-Elder River-

  Elder River narrowed his eyes, trying to understand what angle Shadow Fist was getting at. He grimaced when he realized there were few valid responses to such a speech, so he gave the most neutral answer he could, to get a bit of time to think, “Your answer shows both wisdom and respect, though I must admit my surprise, would you really kill your own flesh and blood?”

  He inspected the boy, noting the blood that was covering the ground. Normally partakers in the abyssal chalice did not bleed. However, few of them were also silver devils. Not that he hadn’t seen them before. They tended to be swiftly killed by the temple.

  One boy had his kern awaken early and his parents had hidden him away in the woods. The Temple had killed the parents, but the boy had escaped. So they did survive from time to time.

  Shadow Fist finally answered, “It, it would cause great distress to me, but I did not gain my title because I put my emotions before the Caldera.”

  The boy froze at that statement. He had never seen this side of his father before. Elder River pitied him, no boy deserved to have his father threaten him like this. Tristan glanced over at his mother, but she was currently being restrained by her younger brother. That was a display that Elder Forest should be embarrassed by.

  “Good,” Elder River nodded solemnly, “Well then the verdict is, as his father, you must-“

  “Don’t presume to rule my family!” Elder Forest’s flaming hand was now pointed at Elder River, he had a stormy expression on his face, “Do believe that I serve you because you are old? Save me a few months of stress and go bury yourself.”

  Turning to the crowd Elder Forest raised his hands, “People of the Caldera! What do we know of silver devils?” He let the crowd murmur for a few moments, “We know they are dangerous because they have an average tier of three, and the highest we have seen was tier five! So when the Grand Ancestor spares one, we ignore the lesson and try to kill it. What do you think that lesson is?”

  Elder River grimaced when he saw the nod of approval Shadow Fist gave his brother-in-law. This whole fiasco was giving him a headache, his days of performance were behind him. He had been played, and he had known it, but there was nothing he could do about it.

  “The Grand Ancestor is greater than the silver curse. The gods have no reason to fear a silver devil. They vanquished a demon lord!” Elder Forest was riling up the crowd, they were nodding. Of course, a tier zero silver devil was no threat to the gods, “So what should be done with him?”

  Before the people could answer, Elder Forest whirled and jabbed a finger at Shadow Fist, “You shall care for the boy, he will be accessible to all, he is not to receive any healing for the wounds inflicted by the Grand Ancestor, and you are not allowed to use Caldera resources to care for him.”

  Elder Forest could not resist one final shot at Elder River, “Remember, the purpose of the Sifting. We gather, we sort, and we respect each other’s authority.”

  Elder River wanted to point out that those with metal kerns were traditionally executed, but two other Elders were nodding in agreement. A confrontation here would cause a scene that he frankly lacked the energy for. So he took the easy route out and gestured to have the boy removed. He grimaced when the boy went limp. Did he just faint in relief?

  -Shadow Fist-

  Shadow Fist picked up his son with little effort he was in the process of stepping off the platform when a hand fell on his shoulder. It was hot to the point of causing pain. He looked back to find his brother-in-law looking at him with disappointment.

  “We both know that I did not do this for you, or your spawn,” Elder Forest whispered, “I did this for my sister. You know what not using Caldera resources means, and I expect you to provide for her the quality of life expected of the head family.”

  The grip tightened, until Shadow Fist showed pain on his face, “I understand. Thank you for sparing my son’s life.”

  “Remember this, you owe me,” Elder Forest said, “A life for a life, or whatever you martial types always go on about.”

  He released Shadow Fist and stepped back up onto the stage. The pained expression dropped as soon as Elder Forest turned away. Darkness consumed everything, even fire, and it stopped him from getting burned. Shadow Fist hid a sneer behind a grateful expression and stepped into the crowd.

  As soon as he was off the stage, Helen was released. She shot through the people like a, well a frantic mother. Several people were shoved over in her speedy passage, which let her meet Shadow Fist just as he exited the gathering.

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  Helen took Tristan from her husband and cradled him, “Oh my baby, it’s all right, it’s all right. Mommy’s here.”

  Shadow Fist inspected his crippled son. He could tell that one of his lungs was damaged, though not in a way that could cause collapse. His experience getting into street fights told him that shouldn’t be possible. However, the Grand Ancestor was powerful, who knew what the ancient being was capable of.

  With one lung destroyed, his son would struggle to run and play with the other children, if they even would be willing to. He would most likely be confined to manual labor in the fields, working at a percentage of the pace of the normal workers. He grimaced, that was a sorry life.

  Shadow Fist sighed, “Looks like I will never be rid of you boy.”

  Glancing at the crowd of people, Shadow Fist grimaced. He needed to play up the example of the Grand Ancestor’s judgment. Slinging Tristan over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, he started marching home. This should be a good enough show for the bloodthirsty watchers in the crowd.

  “Shadow Fist!” Helen hissed at her husband. She tried to take Tristan back, but Shadow Fist caught her wrist and directed her away from her target, “Give him to me, that's no way to carry an injured boy?”

  Shadow Fist raised an eyebrow, then said loud enough for people to hear, “No this is exactly how you carry a Silver Devil!” Then more quietly, he muttered, “Just be glad the elders can’t stand each other, or I would be carrying a corpse right now.”

