Charlie was born into this world screaming. It was a sign of his health. Though the village doctor and midwives knew this as a fact, all the screaming signified to Charlie's parents was another rowdy child. A child that would take time, money, and effort to raise. None of which they had to spare. All they could hope for, was that the child would begin to pull his own weight sooner, rather than later.
It wasn't the best way to think of your child, yet after the 4th, it was the only way Charlie's parents could think.
And so Charlie grew up. It wasn't a slow beginning for Charlie. His parents were uneducated, and small villages like the one Charlie was from didn't have schools. So instead of learning how to read and write from his parents, Charlie learned how to clean. First he learned how to clean up after himself. After that, he learned how to clean for his parents. By the time that most children would be learning how to count from their parents, Charlie had learned to cook most meals for his large family.
That wasn't to say that Charlie did all the household chores. Rather, he was only assigned the more extensive and frustrating of chores. That was the punishment he received for be the youngest child. The duty of the older children, was to work out in the village. With so many members, the family simply wouldn't survive with only the income of Charlie's mother and father. Thus, his 3 older siblings also worked out in the village. His oldest brother had been lucky enough to snag a position as an apprentice for the village's handyman. Not quite a blacksmith and not quite a woodworker, but a little bit of both. While not apprentices, his two oldest sisters managed to become assistants to the apothecary in the village. Fetching herbs, washing herbs, grinding herbs. All of that, plus what his parents made in the fields, was enough to provide a life to the family. It wasn't a good life, but with a roof over their heads and food in their stomachs, it was hard to complain. Especially for Charlie. After all, if you aren't pulling money into the house, then why should you have a say?
After 4 years, Charlie remained the youngest. With how often his parents went at it, it was a surprise that there hadn't been any more additions to the family. By now, it was only Charlie and the 6th child that remained in the house during the day. The workload had grown for the both of them, yet Charlie still found himself doing the worst of the jobs.
In another year, the 6th child would undergo their testing ceremony-- as did all other 7 year old's. Also like the other children, the 6th child would likely be found to be talentless or not talented enough to do anything worth while with. At that point, it would only be Charlie left in the house during the day. At least until his own ceremony.
That was how his oldest brother had managed to become an apprentice in the village. While he didn't have enough talent to apprentice within Gloria, the town that collected the taxes of the village and other villages like theirs, but it was just enough to assist with the jobs that would be asked of a small village handyman.
Charlie didn't really look forward to his day of testing. To him, it was the chosen ones that were lucky enough to get a job like his oldest brother's. Charlie was likely to be stuck in the fields, like all other children that failed to grasp concepts like reading and writing and numbers. Even if it wasn't his fault that he couldn't learn, no, especially because it wasn't his fault, that wasn't a job he wanted to live his life doing.
It was those kinds of simple thoughts that developed an early seed of resentment in the heart of Charlie.
***
Charlie boarded a large wagon along with the rest of his family. It wasn't often that one would get a day off of work, but the testing ceremony was one of those days. Moral support didn't really affect the results of the testing, yet it was often encouraged for the testing individual's entire family to watch.
Charlie and his family didn't make enough money to rent out a private wagon, let alone a carriage, so they had been forced to board a supply wagon that was pulled by a young donkey. The wagon was a part of a merchant convey that often came to the villages to offer goods and services that were only freely available in Gloria. With their headquarters stationed in Gloria, they would offer any village residents a ride to the town, though it often came at a pretty price. The only way to get back to the town was after the testing ceremony. With the testing ceremony being hosted by whatever sect governed the district that the town was in, there was enough money to give whoever tested to have no talent just enough money to hire a private wagon back to their village.
Anyone with more talent than nothing, or just above nothing like Charlie's oldest brother, would receive a plethora of opportunities that would help them pay for their family's ride home.
The wagon that Charlie had boarded with his family was packed with other individuals that were taking their children to be tested. Being loaded with supplies slowed down the wagon even further. The ride that would normally only take 3 days, would most likely take the better part of a week.
There wasn't much for Charlie to look forward to either, as it wasn't even his turn to test. The 6th child had turned 7 just a month and a half ago, so his turn had come.
The ride was slow and boring, and Charlie's mind was unable to distract him. The 6 days it had taken the to arrive had felt like months to him. Still they had eventually made it, and now the building the ceremony would take place in was in sight.
It was a short walk there, but Charlie's legs hurt long before arriving at their seats. It wasn't the walk from the wagon, but rather the entirety of the wagon ride, itself. The lack of space and rough riding conditions had caused no lack of pain to Charlie.
The ceremony building was extremely large. The building was more like a closed roof stadium, with the testing pedestal placed in the center. There were seats placed all around the pedestal, and each child would sit with their family in the stands until their name was called by the test giver.
