Dollar had last seen his uncle, Parelius Tiberius, when the man had tried to have him killed. In visions shown to him by the Divine, Ength, Dollar had seen his uncle slay his father, Marcus, in cold blood and he had seen Parelius revel in Marcus’s sadness over Dollar’s death. Parelius had even taught his son Christoff to hate siblings to the point that Christoff had tried to murder Jasper Tiberius, his brother.
There were many words Dollar would use to describe his uncle’s relationship with his father.
Friend was not one of those words.
“‘Best friend and confidant’,” Dollar repeated his grandmother’s words. “Are you sure you’re talking about my uncle? The man that’s trying his hardest to kill my dad, and thinks he’s succeeded in killing me?”
Levia’s lips pursed into a thin line, “your mother mentioned that. Yes, he is the very same. I only met him once, at the same time I met your father, but he seemed kind. Gentle, even.”
The memory of Parelius cutting off his father’s hand flickered through Dollar’s mind. His uncle had smiled viciously and raised his head up high. There was no sadness, or sorrow.
It was his uncle’s greatest triumph.
“Something severe must have happened to change that,” Dollar said.
“Change is inevitable, but to change so much is strange,” Levia agreed. “Perhaps I simply didn’t see the man underneath the kind façade.”
“Maybe,” Dollar’s voice trailed off.
Was it as simple as time changing his uncle?
Dollar held up the gravity artifact and examined it carefully. Learning the symbol would be all the greater because he would be taking it from his uncle. Gravity was a powerful force.
One that he would soon wield.
“Seeing you studying that artifact reminds me that you’re a symbologist. So young too. Ah, I can brag to all the– Ahem.” Levia’s let out a small cough, smiling as pride flooded her.
Dollar grinned in return and glanced at the dome walls.
“You said Marcus and Parelius didn’t use this to go into the city. Then, what were they looking for?”
The lake was enormous, too large for Dollar to see the ends of, and it branched in various directions. Caves and caverns of all kinds held mysteries and deathtraps, but beyond the safety of the dome all Dollar could see were fish and sand. Maybe his father had seen something more.
Or known something that Dollar didn’t.
“I do not know, and neither did your father, but he was certain there was something to be found. Both Marcus and Parelius were vibrant, and positively buzzing with excitement,” Levia shifted her attention toward the dome, her eyes piercing past it. “When he left the dome, he was not leaving the lake. He was going further into it. Deeper. Beyond my purview, and into waters long ago claimed by powers I dare not mention, lest they sense my presence.”
A ripple crossed the waters as she spoke, and a hint of caution appeared in her eyes. Above me, Lotan squirmed uncomfortably, the gargantuan monster’s flesh trembling. A familiar emotion engulfed her eye. It was fear.
“Only your father and uncle know what they found, for your mother was not allowed down there,” Levia shifted her attention to Dollar, her eyes resting on his chest. “Be warned, grandson, there is naught but death below, no matter what riches you believe you may find.”
Before Dollar responded, he heard sand shifting behind him. A quick glance over his shoulder showed him that Mitsy had left the house, her eyes glued onto the bracelet in his hands.
“What’s that?” She asked.
“A way to get to the city,” Dollar replied. “Catch.”
With a flick of his hand, he flung one of the necklaces out of the storage ring, sending it flying through the air. Mitsy’s fingers blurred as she caught it with a deft movement, her expression stoic with the exception of an upward twitch of her lips.
She clasped it around her neck without hesitation, resting its chain against the back of her choker.
“I don’t know if it’s my style,” Mitsy examined the blue jewel at the end of the necklace. “But I’ll make an exception this time.”
“It’s a necklace of water breathing,” Levia eyes were glued onto Mitsy as the girl played with the artifact. “Very valuable, in the right circumstances. Please try not to break it.”
“I’d never break something so beautiful,” Mitsy flashed Levia a smile.
Dollar turned to his grandmother, storing the gravity bracelet in his ring. He would study it later, when he had more time and could examine it without any risk of breaking it. For now, he had a means to get into the city. And back out.
Which meant he could focus on helping Bill.
“How much time does Bill have?” Dollar asked.
“I do not know,” Levia said. “I can keep your companion stable for a while, perhaps a few months, and the effect will persist even once I leave to prepare for your bloodline awakening.”
“A few months?” Dollar perked up. “That sounds like a lot of time.”
“I wouldn’t count on it,” Mitsy dashed his hopes.
Dollar looked at her in surprise and saw her usual mask of optimism had dropped. In its place was an intensity he’d rarely seen in her.
“Afflictions vary widely based on their causes. Some are curable in an instant, and others might take years to fix,” Mitsy shook her head. “I don’t want this to be that kind of issue, but I don’t want to get your hopes up either.”
