When Gods Choose Wrong

When I opened my eyes, I was holding the pale, frail wyrmling. Without a second thought, I flung it into the dirt.

Ten years ago, my sister Kelen and I found two baby wyrmlings in the woods. One was black, scales etched with ancient runes. It wound around Kelens wrist, pulsing with power. The other was a weak white wyrmling. I took it home out of pity, beginning a decade of tiresome care.

Within a year, the black wyrmling took human form as Ronan, a man who treated Kelen like a queen. I, meanwhile, worked grueling jobs just to feed myself and the useless white wyrmling.

By dating age, every guy in Silverpine avoided methey said to ditch the snake, then theyd take me out. I threw them all off the porch. I used to stroke the wyrmlings head, promising Id never abandon it, even if it never took human form.

Then a flash flood changed everything. The wyrmling Id nurtured ten years suddenly transformed into a radiant Celestial Dragon. As I thrashed in the floodwaters, I reached for its tailbut it swam past me, gently lifting Kelen to safety. It had only ever had eyes for my sister, and had learned to take human form long before Ronan, hiding it from me all along.

Kelen placed the white wyrmling in my palm. She told me to look at its pristine scales, claiming it would definitely evolve into a dragon one day and treat me like a queen.

She reminded me about Old Mrs. Higgins from the next town over, who picked up a similar creature and got blessed with endless fortune when it ascended. She playfully told me not to forget her when I hit the big time.

A few locals walking by overheard and immediately got defensive.

They praised Kelen for her sweet heart, noting that white wyrmlings were statistically more likely to ascend than black ones. They insisted that since I lacked Kelen's gentle nature and gorgeous looks, the white wyrmling belonged with her.

Kelen's face flashed with fake hurt before she forced a brave smile, claiming she was the older sister and it was her job to let me have the best things.

I frowned, staring down at the creature.

Anyone with half a brain could see the white wyrmling was barely breathing. The black one, however, had eyes burning with vitality, its obsidian scales reflecting a mesmerizing, iridescent light.

The townsfolk were clueless, but Kelen definitely knew the black one was the true prize.

In my past life, I did not call out her bluff. The white wyrmling was covered in blood and looked too pathetic to abandon.

But now, looking at the tiny creature bearing its fangs at me from my palm, I only felt pure disgust.

Why had I never noticed before? He wasn't acting out of trauma. He bared his fangs because he absolutely hated me.

Smack!

I chucked the white wyrmling straight onto a jagged rock, adjusted the strap of my gathering basket, and turned on my heel.

Kelen gasped, dropping to her knees to scoop the creature up. She screamed at me, asking how I could be so cruel to a living breathing thing.

I told her fate decides who lives and dies, and if it dies today, that is simply its destiny.

Kelen yelled my name, her voice trembling. She called me cold-blooded, asking if I was really just going to stand there and watch it die.

The surrounding villagers glared at me with open disgust. Whispers echoed around the dirt road.

People muttered that I was rotten to the core. They praised Kelen's beauty and kind heart, comparing me to background noise and calling me evil.

I gripped the woven straps of my basket. Looking back, I saw Kelen wiping away fake tears, begging the crowd not to be so hard on me, which naturally only made them pity her more.

She always pulled this stunt. She would paint a target on my back and then play the tragic peacemaker, acting like she was the one constantly bearing the burden of my supposed cruelty.

I let out a dry laugh and told her that since she was so overflowing with kindness, she should just take both of them.

Kelen froze, her eyes darting nervously.

She stammered, claiming she couldn't possibly hog such high-quality magical creatures all to herself.

I waved my hand dismissively. I told her to take him, adding that I wanted absolutely no part of his glorious ascension.

That shut her up. The white wyrmling was severely injured, and saving it would require a massive drain of time and money.

But the villagers, having thoroughly judged me, turned to Kelen with hopeful, expectant eyes.

They told her I was completely devoid of empathy and that she deserved all the blessings. They urged her to stop worrying about a selfish brat like me.

Kelen stumbled over her words, pointing out how badly the creature was wounded.

Suddenly, a blinding flash of white light erupted.

Everyone gasped, shielding their eyes. I whipped my head around.

A man in pristine white robes stood there, looking like a literal god descended from the heavens. A thin trickle of blood at the corner of his mouth only made his breathtaking, otherworldly beauty more striking.

Several women in the crowd completely forgot how to breathe.

I stood frozen in my tracks.

The white wyrmling had just taken human form.

I tightened my grip on my basket.

I had honestly believed he only figured out how to shift after I spent years nursing him back to health.

Turns out, he could do it from day one.

