The Choosing Ceremony

Of course, Caisey totally forgot that a choosing ceremony meant that the realm of gods would show up in both full attendance and in full splendor. It was perhaps the most breathtaking yet intimidating situation he’d ever found himself in.

The ceremony was quick and took place in a lavishly decorated square at the center of the Realm. The host of the ceremony stood before an eye-catching fountain with water spewing sky high from the statue of a god that shared an incredible likeness to the host’s own appearance. On both sides of the hosting god was a multitude of attendants who each held an empty, flat, golden tray in their hands.

“Gods of the Realm,” the host addressed the attendees in a commanding voice that rung in Caisey’s ears, “please accept your goblets.”

At that moment, the attendants up on the platform descended the two steps and made their way around to the hundreds of gods and Chosen Ones in attendance. A skinny and short cherub with lime-colored skin appeared in front of Rina and Caisey. She held the golden plate aloft and waited as Rina gracefully positioned her hand upside down, hovering over the plate. With this posture, it appeared as though Rina were already holding an invisible goblet in her overturned hand; her middle and pointer fingers were adequately separated to leave room for the neck of the fat goblet.

A second later, a glimmering, dark indigo goblet with large red rhinestones circling the rim, filled to the top with a clear liquid, appeared in Rina’s hand.

Caisey’s mouth dropped open while Rina’s lips curled upwards into an alluring close-lipped smile, and she dipped into a very miniscule but elegant curtsy. Behind a couple beats, Caisey took a creaky, confused bow and was surprised to see the cherub literally disappear from before his eyes. “H-H-How?!” He stuttered.

“Just go with the flow.” Rina said and turned to him. She pressed her full, soft body against his and raised the goblet with her right hand. “Drink with me.”

“Rina!” Caisey squeaked, voice higher than the heavens, and Rina cracked up at him out loud. “Shh!!!” Caisey hissed then whisper-yelled, “Don’t laugh at me in public! You’re making them look!”

“Oh, please.” Rina said, waving him off with a mischievous smile on her face. “And remember, it’s ‘Lady Terpsichore’ in public.”

“Sure, sure.” Caisey replied.

Just then, the ever-clear sky cracked open with a frightening strike of lightning and an ear-splitting sound. The ceremony’s host had his golden goblet raised high above his head. His eyes were nothing more than brilliant white lights bursting from his face.

“No way, is he—?” Caisey wondered.

“Yup.” Said Rina. “That’s Zeus, my father. King of the gods.”

Caisey was busy thinking, F-F-F-Father?!, when Zeus spoke, his voice carrying far over every attendee in the square. “Raise your goblets, gods and goddesses. Tonight, we choose our hosts for the Nth Festival of the Gods.”

Around him, goblets of all colors and shades were lifted high into the air, and Caisey wondered briefly how voting worked in the Gods’ Realm when everyone around were essentially VVIPs. In his mind, they were all equally capable of winning all the votes. When he turned his attention back to Rina, her dazzling blue eyes were already locked on him, and she said, “We’ve gotta win this, Case.”

Personally, Caisey wasn’t so eager to win. He’d never hosted a thing in his life, and he hadn’t planned on starting now, especially in a realm of divine entities. Nonetheless, he found himself asking Rina, “How?”

And then regretting it the moment he saw the glimmer in Rina’s eyes. She’s thinking up something dangerous, he thought.

The sky above them was cracking and sparking with a growing intensity. The atmosphere grew darker and more menacing by the second. Tomorrow’s hosts would be chosen any second now.

“We have to hurry!” Rina shouted over the noise. With her free hand, she conjured up a sapphire blue ball of light and told Caisey, “Quick, hit it as hard as you can!”

Caisey made a face but, otherwise, didn’t hesitate to swipe the ball of energy out of Rina’s hand with all his might. He was surprised by his unusual level of power and watched, wide-eyed, as the ball flew wildly to his right. Amazingly, the ball transformed midair into a miniscule, fiery, blue phoenix. It flew incredibly fast, bouncing off the raised goblets of all the other gods in the square like a ball in a pin ball machine.

Gods’ goblets were being toppled all over the place, some crashing dramatically to the ground. Caisey couldn’t see the phoenix with his eyes, but he was able to follow its path of destruction.

“Rina!” he shouted, “I can’t believe you. That’s cheating!” Rina only cackled loudly as goblets continued to rain down. However, it was evident that the definitive strike of lightning was about to arrive, and the fiery bird wasn’t going to be able to finish the job in time.

