“If soul mates were a thing, do you think you and I would be it?” 

It hurts.

“No, don’t even know what that is.” I muttered, turning the page of my book, leaning against my bed. “How do you not know? You read all the time!” Arching a brow I looked over at my talkative friend, “So? Doesn’t mean I read about that stuff.” 

“Lame,” was what I heard him say under his breath and suddenly my book was no longer in my hand. “Cam, give me my book back! I was almost done!” He shook his head, reading through the pages. “You little liar, you know what it is! I didn’t know you read romance novels.” 

“Oh, Nick, I didn't know you were into this stuff. It’s really sappy!” Squinting I rolled my eyes, “says the person asking if we’re soulmates, you’re not even old enough to know what that word means.” He scoffed, frowning at me as he stuttered over his words, “ye- yes I do.” 

“Okay then what does it mean?” 

Silence is what I got in response, “exactly,” I snatched the book from his hands before he could speak again and sat back down. 

“Okay, well I know that it involves two people.” he finally said once he came back from his deep thoughts. 

Make it stop!

“Hmm, and?” 

He scratched his head, averting his gaze, his unfocused gaze meant he didn’t know what else to say. Smiling, I shook my head, “idiot,” stifling my laugh the best I could. “That’s not funny.”  

Shaking my head, I pressed my lips together to stop the laughter that wanted to come out. “Hmm of course not,” I said between my struggling attempts to not laugh. It’s just that he looks so funny when he tries to be upset. 

“Stop it! What’s so funny?” I wheezed, pressing the book to my face, I couldn’t hold it in anymore, “your face, I’m so sorry. You're just funny looking.” 

“Shut up, it’s not that funny!” he complained, but he obviously wanted to laugh too. “You know you wanna laugh.” He cracked a smile before his own laugh erupted and he was holding his stomach, hunched over. 

Gasping for air I sat up immediately, glancing around, my obscured vision seeing absolutely nothing, the place was completely empty. The white went on for who knows how long.

What was that? 

Why did I remember that of all things? 

What is this place?

Standing up in the middle of nowhere, I opened my mouth shouting, “hello!” Only for my own voice to come back to me. Where am I? I frowned, turning in a circle, searching the empty space with my eyes. This strange feeling of emptiness was slowly consuming me as I realized I was definitely alone and I had no way of returning to my family. 

“Did I die again?” I sighed a little disappointed, considering I don’t remember what I did to essentially kill myself. “This is bullshit,” I muttered annoyed, did I accidentally poison myself? Staring down at what I assumed was the ground since I couldn’t tell up from down with how everything was exactly the same. 

Then I remembered how the forest guardian was not inside the forest and how strange that was. Was it the guardian? “I knew I shouldn't have trusted that thing.” 

“Hello Lotus,” multiple voices said at once and my heart dropped to my feet, as my hands slapped over my ears. The ringing made it almost impossible to hear what was being said, “my apologies, I forgot you have sensitive ears.” 

No I don’t… you just loud. 

A soft chuckle was heard while I searched for where the voices were coming from. Only for me to realize it was everywhere. “We’re all so excited to finally meet you, young Lotus.” 

My brows creased in confusion, a soft, “what?” following. “Having you here is so exciting, we’ve been waiting for your awakening to happen. We hope the start wasn’t too painful.” Tilting my head, I then shook it, “I’m not having my awakening, I’m not even six yet.” 

Another laugh was heard, it was one of those laughs that parents gave their children, when they said something obviously ridiculous. But what I was saying wasn’t something worthy of that laugh, I was in fact not six years old, which meant my awakening should not be happening. 

What was so funny? 

“I will admit, we got a little impatient and triggered it a bit early–” 

“But it’s been so long since we had such a beautiful mana seed be born from this bloodline, we just couldn’t resist awakening it!” 

Is there more than one person talking? Wait– Duh Lotus, of course there is. Backtracking I looked up realizing what they just said, “what?” my bloodline? It was silent for what felt like forever. The white I was staring up at slowly turned into clouds as a blue clear sky revealed itself. Something soft now beneath my bare feet as I glanced down at the green grass and the field of flowers. 

What is this? Am I in heaven? I was right, I did die. 

“Yours is so beautiful,” the voices said, sounding amazed, “so much like the others, definitely worthy of the divine.” 

