"A-And you are?" the elder asked as he squinted his eyes, observing my appearance.
'It's happening again,' I thought as I stared at the elder bitterly, a majority of us knew the elder wasn't well of due to his age and physical burden that he had been suffering from over these past 3 years, and in the process—.
"Elder, my name is Lucas, and I'm one of the few who were rescued before—"
A sigh escaped the elder's lips as he gave me a dismissive look. But that look didn't last long as the elder then raised his hand, signaling us all to rise to our feet.
As my gaze roamed around, I watched in silence as everyone rose to their feet.
"Now, as some of you may know, the 'Coming of Age' ceremony is a tradition that has been done throughout many generations to celebrate a warrior's adulthood. Upon reaching adulthood, warriors such as yourselves would have been matched with a bond of your choice." The elder's words came to a stop once more.
His gaze lingered on each of the people present for a few seconds before he nodded his head.
"Normally, the Coming of Age ceremony would naturally celebrate your coming of age, and you youngsters would have received the opportunity to choose a bond of your choice. However, the situation calls for something different. It calls for something the village chief did decades ago. This is called 'Marriage.'"
"Elder David, what's marriage?" a muscular youth among the group shouted.
The elder then explained the necessary things, and most of us just sat and listened in silence. Some, curious as well, asked the elder some questions. Regardless, the elder answered them all since he didn't want to confuse the youngsters.
Not that I could blame him since this is all necessary in the long run.
"Rule #1: After marriage, you are forbidden to touch another woman who isn't your wife.
Rule #2: If a woman you like is already married, the only way to her heart is by defeating her partner and taking over his role.
Rule #3: You are forbidden to quarrel with your partner."
By the time the elder had finished explaining everything, the sun had just begun to set. We decided to end things for the night since the elder had said that he needed some time to prepare for tomorrow's events.
...
As the sunset illuminated its breathtaking rays of light upon the village, I couldn't help but remind myself of the scorching heat we've been experiencing since the day we came to this place. As barbarians, we would normally have settled in a small forest that was relatively close to a kingdom.
However, there came a day when we were chased from our homeland by the king and those who served under him. In the battle that took place three years ago, we lost many of the people we looked up to. Their lives were exchanged for ours, and in the end, we could only flee. So we ran and ran until we could no more.
I vividly remember the memories that followed and the people we lost—. At first, we were all disappointed about the results and were willing to risk our lives. That was until we discovered that there was a typhoon that bordered us from the outside world, and to make matters worse, we were stuck in a desert.
Yes, a desert, the very thing that almost killed us if not for the elder's powers, which he called aura. As far as I can remember, this also had something to do with the elder's memories as well. On that fated day, he was the one who suffered the most, amongst us all.
.....
Shaking away my thoughts, I then turned my attention to the three towering sand shelters that were made with the use of rocks, sand, and branches.
The three shelters were each split into a specific use: the one in the middle was for the Elder, the one on his right was where the boys slept, and to his left was where the girls slept.
Approaching the shelter that was on my right, I crouched down before making my way inside.
[**Shelter**]
Arriving inside the shelter, I crouched down as I passed by the four youths who rolled around in the once scorching sand, unaware of the consequences if it got into their eyes.
A light sigh escaped my lips as I made my way through the shelter, eventually arriving at a specific part that was quite clean.
Placing my body into the sand, I then placed my legs through the entrance before slipping my entire body inside.
As I planted myself inside what I came to know as my room, I closed my eyes and reminisced about the memories of the past and the present.
This village of ours had nothing.
There was no food, nor was there water, so we could only wait every few weeks for a cactus to bloom, filling us with the nutrients we needed for another day.
There was no light, so we only went to bed early.
Within this scorching heat, there was no such thing as rain, so we could only be grateful for the Elder's powers and the thin trees that helped cool us down from time to time.
Shifting my body to the left, I then brought my hand under the back of my head for support to make sleeping more comfortable.
Sometimes, I found myself thinking of ways to change our current circumstances.
If we excluded the Elder and me, there were a total of four boys and six girls.
One cactus was clearly not enough to feed us all, as it was only a matter of time before we all began to drop dead.
Shaking away my thoughts, I decided not to think too much about our lifestyle.
Tomorrow was the day that we'd finally be able to choose a bond among the eggs the Elder escaped with three years ago.
With that thought in mind, I closed my eyes, welcoming sleep into my solace.
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