3 Departure

She closed the eyes of the human shell, as if it could take back everything she saw. Slowly the shell's breathing became stable, it slowly stood up and said, "I'm going."

Egon kept his gaze on Prime, he then remarked in a gentle-doting way, "Micah's gonna kill you."

"Nothing new there." She replied complacently as she walked to the storage area. It had all sorts of clothes. Regardless of age, gender, class. It had everything. She took clothes fitting a middle-class young man.

Before Egon could even continue, Prime already looked at him. She may be in a mortal's shell, but those eyes belonged to that little girl he knew some time immemorable. She said softly, "I won't die." Walking pass Egon. She staggered a bit, this shell still felt weak. She had to train it before she goes to Dioda.

She slowly walked towards the exit. "The name of this body is Jin. If ever we meet, I'm not Prime." She looked at her brother one last time. "Bye." She whispered.

Egon stayed at the Laboratory. His eyes still maintained its gaze at the exit. He then groaned and cursed before asking aimlessly to the Lady and the Lord, "Why does she have to be so strong willed, and Jin? What is that? The surname or the first name?" He knew there would be no reply. He knew that everything she knew, came from the three of them and he understood, even planned while in Agatha's grove, how to better alleviate everything she does. This thought made his heart ache and reminded him that ever since they went to the mortal realm for the third time with Prime, they have never seen or heard of the Lord or Lady for so long.

But they didn't question the Lord and the Lady but... mortals would. Deities still had their powers and memories clearer than the break of dawn. There was no doubt in their hearts that there were two divinities governing the heavens and the earth. They are just not sure why these two divinities removed all contact with them deities. He just wished the Lady and Lord could at least tell them things they could not understand.

He waved his hand. Suddenly the glass with bodies started to move, like a mechanical button was pushed by this action. He deeply contemplated. The scene was like how Ezra Pound worded his poem, "In a Station of the Metro,"

The apparition of these faces in the crowd:

Petals on a wet, black bough.

He sighed and remembered the sight of his sister's immortal body. He contemplated out loud, "Why are Freckles starting to show up on her immortal body, even her scent... could it be an effect after using many of the Lady and the Lord's mortal shells for so long or is it because she was the one who designed these bodies?" He disregarded this thought. None of the Banks Sibling wanted to become mortal and the Lord would not turn a deity into a mortal for no reason.

Out of nowhere, his head started to ache and throb. There was that eerie feedback-like sound. He lost stability and fell to the ground. His head and hips hitting the ground too quickly made him groan out in pain. He tried to calm himself regardless of the sensation. "Micaheil..."

***************

~As Prime travelled in a forest before she reached the village nearest to the land of Dioda, her trainings triggered a memory from long ago~

Scenario: A seven years old Prime was hanging from a tree trying to do pull-ups. Micaheil was training her and Egon was also there.

"Your chin isn't the only thing that should go up! Stop stretching your chin up! Pull the whole body up! Haizzz" Micaheil finally snapped and shouted at her little sister.

After hearing her sister's outburst, Prime's chin and lips started to tremble, her cheeks --- other than the redness from trying pull-ups --- was now tinted with the redness of someone who was about to cry, the small bulk of her muscle after exerting force by trying to hold onto the branch was now showing her throbbing veins. She couldn't answer back, she was far too concerned with her grip, breathing, and overall stability. Her eyes were starting to become red. Her breathing started to have whistling sounds. She has been holding in all her emotions as she struggled.

Micaheil looked towards Egon, "Get her before I get her." She spoke in a very irritated manner.

Egon immediately flashed underneath Prime, "Let go." he whispered. This whisper was quiet but it was loud enough for her to hear, it was heaven sent for Prime's ears. She unconsciously let go of her hold, falling quickly. He then felt two strong arms catching her, catching her perfectly ---princess carry style--- Egon nuzzled his nose on her forehead and whispered, "It's okay, you can try again."

Those were the words that broke Prime's resolve of being strong as tears started to flow and soft whimpers came out from her small little mouth. "Mmmmm."

The gentle gaze Egon gave was so remarkably dazzling that even Micaheil was a bit taken aback. She shook her head gently and sighed and thought to herself, 'Still too weak...' She then turned to Egon with a sharp look, "You take over, for now. Don't be..."

