Cinder's gaze lingered on the glowing screen of the chat group.
[Cinder]: I'll be back later. Got something important to do.
He typed simply, then closed the window. Something vast was responding to their presence.
Then, it started.
One by one, his children—their actions and natures—were recognized and condensed into Spirit Status and Gifts.
The one born from the Black Flame was first.
Spirit Status: The Shade of Forgotten Existence.
Gift: Sovereignty over the Bats of Shadow, able to summon, command, and embody the power of erasure, fading things from memory and presence.
The one born from the Death Flame followed.
Spirit Status: The Keeper of Passing Wings.
Gift: Dominion over the Crows of Bone, granting free passage between life and death and the authority to guide wandering souls.
The one born from the Deathblight Flame stirred next.
Spirit Status: The Eye of Inevitable End.
Gift: Mastery of the Eyes of Deathblight, capable of forcing others to perceive their destined demise.
The one born from the Omen Flame was marked.
Spirit Status: The Thorned Cursebearer.
Gift: Command over the Cats of Omen, able to bestow curses of deprivation and denial.
The one born from the Ghostflame shimmered softly.
Spirit Status: The Resting Flame.
Gift: Authority over the Hawks of Ghostlight, guardians that harbor the dead in peace and shield them from torment.
The one born from the Blue Flame danced with shifting hues.
Spirit Status: The Twinfang of Spell and Beast.
Gift: Control of the Blue Wolves, beings that blur the line between sorcery and nature, half-spell, half-creature.
The one born from the Magic Flame pulsed.
Spirit Status: The Weaver of Living Arcana.
Gift: Command of the Spirits of Magic, sustaining and shaping the very current of sorcery.
The one born from the Holy Flame spread its countless wings.
Spirit Status: The Hundred-Eyed Seraph.
Gift: Dominion over the Cubes of Purity, cleansing corruption and enforcing sacred order.
The one born from the Dragon Flame roared.
Spirit Status: The Burning Drakeheart.
Gift: Authority over the Drakes of Wrathfire, stirring fury and unleashing burning storms of primal rage.
The one born from the Chaos Flame seethed.
Spirit Status: The Corrupter of Shapes.
Gift: Power over the Demons of Chaosflame, who twist, remake, and degrade all they touch.
The one born from the Profaned Flame uncoiled.
Spirit Status: The Infinite Devourer.
Gift: Command of the Pythons of Profanity, serpents whose growth and hunger know no bounds.
The one born from the Taker's Flame howled.
Spirit Status: The Hyena of Stolen Breath.
Gift: Dominion over the Hyenas of Drainlife, feeding on vitality and hollowing their prey.
The one born from the Bloodflame surged crimson.
Spirit Status: The Shark of Living Blood.
Gift: Authority over the Bloodsharks, predators that dissolve into blood and wear their prey as vessels.
The one born from the Rot Flame writhed.
Spirit Status: The Pestilent Brood.
Gift: Mastery of the Rot Insects, plague-carriers spreading decay wherever they swarm.
The one born from the Gelmir Flame glowed molten.
Spirit Status: The Greed-Eyed Ram.
Gift: Control of the Lava Rams, whose gaze infects mortals with endless greed.
The one born from the Flame of Perdition prowled.
Spirit Status: The Panther of Forgotten Paths.
Gift: Dominion over the Panthers of Perdition, hunters that consume memory, erasing themselves from recollection.
The one born from the Messmerflame coiled.
Spirit Status: The Serpent of Endless Rebirth.
Gift: Power over the Serpents of Living Fire, creatures that heal and renew as long as flame endures.
The one born from the Flames of Slumber yawned dreamily.
Spirit Status: The Dreamtender Pixie.
Gift: Authority over the Pixies of Slumber, who dwell in dreams and shape them to guide or torment.
The one born from the Flame Lightning crackled.
Spirit Status: The Stormscale.
Gift: Dominion over the Storm Lizards, masters of thunder and tempest.
Each child now bore both Spirit Status and Gifts.
And then, it came to him.
His status was not born from one flame, but from all, and from the act of creation itself.
Spirit Status: The Creator of Flaming Division.
Gifts:
Authority of Creation — the power to birth worlds and weave myths into living form.
Authority of Balance — mastery over division and wholeness, the capacity to separate, to fuse, and to guide existence toward its destined shape.
