Strings of Fate

Prologue

3rd POV

In a world where a Soulmate System existed since the beginning of time, it had slowly petered out into what many believed to be a myth. Where the strings of fate had simply become less apparent to the world... There were perhaps only one in a million people that had been gifted with the ability to identify whether the strings of fate were still binding their souls.

It wasn't particularly a special gift, however it was enough of a clue for those who truly did have their souls bound to another.

Where a single drop of ink on the skin could change what you thought could or would have been your destiny... Just a single drop of ink upon your skin would appear upon the skin of the one the strings of fate had tied your soul to.

And for Charlize, it hadn't been a single drop of ink that had led her to the conclusion that fate was toying her soul around like a puppet. It had been a sentence... A sentence in another language which she couldn't understand, one which she knew full well that she couldn't have written herself.

"Lize?"

The worried voice of her father had snuck up behind her, causing the young girl to jump in slight panic.

"Ah," a small hum escaped her mother's lips as she giggled at what she saw upon her beloved daughter's arm, "It seems that you're more than just special to us, Charlize~"

Charlize couldn't understand her mother's words. They weren't ones which made sense to her... She knew full well that this was one of the myths and legends in which her beloved parents always told her before bedtime.

A sign in which her parents knew that her soul was one still being blessed by fate.

However, Charlize couldn't see it that way.

This so-called myth of the Soulmate System... It wasn't like her parents didn't love each other. She knew full well that her parents were so deeply in love with each other... So loving and filled with warmth.

Yet, she was only five.

How could a five year old understand or know anything about those who controlled such a system? Where this Soulmate System seemed to merely force those who still had their souls bound by the strings of fate to simply be together... There was no excitement in falling in love, there was no fairy tail ending of some surprise prince whisking her away off of her feet... This system simply destroyed the girlish dreams that Charlize perhaps had once had of finding someone like her parents had found each other.

Fate could be kind. Fate could be cruel.

Charlize knew only of the kindness that fate had shown her so far. Being blessed and born into a family that showered her with love... The kindness of fate so far was something in which Charlize could only trust in.

"I don't care if she's got a soulmate or not," her father frowned, shaking his head and pulling Charlize into a bear hug, "No one is ever going to have our little girl, Yuri! I won't allow it!"

Snuggling into her father's arms, Charlize wanted nothing more than to enjoy his warmth.

"Wesley Rustichelle," her mother only ever addressed her father by his full name whenever she got irritated, "Don't be ridiculous."

Wesley flinched at his beautiful wife's icy glare.

Soulmates were a beautiful thing. He knew full well just how beautiful of a thing it was... To still have your soul being looked after by those who existed beyond imagination. It was those people that had blessed him with his beautiful and charismatic wife... Despite the fact that he had fallen for her before knowing that she had been his soulmate.

But, to Wesley, his daughter was only five years of age.

"She will grow up eventually," Yuri chuckled as her daughter seemed to have drifted off to sleep in her father's arms, "And even when she grows up, it seems like she'll always be a 'Daddy's girl', Wes."

Nodding enthusiastically at the thought, Wesley kissed his beloved daughter on his head.

They both knew Charlize's view of this Soulmate System. Where she had the dreams and aspirations to fall in love like they did... She wished to experience a love with nothing that influenced her emotions. To them, they knew their beloved daughter was simply questioning fate as she usually did whenever they each told her stories of the beautiful myths about the soulmate system.

But as long as she was happy, whether she decided to fight fate or not... Wesley and Yuri only wished for her happiness, no matter in what shape or form it took.