The Phoenix's Prophecy

*Chapter Twenty-Eight*

*Chapter Twenty-Eight*

Aria looked thoughtfully into the mirror. The light blue floor-length gown easily swirled around her. She twisted around to see her back.

“Nope, too serious.”

As a courtesy from Melody, she has granted everyone who's attending the ceremony a completely-free-of-charge dress. Aria had chosen the most extravagant, lavish, and regal shop in the entire dimension. If I weren't born in a Royal family, my jaw would have dropped to the floor from the mere sight of the most expensive shop in the dimension. The ceiling, floor, and wall were all painted in ivory with thin gold trims forming beautiful patterns all around the room. The spacious room held all clothes imaginable, ranging from accessories to dresses.

“Aren't all gowns serious?” I deadpanned.

“Of course not!” Aria exclaimed with horror. “How could you ever think that all gowns are the same?! They're completely different! Like that one you tried on earlier didn't bring out your eyes, but the green - ”

“Okay okay, I get your point.”

No, not at all.

“I don't see why I had to come here,” Rayden grumbled unhappily.

“'Cause I said so,” Aria smiled sweetly.

“Or more like Zach will kick your ass if you don't listen to Aria,” I added helpfully.

“Did I hear...” Ray turned towards me and narrowed his eyes, “something?”

“Nope,” I laughed nervously, something about that look gave me goosebumps, not the good ones.

“None of these would suit the Halloween Theme,” Aria whined and pouted at the racks and racks of fancy dresses.

“Well, it's not like we need any Halloween theme,” I shrugged, “everyone would just have to be in their true form.”

“No!” she cried exasperated at my lack of understanding of her highly admirable fashion sense. “You don't get it. What I'm trying to have here is a scary atmosphere, a spooky one.”

“I thought this was supposed to be a happy day?” I raised my tone at the end of the sentence, causing it to sound like a question.

“Melody will definitely not allow everyone to transform into his or her real form. The different auras, especially the Royal ones, would attract too much attention,” Ray reasoned. From the look on Aria's face, one would think that Ray has just declared the death of her ten-year-long pet unicorn.

“But - But can't there be a barrier? One that could keep our aura hidden from everyone else?”

Well, she does have a point.

“Melody needs to keep an eye on the entire dimension. She won't risk the chance of not being able to sense anything for a while.”

I glanced at Ray with new found admiration. He sure is good at reasoning (of course, when the person he's arguing with is you, it's not admirable anymore).

“Fine,” Aria pouted; her hands never stopped searching through the racks of dresses. Both Ray and I let out an almost inaudible sigh of relief. “I'll just have to make the decorations extra spooky and choose some suitable outfits.”

“You're choosing everyone's outfit?” I asked incredibly.

“Yup,” she chirped happily. “Who would refuse the offer of the protagonist of the ceremony?”

Yes, who would?

“As long as it's not something that stands out a lot, I'll be fine,” I carefully watched her expression. Knowing Aria, she'll probably end up choosing something that will make you stand out like fire at night.