Prisoner in Shackles

Whoa... Looks just like that glowing fish we saw before!

There are still weird things tangled around the top nearby... What the heck is going on? Paimon's getting more and more confused...

Yes, you must have met him in the Sebastos's dream, did you not?

Scylla, a fell dragon who once served the Sebastos. He was subdued and sealed here by Boethius.

Ehh!? Mr. Super Rude subdued an evil dragon? Paimon didn't think he could do something that amazing...

Well, "fell dragon" was the name they gave, but it was no more than a vishap that was a teensy bit stronger than normal. After all, no new Hydro Dragon could be born so long as the Mistress of Many Waters hibernated in the deep seas.

Ahhh! Such warm ocean currents! Free at last!

Well now, little ones. Hail you from the surface? I know not for what reason you have come to this deepwater prison, but...

We aren't "little" anything! You're just way too big!

Haha! Very well! Either way, you have broken the shackles that have bound me for millennia. That places me in your debt.

If there is any undertaking in which I may aid you, then speak. Consider it a token of my gratitude.

Hehe, Paimon knew you'd be a reasonable guy! Anyway, Paimon's name is Paimon, and he's 여행자. And this is...

Err, actually, Paimon's not sure what you'd know him by, but we call him Monsieur Os!

Ah, Cassiodor, it is you. It has been a while. So you came back after all. But still, you are sadly late... by a few thousand years, no less.

Ooh, looks like the big guy knows you, Monsieur Os!

I have nothing to say to despicable traitors.

Speak not so rashly, mortal! We are dragon-born. We keep all our promises and betray none, which is more than can be said for your haughty race.

Save your breath! It is worth less than a drowning mayfly! Your betrayal is undisputed. Were we not defeated in that war precisely because you turned against us?

If we hadn't lost that war... our nation... the Sebastos... wouldn't have...

Ah, you've been gone far too long, Cassiodor! The truth is not what you imagine... Though I suppose that a secret plan would not have been secret had its details reached your ears.

...Secret plan?

My leading an army of vishaps to assault the capital was, in fact, part of Remus's final, secret plan.

And he did all this to save his nation and people — a man of great moral character.

Yeah, that is kinda weird. Why would a ruler ask someone else to invade their own country?

And what, little one, would ones such as you or I know of Remus's thoughts? Whatever the case, look upon this, Cassiodor. Even you should be able to divine its meaning.

The guiding golden bees... They should only heed the call of the Symphony... Why would the Sebastos bestow his power upon a savage dragon?

Because they had an arrangement...

Oh? You know much, little one! From where did you learn that?

From memories scattered in the sea...

You speak correctly! Yes, indeed, we did have an arrangement, but I failed him. I squandered his noble sacrifice.

I could not make it to Domus Aurea in time! And so the waves devoured the whole city, and my kindred could not escape, either...

...How could such a thing be...

Hmph! If it is betrayal you speak of, then Boethius was the true traitor!

Were it not for that lying devil, that deceitful rat, and his silver-tongued deceptions, how could a prince among dragon-kin such as I, who once led our armies after the age of the ancient dragons, have been beaten so easily?

That devil first falsely claimed to have given up resistance on Remus's orders, saying he had ordered the legions to cease resistance. Yet when we arrived here, he suddenly rose up against us...

Now that I have had much time to think on it, I fear he must have learned of Remus's plans somehow, and thus was able to set up such an inescapable trap and lure me in, step by step...

And thus did my flesh and blood turn to stone, and thus did it remain for millennia, to this day, when you rescued me.

Boethius knew perfectly well what a massive calamity his actions would bring about, yet he still... Could he have been trying to seize control over Phobos? Was that why he committed such sins...?

It seems that we don't have the full story yet...

So the guy who keeps calling others traitors was actually a traitor through and through!?

But why, though? Ugh, are we gonna have to ask him? Paimon doubts we'd get a straight answer.

Hmm? So that loathsome, recalcitrant demon-worm has yet to dissipate, has he?

Yeah, and he's stolen the souls of a whole bunch of Fontainians, too! Rescuing them is actually the main reason we're here...

He said that he'd wait for us within Domus Aurea... Well, he just said he'd wait for Monsieur Os, so we're coming along uninvited!

Not even leaving a door, though. How rude of him!

