Chapter 1 - I'm not quite sure I heard you right
It’s been almost four years since the last mate-finding spell was performed, roughly three years since the war.
People’s minds were still lodged on moving on from the war; no one was interested in finding a mate when they weren’t mentally ready to move on from the trauma and loss they suffered. Smiles were just now starting to appear.
Vania wasn’t counting on performing any more of those spells in her lifetime. Her mission was to help those who sought her help, not search for people to help, so her business was vastly unknown.
A good outcome of the war was the strong bond it created between the people. More families moved into the Den of the Weird, more connections were made to ensure the minimum human contact as possible, and more jobs were created, and positions were taken. A brand new chapter was initiated in their community.
Her nephews, the adopted and the biological, came around more often and were even thinking of building houses in the zone.
“Aunt Vania?”
Speaking of them- “The door is open, Malius.” Vania put down her tea cup and got up from her sofá to greet the boy (that is not a boy but a forty or fifty-something-year-old tiger).
“Aunt, I think I’m ready?”
“For what, my dear?”
“To find my mate.” Vania’s eyes widened in surprise and she sat up straight on the sofa, slowly putting down her cup of tea.
“I’m not quite sure I heard you right, Liu, dear. Can you repeat yourself, please?” The Asian male took no offense to her words and patiently repeated himself.
“I am ready to find my mate, aunt.”
Vania was dazed, staring at the tiger man. He came to their family with Kojo after a war. He was a young boy of twelve or thirteen years, thin like a stick! Yet, Kojo told her and Soraia that the boy had double the meat on his bones than the day they met.
One thing this child never stopped talking about was his best friend. A female tigress shifter who had been lost in the woods with him. Kojo found Malius, but Malius never found her again.
“A-Are you giving up on her?” Vania asked with a shuddered breath.
She never, but never saw this day coming.
“What choice do I have, aunt? Time passed faster than you noticed. It’s been 34 years now.” The thought of abandoning his best friend to her fate gnawed at him, but what other choice was there? Thirty-four years was a lifetime of waiting. He couldn’t find her. And nothing indicated that she was still alive!
34 years...
How time flies...
“Alright!” Vania quickly snapped out of her daze and organized her mind to list everything she would need for this spell and what to ask of her nephew.
“Sit down, drop your bag- That’s not a bag, son, that’s your whole hose packed into an XXL camping bag!” Malius chuckled nervously and caressed his hair.
“I know it seems too much, but you know how it went with Dima and Kojo. Dima had nothing with him and relied on Oksana’s family. And Kojo had his things, but his mate lived in a place where not even electricity existed, so I wanted to make sure I was prepared.” She couldn’t fault him there. Who knows if he’s going to end up in some forest or under the ground in a lost city? Her spells always sent the boys somewhere weird.
It was not her fault their mates lived in secluded places, through.
“Alright, just sit down so I can read your aura.”
“Next, you’ll tell me that from all the things you’re carrying, condoms aren’t one of those.” She grumbled and closed her eyes, ignoring the stiff, caught-off-guard tiger.
Vania exhaled slowly, and Malius felt like someone was giving him an extremely warm hug.
It reminded him of his late mother’s hugs, especially the last one. It was like she was here saying goodbye all over again.
“I love you, Malius. Take care of Tora, and don’t let him take Aryan and Rena. We’ll drive him away, I promise. We love you.” She kept reassuring him through her tears. That was the last time they saw their parents alive...
Suddenly, the warmth went away, and he felt icy all over.
“I need tiger spit, ear hair from you tiger, too, and the air from your lungs—” his aunt started enumerating.
“The air from my lungs?” Malius interrupted, taken aback.
“A sneeze, dear.” Vania patiently explained and started turning her house upside down, searching for her cauldron and everything else she needed.
“Ah! Ok.”
“As I was saying, from you, I need tiger spit, ear hair, a sneeze, and one cherished memory.” Malius didn’t need to ponder long to know immediately which memory to give.
