Some people have asked me before what does Ayla look like? Leaving beside the few physical traits I've described for Ayla, Lyra, Nox, or Ler in these chapters, I think everyone has the right to imagine them however suits your likes.
Edit: I have character designs, courtesy of @kerana.ideas!
Read the full story on GoodNovel!
Chapter 2. Soulmarks.
The sound of the rain woke her up even before dawn.
Perhaps it was her anxiety, Ayla thought, as this was the day the ten Celestial Masters would come to select those who had finished their instruction to become their pupils and official Guardians under their commands.
“I can’t believe it’s been ten years already.”
Ten years since Nash had found her in Dusty Town and taken her to start her preparation as a Celestial Guardian.
Before that day, Ayla had ignored everything about what she really was.
In this world, there were souls specially chosen by Heaven and gifted with a strong spiritual power in order to protect and keep the balance in the realms of the living and the dead.
She was one of those souls, and her fate was to train her spiritual power to be able to cross the dimensions of the living and fight the evil spirits in the world.
So against all the expectations of her first eight years of life, Ayla bloomed into the beautiful and strong person she was supposed to be, like a flower growing in the middle of the snow covered ground.
A miracle followed another, and three years ago, the mark appeared on her skin, burning on her back. Since then she lived filled with hope with the two goals in her life: becoming a strong Celestial Guardian who could serve this world, and find the person she belonged with and love him.
At least one of those goals was one step closer to her already.
She’d finished her instruction, and now if she got to be chosen by one of the Ten Masters, she’d be able to learn from the best and serve as an official Guardian. It was only natural to be nervous.
Sighing, she stretched her body and got out of the bed. It was time to get ready for the long day ahead.
After a shower and changing to her uniform (white shirt and white pants) she went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for her and Estée, who would probably arrive at any moment.
All of the students under training lived in the same facility in the Cloud City, hidden from ordinary humans and the temptations of that kind of life. Although there were very few who missed their lives before starting their journey as Celestial Guardians.
“Mmm… I’m smelling pancakes.”
Oh, Estée had appeared.
“Yes, with honey.”
Estée yawned and then walked towards Ayla to give her a hug.
“You are the best sister in the world, you know? In exchange, I’ll make coffee.”
“No coffee, tea.”
Estée rolled her eyes.
“Okay.”
“Don’t let the water boil like the last time.”
While they waited for the water to be ready, Estée noted Ayla seemed to be totally ready to go to the Blue Castle. How impatient.
“With whom are you going after today?”
“With whoever picks me.”
Estée laughed. That was for people like her, not for souls of a different category like Ayla, who had so much spiritual power that even their instructors seemed to be a bit intimidated by her. The training that most people took 20 years to finish (herself included) Ayla had finished in half the time.
In some cases where the student performance was exceptionally good during the demonstration, more than one Master would make an offer and the new ‘recruit’ could choose who she or he wanted to follow.
“I’m sure you will receive more than one offer. If you could choose… who would you follow?”
“The water,” Ayla warned, and then sat on the table, thinking about that possibility. If more than one master actually wanted her? She knew little about the great Ten Masters.
Among them, the ones who caused the biggest impression from the stories were 1st Master Brenna Calix, 4th Master Nox Chevalier, and 10th Master Ler Aldrich. The 1st Master was so powerful she had been around for more than 500 years keeping her youth, but Ayla thought it wouldn’t be a good option for her, since Master Brenna had fire destructive power, more suited to fight demons, while Ayla’s spiritual power leaned towards the healing arts.
Then there was Master Nox, his whole family was confirmed by Celestial Guardians since the beginning of the times, if there was something like royalty among Guardians then only the Chevalier House could fit that position. There were stories about how proud and demanding he was, and although Ayla didn’t have problems with the second part, she much feared the first. Someone who had such a high rank and good family would tolerate someone like her, a street rat?
Finally, the other figure she greatly admired was Master Ler. Just like Ayla or Estée, he rose from the bottom being born as a nobody. He was fifty years old and the youngest Celestial Master since Creation. His power was that great. Ayla thought that being able to learn from such a prodigy would be her luck in this lifetime.
