The bastions turned out to be even more defensive than the group previously thought. As they entered the buildings, they arrived at an enclosed square, surrounded by the bastion from all sides. The walls had places for archers to stand, and reign death at the newcomers, if deemed enemies of The Fortress.

Only after the group of stationed guards inspected the arrivals, did the iron gates leading to the bridge open.

The bridge itself was both amazing and scary. It was high above the ground, and heavy, luggage and goods-covered carriages, and even heavier wagons slowly moved on it. The planks below squeaked with agony, but the structure remained stable during the ordeal.

Entering through the main, centre gate, the sigh of the citadel's innards unfolded before them.

Each street ran in a semicircular fashion, following the walls and storeys of the fortress. Three streets didn't abide by this rule though. Each of them started by a gate of its own, and went straight ahead, towards the main hold located at the highest point of the fortress, storey-wise. The rise between each level was not high, and the carriages didn't have much problem riding up the slope towards the hold.

Somewhere along the way, Adam's carriage, along with some riding behind it, and those before split from the rest of the vehicles.

The front part went ahead, up the mountain towards the main part of the stronghold, and the rest split towards three other places, each being a drill square which also acted as a normal square.

The spearhead of the convoy stopped only at the second highest level, which was the highest point a carriage could go. Further, there was no place to park the carriage, or even drive it.

There, on a small square, a group of people waited for arrivals.

The Group consisted of two men in fancy clothing, an elderly woman similarly clothed, and a few servants.

One of the men was Egar Steelarm, easily recognisable in his grey mage robe which looked different than Adam remembered, now, it featured Stealarms crest which looked like two crossed metallic forearms and golden embroidery outlining the thick cloth. Characteristic black hair shined on the man's head. The golden embroidery showed his rank as a Master mage.

Next to him, a man dressed in more noble-like attire stood. Knowing the political landscape a bit, it was easy to understand he was a powerful warrior, just as every high noble who coincidentally wasn't a mage. His attire was more formal than mage robes, yet it was practical also. The man was dressed in a close-fitting jacket, closed on his chest and hiding what was underneath, along with trousers, it was black with a side of green. His hair was light blond.

The noble reminded Adam about the Harop magic family's patriarch, the nature mage who came to the capital to haggle with the king about a piece of deforested land. The difference between them consisted of the neble being muscular, and looking more sane than his magical counterpart.

“Is he part of the Harop family? I met their patriarch, and they look quite alike.” Adam asked his more socially aware friends.

“He is the patriarch of the Harop family.” Answered him, Max.

“How so? The one I met was a master mage, I doubt he would lie.” Adam questioned further.

“Ahh... You should go out with nobles more often Adam.” Scolded him, Sophia. ”Powerful noble families generally have two branches, one normal, noble side filled with people. The other one is magical, where mages of the family are gathered. Both have their own patriarchs, or matriarchs as it would be stupid to expect a warrior to govern over a mage.” She explained.

“Apart from the royal family, we have only one branch, the magical one. And only the oldest child is its member, the rest split into their own families, noble and magical alike.” Max added a piece of his own.

"So, he is the patriarch of the noble side of the Harop family? What's his name?" Asked Adam, after being fed the knowledge he would probably never use again.

"Calep Harop, Duke of the eastern territory. " Answered him, Max.

"So Calep and Galeb, either they are twins, or their parents had a weird sense of humour." Commented Adam.

"They are a rare case when twins have different talents in magic. Also, refrain from mentioning such observations when talking to people, it's rude." Scolded him, Max.

Adam pretended to listen and agree with what his friend said, then turned towards his window once again. This time, to take a closer look at the lady standing by the king's brother and the eastern Duke.

The woman was considerably smaller than the men surrounding her, but she was definitely the boss among them.

She stood at the forefront, waiting for the arrivals with elegance and dignity.

She wore a golden embroidered black robe, similar to the ones mages such as Edgar wore, but way more decorated. It featured luxurious fur falling off her shoulders and around the ends of the holes, it was close-fitted and made of some kind of silk.

