Chương 61: The Secret Beneath The Lake

"You know," Dorian noted as he leaned back in his chair.

"My warehouse is not meant to be a facility for such intense conversations." Velara ignored him. She simply stared through the glass wall separating Dorian's private second-story office from the working area below. From this vantage point, she could see nearly everything transpiring within the warehouse with extreme ease. Workers crossed between stacked crates. Clover occupied one of the wider bays, his plant-covered body partially obscured behind several containers of material.

Spark hovered farther down, occasionally flashing away cargo. Even after weeks of dealing with Dorian, Roy still found the office strange. A merchant's private perch above an entire warehouse somehow suited him too well. Roy watched Velara from the other side of the small meeting table, waiting for any inclination as to what was to come next. The Reeve had been quiet for longer than Roy expected, which was rarely reassuring.

"Your brother was here with you this morning when you came in," she finally spoke.

"I'm surprised he didn't want you to wait until he was available for this discussion."

"With all love and respect to my brother, I would not describe him as tactful," Roy admitted. Dorian chuckled, Velara did not.

"On the way here, we decided that we would split our focus," Roy continued.

"I would talk with you two, and Orion would go speak with Edric about the matter. We figured that made the most sense, since Orion and Edric seem to speak an eerily similar language…"

"Threats?" Dorian suggested.

"Mostly. Thst is why I came here instead."

"And what of our other council members?" Dorian asked.

"Once again, they seem notably absent."

"If we keep having fully-staffed council meetings every time something new pops up, people are going to start getting nervous," Roy retorted.

"I have nothing against Oren or Torvin, but I prefer to simply go to the people who have or know what is needed." He counted them off with his fingers.

"Typically, what I need is either money, military, or Bellhaven's authority."

"Hurtful," Dorian pushed back.

"I'd like to think we've danced enough at this point that I can be more than just your coinpurse."

"You occupy a very specific and annoying part of my psyche…"

"I treasure our friendship."

"It wasn't a compliment."

"I'm not here for your bickering," Velara interjected. Both men stopped. Velara finally turned away from the warehouse floor.

"The Velkaryn Arbiter could prove to be a real thorn in our side, especially if it's Sevrin Dhal." Roy leaned forward slightly.

"Is he a threat? It sounds like you know him."

"Not in the violent sense you might be thinking, but he is very good at his job. That tends to be especially true when he can afford to be blunt and upfront with what his intentions are, which sounds exactly like what has happened thus far." Roy thought back to Sevrin wandering about Drakehaven. The man had openly admitted almost everything that should have made him impossible to trust. Somehow, the complete lack of pretense had made the situation more difficult rather than less.

"Sevrin Dhal is the main Arbiter who oversees this region," Dorian added.

"He does have 'juniors' who work under him, but he likes to be hands-on with particularly interesting and important matters, if I recall correctly from his last visit."

"Yes," Velara said.

"His last visit to Bellhaven was back when I first became the Reeve. He was interested in ensuring Bellhaven would remain a cooperative town even under new leadership." Her mouth tightened.

"Some of his methods were polite. Others were less passive." Roy caught the change immediately.

"He got sensitive information on you." He didn't phrase it as a question. He had not come into this chat intending to beat around the bush. Velara's gaze finally shifted to him with significant focus.

"I didn't say that."

"Correct, he did," Roy held her gaze.

"Regarding your position as Reeve." Cold silence filled the room quickly. Even Dorian remained completely silent as his eyes shifted between Roy and Velara with the seriousness of a negotiation near catastrophe. Velara was not physically imposing, yet something about having the Reeve's full attention made him more uncomfortable than he wanted to admit. He did not back down, though; Drakehaven needed him stalwart.

More than that, he was honestly fed up with little inconsistencies in their dealings with Bellhaven from the beginning. Half the region seemed to operate on layers of history and politics the siblings had somehow wandered into blind. If Sevrin was going to make a point of that ignorance, Roy intended to start eliminating it. After several moments, Velara closed her eyes and let out a deep breath—like something she'd been holding in for far too long. Her gaze shifted to Dorian.

"Do you have a map of the basin on-hand? A clean one without a bunch of unnecessary trade information." Dorian did not reply. A smirk crawled across his face as he stood and moved toward a nearby shelf full of rolled parchment. Roy watched him.

"Do you have separate maps specifically covered in trade information?" Dorian glanced back, looking genuinely offended.

