Avery's pov
It was finally the day for the bride to be chosen. All the girls sat in front of the mirror, touching up their already perfect faces. I also sat in front of one, but I just stared at my reflection in the mirror. A girl stared back at me, but it wasn't me. It had never been me for the past eighteen years.
"I'm leaving this place today.." I muttered in relief, although not entirely.
"You don't have to be worried about anything, Avery." I remembered my mother say. "All you need to do is just keep pretending till you're eighteen, then you'll finally be able to leave." She had promised when I was thirteen years of age.
"Why was I chosen among the twelve if I was to leave in the end?" I remembered my young self asking.
She rubbed her ears, the way she always did when in thought. "You see, people who are part of the twelve automatically become priests, although they are the only ones who have the choice to get married if they want to. They do not need to live a life of celibacy like other priests."
I held on to that for the past six years, waiting for my eighteenth birthday to finally arrive, and it did. Today.
"Avery! I know you think you might not get chosen, but still try to touch up your looks!" Lumina shouted behind me.
"There's no need. Besides, it's a hassle."
"If you think it's a hassle, I'll do it for you, girl!" Eltharia squealed, almost practically flying to my side.
Her chest was still open,the undergarments covering her entire nakedness, and I couldn't stop staring.
She brought her breasts closer to me, using her hands to cup both of them. She wiggled them in my face as her lips curled up.
"You want this? Too bad, you can't get it. You're just one of those flat girls.."
"Don't tease her, flat chested girls like her don't know the pain full chested people like us have to carry." Yaksuk drawled, putting the back of her hands on her forehead and sighing for dramatic effect.
I sent a few glares their way, to which they replied with giggles.
"The queen is here!" Jade announced, pouting her lips and making weird expressions on her face.
"And the crown princess is here! Bow you filthy peasants!" Yyvette added, copying her predecessor.
Scarlet scoffed loud enough to be heard. " If Jade is the queen and Yyvette is the crown princess, then Avery is the Empress!"
"Ouch!"
"Don't compare me to her! I'm way prettier than she is?" Jade complained.
"That's exactly what I'm saying. You're the queen and Avery's the Empress."
"Please try not to hurt me anymore, Scarlet."
She wasn't lying, I was the least beautiful girl among the other girls, not that I was a girl to begin with. The most beautiful girl amongst us was Lumina, with lustrous and thick black hair, her skin dark like it was specially kissed by the sun, with full and pink heart-shaped lips. If the selection was based on looks, Lumina had won by a landslide.
"Come on, don't say that! We all know Avery's pretty as hell." Lumina defended.
I sent a smile towards her, and she winked in return. In a way, she was my best friend, and if we somehow got separated because she got chosen, I would miss her terribly.
"Let's face the facts and analyse this." Allura announced, hitting a fist on her palm.
"The most beautiful person among us is obviously Lumina. Then we have Eltharia, Jade, Mira, and Kantida since they're obviously twins. Avery, Scarlett, Fiona, Beauty, Yyvette, Yaksuk, and then myself.
"But there's something that might just shoot Avery into the second spot." Beauty commented.
"Indeed. While Lumina looks like she's kissed by the sun with ebony eyes, beautiful dark skin, and amazing black hair,Avery looks like she's kissed by the moon. She's pale and has pure white hair and silver eyes."
"I wished I was kissed by something too!" Fiona sighed.
"Be kissed by the ocean, then you'll have everything blue, including blue skin." Lumina added, chuckling to herself.
"You all know I'm as pale as a corpse, right?" I asked, not understanding how they found anything about me beautiful.
"That is right, which I why I'll make your pale lips have a little colour right now!"
A young priestess entered into the changing room where all eleven girls and myself were gathered.
"It's time."
That single word sent a volt of electricity down all our spines. The time we had been waiting for, been preparing for all our lives had finally arrived, and
all we had to do was just step out of that room.
The priestess left, and all the girls huddled together, about to cry.
"Don't cry! You'll ruin your makeup and look like a ghost!" I yelled, amidst the tears that threatened to spill out of my eyes.
"You're right!" Jade laughed, blinking her tears away.
"Let's do this, girls!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was just how we had been told. It was completely crowded with different people from our village and from other places visiting. Well, that was to be expected since our Clan was known to be quite popular.
We all walked forward gracefully, like the number of people in the temple didn't scare us, I couldn't speak for the others, but they frightened me.
The temple hall was always beautiful, but today, it just looked more beautiful.
There were chandeliers of ice crystals hanging up from the roof, and although it was still bright, we all knew that it would become more useful in the nighttime when the real selection started. Now was the time for people to pay their respects.
Flowers of different colours were arranged round the place, giving it a nice scent, but the scent of the moonflower was the most distinguishable. The priests were busy guiding the masses to the places where they would perform their greeting. The temple pillars had pictures of the moon in its different cycles, and I couldn't help but wonder how they would get rid of it later on.
The altar was still being prepared with two huge vases containing water from the river of the moon placed gently by the side.
We were led to the place where we would sit and wait patiently until it was finally time for us to meet our husband.
Well, for me, it was the time I would finally leave. My hands trembled as they rested on my laps.
I could wait a few more hours.