Dollar’s situation was dire. The golden sea underneath him rippled as cracks of pain swept across his forehead and temples. Sweat drenched his neck as he struggled under the Progenitor’s powers, the pressure of her existence superseding his own. For all that he had accomplished in life, he knew that this being was beyond him. Her will was ancient and spoke of unfathomable power, and if he didn’t bow, she had the power to shatter him.

His first reaction was to move out of the way of her palm and her domain. With a shift of his muscles, he pushed himself back, only to find himself locked in place as the Progenitor’s indifferent gaze continued to bore into his soul.

“Freedom or death is never a good choice,” Dollar spat out the words through gritted teeth. “Is this any way to treat family?”

The Progenitor ignored him, weaving her bonds across his heart and clasping her golden chains into his bloodline symbol. Her palm was soft against his skin, and as the chains tightened, he could feel their effect on him. His thoughts grew dimmer, his control lessened, and the hints of golden light within his silver aura changed. The Progenitor’s aura mixed with it, and small specks of his light flew into her aura, merging with it.

Every step of the way he fought against her and slowed down her progress. With [A Will Eternal] he smashed the golden lights each time they reformed, and as he fought, he also pondered his situation.

“My mum wouldn’t have accepted this,” Dollar said. “But she still had hints of her bloodline. Did she reject your offer as well? I think she must have.”

“Your mother saw the bonds. She chose not to accept the invitation. To leave the family.”

“And she survived.” Dollar narrowed his eyes. “How is that possible if your only offer is death?”

A frown crossed the Progenitor’s lips, and her palm shifted ever-so-slightly, before pressing down again.

It all happened in less than a second, but Dollar caught the change in her expression and the hesitation in her movements.

That’s new. Dollar’s mind raced, trying to figure out what had caused his ancestor’s hesitation. He glanced at the multi-colored sky and saw the white mists rolling over the lights once more, and then he looked down at the golden sea and noted its movements, each ripple reacting to his movements. Neither seemed like the key to his escape. But he knew one had to exist.

The Progenitor’s golden light tightened against his heart, and pain once again wracked his body. Each restriction was nearing completion, each one reforged far stronger than they had been before. To his surprise, they didn’t take the form of golden rings and, instead, coated his awakened bloodline so that it could continue to activate.

The world slowed down as he ignored the pain and focused on finding a solution. She gave my mum this same choice, but Althea survived and kept the bloodline she’d unlocked. Dollar gazed into the Progenitor’s eyes, and he saw apathy within them. There must be a way to do both. So how did my mum do it? No, I should ask another question. If I was going to unlock my bloodline, then why did Grandma bring me here? She did the same for my mum and she wouldn’t have done that without a reason. Levia cares for me too much to lead me into a trap. I saw it in her eyes.

The Progenitor. The Lake. The auras. They were all connected.

An echo of a smile broke through the pain as the answer struck Dollar like lightning.

“You’re leaving my bloodline intact.” Dollar stated.

“Yes.”

“It wasn’t a question,” Dollar said. “Listen now, and listen carefully, ancestor. You may control my bloodline, and hold my life in your hands, but you have no power over me. Nor will you ever.”

The Progenitor’s eyes narrowed, and a gasp escaped Dollar’s lips as a wave of golden light blinded him. “You cannot afford to disrespect me.”

“I can’t afford it?” Dollar asked.

A single gurgle of laughter filled the air. Hearty and filled with mirth, he couldn’t stop it from escaping his lips. It filled the air, and brushed against the wind, and as he laughed, the bloodline chains shifted with him, trying to restrain him but finding no violations of their contract.

The Progenitor’s palm retracted, the light’s glow dimming and revealing a flicker of uncertainty in her gaze. “Why do you laugh?”

Dollar met her gaze, and she saw his confidence and mirth. “Because that’s a saying I’ve heard far too many times before. And for all your magic, beauty, and power, I can’t help but see myself in you.” Memories crossed his mind at her words. “My parents didn’t think I could afford to live when I was a vagabond paying for every night’s sleep and scraps of food. But I survived. Then, I couldn’t afford my grandmother’s lessons, and I was told they would continue no matter how much I begged to stop. But I never begged. When people witnessed the start of my rise, nobody believed in my survival, nor did they entertain the thought that the slum child could afford a better life.”

