The Forge of Kings (A Man Made of Glass, Book 1)

Part Two: A Kindled Forge

^^ Father Ericsson ^^
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(Part 2 / Book 2 of 'The Man Made of Glass', currently titled as 'A Kindled Forge', is beginning to be posted on my profile now! I received some very confused comments on people thinking the book wasn't finished despite being marked finished and having teaser chapters for the second book posted and stuff like that, and so I figured I'd address them here! This is the Epilogue for Book 1, and the Prologue/Teaser for Book 2! Enjoy!!!)

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Within a darkly lit chamber, full of people sitting primly in rows, a tall and handsome young man was giving a speech. With pale white eyes, black hair, and porcelain skin with features that would not have been out of place in a statue of a Roman god, he was a captivating individual, even while standing still. His voice, however, was charismatic and persuasive, his body language full of sincerity but also dramatic flair, the masterful mixture of which would have made even the most famous of actors begrudgingly impressed. He was like the master of a circus, crafting the origin story of one of his tigers on the spot while his captive audience hung on his every word, always eager for more. If he were speaking of politics, it would not surprise anyone if he called plenty of his listeners across the Aisle to his side. Were he selling goods in a market, he would have already sold out of even the moldiest of bread and fruits. And were Finnegan Moonspring, the subject of this man's speech, to hear the man's proselytizing, he may even have been swayed himself to be disgusted by the being being described in the rant; a being of sin who burst forth from within the embrace of the Lady of Life and Light, emerging burnt and scarred by her light as it had partially shorn away the sinful pieces of his soul, but instead of being thankful and cowed by this lesson in humility from a literal goddess, he used his new life to blasphemously alter society with his demonic inventions, claiming himself to be a Miracle sent from the Goddess herself. His reasons were currently unknown, but unquestionably evil. The Crowd clapped quietly as he finished his presentation, stepping back from the pulpit and addressing them with a parting comment. "I, Father Ericsson, your humble shepherd, ask of you, Fair Humans of this Lost Kingdom, to consider only one thing: Is an Evil Soul snatched from the Realm of Shadow actually a Person at all? Or just a Demon in a Human's Skin?"

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On the other side of the Continent, the King of the Mountain Kingdom was chest-deep in paperwork, something he generally avoided, but sometimes his advisers caught him when he wasn't busy with other things, and he was dragged into the dusty, unused office for a few hours of torture, in the form of endless stampings and signings of legal paperwork. The creation of an entirely new Guild was not a simple thing, as people assumed; it was not so easy as declaring that your Company had formed a Guild with two other Companies, and now its done. It was a lengthy, involved process that required the approval of many leaders in various cities, so as to ensure every Governor and Duke understood and respected the authority of the new Guild when it made requests of them. For a Medical Guild, there were standards that had to be met, but luckily Finnegan's Research Hospital/Medical College blew those standards out of the water, and the committee who decided such things had had no choice but to agree he met the conditions, especially after it was made public knowledge that the Grand ArchMage of Healing, Albert 'Carrion Bird' Thistle, was the Headmaster and Co-Founder of the Academy alongside Finnegan 'Miracle' Moonspring, and it was being run as a (nearly)Non-Profit Guild. Finnegan wasn't currently aware of the title he'd been given by the people of the Capital, but the King approved of it heartily; the boy had appeared suddenly, all of fifteen, and then in a single year he'd transformed two whole cities, sold potions for next to nothing, completely cleaned the residential districts, built his own tower, he was selling a variety of immeasurably valuable magic items and tools for what amounted to only a pittance, in the long run, and then he'd destroyed Seven Monster Hives on his own, something only the King and his Party had ever done before, but never seven times in a row, and finally, of course, making his own Tower Machine with Olde Magic. Finnegan was an anomaly, that much was sure, so the King approved of the moniker 'Miracle'. "After all, if I want him to join the Royal Family, I need him to have a reputation that'll make the Nobles accept him..."