I twisted in the grasp of the tentacle, steadying my hold on my little brother. A part of my mind was calmed by his presence, the rest still split between raging at our enemies who dared to hurt him and worry over whether he was okay.

I put my hand against Al’s mouth and nose, and concentrated on the qi around us. I could do without breathing for a bit, but he, not as much. I easily had enough darkness qi in my core, though it was a bit of a struggle to get air qi here, underwater. But I managed, and formed the breathing technique for Al. He coughed a little, then sucked in a deep breath. I waited for a bit to make sure everything worked properly, before using the same technique on myself. Breathing like this still sucked, but a bit of discomfort was better than holding my breath.

Flame-In-Dark-Waters lurked closer to the surface than before, and released us quickly. I glanced at him, taking in the bristling tentacles growing out of his serpentine form, before I turned back to Al. Now that I could get a good look at him, I could see how he was trembling a bit, his face still paler than usual. Probably not just the cold. At least we didn’t appear to be far enough down that the pressure was a problem.

A current in the water pulled my attention back to our savior, and I bowed to the sea dragon. ‘Thank you for the help, Flame-In-Dark-Waters. I appreciate it. May I ask how things stand up there?’

‘Hmph.’ He sounded a bit disgruntled, although there wasn’t much emotion in his next words. ‘I could hardly let them kill my new associate, could I? And don’t worry. Your guards should be able to handle the remaining spirits easily. I did you the courtesy of waking them up.’

‘Thank you again.’ I wondered if it was a good idea to ask why he’d obviously avoided fighting them, just taken us out of the situation. But knowing that the others would be okay helped make me feel better. At least, I really hoped they would.

‘It’s an honor to meet you,’ Al said, his mental voice hesitant and a little awkward. He looked at the sea dragon with wide eyes.

Flame-In-Dark-Waters lowered his head, getting a bit closer and taking a closer look at us. ‘You have courage, young one. That’s good. Now, princess, you should tend to your injuries, then we’ll talk.’

I nodded. My cut still hurt, the sea water stinging like crazy, but I turned to Al first. The cut on his neck had stopped bleeding. He flinched a bit when I touched it to get a better look, but didn’t react otherwise. I closed my eyes and gathered nature affinity qi from around us. It was pretty scattered, but I managed to wrestle enough into place to form a simple healing technique. I channeled it through my hand on his wound and supervised as the qi suffused his tissue and it knitted back together.

Sighing, I let myself drift away and focused more deeply, gathering more qi and guiding it to my arm and back. This healing involved more effort, but luckily my body was tough and the damage largely superficial. A good thing it hadn’t reached my spine or anything vital.

Finally, I opened my eyes and took Al’s hand, turning back to the sea dragon. I could tell our host wasn’t particularly happy about this situation.

‘If I had known of your enemies, perhaps I would have reconsidered my agreement,’ he said, annoyance in his voice, along with a bit of bitterness. ‘I have no desire to come between whatever is happening between your father and the Storm. And I don’t appreciate having to deal with Jideia’s minions on your behalf.’

I clenched my hands involuntarily. ‘I understand. I won’t ask you to help us like this again. And I hope the Empire will be able to show you the benefits of being our ally.’

A rumbling tone came from him, one that had the hairs on the back of my neck rise. Al gulped.

‘Go and leave me alone now, young ones. And leave me in peace for a while. It would be best if you simply left the coast. I don’t want you to enter my waters again.’

I grimaced. That sounded like he was seriously miffed. I couldn’t help thinking of what Mior had told me about my ancestors and the old city lying somewhere here. ‘I was hoping to explore the coast a little, especially Old Riacis. It’s the home of our ancestors, and there may be important answers here.’

The sea dragon’s eyes narrowed. ‘I would rather not repeat myself, young human.’ Then his head cocked to the side and a disgruntled acceptance accompanied his next words. ‘I suppose you can do it now, since it’s on the way out. If you don’t want to risk an encounter with those spirits, it’s best if you take the path through the caves and come out a little farther from the water.’

I glanced at Al. I wasn’t crazy about the idea of taking my little brother to that sort of dangerous expedition.

‘We can do that,’ Al said, a look of excitement on his face. ‘Thank you! And sorry for bothering you.’

Flame-In-Dark-Waters snorted one last time, before he turned around and swam away. I grabbed onto Al to make sure we weren’t separated as I felt a current of water brushing against us.

Then he was gone, and we were alone now. For a moment, all was quiet. Then I sighed and looked around, trying to focus on our situation. There were several spirit beasts not too far from here, and they were coming closer. Probably best if we left.

