The sun was already up in the sky warming the great city of Gloren when Reyrin woke up to his mother’s yelling. He crawled out of his bed unwillingly, the fairy voice of sleeping and comfort calling him back to sleep. His head was pounding from spending the night drinking with his best friend to celebrate Reyrin’s birthday. Though he knew he had to get up eventually because today was his first day as an adult and thus his father promised him to show the secret craftsmanship of their family. He washed his face from the water in the washing tub and got all shiny. He combed his hair, so blonde that it looked like gold. He looked to the mirror to make sure he was ready for the day because the work with his father required them to visit the palace of Gloren. The mirror was perfect without defects unlike the polised piece of metal that of the lower status people used. One of the many little details that showed their family status. He looked at the young and handsome boy at the mirror and grinned. His face was chiseled, his skin pristine and pale. Short golden hair combed to the side. Azure eyes like the sky looked at him with satisfaction. Nevertheless this perfect looking man never bragged about his appearance. He was well mannared, his mother tought him how to be a man of good.

He walked to the kitchen to greet her mother. The woman was in her fourties but she didn’t showed not older than thirty. She also had blonde hair but of a darker hue. She looked elegant, just like the daughter of nobility which she was. He helped her with the breakfast, setting up the table. Her mother nudged him to call his father.

The light of the sun burned his eyes when he opened the door. Washing his face was not enough to sober up it seemed. The sun was straight up in the sky meaning it was already afternoon, how much did he sleep? His head was killing him, his eyes in pain. He didn’t remember anything from the yesterday. He told himself to never drink again. The sound of his father working, metal hitting the metal could be heard from everywhere. So he went to the forge they had built next to their house. Their house had two floors with a little front garden. It was made from stone which was painted white and decored with gold paint like every other building in Gloren. They added his father’s forge under the veranda that extended to the right side of the house. They had all the equipments to make the best weapons and armor in all of Gloren in that little area. His father was reknowned as the best blacksmith of Gloren and had the privilege to be chosen as the royal blacksmith. Currently he was working on the dagger he said he will make for his son’s birthday. The white steel also known as skysteel was glowing hot and hammered into the shape of a dagger. The pommel ready to attach and carved with the symbol of a golden tree. He watched his father’s dexterious but strong hands beating the metal with awe. Although he didn’t want to be a blacksmith in the future like his father, he was never bored of watching his father turning the ugly iron ore into work of art.

His father noticed him watching and when the dagger was cold and ready to went back to furnace again, he turned and showed him his work with a proud smile on his face. “ It is coming along pretty well, isn’t it son? The best dagger for the best son in the world.”

Reyrin returned the smile, “ Can anything you make ever be bad, father? Everything you make is deserves to be in king’s treasury. ”

“ Which you will see today and don’t flatter the king that much. He is a brilliant man but doesn’t like unnecessery compliments.” He warned him. “ If breakfast is ready let’s eat with haste. We don’t want to be late for the job, right? Considering we lost much time when somebody slept untill noon. ”

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Reyrin looked regretfull, “ I also don’t think I will be having drinks again father.” His father looked him sharply then got soft and said, “ I don’t say never drink again but do it in moderation. A good man needs to be always in shape and healthy after all. You will have to listen to your old man’s teachings again on our way to the palace but it’s breakfast time first.”

The breakfast was eaten in such a hurry that they were out of the house before the dagger now out of the furnace didn’t had the time to cool down yet. His father donned his best outfit worthy of visiting the palace. He was a titan of a man with wide shoulders and with hands that could squeeze a rock to dust. He was quite tanned with few freckles up to his nose. Same dark blonde hair like his wife and the azure sky eyes that was in the family. They were now going to the palace while his father teaching him how to behave when the king arrives.

Their house was in the first floor of the city of Gloren. The city was located in the northeastern part of the Land Eternal. In the middle of the diogonal mountain range which seperated the snow desserts of Yirm Barbarians from the rest of the continent. The city was built in the corner of a “V” shaped twin mountins where the only enterance to the continent from the land was, the Guardian’s Valley. It got his name from the Gloren nation who guarded the continent from barbarians by closing the only enterance with their city. The great gate opening to the valley in the center of the city. The city itself was a quarter circle shaped with its high walls. The people of lower status living outside in farms or in the outermost region of the circle. The middle class had the first floor which was elevated from the ground and was in the inner part of the circle. Crowned with the last floor where nobilty lived, watching atop of the city like the rulers they are. Up in the nobel floor stood a tree which was golden in color, the divine tree of Gloren. It was said that the Tree guarded the Gloren while people of Gloren nourished it with their life which Reyrin had no idea how. The Tree was also magical.

The magic … It was a beautiful thing though almost non existent in the Lands Eternal. Reyrin knew only three types of magic. There were creatures in the Lands Eternal, from goblins to dragons but only few beast managed to get sentient and became a myhtical beast which were usually dragons. He heard that there lived a great ice dragon in the northmost region of the Gloren mountain range but it was only drunk tavern talk. The mythical beast all had magic but almost none of them tought their magic to lesser species. The second kind also came from these mythical beings. Crafted from their power the artifacts could make the wielder have some powerful magic. The Gloren city had its Knight’s of the Sun which all used the armor and weapon artifacts his father crafted and today was the day he will show him how. The last part of the magic puzzle was the mages. Yes, the mages existed. Some people ,unknown how, had the ability to wield magic. These mages lived their lives isolated from the society never sharing their knowladge, so magic was not wide spread. There were also people who could wield magic by instinct but they didn’t know how to teach it to somebody else and even if they did their magic was so pitifully weak that it wouldn’t matter anyway. The only thing they could do was creating few sparks, making a little gust of cold air or droplets of water. Truly weak and unworthy of mentioning.

Amidst of his thoughts of magic, they arrived at the gates of the palace. His father put a hand in his son’s shoulder, “ Let’s show you how we ,the men of Lyones, create the artifacts that protect our great nation. ” Thus they stepped in to the palace after guards opened the door.