Dollar’s eyes met hers and the Progenitor shivered at what she saw within them. “I’ve had a lot in my life. Power. Riches. Influence. But respect is the one thing I could never buy, and it is something you’ll never gain from me. My mortality is not a weakness. Dying means nothing to me. Even if the heavens ordered me to, I will not bow.”

“Insignificant child.” The Progenitor dismissed the unease in her heart and placed her palm back on his head. “Marred by your confidence, and delusional in your pain. Devolving to madness will not avail you of my will. It will not scatter your bloodline.”

“Ah yes, my bloodline. Fascinating, isn’t it? Potential. That’s what I unlocked first, and my Grandmother too. She can see what I see. She can feel what I feel.”

Dollar’s smile widened, and for the first time, he saw worry glimmering within the progenitor’s eyes. The chains were almost complete, but now they hesitated, and her golden light intensified as she forced the restrictions to gather quickly.

Even so, Dollar continued talking.

“I had to ask myself, why this lake?” Dollar glanced around. “Because that’s where we are, isn’t it? It took me a while to figure it out, but Orona had to conjure a portal for me to enter this realm before. Oh, sure, you’ve charmed me into seeing a wondrous illusion, but if my mother underwent the same trial and exited through the dome, then I can’t have moved.”

“You are wrong.” The Progenitor stated. He caught a hint of apprehension in her tone.

Underneath him, the golden sea rippled, but this time the cause was the Progenitor’s movements. He’d disrupted the harmony between his ancestor and her realm, and Dollar saw the first physical confirmation of her broken confidence.

“I’m right. But your distractions made it difficult to see.” Dollar closed his eyes and activated his mind’s eye once more. “So, why this lake? Well, now, I know the answer to that. In this lake, there is something beyond the bloodline, and greater than you.” Through his mind’s eye, Dollar could see the aura in the world around him, and instead of focusing on himself or the Progenitor, he searched for the other existence he had sensed. “It’s a presence so vast it could form a veil across creation itself. And it won’t care for intruders. My roommate is a fickle being, after all.”

Dollar’s mind brushed against the veil of the Progenitor’s illusion and touched a power that transcended comprehension. The presence reacted, and Dollar smiled.

Without hesitation, he reached out to Ength.

“What are you doing?” The Progenitor’s voice shifted, her transcendent tones transforming into a hiss.

“Evening the playing field,” Dollar replied. “Just like my mother did years ago.”

Through their connection, Dollar felt her emotions.

Anger. Fury. Fear.

“You’re right to be scared,” Dollar’s voice was a ragged whisper. His eyes fluttered open and his vision had taken on a blood-red tint. He was bleeding, but through the crimson sheen, he saw fear in the Progenitor’s eyes. “There was only one way my mother could have survived her bloodline awakening, and it wasn’t the generosity of you or her family. It was the power of a divine.”

With a firm tug, he called out to Ength in the same way the symbols called to him. And the aura shifted, turning toward him and shaking as though waking from a dream. A moment later, a presence enveloped his body, and he shivered.

Ength had noticed him.

“No. No. NO.” The Progenitor’s chains tightened on his heart, and he coughed, the taste of iron filling his tongue as she tried to crush him.

“Too late,” Dollar grinned.

The world around him froze.

Below him, the golden light fled from Dollar as the sea trembled. Above him, the white mists covering the sky retreated, revealing a cascade of multi-colored lights illuminating the atmosphere.

Surrounding him, he felt the weight of Ength’s existence pressing down like a tidal wave.

Snap.

With that surge of power came freedom.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?” The Progenitor’s authority shattered like a twig and her ethereal voice roared. The anger of eras gone by smacked against Dollar’s ears, but he ignored her, for her power was already diminishing.

