After Vac told Bellerophon what Vesta had said, the man nodded and told Vac to follow him out. They climbed up to the top of the building, climbing from the dark and narrow lane with water dripping from leaky pipes outside the buildings, to the top, where he could feel the light again. Once there he asked, “Why are we here exactly? Aren't we supposed to be meeting Haterius, whoever that is?”

Bellerophon smirked and answered, “Oh, we are. The thing about this city is, most don't use the lanes to travel.”

With that, Bellerophon leapt off the side of the building or rather stack of buildings they stood on, straight onto the next. The space between the buildings in the city were incredibly narrow with some even leaning against one another, and so it was an easy jump to make.

Vac grinned and followed along, jumping across the roofs, and in the cases where the adjacent structure was taller, onto the railings and pipes on the side to pull himself up. He hadn't noticed it before, but all the roofs had a thick layer of rock and dirt on them that could be manipulated with the magic of Ceres, which allowed him to use all sorts of tricks. When he paid closer attention, he saw that even the sides of the building had rock formations that seemed to be put in place to support it and keep it upright.

They began having fun with it, competing by performing various stunts. Vac launched himself high up using a pillar of earth at his feet, twirled in the air, and then created a soft landing for himself by softening the rock and dirt on his landing. Bellerophon managed to gather enough water from the leaky pipes and the atmosphere to place at his feet and surf on along the rooftops.

‘Huh, Bellerophon’s control is insane. How can he gather these tiny droplets and control them with that level of efficiency? I suppose Medea had that level of control, but this guy also has some insane stamina. I'm already getting tired, but he barely looks winded.’

Soon enough, they arrived at what seemed to be the destination, a road that was somewhat larger than all the others he'd seen, filled with bustling stalls.

They hurried down, Bellerophon showing off one final stunt as he bounced back and forth between two buildings on opposite sides of the road till he landed on the same road. This was in contrast to Vac, who simply glided down since the road was large enough to fit his glider, if only barely. Bellerophon then led him to meet Haterius, who he was informed, was the leader of one of the nine gangs.

The man was rowdy, yet had a roguish charm that drew others in, with a stuffy and unkempt beard and a boisterous attitude. He greeted Bellerophon warmly, who looked a bit uncomfortable yet also happy. Haterius looked over at Vac and said, “So you're the newcomer this guy brought in, eh? No wonder he bothered to show up ‘ere after so long. So I've heard the Balancer told ya to help us out? Well, I can't say we need much, business is booming. For now, why don't I show ya some of our goods?”

Haterius led him over to a stall that sold meatballs, ones that seemed strangely familiar. Vac realized why once he took a bite. He'd had ones eerily similar to them back in the festival with Medea. When he asked Haterius about it, the man blinked before laughing as he answered, “Oh yeah, we're the ones who supply those, though they don't know that. Who knows how those snobs would react if they knew where their food was actually coming from, eh?”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Haterius spent some time showing him around, and then had Vac get to work with the things he could do. He spent some time working there, helping out at various stalls.

At some point through Vac’s work, a man working with a knife cut into his knuckle and began to bleed on the stall counter. The man had slipped up from having been working away at the same job for a long time.

As the man yelled in pain, Haterius cursed and quickly moved to drag the man out from over the stall, and ordered, “Someone get this guy away! And bring in the substitute.”

And then as though nothing had happened, the man turned to Vac with a grin and said, “Sorry about that. We work long hours ‘ere, and some people struggle with the grind. But we compensate them right, I swear. And don't worry, we have enough doctors, well, unlicensed ones in this city so he'll be fine!”

Vac frowned. The casual way the man had been moved out and the way the new substitute worked nonchalantly unnerved him, but it wasn't his place to speak out here, so he accepted it. He continued to work in silence until Haterius decided he'd done enough.

The various stall owners he interacted with seemed to hold pride in their craft and there was a strong sense of community, as they constantly interacted with each other in the crowded marketplace.

When he got back, he was led back to Vesta, who asked, “How was your first day, Vacuus Venti? Was it what you'd expected?”

Vac thought for a moment and hesitantly answered, “Well, there is definitely some cool stuff about this city, and the people I met were diligent, hard workers who were nice and seemed to enjoy their life here. But I also saw people treated poorly, people in horrible conditions shuffling in dark alleys as though hiding from the world, and poor working conditions. I appreciate some of what this place has, but I can't say I understand what you meant.”

Vesta smiled and said, “That’s no matter, you have time. For now I'll simply point out what you said about how the people here feel about this place, because it is indeed important. For the people here, this is indeed their home that they care for and take pride in, with a strong sense of community despite their hardships. Why do you think that is? Think on it. But for now, let us begin your first lesson.”

‘Finally!’

“Alright, what is it, Lady Vesta?”

She snapped her fingers and formed a small ball of fire at the tip of her thumb.

“Do this.”

‘That’s it? Well I've created a much bigger fireball before, this should be easy.’

But when Vac tried, he found the flame growing far bigger without his input, as it seemed like to suck away more energy than he consciously wanted to. With a start, Vac realized he'd never really controlled the size of his fire or paid close attention to it. In the end, he could only bring it down to a fireball three times the size she'd shown.

“As I expected, you struggled with this. The power of the flame is greedy and consuming, and as such is the hardest to control. You might have some experience with this yourself.”

Vac thought back to what had happened with Nero and winced. He nodded glumly.

Vesta smiled gently and said, “Calm your heart and mind. Let not a thought disturb you, be like a still river. This is the training I assign you now. To succeed, you will have to control the turmoil within. Until you complete this, you cannot proceed.”

Alexander observed the special map shaped artifact that showed the location of the brat who held the die. He'd placed a tracker on Vac during the battle. It'd sink into his skin as expected, and couldn't be removed. Now they could find him anywhere in the world. It was a legendary artifact used by and handed down by Artemis herself, the minor goddess of the hunt.

‘So he entered the city of nine dragons. In some ways that's convenient, since the main inside man in Sicily has a different job, and it'd have been difficult to pull off both. But why did he have to go there? No matter, he will not escape me, and there are other assignments that need to be carried out there, per the plans of Pisistratus. And they will be carried out.’