Prytaneum
Blacken
"As I said," Fels repeated. "I would like to be of assistance to you. And, perhaps, you could be of assistance to me as well."
Here we go, I thought, holding back a sigh. The use of the name Quintus, the name Daedalus had used when I'd first met him, had gone a long way to convince me that this guy did have ties to my friend, which meant a lot. It was not, however, enough to keep me from being suspicious or to prevent me from seeing the forest for the trees.
"How long have you known about me?" I asked instead of replying to his offer. "I haven't exactly been trying to hide my name and you strike me as someone who's pretty well informed, but you only contact me now? What's changed?"
Fels looked at me for a long moment, or at least I assumed he did. I couldn't exactly see his eyes, after all.
"We've had our suspicions for some time," He replied at last, apparently deciding to stick to the truth, or something close to it. "Since you registered with the Guild and your name was made public in fact."
"So you've known about me for a month?" I said raising an eyebrow, equal parts impressed by their resources and upset they hadn't contacted me in that time. "And I take it you've been keeping an eye on me since. Then I assume you figured out I was the real deal in about, oh, a day."
"We believed so, yes," He said. "But after all this time, there were bigger questions than your authenticity—such as the circumstances of your rebirth."
Couldn't really argue with him there; even I found that suspicious.
"Do you know why we were reborn?" I asked him, making him gesture vaguely.
"Little more than unconfirmed suspicions," He replied. "How much do you know about how the Dungeon creates monsters, Mr. Jackson?"
"Little more than unconfirmed suspicions," I echoed, thinking of Tartarus again. "I take it you know a bit more?"
"Perhaps," The man mused, seemingly as much to himself as to me. "In truth, though, we simply accept that it does, because it's a reality we have lived with for as long as we can remember—but it's an interesting question, is it not? Monsters bleed. They have flesh and blood and bones. They live and breathe and eat. Those who escaped the Dungeon and live on the surface can even breed and have children. Yet when they die and their magic stones are removed, they simply fade away, like they were made of nothing but dust to begin with, until new ones are born from the Dungeon's walls."
"And?" I asked, because while that was interesting and all, I already knew most of it.
"When Daedalus died, his corpse was never buried," Fels replied. "It was found and preparations were made—but before the funeral even began, it simply disappeared. Or, at least, that was what the people were told and it was eventually written off as another mystery of Daedalus. But in truth…his body simply dissolved and faded away."
"Like a monster," I finished quietly.
"Yes," Fels answered. "And that made us begin to wonder, about the soul. We already know full well what happens to the souls of mortals—but what of the souls of monsters? There is no place for them in the realms of the gods, but perhaps that is the purpose of the Dungeon. It is both the birth and resting place of monsters, a gathering place for their souls to be reborn. Perhaps it's a power inherent to them, perhaps it is the will of the Dungeon itself, but somehow, the Dungeon can anchor their souls to magic stones and give them life again."
I stared at Fels for a long moment and then shrugged.
"I'd already figured as much," I said. "Because it seems a lot like Tartarus to me."
"Daedalus said the same thing," Fels said, chuckling quietly. He made it sound creepy, like he did everything else while wearing that getup. "The interesting part, however, is when Irregularities occur—like you."
…I couldn't really argue that part, either.
"So," I said. "How's it happen?"
Fels shrugged slightly.
"There's hardly any way to know for sure, much less test it," He replied. "But…we believe that you were born as monsters in your own right, but something--your souls, perhaps, or your will or something else—changed things such that or being born as the Dungeon intended, you took your own forms instead."
I thought of Hope, which hadn't been in Pandora's Box, and yet had mysteriously appeared on my Status. Then, I thought about the mess that had been my death, with Kronos and the gods fighting on Mt. Olympus. Honestly, it could have been just about anything--but that didn't explain how Daedalus had been reborn.
Then I remembered what I'd thought after just being reborn--that maybe this was some kind of punishment Kronos had given me. The guy had a history of throwing things he didn't like into Tartarus, after all, but then the gods…
I shook my head in irritation. No, I still had no idea what was going on—and I could only imagine Daedalus had been even more lost, seeing as he hadn't been around for the finale. It was enough to make me wonder what he must have thought when he woke up here. That I'd failed? Depressingly, he'd have been right.