“If I can choose, I’d go with Master Aldrich.”
Estée served the tea, then added some milk as she knew Ayla liked during breakfast.
“Good choice. I saw him once, he’s particularly handsome.”
“...”
Ayla stared at her friend in disbelief.
***
If it wasn't for Estée, her best friend, perhaps she wouldn't endure after her first days in the academy. It was true that Nash had explained a lot of things, but after he had to go back to work, and Ayla was left alone to adapt to her new life in the Cloud City and the Blue Castle.
Although Estée was older than her, there they were trying to become Celestial Guardians at the same time that they still played like little kids.
"You! The one who gets to the gates last will make dinner!"
Estée yelled.
“In your dreams!”
Ayla speeded up, turned around a corner, and then… ran into a very big, big person. A Master, judging by the silver cloak over his shoulders.
“Ayla…”
Ignoring Estée’'s worried voice, she looked up and the surprise in her eyes was reflected into that man's eyes.
Light blue eyes like a cloudy sky, pale skin, a long face, and dark long hair tied up. What were the words of Estée earlier in the kitchen? Particularly handsome.
She couldn't see it, but she felt the soulmark in her skin burning like never before, making her heart beat faster, only to finally fade away. Even colors seemed to become brighter, and Ayla thought she had never seen real color at all before that moment.
Nox also felt that burning sensation, but stood frozen in place because of the shock.
The girl who was in front of him looked exactly the same as his wife.
Exactly the same as his soulmate was supposed to look.
"It 's you." She said, a smile forming on her face, and Nox was horrified.
He couldn't have been wrong all these years, it was just impossible.
He replied with the cold expression he'd mastered since becoming Lord Chevalier.
"I don't know what you are talking about. Step aside."
"But..."
"As students from the Blue Castle, shouldn't you be practicing your fighting skills instead of playing like kids?"
"I'm sorry, Master" Estée decided to intervene and save his friend who seemed to have lost her mind. He grabbed her hand. "Ayla, let's go."
" But..."
" Let's go."
Something broke inside her. Had she just been rejected by her soulmate?
And as he walked away, Nox felt he couldn't breathe at all.
***
"Who's that?"
"How can you not know? Did you look at his cloak and the brooch? That's the 4th Master Chevalier."
That day she had a name for the face that she'd been waiting to meet for years. Unexpectedly, it was also the face of someone she had considered as a possible master more than once.
Ayla was dumbfounded. Soulmates were supposed to feel an instant connection, it was said to be so strong that they couldn’t really stand to be separated for long, and that their spiritual power grew connected in deeper levels. Yet this person, her soulmate, had rejected her coldly.
Why?
“The 4th Celestial Master… what do you know about him?”
She could only ask her friend for some piece of information she might have missed.
“Hmm? You’re suddenly interested in that?” Estée smiled. “ But there isn’t really much about Master Chevalier besides what we know about his important family… they like to keep things private, but… I think there was a bit of a scandal when he got married sixteen years ago or so, because his wife isn’t...apt to become a Celestial Guardian.”
“He is married… to a human?”
Ayla managed to ask, masking her trembling voice.
“So romantic, isn’t it? The Chevalier House accepted it because they are soulmates.”
It all seemed to be a bad joke.
Ayla didn't understand. He surely was her soulmate. He had recognized her too, she saw it in his eyes during one flickering instant. So what had happened? Why had he married someone else and told the world that person was his soulmate, when that was obviously not true?
The possibility that this could happen never crossed her mind. She could only come to the conclusion that he didn't really believe in soulmates, and the connection she had felt didn't amount to anything in the end.
In a few minutes perhaps, she was about to go under examination, and he’d be there to watch her performance. Thinking about that Ayla found it hard to breathe…
‘Calm down. I need to calm down. I cannot lose it now.’
“Ayla, are you okay?” Their instructor, Gael, asked.
She nodded.
“It’s normal to be a bit nervous, but there’s no need to, when you are the best Blue Castle has seen in decades.”
“Yes. Thank you, Guardian.”