The woman had black, greying hair flowing down her visage. her eye-clour could not be recognised from such a distance, but for sure, she had the look of a domineering predator, proud and condescending.

Apart from greying hair, a few wrinkles adorning her face indicated her older age.

The wagons riding at the front stopped right before the group. From those, the King, his son, the Royal Swordmaster and a few other people whom Adam didn't recognise stepped out.

Adam's carriage, on the other hand, finished its journey at the side of the small square.

There, the quartet of mages went out of the carriage and found themself a bench to sit on.

"We will wait here for my father, you too can go wherever you like," Max told the girls.

"I will wait with you, I always wanted to see what Mister Steelarm looked like," Sylvia responded.

Cynthia nodded as her female companion stopped talking and sat on the bench, it seemed she also wanted to wait with them.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

The sitting session wasn't long, as the group standing at the centre of the square quickly started to walk in the direction of the main hold. That is, apart from Edgar Steelarm, who saw his son nearby.

In the meantime, Adam sniffed around in the mental libraries of his friends and found out that the elderly woman who went out to greet the king is in fact his mother.

Late Queen was rumoured to be an excellent mage, specialising in the elusive, and widely unknown element of darkness. After her husband's demise, she travelled to the south, to become the Fortress Lord.

Apparently, Max met her only at important gatherings as she wasn't emotionally connected to her family, or at least she never showed that.

On the note of her being a darkness mage, the prince also had a black robe. Already at the party in the castle, Adam and Max speculated if the crown prince had darkness affinity, based on the colour of his clothing. But only now did they find something pointing towards the accuracy of their theory.

Edgar approached the group swiftly, he didn't want to waste time in such chaotic times.

“Max! I am happy to see you well.” He told his son as soon as he neared the bench. “Are your siblings and your mother here?”

“Yes, they came with the caravan, mother was hard to persuade, but I somehow managed. They are safe.” Replied Max, putting his father at ease.

Edgar heaved a sigh of relief, composed himself, and then addressed the group of mages as a whole.

“Head to the southern tower, while they serve a more defensive function here, they are still mages’ home. There, practice until you can't move, the faster you advance, the better.” He looked at them curiously then added. “ I will talk with Max later today, he will then deliver the news about the current situation to you.”

He seemed to gather himself to leave them alone and chase after his mother and brother, but Adam stopped him, with a question.

“What about me? I don’t have an absorption method, but I am already at the peak. I planned to observe Max’s ascension and from it figure out a way, but that would take a very long time.” He stated.

Edgar showed signs of surprise, but quickly composed himself and answered his junior.

“I will ask my brother if we want to make an exception and give you more clues, without any benefit on our side. The situation may make such a thing necessary either way.” Saying the last parts, he was already walking away, towards the main hold.

Watching him leave, Adam felt weird. On one hand, he was happy to have the possibility of gaining further knowledge about magic and absorption methods, but on the other, he fared what may cause mages, otherwise defensive of their information, to give something out without a direct gain.

The king's brother turned around yet again and shouted at his son from a distance.

"Max! Come with me!" He shouted.

Max looked at him, then at his friends who sat on the bench with him. The metal mage stood up, shook off some snow that gathered on his robe and went after his father.

"I'm sure you will be able to find the southern tower by yourself. I will meet you there in some time, bye!" He called out behind himself as he was moving away.

The trio sat on the bench in silence for quite a while, staring at the stone structures around them, and those on the platforms below, visible from the balcony next to the bench at the side of the square.

The buildings were sloping down, with occasional taller structures peaking out of the otherwise stagnant fall between each platform.

From the main square located at the peak of the stronghold, just outside the main hold, the three drill plazas were clearly visible. It was easy to see all the people who went around there, and in case of defences being breached, to rain arrows or other more magical attacks at the invaders occupying the squares.

The three roads leading towards the higher sections of the citadel were also observable from the gates to the finish, few posts were located along the way making the streets more defensible.

In comparison to defences facing the lower levels and the entrance, from each higher platform, it was super easy to attack the lower ones, no fortifications faced upwards of the citadel, making it incredibly easy to defend, but also nearly impossible to reclaim if the enemy somehow defeated the original defenders.

