Emily's eyes jolted open, gasping for breath as she lay in bed. Her mind was foggy, lingering with dream residue as she sat on the side of the bed. Sweat trickled down her forehead, and her skin was clammy. An incoherent grumble came from her lips as she inhaled and then exhaled. The bags under her eyes drooped while she rubbed her eyes. A crawling melancholy crept up her legs, spine, and into her arms. The warm morning rays seemed to burn the despair away as Emily thought of her first kiss.
The smell of perfume lingered in Emily's room as she looked back at her bed. Sheets and pillows, thrown and scattered across the floor. Her bed creaked just like the wooden floor as she stood up and walked towards the bathroom.
"Mother fuck!" She growled as she stepped on a splinter from a wooden painting frame on the floor. Her eyes drifted towards the broken clock on the ground. "What the fuck?"
An unsettling thought crept into her mind as she picked up the wooden frame and tossed it in the trash. Emily sighed and pushed her hair out of her face as she struggled to recover any memory of how her hotel room got destroyed. She knew she had done all this. The walls, however, remained silent on the how, as she flicked the bathroom light on.
Emily grumbled as she looked at herself in the mirror, one eye half shut as she rubbed her eyelids. Echoes of citizens going about their daily lives flooded Emily's ears as she turned on the sink faucet. She splashed cold water on her pale face.
"ⱤØɄ₲Ⱨ ₦ł₲Ⱨ₮ ₵Ⱨ₳₥₱?"
Emily blinked as she turned her head quickly towards the bathroom window. She opened the curtain, gazing down at the people conversing outside. A heavy sigh came from her mouth, then she shook her head, ignoring the monologue running in her head. She rubbed her messy hair, then scratched her chest as she left her hotel room.
Her heart raced as she walked down the corridor, stopping mid-stride in front of someone else's hotel room door.
"₭₦Ø₵₭."
She bit her lip as she approached, lifting her right hand towards the door. Emily leaned her ear on it, then gazed down the hallway. A sigh escaped her lips as she looked up at the ceiling before walking away, then turning back. Her spine tingled, unable to resist the urge to knock on some random person's door. The doorknob turned as Emily balled up her fist to knock.
"Fuck!" Rachel shouted as she ran into Emily, as she slung the hotel door open.
Emily collapsed onto the carpet, heart thumping in her chest. "Shit!" She yelled as she stared up at Rachel with wide eyes.
"Emily?" Rachel muttered as she blinked. "What are you doing here!?"
"Hey Rache... I was heading to the bathroom," Emily replied as she rubbed her neck.
"Bathroom?"
Emily chuckled as she pointed toward her room. "Yeah... I mean, my room. I was going to my room, where my bathroom is."
Rachel's eyebrows narrowed as she helped Emily to her feet. She nodded at her with a thin-lipped smile.
Emily laughed, then rubbed her shoulder. "You're not buying it, are you?"
Rachel shook her head. "You're a horrible liar."
"So it seems," Emily replied as she nodded and rubbed her hands through her hair. "So, I uhhh.... what's up?"
"What's up?" Rachel laughed as she leaned on the wall. "What's up with you?"
"Just making a fool of myself."
Rachel smirked and shook her head. "Wanna hang out?"
"YES!... I mean … yeah, that's cool or something?"
"ØⱧ ₥Ɏ ₱Ɽł₥Ɇ."
"Shut the hell up."
"What was that?" Rachel asked with a raised eyebrow.
Emily laughed as she rubbed her neck. "Oh... just talking to myself again. I really need to stop doing that."
"You're a weird one, Emily of Leonore."
"Sorry."
Rachel rolled her eyes and laughed. "Don't be sorry... actually kinda refreshing."
"What?
"In the empire, we judge people by their merit and prowess in combat," Rachel explained as she gestured for Emily to follow as they walked down the hallway. "People who act like you don't survive in the empire. But you don't fight like how you behave."
"Thanks, I guess?" Emily replied as she followed Rachel.
"Usually, I can get a measure of someone just by their body language, but you not so much."
Emily rubbed her neck, gazing down at the ground.
"Think fast!" Rachel shouted.
Emily's skin crawled, and her instincts screamed to dodge to her left. She listened to her primitive brain, snapping her head to the left. Rachel's fist whiffed, grazing her skin as Emily ducked a roundhouse kick.
"So it wasn't a fluke," Rachel smiled as she noticed Emily preparing for a leg sweep. "Who is your master, Emily of Leonore? It's that gentleman you were with yesterday, isn't it?"
"Why the hell are you attacking me?" Emily replied as she stood up.
"Oh, I was trying to prove my point. That you don't fight like how you behave."
Emily shrugged. "Well, I live on the streets. You learn to trust your instincts."
Rachel laughed. "That is not just instinct, Emily of Leonore, but fine; keep your secrets."
"₴₥₳Ɽ₮ Ɇ₲₲ ₮Ⱨ₳₮ Ø₦Ɇ."
"Shut up."
"Fellow chosen… a delightful surprise," a deep baritone male voice said in the distance.
