[972 Years Remaining]

Not much had happened since Mother Tree originally prophesied what we had come to refer to as simply the “Calamity.” She had had multiple dreams since then, which revealed minor details about the event, but it still didn’t change much. We knew that we had one-thousand years to prevent or figure out how to stop the Calamity, and that somehow I had a hand in doing that. Her other dreams rarely included anything notable, aside from one in particular.

Apparently, in one of Mother Tree’s dreams, she remembered seeing the others of the village refer to me as “Chief.” I wasn’t all too fond of the idea of being chief. There was already the responsibility of having to save the village, so I didn’t want to have to lead it either. I supposed the easiest way to save the village was also to lead it, but still. Most of my life was spent with the idea that I would grow up to be a hunter, just like my father was. Actually, I had plenty of experience hunting even before Mother Tree told me of the Calamity. As chief, those skills wouldn’t necessarily go to waste, but my role in the village would mean that I would be coordinating the few hundred elves that lived here most of the time, rather than hunting with the other men.

“Indra.” It was Mother Tree again.

“Yes?” I responded, but didn’t speak aloud. A decade ago, I’d finally matured enough to use telepathy just like all the adults in the village. So now, when I was summoned, I didn’t need to be so close to Mother Tree in order to speak to her. Apparently, I could speak to her from any point in the forest, but I’d never gone too far from the village, so that didn’t really matter to me much.

“It is nearly midnight. The adults of the village are gathering.”

“Right… I’ll be there in a moment.” I let out a sigh.

Tonight marked my birthday. Unlike some human traditions, we elves didn’t often celebrate our birthdays. When your race lived for multiple centuries, a single birthday just wasn’t very special. This birthday of mine happened to be different for a few reasons. First, I was turning a century old. In the village, that meant that I would officially be recognized as an adult, as I’d reached about the same level of physical maturity as a human around 16 years old. On days like this, Mother Tree would usually assign the new adult a role in the village where they would fit best, and then a celebration would be held throughout the night. Considering that I already knew what role I would be given, tonight would likely also double as my inauguration as the new chief… I still wasn’t quite sure how I felt about that. Chief Edex had been chief since long before I was born, so it would definitely feel weird to see him as anything other than chief.

As I neared the center of the village, I saw all the adults standing close to Mother Tree. They stood in four rows, though there was plenty of space in the middle, separating the left two rows from the right two.

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“Approach.” This time, I didn’t hear Mother Tree’s voice directly in my head. It was all around me, as if the leaves and wind of the forest itself were speaking to me, and not just a single entity.

I hesitantly made my way down closer to Mother Tree, confused as to what all was happening. I’d only ever heard about what happened on someone’s hundredth birthday. Until now, I’d never actually been old enough to see the real thing in person, so I wasn’t sure if this was what usually happened or not.

“Turn around and face the village.” Again, it felt as if I was speaking to an entity much more grand than the Mother Tree that I usually spoke to. Were birthdays supposed to be this intimidating? Regardless, once I was within a few feet of her trunk, I did as directed.

“Edex, come forth.” He had been standing at the front of one of the lines, so it only took a couple steps for him to be standing right in front of me.

“We will now begin. Hold out the Branch of Wisdom.” Chief Edex held out the long branch he always used as a cane. He was old, even by elven standards, and often had troubles walking without it. I’d always thought it was just some random stick he found, but I didn’t think any typical branch would be given such a name.

“Indra, hold onto the Branch.” I was a bit reluctant to do so, but my fingers wrapped around the stick soon enough, both Chief Edex and I holding on to it. Even if our village wasn’t really huge, I still had only had a few interactions with the man. His hair was thin, long, and gray, unlike the pure white hair that younger elves had. His irises didn’t glow, though they were still a shade of dark purple. It was hard to notice usually, since everyone else’s only faintly shined, but standing right in front of him in the darkness of the night, it was easy to tell. Chief Edex was the oldest in the village, and while there were some with graying and thinning hair, a quick look at those gathered revealed that everyone else had glowing eyes. I wasn’t quite sure why that was, but I assumed it was due to his exceptionally old age, not that I knew exactly how old he was.

Before my thoughts could wander any longer, my ears caught a quiet humming sound. It was the same sensation as earlier, where the sound felt like it was coming from all around me, but it didn’t sound like a voice. The humming sounded like the flapping wings of thousands of birds, and gradually grew louder.

Soon, the branch that Chief Edex and I were holding onto began shaking. At first, slight vibrations that were barely noticeable. It began vibrating more and more throughout the course of the next minute or so. At multiple points, I panicked and tried to let go of the branch, but I couldn’t get my fingers to move. Or any part of my body for that matter. Not even my mouth would move so that I could ask about what the hell was going on, and my attempts at speaking telepathically with anyone was met with no response. I wasn’t sure if it was because everyone was ignoring me, or because that just wasn’t working like the rest of my body.

As if this situation wasn’t enough, Chief Edex’s eyes began glowing, just like everyone else’s. The humming sound became so loud that all I could hear was screeching wind, and the Branch shook so much that I worried my wrist would be broken by the now violent shaking. I suddenly felt a splitting headache, far worse than any other I’d had before. And before long, my vision and consciousness started to fade. The last thing I saw before I lost consciousness completely, were Edex’s eyes lighting up the forest.