The village smelled like bread and candle wax
on ceremony days.
Very holy.
Very meaningful.
Very much the same smell as the bakery
that was thirty feet from the ceremony ground.
But sure. Holy.
I'd been standing at the back of the crowd
for two hours watching kids I grew up with
get their futures handed to them
one at a time like the universe
was running a very slow customer service desk.
Dara got Healer.
She cried.
Her mother grabbed her.
Everyone clapped.
Beautiful. Moving. Next.
Pell got Merchant.
Pumped his fist.
Tried to look humble.
Failed completely.
Everyone clapped anyway.
Next.
Soen got Farmer.
His face did nothing.
His father put a hand on his shoulder.
That was it.
Everyone clapped out of obligation.
Next.
They save the nervous ones for last.
The theory is the crowd's good mood
will rub off on you.
I'd been standing here for two hours.
I had not absorbed any good mood.
I had absorbed approximately forty minutes
of other people's relief
and developed a detailed mental catalogue
of everyone in this village
who was going to have a better night than me.
The Elder called my name.
I walked up.
Elder Croft.
Tall. Grey temples. Clean hands.
The face of a man who had made
a lot of difficult decisions
and found all of them very reasonable.
He held the orb out.
I looked at it.
Apple-sized. Glowing faintly.
It had done this a hundred times tonight.
It didn't care about any of us.
I respected that about it.
It touched my chest.
For one second — nothing.
Then it glowed black.
The Elder dropped it.
The orb hit the stone
and rolled to the edge of the platform
and sat there still faintly pulsing
like it was waiting for someone
to come collect it.
Nobody moved.
The crowd went silent
in the specific way crowds go silent
when something happens
that the social script doesn't cover.
I looked down at the words
only I could see:
[ROLE ASSIGNED: VILLAIN]
[PURPOSE: Destroy. Betray. Bring Ruin.]
[SPECIAL TRAIT: The world will fear you
before you earn it.]
I read it twice.
Then I looked up.
My mother was in the third row.
Was.
Past tense, because by the time I found her face
she was already on step two of
quietly removing herself from the situation.
The crowd parted for her automatically —
that specific unconscious shuffle
of people who don't want
to be associated with something.
She made it to the edge of the torchlight.
She didn't look back.
She walked into the dark between the buildings
and became someone who used to be my mother.
I kept my face completely still.
That was the part I was proud of later —
not the system, not the ability,
just that my face didn't move
while I watched her go.
A ten year old with a Villain Role
and apparently excellent muscle control.
The Elder had not picked up the orb.
He was looking at me
the way you look at a problem
you're about to make someone else's.
I smiled at him.
Pleasant. Calm.
The smile of a child who is definitely not a problem.
"Thank you for my Role," I said.
My voice came out steady.
I was a little impressed with myself.
"I'll make good use of it."
Then I stepped off the platform
and walked back through the crowd
and everyone made room
and I thought:
funny how that works.
An hour ago I was just the nervous kid
at the back.
Now I'm something they step away from
before they've even figured out why.
The Role hadn't changed me.
The orb hadn't done anything to me
except read what was already there.
What changed was the label.
I filed that away
because it seemed like the kind of thing
that would be useful later.
I made it about forty feet
before the voice.
"Boy."
From my left.
The Church runner was back.
Faster than I expected.
Next to him was an older man —
darker robes, black hem,
the specific patience of someone
who has never once not gotten what he came for.
The system didn't make me wait.
[NEW TARGET DETECTED]
[CHURCH LIAISON DOVA]
[CRIME: ORDERED EXECUTION OF 4 DARK ROLE
CHILDREN THIS YEAR]
[CRIME: RECORDED DEATHS AS NATURAL CAUSES]
[CRIME: ACCEPTED PAYMENT FOR EACH]
[PERSONAL RECORD: ONE SON. AGE 9.
CEREMONY IN 11 MONTHS.]
I read the last line twice.
Dova was looking at me
the way exterminators look at things.
Professional. Unbothered.
A task to be completed before dinner.
I thought about four children.
I thought about natural causes.
I thought about how clean his hands looked.
Then I opened my mouth.
"Liaison Dova," I said pleasantly.
"Your son's ceremony is in eleven months."
He blinked.
"I hope the orb likes him,"
I said.
"I really do."
The silence that followed
was the best silence I'd ever produced.
Dova stood completely still.
Not frozen-by-magic still —
just the stillness of a man
who has spent twenty years
making sure he's never on the wrong side
of a conversation like this
suddenly finding himself
on the wrong side of a conversation like this.
The runner looked at Dova.
Dova looked at me.
I smiled at him —
the same pleasant, calm smile
I'd given the Elder —
and walked around him
and into the dark.
[ABILITY UNLOCKED: LEVERAGE]
[DESCRIPTION: TARGETS EXPOSED TO THEIR OWN CRIMES
EXPERIENCE TEMPORARY PARALYSIS OF WILL]
[DURATION: SCALES WITH GUILT]
[NOTE: DOVA HAS A LOT OF GUILT]
Behind me I heard the runner
say something in a low voice.
Dova didn't answer.
I kept walking.
I was ten years old.
I had a Role, an ability, and apparently
the capacity to make grown men
stand completely still in the dark
by reminding them
they have children too.
The system was quiet.
Almost satisfied.
I decided I was going to be
very good at this.