Is that… the same symbol as my mom? 

“Why do I have two?” I whispered, sitting on the sink while staring at my back in the reflective glass. Is it normal to have two mage marks? “It didn’t say anything about having two in that book I read.” 

“Amelia!” flinching I watched the bathroom door, listening as my mom’s voice traveled by, hoping she wouldn’t walk in. A soft breath escaped when she walked right past without opening the door. My hand pressed against my shoulder to cover the mark only for a shock to run through my hand, causing my body to jolt from the sudden pain. 

“Ow, what the–” lifting my hand I stared at the mark on my shoulder, watching it sink into my skin, soon just disappearing as if it was never there. That wasn’t weird at all. 

“Is that why I never noticed it before?” 

“Lotus!” Lydia called and I quickly hopped off the sink, pulling my shirt over my head while running out of the bathroom. “Yes?” I said once I made it to the living room, holding onto the frame of where a door should be. “A letter from your father is coming later on, so be ready when I call you.” 

“Okay,” I muttered and she waved me off, looking back down at the book in her hand. 

Stepping back, I headed down the hall in silence. Reaching for my room door I walked inside, shutting it behind me. The whistling of the wind outside faded into my subconscious as it just became background noise to my racing mind. 

What should I do while I wait? 

My eyes shifted around while I scratched the back of my head. With a silent hum I sat on the floor in the middle of the room, legs crossed, my hands dropping into my lap. “Maybe I could–” Don’t use magic in the house. 

Clicking my tongue, a sigh following, I scrunched up my nose in irritation, “I know that.” But… looking over at the window I got up going to push it open. “It’s not in the house now,” I grinned at my geniusness. 

What was that thing I read? 

Squinting at the vague memory, I attempted what I sort of remembered from the book. Picking and pulling mana particles, it gradually turned from random collected pieces to a marble sized ball of liquid. A bright happy expression formed on my face when it actually worked, but that expression immediately turned to one of pain as a burning in my chest occurred and I dropped to my knees. 

My hand pressed against my chest as my eyes watered from the hell fire that lit up around my mana seed. Gasping for air I tried to calm down, gritting my teeth to keep any sounds from escaping. 

“It’s gonna rain!” 

“Be quiet, I need to focus,” I responded, taking slow soft breaths. The burning soon faded away and I sat there in silence, letting all of that process in my head. “I’m fine, I’m okay,” I whispered, my vision darkening, forcing my current reality to warp, while I stared at the glowing flower on the back of my palm. 

What’s going on? 

“Never thought this is what it would look like,” a deep velvety voice said. Lifting my head I searched for the owner, pushing myself to my feet. The soft grass and flowers brushed against my skin as I stood up. “What the hell?” I frowned, taking in my new surroundings. 

What just happened? 

“A never ending field of flowers, mountains… and a bright sky with clouds. But the water… it’s purple and kind of dirty… ” the stranger hummed, “strange.”  

The grass ruffling behind me caused my body to turn on instinct. A dark figure stood in the distance, the only thing I could understand was the glowing red that was in the area of their eyes. “You’re so young,” he said with both confusion and curiosity. 

“Who are you?” 

He laughed at my question, placing his hand over his mouth and shook his head. What is so funny? I didn’t crack a joke. 

“My bad, I didn’t mean to laugh, it's just you ask me that every time.” Huh? “Everytime? What do you mean?” Again he shook his head grinning, an amused laugh continuously coming out of his mouth. His dark hair was just as long as I remembered Cyrus hair being, but unlike the well kept hair of Cyrus, his was messy and all over the place, very chaotic. 

His clothing was tacky in an oddly elegant way, he didn’t look like he tried to look presentable. If anything it gave off lazy energy. “Your name is Lotus in this lifetime…” 

How does he know I was reincarnated? 

“What is this place? Why did you bring me here?” I began questioning them, looking around the grassy space we were standing in. There was a long pause, the only thing being heard was the light wind blowing. 

“This is your… how do I explain this to a child?” he muttered rubbing his chin. Is it that hard to answer? 

Turning my head at the sound of my name I headed towards the mountains in the distance. “Wait! Don’t go there!” He shouted in a panic and my body jerked backwards, knocking me off my feet. 

“Ow!” 