What? “Divine? Are you about to give me some weird power? …I don’t want it.” Arching a brow I stared up at the sky, are they laughing at me? “What’s funny?” 

“Nothing, it’s just you remind me of someone, he said the same thing many years ago.” 

“Young Lotus, would you like to make a contract with us so we can protect you?” Squinting at the question, I shook my head, “no, why would I need you to protect me?” there was no answer to that question for a few seconds before a single voice was heard. “We only wish to help keep you safe.” 

“Why can’t you just do that because you want to? I don’t want to be tied down to that type of commitment.” 

“We are only allowed to watch and listen from afar as our presence would disrupt your life if not contracted with you. Though we did try our best to make your birth easier as it was quite difficult to bring you here… you almost ripped your mother apart from the inside out–” waving my hands I shook my head, “are you saying I had a big head?” I asked, cutting them off. 

My question was answered with a laugh and personally I didn’t appreciate that. 

“No, no we were referring to your magic. Your mana pool is quite large, it took a lot of our strength to keep you from killing– draining your mother.” They explained, choosing their words carefully. 

“Eh?” I squinted, tilting my head to the side as I continued to stare up at the sky. “Do you agree to forming a contract with us?” With my arms crossing over my chest I leaned back a bit on my left leg. “If I agreed, how would my life be affected? What would change?” I really don’t want to but I’m curious. 

A light hum echoed in my ears, “we would be with you at every moment of every day in the form of an animal, of your choosing of course.” they began explaining, “we’d protect you from all dangers as well as your family, if you commanded it.” 

Okay, but wouldn't it be weird for a two year old to have an animal following it around? 

While I thought about this question, voices erupted as if complaining, my hands lifting to cover my ears again. “Can you not?” I gritted my teeth, muffling the voices with my hands to the best of my ability. 

Dropping my hands as the voices gradually died down, my palms were stained with red. Why are their voices so loud? I’ve never had this problem before. “Oh dear you are quite sensitive.” 

“I guess the mixed blood is making him hyper sensitive unlike the others.”

“No, it’s because he turned three, you dolt.” 

“What?” I’m three already? How long has it been? 

“It’s been four months already. Even though we were excited to see you, your awakening was triggered early for other reasons.” That statement wasn’t elaborated on. 

“So your answer?” Shaking my head, I smiled awkwardly, “I’mma have to pass, thanks though.” 

“Of course.” 

Silently, I looked around seeing no end in sight. Is that a cliff? Or does it just keep going? Shaking the thought away I lifted my head, speaking up, “since I have to wait another few months can I at least see the person… people I’ve been talking to? Uh it’s a little awkward and straining, talking to the sky.” 

Staring up, I searched for anything unusual to fall from the sky but it was just clouds. “Oh of course!” 

A sigh escaping, I stared down at the flowers surrounding my feet. They were so similar to the flowers in my mother’s garden. “I wouldn’t stare for too long, they’ll trap you,” I jumped out of my skin at the sudden voice. Whipping my head around I made eye contact with a woman, who had similar colored eyes as Lydia. Her pastel yellow hair was tied up in a very tight bun, a few strands hanging over her eyes, but the glowing lotus symbol engraved in the center of her neck was what caught my attention. 

It looks painful. 

She smiled, shaking her head, “it doesn’t hurt anymore.” Anymore? “I am Thea, the eldest guardian of your bloodline, I served the first holder of the divine power.” She bowed, lowering her head to me in which I awkwardly did the same. 

“How sweet of you, but you don’t have to do such things. I am here to serve you, young master.” 

“Oh…” She softly laughed standing up straight, nearly towering over me but since there was no actual sun in sight, she didn’t cast a shadow over me. Now that I think about it, where is all this light coming from? 

“You.” Knitting my brows together, my eyes shifted towards her, “can you hear what I’m thinking?” She nodded, brightly smiling at me, “of course. Why wouldn’t I?” 

“Um...” While I was lost for words Thea turned around, walking ahead, waving for me to follow. Doing as she asked, a path leading towards stairs made its presence known. Yet I had no idea where it came from. 

Silently following Thea up the stairs, my hand went up to grab onto her, but I only managed to grasp at the fabric on her dress. It didn’t seem like she minded me using her for balance, since the stairs didn’t have any railings. She walked in such elegance, whoever was her master must have been someone with a high status. It was the only thing that made sense to me. So if that was the case, how was my bloodline the same as whoever was before me? Did they lose their status over the years or did she mistake me for someone else? 

