Chapter 027 - The Right

With the mist-knights or whatever they were gone, Anna could take a moment to assess her situation. This place was taking her on a linear route that stopped at a sheer wall with no openings. The only other rooms had nothing of interest in them, all of the items were junk. Anna looked up at the wall that lay ahead of her, carved stone made to look like yet another building but with a smooth sheet of stone where the door should have been like the others.

She crossed her ams and scanned the faux architecture. The design reminded her a little of the Petra temples, now that she was giving it a little more thought. Was that intentional? She rubbed her chin and thought it over before setting it aside, there weren’t enough clues to lead her to anything close to a conclusion. Playing fast and loose with logic is a good way to wander off in the wrong direction, she thought. What I do know is that this place is glitchy as hell.

Case in point, she turned her head towards a part of the wall where water was pouring out of solid stone. It tumbled straight towards the reflective sheet of water below before just vanishing. She shook her head, Shoddily made… she thought and walked over to the stream, poking her hand around it but there were no inlets or even the illusion of stone that the water could somehow flow through. Just rock and water. Okay, maybe the entrance is somewhere else.

She walked past the spot where the door should be and made sure to check off the most obvious spot. Running her hands over it gave her nothing. She tried the columns, the frescoes, and even tugged on a few bland-looking shapes that she assumed were supposed to be busts of someone or something. She scowled and stepped away from it after miss after miss. Nothing. What the fuck is up with this thing? Is it really just for decoration?

She scanned it again from a distance and stepped side to side, trying to see if maybe a new angle would give her some perspective. That’s when she saw a glimmer about twenty feet up the side and to the left, directly opposite where the glitched water was pouring out. It looked like a gargoyle with something red and shiny embedded in its eye sockets. More interesting to her, though, its mouth was open and there was a hole in it.

She looked back towards the water spewing out and then back at the gargoyle, “Oh wow, really?”

She checked the opposite side and lo and behold there was another gargoyle set into the upper part of the structure but this one had a closed mouth. Asymmetry is not exactly a good look on ancient structures, ew, she grumbled, That’s going to annoy me.

She sighed, At least I have a pretty good idea of where the lever or switch or whatever is. She walked over to a spot directly beneath the gargoyle and looked for a handhold. “Hup!” She jumped, grabbing onto a horizontal column and pulling herself up. Next was a plant-looking fresco that she used to pull herself a bit higher. She had to kick off part of the wall to position herself a bit better to grab on to the next handhold. A few more hops and grabs and she was within arms reach of the gargoyle. It was a twisted looking thing with a wrinkled muzzle and long teeth, the red eye she could see was made out of glass from the looks of it.

She reached out and touched it, nothing happened. She pushed down on it, tugged it, poked its eye, climbed over and poked both eyes at the same time, punched it, kicked it, and then shouted at it. Yeah, yell at it Anna, that’ll work. She grumbled and climbed back down. Is that not it? She scowled and started to pace, her irritation growing as her blood began to boil. I’m so sick of being in this damn place! How much longer do I have to stay in this dungeon? Temper won over patience and she whipped her hand out to fire off a fire bat. The flaming projectile exploded against the gargoyle and again, nothing happened.

Anna stared at it. What? No damage at all? Huh.

She took a centering breath and exhaled. Calm down, lashing out isn’t going to- Wait a fucking minute. He set this whole dungeon up. That deadbeat asshole, I swear if this works…

She turned back to the gargoyle and narrowed the focus of her presence before cranking it to max, blasting it with her fury. “Open!”

The gargoyles eyes lit up and water exploded out of the spot where the stream had been coming from. The wall there glitched and flickered before vanishing entirely, a deluge clipping through the ground and out of sight. When it was over only an opening remained with a passage going through the sheer cliff ahead of her. She squeezed her eyes together and sought patience before marching towards it. He’s leading me around by my nose, ‘paid off his debts’ my ass. This better be good because so far everything I’ve gotten out of this place has been with my own blood and sweat. 

She grumbled even more, “Oh Anna, but he gave you access to this magical place just for you!” she said sarcastically. “Yeah well, just going to the fucking tutorial would have probably been a magical place too! I could have been with mom there and not have to fall into a deathtrap to figure out how refinement works!”

She stopped at the opening and clenched her fist before slamming it into the wall. I really hope you’re okay, mom. Hang in there.

She sighed and stalked through the passage, it was dark for a few moments before she saw light again and smelled the stale air of an old building. When she stepped out she wasn’t standing in a cliff valley anymore. Instead, she found herself in a large stone room with stone benches lined up in rows on either side. All of them were facing a dais where a long block of pale gray stone sat, mottled cloth laying atop it.

She turned in a circle, the walls were broken up by columns that formed a composite dome ceiling over her head. Between the columns were panes of stained glass that depicted graphic scenes of suffering and torment. She wrinkled her nose at the egregiousness of some of the tortures. Who would take the time to make art like this? She shuddered and looked up to the ceiling and felt her gut tighten. That eye again, watching her, judging her. Her jaw tightened and she shot the finger at it before marching over to what she assumed was an altar.

“This would be a lot more interesting with something to hit,” she muttered, “I’m not getting any essence out of this.”

The altar was mostly bare, the cloth that had once been on top of it was almost completely disintegrated. There were only two items of interest, a pair of carefully bound rolls of paper no more than two inches wide. They were sealed with a ring of wax around the middle. They were so small and covered in dust, she almost missed them. She picked one up and turned it over in her hand, scrutinizing it.

Seal of Clemency - (Unknown-Unique)
This seal may be used to deliver clemency upon the appellant, ending their sentence.