“You shouldn’t go there,” turning slightly I lifted my head, gazing at him with my brows knitted together in confusion. “Why not?” 

“With how weak you are… You’d die,” he said bluntly, the darkness surrounding him as he turned to me, kneeling down to my level. His red eyes peered into my soul, quite literally. There were no good or bad vibes coming from him; he just seemed to exist in this realm as a neutral entity. 

His red eyes made his skin look gray, it lacked any form of color. I couldn’t tell if he was human or not. “What are you?” I muttered while he was staring at me. His eyes filled with amusement as he backed up, “I am the chaos in your heart.” 

Chaos in my heart? I don’t have any chaos… Do I? 

“What do you mean?” 

Clicking his tongue he shook his head, “I can’t answer that… you’re far too young.” How old does he think I am? “Lotus, can I call you Lotus?” When I went to answer he started speaking again, not giving me a chance to even respond. “Lotus, have you ever heard of the phrase divine one? I doubt it but…” 

“Yeah a few times, why?” He paused, concern flashing across his colorless face, tensing up instantly. “What all do you know about the divine one?” 

Not much to be honest, “I know that mister Cyrus was the sixth and apparently I’m one too, what about it?” After I answered he physically relaxed which didn’t ease my mind at all. 

Is it a bad thing? Notos didn’t make it seem so bad and personally I trust an animal over whatever the heck you are. 

“You met Cyrus?” his expression became brighter at the mention of Cyrus as if he knew him. I only nodded at his question. He keeps changing the subject. Picking at the grass I stared up at him, “can I go home now?” 

“No, I have to give you something,” he appeared in front of me in the blink of an eye and grabbed my marked hand. His grip was tight, restricting my movements. He took any chance of me getting free. “What are you doing? Let go!” tugging at his boney fingers I attempted to get free but he had a death grip on my hand. 

“Shh it’s okay I won’t hurt you.” 

“That’s hard to believe when you’re cutting off blood circulation!” His eyes widened as if he didn’t know his gorilla grip was on max. “Oh, my bad… I forgot you divine ones are so fragile at this age.” I’m not fragile, you're just freakin’ strong! 

“Here,” he extended his hand out for mine and I hesitated before placing my hand in his. 

With my attention going back up to his face, his eye color changed for a split second. Going from red to purple only for a moment, it was like he began to mirror me. Seeing my own face, that wasn’t from a mirror, was strange. He smiled at me, his red eyes looked so odd with my features. His small hand reached up to touch my face, “please live a good life my child and use my gift wisely.” 

This transformation made me question whose body was he copying before and if he was actually a person or just a shapeshifting entity. “What did you give me?” His laugh made me uncomfortable because it was my voice. Seeing myself laugh like that was discomforting, terrifying even. I looked unstable, the fear of seeing myself but not myself was mind breaking. 

The world around me was darkening, that tightness in my throat made it hard to breathe, grabbing at whatever air I could only cause the panic to travel. “She’s looking for you…” his humorous voice dropped and he turned to me, grabbing a handful of the flowers that were wilting around us. 

“You’re too weak to be here…” he said in a hurry, crushing the petals in his hands, much like Amelia, blowing the crumbled pieces in my face. 

“We’ll talk again when you’re stronger…” 

My eyes shot open and I gasped for air, sitting up immediately. Gripping my shirt, darting my eyes around to take in my surroundings. A heavy beating heart, pounding my ear drums while I tried to refocus and regulate my body. 

Was it beating like this the whole time? I could’ve died. 

Flinching at the sound of lightning striking down on the earth, it forced me to look up and see the new flowers that invaded my room through the window. “Was this because of me? Or is nature in this world just weird?” 

With a single push, I stood to my feet walking over to the window. If Lydia finds out I left the window open while it's raining, “I’ll never hear the end of it.” 

Fingers extended, I wiggled them before rubbing my hands together. “Alright let's get rid of this,” shaking out my nervousness I began to work on ways to get them off the windowsill. Going with the most basic attempt, I pushed them out the window. In my first attempt something stabbed my marked hand and I immediately yanked my hand out of its grasp.

