The Chosen Goddess

Chapter#1

Alecia’s POV

Suddenly, I drop to the floor with a thud.

“Owww…”

“You dirtied my hands.” He scoffs.

“Hey…” I lash back.

He takes a handkerchief and persistently scrubs the hand that touched me. What the…?! How rude can you get! He’s wearing gloves. There’s no need for him to wipe his hands like that. Just then, a worried Hannah and Brittany run up to me.

“Alecia, are you okay?!”

“Oh my god, Alecia!”

“Oh. Yeah, I’m okay… Ouchhh…”

“When did you become such an acrobat?”

Acrobat…? Suddenly, a random customer speaks up.

“What WAS that just now? It was like something out of the circus!”

“Mommy! That lady flew through the air!”

“She was hanging from a wire.”

No, there wasn’t any wire! The customers are thrilled. They seem to think what happened was some kind of performance. When I look out at their faces, this doesn’t seem to be a dream. They misunderstood what happened, but at least that means no one is freaking out. I count my blessings and glance over at the rude man that saved me out of nowhere.

“How could you be so rough with her?! Unbelievable!” Brittany snaps at him for dropping me.

“She’s just a filthy human.” He quips back.

“What on Earth are you talking about?!” Hannah demands. “Couldn’t you have put her down a little more gently?”

“I agree!” Brittany huffs.

“Hah, as if he’s capable of being nice.” I blurt without thinking.

“What did you say?!” The rude man snaps back.

“You’re as insulting as ever.” I mutter under my breath.

The customers are arguing among themselves about how I flew through the air as part of the event. They don’t seem concerned about me at all. I know I was clumsy and wasn’t being as careful as I should’ve been…

“Alecia!” My boss comes running up to us now. “How’d you do that?”

“I-“

“We should make sure from now on whoever goes up there is wearing a harness!” Brittany cuts me off.

“Good idea. I’ll get on that right away with the safety team.” My boss nods vigorously. “For now it was a good thing you had a wire. Smart thinking on your part, Alecia.”

“Wait, but I-“

“Tch… a wire… what an oblivious human thing to say.” The rude man clicks his tongue once again, but luckily my boss had sauntered off before he could hear him.

I don’t want to have anything more to do with him… I’ll just thank him for saving me and quickly get back to work.

“Um…” When I try to approach him, all he does is continue to glare at me.

The expression on his face is so terrifying that I shrink back despite myself.

“Don’t come any closer, human.”

What’s wrong with me? How could I even for a second think that it was a good idea to thank him?! I seriously hate this guy! I know it’s wrong to think this way about someone who just saved my life, but my honest impression of him is a negative one. This guy is a demon!

“I wanted to thank you for saving me. So, thank you. Well then, goodbye!”

I turn around and quickly walk off.

“Wait.”

I spin around quickly with an aloof look on my face when he stops me.

“What is it?”

“Where do you think you’re running off to?”

‘Running off’? What is he talking about?

“I have work to do. Excuse me.” I try to turn around again.

“I saved your life, yet you refuse to properly thank me?”

“I just thanked you!” I fold my arms across my chest, exasperated.

“You chose me. Stupid as you are, you need to start thinking about how you can make yourself useful.” He crosses his arms too and looks down at me with cold eyes.

“Useful…? Are you saying my ‘thank you’ wasn’t enough? What more do you want me to do?”

“Um, you know, like… Give him your body, promise to faithfully devote yourself to him, that kind of thing.” A random customer from the crowd blurts.

“Excuse me?” I whip around, as I didn’t even realize people were still watching.

A female customer starts to squeal at the man’s words.

“He’s so hot!”

“This is amazing! I’ve never been to an event like this before!”

“Oh, I get it. They’re acting out the story of Princess Vega and Prince Altair, since it’s an event with the stars.”

“Like a story where the prince saves the princess?”

“How romantic!”

What? How could they think this guy is a prince? The way he keeps calling me ‘stupid’ isn’t very princely at all.

“How about it, stupid woman? What are you going to do?”

“I have a name, you know. Please stop calling me inappropriate names.”

“There’s no reason for me to call you by your name, stupid woman.”

All I can do is stand there and glare at him. He doesn’t care at all about what I’m saying. Why is this guy SO rude?! He looks like he’s growing more displeased by the minute. At least we have that in common.

“Excuse me, can I take a picture?”