“Ength’s a fickle being. And you have invaded its domain,” Dollar gazed at her, ignoring the breaking world around him. “You can threaten me, and you can hurt me, but you can’t kill me. Not while we’re in Ength’s presence. You have no authority here. And that’s the key to this whole mess.”

“I should have known it was strange. You only gave me the choices you wanted me to make. Why not kill me immediately? Why even give me a choice? And then it hit me.” Dollar gestured and Ength’s power flowed through him, distinct and exclusive from his own, but also a part of his being. He could feel it in the [skills] he’d been gifted, and it flowed through him like a wave of nostalgia. “You couldn’t. Not here. Not while I’m inside this lake.”

“You would dare defy me? I have ended households and brought down titans.”

Dollar simply smiled. “So have I.”

A twinge in Dollar’s heart sent mind-numbing pain across his body, and his thoughts came to a screeching halt. A sense of wrongness filled him as the Progenitor’s presence imposed itself on the sole bastion it still had, the golden line of the contract. His heart palpitated as the bloodline symbol merged with the golden light. The contract was no longer deadly, but it was holding onto what little power it had over him through the symbol carved into his heart.

With a sharp cascade of pain, that remaining chain burnt into his flesh and warped dangerously.

“Death is not the only answer. I hold authority over my gifts, and I will not allow a second transgression,” the Progenitor’s voice swirled across the room, enveloping Dollar and piercing his aura. “Your lineage is tainted. Undeserving. Impure. I am taking it back. All of it.”

Dollar gasped as the golden lights wrapped around the lines of his bloodline symbol and tore them off his heart, taking away the power she had given him. She was breaking his bloodline, and in seconds, it would be gone.

It felt like she was tearing away a piece of his soul.

Is this what the Progenitor did to my mother? Why did she have to be exiled? Yeah. Of course it is. That’s why she’s smarter, but didn’t have the rest of the bloodline.

Agony tore through him as the Progenitor’s power chipped away at his soul. The pain would have torn an ordinary man asunder. But he was no ordinary man.

How dare she do this to my family?

“Untether yourself from my bloodline and go back to where you were. Know that you will earn the ire of all my wielders.” The Progenitor said, her voice reverberating through his mind and body. “Or accept my support and the power of my full bloodline.”

“A slave to your whims,” Dollar huffed through the pain. “No.” He could hardly get the word out. “My will is eternal.”

With a roar of agony and irritation, he activated [A Will Eternal] and forced the restriction to crack and break as they lifted his bloodline symbol from his heart. Ength’s aura followed his whims, crashing against the chains and forcing them back.

The brief respite allowed him to push through the pain and force out his next sentence through bloody lips. “Since you’re family, I’ll give you one last chance. Let’s negotiate.”

Laughter filled his mind, warped and cruel. A cascade of emotions accompanied the sound, each alien and warped. They belonged to a being that had transcended humanity and viewed it as beneath them.

“You forget your place. The divine is powerful, but this is a fragment of forgotten power. The divine is not here. Nor does it’s essence aid you willingly.”

The Progenitor pushed Ength’s aura back, and Dollar’s bloodline symbol screamed.

“Insignificant child, you think yourself my equal? No, we will not negotiate. Your power will cease. That is all.”

The Progenitor gripped his symbol tighter, clawing it out of his heart piece by piece.

Dollar’s vision twisted, his newfound senses disappearing and the world turning dark. The sea of golden light was gone, and so was the sky, but the Progenitor remained, and still, he could feel Ength’s presence in the air, inert yet powerful.

I’m still in the room. Dollar focused on that fact. I never left it.

Around him, the darkness gave way to a gentle light. It was the glow of the light stone he’d purchased in Tiber City. His eyes spotted it, and then his ears heard a creak as the wooden floorboards shifted under his weight. Blood and sweat covered the floor, and Dollar’s skin was awash with veins, his body trembling as he broke out of the Progenitor’s illusion.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Dead remains of a being long departed cannot stop me. Not again. I have been preparing for this clash, divine.” The Progenitor’s voice echoed across the lake.

