The city of Tiber was a flurry of activity. Colorful banners littered the rooftops and were pushed aside as gleeful children ran across tiles, firing spells at each other. Every restaurant in the city was filled to the brim with tourists, and inns were filled to capacity as people arrived for the festivities. Dozens of households had arrived for the celebrations, each with their own agenda. Some planned to stay for months. Others had been directed to relocate permanently. Every once in a while, people would fall to a hush as the golems of House Tiberius moved among them, patrolling the streets keeping the peace among the influx of visitors.

Far above the city was a mountain peak, filled with natural mana and riches beyond compare. Gracing its peak was a dozen ivory towers that caught the sunlight, accompanied by gardens filled with rare plants and colorful pathways. Each garden graced the sides of the halls of House Tiberius, whose golden hallways etched with symbols and pristine marble floors were one of the most beautiful sights across the land. People gathered every morning to see its wonders, but they could only ever see the beauty from below.

This was Halcyon Mountain, one of the seven highest peaks of Cresta, the southern continent of Ioa, and home of House Tiberius, one of the seven strongest households on the continent.

All that fell under its gaze was its territory. From the distant forests and mountains that crowded its edges, to the lake that ran through the south and eastern edges of the city. Some rumored that the waters were ancient, and that the lake had been present before the mountain. Others believed it was created by the mountain’s original settlers, their existence long forgotten thanks to the winds of time. The lake itself had held many names throughout its existence, but currently most called it Lake Tiber, named after the city.

To call it massive would be an understatement. A dozen boulders the size of Tiber city could fall within it and disappear without a trace. Some even speculated that the bottom held the ruins of long lost civilizations, and temples to deities long forgotten.

The lake’s waters were crystal-clear, inhabited by thousands of different species that danced and swam in an ecosystem of life and death. Gargantuan boats sailed over its surface, each one carrying valuable wares and supplies to the city, and a rare few carried passengers coming in from the Grai Ocean, which the lake connected to.

Humanity had never explored its depths. Nor could they. It was impossible to see the bottom of the lake through means both physical and magical, no matter how clear the surface was.

Some claimed that the effect was the result of a spell gone awry. Others believed it was a physical phenomenon, with the sun’s light unable to pierce that deep. Many an adventurer had risked scouring the surface of the lake for treasures, finding their vision obscured, and retreated. Others simply disappeared, never to be seen again.

All that anyone really knew was that while mankind claimed the surface, no-one ruled its depths.

“Which begs the question, why did you bring me here?” Dollar asked.

Dollar’s voice came out squeakier than he’d wanted, his surprise mixing with horror as he gazed at his surroundings.

The area itself was a patch of seabed that was a mixture of shells, sand, and rocks. There was a transparent dome all around him, wide and tall enough to fit an apartment complex, and he could see the waters of the lake passing it gently. It was like he was standing in a giant aquarium. In the confines of the dome there was breathable air, but he didn’t want to find out what would happen if he left it.

Above the dome was Tiber City and Mount Halcyon, clearly visible through the crystal-clear lake waters.

This was the last place that he wanted to be.

Dollar looked up at the woman that claimed to be his grandmother, Levia. Her long black hair glowed under the light of the lake, a deep ocean-blue hue shrouding it. She wore a flowing blue dress whose strands glimmered like they held the light of stars inside them, and she gazed down at him with deep blue eyes, a smile on her face.

“This is your home, Dollar,” Levia’s expression was calm, and her voice soothing. “And a safe place.”

“Safe for members of House Tiberius, but not for me,” Dollar said, his eyes darting around him. “If anyone sees me here, I’m a goner.”

His relationship with House Tiberius was difficult, to say the least. Most of the household didn’t know he existed. The rare few that did thought he was dead. Killed by their own hands. Their confidence in their methods of assassination were the only thing that stopped them from realizing that he lived.

Showing his face here would mean forfeiting his life.

A single hand clasped Dollar’s cheek. He looked up to see Levia’s smile, and he saw a twinkle in her eyes.

“No, Dollar, I mean that you’re safe now, even from them,” she pointed upwards “I know about House Tiberius. Your mother spared no expense in telling me every sordid detail. I also witnessed the battle that raged above the Grai Ocean, including the attempts on your life.”

The waters around them shifted and roiled as she spoke. Dollar saw several sea creatures fleeing the area, diving into holes in the lake and swimming far away.

Then his grandmother shook her head, clearing her emotions.

“You were in a dire battle, so I understand that your emotions are running high, but you are not there. You are here now,” Levia said. “Tell me, what do you make of this new situation you’re in?”

She spoke slowly, and calmly, which gave Dollar pause.

It only took him a moment to see that he was making a fool of himself.

“You’re right,” Dollar said.