“Can I have your autograph or something?”

I’m disturbed by what’s going on, but the other girls aren’t. They’re too busy looking at him and squealing in delight. We put so much planning into this event. How did things turn out like this? These people must be crazy. I wonder… Could he actually be some sort of cosplay, and he’s acting out a character? Maybe he’s trying to cause chaos at the planetarium and force us to close…? I’d better be careful… It looked like I was floating in the air before, but that must’ve been some sort of trick. Regardless, I don’t want to have anything more to do with him… As I grow more and more suspicious of him, a hopeful woman approaches the rude man.

“Um, can I have your autograph?”

“If you don’t want to die, get out of my sight immediately, scum.”

“Oh my god! You’re so cool! Which character are you portraying?”

“These humans are obnoxious. I’m leaving.” He says, forcefully grabbing me by the arm.

“Huh? Hold on a second… Why are you grabbing me?”

“Quiet.”

When he snaps his fingers, I feel momentarily dizzy. What just happened? Everything went black for a second…

“Um, please let me go… I have to get back to work…”

When I look up, I see a gold ceiling, with gold chandeliers and gold crown moldings. Like something out of a castle you’d see in a movie.

“Where am I?”

I look around at the fancy furniture, and the decorated columns and windows. It appears to be a palace.

“Where is this?”

Is he ignoring me? He and I are the only two people in the large room. This place must be some kind of mansion. Am I dreaming? Maybe I never went to work this morning, and I’ve been dreaming in my sleep this whole time… That would make sense.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, woman, staring at my face like that?!”

“I wasn’t doing anything!”

After feeling my eyes on him, he brings his face closer to mine. He slowly reaches out to touch my face.

“What’re you doing?!”

Suddenly, a door slams open.

“Phew, I’m beat… What in the world was that?” Says a different man I’ve never seen before, looking tired.

“Took you long enough.” Sneers the rude man who kidnapped me.

“A lot happened…” Huffs another man.

A group of four other men I don’t know enter the opulent gold room through a grand French-style door.

“Dammit, Slade, you must be pretty pleased with yourself, escaping all alone.” Says a man with gray hair, while glaring.

He has gray hair, yet doesn’t look a day over twenty-seven.

“Stupid…” Slade glares back at him.

I guess the rude man’s name is Slade. Interesting.

“Hey, Slade…” The first man who said he was beat, steps between him and the gray-haired man.

The men start to argue, and I’m caught in the middle.

“We just got back, stop arguing.” Says a ‘pretty boy’ looking man, as he approaches us. “It would appear that, other than your basic abilities and flight, your powers have been sealed.”

“What?” Slade snaps his head around at him.

“Do you think it’s because of the mark the King branded him with?” The first man asks.

“That’s a possibility.” He slowly nods.

“Stop talking about me as if I’m not standing right here!” Slade barks.

“Hey, give me the woman.” The ‘pretty boy’ demands from Slade.

Slade doesn’t say a single word but holds his ground and stares right back at him.

“I can take care of her a lot better than you can.” He smirks.

When he tries to grab me, Slade slaps his arm away and two of the other calm gods rush to stop him.

“The goddess chose Slade of her own free will. Give up, Percy.” Sighs the first man with big brown eyes. “With her, Slade can absolve his mark.”

“You’re giving ME orders? You’re getting awfully bold, Dion.”

“Percy, don’t bully Dion.” Says another man from the sidelines.

“Normally it’s Kaz or Slade bullying everyone.” Says Dion.

“I’m so f*cking sick of this…” Slade scoffs.

Powers, marks, what are they talking about? I don’t understand. All I can do is look on as the men in white cosplay, argue with each other about nonsense.

“Hey, you, human.” Kazimir looks in my direction.

I look behind me to make sure he’s not referring to someone else. As far as I know, we’re all human, so I can’t help but be confused.

“You’re awfully brave to ignore me.”

“Huh? Do you mean me?” I ask, flabbergasted.

He quickly closes the distance between us. I can’t help but feel a little scared.

“Uhh… My name is Alecia. You can’t just call me ‘human’ out of the blue and expect me to respond.”

“Pfft… ignorant human. I suppose I have to explain everything. A fragile being like you, unable to survive without the help of the gods, is nothing more than a bug, or a pet, to one such as myself.”

“I don’t need the help of any ‘gods’!”