“Which means all we can do is go to the Fisherman’s Guild, and ask for help,” Dollar finished her sentence. “And I can try to unlock my bloodline in the meantime, if it’ll give me a way to help Bill.”
A rough cough reverberated through the air as Mitsy choked.
“You have a bloodline?” She asked. “Wait, no, don’t answer that. Its private information.”
Oops, I forgot to mention that in my explanation. Dollar thought. I was too focused on telling her about the people trying to kill me.
“I mean, I mentioned it out loud since I was comfortable with you knowing it,” Dollar shrugged. “That’s not a problem, is it?”
His question was directed at Levia, and he saw his grandmother hiding a smile behind her hand.
“Lotan may have to smite her, just for safety reasons,” Levia’s tone was serious, but her throat rippled as she held back a laugh. “But maybe we’ll make an exception in this case.”
“Thank you,” Mitsy gave my grandmother a grateful look.
Dollar resisted the urge to tease the girl further and focused on the task before him.
There was one more thing he needed to deal with before he went to the city above.
“How long will it take to unlock my bloodline?” Dollar asked.
“As long as a piece of string,” Levia said. “Each of our family is unique. Some unlock the full potential of their bloodline a day after they are born. Others never do. I can help you find it, but uncovering its abilities is up to you. We can begin immediately after I return.”
“Well, then, how long will you be gone?” Dollar asked.
Levia’s gaze sharpened, but she wasn’t looking at him. For a moment, he wasn’t sure she was looking at anything he could see.
She was staring out into the depths.
“A week, at the earliest. Perhaps longer. Much longer. But rest assured, I will return.”
“I look forward to it,” Dollar said. “Between that and the new symbol, its going to be a tough few months.”
“You intend to learn the gravity symbol and unlock your bloodline at the same time? It will not be that simple.” Levia’s posture shifted, her eyes flashing. Her tone held a hint of warning. “Grandson, a child can’t run before it can walk.”
“I have to,” Dollar replied.
Levia’s smile disappeared.
“Unlocking a bloodline is harder than memorizing symbols, but both seek to change your existence and impose their own wills onto it. Attempting both and failing means destroying all that you are, and all that you ever could be. It is not just foolish. It is potentially fatal. There are already so many risks that you face. I am hesitant to even let you leave, and with every second that passes the idea of keeping you down here grows on me. You would be safer here, with me, and not above, where your enemy lives.”
Her words shifted the flow of the atmosphere, tension replacing what had once been a lively ambiance. The dome and the nearby waters that surrounded it were her domain, and Dollar was certain that if she wanted to keep him here and control his actions, she could.
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Dollar matched her gaze, not backing down. His plan to unlock his bloodline and memorize the gravity symbol at the same time wasn’t born from sheer stubbornness. He had a chance here. Living under the City of Tiber was deadlier than anything else he could do.
It was also an opportunity.
“I know that I could send Mitsy up there alone. It occurred to me instantly. But this is a chance to scout my enemy. While Parelius himself believes me dead.”
Dollar held up his hand to stop his grandmother’s protests, his resolve strengthening with each word spoken.
“Eventually, they will find out I am alive. It is inevitable. Unfortunately, that means I can’t afford to take things easy. I will take precautions, I always have, but hiding my identity is one thing, trembling pitifully in a corner for the day my uncle finds me is another. I refuse to do it. House Tiberius will not dictate how I live my life. Death is horrible, but living a life of compromise and mediocrity would be twice as devastating. This isn’t just a whim or want, its who I am. Which is why I will obtain the strength I need to overcome them.”
A ripple of authority accompanied his words, so subtle that Dollar himself didn’t notice its existence. It held no magic, or power, but wherever his voice fell, the air stilled.
Dollar saw his grandmother’s eyes widen, ever so slightly, and his gaze softened.
“Please, help me,” Dollar said. “I know the danger of memorizing symbols better than most, but I will need your aid in awakening my bloodline and guiding me through the process.”
Levia turned pensive, tapping her side as Dollar watched. Finally, she nodded.
“If I sense that this has become too big of a task for you, I will put a stop to it myself,” Levia said. “I will not allow my grandson to be destroyed by that which can be prevented.”
Dollar breathed a sigh of relief. His grandmother was giving him a chance. That was all he could ask for.
A shadow loomed over him, and he looked up to see Mitsy with a smile on her face.
“Well put,” Mitsy said. “Does this mean we don’t have to worry about the pressure of the water?”
“House Tiberius itself is helping you there,” Levia said. “So long as you can breathe, moving both to and from the dome shouldn’t be an issue. However, I have no way to speak to you or influence the world above, even once I return. You would be alone until you come back down.”
“That’s alright.” Mitsy wrapped her arm around Dollar’s shoulder, dragging him to her side. “He’s got me to protect him. The lovable and cheerful Mitsy.”