Just as Caisey began to worry, another fiery phoenix, identical but for its vibrant blue-green color, came crashing down the goblets of gods near Rina and Caisey. As the green phoenix came hurtling toward the pair, Caisey could feel Rina exude a sort of powerful supremacy he'd never felt from her before. Bracing herself to smack the living hell out of that phoenix caused her whole demeanor to change. By some miracle, Rina’s phoenix returned just a hair before impact and blue and green clashed with a mesmerizing burst in front of Caisey’s eyes.

Then, lightning broke the clouds, and a sizzling streak pierced Rina’s raised goblet in the most frightening way. Above, its course frayed off in another direction like a wishbone and Caisey followed its path to somewhere off his far right. There was just one other goblet that remained raised high into the sky, its center pierced with lightning like Rina's.

The owner was a tall female god who was dressed like a Viking. Her apparent Chosen One had her eyes locked on Caisey in a way that made her resemble a bug. She waved, and before he could wave back, Caisey felt the eyes of death burning through his cheek.

TRY IT, dared Rina’s aura, sending a shiver down Caisey’s spine. He thought the way it whipped around above her head somehow resembled Medusa.

Rina, though?

Freaking cute.

Caisey smiled toothily at her. He tapped Rina’s nose with his forefinger, drawing a startled look from her. “Stop it, you look cute.” He said, chuckling. “A wave isn’t a marriage proposal.”

“What would you have done if it was, though?” Rina insisted.

Caisey tipped his head back and laughed, “Of course I would’ve told her that I’m…” He stopped, searched Rina’s eyes.

She was searching his. “You’re what?” She asked.

Taken, is what he thought but couldn’t dare say. The girl he’d fallen hard for was a real-life goddess, for gods’ sake! And him? He was—

Zeus’s voice blasted throughout the square just then as the lightning came to a sizzling stop. The liquid in both the raised goblets had evaporated. “The hosts have been chosen!” He declared, “The goddesses Lady Terpsichore and Lady Rán with their Chosen Ones!”

Shouts of congratulations and well wishes rang out from all the attendees. Some people amicably smacked Caisey on the back and clapped his shoulders, effectively snapping him out of the lock Rina had on his eyes. He laughed, thanked people, and smiled along, all while just wanting to retreat to Rina’s palace.

Someone shouted, “Good luck to you, son!” And Caisey wondered what he needed luck for. He had just shrugged the comment off when Zeus himself said in his booming voice, “I wish you all supreme safety and good fortune. I impatiently await the outcome of the days to come.

“Welcome to the Gods’ Realm.”

“Now, if that doesn’t scream ominous to you, I don’t know what does!!” Caisey was telling Rina about Zeus’s supposed ‘well wishes.’ They had made it out of the throng of gods and were heading back in the direction of Rina’s palace.

Rina was smiling and twirling, as per usual. “Father always says that before the festival. Don’t worry about it!”

“But why does he say it before the festival?” Caisey pressed, “I’m not convinced it’s for a tiny reason! Is the festival bad news? Tell me if it is now so I can drop out.”

The smiling and twirling stopped. Rina looked powerful and serious. “You cannot drop out, Caisey.”

The fire in Rina’s eyes gave Caisey pause. He asked, “Is winning this thing that important to you?”

“Yes.” Rina answered, no hesitation.

“And, uh… Does it have something to do with…” Caisey trailed off and used his eyes to indicate his point instead.

He’d noticed about three palaces ago that he and Rina had bypassed her brilliant, blue-colored palace. They now stood before a ridiculously bright, turquoise-colored palace whose front steps started at the same spot on ground level, then split off in two curving directions up to the main building. A massive crater formed by the stairs housed an enormous sculpture of a sea turtle, making it the focal point of the palace.

At the top of the stairs, standing between two pillars holding up the structure of the palace’s entryway, stood the goddess Lady Rán and her Chosen One.

The spaces between Rina’s eyebrows had creased deeply when she noticed the goddess standing there, apparently waiting for the two of them to arrive. She answered, “Not really. I just hate her.”

“Oh… Uhm. Oka—”

“Let’s go.”

Caisey felt uneasy as Rina turned on her heel and began to march up the stairs to the palace owned, as far as Caisey could tell, by her arch nemesis.

Oh boy, he thought and followed behind. And we're all supposed to have a festival tomorrow? He worried over what the evening—and the future—had in store for them.