Emily raised an eyebrow as an older gentleman with a red mask approached. He wore a designer two-piece gray suit with a red and gold tie. His silver beard and well-kept hair were perfectly trimmed. The man nodded as he gazed at Emily and Rachel with his ocean eyes.
"Arthur of Leonore!? You've been chosen by the ENGINE, too?" Rachel replied with a smile, her hands on her hips.
Arthur smiled and nodded, clutching his detailed cane in one hand. "Why are you surprised? Do you not think me worthy?"
Rachel chuckled, then shook Arthur's hand. "Of course you are. My family are huge fans of your work. They got your paintings everywhere in our estate."
"If that's the case, it would be my honor to paint you before our pilgrimage," Arthur replied, then gazed down at Emily. "Hmmmm.... I don't know you, but you seem familiar. Have we met?"
Emily's eyebrows narrowed as she looked into Arthur's eyes before glancing away. "Nope... don't think we met."
"This is Emily of Leonore, kinda surprised y'all never met. She is a natural in combat," Rachel interjected as she smiled at Emily.
Emily rubbed her neck. "It's not surprising at all… people like him don't bother with people like me."
Arthur chuckled. "What makes you think that, Emily of Leonore? You are a fellow chosen… we are on equal footing in my eyes."
"Because if I didn't have this stupid mask, you would only see a street rat orphan."
"That actually makes me even more curious why the ENGINE chose you."
"You and me both."
"The ENGINE doesn't care about wealth or status. It cares about who would be a good PRIME," Rachel explained.
"You say that... but every chosen I ran into so far is like y'all. You got it all — the money, the power, the status," Emily replied.
"Then knock us down a peg, Emily of Leonore," Arthur said with a smirk. "In one week, all this friendly formality goes out the window."
"In one week, I will be dead, you both will be dead, and you're all just treating it like an honor to be chosen by the ENGINE."
"Someone being fatalistic this morning," Rachel muttered.
"There is no such thing as fate, Emily of Leonore. Power requires sacrifice, and a PRIME who did not earn the title of PRIME has no legitimacy. This isn't about bloodlines, wealth, or social status, Emily. This is about who is worthy to be the PRIME for the next hundred years," Arthur explained with a straight face.
Emily sighed, then shook her head.
"₩ØⱤ₮ⱧɎ ⱧɆ ₴₳Ɏ₴."
"Everything good?" Elijah asked as Emily noticed him walking towards her.
Arthur turned his head as Elijah approached, rubbing his beard while Elijah lit a cigarette. "You keep dangerous company, Emily of Leonore."
"What are you talking about?" Emily replied.
"He is talking about how I was a bodyguard for his family for a couple of years," Elijah explained as he exhaled a cloud of smoke.
Rachel coughed and waved the smoke out of her face. "Wait... you're that Elijah of Tyrial? The butcherer of…"
"Don't finish that sentence."
Rachel gulped as she avoided Elijah's gaze.
"Of course, the ENGINE would choose the best bodyguard around," Arthur said as he shook Elijah's hand. "Perhaps I could hire your services during the pilgrimage?"
Elijah chuckled as he smoked. "Perhaps … It's going to cost you a lot, though."
"Does that invitation apply to me as well?" Rachel asked.
Elijah shrugged, then looked at Emily. "Did you sleep well?"
"Sort of," Emily whispered as she looked at the ground.
Rachel smirked. "Bet she stayed up all night thinking about me."
Emily's cheeks turned rosy as a thin-lipped smile stretched across her face.
Arthur rubbed his beard, then raised an eyebrow at Rachel. "Are you supposed to be?"
Rachel crossed her arms and shook her head.
"She crushing hard, by the way," Elijah mentioned.
"I don't have a crush!"
Elijah nodded. "Stop being dramatic."
"I am not being dramatic!"
Elijah laughed. "Okay, kid."
"Where are you going?" Rachel asked as Emily walked down the hallway.
Emily didn't respond as she left the hotel, heart thumping in her chest. Fresh fish, paint, musk, and morning dew lingered in the air. She wanted to curl into herself, escape everything and everyone, but all she felt were eyes on her as she walked. The bickering of everyday life echoed in her eardrums as she navigated Leonore's cobblestone streets.
She slammed into a pedestrian as she turned a corner, collapsing to the ground. "Sorry," Emily muttered as she rubbed her elbow.
"No worries, I wasn't paying attention either," A mezzo-soprano-pitched woman replied as she offered her hand to Emily.
Emily looked up at her as she took her tattooed hand. Her long, straight black hair complemented her neutral skin tone, which was covered in glyphs and symbolistic tattoos. A blue mask fused to the right side of her face, which retracted from her cobalt eyes.
"Where are you going?" The woman asked as she helped Emily back onto her feet.
"Nowhere in particular … just getting some fresh air," Emily replied as she rubbed her hands through her hair. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at her prominent cheekbones and tiny nose. "You're a Sage?"
The woman chuckled. "Did the tattoos give it away?" She asked as her tattoos glowed with an ethereal mulberry hue. "I am Shiyu from the divine city of Xinhua."
"So what's a Sage doing in Leonore? I thought Sages never leave Xinhua," Emily asked as she fixated on Shiyu's intricate tattoos that covered her body.
"I am here for you, Emily of Leonore."