"Okay," I said at last, hiding my own concerns on the matter. "I'd pretty much figured that, too. It's interesting and worrying and all, but as long as we're still ourselves, what's the problem?"
"What if I told you there had been other cases of humans being reborn in the Dungeon?" He asked, surprising me. "Adventurers who were thought to have died have been spotted again in the Dungeon, attacking and killing others or performing strange tasks. It's possible, of course, that they simply never died in the first place, but some of their deaths were rather convincing--and yet, even now, there are rumors. And more than rumors, though such information has been kept quiet for the time being."
"…I take it that since we're having this conversation, you're convinced I'm not an evil clone," I replied, pursing my lips at the thought. "How bad is it?"
"Quite bad," He said. "From what we've found, it seems that several very dangerous individuals have been reborn, with strength far exceeding what they had in life."
I frowned and looked down at myself uncertainly before shaking my head.
"Yeah?" I said. "Because I don't feel any stronger than I used to. Leaving aside my Status, I mean. If anything, I was weaker than I was when I died—I still might be, really."
"We've our suspicions on that, as well," He told me. "It's not something we've ever had chance or desire to test, but…perhaps you're simply not a very good monster?"
"What do you mean?" I asked, honestly not sure if that was an insult or not.
"Nothing more than what I said," Fels replied. "If what we believe is true, originally you were to be some type of monster, but somehow you overcame the will of the Dungeon and remained yourself—something independent of it and something it hates perhaps as much as the gods themselves. Had that not been the case or had you given in to the Dungeon…who knows?"
I mulled over that for a moment, frown deepening.
"What type of monster would I have been, then?" I wondered to myself aloud.
"…Do you really want to find out?" Fels asked. "Daedalus researched the matter extensively, but never went any further. After all, whatever you should have been, you remained yourself only by failing to become it. You didn't become whatever the Dungeon sought to make of you."
Ominous, I thought mildly. I still kind of wanted to know, though, for if or when I found myself transforming into something awful. Potential death of my self aside, I hoped it was something cool. Given how much the Dungeon hated me, though, I was betting it was something bad—either for me or for everyone else.
"Okay," I said again, putting that aside for the time being. "Onto the more important questions. Before I help you with anything, there are some things I want to know, starting with this—have there been any others?"
Fels seemed to hesitate at that before answering.
"Daedalus left behind a list of people to look out for," He said at last. "But to my knowledge, you are the only one on it who has registered with the Guild. It is possible that there are those who weren't on the list that were reborn or that some chose to hide their identities, but in my life, I've never meet anyone else like the two of you."
"You knew Daedalus?" I asked suspiciously. "I thought you said it was before your time."
"Yes," He said, after another pause. "That is, before we were Familia. But…would you believe me if I said I was old enough to remember him when he was still alive?"
"I can believe a lot of things," I replied. "Are you an immortal? A spirit or ghost? Or just undead?"
"To say such a thing so easily…" Fels said, raising a hand to the cloth over his face and lifting it slightly to show his teeth. Teeth and little more. "But I suppose that's to be expected of a dead man?"
I chuckled at that.
"Fine, then," I said. "I didn't expect finding them to be that easy, anyway. But if you don't know that, then...instead, tell me what's going on."
"What's going on?" He asked.
"In this city," I clarified, gesturing vaguely in irritation. "I've heard a bit about it, but not enough to really know what's going on—everyone seems to know bits and pieces, but no one seems to know the truth. What's Evilus up to and…what's going to happen now?"
"…For me, it's an odd question," Fels murmured to himself. "But for you, it's also a good one. So few know the truth of such things, now. Very well, then—I suppose you already know about the Zeus and Hera Familia?"
"They were destroyed, right?" I said. "And then Evilus rose."