  Helen blanched at the statement. It hurt his heart to see her so sad, but it was better to have a living son than a happy wife. One could be fixed, the other was permanent.

  The sifting was around twenty-five miles away from the Forest Caldera. As soon as they were out of sight of the crowd, Shadow Fist switched how he carried Tristan, one arm below his legs and the other supporting his back. When they arrived at the Forest Caldera, Shadow Fist was getting concerned. Their tier two bodies shortened the trip to an eight-hour jog, but that was more than enough time for Tristan to wake up.

  Not everything could blamed on the Grand Ancestor, despite how easy it was. He was pulled out of his musings when the on-duty guard at the gate called out, “Hey, Shadow Fist, I heard you were going to the Sifting. How did your son do?”

  Shadow Fist restrained a groan. Keith was a guard with a tier one water kern, he had a great talent for two things. The spear and gossip. Shadow Fist used him to spread rumors and propaganda, so he was a great asset, just not while he was carrying his unconscious son.

  A brief urge to punch Kieth in his stupid smiling face rose in Shadow Fist. He quickly tamped the anger down, Keith did not deserve it and there were better places and people for him to vent on. Helen looked like her mind was traveling along similar lines.

  Taking a deep breath, Shadow Fist plastered on a fake smile and nodded, “It did not go well, Tristan was hurt on our trip. However, he did get an uncommon result.”

  Keith beamed, “I am so glad. Should I look forward to him getting a title like his father?”

  Shadow Fist suppressed a flinch, there was no way Tristan could get a positive title. It was even possible to say he already had one, as the only Silver Devil in the Caldera, the descriptor and him were synonymous.

  “We need to get going,” Shadow Fist said, cutting off the nosy guard before he could discover anything juicy to spread around.

  Fortunately for Tristan‘s parents Forest Caldera lived up to its name. Trees were heavily featured in the structure of the homes and the streets were lined with them. This made it relatively easy to get Tristan home without any more awkward encounters. The trees produced an ample amount of shade and Shadow Fist was best at moving unseen in shadows. With this method, it only took a few minutes to make it through the Forest Caldera and to their home.

  Their house was part of the clan's main ring. While the Warriors were off protecting the rim of the caldera from mythical beasts, the tier two clansmen would manage their affairs. This gave them access to special housing. In the center of Forest Caldera, the Elder’s mansion stood. Every new elder got the title of Forest, just as every other caldera elder got the name of their respective clan.

  Shadow Fist opened the door of their home and let his wife in before following. Like all managers, they had a home set into a ring around the Elder’s mansion. A tree formed the central support, and the home wrapped around it like a doughnut. Limestone slurry from the quarry in the Stone Caldera made the walls and thatch made up the roof.

  The interior of the building was separated into several rooms. A connected living room and kitchen with the doors to two bedrooms corner from the far side of that large room. The smaller of the two rooms belonged to Tristan and the larger to his parents. On the far side of the building, both bedrooms shared a bathroom. If seen from above, it would look like a pie cut into four differently-sized slices.

  Shadow Fist and Helen laid Tristan down on his bed. They discussed what to do about his results. They would do anything to salvage their son's future. However, Shadow Fist knew how he would treat another person who had the same traits as Tristan, so there was no way he could expect him to be treated as an equal by anyone.

  After hours of talking in circles, Tristan finally woke up. He coughed and ground. Shadow Fist could tell by the wheezing that the lung was still injured. He looked up and found both Shadow Fist and Helen standing in the doorway.

  “Please tell me that was just a dream,” He almost begged.

  Shadow Fist shook his head slowly, “If it was a dream, we’re all having the nightmare together.”

  He couldn’t imagine a worse scenario where no one died. Previously, the worst thing possible was a dark kern with tier zero potential. That was a fixable issue. This, well, Shadow Fist had no idea what to do, his normal methods would not work. No subtle threats, bribes, or public praise would change anything.

  Helen swooped in and pulled Tristan into her lap. However, he looked to his father, “What will happen to me? “

  Shadow Fist sighed, “First of all boy, I’m sorry for kicking you. I need to give the elders a certain impression so they would not execute you.”

  The relief that flashed across his son’s face was painful. He had thought that Shadow Fist would hurt him. He knew that he was not a gentle father, but he had strived to keep the best future for his son in mind.

  “I know, “ Tristan put his face in his hands, “ how am I supposed to do anything? Everyone is going to hate me.”

  Shadow Fist chuckled darkly,” Well, that’s an easy enough problem to solve,” Tristan looked up, confused, “Nobody truly cares about anybody else. What people care about is the value that you have and how they can add that value to themselves.”

  Tristan still looked confused, so Shadow Fist expounded, “ People value me because I have certain skills. I am not overly powerful for a dark kern, I just had the correct attitude to use the skills that I had. We just have to find something that you can do that no one else can. Which should not be an issue, as you were the only person in the entire Caldera with a metal kern.”

  Shadow Fist carefully watched as hope entered Tristan’s expression. His metal affinity was weak, as weak as it possibly could be. However, that was better than everyone else with their standard kerns.

  What Shadow Fist neglected to mention was that the place he needed to add his value had to be outside any of the six Calderas. Any location with a temple would brand anyone accepting his service as a traitor.