There was only one testing every month so it was built to accommodate all of the children from Gloria and it's subordinate towns that turned 7 every month. So, all things considered, Charlie and his family were very lucky making it on the day of the ceremony. It would have cost more than they could afford had they needed to spend several nights within the town.
It took several hours for the ceremony to begin, as all other children and families had to make their way into the seats. As soon as the seats were filled, the gates were shut and any family that didn't make it would have to wait for the next month. With the gates closed, the families that were talking amongst themselves began to quite, waiting for the administrators of the test to enter.
Several minutes passed before the first administrator entered, dressed in the formal robes of the town's representative sect. Following them in, was another administrator. While their robes were mostly the same, the golden thread that wrapped around the robe's collar and wrist signified a higher position. The last to enter was not an administrator, but the town's governor.
The governor cleared his throat and began to speak into the crowd, "I see that there are many families that have arrived for the ceremony this month. I hope that you are all prepared for the worst, however I do hope that we get to see some talent. We will proceed in an orderly fashion and try to finish as soon as possible. Be patient, and await your name."
The ceremony started slow, and the names were called in the order of oldest to youngest. The governor seemed to have been delegated as the speaker for the ceremony, as he was the one who announced each name. The first administrator that had entered hadn't said a word, but was assigned to the job of assisting the children with the testing. Each child that came up would place their hands on the testing pedestal, while the first administrator would place their hands on the back of the child. It would take a few seconds, but eventually the pedestal would light up and indicate the talent of the child.
It took several hours before the governor reached the 6th child's name despite being a month over the age of 7. Hearing his name, the 6th child walked up to the center of the building and placed his hands on the pedestal. With the administrator's hand on his back, the 6th child closed his eyes and waited.
It took several seconds, but eventually the pedestal began to glow.
The glow remained several seconds longer than any of the other children that had been tested so far. The color on the pedestal soon changed from the bright glow it had previously shown, to a red color that was neither dull nor bright.
As the glow faded away, the governor began to speak to the 6th child, "Lucky, boy. It seems you and your family won't be having a hard future, from here on. This month seems rather poor in talent, so I'm sure you'll have a wide choice of offers for apprenticeships." The behavior of the governor seemed to be much more mild to the 6th child than it had been to the crowd for the duration of the ceremony.
That was the good thing about red talent. It was better than a vast majority of other children that tested, yet it wasn't so good that it would draw attention from unwanted individuals. Rather, the only attention one would receive for a red talent, was that from low level labor professionals. Rank-1 blacksmiths and alchemists and the like would be all over those with red talent. If lucky, there may even be a recently promoted Rank-2.
The highest talent someone from a village could be comfortable with was at orange, one higher than red. At orange, experienced Rank-2 and 3 professionals would be all over a child. If the color was a bright orange, the child could even find themselves in a position of security for a town governor.
As the red color settled on the pedestal, Charlie looked at the members of his family. His parents, of course, were glowing in ecstasy. Most of his siblings looked exactly the same as his parents. Just having one person in their family could mean a life with less struggles. With how they had lived until now, that seemed like a miracle.
The only person in his family that did not seem terribly happy, besides himself, was his oldest brother.
His oldest brother had been working the longest out of all the children, and having received a gray talent, he was deemed to be just a higher than those who tested as talentless. Because of this rating, and because of the apprenticeship he had begun because of it, he received much more attention and praise from his parents than the rest of his family.
His anger was a petty anger.
Charlie, however, just loathed the fact that he would have to do more work around the house. His parents had never been there for him. He had to work for the family as soon as he could walk, or just about. Even then, the food he got was the scraps that his family didn't eat.
Yet, here was his brother. He had tested to have talent, and now his parents were all over him. He had been just as ignored as Charlie. Charlie wasn't blind. He saw how all the other families treated their children, even after they were tested to be talentless.
Where was this love for Charlie? Why was the love of his parents dependent on whether he was talented?
At the same time, Charlie wished that he was his 6th sibling. He could see the looks of joy in his parents eyes when looking at the 6th child. He had been just as ignored, maybe even despised, as Charlie. Yet now he would be showered with attention. With the love and care of his parents.
Was this not what Charlie yearned for?
With this, Charlie learned to feel jealousy. At the same time, the seed of resentment that had developed in his heart a year ago, seemed to grow.
***
It has been 2 years since the 6th child was tested to be talented. The rest of the ceremony had drug on for a few more hours, but even when it was done, it wasn't really over for Charlie and his family. They had only just started to leave the building when they were surrounded by low rank profession workers. Offers for apprenticeships poured into their ears, and Charlie's parents seemed to smile even wider with each passing one.
Eventually, when a recently promoted Rank-2 Professional gave his offer, the rest stopped and walked away. The offer seemed to wipe the smiles off of Charlie's family, as they were overcome with surprise. Even if it was something that could happen, it wasn't something that happened often.
