Chapter 1. Blue Castle

Her friend was dead.

Ayla didn’t believe it at first, but then she came closer and realized Patt was no longer breathing. Perhaps he’d been dead even since he stopped coughing.

Sussy wanted to take him to the hospital, but it would be useless. Besides, who would want to help some homeless street rats like them?

“Sussy, Patt is dead.”

“No, he isn’t.” The girl was also scared. “You are lying.”

But Ayla heard her cry, and strangely she couldn’t, even if she wanted to. There was a lump in her throat and too many doubts in her heart.

“I’d already helped him cross into another life.”

Those were the words of the man only she could see.

“Another life?”

“Humans die and their souls need to be freed from their bodies in order to reincarnate.”

Would Patt start another life now? She hoped it was better than the one they were living now.

“It’s time. Let’s go.”

Behind her, she could hardly hear the voices of the other kids gathering around in the old building, probably trying to decide what to do with Patt’s body now. Ayla found herself following the mysterious man outside.

“Are you an angel?”

“I told you, my name is Nash. I guess you could call me an angel, I’m a Celestial Guardian.” He said, “Just like you will be.”

He waved his hand, and a bright light appeared, but just like no one could see Nash, it seemed no one could see the ‘door’ that emerged at that moment out of nowhere.

A celestial guardian?

“What’s a Celestial Guardian?” “Someone like us, blessed by Heaven’s Will. You have been born with the power to clean the world from demons and help to keep balance in this world, but you have to train for it.”

It all seemed like a strange dream. Ayla looked back at the old building where she’d spent most of the last year. Everything she knew in this life was to survive day by day, try not to get yourself hurt or killed, find something to eat, and don’t starve to death.

Ayla was well aware there were children in this world who had families, a warm place to sleep, and dreams. She’d heard some adults in the streets talking about how ‘children were the future’ but she didn’t see any future ahead for herself other than waking up the next day.

Suddenly, she was someone special?

“Ayla, right? Let’s go.”

“Do I really have to go with you?”

Nash raised an eyebrow.

“Do you want to stay here?”

Her stomach growled. The last time she ate decent food was two days ago when a waitress of the restaurant three blocks away gave her some leftovers. She’d shared the food with Patt then, thinking it would help somehow…

“Come. I’ll treat you to a meal first. There are good restaurants in the Cloud City too.”

***

The Cloud City was the place where people like Nash, the Celestial Guardians, lived. Ayla was first impressed by how everything was white and clean. There were no cars or disgusting smells anywhere, even though they walked for a long time before reaching a place to eat, just as Nash had promised.

When she was served with a bowl of rice and grilled meat, she frowned.

“Do angels eat the same thing as humans?”

Nash smiled and ran his hand through his long blue hair.

“Well, technically we are also humans. Just not the same as the others you have met until now.”

Seeing her startled expression, he sighed and started to explain.

“We’re all born the same… except some few who’ve been here in Cloud City forever, of course… but the thing is you have the potential to become more. It’s a rare spiritual power, once you learn to control and use it, it’s going to help clean this world from the demons.”

It was the second time he said this.

“There are also demons?”

According to Nash, demons were everywhere in the mortal world. They lived and grew powerful from sucking the spiritual power out of people, and it was the Celestial Guardians duty to kill them, as well as to heal the people who had been affected by them, otherwise they would end becoming demons after death too, without a chance of reincarnation.

It sounded like a dangerous job. But it was a ‘blessing’? People who were born like that had the duty to use their powers in that way.

“It’s fate.” Those were Nash’s words.

Ayla thought it was disappointing not being able to choose whether one wanted to be a Celestial Guardian or not. However, was there really another path for her to follow?

She was someone without family, without a home. She had friends like her too, but they often disappeared, or, like Patt, ended up dead. Most of the days Ayla had the strong feeling of being all alone in the world with no purpose to live but kept on living nonetheless.

Perhaps there was no Heaven, but the Cloud City that existed separately from everything else was close to being Heaven. If by living peacefully and safely here she had to pay to become a Celestial Guardian, it didn’t seem like an unreasonable price.

After finishing her meal, Nash took her to the Blue Castle.

It was one of the few buildings that were not painted in white, and as such, it stood up on the East side of the city.

It was where people like her had to train their powers in order to become guardians. For some, it could even take decades.

“But you look young. How old are you, Nash?”

“Of course I’m young! I’m only 50 years old.” Fifty?

Ayla gaped.

But there was no more time for questions, at least not with Nash. Before leaving, he introduced her to one of the people in charge of the Blue Castle, his name was Gael.

“So… do I have to live here from now on?”

“There are a few buildings nearby where the students stay. I’ll show you around first, and then you’ll be assigned a room.”

She nodded.

‘From now on, I won’t be hungry anymore.’

***

There was something she learned quite fast. People in Cloud City were all cordial and nice, but not really people who made friends. It could be lonely most of the time. They all seemed to be absorbed in their own thing: their mission.

For students like her, the mission was to learn control.

She was terrible at meditating, it was impossible to concentrate for more than ten minutes, no matter how hard she tried. How much would it take for her to transcend? Ayla remembered how no one had been able to see Nash when they were in the old building, it was only because Celestial Guardians were capable of transcending the limits of humanity and connecting with the Heavenly Will. For some it took decades. She’d probably stay as a Blue Castle student forever.

Frowning, Ayla opened her eyes.

“You have no patience at all.” The person who told her this was her roommate, Estée.

“I’m trying.”

“You are trying too hard. That isn’t what this is about.”

Estée smiled.

“Learn to calm down first. That’s what my first instructor told me. How can you find your inner power if your spirit is so anxious?”

“I’m not anxious.”

She already accepted this was her destiny, the reason she was born for.

But as she tried to fall asleep at night, Ayla couldn’t help but wonder, if everything was already predetermined, the reason why she’d lived alone with nothing to miss about her past was only so she could become a Celestial Guardian?

Did it happen only because of that?

Staring to the window right in front of her bed, the silhouette of the Blue Castle was clear before her eyes. It was the future ahead, and the only thing she should focus on from then on.