Looking at the amazing structure, Adam got bored. While it was a great sight, he was too eager to talk to Master Egar again and ask him various questions that accumulated in his brain over the journey, and even before that time. Thinking about it, and having remembered that they don't have any responsibilities in the citadel apart from raising their learning curve, Adam made a decision.

The fastest and most efficient way to pass time was sleep.

Adam reached into his pocket and took out a fluffy cat who rested there, occasionally peaking out and looking around.

"How about that Parcas? Do you want to sleep with me?" he looked at the cat questioningly. to which, the furry ball seemed to brighten up. "...Yeah? Ok, let's go and find some comfy bed." Adam did a quick scratch under Parcas's chin and hid him in the pocket yet again.

"You named the cat 'Parcas'? It's unique, but I guess it's not that bad actually." Commented Sylvia, hearing her friend talking to the animal with a name, for the first time.

"I also thought you would fuck this up massively. Well done Adam." Praised him Cynthia, who was surprised just like her fiery companion.

"Yes," Adam replied simply.

"If I may ask, why did you choose this name?" Asked Sylvia.

Adam stood up and offered his support to the girls.

"Let's talk as we walk, we have some distance to the southern tower anyway." He said, pointing to a distant roof, towering over buildings on the right side of the citadel, facing the main gate from the direction of the keep.

They strolled through the streets, partially downwards as the tower wasn't located on the highest platform. The trio had to stop a few times, and let the carriages through, as they transported goods to the storages located near the main keep. Many people walked around, carrying their stuff. They walked from the direction of one of the squares where they got their assigned housing and some food for the rest of the day, and towards the said places, shared with other people as there was too little space for such a huge number of humans to live in comfortably.

"I have to find my uncle tomorrow, do you want to go with me? Oh, and Monica, Watt, Berta, Iller and Kyll! I completely forgot about them amidst this chaos..." Lamented Adam.

"Yeah, I will come, I wanted to see the rest of the citadel either way. But firstly, tell us about the cat's name." Sylvia was curious; how could someone like Adam figure out a decent name? The technique had to be written down and passed to the latter generations, it was too monumental to leave it behind with Adam, and not spread it to every corner of the world.

“I will probably never tell you two the whole story, or the meaning, but I can tell that ‘Parcas’ are two words from a different language, mashed together,” Adam said.

“Different language? I thought everyone used only one?” Cynthia half-asked.

“Apparently, there were many languages before, but the gods figured out it was super inconvenient and enforced one, common language on all creatures in the lands. That's what the book I found in the Tower’s library said, at least.” Explained Adam.

“Huh? Why would you read such a book? I thought you concentrated your efforts on magic all the time.” Commented Sylvia.

Adam blushed a little but answered her question either way.

“I… Thought it was the runes, and as the book was partially a dictionary, some of the words stuck to the back of my head. That's how I created the name.” He revealed.

“What does 'Parcas' mean?” Sylvia asked after chuckling at her friend's foolishness.

“I said it already, you will never get the information out of me,” Adam said with all seriousness he could muster, which seemed really suspicious to the girls.

They pestered him for Parcas’s meaning for the rest of their walk to the southern tower. Which was way longer than they expected, especially as they had to return to their carriage for the luggage they forgot to bring along.

The Tower was located in one of the middle platforms, at the left side of the citadel if someone watched from outside, and on the right if they were on the peak. It was quite small compared to The Tower, but that was expected. The capital's symbol was a monstrosity reaching the clouds, if they flew low enough.

Inside, the furnishing was more practical than luxurious. The rooms were located along the sides of the stairway. Each chamber was about the size of Adam's apartment in the capital but was designed for two to live in. As such, Adam took the bed he liked better and half of the furniture, leaving the other half for Max. The girls also opted to remain together and placed themself in a room adjacent to the boys'.

Time flew by, and Adam was woken up by a familiar voice, calling him from the stairway. Max returned to share the news and wanted them all to gather in the girls' room.

Reluctantly, the icey mage stood up, placed a still-sleeping cat into his pocket and headed towards the door.