When he had been fighting his family on the Oriel Express his identity had been out in the open, and he had been in the middle of a hectic battle for his life. Now that he had time to think, things weren’t so bad.

Christoff was dead, and Jasper likely thought Dollar was as well.

None of the soldiers of House Tiberius had recognized him. He was sure of that. And even if they had, Dollar had saved Jasper’s life. That wasn’t a debt that was easily dismissed. Especially since Jasper was now the most likely candidate to become the heir of House Tiberius.

In other words, there was nobody left to stop him or chase him down.

He had escaped from House Tiberius.

The moment the thought crossed Dollar’s mind, he breathed a sigh of relief. A weight that he had been holding since he had entered Zendria was lifted off his chest. There was no risk of him being discovered at a moment’s notice by his cousin’s keen eyes, and even if soldiers of House Tiberius did investigate his presence, they likely wouldn’t know him from a regular child.

“You’ve calmed quickly, as expected of someone with our bloodline,” Levia’s smile widened. “You must have a lot of questions for me.”

“We are definitely going to have a chat,” Dollar replied immediately. “But first, I have a couple of people I need to talk to.”

Dollar glanced at his side, looking for the two companions that had been dragged with him into the lake. They had been brought here with him, but they didn’t know where they were. Or how far their homes lay. They were alone.

“Woo!” Mitsy’s voice struck Dollar’s ears.

He blinked in surprise as he saw Bill and Mitsy having the time of their lives.

The duo hadn’t stayed in place waiting for Dollar to finish his conversation. Well, Bill had. His peach-colored fur was covered in shells and sand as he rolled over, his green horn pointed to the sky as he created a hole in the lake that was shaped like a pig.

The Grec squealed and oinked in joy without a care in the world. Dollar doubted that the animal even remembered the intense fight they’d just escaped.

Mitsy was another story altogether.

The teenaged girl was fluttering like a hummingbird from one corner of the dome to the next, acting like a tourist as her emerald-green eyes widened and shone with glee. Strands of blonde hair bounded across her shoulders and back as she twirled across the sand with bare feet, her shoes and socks kicked aside messily. Every now and then she would come across a curious rock or seashell, picking it up and examining it carefully, and when she found a tower of sand, she kicked it down gleefully.

Dollar shook his head as he watched her play.

I was worrying about these two for nothing. Dollar thought.

A spray of sand hit Dollar’s face as Mitsy kicked a nearby mound, and he let out a shout. She paused and a grin of delight spread across her face as she spotted him.

With a hop and a skip, she landed in front of Dollar, her hands tucked behind her back.

“This place is great!” Her voice reverberated across the dome. “Oh hey, there’s an echo. Great! Amazing! Fantastic!”

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Each word that she shouted echoed back to her, and Dollar watched the fish in the water carefully. None of them were disturbed by her voice.

The dome was self-contained. Or else the water would have absorbed the sound of her voice.

“I was expecting a different reaction from you.” Dollar asked. “Aren’t you the least bit scared? Or angry?”

“Are you kidding?” Mitsy clasped a hand at her side, tapping the silver badge on her chest. “I dove into the maw of a giant monster and now I’m exploring…I don’t even know where this place is, but it’s awesome. This is what being an adventurer is all about.”

She twirled around to face Dollar, and her excitement died down.

“Sorry, that’s just me being selfish,” Mitsy said. “How are you holding up?”

Dollar knew that he was just an ordinary seven-year-old to her. Which was why he accepted the sympathetic expression on her face.

“Well, I remember both of us diving into a giant monster,” Dollar tapped his chin thoughtfully. “I think I lost consciousness after that.”

“Yeah, the same thing happened to me,” Mitsy frowned, shifting from side to side as she tried to recall the journey. “Which is weird because I have a tougher head than most.”

The memory of a crushed boulder crossed Dollar’s mind and he smiled. Mitsy was underestimating the power of her thick head.

“Doesn’t that freak you out a bit?” Dollar asked.

Dollar had heard her say that she didn’t even know where they were. She had been kind enough not to spy on his conversation with his grandmother, which he knew must’ve been difficult because she had a listening [skill].

Considering she was from the western continent, that didn’t surprise him.

“I don’t have enough time to freak out. Life is life,” Mitsy said. “Those three words have saved me a lot of worry and stress.”

“That reminds me of a lesson someone tried to cram into me a while back.”

Mitsy perked up, her eyes glimmering, “oh?”

“Once, somebody told me that our lives are like the ocean, or even this lake,” Dollar said. “Our days are waves, some big, some small. Our future is the shore. It’ll be carved by both. Planning for the future is easy in the moment, but sometimes a big wave hits. Others fall when that happens. Some get crushed. I like to ride it.”

Mitsy blinked in surprise, and then she broke out into a laugh, her tension draining away.