The Initium Iani...? Hmph, though feeble tricks and smokescreens have been set to dismay us, but at the end of the day, it's nothing more than a glorified stone door.

I may have lost my physical body, but it is no great labor to take the little ones over to settle the matter.

Watch closely, little ones!

Oooh! You're pretty reliable, huh, big guy?

Now we simply need to break these revealed seals one by one. If you are prepared, then let us go!

Well then, Monsieur Os, are you ready?

Now that it's come to this, we have little choice.

Alright then. What about you, 여행자? Ready?

Let's go.

I need a moment to prep...

Of course. Gird yourself sufficiently, and then, let us go. I shall wait for you below.

All ready, little ones?

Let's go.

I need a moment to prep...

Of course. Gird yourself sufficiently, and then, let us go.

I never thought that vishaps could get this large.

Hmph. After all, they are little more than uncultured barbarians. It would be unsurprising if they grew into something much stranger.

Speaking of which, isn't Neuvillette...

That's right! Neuvillette's the Hydro Dragon, isn't he? That doesn't mean that this guy's way older than even him, does it?

A new Dragon of Water has already been born? Then again, it has been a long time since even the former Mistress of Many Waters passed... So much time has passed...

In any case, the evil dragon Scylla was once the Sebastos's friend, but he revolted at a critical juncture in the showdown between us Remurians and the... Fontainians.

At that time, Scylla led the brutal Dragonborn to Machimos, intent on breaching the inner city, Capitolium, where the Sebastos resided.

Yeah, the people in town were always talking about some Machimos, and a belltower or something...

Correct. "Machimos" is the outer city of the capital, but should the fell dragon wish to enter the inner city, he must pass through the Initium Iani.

That is the barrier separating the inner and outer parts of the capital, and the Symphony weaved by the Sebastos and the musicians which covered all of Remuria passed through the Initium Iani and its golden waterways.

Boethius and his legions used this fact to shut the Initium Iani, thus finally sealing the evil dragon.

Perhaps Scylla sought to go before the Sebastos's throne, but such an opportunity is now forever lost. Afterward, the evil dragon sank alongside Remuria, and the Sebastos too was lost, remaining so to this very day...

(Something's not right about that story...)

Did you recall something, 여행자?

It all feels a bit muddled...

That is true... I only heard tell of events after it had all transpired myself, having not been in the capital when the disaster struck...

Then, none knew just what had happened to the Sebastos. I fear that we can only learn more by proceeding further.

The large glowing fish that we saw in the castle must be the thoughts that escaped from fissures in Scylla's stony cell.

I fear he has already taken notice of our presence. Having been sealed here for so long, now that he's finally sensed outsiders, he will naturally find a way to lure us in.

So that's it...

Hang on a minute! You said that the way to Domus Aurea is through those gates or something, but hasn't Boethius shut them already? Doesn't this mean there's no getting through?

This will prove quite tricky, yes...

Bah, there's gotta be a limit to how rude you can be! What's with this "I'll wait for you at Domus Aurea, mwahaha!" nonsense when you won't even leave the door open, huh!?

Y'know, why don't we find some way to break the seal on the evil dragon, and get the former foe he beat to break the door down for us?

No! How could we do such a thing!? I mean, after all, that is one of Remuria's nemeses...

But the enemy of my enemy is my friend, no?

That's right. It's been so long. For all you know, he might've decided to turn over a new leaf and be a nice dragon!

But he is still a dragon...

Eh, come on, so what? Even if he is a dragon, he might be the reasonable kind we can talk with. We've got experience in dealing with dragons, don't we, 여행자?

Well, there was that time with Dvalin...

Yup, that bit where he kicked up a storm in Mondstadt while under the influence of a curse. We had a big fight because of it, too...

We had that little run-in with Azhdaha...

Right, he was trying to break that seal, so we teamed up with everyone and had to beat him together before we could reseal him...

We encountered Apep in the desert...

Right, she even went on about wanting to destroy Sumeru... And then we had to defeat the anomalous lifeforms within her before we managed to get her healthy again...

Uh, those examples weren't very convincing, were they...

...

C—C'mon, Osse, no amount of suspicious looks is going to suddenly give us better options!

*sigh* I know. You're right. Let's give it a try.

The seals that bind the evil dragon seem to be connected to three locations. Let us begin by removing the chains in those three places.