Cinder stood there, his children gathered close. Until now, they were magnificent. They had created life, they had brought forth their own species, yet they themselves remained nameless.
It was time to change that.
He lifted his hand, flame spiraling in his palm.
"With your names, you will take your true forms."
The first stepped forward, the colossal shadow of the Black Flame. Its body of smoke and writhing tendrils flickered hungrily, dotted with burning embers. Cinder's voice rang:
"You will be Noctis, lord of shadow and forgotten flame."
The column of smoke shifted, reshaping into a towering figure of black iron and smoldering wings, a living echo of the shadow-bats it had birthed.
Next, the sphere of skeletal fire drifted close, its jagged spires burning black and crimson.
"You will be Thanis, herald of the final flame."
The fire cracked apart, forming a cloaked figure of bone and ash, crows of fire circling its shoulders, their wings whispering of death.
The yellow-and-black smoke of mouths and eyes hissed forward.
"You will be Morbus, plague of end and blight."
It collapsed into a cloaked figure, pale and rotting, with eyes peering through a decayed mask and wings dripping with frost and rot.
The tower of ash and sigils shuddered.
"You will be Augur, omen of flame and curse."
Its body solidified into molten armor, scars glowing with ember-light, thorned cats curling at its feet while shifting runes glowed across its chest.
The spectral Ghostflame drifted as a cold wind.
"You will be Lethis, guardian of the departed."
It condensed into a pale knight, clad in ghostly fire. Spirit hawks circled above it, each feather a resting soul.
The swirling vortex of blue flame sparked erratically.
"You will be Azuron, stormfire seer."
Its form coalesced into a lithe, robed figure surrounded by spell-wolves, half real, half woven of magic.
The cube of arcane fire spun endlessly, folding in on itself.
"You will be Arkanis, weaver of sorcery."
It unfolded into a crystalline figure, its body alive with streams of raw energy, magic spirits hovering like familiars.
The golden flame of radiance descended, its rings shifting.
"You will be Solenne, sanctity's flame."
Wings of fire unfurled, countless eyes opening upon them, while cubes of light hovered like scripture around her form.
The molten serpent hissed, coils blazing.
"You will be Pyrrhos, dragonlord of flame."
It stood tall as a draconic warrior, drakes with burning blood at its side, fire curling from its fangs.
The fractal chaos flame split apart, unable to stay still.
"You will be Kairon, chaos unbound."
Its body twisted into a shifting figure with countless limbs, demons crawling from its skin only to sink back into the fire.
The crimson fire bound in chains writhed.
"You will be Veythos, the profaned flame."
Chains cracked, revealing a knightly form wrapped in serpents of devouring fire, its hands still bound with burning shackles.
The skeletal tendrils of dark fire slithered close.
"You will be Nekros, taker of breath and soul."
It took the shape of a gaunt figure with ribs hollow and burning, hyenas of shadow circling it hungrily.
The thick, molten bloodflame pulsed.
"You will be Sanguis, blood of the flame."
Its body formed into a crimson warrior, veins of liquid fire glowing under his skin, sharks of blood circling at his command.
The festering rot-flame writhed, insects crawling within it.
"You will be Sepsis, rot incarnate."
It shaped into a hunched figure, its arms seething with plague-beetles and flies that hissed as they spread rot.
The lava mountain of Gelmir flame rumbled.
"You will be Gelrak, firehorn of the deep earth."
Its form became a horned giant of magma, molten rams at his side, eyes burning with molten greed.
The pale perdition flame flickered faintly.
"You will be Nullis, perdition's hunter."
It became a sleek panther of skeletal flame, its claws erasing whatever they grazed.
The serpentine Messmerflame slithered forward.
"You will be Messara, serpent of unending fire."
Her body coiled into a regal figure, serpents of living fire wrapped around her arms, hissing and whispering in harmony.
The lavender flame of dreams drifted like a cloud.
"You will be Somniel, dreamtide flame."
It stretched into a graceful, willowy form with half-lidded eyes, pixies of flame fluttering from its robes.
The storm of lightning flame crackled.
"You will be Voltaris, storm-born flame."
Its body shaped into a bronze-scaled warrior, lightning-lizards crawling across his shoulders, every step sparking arcs of thunderfire.
Cinder looked at them, his gaze steady, warm.
"You are my children. Burn bright and do your father proud."