Egon nodded, understanding the unfinished words. He then carried Prime away from Micaheil's sight. Her whimpers were becoming softer, as if she was afraid of being heard by her older sister. This action of hers caught Egon's attention and a pleasant smile crept up his lips. He stopped walking and slowly helped Prime stand up on her two feet, she blinked very quickly, as if trying to hide her sudden outburst of emotions. Her lips and chin continued to tremble as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Egon sighed since Prime was the first child deity. Currently, all deities now were created at the same time and no deities were yet to be born after their generation. They all grew up together so they never understood the fascination mortals had with newborns. That was until Prime was born. Very few deities knew of her existence at the beginning, for Micaheil has kept it under wraps. She only allowed for Prime to be known by other deities when the sirens started to have offsprings.

He slowly kneeled in front of Prime, wiped her tears, and opened his arms as if to gesture that she can hug him. Prime, being with Egon for so long, understood what this gesture meant. She immediately wrapped her arms unto Egon. Her face shying away as she hid her little face on Egon's neck. He then heard a soft and broken whisper, "I... I really... I really did try..." Then her breathing became irregular...

"I know..." Egon acknowledged gently. He then started to rub her back with his left arm. He always felt ticklish whenever she cried on his neck but he would endure it every time just so she could vent out all her frustrations.

"Why... why...*cough*" she sniffled as she tried to speak out her questions.

"You are very special, Prime." He explained. While hugging her, Egon then gave a light peck on the right side of her head and continued, "She's just preparing you... You see, she also is as helpless as you. If she..." he stopped a bit realizing that he was also deeply concerned of this little deity. They slowly moved a wee bit apart, far enough to look each other in the eyes but close enough to keep hugging one another. Prime blinked and breathed deeply as she asked, "If...?"

"Not just her, me too... We..." Egon cocked his head to the left when he said me too and continued, "We are just training you so that you are strong enough. Strong enough that when we can't be with you, you can protect yourself." As he said all this he looked at the little girl's frame, there was a hint of worry in his eyes as he looked at this petite deity. He slowly placed his forehead on hers as if to help himself forget of this problem.

Her tears were slowly ceasing, she moved away from him and asked as her mouth quivered, "Will that ever happen?"

Her small action surprised him, she was growing quite fast. Before, she would never let go of their hugs. He blinked, as if in thought and slowly caressed her rosy cheeks, giving it a doting squeeze, "We don't know....We don't know.. Darling, we may see somethings in the future, but we don't know everything. That's why your sister and me, we are preparing you. We don't want you to get hurt in any way. We want you to grow up brilliantly like the break of dawn. So, overwhelming that its light overshadows the darkness that covers the night sky. You have no idea how helpless we feel about how you may experience things when we are finally assigned to go to far off places again. Letting go isn't as easy as we thought... That's why we are maximizing everytime we can spend with you and what we can teach you."

She nodded, her demeanor was of a small obedient child. "Mmmm..."

"Okay, why don't we train your arms for now. It would seem that it's still quite weak." He looked at her chubby arms as he said this and gave it a light squeeze.

She felt ticklish after he squeezed her arm. A charming smile replaced her forlorn expression she nodded again and looked at Egon intently.

"First off, do you have something to confess?"

Prime bit her lip, her eyes looked away from Egon as she heard this question.

Her small actions have already been memorized by Egon. Seeing such evasion, Egon's left brow raised and he asked again as he gazed at her intently, "Prime, be honest."

She inhaled deeply three times, she opened her mouth, then closed it again. Egon patiently waited for her answer. She slowly looked up to him, meeting his gaze, "I'm sorry..."

"For what?" he asked inquisitively.

"I don't complete my upper body exercises... I hate it." There was annoyance and exasperation in her eyes as she confessed.

A chuckling sound could be heard from Egon, he still questioned her answer, "And why exactly is that, huh?"

"Mmmmmmm!" She pouted her lips as she groaned in distaste for having to talk about something she hates.

"I'm waiting." He uttered in a very collected manner.

She looked away from him, as if this question was the very bane she did not want to face. But she knew Egon wouldn't let go of this, she then answered as her lips trembled as if not wanting these words to come out in the open, "It's so difficult... My body would be painful after working out."

Egon blinked rapidly, trying to hide the amusement in his eyes, "Haven't we explained it already that you would feel muscle soreness afterwards or the day after working out?" he replied in a collected manner.

"You did."

"So, why the fuss?"

