Morning rays warmed Emily's pale skin as her eyes lowered, avoiding Shiyu's gaze like a man with leprosy. The echoes of Leonore's daily life reverberated in her ears as its citizens walked past. Canaries chirped as they perched on cherry blossom trees. Emily's skin crawled as Shiyu's words pierced through her core. She crossed her arms instinctively, her eyes widening in a trance-like stare as she gazed at the cobblestone road beneath her feet.
A knowing smile formed on Shiyu's face. "You seem troubled, Emily of Leonore. Why the sudden change of demeanor?"
Emily shrugged as her eyebrows lowered, leaning against the building nearby.
"Are you familiar with what Sages do?" Shiyu asked as she brushed her long black hair out of her face.
Emily forced a thin-lipped smile as she shook her head.
Shiyu chuckled as her tattoos stopped glowing. "You're a horrible liar."
"And you're a horrible Sage. Whatever your dumb religion says about PRIME's is misguided," Emily replied as she squirmed within her meat suit.
"It is true in recent times my fellow Sages have become misguided," Shiyu retorted as she rubbed her hands over her numerical arm tattoos. "My visions and studies led me here, searching for a young woman who would bear a white mask."
Emily rolled her eyes. "And you think I am the next PRIME because of the color of my mask?"
"History shows the color of one's mask isn't random. The ENGINE doesn't do random."
"I'm an orphan, miss. I don't care about history or the ENGINE. I care about not dying....every single fucking day. So save your stupid ass prophecy and your religious texts for someone who has the luxury to care about that."
"The ENGINE doesn't care if you believe or not. If I cannot reach you by words, Emily of Leonore, then I will reach you through actions."
Emily raised an eyebrow but couldn't find the will to look into Shiyu's eyes. Her nostrils flared as she walked off. Citizens stepped out of her path as she carved a path through the crowd. Her eyes narrowed as her spine tingled, warning her of the stares burrowing into her peripheral vision. She sped up as the sensation burned like hot wax, but a pair of footsteps clicked behind her.
"There you are, Emily of Leonore! Where did you run off to?"
Emily paused midstep as she looked up to see Rachel and Elijah in the crowd in front of her.
"I just needed some air," Emily replied as she rubbed her neck. "Have a lot on my mind."
"You friends with Sage's kid?" Elijah asked as he lit a cigarette.
"What?" She muttered as she noticed Elijah gesturing for her to turn around.
Emily's eyes jolted wide as she turned around to see Shiyu standing behind her with a stoic expression. "Why the fuck are you following me?"
"Following...wait...doesn't that mean?" Rachel muttered with raised eyebrows.
Shiyu lowered her head and smiled at Rachel and Elijah. "Friends of Emily, I presume? I am Shiyu, Sage of the divine city of Xinhua."
"A chosen Sage to boot," Elijah replied as his eyes fixated on Shiyu's electric blue mask.
Shiyu offered a half smile as she nodded. "Indeed, outside of the very first PRIME, only five other sages have ever been chosen by the ENGINE. I am the sixth."
"And four of those five ended up being the next PRIME," Rachel explained as she crossed her arms.
Emily groaned. "Ugh, I am not listening to this crap. Why are you following me?"
"You don't know what Sage's typically do, kid?" Elijah asked as he flicked his cigarette.
"No... no I fucking don't! Nor do I care..."
"Well, you should because this is a big deal."
Emily shrugged as she gazed at Rachel before turning back toward Elijah.
"You want to explain this, or should I?" Elijah asked Shiyu as he lit another cigarette.
Shiyu shook her head. "She won't listen to words only by actions."
Emily blinked heavily. "Listen, lady, you may be a Sage, but you don't freaking know me."
"It is you who don't know who you are, Emily of Leonore, and I will be by your side until you see what my visions have foretold."
Rachel's eyes jolted open. "Wait...are you saying?"
Shiyu nodded. "I am."
"Well, good thing Sages are only right seventy-five percent of the time," Rachel replied as she breathed deeply.
Emily gazed up at Shiyu's unwavering stare. Her piercing aqua eyes burrowed and chipped through Emily like the ENGINE's gaze.
She shook her head and let out an exasperated sigh. "I am done with this. I don't care about the math, the religion, or the ENGINE."