“What was that? Did something bite me?” looking down at my now bleeding thumb, confusion settled in. My eyes went back to the plants that just disappeared. “Okay…” staring out the window I quickly ran to shut it and stepped back. Red liquid was seeping out of my finger, staining both the windowsill and my floor. 

Well I can’t hide anything now, might as well snitch on myself. 

“Mom!” I turned around exiting the room. “Mom!” I called, spotting her in the same spot as before… well not exactly the same but she was in the living room still. “Yes, flower?” 

Walking over I showed her my hand, “I’m bleeding.” she blinked, tilting her head a bit to look at my wound. I may have put it too close to her face, my bad. “Oh dear that’s a lot of blood,” she stood up, leading me to the kitchen. 

“How did you manage this flower?” she asked, while grabbing bandages and this bottle that I saw once before when I injured my leg that one time. 

“Uh…” what should I tell her? Would she freak out if I said I left my window open? 

“I… I fell,” I muttered, shifting my gaze at my attempt to lie. Her expression told me that she didn’t believe a word I said. A soft hum fell from her lips as she sat down in the chair next to me and grabbed my hand. “Please be careful next time,” she poured a bit of the red liquid on my finger and I immediately jerked my hand away. 

Tears welling up in my eyes as the liquid seeped into the wound. What is that stuff? Is it alcohol? “Oh, sorry honey, let me see,” she muttered, grabbing my hand and blowing on my finger. 

“Is that better? Mommy’s sorry, I forgot this hurts you.” She grabbed a small bandage and wrapped it around my finger, placing a light kiss to it. 

“It’ll heal quickly so try not to hurt yourself until then okay?” She stood up with a single nod and began putting the things away. “Flower, go get your sister and go sit in the living room.” 

“Why?” 

She shot me a glance and I just hopped off the chair doing as I was told. 

Never mind, forget I asked. 

“Mimi!” I called, running out of the kitchen, going to search for her. The soft sound of my sister humming the familiar tone that came from my bracelet made me stop. Standing outside. Her door I just silently listened to her. 

Even though the sound was familiar and I lacked the memory that went along with it. It was nostalgic in a way that made me miss Elijah. I wonder what he could be doing right now. 

“Lotus?” 

Flinching, I lifted my head, “huh? Oh mommy said come here.” Amelia nodded and walked right past me heading into the living room. My hand pressed against the wall and before I could look inside her room my name was called. 

“Coming!” 

With a single step I turned around, heading to the living room. “Lotus come sit down next to me.” Frowning I did as told, sitting next to my mom, “what are we doing?” 

“Connecting soul bridges, it is a custom in our family.” Lydia explained before grabbing my hand, “but since you, Lotus, have a different mana mark we will have to compensate for your lack of connection to the other side.” 

Other side? 

“Miya, coat yourself in mana like I taught you,” how come I wasn’t taught how to do that? 

Amelia sat down across from Lydia and shut her eyes. The purple energy traveled along her body, making a mana shadow that engulfed her entire being. I obviously couldn’t do it that perfectly, but it sort of works the same way. 

“Alright, Lotus never let go of my hand,” upon saying that her purple eyes brightened as a flower gradually grew up from the wooden floor board of our home. Amelia’s blonde hair had this purple undertone to it that I assume came from the flowers' sudden appearance and before I could get a good look at my mother… my mind broke apart. 

This uneasy feeling swallowed me whole and threw me back out, cracking every sane thought I had in that moment. The once dimly lit living room was replaced with a dark wooden bridge, connecting one side to the other. The murky water underneath the bridge was filled with many different lotus flowers of all colors and sizes. Lily pads floated along the long river, with the help of the wind guiding them. 

“You’re so little.” My head shot up at the feminine voice, “huh?” 

This young looking girl smiled in my direction, standing on the other end of the bridge. Her eyes reminded me of a rainbow; bright and colorful. She was very pretty, if I’m being honest. 

“Lotus is it? Is that what your mother named you?” 

Her hands were hidden behind her back as she stood on the other end, just watching me. “You look so much like your father… that’s fascinating.” 

How does she know what my dad looks like? 

“Who’re you?” She chuckled, shaking her head, “don’t you know already?” Frowning I scratched my head. “No, the heck? I barely know what year it is.” The stranger only smiled at my answer, pushing her blonde strands of hair out of her face as the wind began to pick up.