For an entire decade, he sat back and watched the entire town ridicule me for carrying around a useless, unshifted familiar, and he never lifted a single finger to help.

Yet right now, in his most vulnerable and weakened state, he forced his transformation just to impress Kelen.

Kelen immediately changed her tune, boldly declaring that his injuries did not matter and that she would take full responsibility for him.

Shifting meant he was incredibly close to ascending to full dragonhood.

The locals were utterly hypnotized by his divine appearance. Seeing me standing there in a daze, Kelen subtly stepped in front of him, blocking my view.

She put on a sugary voice, telling me that since I explicitly threw him away and refused to listen to reason, she had no choice but to take him home.

The villagers rallied behind her. They told Kelen she didn't need to explain herself, insisting I had surrendered my rights and would be a joke if I tried to take him back.

Kelen blushed perfectly, whispering that her sister wasn't that kind of person.

I stared coldly at the man. He peered over the crowd, his gaze locking onto mine.

His desperate, forced transformation. That deep, complicated look in his eyes.

I knew right then. He had reincarnated too.

When I turned and walked away without a single ounce of hesitation or regret, a flash of pure confusion and shock rippled across his face.

By nightfall, the entire town of Silverpine was gossiping about how I fumbled the greatest magical familiar in history.

His celestial aura had everyone on their knees. No one doubted he would become a legendary Elder Dragon.

They laughed at my stupidity and praised Kelen for her good karma. Everyone assumed I would be drowning in regret, crawling back to beg for his favor.

But to their absolute shock, I didn't even spare him a second glance once I got home.

Finally, as we crossed paths in the hallway a few days later, a cold hand clamped down on my wrist.

I yanked my arm, but his grip was like iron. He stared down at me, his brows furrowed in a silent, demanding question.

He looked deeply dissatisfied. Was he wondering why I wasn't obsessing over him this time around? Was he really that oblivious?

Unable to break free, I brought my other hand up and shoved hard against his forearm, peeling his fingers off my skin one by one.

I massaged my bruised wrist, muttered a few choice curses, and slammed my bedroom door in his face.

Gabriel looked down at his empty hand, then stared at my closed door, his eyes flashing with a faint reddish tint.

When someone is smothered in unconditional love for too long, they start feeling entitled to it. The second I pulled that love away, he probably felt like I was the one betraying him.

Thinking about my past life, how I dragged him through storms and broke my back to keep him safe, I really thought we had a profound bond. Ripping that away so suddenly did make my chest ache a little.

But later that night, I woke up parched. While heading to the kitchen for water, I heard hushed voices coming from the guest room.

Someone was whispering, asking their Lord if he felt guilty about the younger sister, suggesting he become her familiar instead.

I peeked through the crack in the door.

Gabriel stood with his hands behind his back, bathed in moonlight, looking every bit the divine being he was. His voice was like striking crystal.

He stated that since fate granted him a second chance, he was going to fix his biggest regret.

A shadowy figure kneeling behind him asked about his older brother, pointing out that Ronan had already chosen Kelen.

Gabriel glanced back, his usually cold eyes burning with a fierce, terrifying obsession.

He declared he came back entirely for Kelen, and nothing in the realms would stop him from having her. He swore he wouldn't back down, even if he had to fight his own brother.

The sheer delusion of it made my ears ring, and I turned to leave.

But before I could step away, the shadowy guard asked why the Celestial Lord was so madly in love with a mortal girl.

Gabriel's eyes softened under the moonlight.

He spoke of a time he fell from the heavens and crashed at Dragon's Cove. He swore he would never forget the girl who scooped his broken body up with her bare hands and guarded him for forty nine days straight.

He admitted that without her, his divine trial would have failed, and his bones would have rotted in the dirt.

Dragon's Cove?!

I froze dead in my tracks. My hands began to shake uncontrollably.

That was the exact place I found a dying white wyrmling years ago. I kept him hidden in a cave, fiercely protecting him for forty nine days before he stabilized enough for me to carry him back to town.

I had never told a single living soul about that.

So the dying wyrmling at the cove and the magical familiar I raised were the exact same entity!

My fingernails dug into my palms. A dark, bitter laugh bubbled up in my throat.

Gabriel, you absolute, monumental idiot.

I had zero intention of correcting him. In this new life, my ambitions lay far beyond playing nursemaid to a blind god.

I drastically cut down my foraging trips into the woods. Instead, I spent almost every waking hour locked in my room, burying myself in advanced spellbooks and federal law texts.

This routine lasted until the annual Spring Equinox Gala. Kelen practically kicked my door down and dragged me out of my chair.

