Emily glanced up at the stars and galaxies that surrounded her. A path formed from the mulberry ink coming off her dirty black combat boots. In front of her was a gothic-brutalist maximalist onyx building that dwarfed the suns. Marble statues lined the grand steps that led to the entrance, serving as unwavering silent gatekeepers for what lies within.
Automatic doors powered by stars swung open as she walked inside with her hands in her hoodie pockets. Portraits of various galaxies, comets, and solar systems aligned the marble walls. A purple and gold rug speckled with stars and planets ran down the middle, ending at a reception desk. Elevator music played in the background, sanitized of all artistic expression for corporate compliance.
The smell of the unknown and incomprehensible lingered in the air as previous gods bickered amongst themselves. They all wore suits made of dark matter, carrying suitcases and binders filled with various paperwork.
"Oh, you must be the new PRIME," the receptionist said as she noticed Emily. She rummaged through the paperwork on the desk, then raised an eyebrow. "Where in the hell is the file?"
Emily walked up to the receptionist's counter.
"Sorry, usually I am more prepared for this type of stuff, but the board didn't send me the memo," the receptionist said with a thin-lipped smile.
"Don't worry, I am not clocking in," Emily replied.
The receptionist laughed. "I am not sure what you mean by that?"
"Which one were you?" Emily asked.
"I'm sorry?"
Emily sighed. "PRIME, which PRIME were you?"
"Oh, I wasn't a PRIME, ma'am. Those are the board of directors. You will meet them shortly."
"A board of directors?"
The receptionist nodded. "Yes, once a PRIME finishes there one-hundred years, they retire and become a part of the board of directors."
Emily's eyes narrowed. "Interesting."
"They help the ENGINE manage everything. They will explain it over the orientation."
"Won't be an orientation."
"Getting right into the job, I like that."
"No, I am leaving, just wanted to see what everybody is fighting over."
"Um, the ENGINE will not allow that. You gotta serve your time as PRIME, whether you want to or not, ma'am."
Emily cackled as she turned around. "Oh, don't worry, it will have its PRIME, just not me," she said as she exited.
Fluorescent lights flickered in a dimly lit monitoring room. The computer monitor glitches with static interference as a man in a black trench coat types on a keyboard. Cigarette smoke swirls toward the ceiling from an ashtray. Expensive custom-made armor made of alien material hangs in bulletproof glass storage. Gadgets, magazines, and weapons align the onyx-colored walls. Pictures of criminals, math equations, and occult symbols cover an investigation board.
"Tea, sir?" A butler asked as he entered the room.
"Not now, Arthur. Something is wrong," the black trench coat man replied as he ran system diagnostics on his computer.
Arthur nodded, then stared at the glitching images on the monitor. "Is someone trying to hack the overseer, Marcus?"
Marcus grabbed the cigarette from his ashtray, then slumped in his chair. "Perhaps, but I don't see how. I built the overseer on custom and private software. Only the Ether League has access."
"Any word from Galaxy Man, Solar Woman, Eraser, or the Ether Witch?" Arthur asked.
Marcus shook his head as he picked up his phone. "No, also no word from Dr. Cosmos or The Seer either."
Arthur turned towards the window, gazing at the otherworldly mulberry splotched into the sunset sky. "Could the mulberry in the sky be related to this?"
"I am not sure," Marcus replied as he texted the Ether League. He swivelled in his chair as the door leading to his monitoring room opened.
"Marcus... we got a problem," A man wearing a magenta and black superhero outfit appeared from a purple portal where the door should be.
Marcus placed his phone down. "About time, Dr. Cosmos. Where are the others?"
"The Seer and Solar Woman are on their way," Dr. Cosmos explained as he levitated towards Marcus as the portal closed. "The others are not responding at the moment."
"Figures," Marcus replied as he smoked. "The overseer is having a meltdown. I ran system diagnostics, checked for possible hacking, and found nothing."
"The Nepreax is rattled as well," Dr. Cosmos said as he looked at the static on the overseer monitors. "Could be a god, or cosmic entity."
"Two cosmic events in two months? I don't get paid enough for this shit," Marcus grumbled as he smoked.
"It's our universe, Marcus. Powerful people always attract the cosmos," Dr. Cosmos explained as he looked out the window with Arthur. "Whatever it is, we will handle it like we always do."
Marcus sighed as another portal ripped open where his door should be. "Will you guys stop doing that?" Marcus grumbled as two women appeared in the middle of the overseer's room.
"Sorry, Ether Witch wanted to take the express method," a blonde woman wearing a red and gold outfit said. Her sun insignia cape fluttered behind her as she glanced at the overseer monitors.
Another raven-haired woman wearing a mulberry and black skin-tight outfit appeared through the portal. The portal behind her closed as she waved her hand, then glanced at Dr. Cosmos and at the mulberry sky. "Another cosmic event, how lovely," she jested as she rolled her eyes.
Marcus stood up from his chair when the windows rattled as otherworldly bass boomed, and the sky shivered. His fingers twitched as skyscrapers shook, and an Eldritch machine appeared in the sky. He stared at the infinite gears that churned as the mulberry core of the machine drenched the sky in mulberry. Building lights flickered like angry lightning bugs underneath the cosmic intrusion as it floated in the sky like a second sun.
"What in the hell is that?" Solar Woman asked as she stared up at the mulberry eye.
"Something that doesn't belong here, that's for sure," Marcus said as he pulled out his pack of cigarettes from his black tactical pants. He then looked back at the overseer monitors as they all went out. "Guess we know what's causing everything to go haywire now."
The Seer shook her head. "I wouldn't be so sure," she insisted as she stared up at the sky.
