"Hello everyone!" James announced as he walked into the campsite carrying Jessica.

"Is this the mermaid you were looking for?" Afifa asked, doing her best to keep from looking and sounding cross that he had abandoned them to look for her.

"Yes, and I'm sorry for that" James told her, understanding her worry and frustration. "I think though that if I had to say her biggest problem, it's that she's too beautiful!"

"And you're a naughty old man" Jessica told him slyly, pulling him close for another kiss.

"Hey, I'm not that old. Just older."

The two of them laughed, but before long James brought out three washbasins and left the women to bathe in peace and privacy. Now that he finally had Jessica back, it was time to go over his gains and see what had happened to Melech.

An hour later the three had called James back and were ready to depart. Stowing everything away, James helped Jessica up onto his camel. He would never tell her, but he loved having her close. Something about her presence gave him joy and hope. As the camel rose, he used the motion of the animal as an excuse to slide his hand around her waist. For her part, Jessica knew what he was doing but she also liked being held by James so for both of them it was a win-win.

James found it almost terrifying leaving Jessica when he dropped her off in her tent for the night, but as the days of travel passed it became just the slightest bit easier. This time when they travelled they only came across one monster attack by a group of dogs called hellhounds, but they were easy enough for James to defeat and he even gained his first level in swordplay when he tried to switch up his attacks.

It was when they drew within hours of Melech that they first spotted it. First it was the young Shaherabad, then the rest of them as she pointed to a thin column of smoke. Fearing the worst, they spurred their camels on and as they broke over the last dune they saw that Melech had been set on fire. Making their way to the gate, James saw that it was battered and crumbling with both gate doors knocked off their hinges. But as he looked inside, he quickly turned away and looked back.

"Don't come! Stay back!"

"What do you see?"

"Stay back!"

Jessica threw up over the camel's back and a moment later Afifa and Shaherabad screamed. Knowing he couldn't protect them from seeing it, James looked back into the city where a corpse had been impaled on a thin sharp spike that went up from his anus all the way through his body until it pierced through his back. The man was naked, and the expression on his face as carrion birds pecked at his corpse was one of pain and horror. Looking past the impaled man, they found that the entire population of Melech had been slaughtered. Corpses were piled up everywhere, all of them naked. Everything of value appeared missing, from weapons to leather to the hay in the stables. It was all just gone, leaving only an empty city that was now a giant mausoleum.

Then they found the king. He had been drawn and quartered, and the remaining royals shrieked with pain as they hurried down and rushed to him. Getting off his own camel, James walked through the pools of blood until he came to the body parts of the king. Collecting his legs, his torso, his head and his arms, James brought them to Afifa and could only watch as she wept and ran her fingers through the hair of her husband's head. James also noticed the marks of torture on the body.

It wasn't hard to guess what had happened. At best the invaders had been cruel, and at worst they had tortured King Hisham for information on where the books and treasury were. Something he could not have known since James had never told him of their destination. He had thought that Vishath and King Beyazid the Second would take the townsfolk as war prisoners or slaves, but it looked like his anger had been so severe or his cruelty without limit that he had simply not cared about the cost in lives. Removing some fabric he had taken from Tol-Namith, James covered the body and tried to at least be respectful of it and his wife and daughter's grief. Seeing Shaherabad crying and hyperventilating as she saw her father and the destruction, he knew she would have nightmares and experience trauma.

That wasn't even the end of it, as James looked at the burnt shells of buildings and saw that many people had been intentionally burned alive. About every torture he could imagine had been inflicted on these people. He resolved right then to make sure that no one would suffer like this at Beyazid's hands again.

With the coming of night, they buried King Hisham in the city he had died in, his body parts wrapped in fabric. He would never be respectfully buried or laid in a proper tomb. The rest of the bodies were so numerous that any attempts to respect their remains were impossible, with not only the threat of sickness but also the sheer impossibility of moving hundreds or even thousands of bodies soaked in blood, sweat, dirt, and faeces where peoples bowels and inner organs spilled out. Ten minutes of trying left James with memories of human and humanoid flesh that he would never wish on anyone. Without any fuel for a fire they could not even cremate them. All of their hearts were heavy as they were forced to leave without even honouring the rest of the dead.

Without any other destination in mind, James began leading them back to the mountains in hopes of rejoining the dwarves at the Fortress of Unyielding Night. Shaherabad and Afifa had been soft-spoken before, but now they were numb with grief. And the worst part was that neither James nor Jessica could do anything for them except ensure that they ate and slept regularly. The next several nights though were exhausting, with everyone having nightmares about what they had seen and at times Shaherabad woke up screaming. James was angry that Beyazid or as he privately called him the Pillage King had ruined the joy of reuniting with his girlfriend, but he knew the man would pay for what he had done. But first they had to rejoin the dwarves.