She whined that it was the biggest festival of the year, warning me that if I didn't attend, the Spring Goddess wouldn't bless me.

I glanced back at my worn out copy of the Arcane Codex. Figuring I needed a break anyway, I gave a brief nod.

Kelen shoved a shopping bag into my hands. She told me she bought me a beautiful new dress and threw out all my old, ragged clothes, insisting I had to look presentable.

I read through another chapter before finally opening the bag that evening.

The supposed beautiful dress was a hideous, blinding neon pink gown covered in cheap lime green floral patterns. The atrocious color clash would make anyone look like an absolute clown.

I rummaged through my closet for something else, only to find it completely empty. She really had thrown everything away.

Starving and exhausted from studying all day, I gritted my teeth, put the monstrosity on, and headed out to grab some food.

The second I stepped onto the festival grounds, I ran straight into Kelen and her entourage. She was draped in elegant, ethereal white silk.

Her friends gasped the moment they saw me.

One mocked me, asking if I honestly thought I looked good.

Another laughed, calling me an ugly attention seeker. She joked that I was trying way too hard to fit the floral theme, saying I just ended up looking like a tacky weed trying to steal the spotlight from Kelen, the reigning festival queen.

They giggled, saying I definitely succeeded at stealing the show, just as the town jester.

Someone pointed out that Kelen's dress was woven from magical silk gifted by the great Lord Gabriel, sneering that a peasant in a clown suit like me didn't belong in their presence.

Kelen immediately put her hands up, begging everyone to stop.

Her expensive perfume hit my nose like a physical blow. She grabbed both my arms, her eyes wide with fabricated shock.

She asked why on earth I would wear something like this in public, immediately taking the blame and crying that it was her fault for not picking out something better suited for me.

Tears welled up in her eyes on command.

The crowd rushed to comfort her. They insisted it wasn't her fault, saying I simply lacked the grace to pull anything off.

They praised Kelen for being an angel, pointing out that the same outfit would look stunning on her, and begged her to stop beating herself up.

Another girl chimed in, saying she refused to believe this was my only option. She blamed me for making my own choices just to embarrass Kelen.

Kelen dabbed her eyes delicately, whispering that it broke her heart to see her own sister acting out like this.

I looked right at her and asked her if she was done putting on a show.

That single sentence silenced the entire group.

I stepped right up to the girl who claimed I had other options. I challenged Kelen to tell everyone exactly who cleared out my entire closet.

Kelen choked on her words.

In the past, I would have just swallowed my pride and walked away, too exhausted to deal with their high school drama.

But this time, I wasn't letting her off the hook.

I pointed at Kelen's gorgeous gown. I noted that even if Gabriel provided the silk, the elegant design clearly came from her own refined taste.

I asked her point blank why someone with such an immaculate eye for fashion would specifically choose a clown suit for me.

Kelen covered her mouth, gasping dramatically. She accused me of suspecting her of sabotage.

I swatted her hands away, telling her to drop the victim act. I asked if it didn't get exhausting playing the innocent martyr all the time. I told her if she was truly innocent, we could all march back to our house right now and see exactly where my clothes were hidden.

All the color drained from Kelen's face.

I turned around to lead the way. Kelen panicked, lunging forward to grab my arm, but I violently shoved her back.

Kelen let her tears fall freely, crying out that regardless of whether she hid the clothes or not, my aggressive behavior was tearing our sisterhood apart.

I told her we could talk about sisterhood after we searched her room.

Just as I took another step, a sharp, piercing pain struck my wrist.

I looked down. Two tiny puncture wounds.

Snake bites.

Suddenly, my mouth opened against my will. My vocal cords hijacked my brain.

I began screaming that the pink dress was amazing, that I was way prettier than Kelen, and that I was going to prove to everyone she was a hideous monster. I yelled that even if I framed her by throwing the clothes in her room, everyone would still take my side!

I clamped both hands over my mouth in pure horror.

The crowd stared at me like I was a literal demon.

One of Kelen's friends shrieked, calling me a calculating psycho, and slapped me hard across the face.

The mob descended. Hands grabbed my hair, slapped my cheeks, and tore at my clothes. They screamed that I should be grateful I even had rags to wear and that I didn't deserve Kelen's kindness.

Shoved and beaten, I stumbled backward and had no choice but to break into a sprint, fleeing the festival grounds.

Right before I turned the corner, I saw Gabriel materialize beside Kelen. He pulled her safely into his chest, shooting me a glare of absolute freezing contempt.

Kelen buried her face in his shirt, perfectly masking the vicious, triumphant smirk on her lips.

Remembering that flash of white light right before the venom hit my veins, I ground my teeth so hard my jaw popped.

