Beyond The Edge

Sam lives in a world where most people have an animal tied to their soul. These animals are referred to as Anima. An Anima does not show itself until it's human is five years of age. An Anima has many abilities; shape-shifting and teleportation being two. They have the ability to shape-shift up until their human meets their soul mate, at which time the Anima will permanently shift to resemble their human's mate.
Now there are a few unfortunate humans who have no physical soul. These humans are known as Tyrants. Tyrants are few and far between, at most there are about a hundred in the world at a time. Since the Tyrants do not have an Anima, they receive the abilities that their Anima would have had. Although a Tyrant can shape-shift, it is not known if they settle shapes as an Anima does as no Tyrant has even been known to find their mate.