The next day, 15th Nuru.
Morning
The sunlight filtered through the curtains, falling across Ambra's face.
Feeling the early heat, she turned over in bed, but found no peace.
So she lay back, her arm resting across her forehead.
This damn sun... Next time I have to remember to close the curtains well...
Between yawns, Ambra got out of bed and got ready to go downstairs for breakfast.
In the first-floor corridor, as she left the bathroom, she found Alice in front of her brother's door.
*Knock Knock*
Ambra was not surprised at the sight of her mother, who was puzzled by Adamas's lack of answers.
He hasn't woken up yet... He probably stayed up late working on his gadgets.
I should try to slip past her, otherwise she asks me to wake him up.
Her first steps made no sound.
The third gave her away.
Alice turned around slowly, then smiled softly.
"Good morning, honey."
Approaching her daughter, she gently arranged a stray strand of violet hair raised.
Ambra initially did not respond or move.
After fixing her daughter's hair, Alice started knocking on the door again.
Ambra, on the other hand, passed by her mother and went down the first two steps of the wooden stairs.
Then, she stopped.
"Good morning, Mom," she finally said, continuing the descent.
In the living room, another yawn caught her, which made her close her eyes and nearly bump into a chair.
Once in the kitchen, Ambra found her father preparing breakfast.
Looking at the pendulum clock on the opposite wall of the living room, she raised her eyebrows.
It's 8:30, theoretically it's late for him-
"Good morning, honey. Did you sleep well?"
Ethan interrupted Ambra's thoughts, pulling her out of her thought.
The next second, she nodded in response and sat down, letting her father serve breakfast.
Today is the day I will finally register at the Red Tower...
Ambra rested her head on her hand, staring blankly at her father as he poured the coffee with milk into the cup.
Should I act excited? I don't know...
*Thud*
Focusing in front of her, Ambra saw a cup full of coffee with milk appear.
Maybe there is no correct reaction...
Looking through the steam rising from the cup, Alice passed by Ethan, greeting him with a kiss.
At the head of the table, Adamas appeared.
His hair says enough... Ambra thought instinctively.
******
After breakfast, the trio immediately set off towards the red tower to fill out the registration forms and all the necessary paperwork.
The road in the early morning was still noisy, filled with laughter and chatter from people heading to work.
To reach the Tower located in the center of the capital, Alice, Ambra and Adamas took a carriage, as it was quite far from their home in the Northeast district.
Amid Adamas's yawns, and the soft chatter between mother and daughter, the trio arrived at their destination.
Getting out of the carriage, Ambra and Adamas looked out at Red Square and the Red Tower.
Its Gothic-style windows and sculptures adorned the walls like silent sentinels of arcane power.
The Tower could be seen from every point in the capital...
Ambra looked up at the summit, covering her eyes from the sun with her hand.
But up close it's something else entirely... You can't see the top.
After the park surrounding the Red Tower, the trio approached a vast fence encircled another immense open-air park.
At the entrance, two guards blocked the road.
Ambra looked at the two men: the black and green uniform resembled the woods at night, while on both of them the emblem of an axe was outlined by a red line.
Quel simbolo... dove lo avevo visto?
Ambra thought, slightly angry with herself at the gap.
"Good morning. Documents." said one of the two guards.
"Good morning,"
Alice answered smiling while pulling the two recommendations out of her bag.
At the bottom of both was the signature of the Commander of the Red Tower.
After a brief moment of verification, the two guards handed the trio small red badges, explaining the arrival of the guide immediately after passing the gate.
Returned the papers, the two guards looked at each other, letting the trio pass by with a slight bow.
"Welcome," they said at the same time.
Bowing slightly with a smile, Alice, Ambra and Adamas crossed the entrance and changed their surroundings: the basement of the tower was not on the same level as the gate, as a part of the earth was elevated.
Around the floating rock there were reddish stones set in similar clouds, supporting the floating rock.
Ambra slightly widened her eyes as the environment changed.
If it could be observed from the whole capital before, now it could be seen from the whole province...! How is such a thing possible?
But above all.... Since when is it floating?!
Her brother Adamas was equally speechless, his eyes wide as he took in the glowing runes, hovering paths, and the intricate layering of magical mechanisms around them.
From the central avenue leading to the tower entrance, a man could be seen walking at a brisk pace.
"That I assume is our guide," said Alice, thinking out loud.
Arriving in front of the trio, the guide spoke: "Welcome to the Red Tower. I'm Edwin and I'll briefly explain the tower functions while I'll take you to the registration office."
The man's tone was too exalted, inconsistent with a face adored by a simple smile of courtesy.
Adamas and Ambra looked at the man in front of them: dressed in a wine-red suit, neatly tailored, his white shirt crisp beneath the jacket. The most striking feature, however, was his pitch-black helmet-like hair and his eyes red fire.
This guy... He makes my skin prickle. Looks like a reptile.
Ambra had a shiver down her spine when she saw the man.
Ambra turned her head towards her brother.
Noticing his sister's gaze, Adamas turned around and moving only his lips, said: "That's incredible!"
Sigh... I'll never understand him.
Ambra sighed slightly.
The eyes of the guide... His eyelids didn't move...
Ambra was internally surprised, but did not give to see her expression, as always.