Dollar could see the doubt in his grandmother’s gaze, “she’s really strong. Trust me.”
“I see,” Levia shook her head, the hint of a smile crossing her lips. “Above us are three ports. One is used to accept newcomers and visitors, and the other is for merchant ships and their cargo. I will take you to the third, Gershwain port, named after the Gershwain household that used to rule Mount Halcyon. It was abandoned long ago, during the bloodshed that occurred when House Tiberius first arrived. Damage to its structure made it too difficult to repair, and a shift in the lake’s focal point made its location less desirable. Now it serves as a resting place for vagabonds.”
“And therefore, a good place for stowaways,” Dollar nodded. “I like that.”
A quick peek upward told Dollar that it was still early afternoon on the surface. Depending on how long it took to go up and down the lake, it was possibly that they would be able to come back by the end of the day.
“Now then, Lotan will guide you for your first trip. Memorize the route she takes, as it is the one you will be required to follow in the future.,” Levia explained. “House Tiberius has artifacts in place that can sense unauthorized magic within their borders and, before, Lotan brought you through the depths and out of their range of discovery. Now, you will be taking a more physical approach.”
“Lotan’s not going to throw us up there, is she?” Dollar joked.
Levia stayed quiet.
“That’s not going to happen, right?”
“Risks are inevitable in life,” Levia replied. “You told me that yourself.”
Laughter broke out before Dollar could protest, and he looked to his side to see Mitsy shaking her head. She raised her hands into the air and mimed a throwing motion. It was the same one she’d used to throw him out of the dome.
“She goes first,” Dollar said. “I think now is probably the best time, unless there’s other things we need to prepare?”
A tentacle reached out toward him, giving him his answer. With a firm wobble the transparent wall allowed the tentacle into the dome, and it hesitated as it felt the water replaced by air. A plume of sand rose into the air as the massive limb hit the ground, spreading out across the floor.
Mitsy leapt onto it without hesitation, gripping the brown flesh as her grin widened.
“Grabbing this isn’t going to hurt Lotan, is it?” Dollar asked.
He equipped the necklace of water breathing immediately.
“If you do then I’ll remind her about it for the rest of her life,” Levia looked amused by the question. “But no, you won’t hurt the creature that is the size of a town. Just…be careful up there. I will likely be gone by the time you arrive, and the surface is a dangerous place.”
“I’ll give it my best shot,” Dollar promised. “Thanks, grandma.”
Levia beamed at him as Dollar clambered onto the tentacle. The flesh was wet and spongy, but it clung to him like glue the moment he touched it, forcing him to stick to it. Soon, he was wondering how he would be able to remove himself from it.
“Is this a good idea?” Dollar asked Mitsy.
“Best one I’ve had in the last five minutes,” Mitsy gave him a thumbs up. “Come on, we’ve got a Grec to save.”
Lotan trembled, raising her limb from the depths of the dome, and Dollar heard Mitsy let out a loud whoop beside him. They broke through the wall of the dome in an instant, the water swamping Dollar’s clothes as he entered it. For a moment panic flooded through him, primal instincts telling him to hold his breath.
Only, he didn’t need to.
Steadily, like clockwork, one breath went in, and one breath went out. His instincts still screamed at him to stop, but with each passing second their protests grew quieter. Dollar was breathing underwater.
Fascinating. Dollar smiled.
“This is pretty cool,” he said.
Dollar’s words didn’t reach his ears, quickly becoming garbled nonsense as they traveled through the water. A quick look to his side showed him that Mitsy was trying to do the same, her mouth moving in different ways as she tried to speak.
It might be handy to find a way to communicate underwater if we’re going to stay here. Dollar thought.
Contrary to what his grandmother had him believe, Lotan wasn’t going to fire them up to the surface like a cannon.
The monster slithered across the lake, using its mighty tentacles to push itself off of the lake’s walls and ground. Its way of moving reminded him of an octopus from Earth.
Clear waters turned murky as they exited the domain of the dome, and Dollar felt lightheaded as the pressure of the water intensified. However, whatever House Tiberius had done to the waters quickly kicked in, easing the pressure, and Dollar glanced around, trying to find the source of the magic.
If it’s not my grandma’s magic, I can’t see it. Dollar looked down at his body. Well– wait, what the hell is that?
Out in the depths something sung to him.
Dollar’s thoughts ground to a halt the moment he felt its call. He whipped his head to the side, his eyes trying to pierce the darkness of the lake, but he couldn’t see the source.
The call wasn’t malevolent. Like an old friend, it tried to grab his attention, singing out to him with all of its will. A wall of mental pressure accompanied it, thin and weak from distance, but still strong enough to be mistaken for a middle-ranked symbol on its own. The source was something he was intimately familiar with.
It was a symbol.
