I walked into the shrine room. Inside was a large piece of obsidian partially submerged inside a shallow pool of water. Surrounding said piece was about twenty people who had expressions from hatred to indifference to something more bloodthirsty.

“Please step forward." A priest looked up at me and back down at a list. He spoke with so little enthusiasm I was amazed he was even chosen for this. “Following the Frank Opera House’s choice, is the choice of the knight’s order. Please step into the water. No, you will not drown, it's ankle deep. Yes, we have done this before. No, the reason why such a formation works for the first choice is still a secret. Yes, we will also see what options are available for you through a mirror. No, you may not choose a choice before we decide on one. Yes, choosing an option other than the one we picked is punishable by death. I will assume you have no questions so please step forward.”

I walked into the water to the obsidian stone and placed my hand on its cool surface. Ghostly words floated in front of me.

Earthen spellsword

Great swordsman

Cavalryman

The bottom two I understood. I had taken care of some horses for mounted units when I was still learning the sword. I hadn’t gotten much practice, so unconsciously doing the right thing when riding horses would cut down the time needed to be effective. Great swordsman was likely because I lived my life swinging a sword. I would be nearly perfect in basic swordsmanship just by choosing this. The first one had me completely stumped.

“The church believes that giving him a horse would be a waste of resources. Animals would be too easy to kill, cost a lot to take care of, and the cost of replacing them would be better spent on replacements for when a member of the main team inevitably dies.”

Another voice behind me continued the conversation. “This is the most promising example of someone accustomed to wearing armor. We should continue the conversation with the assumption that he is going to be partnered with some of the other first choices of ours.”

“Seconded.”

“Agreed.”

“Think we can get the thief kid to die under his watch? It would make everything so much neater for us.”

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“He wouldn’t protect the boy, even when defending the kid he didn’t seem concerned with him.”

A few conversations like those were going on around me. They didn’t even whisper when talking about me in front of me. I wanted to pick one and be done with it, but they had already warned me what that entitled. I tapped my foot, sending ripples through the small pool.

“He has already shown that he doesn’t understand what he is implied to do”

“The others will help him learn his place.”

I wanted to speak out in protest, but doing so when they had just insulted me for speaking out was hard.

A merchant in front of me spoke up. “Given the thief is loved by the wind, and the prince is primarily fire based, let’s give him the spellsword path. As long as we find someone associated with water we can explain away why we took that thief into the team.”

They broke down into multiple conversations again. I tapped my hearing a few people protest that they needed a dedicated person for taking enemies head on.

I heard the prince's voice while everyone was still arguing.“We have decided your future for the hero’s team, you are to become an Earthen spellsword.” I wasn't sure how it was decided, since quite a few were still discussing.

I felt the color drained from my face as my dream was shattered. I didn't even know any magic. I couldn't believe what I was about to do. I forced my lips not to tremble as I spoke aloud the path. “Earthen spellsword”. With that, it was done. I turned and walked away before asking if I could. My dream just got shattered, I wasn’t going to entertain any more conversations around myself. I hoped the transition into the path this night would be painless.

I opened the doors to the room and closed them in front of the priest who expected to leave behind me.

Looking around now. I realized that many of the others weren’t looking too happy. The farmer was still angry while the singer looked like she was smiling through tears. A sailor looked lost beyond any hope. Now my face probably matched theirs. Quiet footsteps came up behind me.

“Excuse me? Sir knight?” The androgynous thief boy called out to me. “I wanted to thank you for standing against the new head of the thief’s guild. I doubt you had as much of an effect as you wanted, but it helped prevent him from making any deals with others here. It is far easier to maintain dignity when you haven’t been publicly talked down to by a squire. I’m Logan”

He stuck out a hand to shake my hand. “Louis.”

He pointed towards the rest of the people who got a path and started calling out to a few by name. He grabbed my hand and started walking over to them. I reluctantly followed behind him, knowing I should get a better understanding of my soon to be teammate.