Inquisitorial Custody….that wasn’t so good for Emia. She needed to be kept hidden from the Inquisition until Muddy could figure out just what she was. So, as the Stormtroopers were rounding up the panicked chapel-goers, Muddy stood motionless, and then suddenly stepped forward.

“Emia Sforza is out of your reach, unfortunately. As, I am sure your cybernetic eye’s HUD is informing you” Muddy said, staring at the Interrogator. Whatever he saw on that display shocked him, and he frowned menacingly at Muddy, but said nothing and stepped away from Emia. Seeing him back off, Muddy stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry about your friends. Inquisitor Blackfox is no Puritan. As long as your friends have faith in The Emperor, however they have faith in him, that will suffice the man” Muddy explained. Though, it was to a woman who had a thousand mile stare, and was not even present in the current situation.

This, was because she was staring at her System. After it broke down on her, she had demanded it tell her what was going on, in her frustration and stress-induced anxiety. And to her great surprise, it did.

Some new addition to the System has thrown off the balance, and it’s busted. We will fix it as soon as we can. Delivering a free parcel to tide you over.

Emia had always felt like she knew what this thing was doing, that she knew exactly what was happening without learning. And it was this instinctive knowledge that made her confident in the fact that the System had never replied to her. Though, there was a man behind the curtain, because the free parcel appeared in her inventory, and when opened, revealed some orange-rimmed pistol in her inventory called “Troll-Drenger”. She didn’t get much chance to explore further however, because Muddy was shining a light in her left eye, the sudden invasion of such made her stumble back and waft the woman away.

“Hmm,not unconscious after all. Probably just the shock of it then” Muddy spoke mostly to herself, as if trying to diagnose Emia.

“I...no, I was just, doing something else. I heard you. ‘They probably won’t die’ is not the most comforting but I have no real ability to do anything about it, so I leave them in the Emperor’s hands” Muddy shook her head. The blue text was spooky, but she couldn’t be too bothered right now. Teliandra was gone, Zeli was gone, everyone she knew was gone, up in that ship. And what they did in the city that warranted the church leaving…

“I need to go see my parents” Emia said, shaking her head and trying to get out the thoughts of Teliandra from her head. They were holy actions, not to be besmirched by simple desire, and wanton lust.

“And, tell them you have been possessed be a creature from beyond the realm of sanity and that is interfacing with the holy fire you hold in your heart in a way that has never been seen but don’t worry, it’s all fine?” Muddy asked. Emia froze in her step and craned her head around to the woman in the red robe, staring at her with eyes that were deciding if it was better to kill her now or ask her how she knew. Muddy, for her part, just cracked a grin and gestured with her head to start moving over to the house.

“Call it luck or Fuckery, but this planet has spawned very few beings of psychic power and so you remain in general ignorance of its existence. I am...or, was? I don’t know, the rules are really hard to figure out and I only discovered mine about ffffff-ew...ok that’s really suspicious…” Muddy stumbled and looked at Emia, who was just nodding in agreement of the suspiciousness. “Moving on! I found out about it recently and I’m really fucking smart and I can see things and that’s about it. My powers are about as powerful as a lightbulb is on a battlefield, but I can see something inside you. And it really does not look well at all. There is a fire in your soul that is keeping it prisoner, and that’s fascinating”

Muddy’s speech bridged the way from her house to Emia’s, and then, there was silence for a few seconds before she talked again with a more serious tone.

“Your faith seems to be holding this thing off, and I know someone who can help with that. But, you’ll have to leave. Your parents, your planet, your life. And I will not force you into that” Muddy said, taking a step to the side and - as Emia looked to the door for a moment - vanished entirely. A little too shocked to be shocked with everything that had been going on, Emia just let out a sigh. It was true that there was something in her now. Something that confused this system given to her by The Emperor. If she could not control it, could not get what was inside of her under control and it took control of her...took control of the powers she had in her belief and the strength of the System that she was using to become as she was….the thought was terrifying. She had to deal with it, had to master it. And so, she opened the door and stepped in. Her mother was doing some housework, and jumped to see her daughter suddenly appear.

“I didn’t know you were coming. You look….troubled” Her mother walked up to Emia and cupped her face gently. Emia looked into her mother’s eyes, and her brain was suddenly ablaze with thoughts she had not wanted to have. A lie blossomed there as if it had been beamed from the Emperor himself.

“I have been given a gift by the holy Master of Mankind. And it is by His will I must set out to see it through. Please, tell father that I am well and doing the best any being of the Imperium can do. I am walking in His light” She gripped her mother’s hands tightly as she lied, and then left. There were tears from her mother, and it was not clear if they were happy, sad, or both. Though, Emia could not be around people while she had this thing. And so stepped out into the field, and Muddy appeared beside her. Emia, who was feeling her heart burn and her mind melt in the fire, to be forged into something new, looked over to her.

“You are a woman of strange means and stranger works. But I have always trusted you. So, take me to your friend”