She stared in a pitiful manner at Egon.

Egon's brows furrowed as he said with a tinge of displeasure, "That won't work"

Her eyes started to become so adorably pitiful that one couldn't help but dote on her.

"Nice try, you got such a face from me, you think that'll work?"

Prime pouted in defeat. She passed him and started to do her upper body exercises.

Egon controlled the smirk that was slowly forming on his thin lips. "You'll start liking it once you get the hang of it."

Prime immediately sounded out this unbelievable statement as she thought about it, "When would that be?" She enunciated every word as if in mockery of Egon's statement.

"When you finally start to hunt." There was the dangerous glint in his eyes as he spoke this, unfortunately Prime wasn't looking.

"Hunt?"

~end of dream~

Prime woke up from the attack of the dazzling morning light. She hated it when the sun shone straight on her face. She murmured, 'Beauty, I prefer being dazzled by you from afar! It's very scary to dazzle me at full throttle! Don't wake me up this way!' She snorted as she stretched her sleeping muscles. The sunlight that hit her face... her dream. It triggered her to workout to make herself forget the unease she felt because of being woken up that way and that dream... it was too significant. It made her feel vulnerable and weak... like that little her in the dream. Afterwards she started to warm up her body with dynamic stretches. After her warm-up, she wore her backpack, things were dangling and attached to this very bag.

Prime started climbing the sky high trees. She liked climbing, she felt every fiber of her body would wake up completely when she climbed using her four limbs and maximizing the ten fingers of her hands. She felt that all the oxygen she breathed in circulated all throughout her body. Her heart beating loudly as if to ascertain her that she is alive. 'It's good to be alive.' she thought. "Of all the human sensations, this is by far the best!" she shouted in an endearing manner.

She carried her stuff with her when she would view the break of day or if she plans to move out after exercising, like now. The reason for this was because she had experienced that some humans would steal things that just lay out in the open.

Prime liked travelling from tree to tree since she had this affinity with nature, or so she presumed about herself. The dangled things from her backpack was a set of tree climbing spikes. She always brought along tree climbing spikes so she can climb high up when she wants to see the break of dawn early in the morning or when Twilight was eclipsing its last rays in the quiet forest.

The sound of her tree climbing spikes reminded her of yesterday. She climbed the highest tree within the hundred radius mark of her area to see the twilight at that time. She climbed so quickly that she seemed to be walking with her spikes, she did this to appreciate it for a longer amount of time.

She was gratified with her choice because an enthralling twilight caught her sight when she reached the top. The sky was a mesh of pink and purple clouds, the sky was hazy as it blended with the two hues. "Beauties are really fit to be adored from afar." she whispered as she was reminded of the two different rays of light that hit her. One in the morning and yesterday's twilight.

Usually, when she climbed, she didn't use much equipment, pure instincts and trust on her body was what she used to overcome this body waking regime. She kept this habit even when she was in her mortal shells. Today was no exception. It made her body have a lean figure, a deceitful body that was clearly stronger than it looked.

She was heading for a village so she can sleep in a comfortable bed with lots of food that she can cook in a variety of ways. She really resembled a happy, ignorant monkey up there with the trees. [1]

***************

In a tea shop in the country of Dioda.

After travelling for three months, Jin was having tea while waiting for the young prince to arrive. Her heart told her that Prince Ra Shiole wouldn't be normal. As far as her foresight had shown her, he will arrive here today and will face an assasination attempt. She indulged in the tea brewed to perfection. This was very rare, the tea and the mortal, both were giving her a sense of satisfaction. She sighed as her sensations were entering a state of pleasure.

As she drank continuously, the feeling of warmth pervading a cold body and that pleasure that only came with the right taste and heat. The combination was heavenly that Jin could not help but moan in delight, "Mmmmmmm!" afterwards she inhaled deeply. 'It is utterly satisfying!' she thought.

She looked out of the window, a lightning path cracked the clear blue skies, followed by a violent thunder. Jin's left brow raised and she muttered to herself, "This is bad, there are deities here. O, well, the more the company, the merrier" She sighed and drank her tea. "Good thing I trained this body, always love to fight with deities while in a mortal shell." She laughed lightly.

She was at the second floor of the tea shop. There were exactly three floors in this teashop called, "Begonia's Shroud" the second and third floor were overlooking the first floor and the views of Fate Mountain. Her gaze became sharp as her eyes stared intently at Fate Mountain. "I wonder, why did the Fayes allow mortals into their realm."