“From my house, I need water from the highest mountain spring in the territory... Bamboo fibers, sweet frangipanis, also known as plumerias, the purest silk, a burning candle, a gold coin for safe travels, and... Here, take this.” She threw a thick book at Malius and dragged the caldron to the fireplace while the rest of the things floated behind her.
Malius caught the book a little clumsily and opened it out of curiosity. “A photo album of our family?” He was in most of the pictures, some dating back to when he was seventeen.
“Yep. Show it to your mate in your spare time.” She teased. “Now, bring Aryan out and give me what I need to get this spell on the move. Tomorrow, by this time, you aren’t going to be single anymore.”
Malius was careful with what he did. His clothes were always in his sight. His ear hair was the first to be given. Aryan wasn’t happy with the feeling, but for the prospect of his mate, the white tiger allowed the witch to take it. Then the spit.
Malius was halfway dressed when Vania forced the sneeze out of him.
“Let’s go, Malius! I’m growing white hair, waiting for you!” Malius smiled at her and finished getting dressed.
“Ready?” Vania asked as she approached him with her old wand.
“Yeah.” The asian male nodded with a soft smile and walked closer to her, allowing her to put the wand against his temple as he thought deeply of his happy memory. With this last ingredient, Vania started her chants.
“Óh dii divum, patres fati rerumque omnium cupidores mundi. Ostende viam et hac potione et carmine nepotem- (Óh gods of gods, fathers of fate, and connoisseurs of everything and the world. Show me the way; with this potion and spell, guide my nephew-)” Her chants were interrupted when a sudden ray struck the ground right besides her foot.
“Hey!” Malius watched his aunt screech at the new smoking hole in her ceiling. “What was that for!?” She moved her hands to her hips and showed the most disdainful expression Malius had ever seen her make as if someone was speaking back to her.
Vania suddenly scoffed and crossed her arms. “Of course, he is my nephew!” She harruphed to the air. Another couple of seconds passed and his aunt gasped, opening her mouth wide in shock.
“How dare he! Malius is my nephew, regardless of blood ties. If that presumptuous god cannot accept such familiar bonds, he should be sent down to the mortal realm for a new EDUCATION!” She screamed the word and stumped the ground.
Malius was stunned by the one-sided argument he was witnessing.
Who knew gods could be so picky over something simple like this?
The detail felt so insignificant that he felt offended and discriminated against.
Who would think he would suffer discrimination or racism or whatever that was from a god?!
“Fucking gods...” His aunt cursed ‘silently’ and kicked her cauldron more into the fire place, adding wood to the fire to make it higher.
“I have to re-start the chanting because someone didn’t like me calling you my nephew when there’s no blood ties.” She mimicked and scoffed. “Stupid god of all matter, space, and time.” She grumbled, swiftly twirling out of the way of another ray.
His aunt Vania grabbed her wand, muttered a spell that amplified her voice and started back her chanting.
“Óh divum, divum, (ó, gods, gods...)” The sky darkened and closed in with angry clouds above the house. Malius could feel the oppressing tension in the air. “Since my first chant was disregarded, I offer you another... Óh dii divum, patres fati rerumque omnium cupidores mundi. Miserere mei veteris confunde menti, et ostende mihi viam tuam. Adiuva me miseram hanc mittere mentem, Malius Yè, fatum longumque morantis. Illum dirige ad animam mate. (Take pity on my old confounded mind and show me the way. Help me send this poor soul, named Malius Yè, to his long-awaited fate. Guide him to his soul mate)”
Malius watched her with a mixture of amusement, excitement, and nervousness. Her chant wasn’t interrupted this time, so his time was coming! The closer she got to the end, the more ominous she sounded, just like the sky became darker, but at least a flash of light came from the skies, ripped open the clouds covering the sky, making the sky turn a beautiful light blue and hit the cauldron which instantly splattered the mixture everywhere and instead of opening a portal, it teleported him right as the first splatters hit him. Thankfully, he had grabbed his bag before the view of his aunt and her ‘destroyed’ house disappeared from his sight.
