I watched Elder Lara, her ancient eyes fixed on me, as she calmly dismantled everything I believed about myself, about our world. Genetic engineering, population control—it was all a lie, she said. My stomach churned, a cold dread mixing with a strange, burgeoning wonder. My mind struggled to accept such a profound contradiction to decades of ingrained knowledge, to every textbook, every lesson, every authority figure. My disbelief must have been palpable, a scent she could easily discern, because she simply nodded, a knowing, almost sympathetic look on her face, as if she had expected this exact reaction.
"All of those were a lie, my child," she repeated, her voice soft but resonant, carrying the immense weight of untold centuries. "A carefully constructed fabrication, perpetuated for generations, for millennia, to keep us compliant, to keep us blind to our true power. We were not engineered. We were created. By the Triad. The three primordial gods."
Gods? Here, in our scientific, logical, modern world? This was all so far removed from the concrete realities of our country, from the school hallways and the drone of classes. But there was something in her gaze, a deep conviction, an undeniable truth that resonated beyond words, that held me captive. She saw my skepticism, my internal struggle, and she simply began to speak, her voice weaving a tapestry of ancient myth so vivid, so real, it felt as though I was not just listening, but was somehow transported, a silent observer to the dawn of time itself.
Her words painted a picture in my mind, a world both terrifying and vast, stretched out before me in a swirling canvas of primal energy. Chaos. It hung in the very air, a thick, suffocating blanket that stifled all life, all hope. Not just disorder, but a primal, untamed madness, a raw, formless void driven by an insatiable hunger and endless, brutal conflict. The very fabric of existence vibrated with discord, a constant, jarring cacophony.
Early humans, proto-Alphas, Betas, and Omegas – though not yet defined as such, simply beings clinging to existence – roamed the barren landscape. They were mere specks, without guidance, without purpose beyond the most basic, desperate instinct for survival. They moved like shadows, gaunt and fearful, their lives a ceaseless, exhausting struggle against a hostile world and each other. Love, if it even flickered into existence, was a hollow echo, quickly extinguished by the harsh realities of their days. Mating was temporary, fleeting, driven purely by the biological urge to procreate, without any lasting bond, no resonance of spirits, no deeper connection. Peace was not merely absent; it was an unimaginable concept, a whisper unheard, an alien dream in a nightmare reality.
Their hearts, I could almost feel the emptiness, a cavernous void aching within their chests. Their spirits restless, gnawing at their very core, yearning for something they couldn't name, something profound and unifying. They cried out, unknowingly, for purpose, for connection, for a meaning beyond mere existence, a way to mend the fractured world. And from that vast, desperate yearning, Elder Lara's voice softened, filled with a deep reverence, "the Triad descended. Drawn by humanity's primal need, they came."
First, a blinding light, then Aureon. I saw him in my mind's eye: a god of pure, unyielding fire and absolute order, blazing through the chaotic sky like a vengeful comet, terrifying in his power, yet mesmerizing. He descended upon that untamed world, his will absolute, his presence burning away the formless chaos. He didn't just create; he carved civilization out of the wilderness with titanic, earth-shaking force. Mountains rose at his command, their jagged peaks piercing the clouds. Rivers, once wild and meandering, were diverted into purposeful channels, shaping the very land beneath them. From the strongest, the most dominant, the most ferocious warriors among humanity, he created the Alphas—imbuing them with his own furious strength, his unyielding leadership, his relentless drive to tame the wild lands and command the scattered, fearful human tribes. His voice, in Lara's telling, boomed with demands for loyalty and hierarchy, for an absolute, unbending structure to conquer the primordial chaos. For Aureon, order was paramount, the supreme virtue; emotion, a dangerous, unpredictable weakness to be suppressed, a threat to his grand, meticulously planned design.
