Burning Embers Part II: Conspiracy [Arc 6-10]

Arc 6 Chapter 1

—Nat's Perspective—

"Welcome to Mon Ardgas!"

It was a truly dazzling sight. Even though Nat had been to Ariogow; a beautiful city in its own right, just seven months prior, he was still completely taken by what lay before him. A massive city walled from all sides, the walls manned by thousands of Knights, and within those walls, the most beautiful city in Terrasia.

The buildings were all uniformly laid out, the road was well-paved, and everything was the same, off-white colour. It gave off a powerful and radiant feel. People bustled about everywhere on their business; tourists, merchants and citizens, and a company of Knights was on patrol here and there.

Every few minutes they would come across a square with a beautiful fountain in the centre; it seemed to be identical everywhere. Children were usually seen playing around these squares, their parents often nearby and watching them with visible concern. And it was not just the raw beauty of the city, but that it was all amazingly organised.

Before Nat visited the place, he had read a book about it that Sean had lent him a while back. Just like with Ariogow, he realised that reading about a place beforehand and then witnessing it with his own eyes made for an even greater feeling of satisfaction.

This city, built on the ruins and skeleton of the former capital of the Elven Empire, truly displayed the marvel of human work and elvish architecture at its finest. Unlike all other cities, this one was built only for one purpose; to be a fortress-capital. As such, it was neatly arranged with that in mind.

It was divided into three zones; residential, government and military. At the outskirts of the city was the military zone; barracks, training grounds and infirmaries. The outer wall complemented this well, as it was the largest wall in the country and housed archers, catapults and spearmen on patrol. Not only was the wall built to be unscalable, it was supposed to be indestructible as well, and had not a single weak point. To support that, the gate too was built from the strongest materials and would not simply be brought down by a battering ram.

As one went deeper into the city, they entered the residential zone and the bazaar. All of the houses were neatly arranged in perfectly uniform streets, and were near-identical themselves. At the centre of each sector lay a city-square, again indistinguishable. Though this made it easy to get lost, there were signboards that helped. The marketplace, also known as the bazaar, lay at the so-called "centre" of this zone.

Lastly came the government district. Located at the heart of Mon Ardgas was the citadel and Royal Palace, and around it were the mansions of many minor nobles residing within the capital. The most powerful court of the country could also be found close enough to the palace. Perhaps what was most notable was that each of the three zones were separated by a moat with drawable bridges. This, of course, was to slow enemy progress if the outer wall was ever breached. In fact, even the streets were made to make fighting advantageous to the defender.

Nat took all of this in, realising everything he had read was based on facts and staring in wonder as the world in the book came to life before his very eyes. I see. So this is why Sean spent all his days holed up in his room. Books created a world of their own and immersed a reader into it, so much so that the world became clear as day in the reader's mind.

Sean, of course, read all sorts of things. He was almost like a walking, talking book himself, and had, ever since their move to the castle, been lending books to Nat. Ever since Ariogow, the hunter had made a point of reading about something he was about to jump into, whether it be a certain creature in a quest or a place. He had found that it was very helpful.