Prologue

Legend says that the Gods used to live among us and that each race was descended from them. This world is filled with many different creatures, humans, elves, vampires, orcs, dragons and dwarves. Eventually however the Gods left, no one knows why they left or where they went but before they vanished, they left behind a gift for all races.

Before they disappeared, the Gods created Soulmate Stones to help soulmates find each other. They gave the knowledge of how to create the Stones to the Elves and since then specially trained Elves have been tasked with creating the Stones. The Stones always have an identical match that will belong to your soulmate, sometimes more than one although that is very rare.

The Stones have become so important to our way of life that every 6 months there is a ceremony for finding your Stone. It's open to people of any age that haven't found their Stone yet but the first ceremony after you come age is compulsory and it must be the ceremony held in oldest temple in the country. Nobody I've ever met has known why the first ceremony seems to be so important as nothing momentous seems to have ever happened following the ceremony.

Despite the Stones showing someone as your soulmate rejection is still possible but is said to be one of the most painful experiences in the world. The thought of this type of rejection terrifies me but I've never known love. Just the idea of being loved as I've seen other people be loved made the almost certainty of me being rejected worth it, after all who would want a nameless orphan as their soulmate.