“Then why did you call my name when you fell off that roof?” Slade suddenly asks.

“I didn’t call your name!”

“You did in your mind. Your heart called out for me.”

“I can assure you, my heart would never call out for you! But this is a dream…right?”

No one answers me.

“Alecia, do you know where you are?” Dion asks me.

“Um… well, Slade brought me to this palace in my dream…”

“Are you STILL calling this a dream?” The un-named man stares at me with wide eyes. “This is reality. Alecia, I’m telling you. This isn’t a dream or an illusion.”

No way… I rack my brain trying to absorb everything. He’s messing with me. I don’t even know what’s happening right now.

“I’m sorry, but this is reality, and you’re going to have to accept that.” Percy bluntly says.

“This place is the house of the gods.” One of them explains.

“As a punishment for his sins, Slade was thrown out of the Heavens… He’s been exiled to Earth. You’re here to absolve him of his sins.” Dion explains too.

Thrown out of the Heavens? Exiled to Earth? Absolve Slade of his sins? Me? Nope. Not happening. There is absolutely no way.

“Quit messing around. You’ll be erasing my sin and my sin only.” Slade glares at me. “You called my name when you were in danger. This is how you will repay me for saving your life.”

When I fell off the ceiling track?

“Slade committed the sin of using a ‘forbidden power’. Alecia, when you asked him to save your life, you entered a contract. He saved your life. Now, in exchange, you are obligated to erase his sin.” Dion explains.

“I didn’t ask for his help!” I stammer. “And anyway, I have to erase his sin to thank him? None of this is making any sense!”

“Are you stupid?” Slade glares at me. “I want to bid farewell to this filthy Earth as fast as I can. Do it now.”

“I don’t understand. I don’t know how to absolve you of your sin! I’d rather just go back to work and forget this ever happened!”

“What did you say?” Slade turns up his nose.

“You’re kidding, right?” One of them laughs innocently and touches my hair. “You’re a reincarnated goddess. The stars in your eyes led Slade to you. How could the goddess we were led to, not know how to erase Slade’s sin…?”

The gods are surprised to see me acting so honestly confused.

“So, you really are useless.” Slade looks me up and down.

“Say what you want. I still don’t know how to help you. Now let me go!”

“Hah… Hilarious.” Suddenly Kazimir’s gaze becomes a lot more intimidating. “I knew there was something wrong with you when you chose Slade. Bad taste has its limits.”

“True. Any normal human would choose the Ministry of Prayers to protect her a thousand years before choosing Discipline.” Says Percy.

“Discipline and Prayers…?” I look at him quizzically.

“See how we all have black armbands…” He shows me on his arm. “This means we’re members of the Ministry of Discipline.”

“Hold on. Could you please stop bad-mouthing our Vice Minister?” When Dion leaves my side to jump into the fray, the un-named man slips an arm around my waist.

“Slade is the Vice Minister of our team. In other words, he’s our superior. You’d never guess from the way he looks, but the King puts a lot of trust in him, and his subordinates respect him.”

“That rude, insulting guy…?” I whisper to him.

That is a little difficult to believe. Actually, everything is difficult to believe. I need to pinch myself and wake up from this dream! I physically pinch my arm and squeeze my eyes tightly shut. I open them again and notice nothing has happened. I glance up at Slade again in despair.

“Stupid woman.” Slade notices my eyes on him again and scoffs. “If you don’t know how to erase my sin, what in the hell are you doing here?”

“Getting angry at me won’t change anything… Plus, YOU brought me here.”

I’ve gotten myself wrapped up in something really weird. The gods walked in through a big door at one end of the room… I can make it outside through that door, I think. They don’t seem to be paying attention now… My eyes dart to the door. I wait for my chance to run.

“What are you trying to do?” The man asks me, who has his arm still wrapped around my waist.

“Nothing…” I quickly reply.

Now! I bolt for the door.

“Watch out!” Both the un-named man and Dion yell behind me.

Huh? I watch as the door in front of me opens up into pitch-black nothingness. There’s no ground! By the time I realize, it’s already too late. I’m swallowed up by the inky darkness. Oh no… I’m falling again!

“How many times do you have to fall before you’re satisfied?” A familiar, strong arm wraps around my waist. “Dammit, woman! Give me a f*cking break!”

I look into Slade’s eyes as he scolds me. He looks straight at me, dead serious. Do I see real worry in his eyes…?