The family followed the Professional back to his workshop where they were given a sack of gold coins. The money in the pouch was essentially all of the 6th child's pay, until his 16th birthday when he would become adult, given to them in advance.
The money was enough for the family to purchase a horse and their own wagon.
It was this same wagon and horse that took the family back to the town of Gloria on the day that Charlie needed to be tested. The already long journey was made even longer with the lack of excitement or encouragement from his family. The previous testing of the 6th child seemed to ensure the family that all the residual luck and talent that could be found in their bloodline had been used up.
Despite their family having come into some good money, now, Charlie was still delegated to the worst of tasks found in the house. The lack of gratitude and care from his family, only increased the resentment that Charlie held for these individuals with him. The only thing that he could wish for was a talent that was high enough to let him leave his family. The sooner he was away from them, the happier he would find himself.
The family moved quickly to the testing building and found their seats. Having arrived early enough, the seats were in a similar spot as the seats from last time.
Hours ticked by as more and more families entered. Eventually, two administrators and the governor entered. Only the governor was the same. The administrators, though wearing colors of the same sect as last time, were two different individuals.
The governor gave a similar opening as he did last time, though Charlie had him tuned out.
Eventually, hearing his name coming from the lips of the governor, Charlie stood.
Walking to the center of the room, Charlie placed his right hand on the pedestal and waited for the administrator to place his hand on his back.
The hand landed in the center and, after a second, Charlie began to feel a cold wave move through his body and down his arm to his hand. The wave exited his hand that was placed on the pedestal, and a glow began to form in the room.
A second passed, then two, and then three. Charlie's breath hitched as he realized that he two would now be more than talentless. Another 2 seconds went by before the initial glow began to flicker.
After flickering several times in succession, the glow disappeared completely. Just as Charlie began to be confused, the glow flashed once more, though this time, a pitch black color emanated from the pedestal.
Confusion entered his eyes. He knew the basic talent colors.
White was for the talentless, and Gray was reserved for those just above that line.
Red was when a child was considered talented enough to be employed in a profession, though they would only ever be low in rank.
Orange was even more talented, allowing for a child to become an apprentice of a high rank professional.
He had heard that Yellow talent had appeared a few times in the last 10 years, and that the children that had Yellow talent would often be recruited by the sect that administered the town.
Green and Blue talents would also be recruited by the sect, and though they would start at the same spot as Yellow talents, they would climb quickly. But that was only if they tested among the normal children that came out of villages or towns. The only children that really ever tested that high in talent came from high ranking families, or descended from elders of the sect. If a child from a normal family really tested that highly, they would most likely end up going missing and their family murdered.
Nobody liked a talented nobody.
As for Purple or Gold talents. They only showed up in fairy tales. Charlie only new of the idea of that level of talent. He didn't know what it would mean if some one actually had it.
But Black was a color he had never heard of.
Looking up at the administrators in confusion, Charlie only saw looks of pity before he was pushed of the stage and back to his family. That only served to confuse him further.
But what sealed the deal, was the look in his parent's eyes. It wasn't the love or care that his 6th sibling received, nor was it the indifference and displeasure that he had grown used to. Instead, he was greeted with a look of pure and unbridled greed.
Several more hours passed before the ceremony ended. At one point, Charlie's father had left his seat, though he returned only after a brief absence.
The family waited for most others to exit before they headed for the door. Entering into the moonlight, the family took a left turn, heading towards the inn that they would stay the night at before heading back to their village.
Charlie, feeling a hand gripping his left arm, turned to see his father beginning to pull him away from the family, excitement hidden deep in his eyes. Following him in confusion, Charlie noticed that they had gone in nearly the complete opposite direction of the inn.
They had gone down several streets before they finally stopped at a crossroads. Arriving near the same time as them, was a single man, holding a bulking bag of coins. Charlie couldn't see his face or eyes, but he could sense the sinister look that was being directed at himself.
A brief shiver ran down his spine as the man began to talk in a dark, raspy voice. "It was a pleasure doing business with you folks. Remember, no refunds, no receipts, and no talking about this later down the line."
The man only just finished speaking when Charlie's father began, himself, "As long as the 6,000 gold that we agreed upon is in that bag, you have nothing to worry about."
The man tossed the bag over, where it landed in front of Charlie's father.
Bending over to grab the bag, Charlie's father looked inside to see roughly 60 Platinum coins. A large smile plastered onto his face and he turned to walk away saying, "It's a deal, then."
Charlie looked confused and was about to raise a question when a sharp strike to his head knocked him out. Before falling completely unconscious, Charlie seemed to connect a few dots in his mind. Though the entire picture had not been formed, what was there, was enough for the seed of resentment that had been planted in his heart all those years ago, to begin to sprout.
As Charlie's father walked away, the mysterious, hooded man walked in the other direction, carrying an unconscious Charlie by his neck.