"You are way too beautiful to be a human," one of the males said to the goddess's acolyte. The woman was just as beautiful as the male saw. She bore the resemblance to the moon, if she was living amongst them on earth. In the daytime, her face would hide its glow like it didn't want to scare people away, but at night, it would draw people closer.
Seeing her skill, or unacknowledged one, the chief priestess made sure she was the one watching over and praying to Luna at night. The priestess of course didn't stop to wonder why the acolyte's glow mirrored the moon in the sky, or why she seemed to draw the night animals to herself whenever she sang, prayed, worshiped or meditated.
Fraus knew of the existence of this acolyte, she knew she was an embodiment of the Luna goddess and her existence amongst the humans would continue to bless them. She thought to herself, who else to invoke the goddess' curse than the one who has her blessings. She smiled to herself, her plan was going to be epic and she knew it. The other gods clearly do not know what they signed up from when they chose her. She was going to ruin their relationships with the humans, and soon no god will be worshiped, not even the moon goddess.
"Hi, you must be Akaya," Fraus said to the man before her. He looked just like the clan head, "you look…"
"Yes, I do. He is my father," he replied to her with a gentle smile.
"Oh, is he now? Well, that's great," she said to him.
"Yes, it is and he sent me to get you. Apparently, the day is almost upon us,"
Fraus was more confused than ever, then it clicked. Every full moon, the people of the moon would gather round the temple to worship for a full night. the virgin acolytes, the priestess and everyone of the clan would pray and the luna goddess would shine her light on them.
Akaya started to explain to Fraus about everything they do on this day and Fraus nodded like she knew nothing about it but in her mind, she was busy running through her plans.
As they were walking, the priestess and her acolytes walked past them and one girl seemed to stand out. she looked like she was doing her best to not be seen by the passersby and onlookers but Fraus noticed her and she wasn't the only one who did. Akay was so captivated by the maiden's beauty that he trailed behind them, forgetting Fraus. the maiden stayed behind every other acolytes, she walked with grace and even though all she did was hide her face, Akaya knew that she was beautiful. he did not only become lustful towards her, he wanted her as his, he wondered to himself how he was going to do that even though he that it was wrong. There was no way he could stop himself from having those thoughts. He wondered if there were other young men like him having the same thoughts, then he remembered he was with someone but before he could mask his expressions, Fraus asked him.
"She looks like a goddess, doesn't she?" and that caught Akaya's attention.
"What?" he asked, "Who? What? i don't know what you are talking about," he answered and walked away from the direction the priestess was going and directed himself and Fraus towards his father.
"Really?" Fraus asked with a look in his direction. Akaya said nothing and kept walking quietly. 'oh, this is going to be fun,' she thought to herself, peering at him from beneath her lashes. The goddess of deceit was already making her plans and only she knew of her mind, not even the other lesser gods and goddesses knew.
"Fraus, you are here," the clan chief greeted when he saw her come in with his son, Akaya.
"Father," Akaya greeted with a slight nod and then he went to his place beside his mother and smiled at before giving her a kiss on the cheeks.
Akaya has always been envious of the relationship between his parents. he saw them as lovers that can never be separated by anything, ore like soulmates and he wished to have their kind of relationship and love with his chosen one day, and when he thought about his chosen, the maiden of the Luna cae to his mind. he shook his head hard to get her image out of his head before he committed a sacrilege.
For someone who is already a sixteen year old in Lunar years, he knew the days to choose a lover are drawing closer just like the Luna festival.
Speaking of the Luna festival, Aaravav had just gathered everyone to the square to announce how the preparations would go.
"Welcome, everyone," he said with a loud voice and everyone turned their heads to him. They all bowed and greeted their clan head. Fraus stood at the corner watching everything unfold.
"As we all know the Luna triduum festival is very close at hand and our virgins," he said to all while gesturing towards the priestess and her acolytes, as they came marching in, "our goddess' acolytes are ready. remember, no one is to commit any act of human desire or any act that will incur the wrath of the goddess. the Triduum of the Luna festival to the peole of the moon is the only occassion where even lovers avoid each other in a bid to stay pure and avoid soiling themselves.
"My dear ones, we will now cleanse ourselves as a means of preparation and tomorrow, we will begin."
Aaravov said to all his people and as he did, the chief priestess and her acolyres went round blessing all the peoples.
Fraus stayed where she was and smiled with one thought in mind, 'even the Luna goddess won't know what hit her after this,'