"Right. Stupid question." Velara returned her attention to him.

"I have no intention of allowing that elf to drive a wedge between our two groups. We've spent far too much time trying to work cooperatively for me to want to throw that away." Roy couldn't help but smirk.

"Feeling personally invested now?"

"Once a Storm Dragon attempts to crush your throat while suspended in mid-air, it's difficult not to be." Roy had no comment for that. A Status screen appeared in front of Velara that was publicly visible. It was information he had already seen before. [[Velara Dault]] [[Second Seal]] He read it twice. As he did, however, he realized it was shifting. The second line blurred as additional information became available before his eyes. [[Velara Dault]] [[Final Seal: Spiritbinder]]"Spiritbinder?" he looked up.

"And what is a 'Final' Seal?"

"The Final Seal is a status that exists outside of the traditional Nine Seals," she explained.

"It is a state someone achieves usually through conscious meditation or a noteworthy life event." Velara paused.

"Despite its name, it is not some hidden Tenth level beyond the others."

"Good, because I was about to become very concerned."

"It is—in a manner of speaking—a retirement." Roy's eyes widened.

"You can retire from the Weave?" Dorian returned carrying a rolled map, but apparently decided not to interrupt yet. Velara shook her head.

"I don't want to simplify it quite to that extent. Each Seal you unlock gives you deeper access to the Weave. Many people spend their lives training and studying to try and get as far as humanly possible." Roy nodded - that part fit everything they had learned.

"Some make it. Some don't. And some have no desire or opportunity to play the game in the first place. When that last one happens, depending on circumstances, their Seal will change."

"So a Final Seal means someone is finished."

"In terms of progression."

"Permanently?"

"Yes." Roy looked at her Status again.

"A Final Seal does not increase someone's strength beyond what they previously possessed," Velara continued.

"It only solidifies their current status and prevents them from ever being able to progress further." That felt far more consequential than calling it retirement. Roy had become significantly stronger by reaching his Second Seal. His Weave Reserve had expanded, his abilities had changed, and he had gained access to things that would have been impossible months earlier. The idea of deliberately closing that door forever felt almost incomprehensible.

"Would someone really choose that willingly?"

"I'm sure some have, but I don't wish to speculate," Velara folded her hands.

"What I can say is that my Final Seal was less a conscious choice and more related to what my role as Reeve actually means—behind the scenes." This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. She looked to Dorian, who finally unfurled the large map over the table. Roy's questions momentarily vanished as he reviewed what was in front of him. The parchment revealed an overhead view of a rather large region, with a lake that sat almost dead-center.

Several dots populated the open land between it and the outer ring of mountains. Many things were marked off: Forests. Fields. Rivers. Smaller roads. There was one small dot labeled Bellhaven resting on the eastern shore. Two larger roads traveled away from town in different directions, eventually leading toward and through the ring of mountains that surrounded the entire region. Roy leaned over the map. He had traveled between the cottage and Bellhaven several times.

Somehow, seeing it all at once made him feel as if he had understood none of it.

"I'm guessing you've probably not seen a map of the larger region before, have you?" Dorian questioned.

"No."

"It is referred to as the Averin Basin. It consists of several smaller communities, marked with dots as you see here." Dorian traced one finger across the eastern side.

"For reference, Drakehaven would sit somewhere around here…" He pointed to a spot slightly northeast of Bellhaven. Roy blinked; Drakehaven looked absurdly close. The distance that had once felt enormous to the siblings occupied almost nothing on the map. It was barely a third of the distance from the lake to the mountains. Roy mentally compared the scale.

"That means the open land from one side of the lake to the mountains is what?"

"Depending on direction?" Dorian considered.

"Roughly fifty miles in many places. More in some." Roy looked back down.

"That's… quite a perspective shift." Drakehaven and Bellhaven were not two isolated points in wilderness; they occupied a small corner of something much larger. There were settlements Roy had never heard of, routes he had never traveled., and entire stretches of forest and field beyond anything the siblings had yet needed to consider. Then another detail caught his attention.

"It's also admittedly clean." Dorian raised an eyebrow.

"Clean?"

"Yes," Roy gestured across the parchment.

"A nearly circular lake, surrounded by fairly even fields and forest until reaching an equally near-circular mountain chain. It's a lot more uniform than I would expect of nature." Roy felt that such a fact should not have escaped Dorian. That was confirmed the moment a grin crossed the merchant's face and he sat back down. Velara leaned forward.

