Chapter 6: City of Emotionless Souls
The world outside the monastery was nothing like Aiden remembered.
A sea of pale mist stretched across the valley, swallowing mountains and rivers alike. The once vibrant lands were now lifeless, drained of color — as if the sky itself had forgotten what feeling meant.
The path to Lirath, the capital of emotionless order, wound through endless gray fields. No birds sang. No breeze stirred. Only silence accompanied Aiden's footsteps.
Each step he took sent a faint ripple of Emotion Qi through the earth, cracking the stillness like a forbidden note in a dead symphony.
[System Notice: Entering Restricted Zone — City of Lirath]
[Warning: Emotional Detection Arrays Active. Concealment Recommended.]
Aiden exhaled slowly, closing his eyes. He channeled the swirling Emotion Qi inward, sealing his aura until it mirrored absolute calm. His heartbeat slowed. His thoughts turned cold.
To survive in Lirath, he had to become like them — an empty vessel.
🏙️ The City That Forgot How to Feel
The gates of Lirath loomed ahead — towering structures of polished silver metal, engraved with intricate runes that shimmered faintly blue. Two guards in white armor stood motionless, their faces covered by smooth masks with no mouths or eyes.
Emotionless. Perfect. Obedient.
Aiden approached.
The guards raised their hands in unison, glowing sigils forming in the air.
"Emotional resonance scan initiated," one of them intoned mechanically. "Remain still."
Aiden smirked faintly — a dangerous move, but he controlled even that. The System flared quietly inside him.
[Skill: Emotional Mask Activated]
Effect: Suppresses visible emotional fluctuation by 97%. Duration: 2 hours.
The sigils pulsed once, then dimmed.
"Resonance level — stable. You may enter."
As the gates opened, the city beyond revealed itself — clean streets of white stone, perfectly symmetrical buildings, and citizens moving in quiet, synchronized patterns. There were no smiles. No arguments. No laughter.
It was a perfect machine — and Aiden was the virus entering its code.
🧠 The Emotionless Law
Inside the city square, massive banners hung from tall towers:
"Emotion Breeds Chaos. Control Breeds Peace."
Aiden almost laughed. The irony burned in his chest like fire.
In this place, feeling was forbidden, but beneath the calm surface, fear was absolute.
He passed rows of people in gray uniforms, each wearing a small crystal embedded on their foreheads — Emotion Seals. The seals pulsed faintly, absorbing traces of emotional fluctuation.
When a small child tripped and scraped his knee, he didn't cry.
His mother didn't comfort him — she simply helped him stand, adjusted his collar, and walked on.
"Machines in flesh," Aiden whispered.
[System Response: Detected anomaly in Emotional Field. Source — underground layer of Lirath.]
A faint grin spread on Aiden's face. "So the core emotion here is buried… deep."
🌑 Encounter: The Shadow of Order
That night, Aiden rented a room at a sterile inn — a small cube of white stone and steel. No decoration, no color, just perfect emptiness.
He sat by the window, watching the moonlight shimmer against the emotion seals outside.
He felt it — a presence. Watching him. Testing him.
"Whoever you are," Aiden murmured, "you hide emotion better than I do."
[Warning: Unknown Entity Approaching. Emotional Signature — suppressed but unstable.]
The door slid open silently. A figure stepped inside — tall, slim, clad in a black uniform lined with silver. Their eyes, cold and piercing gray, studied Aiden like a predator analyzing prey.
"You don't belong here," the stranger said softly. "No one who breathes like that does."
Aiden smiled faintly. "And yet, you came to me instead of reporting me. Interesting."
The figure didn't move. "Name's Kael Irin. Lirath Enforcement Division — Shadow Department. My job is to find people like you."
"Emotion users," Aiden said.
Kael nodded once. "Or monsters that still remember how to feel."
For a moment, silence filled the room. Then Kael spoke again — quieter, but sharper.
"Tell me, stranger… what emotion drives you?"
Aiden leaned forward, eyes faintly glowing crimson. "All of them."
⚔️ Psych Clash
The air cracked — not from movement, but from will.
Kael's presence exploded, filling the room with invisible pressure. Aiden's bones creaked under the weight as his System flared automatically.
[Warning: External Psychic Field Detected — Suppression Type: Guilt.]
[Countermeasure Recommended: Emotional Reversal.]
Aiden gritted his teeth as a flood of guilt crashed into his mind — visions of the people he'd hurt, the blood on his hands. Kael's emotion manipulation was direct, raw, and suffocating.
But he smiled through it.
"Guilt?" Aiden whispered. "That's the emotion you chose? Then feel mine."
He unleashed his Emotion Qi — dark waves of pain, loss, and longing.
Kael staggered, eyes widening as flashes of his own past surfaced — his sister crying, a failed mission, a betrayal.
For a second, both men were drowning in each other's hearts.
Then — stillness.
Both stopped. Breathing heavily, eyes burning with something neither could suppress.
Kael smirked first. "You're dangerous."
"So are you," Aiden replied. "That's why we'll get along."
🤝 The Alliance of Shadows
Instead of killing him, Kael turned away. "Meet me tomorrow night at the eastern sector — Sector 09. If you want to survive here, you'll need to see what Lirath hides."
Then he vanished into the shadows, leaving behind only a faint metallic scent of his aura.
Aiden exhaled, sinking back into the chair.
[New Objective: Investigate the Underground Emotion Network.]
[Potential Ally Identified: Kael Irin — Empath Class]
He looked out the window again, watching the silent city below.
The emotionless streets looked peaceful — but under that perfection, he could sense it: envy, resentment, despair. All suppressed, all ripe for harvest.
"Emotion is the one thing they can't kill," he murmured.
"It only waits for someone to set it free."
The System pulsed once more.
[Quest Progress: Sin Core 2 — Envy (0%)]
[Sub-Mission: Awaken the Underground Emotions of Lirath]
Aiden's smile returned — cold, cunning, and human.
"The city that kills emotion… will be the one that feeds mine."
Outside, thunder rumbled. The air trembled.
And somewhere deep beneath the pristine city, something began to stir.
⚜️ Next Chapter Preview:
"Lirath's underground begins to awaken.
Aiden and Kael infiltrate the hidden laboratory where emotions are extracted — and face the being born from envy itself."
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