The Fates.
You may think they are but myths and legends passed down as nothing but stories.
But somewhere out there, the Fates are revered as beings who cast light to the desolate world.
Guides mortals into their rightful paths and see to it that they arrive at their rightful place in the afterlife.
The fates assign them fated partners, of which their fates are intertwined by their string of fate.
Most of us would recognize those tied by the string of fates as soulmates. Beings destined to be together, walking the steps the fates have carved for them, before finally moving to the beyond hand in hand.
People without soulmates, on the other hand, are looked down upon. Seen as beings not worthy enough to have a place in the afterlife, that the fates themselves had abandoned them, deeming them not important enough for a soulmate.
It proves harder to ignore these statements, by the fact that humans without soulmates wither at some point in their lives. They would stop functioning like a normal human, becoming a lifeless shell, and a burden to those around them.
But...
Why do these abandoned exist in the first place?