The last wisps of golden flames danced in the air before fading completely, every trace of the Dwarven Giant having been burnt away so that not even ash or cinders remained. With a single clap of his hands, the golden rune behind Seth expanded and roared across the entirety of the endless Abyss until there was nothing but golden flames surrounding them.

They devoured the darkness, eating away at it until it revealed what hid beneath. The dazzling, glowing planet of his broken soul core. He had never left it.

It was simply a fault of his own hubris. He had tried to absorb a remnant soul of a powerful being he had defeated from the times of the Shattering. He had been lucky the first time, killing it with an exploding mana core, even if it did send him tumbling into that hellish Terminal realm.

He had been lucky this time too, only finally seeing through the illusion with the help of some external force. It was that external source that was still in control. Seth hadn't had control of his body, or whatever this was inside his Soul Abyss, ever since he caught the axe.

As the flames cleansed his soul of the darkness, returning it to it's vibrant azure light once more, Seth's 'body' floated down until his feet touched against an invisible floor. The flames in his eyes leapt outwards, with even more pouring from his throat like he was finally breathing fire.

When they were finished exiting his body, Seth nearly fell to the floor, overcome with a sudden bout of weakness as all the pain and damage from the 'Soul fight' flooded back into him in an instant.

In front of him, the flames that exited him swirled together, forming a humanoid figure of pure golden flames. They floated there, staring at Seth's battered 'body' with a completely blank expression, as his face was devoid of any features.

Yet even without a mouth, he spoke. His voice so soothing that just hearing it actually made Seth's pain dull considerably. It's dulcet tones brought with it the feeling of resting in front of a crackling hearth in the depths of winter, a comforting warmth you could lose yourself in.

"The Soul Weaver will free me."

"Wh-who are you? Are you the... what did she call it, the Progenitor?"

The flaming figure bobbed in the air, gazing at him silently with it's non-existent face. Instead of answering him, it simply raised its hand and pointed it towards Seth.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry? Sorry for wh-"

A candle sized flame manifested in the golden figures palm, launching forward and catching Seth in the chest while he was speaking. It slammed into him, knocking the wind from his lungs, despite the fact this wasn't even a real body, and sent him shooting backwards.

The figure receded into the distance as he flew, the small flame pushing against his chest like a rocket engine, until the figure disappeared from view completely as Seth was forced out of his Soul Abyss and back into his true body.

***

"What's going on with him, Is this supposed to happen?"

Astra turned to Julius, who was crouched to the side, watching the events unfold with rapt attention. She couldn't read his expression, he had no mouth and four fully black insectoid eyes were impossible to find emotion in, but by the way he was knitting his hands together, it seemed he was nervous.

"I don't know. It's not an exact science and there are... unexpected variables added."

Astra clicked her tongue at the words written next to her head, before whipping her head back to Seth's floating body. He was still suspended in the air, hands cupping the roaring azure flame that had entirely consumed and absorbed the remnant soul of the Giant Dwarf.

Of course, she was unaware of everything that had transpired within Seth, the only allusions to it being his constant spasming body and the groans of pain escaping from his lips.

'I swear, If you die on me, I'll kill you. Why does he always have to be such an idiot?'

His eyes suddenly snapped open, golden light pouring from his eye sockets. He opened his mouth to cry out, but only another stream of golden light erupted from his mouth. The Dragon beside Astra shuddered at the sight, mumbling softly under her breath.

"It can't be... Why... Why would He...?"

Narrowing her eyes at the muttering, Astra gave a suspicious look towards the lizard before focusing back on the events that were unfolding. The waves of powerful mana were only growing stronger, especially after the golden light erupted.

All she could do was stand there, with standing the onslaught of waves that tried to force here away, small sparks of electricity crackling around her arms as she prepared herself for anything. But just standing here, it just made her feel so utterly useless. A most loathsome feeling.

As quick as it came, the golden light disappeared and with it so did the pressure that was assualting them. The azure flame in front of Seth, which had been idle for so long, quickly floated its way over to the set of armour before disappearing behind the breastplate.

The armour shook violently, sounding like the contents of a cutlery drawer had been poured into a blender, as it reshaped itself. It clattered and grew, the metal forcibly stretching itself out as the previously basic European knight design warped into something new.

What had been a tiny slit in the helmet, to protect the wearers eyes from being attacked by arrows, ballooned outwards and shrunk in the middle. The metal shifted, until the eye slide had taken the form of two separate eye holes, narrowed like they were expressing a permanent scowl.

The grill to cover the mouth, and which could previously flip upwards to allow the wearer access to their face, melded into the helmet and lost its hinge. The vertical slits fused together, forming a single solid chunk of metal. All that was left was a single line, where the new horizontal line formed what could be viewed as a mouth with jagged teeth.

Just as the armour had finished shifting, now standing at a towering 8 foot tall, black globules started to form on Seth's skin. They rose from within, forcing their way through his skin pours like he was sweating out his impurities.

But while that is what it might seem like to someone unfamiliar to Seth, Astra had seen that thick, viscous liquid before. Seth's blood forced its way out of his skin, pooling in an undulating, slimy basketball sized sphere that hovered in the air between his hands. It took the place of the azure flame, rapidly growing in size as more and more of his blood was pulled from his body.

As soon as the final droplet lifted from his skin and joined the orb, Seth's body unceremoniously dropped from the air and crumpled to the ground like a rag doll. Julius quickly hurried over to his Father, cradling his head gently and brushing his hair from his face.

"Is he alive?"

"Yes. His heart beat is weak, but he lives."

Astra nodded softly, only briefly taking her eyes off the goo orb to look at Julius' answer, before going back to watching it like a hawk. Her fingers wrapped tightly around hilt of the new blade on her hip, slowly drawing it in preparation.

Sparks crackled around her arms and lit up her eyes, which were still staring down the ominous glob of cursed blood.

The orb stayed hovering there, uncaring of Astra's wariness or the threat she posed. After a few painstaking seconds, it launched itself towards the armour and splattered against its chest plate. The black blood immediately went to work, crawling over every inch of the glimmering, polished silver armour and diluting it's glamour.

Once every inch was covered, the blood was drawn into the armour like water into a sponge, the metal greedily absorbing the liquid until not a single drop remained.

One would expect the armour would have turned black, but instead it was a deep grey and looked like it had stepped straight out of an old black and white movie.

The armour shuddered one last time, before the thick clomping boots touched down onto the ground. It stood, hunched over and head bowed, before a glimmer of light appeared behind it's helmet.

A pair of crimson flames erupted to life within the eye sockets, the flames licking at the edge of the metal plates as the armour slowly straightened up properly.

The helmet turned slowly, it's crimson eyes taking in the content of the room. It lingered on Seth and Julius for a few moments, before turning to Astra. It tilted its head, like a lost puppy, before stomping over to her.

Every step shook the ground beneath her, and when it stood before her she had to crane her neck up to look at it's helmet face.

As it it approached, she clutched her sword tighter, getting ready to strike. But instead of attacking her, it bent down and touching its index fingers together, like a nervous child. A deep and reverberating voice, one that rung within its hollow body, emanated from the armour.

"Are you my Mummy?"