Nox Chevalier knew Lyra was his soulmate from the moment he saw her, but strangely, the soulmark remained there on his chest. It only made sense the day he met Ayla.
Enter Celestial Guardian Ler Aldrich, the youngest to reach a high position in the hierarchy of the Cloud City, and now Ayla's master.
Is there a chance for Ayla to find her own destiny, or are the ties of fate impossible to break?
Author's Note: This story was first published on wattpad. However, as I'm soon taking my works from there, I'll keep publishing this story here and on Sofanovel.
I have a soft spot for this work and would like to give it more time, but as it is not contracted for the moment, updates will happen every two weeks after chapter 10.
Prologue.
Lyra's hands trembled slightly.
"I wish things were different."
But they were both going to die, and she didn't have the courage to see her young sister die. Being just thirteen years old, the girl couldn't bear the weight of this responsibility on her shoulders. Even she couldn't endure the cold and if there was a way they could survive, the end was this in which they were going their separate ways. Maybe someone would take pity on her sister this way, and Lyra herself would be able to find a job or a place to stay warm during the night if she didn't have a baby with her.
If she only managed to stay alive.
Lyra wondered why her body was so weak that she couldn’t endure the spiritual power of her own soul. If she was stronger, she could become a Celestial Guardian and this wouldn’t be necessary. But sometimes even Heaven made mistakes.
Wasn’t it a mistake taking away her parents so early on? She had been helpless watching them give their last breath in the hospital, and then a Celestial Guardian came to take their souls to continue the cycle of reincarnation.
Their parents were ordinary humans, unlike Lyra, Ayla or their grandfather.
Grandfather Adon was also a celestial guardian, but he’d left them many years ago.
The baby girl cried, and Lyra forced herself to look away.
"I'm sorry. It was to be this way."
Her little sister had a strong body and even greater spiritual power. There was no doubt she would live and grow up to be one of the finest guardians one day.
***
The soulmates were rare even among the guardian souls. For those who had them, the face of the fated partner would appear imprinted in the skin when the person reached the 15 years of age. After that, it would only fade once the two people met for the first time.
Although the soulmates were rare, they would appear more commonly in families with a long tradition as Celestial guardians, and there wasn’t a family of guardians more ancient than the Chevalier House.
When her face first appeared printed on his chest, Nox's eyes memorized every detail of her face in fear it would disappear at any moment.
He was in love with her, in love with her beauty and the person he imagined she would be before he even met her.
But then, during the first meeting, he was startled by the fact his soulmate was a common human. That was… unheard of among guardians of the realms.
"What's your name?"
She lowered her head.
"I'm Lyra, My Lord."
She referred to him in this way because his aura gave away his identity as a Celestial Master, the highest rank guardian souls could aspire to be. Normal humans couldn’t recognize this, and so he took a second look.
Indeed the spiritual power was there, but it seemed to have been suppressed for a long time. His heart was immediately filled with worry.
"Nox. You may call me by my name."
"Lord Nox."
There was something missing when he first touched her hand, the change in the heartbeats and the fire in the skin he was supposed to feel weren't there yet. But there was no doubt Lyra was his soulmate. He'd had her face engraved in his heart since the soulmark had first appeared in his chest.
Naturally, he married her.
The soulmark that was supposed to disappear after meeting the one remained on his body, perhaps a sign that something was stopping his soulmate from fully loving him.
Nox anguished over this, but he still waited for the day the soulmark faded away, when Lyra really bonded with him.
***
They said it was a girl who looked just like her, the person who abandoned Ayla to die in that cold night in the warehouse, or so the people who saw her usually said whenever they told the story. She only left with the baby a silver necklace with her name engraved on it.
Among the group of kids that grew in that neighborhood from Dusty Town, the ones who were raised in the streets, Ayla always appeared different from the rest. Her appearance was that of a doll: small, delicate and pure, if there was some justice in Heavens she should have been born a princess instead of a beggar.
Sometimes Ayla wondered about that woman who abandoned her like that. If she ever had a daughter, she would never be so cruel. What kind of person had the heart to abandon a baby to a most certain death? Because that woman surely expected her to die back then. Ayla, however, had always had a great desire to live.
When she was 8 years old, she saw one of her brothers from Dusty Town dying because of a simple fever. Then a guy wearing black clothes tried to take him away, and the moment Ayla warned the others and attempted to kick that person’s legs, she realized that she was the only one seeing him.
“Who are you?”
The man grabbed her from the collar and looked at her with curiosity.
“I’m Celestial Guardian Nash, someone just like you. But it seems you haven’t been trained yet.”
“Trained?”
“Ayla, who are you talking to?” Sussy, one of her friends, asked.
“You… are you not seeing someone here?”
“What do you mean? Stop fooling around, let’s go to find someone who can take Patt to the hospital.”
Ayla was confused, and looked once more at the man who was still by her side.
“They are ordinary humans and cannot see me. But you, little one… you should come with me.”
The man named Nash sent her friend’s soul to the cycle of reincarnation, that was what he explained to him in that moment. Ayla didn’t understand what was happening, but that was the day her life started again.
Chapter 1. Blue Castle.
Her friend was dead.
Ayla didn’t believe it at first, but then she came closer and realized Patt was no longer breathing. Perhaps he’d been dead even since he stopped coughing.
Sussy wanted to take him to the hospital, but it would be useless. Besides, who would want to help some homeless street rats like them?
“Sussy, Patt is dead.”
“No, he isn’t.” The girl was also scared. “ You are lying.”
But Ayla heard her cry, and strangely she couldn’t, even if she wanted to. There was a lump in her throat and too many doubts in her heart.