"The Nepreax wasn't reacting to this," Dr. Cosmos replied as he turned towards Marcus. "This is the herald, not what made the Nepreax shiver."
Static crackled from the overseer monitors as they turned back on. Mulberry oozed from the screens like paint. Flames shot out from the monitors as Marcus turned around and retreated. Mulberry, Orange, and teal energy bled through the monitors and then pooled onto the floor like liquid paint. The space around the overseer glitched as mulberry eyes formed through the static. A teenager with long, wet black hair and teal highlights appeared on the screen. Marcus and the others got into a defensive position as the teenager wearing a star-speckled hoodie, black ripped jeans, and combat boots crawled out of the screen.
"Who are you?" Marcus asked as he clutched his fists.
The teenager rubbed her hands through her raven hair. "You can call me Emily."
Solar woman blinked. "What are you, Emily?"
Emily did not reply as she walked towards the window.
"Not another step," Ether Witch growled as mulberry flames crackled from her hands.
"Shut up... I am not here to fight," Emily grumbled as her eyes glowed mulberry and the flames in Ether Witch's hands vanished. "Figures, guess the receptionist snitched," she groaned as she looked at the ENGINE in the sky.
"How did you?" Ether Witch said with wide eyes as she tried to manifest the flames in her hands once more, but was unable to do so.
"What manner of thing is that?" The Seer asked as she glanced up at The ENGINE.
"So you're what caused the Nepreax to shiver. What exactly are you?" Dr. Cosmos asked with narrowed eyebrows.
"The Nepa what?" Emily asked, with a raised eyebrow as she put her hands in her hoodie pockets.
"The Nepreax. An ancient celestial device able to detect cosmic forces. You made it shiver."
Emily shrugged. "Okay, and what's your point?"
"My point is that you're either a god, a cosmic entity, or something eldritch."
Emily blinked slowly as her face turned sour. "I'm none of those," she flatly explained as she gazed up at The ENGINE.
"That's impossible," Dr. Cosmos replied with a raised eyebrow.
"I am the impossible," Emily replied, then turned towards Marcus. "Do you know where I can find some waffles?"
Marcus blinked his eyes. "Waffles!?"
"Yeah, waffles. I was trying to find a universe where I could just chill out without the ENGINE bothering me, but it looks like no matter where I go, it will follow," Emily explained, then looked at Ether Witch. "Or should I say it was always here."
"So this ENGINE... what is it?" Solar Woman asked.
Emily sighed. "You don't need to know that. Just point me to where I can get some waffles, and I will be out of your hair."
"You are an interdimensional being who intruded into our universe... for waffles?" Ether Witch asked with wide eyes. "You can't be serious."
"I am not that either," Emily groaned as she rolled her eyes. "Can y'all stop trying to label me? Look, whatever you encountered here in this universe. I made it okay."
Dr. Cosmos's eyebrows narrowed. "Wait, what?"
Emily tilted her head and sighed. "You heard me. I made it."
The room fell silent as Emily's words struck a nerve deep in their core. Marcus looked at the sky, then down at the unsuspecting teenager wearing an oversized black hoodie. He then looked at the monitors and then up at the ENGINE floating in the sky. A creeping dread crawled up his spine as her words lingered in his mind. His eyebrows narrowed as Solar Woman balled up her fist.
"Don't," Marcus said as Solar Woman approached Emily.
"Whatever you are, this ENGINE is causing disturbances in the fabric of reality by being here. So either you leave, or I will have to make you leave," Solar Woman threatened.
Emily blinked with a stoic expression on her face. "You done? I just want some waffles; don't make me make an example out of you over some fucking waffles."
Solar Woman closed her eyes and sighed. "Is that supposed to scare me? I beat gods and cosmic entities. It's going to take a lot more than some girl coming out of a television to frighten me."
"You are a special type of stupid, are you?" Emily replied with her hands in her hoodie pockets. "Go ahead... attack me. I fucking dare you."
"Don't," Marcus pleaded as he got in front of Solar Woman.
Solar Woman smirked and pushed him to the side. "Don't worry, Marcus, we will take it outside," she replied as she floated in the air. "Ether Witch, if you can?"
"You sure about this?" Ether Witch asked as she created a portal.
"I am positive," Solar Woman insisted with a smile.
"If you need any help, we got your back," Ether Witch replied as Solar Woman gestured for Emily to follow her through the portal.
Emily glanced at everyone and shrugged. "Fine... sometimes you gotta fuck around and find out," she insisted as she walked through the portal.
Marcus walked towards the window and looked at Solar Woman floating in the sky. He then looked at Emily floating a few yards away from her underneath the mulberry sky. Her hands were still in her hoodie pocket while Solar Woman's aura spiked, drenching the surrounding area in solar magnificence, jockeying with the eerie sunset mulberry sky.
"Last chance, girl. Leave, or I will make you leave by force," Solar Woman said with a smile.
Emily stared at her, unbothered, without responding.
Solar Woman rushed towards Emily with speed faster than his eyes could see. Her eyes dilated as her heart started to race. She could feel an aura coming off Emily that made the hair on her arms stand up. Every instinct and alarm her body had developed for mortal danger rang in her bones. Despite the dread curdling in her stomach, adrenaline and pride powered Solar Woman to commit. She balled up her fist for a punch that had destroyed planets and killed so-called gods.
Then it ended instantly the minute her fist neared Emily.
Marcus's eyes widened as his heart sank in his chest. His arms shook as Solar Woman screamed as her body disintegrated into S̐t̛̲̿ͩatìç̸͍̰͋͗ snow. The others trembled as they observed the snow falling towards the roads below. The ENGINE observed as Emily sighed as she erased Solar Woman from existence.