“I like that. I like it a lot. Did your parents tell you that?”

“That’s a secret,” Dollar said, a smile crossing his lips.

The words had come from his grandmother back on Earth. It was one of the first lessons that she had instilled in him. Remembering her calmed him down. She would have shaken her head and tutted at him if she saw how panicked he’d been a few seconds ago.

Or maybe she would have moved to the world to destroy House Tiberius and make sure they never bothered him again.

“This is actually a pretty interesting place,” Mitsy traced a finger through the air, pointing at the dome. “I’ve seen this kind of structure before. Usually, they’re used to house entire cities under the ocean. I mean, there’s only like two safe ones. But still. I never expected to see it used for a single house at the bottom of a lake.”

Dollar eyed the dome suspiciously and Mitsy chuckled.

“It’s safe, really. This kind of magic does a bit of everything for safety,” she said. “You can tell by the way the water is moving around the dome that there’s something in place to alleviate the pressure of the depths. The way we can see the surface is unnatural as well. I don’t think we’d be able to see this deep normally. Right now, we’re basically on a beach. Except that beach is underwater.”

“You’re right,” Dollar nodded as he took in her words. “My grandmother must’ve done something to prepare for us.

“Not to mention that she doesn’t seem like the kind of person who is just going to chuck you into the ocean to die,” Mitsy agreed. “So, that means you’re all good and calm?”

There was a catch in her tone and Dollar gazed up at her with suspicion. Her turn had turned sickeningly sweet when she’d asked that question.

“Yeah, why?”

He saw Mitsy’s expression lit up with mischief, and she placed a hand on his head, giving it a gentle pat. Then her hand shifted, gripping his collar tight and refusing to let go.

“Hey–”

“You know, I wasn’t lying when I said the dome was cool,” Mitsy’s grin turned evil. “Especially when its seen from the outside. Maybe that’s the kind of fun we need right now to take our minds off things.”

The meaning of her words quickly became clear when Dollar was raised from the ground, his feet kicking out helplessly. Mitsy grabbed his sides, holding him like a ball. Then the world tilted as she raised him into the air, rocking him back and forth in the air as she gauged his weight and how much force she would need to throw him.

“Wait, wait, wait!”

His protests came too late.

The world blurred around Dollar as Mitsy heaved him through the air with a mighty swing.

Dollar flew through the air like a rocket, his eyes widened as he reached the edge of the dome in seconds. He raised his arms in front of him to block the impact, but then he sighed and lowered them. Either he could hit the dome and became a splash of red across the lake floor, or he could trust that Mitsy wasn’t trying to kill him and let himself relax.

She better not be trying to kill me. Dollar thought.

The tension emptied out of Dollar’s body as he smacked into the wall of the dome. It was fluffy to the touch, transparent and elastic like bubble wrap. He felt like he was being hugged on all sides by a plastic bean bag chair. After a brief moment of struggle, his momentum was forced to a halt as he broke through the wall.

What greeted him on the other side was a lot of water. And a fish.

The wide-eyed creature stared at Dollar curiously as he started to swim through the water. Mitsy was right. There was no pressure. It felt easier to move through the waters of the lake than it did to swim in an ordinary pool. His body was fully under his control, not floating to the surface or sinking to the bottom of the lake.

Magic. Dollar thought. Since I don’t see any symbols.

Dollar turned around, causing the fish to retreat as it was struck by waves of vibration. A quick pushed against the dome’s surface sent his hands straight through the material, revealing an easy way to get back inside. He twisted his fingers around the dome’s wall, creating handholds that he used to lower himself.

A rush of air entered his lungs as he shoved his head through the wall, taking in a deep breath. He saw his grandmother looking up at him, a smile on her face, and saw that Bill had moved to the other side of the lakebed.

He also received his first good look of the house that had been erected inside the dome. It was clearly crafted from solid stone, but each section of the walls had been carved to look like they were made of bricks. Back when he was on Earth, he wouldn’t have spared it a glance. Now that he had the experience of living in his parents wooden hut for several years, it looked like a palace.

The house also looked oddly familiar.

It looks like the hut back in the forest. Except bigger and made from better materials. Dollar pondered the similarities. Did dad build this too?

Dollar didn’t know how that would be possible. Then again, he knew nothing about his surroundings. He would have to ask his grandmother. There was a lot he needed to ask her, and it was a growing list.

A splash to Dollar’s side distracted him, and he pulled his head back into the lake to see the cause.

Mitsy greeted him with a wave, long strands of blonde hair floating around her and smacking him in the face.

‘Isn’t. This. Cool.’ She mouthed the words to him, careful not to take in any water.

Dollar brought out his notebook and focused on the symbols within.