"If it were only that easy, kid," Elijah chuckled.
"It is...because I won't be a part of this death ritual for some eldritch thing in the sky."
"You have no choice, Emily of Leonore. Those who are marked by the ENGINE will become a Hollow if they refuse the call."
"I don't know what that is and still don't give a damn. I am an orphan living on the streets. Nothing can be worse than what my life already is," Emily replied before she stormed off down an alleyway.
"Sick of this. What did I do to deserve all this?" She muttered to herself as she kicked over a trash can. "Stupid...stupid....stupid!" She yelled as she climbed a fire escape ladder.
"I won't bow to the ENGINE. Fuck the ENGINE and fuck this mask!"She yelled as she clawed at the mask on her face from the top of a building. She glared at the ENGINE, hovering unbothered amongst mortal concerns.
"Fuck you!"
The ENGINE did not respond.
"FUCK YOU!"
The ENGINE slept.
Emily's nostrils flared as tears dripped down her cheeks. She gazed down as the ENGINE slumbered like a human unaware of the ants' plea.
"Hey, kid, nice mask," a rough male voice muttered in the distance.
Emily's eyes lowered as she turned her head toward the voice, noticing a homeless man approaching her. Her eyes fixated on the man's hands, which were in his dirty jeans pockets. Her nostrils flared as she smelled musk, alcohol, and desperation oozing from the man's ragged clothes.
"You know you got a point with all that yelling. You may think that mask is a curse, but for me, that mask is a lottery ticket," the man grinned as she slowly approached Emily. "How about I take that mask off your hands?"
"It doesn't work that way," Emily replied as she watched his hands digging for something in his pockets.
The man snickered, then looked at the ENGINE. "Oh, I think it does."
Emily scoffed, then looked up at the sky. She didn't reply as she tilted her head towards the man. Her eyes slowly blinked as a stoic expression formed on her face, souring to anger.
"By all means...take it," Emily replied as her emerald eyes stared into the man's soul.
The man bit his nail as he pulled out a shank from his pocket. He spat as his nostril flared, clutching the makeshift weapon with all his might.
"You really need that for an orphan?"
"You're no damn orphan," the man muttered before his eyes glanced over as Shiyu made her way over.
"Sir, do you know what you're doing?" Shiyu asked as she glanced over at Emily.
The man didn't respond as he bit his lip, then glanced back at Emily, who hadn't budged. He sighed and breathed deeply before lunging at Emily, knife pointed towards her chest.
"You fool!"Shiyu yelled as she watched.
Emily's eyes widened as she felt the knife briefly pierce her skin before it shattered as if her body was made of titanium. Blood-curdling bass reverberated from the heavens, followed by a static-drenched scream from the man who attacked Emily. Mulberry crawled up the man's skin like an infection. His eyes were hollow, veins spiderwebbing like cracked glass. The man's head jerked toward the ENGINE. A static screech ripped from his throat—BRRRZZZT. The static screech tore through the air, vibrating in Emily's molars. The man's veins blackened, spreading like ink through water, before he crumpled—a puppet with severed strings.
"Poor man....that is what happens to those who attempt to harm those chosen by the ENGINE," Shiyu said out loud as she approached, kneeling with closed eyes.
"What was that!?" Emily screamed with wild eyes as she stared at what used to be a man.
"That is what happens to those who do not heed the call of the ENGINE."
Emily blinked heavily as she processed Shiyu's words. Dread oozed into her mind, dripping down her spine as she stared at the man whose face was etched in permanent terror. His eyes hollowed out, skin crackling with static. She clutched her temples, rubbing her hands through her messy black hair. Her teal highlights glow amongst the morning sunlight. She willed herself to look up at the ENGINE. The eldritch god slumbering, demonstrating its divine will.
"Sewn in a bright star dress," Emily sang to herself as a tear dripped down her left cheek. "Stitched with dreams I can't possess."
Shiyu glanced up at Emily but remained silent as she observed her lamenting at the ENGINE.
"Chosen faces fade away,"
"In a sky that never sees day."
"₴Ɇ₩₦ ł₦ ₳ ฿Ɽł₲Ⱨ₮ ₴₮₳Ɽ ĐⱤɆ₴₴,"