Chapter 3. Wrong

She was good. He had been curious since the instructors at Blue Castle started to say there was a prodigy student who almost rivaled him, but it was the first time Ler was seeing her with his own eyes.

Her fighting technique was quite unique, the flowing moves almost mirrored a dance. Yet she was, without doubt, beating the hell out of her opponent.

“I thought this was a healing-oriented Guardian?” Master Brenna asked.

“Oh, she is.” Master Rabi said. “That’s a sign of a person with potential, who can be good even at areas that are not her specialty.”

There were Guardians who, following the Will of Heaven, intervened in the world to take lives, those who were sent to heal, and those who fought demons.However, if one could do the three of these it was impressive and very desirable, as one never knew what situations could arise in the future.

Ler frowned.

He saw potential, yes, but it seemed like she was holding back.

“What do you think, Lord Chevallier?”

“Oh?” The 4th Master seemed absent minded since the start of the examination. “ Lacking focus.”

Ler smirked. Was he talking about the recruit or about himself?

One of the things that bothered him most in people was when they didn’t do all they could do. Some would say it was hypocrite coming from him, who had no problems controlling his spiritual power and had reached the status of Master when he was just 20 years old. However, Ler had to constantly face the doubts of others who, although recognizing his abilities as a Guardian, didn’t think someone so young could really become a mentor and lead others well. The respect he commanded was hard earned through his efforts to make his pupils in the last 30 years reach the best of their abilities and become exemplary Guardians.

Therefore, it was irritating when someone was just being lazy.

The girl didn’t think the examination was important enough?

He shook his head when she won, and heard Brenna and Ravi already fighting over her. The other masters also seemed a bit impressed, but no one was creating such a ructus as the two of them.

It was a productive day for most of the people there, but Ler went back to his manor empty handed. There were fifteen new Guardians starting that day, none of them with the qualities he was looking for in his pupils.

***

He met her after he’d become a Master, the last step before becoming the Lord Chevalier. Then, he was forty years old and had been waiting for her even since he was a child.

With so many years of waiting, it was not rare that Nox had memorized every tiny bit of her face so he would recognize her at once when they met.

The big purple eyes, the long eyelashes, the black hair, the small but plump lips... he could describe them with perfect detail even with his eyes closed, even when he wasn’t looking at his mark.

Unexpectedly, he met her during a mission in the realm of the living, and for a moment, he even mistook her for a common mortal.

Lyra’s parents were humans, although her maternal grandfather had been a Celestial Guardian known as Adon. She was also born with spiritual power, but her body was too weak to endure any training. Since the first meeting when he realized this, Nox knew his soulmate wouldn’t live too long.

If she lived a full ordinary human life, it would be already a miracle. Helping her to stabilize her power temporarily was all he could do.

Nox thought it was unfair, when his wife was a gentle and kind soul, but how could he complain about the Will of Heaven?

Yet after this day in the Blue Castle, for the first time he thought he might have made a mistake.

"Lyra, you should rest." Nox told her when he found her coughing after a walk through the gardens. Her health had been declining lately and it worried him.

"I'm fine, my lord."

She never stopped referring to him in that way, and Nox had stopped trying to change her even if her formality bothered him.

In that sense the Blue Castle girl looked exactly like Lyra, but her behavior was so different. He could still remember the light in her face when their eyes first met.

He frowned.

"Has anything happened today?" Lyra asked.

"Nothing outside the ordinary."

Somehow she doubted it.

" You seem troubled."

Her hand rested on his shoulder, but her sweet smile that would always make him feel at peace, this time only added to the storm in his heart.

Lyra would never lie to him. However, the soulmark that for so many years stayed in his chest with no logical explanation had disappeared after meeting the girl, Ayla. Nox hadn’t taken a look at it yet, but he could feel it was no longer there.

Nox sighed. There were many questions he wanted to ask, needed to ask. However, his wife was too frail lately and it might be better to wait.

***

Lyra knew that there wasn't much time left for her.

