Chapter 57.2: Dissolve cont.

Prytaneum

Dissolve

​

The route we'd taken from the Hephaestus Familia store took us from North-West Main to East Main, before turning off into the narrow side streets and walking through a confusing mess of roads. I did my best to remember the route, but I was pretty sure I'd have gotten lost without Ryuu—it went something like a right, a left, two rights, a left, a right, two lefts, and two rights, and I was pretty sure I was forgetting something in there.

Perhaps fittingly, where the narrow streets ended, a complete and utter mess began. The streets twisted, overlapped, and intersected at odd and random intervals, while parts of buildings stuck out into the streets and stairwells mixed like a pit of snakes. Staring straight down the center of the street, I saw a seven-way intersection, followed shortly after by a fork in the road, one of which headed up into a flight of wide stairs and the other down. Frankly, it looked less like a street and more like someone had taken a bunch of buildings and roads, mashed them together, and called it a day. If there was any kind of logic to the structure, I couldn't see it in the slightest. It really did seem like a nonsensical labyrinth.

Which, I guess, was good news for me, sort of. If it had looked like I had a chance in hell of navigating it on my own, I wouldn't have been able to believe it was Daedalus' work. The only issue was that, uh, I didn't have a chance in hell of navigating it on my own—and I didn't have anyone clear-sighted on hand, much less a handy ball of yarn.

On the upside, I had something way, way better.

"Hold on a minute," I told Ryuu. "I need to call someone for help."

"Someone?" Ryuu asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, she's…" I shook my head, not sure how to explain it and not caring enough to beat around the bush. "There's really no easy way to say this, but she's a monster. A Hellhound, but…really, really big—but she's a friend of mine and a friend of Daedalus. He gave her to me, actually, for safe keeping after he died and I don't want you to be alarmed. She can be a little scary the first time, I know, but Mrs. O'Leary's the most dependable dog in the world, so—"

"I understand," Ryuu replied expressionlessly. "If you trust her, that is enough for me."

"Cool," I said, relieved. Honestly, I wasn't too worried about anyone seeing Mrs. O'Leary at this point—that cat, among many others, was out of the bag after the gods apparently watched me fight for my life on magical TV—but I was still worried about someone getting scared and doing something rash. And, perhaps more importantly, Mrs. O'Leary getting upset and doing something rash. Or me getting upset and doing something rash. It seemed like various bad things could happen is what I'm getting at, but I wasn't really worried about Ryuu doing anything; it just seemed polite to warn her. I'd just have to hope nobody else did anything crazy.

Crossing my fingers for that, I brought my hands up to my lips and whistled as hard as I could, loud enough that people probably heard me from the Main Streets. Just a moment later, the long shadows that filled the labyrinthine streets began to stretch further and deepen, before convulsing like something was beneath the surface. A moment later, Mrs. O'Leary rose in all her XXXXXXL glory, sloughing of shadows like rain water and making the wide streets feel abruptly claustrophobic. Looking around slightly, her massive red eyes focused on me quickly and her mouth dropped open in an even more cavernous than normal grin before she began to awkwardly shuffle her way towards us, trying not to break the front of any buildings. She stopped when she saw Ryuu though, dropping her head slightly to sniff in our direction warily and rustling out hair in a slight breeze as a result.

"Mrs. O'Leary, this is Ryuu," I introduced. "She's a friend."

Mrs. O'Leary woofed slightly in acknowledgement and Ryuu's ears twitched slightly as the sounded echoed through the empty streets—or the soon to be empty streets, after hearing that. The elf's expression didn't quite change, but it tensed, her body stiffening as the streets were abruptly filled with dog.

"Ryuu, this is Mrs. O'Leary," I said. "But I already told her about you, girl."

"Yes," Ryuu said as Mrs. O'Leary panted happily. Slobber dripped from her jaws and made literal puddles on the street. "Though some details were, perhaps, left unmentioned."

"I told you she was a really big dog," I said defensively.

