The King's concubine

Chapter 6 : The cursed night

Mei

My heart is beating so fast as I walked slowly marching outside , the loud grunts and cries of the people sent a shock out of me ,

"This again , ? ....  Today ,? "

Swallowing the lump on my throat , I opened the door knob only to realise it was already night ,the blue misty sky was as dark as the coal . And the most intimidating thing is that this night is not like the other nights,

The weird sounds of the night's birds  echoed through out the village like  furious nightingales  ,

My body trembled  as I looked at the sight of young girls and  boys who  were  crazily dropping , laying on the sands and their agonising sounds piercing  the young ones who were terrified like me and the olds  who knew what was going on were anxious .

My heart was in my throat when my eyes met with two young men who were on the ground , drool oozing out from their mouths , laying nude like the day which they came  from their parent's wombs .

Their eyes were red bloodied and the veins  were visibly seen popping out  of their muscles swollen in the point of bursting,
I tested salty tears on my mouth and balanced my body on one of the walls wondering,

" why us , ? "

For how many years will every youth turning into adulthood  in the village pass through this intense agonising pain  , ?
This is not the first or the last time that this has been  happening, We have been tortured with this curse for years in our grounds . It has been occurring since the era of our ancestors .
Believing that they insulted the gods of the moon , and the stars ..Our whole Kingdom was given  a curse  as a gift  . By the "  goddess , "

We weren't just normal humans , in a night like this that's when the truth about us gets clearly exposed  to our true forms , The black sky with an enormous large sight of a moon that illuminates light  bearing a witness to each and every of our  true forms .

We loathed who we are , we never present ourselves in these beastly forms . We prefer to live as humans .

This is not any  normal moon light like any other days , This particular moon   has two parts that divided itself  , half of it having   crimson red like blood and dark shadows  on the other side  . When any young boy or girl  who has reached of age mainly eighteen and above  and  is exposed to the brightness , The skin itself burns , the bones experience a very intense unimaginable pain that can't be explained  and the body feels a  wave of an electric contact which makes the heart to react into a form of shock and driven itself in some changes that causes shifting to occur .

That's what the adults explained to us when we were young .
It's hard to look at the sight , and the heart wrenching cries of every one who goes through it every year ,

Taking up all the courage that I have , I walked slowly to the crowd of  adults (wise and old )  who carried bowls of water chanting words and pouring water on them  in easing up the pain .

The water is likely what they call the pain tonic that people believe it eases up the pain physically and makes the people who are undergoing the shifting to focus through their intellectual and to easy welcome their new forms. 

Eyeing up the half blood moon with a pitch of darkness on the other bloodied half made me shiver and almost pee my pants ,

I am always concerned of this day and I fear one day I will be in the position of anyone who passes the same thing today . 
I am scared because I am not sure if I will make  it one day like some of them who die in the middle of the shifting and ending up stuck into a state of limbo forever with nobody by their side  .

I swallowed the lump on my throat and gasped as I remembered of Alessia ,

My sister .. she is considered an adult this year and I am pretty sure she is one of the shifters who are suffering from this pain under this cursed night .

Crying with painful  tears which are  pouring down my eyes , I started running looking for her as I passed through a lot of the others  who were on the ground growling in pain .

  A gasp  escape form my throat and I shrieked out of nowhere when I see the first of all  young men growling animalisticly and slowly taking in control of his body and quickly shifting into a beast silencing the cracking of his bones with a growl .,

" He turned into a black wolf .. "

My mouth is a gap  as usual when moments like these happen every time  ... To me this day is like hell  , I wonder how I didn't know earlier that today will be the  cursed moon night .
I mean there is no time of preparing about all this , but I could have heard the rumors about this but I heard nothing this year ,

Did it came early , ?

"No ,you are just not concerned with anything that's been happening in this village  nowdays.'' My subconscious reminded me ,

Lowering my gaze with embarrassment , I felt so low and despicable of  how I have become , I have never been selfish . I loved socializing with every one in the village and making friends with each and every person who liked and didn't like me ,

I would attend some small meetings that are organized but not anymore as I have chose to stay away from the gossips and sewing every second of my life to support my family and to prove myself towards them . 

A familiar voice of my sister snapped me out of my thoughts,I broke down crying seeing her state , she was laying on the ground her long dress with a lower slit rising  and ripping up as she struggles breathing with every  moment she had , Her sparkly eyes were in the pit of her head growling , trembling  and finding something to support her from the  pain ,

Alessia .. Alessia .. I cried horrified and trying to calm my loud heartbeats down , and at the same time not knowing what to do . For goodness sake , I am only half way to  turn seventeen .

Sister .. sister , I cried notifying her that I was there with her , that she can do it and that she has  someone by her side ,

I am sure she would have made it if our family was here  , Running my hands all over my face and looking for mom with my eyes  for help , but I couldn't spot her any where .

She isn't here .

She is supposed to be here with her !! She is supposed to stay with Alessia in this hard time and tell her how much she loves her and how much she cares , how she can pull through and give her hope and tell her that she will get her new form .

But she isn't here , I cried begging for the goddess of everyone here to  make her pass through this test ,

I love my sister so much , I would rather trade my soul than seeing her in pain ,She is turning nineteen soon ,So young to deserve all this pain on her own.  
Mastering all the courage I had , I went close to her enough for my head to rest on her forehead .

I wanted to give her the energy through our  sisterly bond so that she could get a hold of herself and  her body and push through .

I forgot about everyone who was there , the cries and the pains that echoed throughout  the whole village ,
I focused on my sister who needed me and rested my forehead on hers , I have never did this in my life , I am terrified ..

"my whole soul is . "

What if she hurts me , ? What if she won't make it , ? Swallowing the negativity down my throat and closing my eyes ,

"You can do it !"  I whispered  .

In a minute I heard a loud growl that shaked me into the core  as I followed by being thrown somewhere  landing with a huge impact on the ground ,

Alessia ... I whispered  petrified .

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