Doubt: (1) If my power isn't for my people, then for who?

Ahi is known by many names, but one thing that he was renowned for was being capable of traveling all around Odrein alone. Visit all the other mountains, work in the kingdom of Bisbone, fight as a mercenary for the kingdom of Bisbone in other countries, all the while walking out of the tribe on his own because he was curious about the outside world and didn't trust anyone not to slow him down.

"Did you just call me by my first name? Since when do fathers and sons do that? Perhaps you were hit in the head harder than I thought" Ahi said with a cheerful smile on his face looking down on me.

I was lying in a bed in the medicinal bed made out of a certain fur meant to bring comfort from how soft it was, but having injuries all over your body especially your arm that was fractured because of your friend makes relaxing a difficult task, and don't forget a father that is making fun of you for not coming out uninjured in an event that killed 40 out of 60 participants..... I present to you father of the year.

"Well I'm going to leave you to rest for a bit I know that Dom kid wasn't taught how to hold back, and that Fiona girl, remind me to forever stay away from her, actually to stay close cause her throwing skills would make even those barbarians feel fear for once, I swear child, her eyes were as red as her hair", once Ahi talked it was hard for him to stop , I'm happy that he's around now but only if.... never mind that's then we can't change what happened. But I can change. I will change. So "that" never happens again.

"Ok Ahi, thanks for the stop by but if you don't leave now that nurse back there is going to throw you out" I said hoping that he would give me a minute to organize my thoughts, Ahi a bit stung looked back and saw a nurse clearly tired from healing the other participants, or simply comforting other parents who had to see their child buried, " If your done Hunter Ahi, I would greatly appreciate it if you could move out of the way so I could help the patient heal up" "Ok, ok I'll leave you to it, did people lose respect to hunters for the few years that I was gone, unacceptable I say, UNACCEPTABLE" Ahi yelled as he was pushed out of the medicinal tent, after the nurse finished pushing him out she turned to me looking me up and down, well more like right to left because I was lying down, analyzing what to do with me, "So your the number one this year let's see how we can fix you up" the nurse pulled out her tools and started working on my body riddled with so many scars it seemed like they were building up on each other.

-An hour later-

Although my body was all stitched together and is healing up thanks to the nurse I was far from healed up but at least I can walk around only feeling pain after a few steps rather than every step. As I walked out the healing tent of the hunting grounds I was met with two very different stares, one like a joyful pup with a glow in his eyes filled with excitement, and the other a calm yet piercing gaze not meant to intimidate or make me uncomfortable, just as if hinting at me to get a move on as if getting your body destroyed wasn't a good enough excuse, I took a closer glance at the both of them and although they were with me in this test it seems as though I was the only one tested after all how does it make sense that beasts of all sort were in this test yet they only have a few scratches on their hands that could've been mistaken for an accident while cooking?

"Oh come on don't look so pissed, there's eventually going to be that one time were you don't almost die doing something....actually I take that back I have a higher chance of being a descendant of the Scientia Mountain" Dom said taking a glance at me with his usual bright smile, Dom then looked over at Fiona in a quick motion that caused his hair that reached his soldiers that he clearly forgot to tie up to hit him in the eye, "Ow, hate when that happens, what do you think Fiona?" Dom looked at her eagerly, Fiona alternating between me and Dom with a concerned look, "Seriously how am I behind you both" Fiona after sharing her very thoughtful piece left us walking down the mountain yelling back , "Come on, everyone else is leaving, the elders want to see us", ah right, the elders..... you know what? Dying by a bear seems good now.

The way down the mountain from the hunter trials isn't hard so a trip that might take someone else a day of going down is they took their time, took us an hour and a half but that's only due to the fact I was injured had I been at full health and I would've made it in a third of the time, god I hate being injured.

The village unchanged in the week we left, still as loud and busy as it usually is, we have everything we need in this village due to the fact the beasts provide enough sustenance for us, and we have a huge variety in weapons due to our mountains vast range of ores, we have everything a child of Thunder Mountain would want.

I looked around through all the tents and spotted the elders massive hut designed to hold more than 50 people at once, I moved towards it when someone grabbed my shoulder, just by the strength in their hands I realized who it was after all who could mistake our local berserker? "Aryan, you haven't left us?" I said while looking up at the bulk of a human that is Aryan, to compare Aryan to a human seems almost insulting, he's more like a bull, his strength isn't something I like to compete with, and makes someone as hardworking as Dom sometimes consider giving up a true monster, but the problem is our mountain values how quickly we can finish a job, strength is important, but what's the point of a great bolt of lightning if it doesn't break the sound barrier? For people like Aryan one could only feel sorry, because your rankings determine your opportunities, for Aryan to even maintain a position in the top 10's would be enough for anyone in the tribe acknowledge him, but he's managed to stick to the top 5, a true monster.

"Have you heard? I am now number 4 amongst all of us" Aryan said gloomily, "Hey that's great why the long face?" I said back expecting his answer to be how he wanted to surpass me, Dom, or Fiona but instead he said "Bataar, was killed by a group who attacked him while he was fending off a four starred panther, luckily he was able to kill them by directing the panther in their direction by using them as shields, but in the end the bastards had hit him enough that the panther dealt a final blow killing him" Aryan took a pause, " I luckily caught up to the scene realizing what happened and quickly dealing with the already injured panther I moved to Bataar's side as he quickly told me in his final breath what happened, I told his family and they then thanked me and left me be", after Aryan told the story he explained, how he was pissed that he couldn't fight him once more before sending Bataar off.

Sometimes moments like these push me to think thoughts like, "Does everyone live like this? Does everyone get tested to kill our friends so that we can become better killing machines or is it just us?", is it weird that the final words of a dying young man wasn't directed towards any loved ones, but making sure that his death didn't seam weak, that he didn't just die to a panther but died due to a panther, and the distraction of four other hunters? That we are dissapointed not by their passing but the fact that we filled up their position without fighting for it? I looked towards the elders hut now a bit more emotional than I preferred but nonetheless I walked towards their hut ready to give them a piece of my mind.