I have laid with her, Akaya said to himself, next is Fraus but she was no where to be found. Akaya searched and almost went into the camp made for the women. So he decided to wait till morning.
It was surprising that even after the deed, Akaya was able to have a sound sleep. But it was the wails and dissatisfied grunts that woke him up from his supposed deep slumber.
"What happened?" He asked with a sleepy voice.
"She's dead," one of the young men said to him when he stepped outside his abode.
"Dead? Who is dead?" He asked almost immediately, praying that it wasn't the maiden he laid with the previous night.
"The acolyte, the one who bore the mark of the moon," another replied to him.
Akaya wondered what they were talking about, he didn't know about the prophecy, as old as he was. He didn't know that the maiden he laid with was the one who was to save them.
"Who? Who is it?!" Akaya asked again, this time with a little shake in his voice.
"The fairest among all the maiden. They said she was forcibly laid with, that she had lost her virginity and that was why she slit her wrist and drowned herself," the first man said.
"But who would do that sort of thing?" Another asked.
Akaya couldn't find the words, he didn't think it was that a big deal, he didn't think she would kill herself. Was that how much she hated him? Was it that she couldn't even bear to stand the thought of being bethroted to him?
The questions kept running through his head but he knew what to do, or at least he thought he did.
He went back in, took some other attire and draped it across his body before he dasjed out.
Fraus, she would know what to do, I just need to look for her, he thought to himself.
He went straight to the camp where the females were but he couldn't find her.
Akaya became distraught. What had he done? The question lingered and echored in his head. He had done the unspeakable.
All he had to to was wait...
"Who did this to her?" Aaravov asked the chief priestess. He was dismayed. Not only was the maiden assaulted but it was in the shrine and on the eve of the festivities and to crown it all, it made them lose a life. They lost the maiden.
The chief priestess was beside herself, she could not say a word. To say she was shocked that this happened was an understatement.
"She has the mark," she muttered, the mark of the one chosen by the goddess and she was dead also. It was a double tragedy for them.
Everyone in the clan became quiet. Nobody said a thing and if a pin had dropped, its sound will reverberate throughout the lands.
Then, to get to the root of the matter, Aaravov gathered everyone, male, female and even children alike and ordered them into the shrine. Everywhere was somber and even the fear the parents felt could be seen across their faces.
It was then Seraph looked around her, she could not find one particular person. Fraus and even Aaravov could not find Akaya anywhere.
"No, he wouldn't dare," Aaravov said to himself before he called to some of his men.
"Go and look for Akaya and drag him here by his ear," he ordered them and they went in search of Akaya.
Seraph looked at him worriedly from the crowd and hoped to the heavens it was not what they thought.
The chiefs priestess came out and began to say something chants and wail at some point.
She was praying for the moon goddess' forgiveness even though she knew it was too late.
She was still saying her chants when she suddenly they saw a light shine in the pool of water that was in the shrine.
The light took the image of woman and it spoke. When it did, the walls shook.
"I gave you everything you asked for as my people but how did you repay me?" She exclaimed angrily.
The chief priestess fell back on her butt and screamed. Her screams alerted the others and then they knew that the woman or the voice who spoke was not ordinary.
"Please, we... Please..." The chief priestess begged with no more than a few words.
"I curse you! I curse you and your generation!" As the woman in the light said this, the guards brought Akaya in.
Akaya on hearing what the woman said ran towards her with his head bowed down.
"Please, I did this. Don't punish my people, you can punish me instead. Please," he pled with tears running down his face. He knew this was it, it was all over but he didn't want it to be.
"You! You will never find a mate, not with the feral beast that will be within you. I curse you and your descendants. The child you give birth to will lead but will never grow to be loved. He will search for his mate and he will never find, until she comes, my chosen one. She will release you and if your descendant does as you have today, you will be thrown into another 500 years of peril, pain and torture by your beasts. Only a mate of my chosen will be assigned to you, and whoever that is, you will make do! From now on, you are one with the wild, you shall roam the earth during the day and howl to the moon at night. Your fingers shall turn to claws and your face to the face of a wolf! You and your beasts shall live and in harmony you must!"
You rained on them more curses.
They were like curses but she knew in her hearts that this was also a favour to them. She knew this will save them. And also they have been cursed with a life that was almost immortal, they were also going to keep being her people.