This is what dad was looking for. Dollar thought. It’s impossible for it to be anything else.
The symbol was far. Too far.
Dollar could sense its presence deep below the lake, further than the Dome and sand. But even through the water and distance it was calling out. Which meant that it was strong. Far stronger than any other symbol he had encountered so far, bar maybe the ones in Ength’s realm.
It also had a quality to it that he couldn’t quiet describe. As though it weren’t just a symbol, but a signal.
A high-ranked symbol? Dollar wondered. Or something above that?
His mind raced as the mental pressure pressed against him, but then the world shifted around him. Lotan had shifted her grip on the lake’s walls, curling her body up and Dollar and Mitsy protectively clasped within her grip. With a mighty heave the monster leapt through the water, covering more distance in a single bound than she had the entire journey so far.
And the call was cut off.
Dollar had moved out of its range.
That’s how dad found the dome. Or rather, the dome just happened to be in the way of the symbol. Dollar realized. Does that mean this symbol got my parents together?
His eyes didn’t leave the spot where he’d felt the call coming from. Even when they were far from it, and Lotan started scaling the walls of the lake, he continued to stare.
The symbol was still there. Which meant his father either hadn’t found it or had decided not to take it with him.
Unless dad learned it and refused to teach me for fear of my mind exploding. Dollar thought. Then a more horrible thought occurred to him. What if Parelius learned it?
The thought of his uncle wielding a symbol as powerful as the one Dollar had felt sent a shiver down his spine. That kind of power was unfathomable, and it would also mean that his uncle was far stronger in the arts of symbology than he’d suspected.
Before he could complete that dreadful train of thought, a subtle movement at the edge of his vision caught his attention.
What was that?
He’d seen something in the water. A slight ripple of motion. Or maybe it was an alteration of water in a way that didn’t quite seem natural.
It was gone too quickly to tell.
I’m jumping at shadows. Dollar gazed into the murky abyss, doubts crawling through his mind. No, wait. There.
Across the wall of the lake, he caught a glimpse of change. A shadow, long and thin, with dark ribbons spread across the sides swam against the rocks, but there was nothing there to cast it.
Then, as quickly as he’d seen it, it disappeared.
Seriously, what was that? Dollar wondered.
Dollar didn’t spare it much thought. Thousands of fish of all shapes and sizes crowded the lake, most dancing around Lotan’s tentacles as the colossal monster heaved through them. Some were the size of sharks, others as small as plankton. Some glowed, and had five eyes, others snapped at nearby quarry with elongated necks, their bodies expanding several feet without warning. Yet more hid within the holes of the lake’s walls, biding their time for prey to enter their domains.
If Lotan could rise from the depths without notice, so could others. Whether or not they were dangerous was something he didn’t know.
The lake was a mystery to him, as much as it was to anyone.
A burst of light interrupted his thoughts, and he looked up to see the surface quickly approaching.
Lotan was nearing the port.
The monster kept her main body in the lower depths of the lake, sending out the tentacle that Mitsy and Dollar gripped toward the surface of the lake.
Dollar’s ascent came to a halt once they were a few meters away from the surface, and a thump from the tentacle let him know that this was his stop. They were deep enough that an ordinary adult would have to swim for five full breaths, which meant that nobody above would be likely to spot Lotan.
If Dollar and Mitsy were spotted when they surfaced, that was just bad luck. But he was sure he could come up with an excuse.
With a pop the tentacle’s hold on him loosened, and Dollar found himself swimming freely through the lake. With mighty swings he rose from the depths, aiming for the surface, which was when he realized that his tiny arms were getting him nowhere. Well, he was still moving. Just not as quickly as he’d hoped. Dollar felt like a turtle wattling through the ocean, guided along by the gentle current of the waters.
A hand on his back interrupted his thoughts, and he looked to the side to see Mitsy’s playful gaze, her arm wrapping around him and the water rushing against his skin as she pulled them both up with a forceful heave.
Within seconds Dollar’s eyes were struck by the full light of the sun, unblemished by the water he had just risen from.
Mitsy gripped a nearby rock, pulling herself over it and allowing Dollar to disentangle himself from her grip, stepping aside and surveying the area. All around him were the remains of Gershwain port. Ruined buildings lay all around them.
Does House Tiberius keep these destroyed buildings here because it’s too difficult to clean, or to serve as a reminder of their power? Dollar wondered.
With the number of golems the household had on hand, Dollar was willing to bet that House Tiberius had decided to leave the port alone on purpose. There were benefits to reminding potential enemies that death was the outcome for those who provoked House Tiberius.
Dollar could see the City of Tiber beyond the port, with the sounds of thousands of people celebrating and having fun.
“So, this is the home of the people that tried to kill you as a baby.”
Mitsy cracked her knuckles, her eyes glimmering with anger.
“Let’s go say hi.”