The Progenitor and Ength’s will clashed, sending ripples of power across the surroundings. Each being surpassed the physical and their battle swept over every soul in the area. Fish fled at its touch, and monsters quailed. Bill was looking up at the house now, and Dollar could see Mitsy rushing back, only to be stopped by his grandmother. Levia gazed at the house as her aura flecked with worry.

Waves of power billowed across the lake. It spread out into the sky and sank deep into the depths of the sands. Reverberating across creation like the call of a symbol deeper and more powerful than any other in existence, Dollar felt it in his soul.

When my mother clashed with the Progenitor, she also awakened Ength’s aura. That’s how my father found this place. Dollar realized. To someone without our bloodline, Ength’s presence would feel like the call of a symbol. It just so happened that there really was a symbol here, and he found the dome while searching for it.

The clash weakened and waned as the Progenitor won over Ength’s aura. More of the divine’s aura permeated the lake, but the inert substance didn’t move toward the Progenitor because there was no will behind it. There never had been.

In seconds, the Progenitor’s presence was dominant and overwhelming.

“I have won.”

A hint of despair crossed Dollar’s heart, but then he saw his Grandmother’s aura moving. She flicked her hand, and a small spattering of aura disseminated across the air. It touched Ength’s aura, and the divine’s presence strengthened.

The Progenitor frowned at the disturbance and sudden increase in resistance, but her attention was on Ength’s aura, and she hadn’t noticed her descendant’s interference.

Grandma used a [skill] to affect it. Dollar’s mind raced. Is she trying to tell me I can do the same?

“[A Will Eternal].”

With a shaky hand, Dollar reached out to the lake outside the dome. Come to me, Ength.

The aura responded, flowing through the waters, past the dome, and into his body. [A Will Eternal] quickly gave out, finally reaching its limits, but more aura continued to flow through Dollar, and he was keenly aware that he was no longer using [A Will Eternal] to guide it. This is a more intrinsic control, one that can only be accomplished through another [skill]. But which one? The two mighty forces met once again, and he lost the thought.

“Our bloodline does not possess this ability.” The Progenitor’s voice was haggard and weary. “How is this possible?”

“It doesn’t matter. You’ve made a mistake, Progenitor,” Dollar growled, flecks of red blood escaping his lips. “The bloodline is a symbol. It’s my symbol. And you can’t afford to steal from me.”

There is only one [skill] that could be the cause. If I’m right, it will let me control the aura in the lake…I can only hope I’m right.

With a nimble twist, Dollar slammed his hand into his chest. If there’s anything out there listening, I hope this plan works. He couldn’t stop the Progenitor, not alone, and all his hopes rested on one [skill] being the answer.

“[Ength’s Touch].”

The world stilled as he activated his ability. All was silent, the clash dying down as existence held its breath. [Ength’s Touch] couldn’t be used to fight, or to attack, but the energy used belonged to the divine itself, and it had a single purpose.

[Ength’s touch] strengthened the powers of his symbols.

And despite what the Progenitor said, his bloodline was his symbol.

Dollar’s bloody smile widened into a grin as his [skill] activated and the divine’s power flowed through him, and into his bloodline symbol. There was no struggle and no epic clash.

The Progenitor’s golden bonds shattered.

Golden light detached from his heart and dissipated into oblivion, and the more his ancient relative pushed, the more Dollar felt the undeniable truth. The divine’s power wasn’t targeting her, nor was it acting against her. It was simply passing by, and she was in its way, like an insect in the path of a planet.

It would tear her to pieces if she remained.

“What are you?”

“Annoyed. That’s what I am.” Dollar pushed his hand once more against his chest. “[Ength’s Touch].”

Once more, power flowed through him, though this time it simply lay there, gathering in strength. He couldn’t upgrade the same symbol twice, but as the Progenitor struggled, the power of his [skill] flowed into his bloodline to replenish that which was lost.

The Progenitor screamed in pain and unbearable torment that surged through Dollar’s being. She had stood down when the divine had merely been in the room, but now she had its attention. The bloodline tore out of the Progenitor’s grasp piece by piece and etched back into Dollar’s being.