Ryuu tilted her head back to look up at Mrs. O'Leary and looked at me quietly out of the corner of her eye, raising an eyebrow slowly. I lifted my hands in a silent concession, which seemed to satisfy her, because she nodded once and lowered her head again.

"May I ask how she appeared here?" Ryuu said after a moment. "Or is such a thing confidential?"

"I'd rather you didn't tell anyone, but I can tell you," I said. "I just don't want to cause too much trouble for Mrs. O'Leary here. Or for myself, I guess. But Mrs. O'Leary here can move between shadows, though it takes a lot out of her."

That seemed to stump Ryuu for a moment, because she was silent for a long moment.

"Teleportation?" She asked at last.

"Well, shadow travel," I replied. "But yeah."

"…Can she transport others or merely herself?" Ryuu wondered.

"She can carry a few people with her, though it's harder on her," I said. "The most we've ever done is three, though."

"Remarkable," Ryuu said, looking up at Mrs. O'Leary. "I can understand your trepidation, Mr. Jackson. I have never heard of such a thing before, but I can imagine what some might try to do to obtain it. I will not tell anyone."

I smiled at her, though I wasn't sure precisely how much that mattered at this point, either. I'd already decided I'd have to be careful about how I summoned Mrs. O'Leary from now on, since I couldn't be sure what the gods—and, as a result, their Familias—knew. It shouldn't be too hard, since it was just a matter of finding out of the way places into and out of the Dungeon, but I'd still need to be on my guard; even if Mrs. O'Leary could probably take care of herself, it was best to be careful. I couldn't afford to lose her, too.

"However, if you do not mind my asking…I have never heard of such a creature, despite the nature of her power," Ryuu continued after a long moment. "Nor have I encountered any like her, in all my time in the Dungeon. May I inquire as to where she was found?"

"You mean what floor she was born on?" I asked, frowning when Ryuu nodded. "I don't know. The Dungeon wasn't really a thing at the time and I didn't really have a chance to check after I was reborn."

"…Was there ever such a time?" Ryuu mused, apparently trying to imagine such a thing. "Where did monsters come from, then? Or did you not have such a thing?"

"Oh, we had plenty of monsters," I assured her. "It was pretty much the same in a lot of ways, but there wasn't a hole in the ground or adventurers or the Falna at the time. Monsters were just born from Tartarus and then appeared somewhere on Earth, eventually."

"Was it better then?" Ryuu asked, seeming interested. "Or was it worse?"

"I just was," I said with another shrug. "It wasn't like the Dungeon, with so many monsters appearing in one place at one time, or g worse the deeper you went, but…they could appear anywhere. Did appear anywhere. Any type of monster, where you least expect it, and they…hunted, I suppose. Us, I mean."

"How strange," Ryuu whispered, tilting her head in what I assumed was concern. After a moment, though, her eyebrows furrowed and she turned her head my way. "Is it difficult for you, Mr. Jackson? Being in this time? Any being in that one? Things…must be very different then you remember."

I shrugged, feeling uncomfortable again. No one had really asked that, besides Hestia. No one really knew, truthfully.

"Some things change, some things really don't," I said, not really answering and quickly changing the subject. This wasn't really about me, anyway. "Anyway, Mrs. O'Leary, I need your help. It's about Daedalus."

Mrs. O'Leary watched me with much the same concern as Ryuu, far too insightful for any normal dog—but at the name of her friend's name, her ears perked up and all of that fell by the way side.

"This place is called Daedalus Street," I continued. "They said that Daedalus made it. That he was alive, here, a thousand years ago. I know it's kind of a cold trail to follow, but…you're the one who knew him best, girl. If anyone can find something here, it's you. So…please."

Mrs. O'Leary barked once, nearly staggering me from this close, and then did that trick dogs sometimes do, where they turn around in a place that seems too small for them to possibly fit. Frankly, I suspected Mrs. O'Leary just turned into liquid shadow to do it, but maybe it was just skill—either way, she turned herself around and looked around the street before taking off, leaving Ryuu and I to follow.

I guess all three of us were the type to get obsessed.