Her lips pressed together in disgust and she looked down at the other one, “...let me guess.”

Seal of Condemnation - (Unknown-Unique)
This seal may be used to condemn the appellant, extending their sentence.

She set the little scrolls down and looked away, crossing her arms. She felt sick. It was one thing to make her fight monsters, throw her into death traps, make her struggle and scrape and suffer to get stronger. She could live with that, Well, not really, but I can endure it. She closed her eyes. But its setting me up to make a decision like that, one I’m woefully unqualified for. She shivered and grabbed at her arms, squeezing until the chainmail sleeves bit into her skin through the robes. 

Of course, in the end, resisting wasn’t going to get her anywhere here. This was a dungeon, the path was set and she was already on it. 

She snatched up the little scrolls and forced down the nausea, the blood in her veins turning white hot. Another choice taken from her, forced to make a choice she didn’t want to make between options she couldn’t care less about for someone who she didn’t know. She ground her teeth and looked for the exit. Nothing. Even the passage she’d come in through was gone. She considered hunting around for another glitchy exit but the thought only annoyed her more.

“WELL?” she demanded to the ceiling. “I’M NOT PLAYING AROUND ANYMORE! QUIT THE BULLSHIT AND LET'S GET THIS OVER WITH!”

Wind.

A chill down her spine.

A whisper through her chest.

She spun as every nerve ending fired all at once and panic struck her like a hammer. There were people sitting on the benches. Men and women, young and old, dozens of them. There were people with green skin and those with long pointed ears and sharp eyes. Some looked cold and pale, bleeding wounds on their chests. Others looked whole and shone a bit with a light she didn’t quite see but rather felt. All of them stared at her with vacant eyes. 

At the front of the left side, the old man she’d seen rose to his feet.

“The Accused is a heretic and a traitor. The madwoman who condemned an empire to ruin and millions of lives to the chaos of collapse. Let there be no mistake, their punishment should be eternal!” he declared, his vacant eyes flashing with hatred against his cracked pale skin. He had a rope mark around his neck.

She stepped back and reached for the altar only to fall into a chair. She looked down at the black throne beneath her as the breath came faster. 

On the opposite side from the old man, what Anna assumed was an elf rose to his feet and tilted his chin up. He had color and glow to him, “The accused was true to their faith,” the elf said in a smooth voice. “Abided and served the people. Spared the weak and sought clemency when it could be delivered. The Law was the Law and where rehabilitation could take place, it would. Otherwise, punishment must be meted out against the criminal.”

A glowing woman stood up next to the old man. “The accused sowed discord as strategy. Conquered and destroyed homes, went against the duties demanded of them and sought a position above their right. They assassinated their superior to take command of forces that did not belong to them.”

Anna shifted back in the seat, trying to take it all in as yet another stood up on the opposition side. A dwarf with a grayed complexion and bloodshot eyes, he tugged at his burned beard. “The accused made a choice between destroying something corrupt and allowing it to continue in perpetuity. An agreement was made and they took on the role of martyr. Crimes were committed but atoned for in the end, death was not an escape but a deliverance to a cell.”

The left side all rose as one and spoke at the same time. “Condemnation! Eternal suffering, the accused must pay for eternity!”

The right side all rose and responded with their own chant. “Clemency! Penance, the accused must be freed to repent!”

They all sat as one and then looked directly at her, waiting, expecting a ruling. She just sat there. Fighting monsters had been so easy to slip into but this? This was insane. What did any of this have to do with her? She clenched her fists and squeezed her eyes shut. How can I make a call like that? I don’t even know this person! What did any of that mean? 

“Why me?”

“Why not you?” a cold voice said.

She looked up, past the empty eyes all staring at her, to the far end of the temple where a single man stood. He was rail thin in a black suit that would have looked great at a steam-punk ren-faire. His face was handsome in an unsettling way, pretty but hard and unforgiving. He flickered and part of him vanished for a split second before reappearing. He glitched a few more times before he started to walk between the benches. Every step made her entire body feel like it was under a weight, like chains were wrapping around her throat and squeezing the life out of her. She gasped and reached for her neck but there was nothing there.

“Why not anyone?” he pressed at the halfway point, “What gives the right to decide a fate? What gives you the right to punish anyone?” he asked in clipped tones. “What gave you the right to turn to violence before the integration? What gives you the right to declare revenge when you finally get your chance?”

He was in front of her, he did not tilt himself down to look her in the eyes. He kept his posture straight and flicked his gaze down to meet hers. She was suffocating. She couldn’t breathe. His presence…

Her blood roared to life in her veins and she leaned forward, opening up with everything she had as she turned the dial to max and pushed him off. It felt like moving a mountain with her bare hands but she managed to cough out a breath. His lips twitched up in the faintest hint of a smile.

She opened her mouth and closed it, she wanted to throw up. She tried to look away from him but she couldn’t, her pride wouldn’t allow it. Everything in her told her that if she looked away she would lose something in herself that she would never, ever get back.

“Could you have the strength to sit in that seat and make that call over and over again?” he asked. “Do you have the spine to look the world in the eye and judge it? Do you have the wisdom to make that call for another? Can you rule, Annastasia?”

She squeezed her fists tight and said the only honest thing that came to her; “Not yet.”

“Good answer,” he said and turned away. “This pathetic little facsimile is done with, but I have one last thing to say before you make your choice, and you will choose.”

He turned back to look her in the eyes. “Solitude is a prison. Prisoners cannot be rulers. Only you can free yourself from the cell I have put you in.”

She blinked and the room was empty again. She was alone.