“This is not the end, child,” the Progenitor’s voice filled his mind, fury and horror wielded in equal parts. “You cannot keep what is mine. You cannot stave off my revenge. Dollar Tiberius, stealer of bloodlines, enemy of my clan. Until the last of your blood drips from your veins, and your body grows cold, my descendants and I will hunt you to the ends of Ioa.”

“Yeah? Get in line,” Dollar replied.

The golden light of the contract’s chains died and shattered, and The Progenitor reached out to grasp his head in her hands, but her body shimmered, dissolving into particles of light, and a primal roar escaped her lips as the final line of her influence cleared away from the bloodline symbol.

Her hand was the last to fade, and the lights that composed it bounced off of Dollar’s forehead, the only remains of the Progenitor’s presence. As they dissipated, the signs of her existence disappeared, thrown back into the void she’d clambered out of.

Dollar breathed a sigh of relief. “She’s gone.”

He collapsed as the tension drained from his body. A quick look around showed him that all that remained of the battle was the ripples of Ength’s aura sweeping across his surroundings.

Then he frowned.

The divine’s aura wasn’t disappearing.

“Ength my buddy, and my roommate, what’s going on?” Dollar asked. “You can head out now. Or go back to sleep or whatever.”

The aura didn’t respond and instead coalesced, growing into something new. Something physical.

When my mum fought against the Progenitor, my ancestor relented. Ength’s aura hadn’t had to respond fiercely, Dollar thought. But I didn’t give in.

Dollar trembled as he realized the problem. He had called upon Ength’s power and added to it until the air was electric with its touch. Now, that power had nothing to fight and nowhere to go. Dollar had assumed that Ength’s aura would dissipate when it was done. He was wrong. The waves of power weren’t subsiding, and instead, they grew stronger around Dollar, spreading out across the depths of the lake.

Tremble.

A tremor reverberated through the world, and Dollar held his breath.

Crack.

“Oh, no.”

A burst of power erupted from the divine’s aura and shattered the space around him, shards of reality floating across him in an infinite loop. Something beyond his sight brushed across his mind, and he realized it was the call of the high-ranked symbol he’d been feeling since he’d entered the dome.

The aura is doing something to the symbol hidden in the lake. The symbol’s existence overcame Dollar’s mind. It had already been the strongest symbol he’d ever felt, but now Ength’s aura had amplified the call.

As the symbol’s call grew to unfathomable proportions, Dollar felt the symbol’s presence explode across the surroundings and burst through the world. A soundless roar announced the presence of something greater and it overwhelmed the water, and barreled through the walls of the lake, bursting into the air and erupting out into the wider continent.

Then the world turned dark, and Dollar heard his body smack into the ground, and the last thing he saw was a glowing blue box trying to get his attention.

[Congratulations! You have unlocked the bloodline: Bonds of Life (full).]

[Error: Bloodline enhancement detected.]

[Bloodline enhancement complete.]

[Congratulations! You have unlocked the bloodline: Bond of the Divine (full).]

[Divine bond unlocked.]

****

In the depths of the eastern continent, a single island lay hidden among an oasis of flora and fauna, unexplored by humanity and unburdened by the whims of gods. Encased within its inner sanctums was a curious sight. A thousand crystals of different colors spread out across the skies and land, embedded in soil and air alike as they glimmered with the light of a thousand fires. Within their crystalline bodies were several lines, each belonging to a symbol, yet not forming one completely.

Orona Soleil sat among the crystals, each one chiming in unison. Each of the sounds erupted with a burst of power that stabbed against her mind and soul. It was enough power to break any ordinary will, but Orona refused to give in.

She had spent the last month among these crystals, training her mental fortitude.

“That boy, ‘Ength’, is stronger than you are. Not physically, or magically, but his mental fortitude exceeds yours by leaps and bounds. I can’t tell you he would have earned his gold rank immediately if he’d tried, but the only thing stopping him would be the number of symbols he knew.”