I tugged on Al’s robe. He seemed to have lost his shoes somewhere, I noted. He looked to me and nodded, then started swimming. I kept close to him, ready to grab onto him and speed up if necessary. The sea dragon had dragged us surprisingly far from the shore, but we should make it without a problem.

I felt glad to see Al safe with me, but I couldn’t help but worry about the others. Mostly Tenira. The thought of what she might be going through right now, without me, made me shiver. I grabbed my storage ring. We finally had radios, but those wouldn’t work underwater. Still, I also had qi communication talismans that might.

But what if she’s fighting the spirits right now? I felt a cold hand crawl up my spine at the thought and turned my attention from the storage ring. Or what if she’s hiding from them? Me contacting them could be what betrays her!

I couldn’t help but picture Tenira being hurt or even killed. It made me feel sick to my stomach. I groaned and gritted my teeth. My guts were twisted in anxiety. I didn’t take out the talisman. But we had to get back soon. I sped up, expending a bit of qi to move Al along with me. He made a blubbery sound that could have been a curse. Talking underwater wouldn’t work.

It didn’t take long until I saw a darker shadow in front of us. We were nearing the coast. Taking a deep breath, I let go of Al. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

That won’t do. Frowning, I concentrated on pulling some qi in. There might not be much actual air, but there were gases in the water. In the end, I managed to form a bubble of air where we could put our heads close together and talk.

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“Are you okay, Al?” I asked.

“Fine.” He looked past me. “The old city is probably there, among rocks or something.”

I looked back. “It would be easier to climb up the cliffs there. I could carry you upward.”

He pouted. It didn’t erase some of the tension in his face, but I could tell he was throwing himself into this adventure on purpose. “Aw, come on, Nari! Didn’t you want to explore those ruins?”

“Sure, but I’m worried about the others. We need to get back to them. What if something happened to Tenira?”

He rolled his eyes. “She’s a big girl who can take care of herself. This is our only chance. You heard the guy, he won’t let us back here.”

I sighed. “It might be dangerous. How could I take you along on something like that?”

He frowned and gave me a light punch. “I’m not a child, Nari! Besides, Flame-In-Dark-Waters suggested it, he wouldn’t have done that if this wasn’t feasible.” He bit his lip. “Plus we need to avoid those spirits. And what if we find something in there that will help? Didn’t you say that spirit told you so? If you’re worried about us, you need to think about our long-term safety …”

I rubbed my temple. He wasn’t wrong. If there was a chance I’d find something to help against those spirits, I needed to take it. Or perhaps something to protect my mind. The way the Pioneer had invaded it made a shiver run down my spine whenever I thought of it. Well, that’s probably unlikely, but I can’t pass up the opportunity. And he’s right about the route.

“Okay. But stay close to me at all times. In fact, stay behind me and let me do all the talking or fighting. Promise me.”

Al sighed. “Fine. I promise.”

I started swimming slowly, still uneasy about the whole situation. I only had a vague understanding of the way spirits did things, but I was pretty sure those shouldn’t have attacked us. That they’d managed to bypass our wards in some way made me suspect someone had helped them. Perhaps the Pioneer. The way he’d intruded on my mind was the really worrying thing here. I needed to talk to Mior as soon as I could.

My focus was brought back to our surroundings as I noticed a presence approaching us. It was blurry, so hidden it almost slipped my attention completely. I tensed and tried not to let on that I’d sensed it, but gathered qi. Slowly, it inched closer. Then it charged, shooting toward Al.

I managed to intercept it, a qi-enhanced punch sending the beast flapping away while I pushed Al to the side. At first glance, it looked like a shark. At second glance too, it just had red eyes burning with qi and a little too many spikes on its body.

I gathered some more qi into my hands, making my Void’s Nibble technique. It was pretty dark down here, but the aura around my hand swallowed even that like a black hole. The shark seemed to hesitate for a moment, then tried circling around. I pushed Al behind me and turned with it. He’d pulled a knife, which was a bit unfortunate. Frowning, I moved forward to give both of us a bit more space.

The spirit beast took that opportunity and charged. I ducked under it and punched the underside of its jaw, forcing it upward. The flesh sizzled as my technique burned through the qi-infused body.

It tried to back away, but I crooked my fingers, holding onto it and letting it pull me while I kicked my feet for extra momentum. Qi started to gather in the monster’s fins, which it bent at an unnatural angle with spikes facing me. I acted before it could unleash whatever it was building there. Spikes shot out of my fingers, curving just enough to have the right direction. I felt a resistance and flexed my muscles, putting more qi into it and more power behind the movement. They punched into the beast’s brain. It started thrashing wildly.

I let the spikes, made of a horn-like material, vanish and backed away. The beast’s thrashing ceased quickly, but I checked to make sure it was actually dead.