She was feeling a bit sick, it was a heavy sensation settling in her stomach.
The first part of the examination was a hand-to-hand combat match, she was good at it but it wasn’t her forte, would it be enough when she felt the ground beneath her feet crumbling into pieces?
Chapter 3. Wrong.
She was good. He had been curious since the instructors at Blue Castle started to say there was a prodigy student who almost rivaled him, but it was the first time Ler was seeing her with his own eyes.
Her fighting technique was quite unique, the flowing moves almost mirrored a dance. Yet she was, without doubt, beating the hell out of her opponent.
“I thought this was a healing-oriented Guardian?” Master Brenna asked.
“Oh, she is.” Master Rabi said. “That’s a sign of a person with potential, who can be good even at areas that are not her specialty.”
There were Guardians who, following the Will of Heaven, intervened in the world to take lives, those who were sent to heal, and those who fought demons.However, if one could do the three of these it was impressive and very desirable, as one never knew what situations could arise in the future.
Ler frowned.
He saw potential, yes, but it seemed like she was holding back.
“What do you think, Lord Chevallier?”
“Oh?” The 4th Master seemed absent-minded since the start of the examination. “ Lacking focus.”
Ler smirked. Was he talking about the recruit or about himself?
One of the things that bothered him most in people was when they didn’t do all they could do. Some would say it was hypocrite coming from him, who had no problems controlling his spiritual power and had reached the status of Master when he was just 20 years old. However, Ler had to constantly face the doubts of others who, although recognizing his abilities as a Guardian, didn’t think someone so young could really become a mentor and lead others well. The respect he commanded was hard-earned through his efforts to make his pupils in the last 30 years reach the best of their abilities and become exemplary Guardians.
Therefore, it was irritating when someone was just being lazy.
The girl didn’t think the examination was important enough?
He shook his head when she won, and heard Brenna and Ravi already fighting over her. The other masters also seemed a bit impressed, but no one was creating such a ruckus as the two of them.
It was a productive day for most of the people there, but Ler went back to his manor empty-handed. There were fifteen new Guardians starting that day, none of them with the qualities he was looking for in his pupils.
***
He met her after he’d become a Master, the last step before becoming the Lord Chevalier. Then, he was forty years old and had been waiting for her even since he was a child.
With so many years of waiting, it was not rare that Nox had memorized every tiny bit of her face so he would recognize her at once when they met.
The big purple eyes, the long eyelashes, the black hair, the small but plump lips... he could describe them with perfect detail even with his eyes closed, even when he wasn’t looking at his mark.
Unexpectedly, he met her during a mission in the realm of the living, and for a moment, he even mistook her for a common mortal.
Lyra’s parents were humans, although her maternal grandfather had been a Celestial Guardian known as Adon. She was also born with spiritual power, but her body was too weak to endure any training. Since the first meeting when he realized this, Nox knew his soulmate wouldn’t live too long.
If she lived a full ordinary human life, it would be already a miracle. Helping her to stabilize her power temporarily was all he could do.
Nox thought it was unfair, when his wife was a gentle and kind soul, but how could he complain about the Will of Heaven?
Yet after this day in the Blue Castle, for the first time he thought he might have made a mistake.
"Lyra, you should rest." Nox told her when he found her coughing after a walk through the gardens. Her health had been declining lately and it worried him.
"I'm fine, my lord."
She never stopped referring to him in that way, and Nox had stopped trying to change her even if her formality bothered him.
In that sense the Blue Castle girl looked exactly like Lyra, but her behavior was so different. He could still remember the light in her face when their eyes first met.
He frowned.
"Has anything happened today?" Lyra asked.
"Nothing outside the ordinary."
Somehow she doubted it.
" You seem troubled."
Her hand rested on his shoulder, but her sweet smile that would always make him feel at peace, this time only added to the storm in his heart.
Lyra would never lie to him. However, the soulmark that for so many years stayed in his chest with no logical explanation had disappeared after meeting the girl, Ayla. Nox hadn’t taken a look at it yet, but he could feel it was no longer there.