'What a strategic place,' Jin thought. 'To attack from the mountain, even if the prince ordered a chase, the chances of catching the culprit is...' she sighed, this time, she cannot help but be excellent in the eyes of the prince lest his heart be swayed right under her nose. 'They intend to harm then save the prince, truly, Lucy...' There was a hint of regret in Jin's eyes, she spoke with a mixture of both sarcasm and caution. "Seriouly, having foresight but no power. Lady...Lord, why do you both love to place me in sticky situations? And those Fayes..." her words went abrupt, she could see a group of men heading towards Begonia's Shroud.

The sound of horses galloping could be heard as the group of men arrived. Their horses were placed in the stable while they went to the second floor of the tea shop. These men all wore the same military uniform. But Jin can tell, that one of them was the prince. 'What a bad prince, acting like a guard when he can't even hide his royal air...' Jin mocked.

The prince's table was in the middle of the second floor. While Jin's table was at the far end. Their tables were aligned. Jin chose this table specifically because she will be the first one to get hit. In her original vision, somebody else sat here and died. The prince and his men seemed to be talking about something seriously. She contemplated after finishing her tea, 'Before an arrow reaches you, I would've already caught it. O, Ra, I wonder what caught Lucy's interest?' and an arrow did appear, and before it could even pass her, she already held the shaft of the arrow firmly. The people in the tea house did not notice it yet for Jin's hand was quick and quiet. She looked at the arrow, it's artistry was on par with the power of this arrow. Truly remarkable.

Sadly, in her eyes, the best arrows were still from heaven, for the wind pressure that came along with arrows made in Lady Iroko's Forest was far too superb, it no longer allowed even deities to touch it's shaft. Everything half a meter outside the circumference of the arrow will be hit by the force used to release the arrow and the wind that accompanied it. That was just low quality arrows from heaven, what more arrows that had elemental spirits enter them, and if one of the guardians were the ones who released these arrows, eradication of anything within a hundred thousand mark parameter of the arrow.

The next second, two more arrows were passing through the air, aiming to hit Prince Ra's table. Again, Jin intercepted the arrows, but she had to stand abruptly for the arrows speed and trajectory this time were far apart. She stretched both her right and left hand to reach the shafts of the arrows as quickly as possible. While adjusting herself, her knee unconsciously moved up to balance her silly predicament which caused her to hit the table and the cup started to tremble and make soft clanking sounds do to these set of events, which caught the attention of some of the guests in the second floor. In particular, the prince and his men saw the arrows that Jin had in both hands. Some guests began to shout and run.

This alerted them and Ra ordered his men to help the civilians evacuate immediately. He, on the other hand, wielded his sword as he walked towards Jin using it to intercept the arrows that came his way. He looked at Jin's outstretched arms and how Jin held the shaft prefectly in the middle. 'This man is not simple.' he thought as he came near. Jin saw Ra and she couldn't help whisper, "Idiot." Ra, being near naturally heard this whisper, he intended to retort but suddenly he saw the swarm of arrows directed at them. Jin immediately kicked the table in front of him down, the crisp sound of glass shattering and fine wood hitting the ground could be heard. Jin maneuvered the table to face the arrows to block them and she pulled Ra down to avoid getting hit.

"You idiot, why didn't you escape?!" Jin shouted.

"Why didn't you escape?" Ra answered in a confused manner.

While they argued arrows were everywhere, hitting everything in sight.

"Naturally, even if I tried to run, I'm closest to these oncoming arrows. It would've grazed me if I didn't catch it instead. What about you, idiot, naturally you seem to be what they are aiming for. You could've just ran and these archers..."

"Assasins." Ra corrected.

"WHO CARES! They wouldn't be shooting here anymore if you weren't here!" As these words were spoken, an arrow shot near Jin's right ear, she looked at it as she gulped, and she couldn't help but glare at Ra.

Noticing the tattered table, "We have to run, the table can't hold on any longer." Ra said as he took in Jin's glare.

[1] How did she even, this is in reference to a child from our place. He climbs trees so nimbly that it challenges me. And no offense, the resemblance to monkeys are for complimentary purposes since the litheness is in honor of a state of which people who workout consistently can only achieve. I can only climb. The nimble part, far from it 🙄 And monkeys are so awesome!