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 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 soul mark had first appeared in his chest.

Naturally, he married her.

The soul mark 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 soul mark 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 at that moment. Ayla didn’t understand what was happening, but that was the day her life started again.