Thankfully, the damage caused by Adam was minimal and so when a messenger arrived at the base barely two days later, most of the damage had been repaired. The messenger wore a tunic emblazoned with a deep blue stone surrounded by a pearl ring, with a sword at his waist and riding a tall brown horse. A day after that, the main group he had been ahead of arrived; a large number of warriors circled around a central group riding on war horses, swords at their backs. Each warrior had the same pattern on their tunics as the messenger. The central group had no markings but instead had a steely gaze and a confident aura that suggested they were used to being obeyed.

          "That's the delegation," Jason muttered unnecessarily to his fellow Generals as they walked in a formal line towards the group of warriors waiting calmly just inside the base. "They're in an    alliance with each other but although we've communicated, they've never actually met us before."

          "So don't be embarrassing, be polite and for goodness sakes, Mitch and Jerome, don't challenge any of them to a sword fight," Mitch quoted perfectly. "Relax Jason, we're not going to stuff this up."

          Adam was not as positive. If anyone was going to stuff this up, it was him. Seto was still recovering from their battle; he winced every time he went up stairs and he had often gone to bed early, still recovering his energy. He hadn't said anything, but that didn't make Adam feel any less guilty.

          The group dismounted at Jason's request and they moved forward to shake each of the Generals' hands. The first man who shook hands had long hair which hung close to his face and reached his shoulders. The fact that he was slightly taller than average meant that it didn't look too bad on him, and he wore a grey jumper and shoes and black pants. He introduced himself as Gizzy and his smile came and went quickly. Obviously, he was a very serious man. The second looked ready for a fight. He wore small plates of armour over his black long-sleeved shirt and pants that probably gave him the ability to move with ease. He had a full-face helmet with some sort of blue plastic over the eye holes hung on a hook on his horse's saddle. Without the helmet, his short black hair and brown eyes could be seen and he introduced himself as Patrick.

          The final two men confirmed the idea that no one in this alliance looked anything like the others. David was blue: blue pants, blue shirt, blue socks, blue shoes, even his jumper was blue but the edges of the hood were strangely red. Despite this, he had windswept blond hair, a constant cocky smile and spoke with a funny accent that none of them could quite place. Thankfully, his skin was a normal pale colour.

          The last man, Dan, looked as if he had come the wrong way of a blowtorch on more than one occasion. His brown hair was randomly scorched and of uneven lengths and his hands were rough and callous. He looked like the kind of guy who was normally covered in grease and dirt but had made an effort to clean himself up for the meeting. His black jumper and blue pants had yellow patches on the elbows and knees from where they had been repaired.

          All in all, they seemed like mostly down-to-earth people. Their guard consisted of 100 warriors which wasn't as much of an overkill as you realise, as there was still the danger of being attacked by thieves, angry lords or wild animals. It didn't take very long to get them settled and the lords were led to the castle for lunch and a general chat before the actual discussions took place the next day.

          "Man, this is what I needed," Patrick groaned, leaning back in his chair with a steaming mug of coffee in his hand.

          "Patrick, it's rude to swing," Gizzy reprimanded and Patrick instantly put all four feet of his chair on the ground.

          "Oh don't worry, this guy does it all the time," Jason said, jerking a thumb in Mitch's direction.

          "I'm putting all of my effort into not doing it right now," Mitch agreed. "You have no idea how hard I'm concentrating."

          All things considered, it was a good start to the week-long visit. The lords retired early and were escorted to their rooms on the third floor. The Team followed their example not too long after, all except for Adam, who pulled Seto aside as everyone else went up to the common room.

          "I need to ask you a favour," Adam said quietly, his stomach churning.

          "Yeah sure, what is it?"

          Adam glanced away from him for a moment, trying to find the words to say. "I... I don't want to stuff this up but... We just don't know when I'm going to lose it so I was wondering if- if you would restrain me or something. So that I can't hurt people."

          "What, you mean like, lock you up?" Seto asked.

          "Yeah, pretty much."

          Seto was already shaking his head. "No. No way. I'm not going to lock you up like a criminal."

          "Seto, I can't control myself and if I can hurt people-"

          "No, you're my friend, I'm not gonna lock you up-"

          "Just stop being a damn hero for once," Adam said harshly, his teeth grit. "It's a miracle that no one was hurt last time and I'm willing to bet that we won't get lucky again. I've tried to control myself and to stop the magic from taking over but I can't. Please Seto, come on."

          Seto stared at him and gave an angry huff, looking away and crossing his arms. "Fine," he muttered. "I hate it but fine, only because you're so freaked out about it."

          Adam chose not to respond to that statement as Seto walked out of the castle. He followed after a moment and the two walked through the darkened streets to the empty alchemy building. The inside was dark and surprisingly uncluttered, all the books and equipment having been packed away for the day. Seto went to one of the bookshelves on the wall and with little effort, pushed it from the side and it slid, moving forward to come in front of the neighbouring bookshelf to reveal a narrow passage beyond that twisted instantly into stairs.

          "I have a special training room for practising more dangerous magic," Seto explained shortly as he led the way down the spiral staircase. "It has protective enchantments and stuff, it's pretty safe."

          The room below was circular, probably around five metres in diameter and the walls were made of smooth stone. There was nothing impressive to look at but when Adam walked inside, his skin tingled and shivers went down his spine. He could feel the magic in this room and felt as if it was watching him, examining him as if he was a mildly curious bug that had wandered in.

          "Give me your hands," Seto said.

          Adam did so and with a wave, purple magic swirled around Adam's wrists, bonding them to each other before solidifying into metal with bore a distinct purple tinge.

          "Are you sure about this?" Seto asked, his hand on the newly made cuffs, watching Adam carefully.

          Adam nodded. "I won't be able to relax or concentrate otherwise."

          Seto looked as if he was trying to convince himself that this was the right thing to do. "If you need me, just say so. I'll be able to hear you." Adam nodded and Seto let go of the cuffs, backing out to the door before turning again. "You super sure?"

          "Just go to sleep Seto," Adam told him, an exasperated smile on his face.

          Seto gave a sort of laughing sigh and moved his hand from the left to the right. A section of stone which Adam had mistaken for a wall slid out of its place and slowly moved forward to silently seal the room, keeping Adam inside. It closed with a small tap and the outline flared a brilliant purple for a moment. Adam gave a sigh and gently tested the strength of the cuffs. They held well but Seto had crafted them so that they didn't cut into his skin. With that, all that was left was to find himself a comfortable space next to the wall to sleep.

          Seto walked quickly up to the castle and let himself into the common room where most of the Team were still sitting, trying to muster the energy to haul themselves off to bed. Before anyone could ask where he had been, he said: "Adam told me to lock him up so that he couldn't hurt anyone".

          "He what?" Ty asked.

          Seto instantly put up his hands defensively. "Hey, I didn't want to but he wouldn't take no for an answer."

           "So where is he?" Mitch asked while holding his spinning head. He had been lying on the couch and had sat up way too fast.

          "I've put him in a room in the alchemy building, I'll be able to know if anything goes wrong."

          "I hate to be the devil's advocate for this one," Jerome said, "but it does make a lot of sense."

          "Yeah, but what are we going to tell the lords?" Jason asked.

          "That Adam's sick?" Mitch suggested. "And he thought he was over it but it's come back really bad so he has to stay in bed and he's dreadfully sorry?"

          "That sounds like a crap story," Ty told him. "But I think it's what we'll have to go with."

          "I mean, we won't be lying," Mitch added. "The magic is technically a virus."

          They didn't stay up much longer to talk about it.