Chapter 2: Behold the word of the goddess

Skylar’s POV

The last 6 years were hell for everyone in the RedMoon pack and father was about to let the same thing happen again.

“No!” He screamed, running to where I laid on the slab.

He shielded me with his body. “Don’t! Don't let my poor daughter die! Don't harm her!”

“Father, what are you doing!” I tried to push him off me. “Let go of me!”

“Hush now, Skylar. I'm trying to save your life.” Father yelled. Then he looked at the people. “It doesn't have to end like this! Why does my daughter have to die? What kind of deity is the Moon Goddess for giving a life for a life!”

Silence hovered over the pack. Soon, hushed whispers began to spread amongst the people.

“Step aside from your daughter, Alpha Xavier!” The priestess roared. “The moon is full and the night is still young. We still have time to do this. If Skylar doesn't get sacrificed. We all will suffer a fate worse than death.”

“Will we all suffer a fate worse than death if we don't kill a child?” Father yelled.

“Father..” I tried to push him off me. “Let go.”

“No!” he yelled again.

“Father!”

“Alpha Xavier!”

Beta Jasper joined us on the podium. “Step aside, Xavier! It doesn't have to end like this. Sacrifice your daughter for the greater good. One soul for a thousand and that's all it takes!”

“Why don't you sacrifice your own daughter?” Father roared, his grip on me tightened but the second.

Beta Jasper stiffened in shock then he regained his composure. “My daughter wasn't chosen. Yours was.”

“Alpha Xavier is right. Skylar doesn't have to die.” A man in the crowd cried out.

Another countered his argument with a hiss. “If Skylar doesn't die, calamity will befall us all. We will return to the way we were 6 years ago, if not worse.”

I listened with closed eyes and a heart beating on the rage in my chest. I listened as the people yelled at each other. Some were in support of my father's decision to oppose the ones that had chosen me while the majority cursed at him for being weak and trying to bring calamity to the pack.

I knew this would happen so I accepted to be the chosen one despite my father's words. But he fails to see the truth for what it is. If the priestess doesn't sacrifice me, all kinds of hell will break loose.

“Alpha Xavier!” The priestess was losing her patience. “If the moon disappears into the sky, it's doom for us all.”

“Skylar. Will. Not. Die!” Father said through gritted teeth

“Father, please, don't let our past efforts be in vain.” I said through tears.

Father looked down at me. “I won't lose you. I lost your mother but I won't lose you!”

“The sky!” Beta Jasper cried out. “The moon is gone!”

Darkness fell over us and the wind picked up its pace, blowing violently. The people scattered to safety.

“No! Look at what you've done!” The priestess screamed.

The sky bellowed and the thunder rumbled in rage. Cackles of lightning resounded in the air and suddenly, everything stilled.

Father helped me out of the slab. “Come on.”

I looked at the dark, starless sky. “It's stopped.”

“Not quite.” said the Priestess. “I'm afraid this is just the beginning.”

She pointed her staff to the sky and lightning struck the ground. Just then, the moon reappeared in the sky, shining so brightly before it dimmed. Drops of water began to fall from the sky. Then they increased their pace, falling into sheets and sooner, the wind began to roar again and the rain storm began.

“Come on, Skylar!” Father caught my arm and we began to run.

The Moon Goddess was angry and because they failed to sacrifice me, she will sacrifice us all.

******

I thought this calamity would be like the ones I had read in books — littered seas, famine, dread and sorrow but I was wrong.  , this was beyond my imagination.

People across different packs began to die of unnatural causes. The wave of death swept the southern packs including ours. By the end of the week, the death toll totalled to 1,000. People lost their loved ones including our very own.

“This is all your fault!” Beta Jasper fisted father's collar.

“Let my father go!” I screamed at him.

“You!” He turned to me, eyes widened with rage and fury. “It’s your fault the packs are like this! You should've been dead!”

“Guards, get him out of here.” I folded both my hands in a fist.

The guards flanking the doors grabbed him by the arm and yanked him out of the room.

But before the door closed in on him, I heard his loud wail. “Bring back Mallory!”

My heart sank and I felt tears rush to my eyes.

I turned to my father. “You know it's your fault, right?”

He walked past me. “I intend to live with it.”

That evening, the pack’s priestess, Alora sent a Raven to the Alpha's of the Southern and Northern packs for a meeting. And in that meeting, she urged them to find a way to appease the Moon Goddess.

Of course, everyone shared confused glances. Some even threw death stares at father but at the end of the night, we all reached an agreement but the outcome was as I expected — I was at the centre of attention again.

A week later, the priestess gathered everyone in the pack square.

We all waited with an angry breath as she stepped onto the podium. Hushed murmurs began to echo with the wind and soon, it became louder than I had expected.

“Hush!” Alora said aloud and the square went quiet.

“We have news from the divine!” She announced and the crowd went wild. “You will give ear to heed these instructions!”

The square relapsed into silence and watched as the priestess unfolded the scroll in her hand

She lifted the scroll in midair. “Behold the word of the goddess!”

The people roared enthusiastically.

Then she brought it down to read.  “The Moon Goddess is pleased with our sacrifice and would let the affliction cease!”

“Praise the goddess!” The people echoed in one voice.

She went on reading. “Skylar White!”

Everyone turned to look at me at the same time and I stilled.

“Skylar White!” she repeated.

“I am here.” I stepped up to the podium and faced the crowd, wondering whatever judgement the goddess had set out for me.

Alora began my sentence. “Skylar White, born of Alpha Xavier White, Alpha of the SilverMoon pack, you are not cursed by the Moon Goddess…”

“Oh thank heavens .” I heard father exhale a sigh of relief

Alora cut him off mid-sentence. “...but you are born to never find a mate. You will never find happiness and in confinement shall you dwell for the rest of your life till you wither and die.”