Perhaps it was her fate, a punishment not only for abandoning her sister all those years ago, but also for deceiving Nox. Although she loved him, she also felt somewhat guilty for lying about the soulmate mark.

When he asked about it at the beginning, she didn't want to let go of his warmth and kindness towards her, so she had said her soulmark had disappeared as soon as she saw him. He was convinced she was his fated partner, and it was really her face that was engraved in his chest, it couldn't hurt him to believe they were meant to be, when they loved each other, right?

After all, Heaven also made mistakes sometimes, her own existence was proof of this.

But now that she was about to die, she worried more and more about the lies from her past.

Just as she worried more about her little sister's fate.

Could she have survived on her own? If she had, after so many years she would have already been found and brought to Cloud City.

Was there a possibility for them to reunite?

For years, the only thing stopping her from looking for Ayla was the fear of telling Nox about her past, although he was the only person who could help her find her sister. What if it changed the way he looked at her in the future?

Lyra shook her head to dispel those fears. She didn't have much time left, and couldn't afford to be a coward.

"My lord, there's something I have yet to tell you."

She said it the next morning, when they were having breakfast together.

"Yes, wife?"

"Many years ago, after my parents passed away, I was actually not alone. I had a younger sister, she was still a baby. But we were sick and I couldn't take care of her... in the end, I had to part with her so we had some chances to survive."

Nox put the tea cup on the table, and his body became rigid after hearing her words.

"You have a sister?"

Lyra's eyes were teary, he could notice even if she didn't dare to look him in the eyes.

"I don't know if she is still alive, but if she is... I'd like to find her and reunite with her. She should be in the Blue Castle by now, and maybe she still keeps the name my mother gave her. I left a token with her, the name is Ayla. Please, husband, help me this time."

She was sure that, with his help and the name of the Chevalier family it would be possible to find her young sister. However, his next words still surprised her.

"I might already know where she is."

He stood up and left without saying another word. He'd never behaved like that with her, so Lyra's heart was hurt, but she also couldn't bring herself to ask him to stay.

In fact, at that moment, Nox was leaving for her sake. He didn't know what he might say if he stayed any longer. To admit he met someone who looked just like her, someone who had recognized him as her soulmate, didn't it mean his wife had also lied to him? At that moment, he felt he didn't know Lyra at all.

***

"Ayla? What's going on with you again?"

"I didn't sleep well last night. I'm tired."

"Liar."

Ayla just shrugged and remained quiet.

Since the day before, after the examination was over, Estée noticed her friend was acting strange. She thought maybe Ayla was depressed because, although the First and Eight Masters both offered to accept her under their wings, she wasn’t acknowledged by Master Aldrich.

This was their last day living together, as they both would leave the facilities. Estée was moving to 3rd Master Ray’s Manor, and Ayla would follow 8th Master Rabi. She could only worry about her friend, but there wasn’t much she could do.

“We won’t see each other often, at least for some years.”

“We’ll be fine. You just have to learn to cook by yourself.”

Masking with a smile her mood, Ayla could only say this much. She couldn't tell her friend that her soulmate had appeared and no less than Master Nox Chevallier. Her friend would only worry even more, or worse, she’d pity her.

She had already made a fool of herself the day before, with a mediocre performance in the examination. Her right ankle still hurt, and her healing powers did not completely solve it because they were also affected by her unstable emotions.

Who cared about Nox Chevallier?

Ayla didn’t even know him, and all her faith was caused by a stupid mark tattoed on her back that wasn’t there anymore. As if it never existed.

Most Celestial Guardians didn’t have lovers at all, as it was deemed as a distraction from their duties. Soulmates had a special value for the divine power linked to that kind of relationship, but she didn’t need it at all.

Since she was joining Master Rabi, who was famously known as the “demon-slayer” for killing more evil spirits in the last two hundred years than any other Guardian, Ayla hoped he would send her to a mission to face demons very soon. She was feeling very violent and needed to release some of that energy.