Nox sighed. There were many questions he wanted to ask, needed to ask. However, his wife was too frail lately and it might be better to wait.
***
Lyra knew that there wasn't much time left for her.
Perhaps it was her fate, a punishment not only for abandoning her sister all those years ago, but also for deceiving Nox. Although she loved him, she also felt somewhat guilty for lying about the soulmate mark.
When he asked about it at the beginning, she didn't want to let go of his warmth and kindness towards her, so she had said her soulmark had disappeared as soon as she saw him. He was convinced she was his fated partner, and it was really her face that was engraved in his chest, it couldn't hurt him to believe they were meant to be, when they loved each other, right?
After all, Heaven also made mistakes sometimes, her own existence was proof of this.
But now that she was about to die, she worried more and more about the lies from her past.
Just as she worried more about her little sister's fate.
Could she have survived on her own? If she had, after so many years she would have already been found and brought to Cloud City.
Was there a possibility for them to reunite?
For years, the only thing stopping her from looking for Ayla was the fear of telling Nox about her past, although he was the only person who could help her find her sister. What if it changed the way he looked at her in the future?
Lyra shook her head to dispel those fears. She didn't have much time left, and couldn't afford to be a coward.
"My lord, there's something I have yet to tell you."
She said it the next morning, when they were having breakfast together.
"Yes, wife?"
"Many years ago, after my parents passed away, I was actually not alone. I had a younger sister, she was still a baby. But we were sick and I couldn't take care of her... in the end, I had to part with her so we had some chances to survive."
Nox put the tea cup on the table, and his body became rigid after hearing her words.
"You have a sister?"
Lyra's eyes were teary, he could notice even if she didn't dare to look him in the eyes.
"I don't know if she is still alive, but if she is... I'd like to find her and reunite with her. She should be in the Blue Castle by now, and maybe she still keeps the name my mother gave her. I left a token with her, the name is Ayla. Please, husband, help me this time."
She was sure that, with his help and the name of the Chevalier family it would be possible to find her young sister. However, his next words still surprised her.
"I might already know where she is."
He stood up and left without saying another word. He'd never behaved like that with her, so Lyra's heart was hurt, but she also couldn't bring herself to ask him to stay.
In fact, at that moment, Nox was leaving for her sake. He didn't know what he might say if he stayed any longer. To admit he met someone who looked just like her, someone who had recognized him as her soulmate, didn't it mean his wife had also lied to him? At that moment, he felt he didn't know Lyra at all.
***
"Ayla? What's going on with you again?"
"I didn't sleep well last night. I'm tired."
"Liar."
Ayla just shrugged and remained quiet.
Since the day before, after the examination was over, Estée noticed her friend was acting strange. She thought maybe Ayla was depressed because, although the First and Eight Masters both offered to accept her under their wings, she wasn’t acknowledged by Master Aldrich.
This was their last day living together, as they both would leave the facilities. Estée was moving to 3rd Master Ray’s Manor, and Ayla would follow 8th Master Rabi. She could only worry about her friend, but there wasn’t much she could do.
“We won’t see each other often, at least for some years.”
“We’ll be fine. You just have to learn to cook by yourself.”
Masking with a smile her mood, Ayla could only say this much. She couldn't tell her friend that her soulmate had appeared and no less than Master Nox Chevallier. Her friend would only worry even more, or worse, she’d pity her.
She had already made a fool of herself the day before, with a mediocre performance in the examination. Her right ankle still hurt, and her healing powers did not completely solve it because they were also affected by her unstable emotions.
Who cared about Nox Chevallier?
Ayla didn’t even know him, and all her faith was caused by a stupid mark tattoed on her back that wasn’t there anymore. As if it never existed.
Most Celestial Guardians didn’t have lovers at all, as it was deemed as a distraction from their duties. Soulmates had a special value for the divine power linked to that kind of relationship, but she didn’t need it at all.
Since she was joining Master Rabi, who was famously known as the “demon-slayer” for killing more evil spirits in the last two hundred years than any other Guardian, Ayla hoped he would send her to a mission to face demons very soon. She was feeling very violent and needed to release some of that energy.