Those were the words her master, Soleil, had told her when they’d left Zendria. They infuriated her. They invigorated her. For so long she had been called a genius, and yet a child a little under ten years her junior had surpassed her.

A smile crossed her lips at the thought.

“Were your words true, or did you just say them to motivate me, master?” Orona asked. There was no reply, but she already knew the answer.

She pushed her mind against the crystals, causing their chimes to strengthen and return her push tenfold. Orona bathed in the pain of training with a smile on her face. Soleil was making the long journey to the central continent to watch the symbologist tournament portion of the Tournament of Kings, but she had used her portals to return to her homeland in the eastern continent to train. In eight years she would still be eligible for the next Tournament of Kings, and until then she would keep herself hidden, much as she always had.

Or so she thought.

A rumble crossed over the surroundings, and Orona frowned. She glanced at the crystals, wondering if they were the cause, but in seconds it became apparent that they couldn’t be. Each one trembled, and then cracked, exploding into a hundred thousand glittering fragments.

Orona jolted, her head turning toward the source of the disruption. A deep and ancient call swept her into its embrace, her consciousness flowing like a leaf in a raging river.

At the end of the river was a symbol, too far for her to reach, yet powerful enough for her to sense its existence. She followed its presence to its source, and a single glance was enough to tell her that she was on the wrong continent.

When Orona opened her eyes, they glowed gold with magic.

“[Return, Zendria].”

Orona’s hand swept across her vision and the air popped as a glowing portal appeared. Within it, she could see the red furnishings and lush carpets of Zendria’s symbologist guild. She withdrew a golden badge from a storage bracelet on her wrist and placed it on her robes, walking with confidence into the guild halls.

All around her, people were panicking. Ordinary people couldn’t feel a thing, but all the symbologists within the guild had fallen silent, their eyes clouded as the symbol’s call assaulted their minds. They were too weak mentally to do more than resist its call. If they survived, they would likely forget they had ever heard it. Only the truly powerful would remember the symbol’s voice.

Below them, bodies littered the floor. They were the people who had collapsed under the symbol’s might.

“Not here, but I’m closer.” Orona tapped her chin pensively. “Master would want to know about this. But he would also chide me if I lost the chance to learn a symbol of this caliber.”

Orona shook her head, deciding instantly. She’d been on the eastern continent when she’d felt the symbol. Her master would have felt it too, though whether he would get there in time to salvage it was another matter.

I will claim it for him, she thought, even if it means fighting the world to do so.

With a wave of her hand, another portal appeared, this one on the outskirts of Zendria. She could sense the direction of the symbol now, and she would enter its domain soon enough. Orona stepped through the portal with a smile. It would be a long journey, potentially weeks, but she was confident that she would still be there in time to claim the symbol. Or at least be a part of the fight to do so.

And if she had felt its existence, then others had as well.

****

When the call of the symbol reached the western continent, an ancient power welled with fury at the intrusion and stopped the call in its tracks. The being’s anger spread across the hearts of its descendants, and they trembled with fear.

“You will not intrude on my domain.”

The Progenitor grasped the call in her hands, shattering it to pieces. She had been prepared for its arrival and none within the continent heard it. Her anger was at the forefront, and her descendants trembled as they shared in her fury.

“Dollar Tiberius. An aberration and a mistake.” The Progenitor turned her senses toward the southern continent. “I have been too lenient with my progeny. Those who do not submit can no longer live.”

She had long abandoned the physical world, retreating into a realm of light and perfection better suited to her needs. But that didn’t mean she had remained unaware of what happened in Ioa. She knew Althea Tiberius and her spawn. Now, both had defied her.

For the first time in years, she sent out direct orders to the holders of her bloodline. Most were participating in the Tournament of Kings, or visiting the capital to support the members that were. The Progenitor refused to remove those pieces from the board. They were too valuable, and she couldn’t ignore the Tournament of Kings. Nor the powers behind it.

But only clan Purity had a major presence in the tournament. The branch clans continued to toil away at their tasks on the western continent, and she turned her attention to them.