Then I shook out my hand and returned to Al. It was a shame I’d lost my spear, but it probably wasn’t the right weapon for underwater, anyway. Let’s go. I’d rather not wait for the blood to attract something worse.

I didn’t want to take the time to talk to Al, but he must have understood my gesture. He gave a last glance at the dead beast before turning and swimming away with me.

It was clear we were getting close, but not easy to find our destination in the water. I channeled some light qi to my eyes to make sure I got it right. That helped me see the structures rising from the rocks ahead of us more clearly.

I could only imagine what this would have looked like in its heyday. As we approached, I could see that the city had been built into the water as well as into a cliff. The holes of cave openings littered the rocks, many of them obviously enlarged and smoothed out by human hands. Or qi. There would have been rocks, perhaps small islands in the sea where it met the coast, also carrying homes and structures. Perhaps they’d used the water between as canals, or built a lot of bridges. I could still see a few remnants of those, scatterings of wood or worked stone sticking out of the rocks, all of them worn away by time.

I didn’t know what had happened, but this city had sunk a lot. Perhaps there’d been an earthquake. Many of the homes that still remained, at least as ruins rather than just scattered debris, looked like they’d been battered by something, whole sides caved in. But I didn’t see the sort of damage I’d associate with warfare. No burns or holes that were too tightly made in a specific direction, or blast damage.

We swam closer carefully. I knew Old Riacis was supposed to be abandoned, but I could see a few qi signatures. Probably spirit beasts who had moved in after it was abandoned. We needed to be careful here. I assumed Flame-In-Dark-Waters had scared away the stronger beasts from the area, but there could still be dangerous ones here. Especially since I had Al along.

There was no way this city had been supported solely from the land. The cliffside might have changed with time, but I could tell it would have been hard to traverse for most people. There couldn’t have been much transport of goods through here. No, this city had probably been supplied from the sea and thrived as a trade hub. I couldn’t tell where the docks had been, the wooden structures must have been ruined. But it was clear that this city was built towards the rocks. That was the secure side. It was laid out in a mostly fan-shaped way, with roads leading towards the caves, and perhaps even inside them.

Al shifted to head further down, and I followed him with a sigh. It might have been safer to approach the cliffs from above the city level. But I did want a closer look, and we’d be pretty exposed up here.

We carefully swam above one of the main roads, roughly at the level of the remaining roofs of some houses. I had to grab Al’s robe and tug to make it clear he was moving too far ahead. He gave me an apologetic smile.

I pushed him behind me and glared a warning to stay there. He was in the late part of the second stage, close to the peak. It meant he was thankfully more robust than a normal human, especially at his age. But I knew we couldn’t linger too long. I could sense him using his qi throughout his body, and he didn’t have that much. The sea would get cold pretty fast without that. I could help him out, perhaps with a fire affinity technique, but my own reserves weren’t unlimited and I might need them for fighting.

Twice more, we encountered hostile spirit beasts. They also looked like sharks with a few scary extras. The first one, I managed to scare off by flaring my aura. The second one was about my strength, and didn’t want to let us pass unchallenged. A well-thrown knife with a Void’s Nibble on it dissuaded him. I was really growing to love that technique.

The next time I encountered qi presences, I’d tensed and drawn another knife before I realized that these were different. A good thing, too, since there was a group of three. But I recognized their auras. I took Al’s hand to calm him, just before three dolphin spirit beasts swam out of the darkness of a side alley with mostly intact buildings, letting the veil on their presences slip a little.

‘Greetings, Imperial Princess,’ one of them said. I recognized them as a companion of the one I’d talked to before. ‘We didn’t expect to see you here. It’s dangerous to explore this place with just a little one at your side.’

I tucked the knife into my robe and nodded. ‘It’s nice to meet you again. I realize that, but circumstances led us here unexpectedly.’

The spirit beasts let out a few high-pitched whistles, communicating with each other. Then the speaker turned back to us. ‘We are aware of that. Be careful. Hostile spirits traversed this place. Looking for you, perhaps.’

I clenched my fist. That didn’t sound good. ‘Thank you for the warning.’

‘Of course. There is a path towards the surface in these caves. None of us ever took it, for obvious reasons, but there should be several entrances. Keep to the center of the rocks and you should find one. Good luck.’

I nodded. ‘Thank you.’

They looked at me for a moment longer, before turning and swimming off. I bit my lip, wondering if I should ask for a guide. But they had already done a lot for us, and the caves didn’t seem like their preferred environment.

I sighed and started swimming again, checking that Al followed close behind me. I hoped that those spirits were gone, but we should still be careful.