[Transcriber of Reality] Dollar focused on her head.

A darkness symbol appeared on her cheek, and Dollar smiled sweetly at her as he activated it.

Tendrils of darkness erupted across Mitsy’s face and Dollar held back a laugh as the girl flailed in the water in surprise.

That’s for throwing me into the air whenever you feel like it.

The symbol dissipated quickly in the water, which Dollar had expected. He didn’t want to risk any lasting damage. Being unable to see in the water was one thing, but if she got lost and couldn’t make it back to the dome before she lost her breath, well, that would be an issue.

That destroyed the chalk symbols within my notebook. Dollar frowned. I might have to think about buying something more liquid-resistant like paint.

As the darkness retreated, he saw that Mitsy had raised her right hand, the armband on her wrist glowing dangerously with yellow light.

Oh no.

Mitsy smashed her palm down into the water in front of her, sending forth a mini tidal wave of force that caused the lake to stir and whip out toward Dollar. He had a moment’s warning for he was flung into the wall of the dome, Mitsy’s smiling face haunting his vision.

With the little control that he had, he pushed himself out of the water and gripped the dome wall, using its elastic material to climb down to the lakebed. When he was close enough to jump, he leapt onto the ground, both feet sinking into the sand on impact.

Water flung across the surroundings as Dollar did his best to dry himself by flicking the liquid off.

“I’m going to get her for this,” Dollar grumbled.

A quick look above his head showed him that Mitsy was content to stay in the water, and she poked her tongue out when she saw his gaze.

Yeah, I’m definitely going to make her pay. Dollar thought.

“Your companion is a delight,” Levia’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “It’s not often that newcomers take to the water as quickly as she has.”

His grandmother had made her way over to him, carrying a green towel in her hand. She held it out and he accepted her offering, draping it around his body. The towers in Ioa was slightly different from the ones that he’d had back on Earth. Surprisingly, there were finer and had more fibers in them. Even the ones in his parent’s hut had been high quality.

Which probably meant that there was a factory out there creating them by using artifacts. Either that or magic, but he couldn’t imagine a magician spending their days casting spells that created towels.

“Thanks. I mean, not just for the towel, for everything,” Dollar said. “I’m sorry if I was rude.”

Levia waved her hand dismissively.

“The situation was surprising, to say the least,” she said. “Come in, I’ll show you around while your clothes dry.”

She motioned toward the house, and Dollar walked with her to the door, eyeing it suspiciously.

Yeah, that looks really similar to the one in my parent’s hut. He thought.

The tour of the house was quick since there wasn’t much to see. There were two bedrooms, each holding a small bed. Several pillows and thick blankets had been placed neatly at the foot of each mattress, and the mattresses themselves were better quality than what he’d expected, especially considering he was under a lake.

There was also a bathroom, a single kitchen stocked with spices, a tap, and a small area for clothes and other items to be placed in. It was simple, and Dollar felt like he was reuniting with an old friend. That sensation only grew as he examined each of the rooms one by one, drawing symbols in his notebook as he did so.

Just as he suspected, the layout of the house was exactly the same as the hut his parent’s lived in.

“It looks familiar,” Dollar said, implication laced in his tone.

“I should hope so,” Levia chortled. “Marcus built this when he was younger. For a short time, it was where both of your parents lived.”

The first part wasn’t a surprise to Dollar. However, the second caused him to do a double take.

“Running from house Tiberius?” He asked.

Levia shook her head, placing a hand against the brick wall as nostalgic memories ran through her mind.

“No, before then. This was where your father and my daughter met. Though at the time they couldn’t stand each other,” Levia’s laughter was clear to see. “Maybe that was the first sign that there was something else going on. After all, she stuck around even when she was complaining. My daughter has always been stubborn like that.”

“Mum was? And she didn’t like dad?” Dollar tried to picture his parents fighting.

It was impossible. The two of them were sickeningly in love. If anything, the two needed more time apart from each other.

A sharp yell broke his concentration, and Dollar whipped around, concern coursing through him.

The shout had come from outside.

“Mitsy?” He asked.

Dollar rushed out of the open door, Levia following close behind, and he spotted Mitsy immediately. And the source of her panic.

Bill lay on the floor of the lake, his fur twisting and the symbols within it shimmering and shining. Mitsy was by his side, her eyes focusing intensely on the prone Grec as she moved her hands across his fur, careful not to press too hard. The deluge of lake water falling from her clothes told Dollar that she had bolted out of the water on short notice.

A spray of sand shot up as Dollar slammed into the ground next to her, his eyes examining the animal before him. The Grec’s eyes were glazed over, and after spending a month sleeping in the same room as the Grec, it wasn’t hard to see why Mitsy was unnerved.

Bill wasn’t moving.

He was frozen in place.