Tristan was roughly shaken awake. He groaned, his chest still hurt. Memories of the previous day would have rushed back if he had not been picked up and dropped.

  “It's time for your apprenticeship,” Shadow Fist said impatiently.

  Rushing to get his feet beneath him, Tristan landed successfully, “Why, no one is going to want to teach me.”

  Shadow Fist tossed him some bread and a buttered potato wrapped in a cloth to keep it warm, “There is still a chance, and it’s not a chance you can pass up.”

  That was true. Tristan was not flush with options. What was the worst thing that could happen, no one wanted him. All he would lose was his morning.

  “Take these,” Shadow Fist tossed a pair of crutches to Tristan.

  As his hands were full of food, he failed to catch them. Sighing at his father’s antics, Tristan shoved the bread into his mouth and picked up the crutches. His legs were fine, making the crutches irrelevant. At least that was what he thought until he used them.

  He could breathe again. Without the weight of his body pushing down on his injured lung, the throbbing pain subsided. It still hurt, but he was no longer fighting an uphill battle against the pain.

  Shadow Fist gestured for Tristan to follow and left for the Forest Caldera’s sifting grounds. Twenty minutes later, he was lined up with all the other new teens. Every Caldera had sifting grounds, which was a miniature version of the one that they had their kerns read at yesterday.

  The teens were restless, standing still in a vacant dirt field was not something teenagers were skilled at. Tristan was happy to have the chance to eat his potato in peace.

  They did not have to wait long. Soon enough the entire manager caste started arriving. There were quite a few, and Tristan knew most of them. His parents interacted with them quite a bit during their work.

  Tristan frowned when he realized there were two faces he did not recognize. One was from the warrior caste, his red robe and silver half plate armor gave that away. The other contrasted strongly with the warrior.

  While the warrior was tall and heavily muscled, the other was short and thin. The warrior wore high quality clothes, and the other man had a straw hat and a laborer's getup with reinforced knees. Finally, the warrior was alert while the other appeared bored.

  Tristan understood that someone needed to take the new tier threes in hand and train them. He was a bit jealous of them. Glancing down the line he inspected his more likely prospects. There was Manager Vera Ren, who ran the postal service. Even with his injury, mail should be easy enough to deliver.

  His Father stood next to Vera. It was unlikely that he would be recruited into the Caldera’s policing force. Tristan’s hope dwindled when he realized that every single one of the jobs required physical strength in one way or another.

  Tristan’s thoughts were interrupted when Elder Forest walked onto the field. The gathering quieted as the event was about to get underway. He was dressed in the dark red and forest green livery of the Forest Caldera and held the staff that was a sign of his office. It was a powerful artifact, though Tristan was unaware of what it could do.

  Elder Forest stood tall inspecting the new teens. When his eyes landed on Tristan, he grimaced, like he had eaten something sour. Several of the other managers attempted to look solemn and ended up somewhere between angry and bored. Most of the managers here had already selected the apprentices they were willing to take on, making today little more than a formality.

  Elder Forest smiled and clapped his hands together, “I’m not Elder River, so I’m not going to bore you all with a three hour speech about duty and honor. Will you uphold your duty to the Caldera?”

  “Yeah,” came the sleepy response from all the teens.

  “Three hour speech it is,” Elder Forest smiled.

  The second response was so loud that it echoed off the surrounding buildings. An old woman cursed at them, something about the sun not being up yet. No one wanted to be here for three hours.

  “Glad to hear it,” Elder Forest said, “So here’s what is going to happen. I am going to call you up one by one and you will have a few minutes to convince these managers to take you as an apprentice. You can reject their acceptance. This is what you will be doing for the next four years, and if you pay attention, you should be self-sufficient at that time. For those who don’t get selected, you’ll have to find your own way.”

  Tristan grimaced at the words. Glancing at the end of the line where a temple acolyte stood, he realized just how slim his chances of getting accepted were. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he settled himself.

  Shadow Fist had said he needed to capitalize on his talent. He almost laughed. The only reason he was alive was due to how pitiful his talent was. Still, he was the only person in the Caldera with a metal kern. A kern he had no idea how to use.

  If Tristan could leverage his affinity, he had several possible paths. He could work with the crafters, as many of them worked with metal implements. Smithing might be a good option, a metal affinity could be useful there. Maybe a bank would want him, he might be able to spot counterfeit currency. The narrowed eyes of the acolyte made him uneasy.

  “Are you excited?” a young, female voice said from beside him.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Tristan jumped and nearly shouted in fright. Turning, he found Harp standing next to him. Looking into her eyes he shivered a little bit, would she still be his friend after today? She had most likely seen everything that happened yesterday.

  He put on a brave face and shrugged, “No, I’m more scared. I don’t know what’s gonna happen. What about you?”

  Harp nodded,” I’m basically guaranteed to be working in the fields. I got both of my parent's affinities for light and dark, so I’m going to be skilled with plants,“ She made a face, “The dark affinity is going to make me better with mushrooms.”

  She had an uncertain expression. Like she wanted to ask something, but was unsure of the consequences of speaking. Tristan would not be surprised if her parents had told her to stay away from him.

  Tristan distracted himself with her previous statement, “Will getting opposing affinities cause problems?”

  He was legitimately worried about his friend. Kerns would affect one's physical growth. Things like eye color, hair color, height, weight, and muscle mass could be influenced by an affinity. Tristan had never heard of any negative traits, but he had also never heard of an opposing dual kern.

  Harp’s answer was interrupted when Elder Forest started calling names, “Hasting, son of Burning Fan, you have a tier three kern, you go with Warrior Jerrik.”

