THE BOY WHO REFLECTED NO SPIRIT
By the time Levie turned one year old, whispers about him had grown louder.
Some villagers avoided him.
Some stared too long.
Some felt uneasy when he crawled past them, like a cold breeze had touched their skin.
He wasn't dangerous.
He wasn't sick.
He was just… different.
Children usually showed signs of their "destiny line" by their first birthday.
It was a small glow inside their chest, seen only through the Spirit Mirror — a sacred bowl filled with water and ground moonstone.
Every child reflected a soft light inside the bowl.
Some brighter, some weaker, depending on the path the comet left for them.
But Levie's turn came with heavy silence.
The Elders Decide to Test Him
One warm morning, the elder Zuwu knocked on Mala's door.
"We need to see the boy," he said.
His face was calm, but his eyes were troubled.
Mala held Levie closer. "He's just a child."
"We know. That is why we must understand him now, before he grows."
Mala hesitated, but she loved her son.
She didn't want fear or rumors to shape his life.
So she agreed.
The Spirit Room
They met inside the largest hut — a round building lit by candles and burning herbs.
At the center was the Spirit Mirror.
A wide bowl of clear water.
Shimmering powder floating on top.
It was said the powder reacted to a person's fate.
Every elder gathered around.
Some prayed.
Some breathed slowly, preparing themselves.
Mala stood near the entrance, holding Levie firmly.
"Bring the child," Zuwu said.
She walked forward carefully and placed Levie beside the bowl.
He didn't cry.
He didn't fuss.
He simply stared at the water like he already knew what it was.
The Test Begins
Zuwu lifted a small wooden stick and tapped the bowl.
The surface of the water rippled.
A soft glow formed.
This glow was normal — it searched for the child's destiny line.
Zuwu spoke:
"Let us see the path the comet left for Levie."
Everyone leaned forward.
The glow brightened…
…then dimmed…
…then faded completely.
The bowl returned to clear water.
No light.
No reflection.
No destiny.
A heavy silence filled the room.
One elder whispered, voice shaking:
"It cannot sense him…"
Another shook his head.
"No. It cannot read him."
Zuwu frowned deeply.
"This has never happened before."
A Strange Reaction
Then something unexpected happened.
The water in the bowl… stilled.
Not a single ripple.
It became flat and solid-looking, like glass.
The powdered moonstone, which normally floated calmly, began to sink — slowly — to the bottom.
All of it.
Every grain.
The elders gasped.
"The mirror rejects him!"
"No… it fears him!"
Zuwu stepped back, his face pale.
"This boy… is not connected to the comet. There is no line for him to follow. No destiny to bind him."
One elder whispered the words no one dared to say:
"He stands alone. Outside fate."
Mala's Strength
Mala picked Levie up, holding him close.
"If he has no path, then he will make his own," she said firmly.
Her voice carried through the hut.
"He is my son. He needs no comet to decide who he becomes."
The elders had no reply.
None dared to argue with a mother defending her child.
But as Mala walked out of the Spirit Room, Levie resting quietly against her shoulder, Zuwu whispered to the others:
"We must watch this child carefully. A person without destiny is a person who can change everything."
The Boy Outside the Lines
While the elders whispered, Levie looked back at the bowl over his mother's shoulder.
The water, solid and flat like
glass…
…shattered into ripples the moment Mala stepped out of the hut.
As if the bowl could finally breathe again.
As if the thing it feared had left.