Alice's POV:

Mrs. Davis helped me move all of the dorm stuff I gathered over the summer, and she cried in the happy way a parent should when their kid goes off to college. She gave me a sincere hug and asked me to keep her updated on how college was going for me. I swear Mrs. Davis was the major reason I could get to where I am today. She even took me to the local supermarket, and she bought me all the dorm food essentials. Saying goodbye to her made me cry, but I cried knowing I had someone who loved me unconditionally. My roommate would be a complete mystery because she wouldn't move in for another three days. 

To start my new life I went down to the dining hall. In high school, I never was able to keep real friends because they would only want to talk about how amazing our church was. Being a school in a small town meant a large percentage of the people went to our church, and if I ever talked of my feelings it would instantly get back to my parents. When I got to the hall I found a group of students who had a variety of different hairstyles some of them being dyed fun colors. I asked awkwardly if I could join them and they gave welcoming smiles. We went around in a circle introducing our names, where we are from, what are pronouns are, and what our favorite activities are. Even though we were having the most basic conversation every moment felt welcoming and calming. Seeing their hairstyles determined me to go to the hairdresser and get my hair cut to a pixie cut. Taking the weight of my heavy hair off of my shoulders felt like I was releasing myself fully from the shackles of my parents. When I asked them if I could cut my hair shorter, they told me it was unbecoming of a woman, and I decided to stay quiet to stay under the radar. 

Quickly, I became friends with the group, and we decided to go to the riverfront to have a bonfire before the winter hit. My friends taught me witchcraft, and I was heavily intrigued by the concept because I never was allowed to get anywhere near things like this in my past. We lugged down as much firewood as possible along with ingredients for dinner. The other people in our group brought witchy items like tarot cards, crystals, candles, and much more. Tonight we were celebrating the start of fall, and it was forecasted to be a full moon. We started off light by doing tarot readings for each person in our group. Since I had never done one before, my group decided to do mine first. The three cards I pulled are the lovers reversed, two of cups, and seven of swords. The explanation made no sense to me because it made it look like two people were pining for me even though I had nothing close to a love life. My friends explained that the cards could be used to predict the near future, and I was spooked by the reading but didn't think much about it. 

My group waited until sunset to do our final ritual where we would do a fake demonic summoning to speak to each other. We set the candles up as well as the pentagram, and the candles flickered in the increasing darkness. The group was jokingly saying we should take turns stepping in the center, and they all took a turn. When it came to my turn I swear I could smell the familiar scent of smores despite the fact my group didn't bring any. Slowly, I walked into the center of the circle and my body was filled with a tingling sensation that refused to let me move. 

"Hey Alice, you are allowed to leave the circle," Ray said with a bit of snicker in his voice that turned to shock as my body started to glow and cover in the smoke emitting from the candles. My vision started to waver as this sensation grew stronger. Little did I notice, that I was slowly rising from the ground. My friends started to gasp in shock, but any speech from them was muffled. The world eventually went black and I instantly woke up in the dream realm where I saw the demoness. When she noticed I was starting to wake in the realm she rushed over to me. 

"Hello there Alice. Are you feeling alright?" she asked as she brushed her hand against my hair. Sparks filled my body when she touched me, but a weird amount of relief filled my body. 

"Am I dead? Who are you? I keep seeing you in my dreams, but I never caught your name," I questioned rapidly as curiosity filled my system. If I went to hell this place is not the place that was described by my parents. The area was tropical in nature, and there was a river gently flowing by us. The demoness started to giggle with a hidden blush on her face. 

"My name is Mavka. No you are not dead, your body just got exausted by our first interaction because I had to imprint myself on your soul so we can continue to interact. Let me explain a bit to you to help you better understand why I am here. I am a high ranking demon from my father Leviathan, and I have to fight to be worthy of the demon crown. As a high ranking demon we are assigned soulmates that will be our perfect pair to make us as powerful as possible. With this system we are very vunerable as well because once the first connection is made we are undyingly loyal to our soulmate and would do anything to make them happy. As demons we are assigned our soulmate at the age of 8 years old. If the soulmate is mortal we are allowed to watch them grow up, but we are not allowed to show our face to them until the human turns the age of 18. Once I got in a bit of trouble when I caused the coffee to boil at the cafe date with the douchebag David. Thankfully, I was safe because I never showed my face. The reason I didn't reach out to me is the other difficulty of being a demon, I could only interact in the mortal realm once there was an act that could summon me. I tried the dream realm, but the human brain will mess with the details," she explained holding me in her arms. Normally, I would move out of the way, but a wave of serenity filled my body as the warmth radiating from Mavka calmed me down. 

"Thank you for explaining that to me Mavka, but how are we able to interact in the moral realm? Also, what impacts does being soulmates have on me the human?" I questioned as Mavka nestled her head on top of mine. 

"Well, I am glad you asked. Currently, you are unconcious in the mortal realm as your friends surround your body. See that tattoo on the back of your shoulder blade. That proves we have meet, and it gives me the ability to stay connected to your soul. In order to get a humanoid form it usually takes a few weeks, but since I have a high amount of influence in the demon realm I will be able to exist in three days. As for the implications on a mortal I will live with you on Earth for your human life, and when you die you will become a high ranking demon like myself. That is if you accept the pact for being soulmates. Since humans aren't assigned soulmates regularly they are allowed to choose if they want to be soulmates, " she explained calmly and honestly.

"What happens if I don't accept the pact of us being soulmates? I am not saying I won't, it is just a lot to take in at once," I asked and a bit of a frown showed on her face, but she quickly cleared it. 

"If you don't accept the pact by the end of your mortal lifetime I will perish. Even if we are immortal the system will cause me to die a slow death of insanity from knowing my soulmate is dead and didn't accept me," Mavka said with a hint of saddness and fear in her voice.

"Mavka, how does one accept the pact of being soulmates?" I asked as her attitude returned to its chipper and happy self.

"What do you think?" she asked in a husky voice as she let her hand trail up my leg. Of course that would make sense, but I could sense an amount of restraint in her motions.

"I will need a bit to process this, and I would really like to date you before we move too fast. Even though you are hot as fuck," I replied mumbling the last part quietly. 

"What was that I didn't hear you?" she teased as she held me closer. I fit perfectly into her embrace and my face was flustered. 

"I will respect your decision. I am not going to make you decide all at once, but I am just saying we would be a killer duo. Plus, I don't have my human form yet, so we would have to at least wait until then," she flirted knowing my weakness for sweet words. 

"Thank you Mavka! I can't wait to get to know you better," I exclaimed as I started to fall asleep in her arms. I shot awake on the leaves with my new found friends surrounding my body.