Mubi

"They used to just be a blur, a message delivered before you even knew they'd arrived," a fisher remarked, mending a net by the lower city's docks. "Now they linger. They watch the falls." For years, Mubi was only motion, a masked operative whose only purpose was the mission. After the temple incident, when the same dark energy that bound Inparusu's soul captured theirs, there was nothing else left. They were a function, not a person. Then they met a quiet lamp-lighter who never asked about the mask, only about whether Mubi had eaten. The first time the lamp-lighter offered them a warm bun, Mubi didn't know how to respond. The second time, they accepted. It wasn't a cure. But watching the lamplight flicker to life each evening became an anchor. The mask still hides their face, but it no longer hides a ghost.