Next came Velmira, a serene counterpoint to Aureon's fiery intensity. I pictured her descending like the gentle, persistent tide, cool and balanced, a calming force. She found Aureon's burgeoning civilization strong, yes, but also rigid, prone to unbridled pride, to unchecked dominance, a pendulum swinging too far. So, with a delicate touch, she crafted the Betas. She instilled in them her own essence: rationality, neutrality, level-headedness, a profound sense of equilibrium. They were meant to be the stable core of humanity, to mediate the Alphas' fiery disputes, to bring reason to their power, to stabilize their often-destructive ambitions. She ensured structure, a logical framework for society, a web of interconnected roles, but her gifts were of logic, not of deep feeling. They brought order and a semblance of peace, yet I could sense, even in her story, that their spirits, though calmed, still yearned for something more profound, something that resonated with their deeper selves.
"And finally," Elder Lara whispered, her voice softening, her gaze growing distant, as if she were witnessing the very moment of creation, "came Elios. The gentle, the profound. Elios was the deity of breath and emotion, neither male nor female, both dusk and dawn, encompassing all facets of being, the very essence of empathy and boundless creation itself." I felt a sudden warmth spread through my chest, an inexplicable sense of recognition, a shiver running down my spine. "They looked upon humanity—upon the immense, driving strength of Alphas, the unwavering, stabilizing reason of Betas—and saw that something essential was still missing. The heart. The soul. The vibrant core that connected them all. From their very essence, from the deepest wellspring of pure, boundless emotion, they formed the Omegas."
My own breath hitched, a strange, powerful resonance awakening deep within my very being. I pictured these newly formed Omegas: beings of profound feeling, of boundless creativity, of deep, instinctual longing. They were meant to be the heart of humanity, to bring warmth, compassion, and emotional richness to the world, to be the emotional core of society. "But Elios, in their boundless love, their unyielding compassion, did something that none of the other gods dared. They quietly, secretly, added something forbidden, something sacred, something that would bind soul to soul across time and space, irrevocably, eternally: the matebond." The word hung in the air, a profound, almost mystical sound, echoing in the quiet room, reverberating in my bones.
"Elios, in their infinite wisdom, did not gift the bond to all," Elder Lara explained, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, as if sharing the most precious, most guarded secret in the universe. "Only a rare few, chosen in silence and mystery, in whispers carried on the wind, in destinies woven before birth, were granted the Sacred Bond. These pairs—called 'The Tethered'—were truly born for each other. Their connection transcends mere scent, transcends primal instinct, transcends even time itself. It is a resonance of spirits, a mirroring of souls, a divine pull that defies all logic, all human understanding. Once united, once the bond is complete through the ritual of the Mark, they become one in a way that mere coupling can never achieve: the Alpha provides strength, the Beta partner brings balance, and the Omega provides the heart. Together, they create a perfect harmony, a symbiotic relationship that brings true fulfillment to themselves and radiates it out into the world, a beacon of what true existence could be."
She paused, her gaze holding mine, and I saw a flicker of the ancient sorrow she carried, a wisdom born of witnessing both profound joy and unimaginable pain. "But Velmira, the goddess of balance, foresaw the potential for great sorrow. She warned Elios, her voice echoing with the weight of consequence, 'Giving such profound love, such an unbreakable connection, will create immense suffering for those who are without it. It will birth jealousy, despair, and an emptiness that nothing else can fill. The light of the Bond will cast a long, dark shadow on the lonely.'" Velmira, in her neutrality, saw the painful duality, the inevitable sorrow cast by such a brilliant light.
And then, Elder Lara's voice hardened, carrying the unmistakable weight of ancient rage, of cosmic betrayal. "And Aureon... Aureon was furious. His fury ignited, a volcanic eruption. He saw the matebond as a complete disruption of his carefully constructed order—a primal, uncontrollable force that defied his hierarchies, his logic, his very essence. It was a power he could not command, could not understand, could not classify, and therefore, could not tolerate. He declared the bond a 'threat,' a dangerous instability that undermined his absolute authority, a chaotic element in his ordered world, and strictly forbade it to be spoken of or acknowledged. He sought to suppress it, to erase it from human memory, to burn away its very concept from existence, to make it as if it never was."