Walking through the doors that were at the top of the stairs, the gazes of the many animals were set on Thea and I. All having the exact same eye color as myself, it felt strange to see my own eyes staring back at me. 

They really are animals. 

“Everyone, please welcome our youngest… His name is Lotus.” Thea announced as silence filled the room and much like before, my ears rang at the multiple voices that overwhelmed my hearing. My vision blurring from the pain that followed the bombardment of my ears. 

There were so many different animals in the room, I had a hard time processing what I was seeing. I’ve never seen so many different animals in one place before. 

Blinking a few times, I lowered my head to greet them and it only made them louder. I don’t know how they expect me to stay conscious with so much noise, my head hurts. Squeezing my eyes shut I lifted my head to take in the different species in the room, but all I saw was a very pretty lady standing in front of me. 

The white of her hair slowly changed to a dark black the farther down you looked. The feathers in her hair could only mean she was some type of bird, but the more I looked I noticed something was missing. 

Where is her symbol? 

Her face gave no emotion as she turned around, pushing her own hair aside she lowered the robe she was wearing and I kind of panicked for a second. Only to realize she was showing me where the lotus flower was. Right above her shoulder blade was the engraved flower that I’ve come to recognize as my future mage mark. 

Frowning in confusion, I glanced at Thea before looking over at the others. All the animals had their symbol on their heads, how come they have theirs in different spots then the others? 

“Our symbols change once we are mimicking what humans look like. The shared mark we have with our masters will be in the exact same place that theirs are in,” Thea explained. 

“Oh…” 

The lady turned around after she fixed her clothing and unlike Thea, she never smiled at me or showed an ounce of emotion on her face. I couldn’t figure out what she was thinking. In the corner of my eye I saw something moving closer. 

Is that a wolf? It’s huge! 

As the wolf slowed down, it began to stand up and morph into a humanoid animal. My eyes widened at the strange phenomenon, not sure how to react or what to say. It reminded me of that image I always saw in school. The evolution of humans, but unlike the picture, his fur didn’t actually go away, it just reverted towards his back, and his claws stayed as they were. When I say he was a humanoid animal, I meant it. My mind had a hard time processing what I was seeing. His big eyes were so much like his animal form that when I saw what he looked like before, I couldn’t not compare the two. 

Much like the wolf he was before, his eyes were both threatening and welcoming at the same time. His wolf ears were still visible on his head as he smiled at me, revealing the canines that didn’t seem to disappear when he became human. His hair was just like mine, black, but unlike me his hair was so long. His brown skin made him look godly with the purple eyes that were so similar to mine. It had this strange glow to them that was inhuman. I couldn’t help but stare, he was oddly beautiful. I could only wish to look like him one day. 

His eyes went down to meet mine and he kneeled, a warm smile on his face as he greeted me, his voice matching his appearance, “it’s nice to finally meet you, my master told me a new divine one was coming to see us soon.” 

A what? “They did?” the wolf chuckled and nodded, “he was just as excited as we were.” 

“Oh,” I whispered. “Lotus, this is Notos and this young lady is Ava.” Thea pointed out while I looked between them. “Notos is the guardian of Cyrus, while Ava is Hieron's guardian” 

Who? 

Actually– “what is a divine one?” I asked, tugging on Thea’s gown. The room went silent when I asked that question. Was I not supposed to ask? “Uh… nevermind, you don’t have to answer,” I muttered, scratching my arm while glancing between them nervously. I think I said something wrong.

Notos tilted his head, his ears perked up as his eyes showed concern, “do you really not know?” Avoiding his gaze I shook my head. “Your parents haven’t told you anything?” 

Obviously not, I’m barely three years old. 

The poor wolf looked so distraught by this information like it was supposed to be common knowledge. I’ve never even heard that phrasing before. “Notos give the boy space, you’re smothering him with your dog breath. He’s a lot younger than your master, back off.” the talons that replaced what was supposed to be Ava’s nails, grabbed the wolf by his ear, pulling him back. 

“Ow! Ow! That hurt!” 

She sighed, “you still act like a child.” 

“A child? Those things hurt, I don’t understand how your master could deal with those all the time.” She rolled her eyes, “maybe because he was simply stronger, unlike some, my master didn’t need a big disgusting dog to keep him safe.”