“In times of darkness, certain beings are called upon to restore the light. I am one of those beings. Technically, I am what you might call a “parasite,” but the reality is so much more complex.
My name is Aya. I am a Soul Rider. You know that bit about the pale horse with the pale rider? Well, neither of those is Death— the author of that lovely little tidbit witnessed the early demise of one of our hosts. The “pale horse” was a soul. The “pale rider” was an untapped Soul Rider.
We exist on the mortal plane in mated pairs, attached to matched souls of great power intended to be brought together to correct an imbalance or right a realm destroying wrong. Soul Riders remain with their host soul until called on by the Gods, or “tapped,” to take action. It can take many lifetimes for that call to come… Certain milestones must be reached within a single lifetime to prove the soul is ready.
When the Rider is finally tapped, so many things fall into place— starting with the host being drawn into this dream plane to meet their Soul Rider. After that, the Rider gains a physical body and becomes an advisor to their host.Sometimes a host will fight the dream plane, fight their calling, causing the Gods to intervene…”
My host decided to interrupt at that moment.
“I didn’t fight anything! I’m not ALLOWED to fight— that baka says I’m too weak and won’t even let me be trained! I don’t—“
I cut her off.
“No, you’re not the one fighting this. My mate’s host is. His host is your soul’s mate. We’re tapped at the same time, each pair. I was getting to that part, if you hadn’t interrupted!”
I sighed in exasperation as I looked to her again. Her long raven hair glistened in the light. Her hands trembled as her crystal blue eyes misted in rage. I barely managed to clap a hand over her mouth as she opened it to yell.
“Don’t. You. Ever. Yell. At. Me. Not here. Not now. Not EVER. Got it? All you’ll do is give yourself a headache and I’ll turn into the sickest, most sadistic bitch you’ll ever meet just to make it worse. So save us both the hell and just don’t. Okay? Okay.”
Part of that was a bluff, but she didn’t know that.
“Aya, that has GOT to be the biggest damned lie I’ve ever heard you tell!”
My host and I both whipped around to the new voice. Her jaw dropped. A tall golden haired male with bright green eyes was coming toward us.
“Elias!!” I shrieked as I ran to him.
After a brief embrace, we returned to my host so I could introduce them.
“Kagome, this is my mate…”
“Elias. It’s nice to finally meet you, Kagome,” he said with a nod.
“Dammit, what is it with you two and cutting me off?” I grumbled as they both laughed.
After a moment, Kagome sobered. She thought to herself quietly, then looked to Elias with a question.
“If your host is my soulmate and you’re here, does that mean he’s here somewhere, too?”
Elias snorted.
“Nope. That big son of a bitch is being a horse’s ass. The Gods are ready to step in. I was sent to tell you two to clear out.”
“Elias, sweetheart… We just got here a little while ago,” I whined.
He just stared at me.
“I still have to…”
“You haven’t finished explaining things to her, have you?” he mused, cutting me off again. “Dammit Aya… What have they told you about your dramatics?!”
Kagome looked between the two of us, then spoke. “She told me about you guys and that there’s something big going to happen, and that we’re being called to right some big wrong or something. What else is there?”
He growled. “What else is there? WHAT ELSE IS THERE?! There’s a whole shit ton that should have been explained already!!”
Elias ran a hand over his face and growled again then stormed off for a moment. When he came back, he stepped behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. He rested his head on my shoulder before nipping my ear and looking at Kagome.
“Long story short, Kags… At any time, there are 24 Riders. In your time, only 8 are tapped— 6 that have been tapped across the world by the time you’re sent back to the Feudal Era. The last 2 are you and your future mate. None of you are what you appear to be. You are so much more. One way to put it is that you are children of the Gods. That does NOT mean you are demigods, however. You are Chosen. You have been gifted with extraordinary powers and talents—“
“What are…” she tried to ask.
“DO NOT INTERRUPT!” Elias growled. “Time here is very limited for you two. Now. Aya will train you. She will advise you. When you leave this dream plane, you will go back through the well to your own time. She will meet you there in her physical body.”
He stopped talking and nuzzled the crook of my neck in farewell.
“What about this soulmate you said I’d be meeting… Will you tell me who he is?” Kagome questioned.
“No.” he mumbled into my neck.
“What? Why not?!”
“I’m not allowed to, Kags. And don’t bother asking Aya, she doesn’t know who he is either.” Elias told her. “You’ll know him, in time. Not sure how long it will take, though… Depends on how long it takes the bastard to accept all this.”
As Elias finished speaking, Kagome started to flicker from the dream plane. Once she was gone, a voice boomed around us.
“Way to hint drop, Elias.” the voice said, tone dripping with sarcasm.
I stood quietly for a moment, thinking about everything Elias had said and done. As I tensed in his arms, Elias turned my head, meeting my eyes.
“Aw fuck,” I growled. “Not him. Are you fucking kidding me?”
My mate smirked, but the voice overhead beat him to speech.
“Yes, Aya. Him. And if you tell her before it’s time, I wipe the slate and you start over.”
I growled.
“Holy fucking hell. He’ll kill her!”
And I blinked from the dream plane.
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a/n: While this is not the first fanfic I've written, it IS the first I've allowed to escape my notebook. Please be gentle... I won't have a regular posting schedule, as I'm one of those weirdos that prefers to write everything out by hand, then type it up. I do have a few chapters written, so the initial setup will come fairly quick... once the rest is typed! After that, Idk. I have a fluffy bastard being a jerk about letting me write his part, right now-- meaning he's being difficult. There will be quite a bit where canon characters are OOC, and you're just gonna have to live with it. Sometimes there is no other way to write them. I will have several OC's in play, but most of them are bit parts for appearances only. And the language wont change. If cursing offends you... Suck it up, buttercup. I ain't changin. Not for this story, anyway.