“Life. Potential. Bonds. I have a task for you.”

The elders of each clan jolted as their bloodlines activated, golden light flowing through their eyes and an unearthly voice cascading over them. Their families bowed low, and some wept, for they knew they were being graced by the presence that had given them their mighty power. She was the Progenitor of all, greater in their hearts than the gods.

Hundreds prepared to head to the southern continent at her whim. Her orders were explicit, and all who heard them moved to obey.

They would kill the one known as Dollar Tiberius.

****

Above the lake, the waters of Lake Tiber ravaged the ships and land that got in their way, and houses cracked, the symbols at their foundations collapsing under the presence of a counterpart far superior to them. People screamed in surprise and horror as the air rippled and twisted, and then they watched, stupefied, as waves of power enveloped them. To those who lined the streets, it looked like the end of the world was approaching.

Only one person in the city was calm. He looked down at the lake from the safety of Mount Halcyon, a cruel sneer touching his lips.

“Ength.”

Parelius Tiberius allowed the word to hang in the air. He could feel the symbol’s call, the same as it had felt all those years ago when Marcus had first brought him to the lake.

“Even after claiming Mount Halcyon, it lay out of my grasp. To think that others looked toward the mountain as a symbol of status, when the true power lay in the lake beside it,” Parelius said. A chuckle escaped his lips, the turgid sound carrying a hint of discord within. “But I never believed I would not have it, and now it has revealed itself to me of its own accord.”

His words were lost in the screams and the crackling of crumbling buildings below him. With calm poise, he brought a cup to his lips and wetted his smile with wine.

“Truly, this is a wonderful opportunity. Is that not so, Yroizen?”

The words were directed into the empty room, and a moment later, a figure appeared behind Parelius. The newcomer wore a black and red uniform, a similarly colored mask at their side, and his hands rested on the hilt of their unsheathed sword.

He was Yroizen, an Ino-rank soldier of House Tiberius. Yroizen bowed low, hiding his nervousness at the strange tidings encasing the city.

“Patriarch,” Yroizen said. “Are we under attack?”

Parelius didn’t spare the armed Ino a single glance. He strode to the broken window, watching as plumes of multi-colored dust rose from the broken city and passed over the mountain.

He couldn’t help but admire their beauty.

“Do you not feel it?” Parelius asked. “Rejoice, Yroizen. A grand opportunity is rising.”

He extended his senses forward, and a slight frown crossed his lips as he felt the call of the lake’s symbol. The fluctuations were far stronger than the first time. Only his brother had heard it then, and that was because of luck.

“But its call is too strong. This time, others will come to take it,” Parelius muttered. “We must prepare to fight against powers both ancient and new.” He twisted to face the Ino, his smile never leaving his lips. “But it hardly matters. In the entire world, only I and Marcus know what lies within the depths of the lake. Death and madness await those who traverse the temple without knowing its rules.”

Yroizen took a step back, his hands never leaving his sword and his gaze never leaving the Patriarch of House Tiberius. “Why have you called me here, Parelius?”

Parelius jolted, his eyebrows rising as though he was noticing the Ino for the first time. Indifference replaced his smile, and he placed his glass to the side. “Cancel all of Jasper’s classes and training. Then bring my son to me. He’s going to be very busy in these upcoming months.”

“Your city is under attack, sir,” Yroizen replied.

A weight fell onto the Ino’s body, and Yroizen stilled.

“I did not ask you to worry about the city,” Parelius held his hand up, and symbols glowed across his vision. He saw his soldier’s eyes clouding with pain, and he pursed his lips. “I asked you to bring me my son.”

Yroizen’s forced his trembling body to move, ignoring the fear cascading through him. “For what reason?”

Parelius snapped his fingers, and the Ino stumbled forward. The tip of Yroizen’s sword clattered against the floor, but two hands still clutched the hilt. When the Ino lifted his head, Parelius smiled, the insidious twist of his lips sending a shiver down his soldier’s spine.

“To help House Tiberius rise.”