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ONE
RYXA
I lower my forehead to my hands as I close my eyes. Anything is better than looking at the girl in front of me who is practically shaking with excitement. My hands drift down to my throat as another girl squeals excitedly. I don’t understand the happy people surrounding me.
I just need a few breaths, some peace and quiet before the worst happens.No, I need to think positively.He’s not going to be chosen. Everything is going to be all right.I force my hands down from my throat and clutch them together in my lap. My knee bounces as I try my best to pretend this is just a normal assembly. Nothing bad is going to happen. I squirm in my seat to get comfortable on the hard wood of the grand stand, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t get my body to relax.
I won’t be chosen and neither will Eric.The words are a vow. One I’ve been making for years now. The last thing I ever want is to be chosen. I’d rather face the worst of humanity than be that close to the Gods.
My phone buzzes with an incoming text making me jump. I fish it out of my pocket after chuckling to myself over my stupid reaction. There’s very few people who would actually message me, so I know exactly who it is even before looking at his name.
Eric: Calm down. Everything will be fine.
Easy for him to say, he actually wants this. Eric’s my best friend, secret crush and closest thing I have left to family, besides my parents that is. I have two very normal parents who like to pretend I’m not smart enough to know they adopted me. I understand why they don’t want me to dwell on the fact that I’m adopted, but it’s a little hard to not notice considering I’m as pale as a ghost, have eyes so blue they almost appear clear and they’re tanned year-round with dark hair and dark eyes. Not to mention my lack of Chinese features; I look more like a Nordic woman than anything.
Eric’s often mistaken for my parents’ child; he looks more like them than I do. Doesn’t help that they treat him like their own son and we’re always together.
My phone buzzes again and I glance down at the screen. My finger rubbing over the small chip in the corner from when I left it on the roof of Mum’s car. I was in such a hurry to get to school this morning, but I really wish I had been late now.
Eric: I mean it Ryx, calm down. I can feel you freaking out from all the way down here. Nothing will ever tear us apart. Not even this.
I want to reply back, and tell him that he’s wrong. If he’s chosen, we’ll be separated and everything will change, but Principal Harvey’s voice booms across the speakers; making everyone turn to stare up at the podium where ten Gods are currently seated on pompous thrones behind him.
“Welcome students, parents, and esteemed Gods. Seventeen is not normally a huge milestone but ever since the Gods returned and graced us with their presence fifty years ago, it’s been heralded as one in the lives of all humans. Only twenty people from all around the world are chosen for the opportunity to train as one of the liaisons to the next generation of Gods.”
Why twenty? Well, that’s because there are only ever ten Gods or Goddesses attending the school each year. I believe it’s because they are only capable of reproducing once every generation and we all know there are only ten Gods remaining. That’s part of the reason they returned to our realm; the story goes that the Gods were once as numerous as us humans, but from wars, plagues and – ew gross – inbreeding, they’ve all but wiped themselves from existence.
The Gods are the reason I’m freaking out. They’re doing their Selection Process, starting with our school. I’m scared because Eric put his name in the pool of students hoping to become the next liaison to the Gods. I don’t want him to go with them and I sure as hell don’t want any part of it.
If there was a way to stop all of this from happening I’d be the first in line, but what can mere humans do against the Gods?
Every year seventeen-year-olds all across the world prepare for the day they get to attempt to gain favour with the Gods. This year shouldn’t be any different for me, it’s my seventeenth year, yes, but my grades have been meticulously kept at a B-grade level. I’ve kept my looks muted by not wearing any makeup, clothes a couple sizes too big and been very careful not to attract any undue attention.
The selection exams are mandatory, but again, I was very careful not to draw attention to myself by answering at least ten of the hundred questions wrong. Eric on the other hand, has done everything he can to make it into the selection. He even had a professional stylist alter his look to make sure he fit with the latest fashion and trends. Not that he needed any help in the looks department, my best friend is gorgeous. He’s got the kind of natural looks that make most girls do a double take and then sigh because they can’t touch him. If he doesn’t make it into the final selection, he’ll have no problems becoming a model or an actor, both of which he’s been talking about doing after he finishes school.
Mr Harvey continues his speech, it’s the same one he gives every year so I don’t mind that I missed some of it while being lost in my thoughts. “…given the opportunity, nay the privilege to attend the School of the Gods.”
There’s always a catch with anything and the catch is that those chosen must serve the Gods for three years, even if they don’t make the cut of becoming the five chosen to represent all of Humanity. So essentially, the chosen will give up six years of their lives for the Gods, and those not chosen will give up three. Doesn’t sound so great now, huh?
Every year the human schools hold an academic event followed by a beauty competition, yeah, you heard that right, a beauty competition. The most beautiful of the academic winners are then chosen as thesacrificesfor the Gods. Not every school has people chosen, but when they do, they count it as a blessing by the Gods.
I’m rolling my eyes so hard right now, thank God – huh, humans really need a new saying – that my best friend can’t see me all that well. He’s down there in the front row, hoping he’ll be chosen along with the rest of the elite. I chose to sit as far away as I could, hiding out at the very back of the bleachers so I can avoid being lumped in with the God-chasers. Which my best friend happens to be, very much to my disgust. I can’t really blame him though, they are exceptionally good looking and their powers are far too intriguing to ignore.
What I don’t get is why everyone wants to be chosen. No one knows exactly what they have to do once they get into the school. For all we know, they might actually be being sacrificed and eaten by the Gods. Or worse, forced to cater to their every kinky whim like depraved slaves.
The rumours all state that the students attend classes learning about the Gods and how to best serve them. Once they complete the three years training, they then have to compete in a competition – again – which will decide if they are good enough to serve the Gods, but those are just rumours. No one really knows for sure because the humans who have made it through don’t speak about what happens there.
Ever.
It's like they go in but come out different people, if they’re ever seen again. And there-in lies my biggest fear. If Eric is chosen, I’ll lose my best friend. Myonlyfriend. But worse than that, I’ll be losing a piece of my heart and he doesn’t even know it.
The principal is still droning on about how it’s such an honour to be chosen. I tune him out, glancing down at my best friend. He’s staring up at the thrones with a wistful look on his face.
I honestly don’t understand Eric’s fascination with the Gods. Hell, they aren’t even real Gods, just Gods-in-training with more God blood in them than human, but they’re still just people. Entitled assholes and bitches who will one day rule over us mere humans, but come on, why can’t Eric see that serving them isn’t that great?
Okay so maybe I’m a little biased, I don’t want to lose my best friend for the next six years to a bunch of pampered assholes. Can you really blame me?
Eric and I have been best friends for our entire lives. Even our parents are best friends. It’s only natural to want to keep him around. Plus there’s the little problem of me crushing on him big time. I’ve tried my best to pretend those feelings aren’t there. I can’t ever let him know because he’s told me time and time again that he only sees me as a friend. Not in a mean way mind you, he just drops those not-so-subtle hints.