With camels, their progress was much faster than James' first journey had been, and thus it was only two weeks later that they were on the other side of the mountains. Remembering the mark of the Gravitus family he had carved in the rock James was cautious but he needn't have worried because there was no one. From there, it was only a matter of time before they drew near to the coast where the fortress was.

As they drew in sight of the ocean James stopped and made the camel drop down so he could pick Jessica up off the camel's back. Then he moved a little closer to the water and looked at her, meeting the eyes of the woman that he found so captivating.

"It took a long time Jess. Through travels and hardships, the frantic journey to bring you back...but now you can get off your sorry ass and do it yourself!"

He cackled with laughter as she tried to beat him, running to the ocean where he stumbled over the loose rocks along the shore. Careful to avoid putting his foot in the wrong place and falling, he stepped into the shallows until the water was up to his arms.

"I love you babe. Thanks for being so patient during our trip here."

This kissed again, and then James released her into the Sea of Cazamir. With a flip of her tail, the mermaid dove into the water. For the first time she was free and unfettered in her movement, and despite all they had been through in the last few days during their journeys she felt liberated. Discovering that she could breathe underwater, she smiled and flicked her tail at James while he walked back out of the water. Waving at her, James went back to Afifa and her daughter.

"We're almost there."

They didn't speak, nor did they nod. James could only sigh and look at what he assumed was the fortress a few hundred meters down along the coastline.

And what a fortress it was! James could tell that some or perhaps all of the walls had been built, with a winding pathway now wide enough for a single cart to pass by. It reminded him of Tolkien's Helm's Deep since there were no guardrails along the path that wound back and forth in a zigzag pattern from the shoreline to the fortress that stood like a sentinel in the ocean. The pathway also looked dangerous with only a steep drop to sharp rocks below on either side. But it was defensible, which was what James liked about it. That led to the fortress itself, which was built like a large circle large enough to be a stadium. James wondered if one hundred thousand stone had even been enough to construct something so large. From where he stood, there appeared to be only a single line of battlements, but if anyone could make it past the wall their defeat was almost certain anyway. In keeping with the name Fortress of Unyielding Night, everything was completely black and the walls of the fortress almost seemed to absorb sunlight. James liked the thought of the fortress being an absorbing abyss that sucked in their enemies and left nothing behind. It appealed to his profession as a Devourer. But perhaps that was what the System had been aiming for when it gave the fortress to him. The closer he got to it, the more impressed he was.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Grobar! Grobar, are you there?"

"Hold! Who are you? State your business!"

"Klauss, it's James! I'm here with some visitors."

A commotion came from the walls. Then a familiar dwarf face peered over the battlements.

"James!"

"It's me! I'm back!"

"Open the gate!"

The wood and iron doors swung open, and together with their mounts the three of them headed inside. They were met by Grobar who waved at the fortress with a wide flourish.

"How do you like our work? No one beats a dwarf craftsman!"

"It's good to see you, my friend."

The two of them clapped hands and patted each others' back. Then James lowered his voice.

"Hey, can you see if you can do anything for these two ladies? They just lost someone important to them, so a hot meal and a warm bath for them might help a little."

"I'll see to it."

Grobar waved another dwarf forward and whispered in his ear before sending him scampering off. James turned to the two ladies.

"This is my friend Grobar. You can think of him as the one in charge here. I've asked him to see to your needs, but if there is anything you need please let me know. Please excuse the accommodations, but I am hoping to make your stay here more comfortable before we can start planning out next move against Beyazid the Honorless."

Afifa nodded and hugged her daughter. She appeared listless and spent, her earlier care and gentle manner gone. Replaced by a shallow shell of the woman she had once been. As they were led further into the fortress, James could only hope that with time she would, if not heal, then at least be able to function properly.

"What happened to them?" Grobar asked, seeing their distress.

"Her husband, the young girl's father, was killed and their entire city razed. But not before they were all brutally striped and tortured. We couldn't even bury all of the bodies."

"Are they coming for us?"

"I don't think so, at least not yet. But we have the wealth of the city, which may have been what they were looking for."

"I see. And is the mermaid I saw splashing outside the one you were looking for?"

"Yes. Thank you for asking. But now, tell me how you all have been. This wasn't here before."

The dwarf grinned.

"We only finished feeding the Orb of Power enough stone two days ago. Was harder to get the iron and wood, but we managed."

"Did that take away from anything you need to use, like iron for the forges?"

"Eh, we have enough for now but we will need an iron mine pretty soon."

