Chapter 38 Sentence.
Isaac and Lenna were about to leave the city with Lenny trailing them at a safe distance when Isaac stopped abruptly. “What is it?” Lenna asked when she noticed the subtle change in his posture and the look of pure focus on his face. Something had sent a chill up Isaac’s spine and he had instantly gone into fight mode.
“Oh?! Uh, excuse me!” A slightly higher pitched than normal, middle aged, man’s voice called out from behind them. Isaac and Lenna both quickly turned to face the voice. A man who looked to be in his forties greeted them with a bright smile and a wave. His blonde hair looked dusty from days on the road and his beard was patchy. He wore a pair of glasses with lenses so thick it was hard to see his eyes behind them. The glasses were very obviously magical but only the man knew what they were for. He was thin and looked to be about five and a half feet tall. His plain traveling clothes were worn but there were a few magic items scattered about his person, most of them were out of sight.
“Yes?” Isaac greeted the man who definitely was not what had set him on edge. “Can I help you?”
“You are, uh, um,” The man started stammering as he fished a clipboard out of his Bottomless Bag. He picked his glasses up slightly so he could see under them at the paper attached to the front of the clipboard. “Isaac Wexler, correct?”
Isaac nodded slowly. “Yes.” He replied warily. “I am the Lord of Darkness you seek.” Isaac’s eyes never left the man but his mind and senses were anywhere else. He was barely paying attention to their conversation as the sense of danger and foreboding seemed to just hang in the air.
“Oh! Spectacular! I am Charlie Nealson and I am with the Coalition of Adventurers, Scouts, and Trackers. I was called down to your pleasant little corner of the wor-” The man, Charlie’s, voice was cut off by a sudden pressure that stopped everyone in their tracks. A man flew to a stop a dozen feet above Charlie, facing Isaac and Lenna, and glared down at the duo.
The man was tall with a solid build under his white robes adorned with golden designs and trim that gave off a faint glow. His golden hair and eyes blazed so brightly that even without his gear it would have been impossible for the man to hide in a dark room. His hands and feet were bare and clean. His hair floated away from him on the invisible streams of mana that permeated everything. “You, who calls himself Darkness, submit to your sentence.”
A feeling of a thousand eyes judging his very soul assaulted Isaac and he instinctively lowered into a fighting stance. He was vaguely aware of Lenna drawing her sword at his side. “Depends on the sentence.” Isaac replied. “I’m fine with community service but I have this thing with chains and cells so I-”
The deific arbiter of justice hovering above and in front of them cut Isaac off. “Death. That is your sentence. Now, surrender or I will force your sentence upon you.”
Isaac was suddenly very aware of all of the bystanders surrounding them. He had no intention to surrender to the wingless angel bearing down on him and he was sure that there would be a lot of collateral damage if they decided to fight there. There was just one problem with taking the fight elsewhere, the city was better for Isaac. There were buildings, alleyways, carts, and stands to use as cover. Outside of the city there was nothing but open space for far too far of a distance to run. Maybe Isaac could bait him into the spider tunnels and use his knowledge of the terrain to his advantage. “Not here.” Isaac said after a deep breath. “There would be far too much collateral damage.”
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The pair of blazing eyes scanned the bystanders one at a time before they locked back onto Isaac. “You will not run.” The radiant man spoke. It was both a statement and a question.
“Fine.” Isaac agreed and straightened to his full height. “You won’t attack me from behind.”
The golden man wrinkled his nose in disgust at the prospect. “I am no assassin.” Was his reply. It sounded like the final word was literally sour to the man.
Isaac turned and continued walking towards the gate they had been planning to use to leave the city anyway. Bystanders scattered, including Lenny, and there were already shouts ringing out down the streets. Isaac took his time and walked at a steady and purposeful pace. Lenna was at his side in an instant. “This isn’t good.” She told him with some worry in her voice. “Do you feel that?” She asked.
Isaac nodded. “Yes.” He replied. When he had been facing the man his eyes kept trying to look away from him like he wasn’t meant to stare at him directly. That combined with the odd pressure the man was emitting and the feeling of standing before a jury of five hundred men told Isaac everything he needed to know. “It’s Judgment.” Isaac told Lenna.
“Definitely.” She replied. “But why is the demigod of Judgment after you?” She asked more to herself than to Isaac.
“I’ll ask him once we’re outside.” Isaac said calmly. “For now, let’s try to play this out without having to tangle with a real demigod.”
Lenna nodded. “Understood.” She replied and continued on in silence alongside him. The pair didn’t speak but instead were racking their brains trying to figure out a way to keep from coming to blows with a very real, very deific, demigod of Judgment of all things. Lenna knew of the man by another name: ‘The Elf Crusher’. Sins were not necessarily wiped clean post mortem. Some sins were soul deep and the reincarnated soul would still bear the weight of their previous transgressions. That rarely mattered. It mattered for Judgment. The man was known for killing elves that had caught his ire outright, in one hit, by smashing them with the weight of all of the soul-deep sins of their past lives at once.
They passed through the gate and out into the open air of the massive cavern that Safeharbor was built inside. After a dozen paces, Judgment was getting impatient. “Is this not far enough?” He questioned Isaac.
“Almost.” Isaac replied and continued walking. “What have I done to warrant a death sentence?” He questioned.
“You are guilty of blasphemy of the highest order.” Judgment replied. “Falsely claiming to be a demigod is punishable by death. After one year for every time you have claimed to be a demigod, you will be permitted to be resurrected. That, Isaac Wexler, is your sentence, proclaimed by the demigod of Judgment in the name of Justice herself.”
“I’ve been dead before.” Isaac said and stopped walking. He turned around to face Judgment who still hadn’t touched the ground. “It didn’t take. Can’t say I was a fan either. Is there any other arrangement we can come to that doesn’t involve us trying to kill each other?”
Judgment was silent for a long moment as he processed what he had just heard. “You cannot kill me. I am immortal. I cannot die.” He replied to Isaac. “I will kill you. Will it be painless or must I use force?”
“I heard that demigods can die, they just come back to life in their domain later.” Isaac retorted. “Last I checked, it is still dying.”
“It is not truly death unless one is greeted by the Reaper.” Judgment replied. “I give you your final opportunity to choose a painless death before I will begin using force.”
Isaac sighed. “I’ve never been one to go down without a fight, Judgment, so let me show you why I am known as the Lord of Darkness itself.” As the tension was about to snap and the fight was about to begin a few thoughts went through Isaac’s head. Firstly, he had no idea how to kill Judgment. The demigod gave off this feeling of total unassailability that was beyond anything Isaac had ever felt before. Everything about the man’s presence just screamed unblemishable truth and justice. Isaac knew that Kahtesh was either entirely useless or only good for one lightning bolt. There was no doubt in Isaac’s mind that the little dragon would be vaporized into true nothingness if he tried to hurt the demigod. Isaac was tempted to call him out for a sneak attack anyway because if Isaac was dead then so was Kahtesh.
Lenna was tense to a degree she had never experienced before. She was certain that she would have preferred squaring off against Jallen in a duel to the death than be faced with Judgment himself. Lenna knew that she had to be incredibly careful. One wrong move and she was gone. Lenna had no idea what sins her previous lives had committed that might’ve stuck around through multiple reincarnation processes and she didn’t want to find out. The issue was that Judgment was there for Isaac. Lenna might have been able to stay out of it if Judgment had targeted anyone else that she knew but Isaac was the one person that she couldn’t not throw herself in front of. Isaac was her best friend, her lover, her mate, her husband-to-be, and since the day they had met, her charge. She would die in his place a thousand times. She just wished that she wouldn’t have to.