On Soul Ties (1)

( This photo was posted as a prompt by @aacreatives.co on Instagram. It intrigued me, and I wove a short story around it. Do you believe in soulmates? I do.)

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I want to send her a message through the earth; I want her to know that this is my last fight and then I will return.

In a few hours I will be reclaimed by this land, and maybe my blood will appease this pain, this unfinished soul tie. They did not kill me; I opted to die. I will see her again, in another lifetime, where I am once again a lord and not a vassal to her people.

Soulmates are sometimes lifetimes apart. She knows, and I know. These people who have bound me, they do not know, though. In another lifetime I was a king, and she was my queen. Now I touch the earth every time I fight one more duel for them, their slave.