My grandmother was at the helm of the elders walking over and began to speak once all the other elders present lined up behind her.

"Everyone quiet down, We elders of course have answers for your many questions. Just calm down and all will be answered.'

She paused while the crowd went quiet then continued.

"Excluding you youngins, most of you probably have heard of a "chosen one" and you probably also heard that they would also have some sort of otherworldly power mimicking the legends of old. We elders, with all the knowledge passed on to us by our ancestors, are here to tell you to know that no such being can exist as the will of the Mother would not allow such a thing. If she ever decided to allow such beings to wander the lands, even the fresh born children would be able to grasp that power. Because we all come from the body of the Mother."

I got the gist of what she said but I couldn't help but think it was a little too deep of an explanation for a bunch of hotheaded teens. Now that I am thinking about it though, her speech was probably focused more on the adults rather than the teens.

She continued.

"A "chosen one", in our opinion, is simply someone who can be selected to wear the coat of the beast and head our village until their or the village's end. That being said the final part of the test will serve as the trail for the said person as per the tradition of the village. We will continue the testing for the rest of you youngins by using the adults in your household in the coming days. However, right now tradition calls for us to test the suspected "chosen one" in front of their peers and the village so now is as good a time as any.”

The crowd’s reaction was comical at best as they gave a chorus of ohs and that’s it. Although my grandmother seemed quite calm about the whole ordeal, the rest of my family was perplexed at the idea, to say the least. The adults such as my aunts and uncles were all looking toward my parents for answers, for which they obviously had none as they looked just as quizzical as those looking at them.

My cousins Ash, Bell, and Kai, on the other hand, all looked toward our cousin Luka with equally perplexed looks on their faces who also clearly didn’t have a clue as to what was going on.

All parties involved decided it was probably better to just focus their attention on the main people involved, that being the several elders as well as myself in the center of the clearing.

After finishing her speech she along with the other elders began calling out to a few adults in the crowd to help gather the parchments used in the previous test, while also getting another adult to go and get a thick bundle of smaller parchments. Altogether they were about as thick as one of the boxes that shoes would come in when purchased back on Earth. Frankly, it was the closest thing to a book I have seen so far.

In terms of dimensions, they looked to be about sixteen inches long and maybe half of that in width. The “pages” of the book were parchments as well but were significantly thinner than the parchments from before resembling the standard paper from Earth in size as well as color. The book themselves even seemed to have a proper binding using a small wooden board, though it was roughly cut.

The books themselves had slighter bigger and thicker but darker parchments in the front and back of the book covering the more delicate “pages”. The front cover of the book had an image engraved in it which was a really rough circle about the size of a palm carved in the center of the book, with similarly rough triangles surrounding one half of the circle.

I had never seen the image anywhere in the village before not even when I went snooping around in the elder’s meeting shack all those years ago. I guess they hide the good stuff because of people like me.

After receiving the book the elders told the adults that they could take their teens home to complete their final phase of testing at home and dismiss the crowd of people who watched the event.

But before everyone left they called over three adults who had met up with three teens all of whom paused before walking in the opposite direction of the crowd which was gradually leaving the area and entering the respective homes.

I was also told to stay put while the elders called my parents over from the crowd as well.

Besides my parents obviously, I knew the names of three of the other people who were called out. One of the was Luca, my cousin, who was in turn followed by his father, my uncle Luke who was the second person I knew. The third person was Dek who I wasn’t too familiar with but I knew his name at the very least and he was followed by his father as well. I don’t know his father’s name but I did know that he was what I would consider a leader in military terms as he usually lead the men of the villages on hunts whenever they happened.

There has been no conflict with other humans in my memory it clearly exists as my grandfather was killed in a conflict that happened well before I was born.

There wasn’t much to go on as my memories of the story that was told to me and what I do remember can hardly be trusted as I was a child when I heard them. But what I can gather from them is that he was killed alongside another male villager when the village was attacked by a small group of men who came from beyond the river.

I now know from the latter stages of my earlier education in the village that the river, which the villages called Bow River is about a thousand feet away from the walls of the village to the west. I also learned from said education that it has an abundant amount of fish inside its water but you would have to be an excellent spear fisherman to get anything. You would think they would have gotten good at the skill by now since the access is there, but you have to remember that there are plenty of sources of meat above the water, meaning the incentive really isn’t as big as one would think. But I digress.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

After all the people who were called out made their way to the center of the clearing, the elders address all of us at the same time.

