168 There's a reaction, you pessimistic bastard

Kai's gaze falls over the beakers and the flasks lying in the row. He picks up a half-filled flask with pale orange liquid and takes it toward Noah. "Alright, drop your blood in it."

"I thought that you had my blood." Noah looks at him suspiciously. 

"I used it all for trials earlier." Kai urges him to drop some blood. "Come on! You are healthy now. Don't you want to get over Izo? If you find your true mate, you can be assured that you will get over Izo."

But… Noah's heart clenches. He doesn't want to get over Izo. Being in love with Izo for so long, he can't give up his feelings yet. "Fine."

He doesn't think that Kai's litmus test will work. So he bites his finger and drops some blood in the flask.

The red drops of blood submerge into the orange liquid, spreading out as the orange liquid slowly turns blue. Noah stares at it with disinterest. What, true mate? There's no way that he has one. He's a guy who likes guys. 

"It's pale blue." Kai smiles at Noah. "Let's find your true mate."

"We can?" His gaze turns sceptical. He can't help but think of Jin. If Jin was here, he would have either smacked Kai's head or hugged him. It's hard to predict Jin's reactions sometimes. 

Kai gives him a nod and walks to another table. He places the flask on the table and then, he picks up random items such as a metallic arm, a robotic face, and other things that Noah has been wondering what kind of shit Kai has been doing. A map appears after the mess is cleared away from the table. Kai signals Noah to come.

"I will drop this liquid on the map." Kai tells him slowly, "If your true mate is born on this planet, you will see a blinking light."

"You speak like you have done it for someone else," Noah mutters.

"I checked it for Klyn." Kai pours the liquid on the leathery world map, completely soaking it with the pale blue liquid. "It had a reaction."

"Right." Noah stares at the map. There's no reaction at all. "Nothing is happening."

"Wait for some time." Kai crosses his arms and looks hard at the map. "True bonds exist between souls. So, there should be some reaction if the soul is present on earth."

"Didn't countless souls turn into energy?" Noah questions him with a deadpan look in his eyes. "Doesn't it mean that my true mate might be gone for eternity?"

"That would be sad for some people," Kai replies nonchalantly. He raises his brow and raises his chin a little. "There's a reaction, you pessimistic bastard."

Noah looks at the tiny glow in the eastern part of the country. The tiny dot is flickering and moving further and further away from the castle. 

"Is it a bird?" Noah frowns at him. How else can they explain the speed?

"It could be." Smiling loftily, Kai walks back to the potion table. "Do you want to see Klyn's?"

"I want to see yours," Noah smirks at his back. "Have you checked yours?"

"Do you have a death wish?" Noah shivers. "King will… No, Fu Mian's blood will kill us first."

"You only need to get it in a vial." Kai shoots him a look. "Never mind! I will ask Klyn to do it. She likes him more."

"Keep me out of it." Noah sighs. "Why am I even here?"

"You don't want to think about Izo." Kai returns to the table. He presses his finger against his canine and takes the blood to the flask. The orange liquid turns blue. "You are watching the discovery of the millennium. What if we can all find our true mates?"

"But not all of us are lucky though." Noah looks at the map curiously as Kai pours down the azure blue liquid on the map. "Doesn't it say that true mates are extremely rare? Now, you have it. Even Klyn has it."

"Actually." Klyn eyes the map with a quiet gaze. "True mates aren't rare. There's some theory… I read it in one of the books that Jin keeps in his room. It says that everyone has soulmates. They can have multiple soulmates. Some of them become our lovers, friends, or other family members who are close to us."

"A true mate is someone who is our mate for eternity. It's like… starting a journey together and finding the end. In the long eternity, souls get separated or distance grows between souls. There are times when souls aren't even born in the same world. In the end, true mates aren't rare. Finding your true mate is the rarest thing in the world. It took five thousand years for our king to find our queen. Klyn has been on this planet for two thousand years but he found Sung Nami recently. Jin is probably still looking."

So, everyone has a true mate. But they usually can't find it for eternity. Noah doesn't like this sadistic theory. 

"Think about it." The light in Kai's eyes dims when there's no reaction on the map after a long time. It either means that his true mate isn't in this world or she's gone into the energy for good. He prefers the second option. "Mortals take birth again and again. They meet many people. But there are some who touch their hearts ever-so-deeply that nobody else can. There are even signs or synchronization. Anyway, that's what the book says. Jin can tell us more on this topic."

"No reaction." Noah announces, "Aren't you happy?"

"Very much." Kai takes a breath. "Do you want to see others?"

"Yep!" Noah gives him an enthusiastic nod, forgetting about his true mate.