"And so, the Triad, the very gods who had brought order and balance to the world, divided," she stated, her voice tinged with the profound, heartbreaking sorrow of that schism, a wound that had never truly healed. "Aureon, in his blinding rage, unable to tolerate what he could not control, led a merciless crusade to purge the idea of soulmates from the world, to crush any mention of the sacred bond. His followers, fanatical and ruthless, blinded by his fervor and their own desire for absolute power, hunted down any who dared to speak of such deep connections, rewriting history, burning the ancient texts, silencing all whispers of the truth until it became a mere ghost of a memory. Velmira, true to her nature, pragmatic and unwilling to be caught in the fury of a divine war, simply withdrew. She refused to choose sides in the conflict, believing that true balance could not be achieved through such destructive force. She simply retreated, leaving humanity to the brutal chaos of Aureon's wrath and the quiet sorrow of Elios's despair."
"And Elios," she whispered, her voice filled with a deep, almost tangible grief, a sorrow that felt like my own, "broken-hearted by Aureon's cruelty and Velmira's cold neutrality, vanished. They disappeared from the direct sight of humanity, but not without a final act of love. They hid their chosen among mankind, scattering the seeds of the Sacred Bond in secret, weaving them into the very fabric of existence, hoping that one day, when the world was ready, when the darkness had passed, the truth would re-emerge, like dormant flowers after a long winter, blooming in unexpected places."
"But before disappearing completely," Elder Lara's voice took on a reverence that made the hairs on my arms prickle, a sacred chill running down my spine, "Elios, in a final, defiant act of love and hope, a desperate plea to the future, carved the Prophecy of the Chosen Bond into the sacred stones of an ancient, forgotten forest. These stones held the very essence of Elios's creation, their words imbued with divine magic, pulsing with an unseen life force, vibrating with the heartbeat of a forgotten truth. The prophecy stated:
'Not all shall find their mirror. Not all shall hear the call. For only when the world remembers its heart, when humanity sheds the chains of its own making, shall the Tethered rise, breaking the chains of old. Seek the ancient whisper, where dusk meets dawn, and the forgotten truth shall bloom, bringing forth a new dawn of harmony.'
It is said, Jules," she continued, her eyes holding mine, piercing through my doubt, "that only those who are Tethered will be drawn, compelled, to the prophecy's resting place… when the time is right. It is a test, a guiding hand, a secret message left for the chosen few, a beacon for their awakening, a whisper across the ages meant only for them."
"Since that time," she concluded, her gaze settling back on me, who was now utterly silent, my earlier disbelief warring fiercely with a dawning awe that filled every fiber of my being. The world I knew, the one I had taken for granted, was crumbling before my eyes, replaced by a grander, more terrifying, more hopeful truth. "The truth of the Bonded has slowly faded into legend. Aureon's influence, his doctrines of control, of hierarchy, of emotionless efficiency, became the dominant narrative. His power silenced all opposition, erased all true history. Most believe it is simply a myth, a fairy tale for hopeful romantics, a silly idea fit only for children's stories. They believe what they have been told: that secondary genders are merely a product of genetic engineering, a convenient system of control, a cold, scientific fact, with no deeper meaning."
"But, my dear boy," she leaned forward, her voice low and earnest, her hand reaching out, frail but firm, to rest on my knee. Her touch felt ancient, filled with untold wisdom. "Secret societies, especially among Omegas like myself, have defied Aureon's lies. We have continued to worship Elios and pray to be Chosen. We guard the old texts, we whisper the ancient stories from one generation to the next, we teach the true history in hidden sanctuaries like this one. Because the existence of a true mate is both a profound dream and a terrible curse. A dream of ultimate fulfillment, of perfect harmony, of a love that transcends death itself, yes. But a curse because one may search a lifetime, feel the whispers of your soul's other half carried on the wind, sense their presence just beyond reach, and yet never find them. To be Tethered, to be Chosen, is to walk a path of great potential, of immense power, but also of profound solitude, until your counterpart is found, until that missing piece completes your very soul."
Her eyes, filled with a deep, knowing sorrow, yet also an unwavering strength, held mine, penetrating my very core. The ancient Omega scent around me seemed to pulse with her words, confirming their truth. "And you, Jules, my child," she affirmed, her voice resonating with an undeniable certainty, sealing my fate, "are one of the Chosen."