"Yes," He replied. "The Zeus and Hera Familia were the strongest Familia in Orario for a very long time--for most of Orario's history, in fact. They were similar to how the Loki and Freya Familia are now, though perhaps even stronger. Not only did they venture deeper into the Dungeon than anyone has before or since, but they even hunted and slew the strongest monsters ever unleashed upon the world; Leviathan, Behemoth, and…the Black Dragon. The defeated the first two, but then the third slaughtered them all to a man."
I made a mental note of them, but couldn't help but notice that Fels chose not to name the third creature. Trying to avoid their attention, perhaps?
More than that, though…
"What about the Poseidon Familia?" I couldn't help but ask.
"The Poseidon Familia…?" Fels asked, sounding confused for a moment before seeming to understand the question. "Ah, yes, I suppose you'd like to know. I'm afraid even I'm uncertain of everything that occurred in that time, but it's known that they helped the Zeus and Hera Familia battle Leviathan. They also helped seal the second entrance to the Dungeon with the help of his drop item."
"There was a second entrance to the Dungeon?" I asked, surprised.
"Yes, in the waters off the coast of Melen," Fels told me. "It's said that all the monsters that now plague the waters and seas of the world once came from there—but that was a long time ago. It was a difficult place to counteract, simply for the fact of its location, and dangerous because it left creatures free to crawl onto the shores. Even before the gods descended, Orario stood in some form to seal this entrance, but there was no real way to oppose the latter. That is why they worked so hard to seal it forever."
I made a mental note of Melen and nodded.
"And after that?"
"They vanished," Fels answered simply. "Perhaps they died fighting the Black Dragon with Zeus and Hera's Familia—or perhaps they fell in the chaos afterwards. But both Poseidon and Hades Familia disappeared from Orario even before Evilus rose."
"And what's their deal?" I asked. "As far as I can tell, Evilus exists just to be huge assholes to everyone. And gods that's still a dumb name."
"You're not wrong," Fels said, without specifying which he meant. Or maybe he just meant both. "Evilus was made by a group of gods. The majority, cruel as they were, joined the organization only because they thought playing the role of villains might be amusing. Even the name Evilus shows this—it was, to them, little more than a sick game. However, there were others at work, who used the opportunity to do something bigger, who controlled and assisted them from behind the scenes. Since perhaps even before Zeus and Hera fell, someone very powerful has been up to something, planting seeds. They've been subtle, so much so that few even realized anything was wrong until recently. And that's where you came in."
"Me?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "What did I do?"
"You exist," Fels answered bluntly. "And the Dungeon hates you for it. Every time you enter it, it reacts. Normally, the Dungeon is restrained by prayers and kept docile—"
"Docile?" I interrupted, incredulously. "You call that docile?"
"Yes," He stated. "The Dungeon is a horrifically dangerous place that is out to kill anyone who enters it in a very literal sense, but it's currently structured orderly. The floors do not change in structure and the monsters on a given floor remain the same and rarely wander more than a floor or two from their origin. Floor Bosses appear at designated floors after weeks or months instead of abruptly, whenever the Dungeon so desires. Even with you, when the Dungeon reacted it spawned only a more powerful version of a Goliath—a Level 5 monsters, as opposed to a Level 4. It did not, however, spawn something like Balor."
I winced.
"So you know about that, too," I said. "I'm sorry—"
He raised a hand to stop me.
"In truth, it's not your fault," Fels said. "Or, at least, not entirely. The Dungeon has been growing out of hand as of late, becoming more obstinate. Since the Zeus Familia slew Behemoth and Leviathan, it has been calm, almost asleep. Monsters of great power have been appearing on the different floors, areas have been changing, and more and more Irregularities have started to occur. Recently, the Thirtieth Floor has been all but lost to a mass uprising of monsters."
That, I hadn't heard about, which was worrying.
"You think someone is responsible," I guessed. "Evilus? Or whoever had been behind than before?"
"Yes," Fels said. "But whoever they are, until now, we've been several steps behind them, unable to do anything but react—until a monster suddenly attacked you on the Sixth Floor. Until now, the creatures under their command have shown remarkable discipline, reacting only when commanded or to strike a specific point, but monsters are drawn to you more than to anyone I've ever seen. Potentially even to the extent of disobeying their Tamer."