“Okay… I know you are all wondering why we asked you all here. All will be clear in a moment, but we must first tell you how important this moment is for not only the teen in question but also for the entire village. And since the village is your home that means it is important as well.”

The elder speaking paused for a few seconds and then looked toward my grandmother. She in turn nodded and gestured for the elders to continue.

“As the head elder said earlier, a “chosen one” can be considered the head of the village, meaning he will have control over everything that goes on in and outside the village. That is important as all of you are the heads of your different skills and any action you take will have to go through the wearer of the cloak. This brings us to the reason of why you are all here.”

The elder paused again except this time it was to catch their breath and they continued shortly after.

“You will be joining alongside us elders who usually judge the final part of the test. We will all become equals if the teen here is to don the cloak, so we will all work together to pose three questions. Similar to how we elders do in our meetings.”

The elder speaking then looked at us teens who were listening intently to his speech and addressed us.

“All of you youngins, including you, fifty steps over there and wait for a moment. It won’t take long.”

The elder pointed at me before pointing at a random area of the already empty clearing. Then gestured for the adults present to come closer as they began another impromptu huddle session.

We teens did as instructed and walked fifty steps in the direction the elder pointed. The teens didn’t isolate me as I thought they would but they still kept their distance from me to a certain extent all the same. Even my cousin Luka, who always had a witty response to everything in the past, only gave dry responses to the small talk I tried to make with him.

I was saddened by this obviously but since the actions have already been taken, I naturally can’t take them back.

The elders' meeting lasted around ten minutes before they seemed to finish up. They then called me over while allowing the other teen to come closer as well. The female elder who had been a judge for the entire event waited until I got halfway between the teens and the elders before gesturing for me to stop and sit down. I calmly did as instructed to which she began speaking.

“Rallo, you may know most of the elders and adults who stand before you but tradition calls for us to introduce all the heads of the village to the wearer of the cloak. It is important knowledge after all. Then you will begin your test. Ready?”

I nodded and she returned the nod before gesturing towards my father as well as Dek’s father before continuing.

“You may know the first as your dad but the rest of us knows him as, Rel, the head hunter of the village. He is responsible for training the hunters in our village and killing any large beasts that may threaten the village. Standing beside him is the head warrior, Dak, who is responsible for training the warriors in our village, who will in turn support the hunters with their numbers whenever possible. However, they mostly defend us from the attacks of roaming tribesmen who have no home. They both work together in those moments though.”

She then gestured to my mother and my uncle and continued.

“Your mother, Alo, is the head healer of our village and she is responsible for training those females who chose to become healers. She also leads our healers if there is ever a need for them beyond our walls. Your uncle, Luke, is our head workman. He is responsible for training our metalworkers and stoneworkers as well as our woodworkers. Our wall was his idea from when he became head almost 20 cycles ago.”

Luke interrupted her at this moment.

*sigh*

“How I miss those days… Back when my fur did not look like that wretched wall…”

Everyone listening chuckled at his statement including myself once I realized the fur he was talking about was in fact hair. I also now know where Luca got his wittiness from.

The elder who was speaking waited for the side talk to finish before continuing.

“Lastly, the head elder of our village, Rav. Her role is almost the same as those who don the cloak except she needed the support of all current heads to do anything big. She is responsible for the life and death of the village. If you are to don the cloak, she will become your helper as her experience is needed no matter the result.”

“As this part of your test no questions are allowed for now, but if you turn out to be the wearer of the cloak all elders will answer any question you have… With that done let’s begin.”

I had no questions regarding the structure of the village as it was pretty self-explanatory. I was confused for a second however as to what I was supposed to do. It went as fast as it came though, as the other elder who has been present this entire time stepped up replacing the previous elder and carrying the book from earlier.

“Answer these questions to the best of your ability youngin.”

The elders said before opening the book and reading a few things out of it. He then closed said book and continued.

“How can we grow our village beyond the walls if the forest will not allow it?”

“If we run out of beasts to hunt, how can we survive as a village?”

“How do we survive if the warriors of another village arrive at our home?”

Everybody present including the elders who decided on the questions were at a loss when it came to giving an answer.

They all look toward me for the answers, as who else could answer such things but a chosen one?

I did another thing that I hardly ever did back on Earth for a second time on time, which was smile to my heart’s content.

This was the first step to exploring this strange new world I now called home and luckily for everybody present but probably most importantly myself, I had all the answers one could ever need.

I continued to smile, as I began to answer these “fated” questions.