Not every judgment is born from justice...Some are born from wounds that never healed.
When memories become indistinguishable from truth,and pain takes the judge's seat,justice itself may become the blade that strikes the innocent.
Today...It is not only a sinner who will be judged.Justice itself will stand trial.
Chapter Nine: A Hasty Judgment
After leaving the City of Medicine, Eilia walked into the unknown, not knowing where to go. LiliE began speaking to him and said:
"Do you see yourself as just, and do you believe what you do is right?"
He replied:
"Yes. I have never judged an unjust case. Every judgment I have made has been fair."
She asked:
"Do you think you will remain just?"
He said:
"What's wrong today, LiliE? Do you doubt my justice?"
She replied:
"I do not doubt it... Ah, my aching heart, Eilia. Do you remember our mother? How much she loved us."
Eilia stopped for a moment, then asked:
"How do you know my mother?"
She answered:
"She is not only your mother... she is my mother as well."
He asked:
"How is she your mother?"
She replied:
"Have you forgotten who I am?... I am you. Two souls within one body. Therefore, she is my mother as well."
Silence returned.
Eilia had been walking for days without resting. He sat beneath a tree, leaned against its trunk, took out his violin, and began playing sorrowful melodies.
The silence did not last long before he heard a voice:
"Ah... Agh... Please... No... I didn't mean to... No... No..."
Eilia headed toward the source of the voice, where he found a boy beating his mother.
The memories returned to him.
He remembered his own mother, how she had suffered because of his father, and the sound of her torment.
Eilia shouted:
"Woe to you, you wretch! How could you do this to the woman who carried you in her womb for nine months and raised you? Is this how you repay her?"
The boy replied:
"Stay out of what doesn't concern you."
Eilia fell silent.
...
Tick
...
Tick
...
Tick
Blood began to flow from his eyes.
He raised the violin...
And the judgment began.
---
[ Sharp, weeping notes emerge as though they were the sobbing of a soul buried beneath the earth. The strings tremble with suppressed agony, unearthing the memory of a departed mother, while the bow draws every ray of light from the sanctuary. ]
"You raised your hand... against the one who shaped your path.
You betrayed the womb... O filth of ruin.
A mother's purity... disgraced without shame.
And the vile one lashes... the very roof of heaven.
Souls weep... at the memory of her passing.
While you trample... her boundless devotion."
[ Suddenly, the melody erupts into a violent storm of strings. Savage notes crash down like crimson whips, stripping the ungrateful son of the last remnants of his humanity and exposing the corruption within his soul. ]
"Wretched offspring... born of disgrace.
You denied the universe... and every blessing bestowed upon you.
With every heartbeat... your cruelty deepened.
You severed the covenant... with the drought of loyalty.
My fury has taken form... by disturbing the graves.
How can I see you... calling upon depravity?"
[ A hysterical frenzy. The Judge strikes all four strings at once. The exploding notes crush the pride of the cursed one lying before him. ]
"Monster of depravity... rat of the graves.
You betrayed your mother... beneath an ancient oath.
Prince of disobedience... living in disgrace.
The rope of annihilation... coils around your brow.
I shall shatter your world... beyond repair.
And sever the hand... that defiled purity."
[ Sudden silence, as though an inner sob had been strangled. Then a cold, funeral-like whisper rises from the depths of the watchful courtroom. ]
"The hand that reached out... is now in chains.
The absent mother... bears witness to your erasure and deceit.
Safety has fallen... and the inferno has appeared.
No excuse shall save you... on the Day of Judgment."
[ One final thunderous strike of the string shatters the silence, followed by the sound of Eilia's broken breaths... and the complete erasure of the wretched one's existence. ]
"Go in your disgrace...
Build your grave from the regret of your ingratitude...
The time for erasure has come...
Long live ruin."
...
...
Guilty.
The boy fell to the ground, lifeless.
LiliE asked him:
"Are you finished?"
He replied:
"Yes."
She asked:
"Did you determine whether he was guilty... or a victim?"
He answered:
"He is guilty."
She said:
"Look at the mother... and the boy."
His true sight returned.
A brilliant light was emanating from the boy, while rotten, corrupted light poured from the mother.
LiliE asked:
"Did you even know the reason before you judged him?"
Eilia remained silent.
Then he asked the mother:
"What did you do that made him strike you?"
The mother smiled a wicked smile and said:
"Thank you, blind one. My son was a witness against me when I killed his sister. Hahahaha."
LiliE asked:
"Do you know the truth now?"
Eilia blamed himself for what he had done.
The mother stood, intending to leave.
LiliE said:
"Guilty."
The mother died.
Eilia could not comprehend what he had done.
He had passed judgment without knowing the truth.
He approached a tree and began slamming his head against it.
Thud
...
Thud
...
Thud
LiliE said:
"Beating your head will not help you."
"Be quiet, LiliE... Be quiet... Be quiet..."
...
...
To Be Continued
The hardest judgments... are not the ones passed upon others, but the ones a person passes upon themselves.
When the Judge falls... the true trial begins.
To Be Continued...