And there's the kicker.
"You're talking about using me as bait," I said, the bad feeling I'd had returning in spades. "About dangling me in the water and seeing if anything wants to take a bite. You want me to go into the Dungeon specifically so that hordes of powerful monsters will try to kill me? No offense, but this seems like a horrifically dangerous plan that might get me killed--you're literally betting that a bunch of horrible things will want to kill me so much, they'll abandon their own plans to do so."
"Yes," Fels admitted. "It's an exceedingly dangerous proposition. However, it may also be our best chance of disrupting their plans before they can come to fruition. And from what I've been told, you have a knack for being incredibly disruptive."
I couldn't argue with that, either, so instead turned around and looked off the balcony.
"Maybe," I admitted. "And I'm all for messing up evil schemes. But...the last time I entered the Dungeon, a lot of people nearly got hurt. If I summon something like that Goliath again, we might not be so lucky."
"You're afraid?" Fels asked.
"That people will die because of me?" I asked back. "Of course. Who wouldn't be."
Fels chuckled strangely.
"I'm glad," He said. "That you care about others enough to put aside something that means so much to you. I wasn't certain what you would be like from the way you were described to me and the way you looked in battle, but...you seem like a very kind young man."
"Technically, I think I'm older than you," I said. "I just happened to be dead for a long-ass time."
Fels ignored that.
"But, at the same time, because you're so kind...could you now be hesitating too much? You're terrified of what might happen to others because of you, but did you not say to Lyon that if you were faced with such a threat, you would simply crush it? You have your shield now. You have your Hellhound. You have Crozzo's magic swords and your own creations. You have the aid of the Tempest. Should you need it, you may even call upon my assistance. Yet you're still afraid because you can't be sure it's enough."
"And?" I asked after a long moment of silence. "So what if I am. This...is the one thing I can't be wrong about. Not again."
"Perseus," Fels said. "Nothing in this world is ever certain. In over eight hundred years, there are things I've never managed to do successfully, not even once. Possibilities slip through my fingers no matter how hard I grasp for them. At the same time, things that I thought impossible, I've managed to achieve. I've succeeded at things that people said I could never do and I've watched my greatest successes turn into miserable failures. And after all of that, I've thought about giving up. I've tried to give up. But in the end, I've found that there are just some people I can't give up on protecting, even when I want to throw away everything else. And...I think you're the same way."
I closed my eyes for a moment and then opened them, looking up at the night sky. It was filled with countless stars, more than I remembered ever seeing in my first life, clear of everything that might hide them. It made me think of Zoe, who'd been put up there as the Huntress--and that made me think of the others, too. I wondered for a moment--wished, really--that the others were up there as well, watching me and waiting, but…
"Maybe," I said. "Yeah. But if…if they…if it was just my life at stake, it would be fine, but if anyone else dies because of me, I'd…"
I shook my head.
"Perseus," He said again after a long moment of silence. "Whether you accept my request or not, go back into the Dungeon. Go to the Eighteenth Floor. And if the Goliath appears again, then crush it. And if you think you can't, then don't go alone. You have friends who will stand by you no matter what occurs and you're stronger than you know. Defeat it with them, again and again, until you're strong enough to protect everything you care about. You're too young to be frozen by hesitation and regret. If anything else happens, I will make sure the matter is dealt with—but if it's you, I think it'll be alright even if I do nothing. Because…Daedalus had faith in you. He left things behind because he thought that, no matter what happened, you'd come back eventually. So, because he believed that…I, too, will trust you."
That trust is misplaced, I wanted to tell him. I failed to save what mattered most in the end—I ruined everything, even though everyone placed their hopes on me. If he did the same, he'd just be disappointed.
But instead, I found myself swallowing roughly, lowering my head.
"Hey, Fels?" I said. "I'm sorry for making fun of your outfit before. You're a nice guy even if you do look like you should be the villain."
"And you're a very kind for someone who laughs maniacally in the middle of battle," He replied.
