The next morning, I sat on the edge of my bed. My fingertips carefully grazed the delicate silver soulmarks snaking across my wrist. Seeing these soulmarks, I remember how different this new world is.
Soulmates exist in this world, inextricably bound by the power of soulmarks.
Soulmarks were like tattoos, appearing on everyone since birth. They unfurled upon the skin in intricate designs unique to each individual and soulmate, establishing the most sacred connection imaginable: the soul bond.
The symbols represented the fated soulmate in some way. No one knows who their soulmate is, unless they are within six feet of each other. If this condition is met, the gods whisper their names to each other, igniting the once faded gray symbol, transforming it into a symbol full of color.
Same sex soulmates were forbidden by the Royal family and the Church.
Regardless of being Esper or Guide, noble or commoner, every soul bore one. These marks revealed affinities and compatibility which will be tested and revealed at the main Guide Academy, Lunaris for those of noble origin at the soul matching ceremony for those ages 13 and up while those of humble birth went to designated smaller branches of the Church of Eternity, a corruptive church whose main goal is unknown
During the soul matching ceremony, the candidates stand in an ancient rune circle, and are given the ancient relic called the fate mirror. When the name or energy of a soulmate is spoken or channeled into the mirror, a number bearing the percentage of compatibility is engraved next to the soul mark.
60 percent is considered extremely compatible and rare as most soulmates only measure at 25 percent compatibility. And the highest ever compatibility was between the Duke Constello and his concubine, Lady Lina at 78 percent.
Once the compatibility is confirmed, the royal family grants them permission to undergo the soulmating ceremony, recognized as marriage, if there is at least 35 percent compatibility forever binding your soulmate and claiming them fully by committing the sacred mixing of bodily fluids, going all the way.
However, the Church of Eternity are the real ones who approve or disapprove a union, in order to keep powerful Espers at bay. But sometimes, this process is skipped and the bonding happiness naturally through intense moments.
This is because fated mates who are bonded, live thrice as long as a normal human, and can unlock hidden powers, making the soulmates even stronger than before, evening levelling up another rank. However, it comes with a cost.
Because they are binded by the soulmate bonds, they share one life. If one dies, then the other dies too within a year. Once a soulmate dies, the soul mark disappears as if it was never there. If you are not fully bonded, and your soulmate dies, then you won't die. This double edged sword is for those who are fully bonded.
Because the Church is the one controlling soul mated pairs and denies those under 35 percent matching rate, those who are rejected from fully bonded experience soul yearning and are forbidden from completing the bonding ceremony and over time, the soul mark fades until it disappears completely.
This world is cruel to soul mates, and to think I have 5 soul mates.
I traced my soul marks delicately. In the light, it shimmered faintly, a serpentine curve over my pallid skin. As I pressed my thumb against it, thoughts churned in my head.
In this realm, Espers and Guides formed society's backbone. Espers wielding elemental or dark powers while Guides mainly dealt with abilities that danced along the fringes of the mind and soul, cabalitle of healing a rampant Esper. True soulmates, bonded fully, are rare as daylight in darkness and were coveted and often controlled due to their strong powers capable of destroying Empires.
And the corrupted Church led the propaganda that Aria, the novel's heroine and the so-called Saintess, bore a once in a million year celestial soulmark that tethered to the one destined to save the world.
What a deceitful farce.
Currently, it was the year 219, meaning Aria was thirteen, the same age as the novel's protagonist and me. Raised within the hallowed walls of the Cathedral as the 'The Hero's Chosen One' of the ancient prophecy.
Aria was a clever orphan who adorned herself with a sweet smile, masking the sharp ambition concealed beneath layers of white silk. In the book, she was labeled as the heroine and was taken in by the Church at the age of nine.
But I had seen beyond the veil. She was an A ranked Guide, the highest rank the world has ever seen for guides and crafted by the Church into an exquisite weapon who framed Eiden of conspiracy to kill her, the world's Saintess, thus leading to Eiden's beheading.
And Kael...
Kael was meant to stand in the shadow of his noble lineage, now exiled beyond the empire's reach for the sins of treason. Yet Kael's family had struck a bargain to preserve their own skin.
A cruel, humiliating pact.
"Spare us," the disgraced Lord Roen Voss had murmured to the Emperor in hushed, desperate tones. "We'll leave the boy behind."
And so they had. Kael, the legitimate son of the once famed Ducal family, was left to rot away in the underground Pet Prison beneath Sin City, a grotesque place hosting failed experiments, monsters, and broken Espers and Guides. He was supposed to wither away, forgotten.
But Kael never surrendered. He broke free from prison as the forgotten failure at the age of 16, attending the most elite military Academy, Aetherion in disguise as a commoner which the Academy only admits two a year.
Upon graduating at 18, he was invited to the main training center in the royal capital due to being one of the few S-ranked Espers despite his 'commoner' status.
This was to train for the upcoming war with the slumbering demon king of the prophecy where it was revealed that Kael was the Hero, god's chosen one to defeat the evil demon once and for all. After the war, the Emperor promised him that he would be able to reclaim his fallen family's glory.
Kael endured in the depths of despair and became the Commander of the White Knights, leading his team to defeat the evil demon king alongside his soul mate Aria, the so-called heroine who plotted in secret with the help of the Church.
Knowing all of this from the novel, I will make sure to change the story.
I got up from my bed, and made my way to my walk-in closet. I frowned slightly. I woke up a while ago, yet no maids came in to wake me up or help me get dressed.
Not that I had a problem with it, but Eiden was this House's Young Master, yet he was so disrespected, that even the maids of low origins outrightly disrespected their Young Master without a care.
I need to fix that. Step one in Eiden's guide to a happy ending: making the maids respect their Master.