*****
"The towersit was built to have several functions," Edwin began as the walked "It houses researchers and magicians devoted to magical study, but student training happens primarily at the Red Academy, located in Heartia, along with the other four Academies. So the mainly serves this tower is administration and advanced research hub.
"In addition, there are also shops, dorms, and study halls, but they're restricted to authorized personnel."
"Excuse me, so will my children have to travel back and forth between Heartia and here when do they have to go home or shop?" Alice asked puzzled.
"Not at all, milady. Her children will use the Academy's transportation services for free, the journey takes about 10 minutes, it's extremely fast." Edwin replied, his chest puffing with pride.
Alice raised an eyebrow and looked at the guide for a few seconds, amused and skeptical, but eventually smiled.
Adamas, meanwhile, was enthralled. The courtyard glowed with light captured by runes reacting to the position of the sun. It was like watching magic breathe.
"Excuse me, can I ask you a question?" Ambra said taking advantage of Edwin's silence
"Of course! Tell me, too" said the guide beamingly, evidently meeting few people asking for information.
"How is it possible that from the outside it is smaller than what this place actually is? Besides the fact that to contain all the things you said, the space of the tower seems to me little."
"GOOD QUESTION, MISS!" He shrieked Edwin, blowing Ambra and Adamas out of surprise and chuckling Alice.
"Everything you said is right, but you're missing one detail: the magic of space. Thanks to it, our commander, Mr. Rubino, manages to deform the space and/or deceive the sense of sight. Let's take an example," said the guide, amused by Amber's puzzled face.
"If a house is 100 square meters in reality, with the aid of the magic of space I can make you believe that it is twice or half of what it actually is, so the subject does not actually know the size of the house until it enters the area of effect of the magic of space."
It makes sense... Now I understand what happened at the entrance
Ambra nodding in the meantime to Edwin during the explanation.
So you can do this too... fun.
Continuing the 'guided tour', other basic concepts were explained, like the distribution on the planes, the number of them and all the minor functions.
During the explanation, Ambra and Adamas continued to alternate with continuous questions, insatiable to know more than the guide actually knew, flanked by their mother Alice amused by the scene.
So they got to the base of the floating rock, the base where the tower was.
There were two cages, with two people each inside, and connected from above with what at first glance looked like an arch made of a dark material.
"Well, go through the two cages, then wait a few seconds and go up," said Edwin quietly.
The first to go was Ambra, who, after passing under the arch, felt the tiredness of the walk coming out of her body, while the obsidian above became clearer.
"Wow, I feel lighter. What happened?" she asked the guide with a nod of surprise.
"Nothing, the obsidian contained in the arc above you is a material as well as a magical conductor with properties of collecting impurities. Let's say it 'cleaned you up'." said Edwin with a slight laugh.
But to make the obsidian so clear when normally the change is not seen with the naked eye... who is this girl? he was surprised in his thoughts.
Immediately after the explanation, Ambra walked forward as she had indicated the guide, but stopped on the puzzled edge.
But there is nothing in front of us, except the void left by the rock... Ah, right, I have to wait a few seconds.
But just the time to formulate the thought that one by one of the stairs made of celestial flames appeared in front of her, ending exactly at the main entrance of the tower.
For the first time, Ambra showed her astonishment openly, observing the flaming stairs for a few seconds with wide-eyed eyes, and then hinting at a smile of excitement.
Turning to the duo of her mother Alice and her brother Adamas, she noticed that they were both stunned, as she was.
Waah, I've never seen mom make an expression like that...!
Ambra crossed first, followed by Adamas, then Alice, and finally Edwin.
Arriving at the entrance, Edwin finished his excursus of the tower: "Finally, on the top of the tower, there was the commander, the person in charge of protecting the region, as well as continuously monitoring the powerful barrier created to protect the Capitals, the cities where the towers resided. The power that a commander could exercise in his tower was on par with the emperor." He said, showing a friendly smile to the trio.
"Now we will enter the tower, please stay close to me, it's easy to get lost."
Saying this, Edwin showed to the sphere in the middle of the door a card in his pocket, which lit up with fiery red, and opened the door accordingly.
Strange celestial mechanisms appeared in front of the gate, which began to rotate, opening the interior of the tower to the view of the trio.
Ambra and Adamas were both enthusiastic, but for different things: if it was a sight for Adamas to be able to see so closely the mechanisms and runes used for the avant-garde of magical craftsmanship; for Amber it was a pleasure for the eyes to finally be able to admire the interior of the tower.
Ambra, Alice and Adamas entered the tower, but the view from the inside was completely different from what they expected.
Opened the door, the view was simply unlike anything they expected: waiting for them was the view of a magnificent interweaving of the wild nature, represented by the plants that surrounded what would then represent the human part of the 'picture', a white marble structure that stood out in the green foliage.
A majestic white dome highlighted a simply immense oak trunk, which most likely connected the first floor with the upper ones
and a tree-lined street accompanied the road that connected their position to the white marble structure in the distance.
All this under the beautiful sunlight, as if they were in the open air.
So, after giving the group time to be stunned, Edwin turned around and said proudly:
"Welcome to the Red Tower, 1st floor, also called 'the reception of nature' !"