For as long as he could remember the world around him had simply been blue, a blur of monochroma. He knew of the other colors, seeing them when he gazed into the mind of others. Such a vast array that stretched beyond his wildest imagination, beyond what he could have dreamed of. Jace would never admit to it but he often would often focus when in private trying to force his mind into believing that he'd met his soulmate, and that his eyes had been opened to the colors. There had been plenty of late nights spent postulating the idea that perhaps the color or in some rare cases colors that one saw had to do with their natural mana affinity. Of course Jace had never been able to find any proof of his concept so it just remained a theory. There was so much he didn't understand about soul mates and their nature, he had to wonder if his being a planeswalker would affect the process and if he'd only see blue forever.
The first time he saw color it was only a momentary glimpse. He had brushed shoulders with a tall and rather scruffy looking man, the momentary flash of colors, the white streaks in his black hair, the vibrant red that was along side the blue that had always been there. The shock of the brilliant colors overwhelmed Jace momentarily, blindsiding him like a bright light in the darkness. He stood there blinking for several second as the vibrancy faded from his sight. "No." He whispered desperately turning on his heel looking desperately in the crowd only to see that the stranger, the person who had to be his soul mate, had vanished. By now the world had acquiesced back into a state of azure monochromatic gloom. Jace didn't normally let his emotions get the better of him but the tantalizing moment of color left him feeling lost and empty. He rushed back to Emmera's wanting to retreat into his own head and see if he could study the memory and perhaps find some link to the man he'd seen.
Rushing into the room where he stayed Jace curled up on the bed, drawing his cloak tightly around him and focusing in on his own thoughts. He had always thought his soulmate would be a woman, he'd had hopes first with Emmera, then with Lilliana but to no avail. There was a soft knock at the door. "Jace?"
He looked up slowly to see the blonde Elven woman standing there and smiling kindly. "Something seems wrong, do you want to talk about it?" Her voice was gentle as she walked over and placed a hand gently on the boy's shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze. Jace wrapped his arms around her tightly and began to sob, the uncontrollable emotions overwhelming him. Loss, emptiness, and longing. He'd buried his emotions, shoved them aside but now they were welling up and bubbling over. "Did something happen while you were looking into the maze?"
"I-" Jace hesitated for a moment, not really sure how much to revel to Emmera. Finally he decided on the truth, and the full truth. She was a kind woman, and after all he couldn't control if his soul mate was male, right? "I met my soulmate, and then it- he- I lost track of him and then it went back to just blue."
Had Ral Zarek not been afraid that if he was any later than he already was, he would have stopped. Brushing shoulders with young man in the 10th district the world had suddenly snapped into sharp relief a far vaster array of color than just the usual red and blue. It was brilliant and stunning, but by the time he realized what had happened he looked back, the color starting to fade away. His heart was in his throat, the only thing he could remember about the other was blue. Shaking his head he started to run again. The last thing he needed was for Niv-Mizzit to decide that Ral Zarek made a better snack than he did guildmage. It would condemn his soul mate to a colorless world, and that thought alone hurt him. 'I'll find you again. I swear it' he promised to himself as he rushed back to Nivix.
