His mother grips him by the arm and gives a harsh tug, waking him from his thoughts. She didn’t look best pleased about the situation, she seemed anxious. Some might of even called her scared. The hitch in her voice seemed to mirror this, but ten year old Chanyeol was none the wiser.
The day had come, the infamous choosing ceremony. Not much was mentioned to him about what it entailed, all he knew was that he would have to dance. Not much of a shock considering they had been learning how to do so from the moment they were able to walk. A typical childhood wasn’t something you experience naturally where Chanyeol grew up. The children were all raised for what seemed to be a special reason, a mission if you will. The children of course never questioned it, they just did as they were told.
“So, the time has come!” Their Elder starts, addressing everyone who was in attendance. “My fellow Roamers, the time has once again come to welcome the Almighty into our world!” Suddenly there is a roar of applause and every adult has their hands clapping together, although some less enthusiastic than others. The Almighty was who they worshipped, he knew this much. But why was there a need to welcome him back? Where had he been?
‘’For now, we must locate the vessel who will bring forth our savior. Children, please step forward.’’ The sounds of footsteps on dirt travel around the camp, as each child takes a few step forwards. “Fantastic, now dance.”
The words seem to settle in for a few seconds as no child begins to move, looking between one another with confusion on their faces. Chanyeol is no exception and looking back at his mother he gains a nod of confirmation. One by one the children begin to dance, Chanyeol following along with them. The action seems strange, even if they had been learning to do so from a very early age. It seems more direct, as if they’re fighting towards something.
It isn’t too long afterwards that the Elder tells them to stop, the expression on his face telling that he is somewhat impressed by what he saw. “Very good. I already have my idea of who is the chosen, but we will continue with the mandatory blood test.” And with that he is gone, the parents watching their kids began to run towards their children, telling them how well they did.
Chanyeol goes back to his own parents, earning what seemed to be a fake smile from both of them. “Good job, Champ,” he hears his dad say and all of his doubts are removed from his mind. He swear he caught it, the way his dad’s hand squeezed his mother’s as they looked towards each other, the look they shared was one unsettling. They clearly weren’t happy.
It isn’t until a week later that the children are called again, collected into a white tent for whatever this blood test is. The chatter amongst the children indicate that no one knows what’s going on, that no parent told them what was going to happen. The same was for him, his parents didn’t utter a word about it when they went home. Just went on as if nothing had changed, but Chanyeol saw the way they looked at each other.
As the chatter dies down, the Elder enters the tent, followed by someone in a black suit. He’s unfamiliar, was he from the city the Elder travelled to a few days ago? The man’s carrying a briefcase, quite a large one. ‘’Okay children. We’ll begin the blood test now. When you’re name is called I want you to follow us, as quickly as you can please. We don’t have all day.’’
It takes around forty minutes for his name to be called and he follows the Elder into the back of the tent. One child had just finished and he noticed the bandage around the other's finger, what was that about? Before he gets the chance to ponder anymore the guy in the black suit is walking towards him, some sort of device in his hand.
“Give me your hand,” the man says and without any sort of retaliation or question, Chanyeol does as he says. One of his fingers is pressed against the device, it’s cold in comparison to Chanyeol’s own body heat. The difference makes his body shiver slightly. He wants to ask a question but before he can he feels a sharp pain in one of his fingers, he grits his teeth but the pain is already there.
“He’s the one,” he hears the other man say to the Elder, shortly after they have bandaged his finger. They begin to speak in hushed sentences, looking back at the boy every so often. It puts Chanyeol on edge, to not hear what they are talking about and the pain that still resides in his finger is not helping one bit.