  Forest started with the most prominent members of the community. That would be the warrior's children. They were not all born with tier three kerns however the ramparts, were dangerous, and it paid well to kill mythical beasts. Most warriors could raise their children to tier three in time.

  After the warriors came the managers. Normally it went by prominence, meaning that Tristan would be called up first. As part of the head family, he should have been called up before the warriors were. Tristan could only clench his fists and bear the indignity as Harp was called forward.

  Harp hesitated, glancing at Tristan uncertainly. He put a hand on her back and pushed her forward. No need for her to be humiliated for his sake.

  “Harp, daughter of our dear Light Weaver, please come forward.” Elder Forest said with a slight smile.

  Harp smiled sadly and squeezed Tristan‘s arm, “Good luck.” She then turned and made her way through the gathering to the stage.

  Forest gestured to an older man with greying hair, “ You will be going with Manager Clive Senior, treat your grandfather well. He needs the help with the fields.”

  Harp nodded and went to stand with the other thirteen-year-olds behind her grandfather. So she had been right about her future. That gave Tristan a little bit of hope for himself. He knew most of the managers, with the exception of the man with the straw hat and the warrior. All of them were results oriented people, he just had to sell himself well enough.

  Several other managers and children were called up and people were starting to look over at him. Shadow Fist was one of the most prominent managers, successful at everything he put his hand to, and well liked by the people. Tristan, not being called up, could be seen as an insult to his father. Tristan clenched his fists, that was probably the goal, Shadow Fist lacked a qualified lineage. Elder Forest was more than happy to use his own brother-in-law as a scapegoat for a silver devil being born into the head family.

  Once all the managers were done, Forest moved on to the workers. Tristan still had not been called up. He just stood there on his crutches as the group around him dwindled. And finally, after the old drunkard’s son was called up. It was Tristan’s turn.

  Tristan expected to be called forward just like everyone else. Unfortunately, his uncle had different plans. He stepped forward and placed his hand on Tristan’s shoulder.

  His uncle’s eyes were devoid of warmth. Tristan wanted to back away, this man holding him by the shoulder might as well be a stranger. When he tried to take that step back, Elder Forest’s grip tightened.

  “Today young men, and women. We have a special lesson for you all,” Elder Forest’s voice was pitched to travel as far as possible, this was a show to him, “Today we have our first citizen who has a metal kern.”

  Most of the teens didn’t seem to care. True they had been told to fear the servants of the Silver Demon Lord with metal powers. However, they had also lived in entire lives, knowing Tristan. The emotion the temple promoted was fear, the best his peers mustered was curiosity.

  The adults were a different story. They narrowed their eyes and stared suspiciously at Tristan. None of them would meet Tristan’s eyes, and a few stepped away from Shadow Fist. Adults it seemed looked at the world more cynically, they were ready to believe that someone they watched grow up could be a monster.

  “Normally, death is immediately inflicted upon the Silver Devils, however, our Grand Ancestor saw fit to let him live. He is to be an example of the dominance of the Caldera over the enemy,” Elder Forest was not giving out any new information. All the teens had been there yesterday, and the managers would have heard through normal gossip channels, “I won’t force any of you to take him, so don’t worry. His purpose is to be an example, to be seen, and nothing more.”

  Tristan winced at his uncle’s words. He had a rudimentary understanding of politics and could comprehend why Elder Forest needed to distance himself from Tristan. Having a cursed child in the family, especially as an heir, was very bad for his public image.

  Despite knowing this, his uncle’s next actions took him by surprise. Elder Forest grabbed a crutch and pulled it out from under his arm. Tristan stumbled forward. There wasn’t anything wrong with his legs however, the sudden pressure on his lungs made it hard to breathe. The pain spiked badly enough to make Tristan want to collapse. The Elder obliged him.

  Placing a hand on Tristan’s back he shoved him forward. Unable to keep his balance, he fell to the ground. It was easier to breathe on the ground, there was less pressure. There was still pain, but it hurt his heart more than his body.

  “Will anyone take the Silver Devil?” Elder Forest from where he loomed over Tristan.

  “I will,” A voice said.

  Tristan looked up in surprise. Someone would take him, his father had been right. Joy turned to fear when he saw the acolyte striding towards him with a vindictive smile plastered to his face.

  “We could make use of this…” The acolyte paused, looking for the correct word, “Example.”

  Tristan scrambled back, stopping only because he bumped into his uncle, “I refuse. I don’t want to go with you.”

  Elder Forest shook his head, “You’re an example, a devil, not a person. You don’t get to refuse.”

  Tristan looked around frantically for help. His father was clenching his fists so hard that blood ran down and dripped off his knuckles. Shadow Fist glanced to his right and Tristan followed his eyes.

  “I will take him,” the man Shadow Fist was glancing at stepped forward.

  Tristan immediately yelled, “I accept!”

  The man with the straw hat strode forward and knelt before Tristan. He looked different than anyone else that Tristan had ever seen before. Slanted crimson eyes, and hair that was black, but with a reddish sheen when the sun hit it. This man could be worse than the acolyte, but at the moment Tristan would be willing to take any chance.

  “You can’t,” Elder Forest started.

  “He can’t refuse,” The man with the straw hat said, “Be a consistent ruler, or don’t be one at all. Your subjects need to know how to serve.”

  The words were quiet, only Tristan and Elder Forest heard. Still, it was enough to cause the Elder to hold his objection.

  “Fine, he goes to the mine then,” Eder Forest said to the disappointment of the acolyte before stomping away.