Kael's boots pounded against the wooden floor as he took us deeper into the center of the training hall. The air was slightly iron and oil-scented, the smell of thousands of pounded-out arms and sweat-grimed battles. I walked alongside Amethyst, our footsteps a beat, though neither of us said a word. Something was off about her today: quieter, more reserved—but resolved. I wanted to talk, anything, but the residual effects of what had occurred earlier still hovered around both of us.
We stopped before a wide wall, overlaid with plates of strange, glowing metals—each softly emitting within the glow of the lanterns overhead. "This," Kael waved a hand outward, "is where you stop being survivors and become slayers."
My heart was racing. "These… are for us?"
Kael nodded. "Every metal here vibrates with a different type of spirit. One of them will welcome you in. The others won't." He looked at me. "Come forward, Auren. It's time.".
I looked at Amethyst briefly. She nodded slightly to me—nervously but encouragingly. I went towards the wall.
My fingers lay across each item. One shone like sunlight imprisoned in gold, the other churned like a thunderstorm, dark and charged. I touched the sun-metal first, and a blinding burning across my palm. I withdrew my hand. "It burned me."
Kael growled. "It rejected you. Move on.".
I attempted the second one—nothing. Then the third one—nothing.
Panic welled up in my chest. What if none of them embraced me?
Amethyst moved in closer, her tone low. "Don't hurry. Close your eyes. Sense it. not with your hands. With your intuition."
I obeyed.
I breathed in deeply. The room disappeared, the sounds muffled. Then—I sensed a pull. Not rough, not painful. Gentle. Persistent. Like the wind rustling a leaf down the stream.
I opened my eyes and reached out to claim a dark silver plate with pale blue veins tracing their way across it. The moment my skin touched it, heat radiated through me—not warm, not cool—just… right.
Kael's eyes went wide. "Shadowsteel.
"Shadowsteel?" I echoed, sensing the metal vibrate under my touch.
"Rare," Kael grunted. "Difficult to forge. More difficult to master. But lethal to demons if you can. It picked you."
I was lightheaded but grounded. As if a piece of me had finally fallen into place.
I spun around to Amethyst, and her face surprised me. She was grinning—not the arrogant smile she always had, but something softer, something prouder. "Guess you're finally growing up into something."
I chuckled. "You say that like I was a weed or something before.".
"Yeah, weeds can live through anything," she said. "That's quite impressive."
I laughed with him, and for the first time since I came to Graft, I experienced something true. Not only fear, not only survival—connection.
Kael clicked his fingers. "Alright. We've got your metal. Now it's the hard part."
He took us to a little anvil in the back corner of the hall. The forge behind it was crackling, flames shooting up high. He nodded toward a bench in the vicinity.
Sit, he instructed us.
I sat down, the heat closing in around me. Amethyst sat next to me, a little too close to ignore.
"You did fine," she murmured, voice gentle now. "That metal. it's complicated. But I think it fits you."
"Complicated?" I questioned, my eyebrow rising.
"You overthink everything, carry too much guilt, try to smile when it's easier to break." She tilted her head. "Shadowsteel bends with the weight you carry. It's strong when it needs to be, and soft when no one expects it."
For a second, her words stuck deep within me. I hadn't shared any of that with her. She just… knew it.
I gazed at her. "And you? What did your metal say?"
She crossed her arms, reclining. "Mine screamed."
I blinked.
Amethyst smiled. "Yeah. Starflame. Hot burn, cuts through the dark. Not subtle. A bit like me.".
I smiled. "Kind of exactly like you.".
She glanced down, sweeping her bangs from her face. "You're not so bad, you know. For a kid from nowhere."
"Geryhill," I corrected. "The middle of nowhere."
We both laughed once more, and it wasn't uncomfortable. It felt normal—like we'd been doing it for years.
Kael stood silent for a moment, folded arms across his chest. He appeared to feel the mood, and for once, didn't cut in.
You'll begin shaping tomorrow," he told me. "You'll forge your first blade. And if it makes it through the tempering… so do you.".
The gravity in his tone erased the smiles from our lips.
"Until then," Kael ordered, "rest."
We both nodded, and Kael stepped back, going down the side corridor.
Amethyst and I stayed quiet for another minute.
"Do you ever find yourself wondering what's next?" I inquired.
She leaned her head. "Like. having finished training?
"After this whole demon-slaying thing."
She did not respond at once.
And then she looked at me and spoke, "Sometimes. But it's difficult. Because every time I get close to something actual, something that's worth holding onto… it's taken away.".
I gazed at her then, really looked. And I spoke the one thing that seemed real.
"Then perhaps we hold on together."
She remained silent, but her hand touched mine. Not an accident.
And we just sat there in silence for a while, hearing the fires burn and the heat surround us like a shield.
Later that evening, I sat alone on the dorm roof, gazing up at the stars.
I could hear footsteps behind me—light, definite.
Amethyst stayed by my side in silence.
"I like it up here," she said. "It's quiet.".
"Yeah," I said. "It's quiet."
We gazed upward. The sky was open, uninterrupted. Above us, the world was habitable.
"I'm scared," I confessed.
She didn't react the way I had hoped she would—no teasing, no eye-rolls.
"Me too."
The words hanging between us stayed with me like a truth we could no longer conceal.
"But we'll make it through," I told her.
She stared at me. "Promise?"
"I vow."
She rested her head lightly upon my shoulder.
For once, silence was not oppressive.
It was home.
The following morning, Kael summoned us to the war room.
No guns. No shouting. Just a map, wrinkled and worn, laid out on the table.
Sit, he instructed.
We obeyed.
His expression was solemn. "There's something you have to know. Something I haven't told either of you.".
My heart skipped.
Kael did not yell, did not flinch.
"I knew your villages would fall. Both of them. I was told not to interfere."
My stomach tightened. "What do you mean?"
He stared at Amethyst initially. Her eyes went wide, her jaw set.
Then he glanced at me.
"I didn't stop it. Because I wasn't allowed to."
Silence.
Dead silence.