Oh shit, I thought. Had I started doing that again? I'd thought I'd gotten over that after I lost the curse. Why didn't Welf or Lili tell me?
"Um, you see…" I began. "That's just, uh—"
"Unimportant," Fels said. "Instead…"
Abruptly, he trailed off, seemingly distracted by something.
"What's that commotion about?" He asked after a moment, sounding concerned.
At once, the background noise I'd been actively ignoring drew my attention at the sound of a familiar voice.
"Apollo," Hestia said, very calmly. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Isn't it obvious? I'm challenging the Hestia Familia to a War Game," I heard someone speak in a masculine, clear voice through the door and the large crowd whose hundred voices were murmuring at the news.
I had a sudden urge to punch the owner of that voice in the face, but that was probably more circumstance than anything else, so I closed my eyes for a long moment and counted to ten instead.
"So the Dungeon," I said, not even glancing behind me. "Assuming, for the sake of argument, that I agreed to help you…what exactly would you want me to do? I assume there's more to this plan than me just wandering around until something awful happens."
"Are you just going to ignore that?"
"Yes," I said bluntly. "Don't pay attention when the gods do something stupid; it only encourages them. Just pretend they don't exist."
"On what grounds?" Hestia demanded.
"Theft," Apollo said. "I have reason to suspect that the Pallum who belongs to your Familia has robbed and endangered several members of mine and seek compensation—and justice."
That son of a bitch, I thought, more annoyed than anything else. I was more than used to this kind of dickery from the gods and competitive battles were literally a weekly occurrence at Camp, so I couldn't even really muster up anything more than irritated exasperation—but gods, I didn't need this right now.
"You son of a bitch," Hestia said, voice dropping to a whisper. It was loud enough for me—and thus, every other high ranked adventurer--to hear, but probably quiet enough for Apollo to miss. "Was this why you invited us here? This whole party was just…?"
"I've arranged for an exchange to occur on the Eighteenth Floor," Fels said after a long moment after apparently realizing I honestly wasn't even willing to acknowledge Apollo's bullshit right now. "In the mess on the Thirtieth Floor, we've discovered an item that may be of great importance to our enemies and which may be enough to shed light on their plans. More importantly, however, they want it, therefore they cannot have it."
"I can dig it," I said. "You want me to pick up the item?"
"Gods no," Fels answered immediately, sounding also revolted at the thought. "I don't even want you near it unless it's an emergency. Rather, I want you to draw as much attention away from the collector as possible. It's possible—perhaps even likely—that our real enemy will try to interfere. We've sent a more…subtle adventurer to perform the actual acquisition; I'll give you the details, so try to avoid them if at all possible."
"Fair enough," I said. I couldn't really even be insulted because anything near me in the Dungeon was going to be in about ten times more danger than it otherwise would be. But drawing fire? I could do that. "If I went, who would I be allowed to bring along."
"I will leave that choice up to you," He replied. "Though I cannot be certain of the danger they'll be in. For a task like this, expecting a threat similar to the Goliath may not be unwise. Whatever the case, I'm certain you will manage."
"Would it not be amusing, Hestia?" Apollo asked. "Your Familia against mine? A mere difference in numbers should mean nothing to the Record Holder."
"You…what are you after, Apollo?" Hestia demanded, voice almost a growl. There went tonight's good mood, I guess. "Actually, no; I don't care. We're leaving. Percy!"
"We'll discuss it later," I told Fels. "You know where Ryuu and I usually train, right? Meet me there tomorrow at dawn."
"And the girl?" He asked.
"If I'm hunting Evilus, I can hardly leave out Ryuu," I replied. "Besides, if you're after them, you're not going to find many people who hate them more than she does."
"I suppose," He mused. "I'm merely concerned about her…enthusiasm."
"It'll be fine," I said. "And we could both use the help."
"As you wish," Fels said. "And if possible…?"
"Your business is your business," I said, guessing what he was going to ask. "I'll tell my friends about Evilus and that someone reached out to me, but I'll leave out your secrets. That good enough?"
"Percy!" Hestia shouted again and I turned around as the door to the balcony opened—but Fels was already gone.