Alexander woke from the plains of golden fungi. The sky was darkened with only hues of shadow and dim clouds. He looked around and held himself up from the ground, slowly. He had deja vu. Everything looked familiar, the wind funnels, the landscape. This was his birthplace. His eyes started glowing and bleeding that blue encrypted element again, but, this time, profusely; Like a river of sorrow, streaming down his body. A large rock which had seemed to appear without his knowledge stood before him. He looked upward at the monument and saw a pattern etched into it. Curious, he reached for it, an upside-down triangular shape chiseled within another shape, a circle. It glowed bluish and held it for a time, but soon spat out dark tentacle-like tendrils from an abyssal black tar, transitioning to a purplish indigo and seething out of the cracks of the carving. It grappled his arm and pulled him unwillingly into its void. Before his face was completely covered, Alexander closed his eyes, his hand in the air. Right when he thought he was completely engulfed in the mess and powerless, he awoke. He awoke with his hand grasping the bird-human’s neck, holding him firmly against the wall. As his eyes widened, he stepped back, retreating his grip. Startled, he cowered into a corner, still staring into nothingness, worried about what he had almost done. “Seff…” he spoke. That’s all he could speak. His eye started dripping that liquid again. He stared at Seff’s neck riddled with marks. He laid back down, in anguish for his actions, and closed his eyes. Seff held him in a bundle of his blankets as he drifted back to sleep keeping his eyes open for a time before falling to slumber once again.

The next day, Akhmin messed with the chimes on the front porch while feeling the nice and brisk winds wading across the grasses and through his feathers. They rang slightly thus bringing both Alexander and Seff to their wakefulness and stumbling ever so slightly out of the nest. Alex's hair was somewhat matted and messy, unkempt from the many days he's been staying at the Raphiim household. They both sat at the table, parched but comfortably complacent in mind and body, awaiting sustenance from the owner. Seff ponders to himself and remembers, "Ah! Today is the event of commune! This day, all Raphiim folk give something from their stash of belongings, anything really, and send it to a communal potluck or treasury. It is to give thanks and help to those who may need something they don't have in the future, whether it be for mental, physical, nourishing, or practical help. Everyone chips in like a family to bring balance and harmony to each other." Seff already knew what he was going to bring. He loves making prisma berry tarts and, this season, they were very ripe and fresh. He jumps up and down on his puff pillow, closing his eyes in great excitement, smiling. Alex sees him like this and bounces up and down too, not really understanding completely why other than the berry tarts that he so rightfully desires to taste. However, in this moment, he sees Seff's neck, and is reminded of the pain he had suffered last night. Alex looks down in shame. He gets up from the pillow and puts his head on a nearby wall. Seff watches as Alex is acting odd and then touches his own neck where he was harmed. Regardless, Seff speaks to Alex, "Come over here aren't you going to finish your invigorating morning tea? It sure is spicy this morning! There's a new fruit you haven't tried before~." Alex, slightly looking back at Seff, looks down as he is still lurking with his head leaning against the surface.

Akhmin walks into the house and brings in some dry wood, stacking it to the side. "Okay, kin. We're venturing into the market grounds in search of some parts and taking some goods with us on our journey. Ready?--" Akhmin sees Seff's injury and steadily looms his eyes toward Alex who is hitting his head softly on the wall. He looks at Seff again as his son tries to explain, but Akhmin sits down and shakes his head, knowing well how Seff is. "Seff. You know how I feel about rough-housing. What did he do?", Seff stares at him with a serious look. "Alex was having terrors in his sleep again... he didn't mean it. I-- I should have told you, honestly, about his nightmares." Seff looks over at Alex with worry. "I noticed, Alex... I noticed your problem and I didn't do anything... I'm at fault okay?" Akhmin stares at Alex for a small while and gets up, slowly walking toward him. "Come. We need to find those parts. We need to fix you up. For your sake, okay? We may be a fragile race but we are still strong. We have sinews that come from the goddess of life herself. Humanoid flesh." Akhmin shows his bicep as Alexander watches him for a moment in confusion. "See? Strong." Akhmin pats his muscles hard giving Alex a stern look with a smile. He has no intention of giving Alex fear, only reassurance. Alex heard "goddess of life" in the wake of his gesture of good will. Small snippets of reels play through his mind, as small rips of memory flicker. The ghost of an alien-like owl. A shadow of a deity rushes through his mind. He shakes his head and readies himself for a trek. Akhmin nods with a grin, looking back at Seff. "Okay, we will be back." Seff smiles feintly for both of them and proposes his plans for the day. "I will be making tarts today for the commune, come back fast so you can help me distribute them to the people in the square okay?" Akhmin nods again. "No worries, we will." Alex, as they head out the door, looks back at Seff with a frown; saddened but sure to repay them later for the trouble he's caused him. Seff smiles with slightly upturned eyebrow in a way of giving forgiveness. Alex's frown turns into a slight smile as well as he departs.

A good way away from the house, Alexander starts feeling an odd resonance in the air. His eyes dilate as this feeling gets louder and his body starts to feel sick in the churning gut kind of way. Nausea overcomes him. Akhmin feels odd too but not too nauseous. His stomach is steeled for such things. Is it because of earlier? Or... is it something about the area? He looks around but doesn't see anything. Meanwhile, Alexander sees a shadowy figure in the distance off in the fields of fungi. He scowls and starts walking toward it, tripping after three feet and curling up coughing up the blue blood again. Akhmin rushes to his aid and picks him up. "You need to go back home. I'll find what you need okay?"

Back at the house, Akhmin walks up the steps and bumps his head on the door a bit. Seff answers and finds Alexander leaning on Akhmin's shoulder, propped up by his arm. Akhmin desperately takes Alex to Seff's room and lays him down. "I'm not sure why he's this way at the moment. Something didn't feel right where we were going. It felt like something was watching us... Keep him safe, okay?" Seff nods in worry at the sight of Alex laying on the floor surrounded with pillows, his eye still leaking. Seff tells Achiin to leave Alex alone while he's in the kitchen and to keep the scorpion away from him. Achiin says, "YESSIR, absolutely sir!" and proceeds to play around with his mechanical buddy elsewhere. Achiin looks back at Alex and is kind of sad that he's feeling bad. He still doesn't understand exactly what Alex is but if he's sick he feels like he should do something for him… right?

Back out in the fields, Akhmin looks back at home, feeling the breeze and aura where they left off walking. Something really didn't feel right. Finding parts would have to wait. What matters most right now is keeping his family safe.