"I remember there being a mine in the list of buildings for the fortress. You are thinking to start that next?"

"I kept the Orb for you. I had a feeling you would be back for it."

Grobar pulled out the gem and handed it over but James refused.

"That's okay. You've done a great job building up this place so far. I trust your judgement. Just let me know how I can help."

"My fingers are itching to get back to the forges and try out this new knowledge of yours. Take it; we dwarves will follow your lead."

Finally accepting it back, James thought of Elizabeth.

"How are Elizabeth and the school?"

"Both are well. She keeps us on our toes with her desire to learn. Burning the candle at both ends, that one."

He chuckled and pulled out a pipe, wiping it with his beard before stuffing some tobacco in it.

"You have any more books for us?"

James smirked and pulled out a couple college textbooks on physics and engineering.

"Try these, but I warn you that even I do not know most if not all of it."

Grobar took them like they were made of solid gold and encrusted in gems, shoving his pipe into his mouth as he began riffling through the pages. Remembering that the bedrooms also needed to be finished, James checked with the Orb of Power for the requirements to create them.

Bedrooms

0/1000 Wood

0/100 Feathers

Fortunately they only needed a thousand wood. The real problem was getting one hundred feathers. Not sure how the System worked or what the feathers were needed for, James wondered how to get them without trading partners. He also wondered when they would be able to start fishing or farming their own food. And that didn't even begin to consider the ongoing problem with the royal family, who were now effectively royals of nothing. Sighing, he considered his options and what might be the best, most efficient way forward.

The first thing he did was examine the fortress. If before he had thought the structure was big, he now thought it was monstrous. Storerooms that were like giant warehouses, vast spaces open to be converted into the different rooms or structures they still had to build, and walls that towered at least a hundred feet above the ocean. Just walking from end to end reminded him of navigating through Ikea.

While conditions were still rough, he was glad that they at least had the wall. That had concerned him, making him wonder if humans from the neighbouring kingdoms would attack them. While they were still living in tents, James hoped that he could soon help fix that. To his surprise, he also discovered that there was a well in the middle of the fortress with clean drinking water. But on the lowest level, he found stairs going into the sea. Protected by a curved archway just above his head, James was delighted to find it as it meant he had a way to easily reach Jessica.

Having finished his inspection, James set about calling the various work leaders together. It was time to make their next step. But first he went to find Elizabeth and found her sitting at one of the dining tables that they used for their meals reading a book about pottery of all things. Seeing her, he went to her table and saw that she was keeping notes in rough blotchy handwriting, leading James to believe that she had never learned how to write before.

"Hello Elizabeth."

"Hello James."

"How have you been? How is it living with the dwarves?"

Her eyes glowed.

"They're amazing! Did you know Mr. Grobar showed me how he measures the heat in his forge? The tempering and harness scale is heavily dependant on heat and the chemistry of the carbon mixed with the iron."

"Uh...okay? Sorry, I admit I have no idea what you're talking about. But it is good that you seem to be enjoying yourself."

"You gave us a chance by giving us these books and this knowledge. No one here is going to waste it."

"A chance for what?"

"To get better professions and improve our skills. Most people now have at least a few Scholar levels, and the more we know the better class we can choose."

"Knowledge defines your profession?"

"Yes. The more one knows, the more options they have to choose from."

James was surprised to learn this, as he had thought that everyone had the same professions to choose from, even if the residents of this world couldn't choose their race. It proved to him just how much he still had to learn.

"I'm planning to meet with everyone and ask them how they believe this place can be improved. Do you have any thoughts on that? What would you like to see?"

"Well, everyone wants iron to forge, but it is hard sleeping on the ground. We could also use a room to store the books."

"Ah, like a library?"

"What's a library?"

"It's like a room where books are stored where people can research information."

"Oh. That would be nice."

"Alright. I'll take your advisement and try to make it happen. Anything else?"

"Just that our food is starting to run low."

James thanked Elizabeth and went to speak to the other residents. By now they all knew how James had given them a Place of Power to stay in and were grateful for this and the knowledge he had given them so there was little issue in getting along. More importantly, they were all more than happy with their higher wages. Most of them turned out to want similar things as Elizabeth, though a dwarf named Blaus, Klauss' brother, said that having a harbour might be beneficial for outside trade and a deer woman named Belizza wanted to fill all the requirements for the garden to start raising crops. For himself, James felt nervous not focusing on the armoury for defence but he was also smart enough to comprehend that there would be no defence if his people decided to leave. With that in mind he decided to focus on the bedrooms, but how to meet the wood and feathers the orb required? Then while walking along the battlements to think about the problem, the solution literally flew into his face.