While the situation in Ravenkeep were beginning to be brought under control, that did not mean it was entirely safe for civilians to be wandering the street. However, despite the warnings of the living guards and warriors capable of fighting against the ongoing threat, that did not stop some people from simply ignoring the orders and staying out of the shelters regardless.

The city didn't have the manpower to spare to drag these people to the shelters. Not to mention the attitudes they had towards these ignorant ones. The Unkindly Guards, strangely beholden to their names, simply did not care a single bit about them.

They had not been instructed to deal with the people, so they would not. If they were attacked, they would step in, but otherwise it was not something they would care a single bit about. As for the living guards and warriors, they had a more irritated view of these folks.

They held the simple attitude that, if they chose to stay in a danger zone and risk their lives, then it was not the guards fault if those people died in the overflow from battles or from beasts they could not yet slay.

They had been given their warning, but they were warriors. Not baby sitters. Some, those who saw themselves superior to those without abilities, even referred to it as a culling of the cattle. Such views were not prevalent nor wide spread, but that did not stop them being shared between likeminded individuals.

However, there was one exception to this uncaring mindset. Those that presided within the Church of their Lord. For many, even if they were not deep in the cool aid of this worship, they still respected their Lord enough to care about those who dedicated themselves to him, no matter their thoughts on those worshippers.

It was why, even though it was surrounded by blood, death and rubble, this building remained completely untouched by the chaos.

One of these worshippers was currently kneeling at an altar stained with blood, the body of the wolf that had been killed within their temple placed atop that altar. It's stomach had been cut open and its heart removed, placed upon the altar alongside many of its other organs.

Yet despite the ritual still not being complete, this worshipping was on his knees gazing up with a bright smile across his face. Tear drops trickled down his cheeks, as his glistening eyeballs reflected a most wondrous sight.

Above the altar was an azure flame that had been gifted to them by their Lord. It was one of their most prized possession, the holy light of the endless flame. It was why they called their collective the Ashen Aerie, and they were mere feathers of their Lord Crow.

However on this day, something odd was happening with their eternal flame. At first it had dimmed, as if their Lord was dwindling from the world, but now it was flickering with a never before seen intensity.

The reason for his tears of utmost joy, was not entirely the behaviour of the eternal flame, but of the small flickering ember that had split off from the flame and was blazing in the air beside it, and beside the small candlelight flame that already existed alongside the eternal flame.

The worshipper lowered his head, clasping his hands - which were scarred with burns - in front of him as he whispered in a trembling voice,

"Blessed be, Another child joins the flock."

***

FWOOOMSH!

Seth shielded his face with his hand as a tidal wave of heat assaulted him. The forge, which had been dormant a few moments ago, blazed to life of its own volition and roared with raging flames as if they were from the bowels hell.

The obsidian fragments, which Seth had meticulously laid out in the form of a body and even broke into smaller pieces to arrange pieces like a face or fingers, did not rise into the air like he had expected them to do.

Instead, they began to violently trembled and shake, dancing across the floor as if they were in the midst of an earthquake, before they began to melt. Their forms gave up on all semblance of solidity, as they dissolved into nothing more than a growing pool of absolute blackness.

Seth suddenly felt a tugging sensation deep within his soul, but it was not from the other fragments nor from the 'planet' to which they were attached. Before he could trace its origin, his journal manifested itself into the world with a flash of dazzling light.

It's spine creaked as it opened itself, its endless pages flickering as an unseen being rapidly skimmed through the entirety of the journal, as if they were searching for something in particular.

When the obsidian shards were fully melted, having pulled themselves together into a perfect circular puddle of pure black that surrounded the crystalline core, the invisible force seemed to find what it was looking for as the journal snapped open to a particular page.

Seth craned his neck forwards, curiosity getting the better of him as he focused his eyes on the page, and found it to be the very first page in his journal on blacksmithing.

Satisfied with its discovery and preparations, the crystal core slowly started to levitate. It lifted itself off the ground, only stopping when it reached chest height to Seth himself.

The page in the journal lifted slightly, as if the unseen force was about to turn the page, before it tore itself from the book instead. It was not alone in this. As soon as it was free from the confines of the journal, the next page tore itself free, then the next, and the next.

So on and so forth they went, every single page on blacksmithing he had collected tore themselves from his journal, even the ones he had yet to even glance at himself, as they flew around the room like a tornado of paper.

One by one, the pages slapped against the surface of the crystalline core, wrapping around it tight before being smothered by the next page. Layer after layer they formed, building upon the one beneath like Papier-mâché.

When the last page wrapped itself tight around the core, it was time for the blazing forge to finally play its part.

The flickering flames that had willed themselves to life leapt from the confines of the forge, swimming through the air like a fiery serpent, before pouring over the ball of Papier-mâché. Unsurprisingly, the ball immediately erupted into flames. The flames licking at the stacked paper and rapidly turning them into wisps of curling black ash.

When the flames reached the surface of the crystalline core, having eradicated every last semblance of Seth's accumulated knowledge, they did not extinguish themselves. Instead they grew in intensity, consuming the crystal at the centre as their colour began to shift.

He expected them to shift to the azure flame of every soul that he had seen, but they defied his expectations once more. Instead of azure, the flames shifted until they were blazing with the colour of resplendent gold.

The puddle of absolute blackness surged, lifting itself from the ground as it was drawn upwards. It moved as two pillars, which joined beneath the golden fire. It moved upwards as one, surrounding the flame which still burned brightly, until it completely engulfed it.

It was only at this point that Seth realised that it was moving in a way that was forming a body. First creating the legs, and now the torso.

The arms came next, forming either side of the torso simultaneously as five fingers manifested themselves at the end of the arms, before finally a head grew atop the obsidian torso. The head compressed inwards slightly, gorgeous features manifesting themselves into existence. Soft features, almost androgenous in their beauty, with a small mouth and button nose and eyes that were currently closed as if he was sleeping.

Although the body was built, the process didn't seem to be over just yet. In the middle of his chest, liquid gold manifested out of the obsidian black. Like a crucible of molten gold, it overflowed from the circle in his chest. Liquid gold spreading across the surface of his body like veins, splitting up the monochrome texture of his pure black body with dazzling gold.

Once the gold had covered his body like seams in a patchwork man, it poured out of the top of his head to form hair, which stood high to the sky and waved softly in a non-existent wind. As if the molten gold was also the flickering flames of his soul.

Finally, his eyes snapped open, showing that the sclera of his eyes were the same dazzling gold, while his iris' were the soul ensnaring obsidian black of the rest of his body, as he took a deep, gasping breath. His very first breathe.

He blinked softly, looking around the room scared and confused, like the true lost child he really was, before his gaze landed on Seth.

Seth smiled softly, like the proud father he truly was, as he placed his hand on his shoulder and gazed into his eyes.

"Welcome to the world, Titus Coleson."