The sound of heavy hammering. Metal against metal. Verge against verge woke him up.

The first flame of the Forge was already lit and Ying was already working.

Having fallen asleep after a gruesome and tiring night of constant and precise Infusion of Verge as Ying taught him.

Dean quickly got on his feet and dressed up. He walked to Ying’s side.

The man in question was bent over the unfinished blade of the previous night.

"You started without me."

"You’re awake," Ying said without raising his face. "I had to get ahead. There is still some work to do."

Dean didn’t doubt the man for a second. He was the professional after all. Dean sat on the nearby workbench to observe.

Still unfinished, the blade looked very different in daylight. Its surface looked like it was catching light and holding it in a prism surface.

The sunlight seemed to be caught between the inside of the blade and the outside.

"What is it made of?" Dean couldn’t help his curiosity.

"It’s crust steel," Ying replied between the loud sound of hammering. "It was retrieved from outside the walls and had been reinforced with condensed flux cores."

Dean nodded. With his brain fully awake now and after the brief insight from Ying. He decided to assist. This is his blade after all. Ying had made that clear last night and even now, Dean could still replay the words.

"A Gray heir’s blade is a reflection of its wielder."

’Time to put in the work.’ Dean thought as he picked up a hammer.

Noticing Dean, Ying smiled as he moved back from the blade.

Dean channeled verge through the hammer and hit the blade once and the recoil jolted through his right hand nearly sending the hammer flying.

"Hmph," Ying held back a chuckle. "It is as I told you, you have to infuse verge with the rhythm like your heartbeat."

Dean nodded, recalling the teachings from the previous night. As the fire at the forge crackled between them.

"We finish today," Ying ordered.

"Yes sir," Dean replied.

The duo worked in silence from that moment on. With Ying guiding his hand. Showing him other aspects like how to fold. How to temper and how to let the flux, steel and verge fuse in harmony.

At mid-day Dean’s hands were already burning. He took a deep breath even as beads of sweat lingered on his forehead.

The work was slow and extremely methodical. And they had gotten to a point where every process mattered.

Even as evening approached, Dean didn’t stop. He couldn’t. Not when he could finally see the vision.

And just at sun set. Ying raised the once crude blade that had became a sword. A [Haoken].

He couldn’t help but smile even as Dean stood opposite. Ying studied the blade. Though it was still unsharpened. It was now whole.

"Tomorrow," Ying looked at Dean. "We’ll present you to the family."

Dean nodded solemnly but he was grateful for Ying’s teaching.

***

A few minutes after sunset the once quiet and dull compound literally became a marketplace.

The cousins arrived first. About five of them came from his Uncle’s branch of the family.

Dean recognized a few from old memories but some others arrive that he couldn’t recall. Perhaps new faces.

After all, with three wives under his belt, his Uncle Ling was procreating like it was a religion.

Nessa ran to out first. Screaming and happy, she was so excited as she tackled one of the younger boys her age.

"You guys are late Milo..." she giggled excitedly as they rolled in the dirt together, laughing in their innocence. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Yuki on the other hand, stood by the door. A lot quieter like something was bothering her.

She might be able to hide it from others but Dean could see it. She wasn’t necessarily sad but her expression could tell Dean that something bothered her.

The adult members of the Gray household weren’t far behind. And though his uncle Ling wasn’t part of the entourage.

His three wives were. Brianna, Solace and Eva. All three came carrying gifts and food.

The dishes were wrapped in clothe but even that couldn’t stop the curls of steam that kept emerging.

Sooner rather than later, the little children counted to six. And they were running around the house like they owned it.

Actually they did. This was the family’s main compound. It was the home to any and every Gray.

While all this was happening, Ying was no where to be found. Since they finished in the forge...the man had disappeared leaving Dean and Yuki to attend to the rest of the family.

Dean was about to approach some of the familiar faces he recognized when one of the older cousins. Definitely older than him, maybe in his mid- twenties looked at him.

He moved close enough and smiled. "Dean," he said.

"He-y," he couldn’t even finish greeting him when the boy suddenly bowed.

It was done in a manner that felt far from casual even though this was one of the cousins he actually have memories of.

"Hey. Hey." Dean immediately gestured to straighten him up but before he could, the others bowed as well.

One by one until the kids who were playing stopped, to do the same.

Dean’s eyes widened in confusion. "What’s all this?.. Enough already," Dean said as he personally start lifting them up. "Welcome"

While all this happened. Ying had appeared in front of the door way, watching. Smiling.

They all headed inside. Those steamy meals weren’t going to eat themselves. And they needed to settle in for the event tomorrow.

With Yuki’s help, the other smaller buildings in the compound were allocated while some people staying in the main building.

About sixteen Grays had arrived and now they were all jam-packed in one of the halls for dinner.

At least that’s what Yuki and his uncle’s wives claimed it was. To Dean. It was a feast and the celebration had begun.

Plates flew up and down in the hall as the aroma of different delicacies cascaded in the air.

Voices over lapped one another, even as some one broke a glass cup and was banished to the realm of the motherly scoldings.

Dean just sat at the edge of the line, near the corner. He just watched and took everything in.

There was a feeling that hung in his chest.

A foreign feeling like nothing he had felt before.

This was it...

The one thing he had never had before. And never dreamed of.

This was family...