"It is named Averin Basin after the man who created it." Roy froze.

"The man who created it?"

"A Seventh Seal mage," Velara continued, "who transformed the region hundreds of years ago as a prison for a monstrous entity." Despite weeks of practice, Roy was not able to hide the shock from his expression. He looked at the map again - all of it.

"Created?"

"Transformed would be more technically accurate."

"That is not making this better." Roy knew that higher Seals granted higher power. He had felt the clear difference between being a First and Second Seal. He had witnessed the power gap Edric possessed from them as a Fourth Seal. Even Aegis represented a scale of power that still occasionally broke Roy's sense of what should be reasonable. The fact that three more Seals led to region-altering power? That was nearly unfathomable.

A person had looked at a landscape measured in dozens upon dozens of miles and changed it. Roy suddenly understood why people spent entire lives chasing advancement.

"Alright…" He forced his attention away from the implications.

"And this entity is…"

"Completely unknown to the public," Velara stated before any other thoughts could be allowed.

"And will continue to be that way." Roy slowly closed his mouth.

"It is kept suppressed by magical slumber in the deepest depths of the lake." Roy glanced toward the blue circle dominating the map; he had spent time beside that lake. Bellhaven survived from it, people fished in it, children probably swam in portions of it. Apparently, none of them knew a monster was sleeping beneath them.

"It will not wake without a major disturbance," Velara continued, "so long as one of Averin's descendants with innate potential is able to keep feeding the spell an adequate amount of Weave." Roy looked at her, then at her Status.

"And that's why you hold the position of Reeve?" Velara nodded in confirmation.

"The position of Reeve is typically held for about thirty-five years before a new one is brought into the position." Roy stopped.

"Thirty-five years?"

"Yes. My tenure as Reeve has maybe half a decade left. Then my successor will be brought in to take my place before the spell can finish draining the remainder of my life force." The warehouse suddenly felt quieter. Workers still moved below and materials still scraped across floors, yet all of it seemed distant.

"A Final Seal…" Roy looked toward Velara.

"The spell did that?"

"In a manner of speaking."

"It locked you where you were. So your Weave could be…"

"Used as required." Roy leaned back; that was a morbid revelation. Perhaps made more morbid by the fact that he wasn't surprised by such an outcome. If the beast was really as strong as Velara made it seem, then continuously suppressing it had to come with great sacrifice. Still. Thirty-five years, a title that looked political from the outside, and a person slowly spending their own life to maintain a prison beneath the lake.

"You said Bellhaven has no idea about this," Roy pondered.

"How? Have they really never questioned the person who becomes Reeve?"

"The Reeve is nominated by election," Dorian chimed in. Roy waited. Dorian smiled faintly.

"But to call it an 'election' would—in truth—be a fabrication." Roy stared.

"So it's rigged?"

"Only enough to ensure the proper candidate succeeds; not enough to rouse suspicion."

"That sentence did not improve things."

"The Reeve-in-training has a lot of legwork to do throughout their life to at least put up a good contest." Roy was disliking the situation more and more. In some ways, it wasn't as bad as he had postulated. Sevrin had not uncovered some criminal conspiracy proving Velara was secretly working against Bellhaven. In other ways… Bellhaven's government was partially constructed around hiding an ancient monster beneath the lake.

Its highest office was predetermined, its elections were manipulated, and its leader was slowly sacrificing her life to keep the entire region safe. Roy rubbed his temples.

"I miss when my biggest concern was whether our roof would collapse." Dorian smiled.

"You had dragons then too."

"Let me romanticize the past." Velara almost smiled. Roy looked back toward her.

"So then the next Reeve must already be chosen?"

"You are correct." Velara stood slowly and stretched her legs. She wandered closer to the window where the warehouse functions could be seen.

"My adopted daughter, Selene, will be my replacement. She is thirteen as of two months ago, and should be prepared for her role by the time my term is over."

"Oh?" Velara turned toward him.

"Don't seem so surprised."

"I'm trying not to."

"Her mother—my sister—died not too long after her birth. Her father was a traveling merchant who had long since left, and we were never able to re-establish contact." Roy's expression softened; Velara turned back toward the table.

