Chapter 32: The Priestess (Lucy) (I)

January 17, 2074

It was Lucy's sixth day in Night City.

In barely a week, she had grown genuinely weary of this city.

It was a land of sin, existing in the fissure between hell and purgatory.

She moved through it day and night, yet never found even a trace of the Final Paradise.

The Divine Comedy had been sung to its end, yet she still had not reached the destination.

She was tired.

From the moment she escaped Arasaka, she had begun an endless journey against the tide of life.

She ran hard, only hoping to put off the death destined to come by a little longer.

Night City seemed like an endless spinning wheel of death.

Every participant's name had already been branded by Death in advance.

One day, the finger of doom would point to her own name.

At that moment, she could do nothing but wait quietly for death.

Like the man who died by the roadside just days ago.

He died simply, simply, in a brilliant burst of fireworks.

Even the ashes in his urn were so light.

When Lucy buried the urn in the cemetery, she didn't even know his name.

Maybe it was "Joel."

She wasn't sure.

The morning news report yesterday seemed to mention that name, but she hadn't paid much attention.

She had seen too many deaths.

Burying this stranger was merely to preserve a sliver of her own conscience.

Not out of sympathy for his fate.

She was an outsider to this city.

She stood apart from all society.

She was like a silent audience member seated below the stage, watching the blurred-faced actors perform their dramas of joy, sorrow, life, and death.

At the edge of everything, living a solitary, personal, emotional life.

She liked sitting by the window, lighting a cigarette, watching the bustling crowds and the cycles of life and death within the endless haze.

She liked soaking in ice water, shivering with cold, feeling the same chill as the ghosts swirling around her, to soothe the wound within her that would never heal.

She liked wandering through the virtual Cyberspace, digging through the Deep Web for the discarded trash of old days—the memories of happiness and hope that humans once possessed.

She came into this world alone, spending her only childhood in relentless daily training alongside orphans who shared the same fate.

No one cared about the education or growth of these exceptionally gifted miners.

In the Deep Web, she picked up fragments of humanity's past from mountains of useless data.

Using those lost, dusty memories of beauty, she pieced together what a true "human" really was.

So she understood, and chose to escape and resist.

The corpses of her companions became the stepping stones for her escape from hell.

She lived in 2074, yet her soul seemed to come from another time.

She was a wandering ghost not of this era.

She was a relic, abandoned from the old age.

A shadow… from the past.

She observed this world with cold, detached eyes.

January 17, 2074, 12:50

Lucy arrived at Afterlife Nightclub.

She sat at the bar, eavesdropping on every movement around her.

This had become her newly discovered good place to pass the time.

"Want a drink? New here?" The bartender Claire greeted her casually.

"I'm Lucy… any recommendations?"

Lucy rested her elbows on the bar, her five pale, slender fingers cradling her chin in thought.

"For a newcomer… how about a 'Johnny Silverhand'?" Claire smiled, recommending her boss's favorite.

"Sounds too spicy…" Lucy shook her head; she preferred something lighter.

"I'll have… PianoWoman."

She glanced at the menu and chose a drink with an interesting name.

"This drink's original name suits you…" Claire said, mixing the drink swiftly, her motions professional and captivating.

"I'd like to know the story behind this drink…" Lucy took the glass, gazing at the layered liquid shifting from pale green to deeper hues.

She tapped the delicate glass with her finger, expressing her interest.

"The original name was 'PrettyWoman,' but after it was released, bored drunks complained and demanded a name change—just so it could pair with the existing 'PianoMan,'" Claire said with a wry smile; the incident was well-known among bartenders.

"Thank you…" Lucy nodded, thanking Claire for the subtle compliment and the interesting tale.

Many had called her beautiful, but this novel way of saying it was rare.

She thought about it, then took a small sip of the PianoWoman.

The cool, sweet taste and perfectly balanced alcohol level relaxed her, and an involuntary smile touched her lips.

"You're paying a lot of attention over there…" Claire wiped the glass as she glanced in the direction of Lucy's gaze.

"What are they doing?" Lucy licked her lips, tapped her index finger in the air, pointing toward the silver-haired girl and the handsome man nearby.

"They're taking a commission from the Queen of the Afterlife…" Claire followed the rules and said no more.

"Who are they?" Lucy gently set down the empty glass, savoring the pleasant sweetness in her mouth.

"Do you want to join them?" Claire picked up the empty glass she'd finished drinking from and looked toward a man and woman walking toward the bar.

"I'm not sure… another 'PianoWoman,' please." Lucy twirled a strand of hair around her finger, evading a direct answer.

"Hey! Xida, Yahweh!" Claire mixed Lucy's drink and called out to them.

"What's up, Claire!" Xida, spotting the familiar bartender, smiled and bounced over, leaving Yahweh behind.

"This is Lucy," Claire pointed to the beautiful woman on his left, then to the silver-haired girl on his right, "and this is Xida."

"Hello…" Xida and Lucy exchanged polite greetings, each maintaining proper decorum.

Yahweh scratched his head and sat down beside Xida.

A sense of ill omen lingered in the air.

"Hello, I'm Yahweh," he shook off his distractions and, across Xida, offered a courteous greeting to the familiar-looking beautiful woman.

Lucy returned the greeting politely, yet a rare ripple stirred within her heart.

"Yahweh?" she murmured softly. In this age where most legends of the past had faded into dust, how many still knew the true name of a god?

She gazed into those blue eyes and could not help but smile genuinely.

"Lucy, what's wrong?"

Xida ordered two strawberry juices from Claire and, seeing Lucy's dazed expression, asked softly, showing concern.