Kyusaku had always had a weird relationship with them. Although they took joy in annoying him, they were also there when he needed support, and the one who got Miyaji to work with him, so he could never get too angry with them.

While he wasn't even done eating breakfast, Kyusaku was already thinking about this new case, head resting on one of his hands as he absentmindedly pushed his food around with the other.
A stone tablet with an unidentifiable language... Either they didn't do a very good job in the library, or it's a new discovery. I really hope it's the latter, otherwise this will all be a huge waste of time-- His thoughts were interrupted when he realized his partner had been staring at him for a while.

"What is it? Is there something on my face?"

"I'm sorry you're so old," Miyaji replied. "Who knows how much longer you'll live?"

The elf rolled his eyes. "In any case, there's no way I'll die in only a hundred years. I still have so many things to do!" He declared, standing up and ready to leave.

"Do you have a bucket list or something?" His partner asked with curiosity.

"Of course! I have to look into the mysteries mentioned by my Master; there are about 500 books I still need to read – The "Theory of Apocalypse" in particular sounds very interesting! I'd also like to travel more in the countryside to take care of the mysteries that we might not have heard of because no one bothered to report them."

"That sounds more like a work checklist," the redhead commented, giving him a judgmental look. "Don't you have stuff like "travel to X tourist spot"? "try X fun activity"?"

Kyusaku shrugged. "I'll see them eventually while working for the Archives, and at my age, you've pretty much already found all the things you enjoy. I doubt I will find another activity I like."

"Then what about... "find love" or something?"

"Why would I do that?" The elf deadpanned. "Relationships are extremely time-consuming. I'm not about to sacrifice my research time for that."

Miyaji made a face but didn't comment on that. "Then what about someone who's also married to their work, just like you?"

"In that case, we would never see each other. That would completely defeat the point of being in a relationship!"

"Then another Archivist," Miyaji argued. "Plus you're more likely to find someone you'll get along with here."

"Even if I were to find someone I like here, I can't handle anything intimate," he reminded him with an uncomfortable expression. "I already hate being touched. I'm unlikely to find someone compatible with me."

"You have a point. Then..." His partner thought for a moment, a hand on his chin and head tilted to the side as he always did when he was deep in thought, before offering a suggestion: "An asexual Archivist workaholic?"

Kyusaku tried to refute, but couldn't find any good argument and had to admit his defeat after opening and closing his mouth several time and still not finding anything to say.

"Okay, you win this time," he finally admitted. "I might be willing to date that kind of person. But I'm unlikely to find anyone like that, so I'd rather not waste time looking for a person that might not even exist."

"Fair enough."

"What about you? I bet it's on your bucket list."

"No, not really," his partner replied with a shrug, surprising him.

"Really? I always see you talking with girls while we're working..."

"Doesn't mean I'm interested in them. I'm content just being by your side doing Archivist work for the rest of my life."