“I’d already helped him cross into another life.”
Those were the words of the man only she could see.
“Another life?”
“Humans die and their souls need to be freed from their bodies in order to reincarnate.”
Would Patt start another life now? She hoped it was better than the one they were living now.
“It’s time. Let’s go.”
Behind her, she could hardly hear the voices of the other kids gathering around in the old building, probably trying to decide what to do with Patt’s body now. Ayla found herself following the mysterious man outside.
“Are you an angel?”
“I told you, my name is Nash. I guess you could call me an angel, I’m a Celestial Guardian.” He said “Just like you will be.”
He waved his hand, and a bright light appeared, but just like no one could see Nash, it seemed no one could see the ‘door’ that emerged in that moment out of nowhere.
A celestial guardian?
“What’s a Celestial Guardian?” “Someone like us, blessed by Heaven’s Will. You have been born with the power to clean the world from demons and help to keep balance in this world, but you have to train for it.”
It all seemed like a strange dream. Ayla looked back at the old building where she’d spent most of the last year. Everything she knew in this life was to survive day by day, try not to get yourself hurt or killed, find something to eat and don’t starve to death.
Ayla was well aware there were children in this world who had families, a warm place to sleep and dreams. She’d heard some adults in the streets talking about how ‘children were the future’ but she didn’t see any future ahead for herself other than waking up the next day.
Suddenly, she was someone special?
“Ayla, right? Let’s go.”
“Do I really have to go with you?”
Nash raised an eyebrow.
“Do you want to stay here?”
Her stomach growled. The last time she ate decent food was two days ago when a waitress of the restaurant three blocks away gave her some leftovers. She’d shared the food with Patt then, thinking it would help somehow…
“Come. I’ll treat you to a meal first. There are good restaurants in the Cloud City too.”
***
The Cloud City was the place where people like Nash, the Celestial Guardians, lived. Ayla was first impressed by how everything was white and clean. There were no cars or disgusting smells anywhere, even though they walked for a long time before reaching a place to eat, just as Nash had promised.
When she was served with a bowl of rice and grilled meat, she frowned.
“Do angels eat the same thing as humans?”
Nash smiled and ran his hand through his long blue hair.
“Well, technically we are also humans. Just not the same as the others you have met until now.”
Seeing her startled expression, he sighed and started to explain.
“We’re all born the same… except some few who’ve been here in Cloud City forever, of course… but the thing is you have the potential to become more. It’s a rare spiritual power, once you learn to control and use it, it’s going to help clean this world from the demons.”
It was the second time he said this.
“There are also demons?”
According to Nash, demons were everywhere in the mortal world. They lived and grew powerful from sucking the spiritual power out of people, and it was the Celestial Guardians duty to kill them, as well as to heal the people who had been affected by them, otherwise they would end becoming demons after death too, without a chance of reincarnation.
It sounded like a dangerous job. But it was a ‘blessing’? People who were born like that had the duty to use their powers in that way.
“It’s fate.” Those were Nash’s words.
Ayla thought it was disappointing not being able to choose whether one wanted to be a Celestial Guardian or not. However, was there really another path for her to follow?
She was someone without family, without home. She had friends like her too, but they often disappeared, or, like Patt, ended up dead. Most of the days Ayla had the strong feeling of being all alone in the world with no purpose to live, but kept on living nonetheless.
Perhaps there was no Heaven, but the Cloud City that existed separately from everything else was close to being Heaven. If by living peacefully and safely here she had to pay becoming a Celestial Guardian, it didn’t seem like an unreasonable price.
After finishing her meal, Nash took her to the Blue Castle.
It was one of the few buildings that were not painted in white, and as such it stood up in the East side of the city.
It was where people like her had to train their powers in order to become guardians. For some, it could even take decades.
“But you look young. How old are you, Nash?”
“Of course I’m young! I’m only 50 years old.” Fifty?
Ayla gaped.
But there was no more time for questions, at least not with Nash. Before leaving, he introduced her to one of the people in charge of the Blue Castle, his name was Gael.
“So… do I have to live here from now on?”
“There are a few buildings nearby where the students stay. I’ll show you around first, and then you’ll be assigned a room.”
She nodded.
‘From now on, I won’t be hungry anymore.’
***
There was something she learned quite fast. People in Cloud City were all cordial and nice, but not really people who made friends. It could be lonely most of the time. They all seemed to be absorbed in their own thing: their mission.
For students like her, the mission was to learn control.
She was terrible at meditating, it was impossible to concentrate for more than ten minutes, no matter how hard she tried. How much would it take for her to transcend? Ayla remembered how no one had been able to see Nash when they were in the old building, it was only because Celestial Guardians were capable of transcending the limits of humanity and connecting with the Heavenly Will. For some it took decades. She’d probably stay as a Blue Castle student forever.
Frowning, Ayla opened her eyes.
“You have no patience at all.” The person who told her this was her roommate, Estée.
“I’m trying.”
“You are trying too hard. That isn’t what this is about.”
Estée smiled.
“Learn to calm down first. That’s what my first instructor told me. How can you find your inner power if your spirit is so anxious?”
“I’m not anxious.”
She already accepted this was her destiny, the reason she was born for.
But as she tried to fall asleep at night, Ayla couldn’t help but wonder, if everything was already predetermined, the reason why she’d lived alone with nothing to miss about her past was only so she could become a Celestial Guardian?
Did it happen only because of that?
Staring to the window right in front of her bed, the silhouette of the Blue Castle was clear before her eyes. It was the future ahead, and the only thing she should focus on from then on.