While I was locked in my room nursing my bruises, Gabriel actually had the audacity to walk through my door.

I slapped the bowl of medicine right out of his hands. Ceramic shattered, spilling dark liquid across the floorboards.

He looked at me, his expression an unreadable mix of frustration and pity.

He pulled a small pill from his pocket, grabbed my jaw with a vice-like grip, and forced the antidote down my throat.

He warned me that if I spat it out, the venom would kill me.

Glaring into his cold, threatening eyes, I swallowed the bitter pill.

The uncontrollable urge to spout nonsense finally faded.

He stood there for a few minutes, making sure I wasn't having any secondary reactions, before turning to leave.

Right as his hand hit the doorknob, he paused.

He asked if I really didn't have anything to say to him.

He wasn't stupid. He definitely realized I had reincarnated too. Yet, since the moment I woke up in this life, I had not spoken a single word to him.

I closed my eyes, leaning back against the headboard, and told him no.

He gave me one last, piercing look before shutting the door.

After that incident, my reputation in Silverpine was permanently destroyed. Every time I stepped outside, people openly called me the ugly, manipulative psycho.

I disappeared from the public eye for a few weeks. The rumor mill decided I had run away out of pure shame.

But shortly after, I walked right back into town.

Under Gabriel's divine care, Kelen was practically glowing. Her beauty had taken on an unnatural, mesmerizing quality.

Seeing me walk through the front door, she patronizingly patted my shoulder.

She told me she knew I was bitter, but that part of growing up was accepting my own flaws. She lectured me about publicly framing her, calling it a toxic trait.

She told me I couldn't covet things that didn't belong to me, explicitly stating that Gabriel's love for her was out of my control.

I grabbed her wrist and shoved her back.

Kelen let out a delicate gasp, conveniently tripping right into Gabriel's arms just as he walked into the foyer.

Her eyes instantly filled with tears. She sobbed, asking why I couldn't just accept her attempts to welcome me home.

Gabriel's face darkened. He pulled her firmly behind his back, acting like a knight defending his maiden, and ordered me to apologize.

I just stood there and laughed in his face.

His expression turned incredibly hostile. He told me that if I had a problem, I should take it out on him. He said romantic feelings couldn't be forced, and that choosing Kelen was his decision alone. He warned me to stop pretending I didn't care while secretly plotting against her.

Before I could tell him where to shove his ego, a loud commotion erupted outside our window.

A convoy of sleek black SUVs pulled into our driveway. A highly decorated official from the Federal Arcane Council stepped out, holding a gilded folder and grinning from ear to ear.

He marched up to our porch and announced congratulations for Miss Morgan. He declared I had scored perfectly on the National Arcane Trials, catching the attention of the Supreme Magus himself, who was officially summoning me to the Capitol.

Kelen screamed. She asked how a nobody like me could have secretly taken the highest magical exams in the country.

I smirked, looking her up and down.

I pointed out that while she was busy engineering petty high school drama, she completely missed the federal mandate opening the exams to independent scholars.

I walked past Gabriel, letting a cold smile touch my lips.

I told him he was dead wrong. I told him he was never my endgame, and throwing him away was the easiest thing I had ever done.

I whispered that compared to carving out a legendary legacy, his little romance meant absolutely nothing to me.

Gabriel stopped breathing.

He stared at me in pure, unfiltered shock.

In our past life, I had rejected every wealthy suitor in the state just to keep him by my side. Now, I was dropping him like a bad habit without breaking a sweat.

His brain couldn't process it.

But I wasn't going to waste another second catering to his fragile ego.

As I reached out to accept the official decree, Kelen moved forward out of pure jealousy, trying to touch the gilded folder. I swiftly stepped aside, dodging her hand.

I asked her if she forgot her place.

The Council official's friendly demeanor instantly vanished. He glared at Kelen with lethal authority.

He barked that a federal decree touched by the Supreme Magus was not meant for the filthy hands of an unranked civilian, and ordered her to bow her head immediately.

Kelen's eyes burned bright red. Under the crushing magical pressure of a federal enforcer, she humiliatingly sank to her knees.

The official turned back to me, his face melting back into a sycophantic smile.

He practically begged me to arrive at the Capitol by the seventh of next month, promising the government would cover all travel expenses. He gushed that shaking up the entire Council on my first try meant I was destined for a seat on the High Board, and begged me not to forget the little guys when I made it big.

He pressed a heavy velvet bag filled with solid gold coins into my hands.

The entire neighborhood watched this unfold in stunned silence.

A few of the locals who had insulted me actually slapped themselves across the face, terrified I would use my new federal authority to wipe them out.