"Still, she has grown into a fine young woman. She has spent the majority of her last few years traveling to neighboring settlements and learning what she can from her future trade partners." At thirteen. Roy thought briefly about Aurelia at that age, then himself and Orion. Their priorities had been dramatically different.

"She returned earlier this week from her last venture," Velara continued, "though it seems she will be going out again in short order." Velara locked eyes with Roy. Roy shifted his gaze between her and Dorian, but neither elaborated. That was information in itself. His eyes widened.

"Us!?"

"You're our newest and closest ally, correct?" Velara asked.

"It only makes sense."

"With Sevrin there?"

"A clear sign that we are committed to being allies beyond just the superficial," Velara returned to her seat.

"Plus, Selene could use experience around the drakes, since they seem to be a recurring theme as of late." Roy leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath. He understood everything he was being told, but that did not mean he had processed it. Rigged elections for an adopted thirteen-year-old heir. A Seventh Seal mage reshaping an entire region for a fantastical creature apparently one wake-up call away from wreaking havoc at any given time.

And now Velara wanted to send the future keeper of that prison to Drakehaven while a Velkaryn Arbiter was living there. Normal settlement management continued to evade them.

"For obvious reasons, you should not speak about this casually even to your family," Velara continued. Roy looked up.

"Oren, Edric, and Dorian are all aware. I chose them as fellow council members specifically because I knew they would keep this private."

"And Torvin?"

"Torvin is the one elected to the council as the popular citizen vote," Velara paused.

"He is—how did you put it on the boat? Best kept in the dark regarding certain matters, I believe it was." Roy grimaced.

"That sounds worse when repeated back to me."

"It was accurate." Velara's attention briefly flashed toward the warehouse floor. Roy followed her gaze and saw that Orion had arrived. He had apparently finished his visit with Edric and entered the warehouse without interrupting the meeting. He looked upward toward the office, where Roy caught his eye. Orion remained there for a moment, then shifted his focus toward the two bays where Clover and Spark currently worked.

"I'm not saying don't tell anyone at all," Velara noted, almost reading Roy's mind.

"Some will be better with the information than others." Roy continued watching his brother.

"Just be very careful of what releasing that information could do." That was something Roy could understand. Aurelia? Probably. Orion? Almost certainly, eventually. Talia would treat the knowledge as something to categorize and protect if she understood the stakes. Aegis— Roy had absolutely no idea. He decided that one required more thought. Below them, Orion made his way toward the space between the two warehouse bays housing the drakes. He held out a hand, and Weave gently began to form in front of him.

First came the Dragonscale Redoubt - or at least a piece of one. There was no towering wall or gatehouse this time. Instead, Orion condensed the summon down to its smallest useful form. A single Scale Soldier appeared. It stood in front of what looked almost like an illusory guard podium positioned between the two working bays. The armored figure settled into rigid attention, like a protector that did not need sleep. Dorian rose slightly from his chair.

"Is that staying in my warehouse?" Roy smiled.

"Probably."

"I feel there should have been a conversation."

"You'll survive."

"I am being invaded by your family one summon at a time." A moment later, another gentle burst of Weave formed above Orion's palm. A Dragoneye Scout appeared - the tiny winged-serpent dragon fluttered upward, circled Orion once, then crossed to the Scale Soldier. It landed atop the soldier's helmet with its wings folded. From that position, it had a clear view of both drake bays and nearly everyone who approached them. Roy caught Orion's smile; he couldn't help smiling as well.

They had already confirmed the most important part, which was that Orion could still see through the Dragoneye Scout from Drakehaven. Distance—at least this distance—did not break the connection. More importantly, earlier testing had confirmed something else. With enough Weave available, Orion could teleport the great distance between scouts, which Aegis could solve. A Dragoneye Scout could remain here.

If something happened to Clover or Spark, Orion would see the situation, recognize the danger, and then Aegis could supply the Weave required to bring him here. Roy stared down at the tiny creature perched innocently atop the Scale Soldier. For months, Orion's greatest frustration had been simple - he could not protect everyone if they were not physically beside him. Now? Maybe he did not need to. It was a calming revelation, at least initially. Then a chime echoed across the warehouse.

Roy stood immediately, as did Dorian. The sound had come from below where Orion stood. Orion himself had gone rigid, his smile disappearing as his expression shifted. A clear Status message formed above his head, large enough that every nearby Awakened could see it. Roy stared through the glass. [[Private Quest Completed]]