The metal floor was particularly cold underfoot today. Or maybe it had been particularly warm the day before? Cael only had two days as a reference including this one. Not much of a statistical sample as far as anything went. Either way, it left him feeling a bit apprehensive about the whole judgment thing. Hopefully, it wasn't an indication as to how his hearing would go.

Enken took a right out of Cael’s cell which, notably, was not the direction he had entered from. Instead, Cael found himself at the end of the hall in front of a much more grand style of door. It was kind of intimidating really. Unlike the rest of the jail, this pair of doors was fully wooden.

Despite this fact, Cael felt sure they were much more durable than even their heavy metal counterparts. They carried a sort of presence that Cael had learned to associate with the feeling of accessing magic. In fact, if Cael could have even ten seconds, he bet he could probably connect to the flow of magic by just focusing on the radial waves of energy output by the doors.

In the end, it just wasn’t meant to be.

Enken shoved past these doors without stopping, continuing along a maze of corridors that Cael had already forgotten the way out of.

Though, Cael was happier that the new set of hallways was wooden and lined with rugs on top of that. He was still bitter about not having shoes. It made him feel conscious about leaving soot in the nice rugs. The decorations and structural style of the new halls felt more… homely? If it weren’t connected to a literal jail, he could have even mistaken it for a regular mansion. It was though, and he wasn’t going to be forgetting that.

Enken finally stopped in front of a door that looked the same as all the rest. Here he knocked, almost timidly.

“Enter.” A voice commanded imperiously.

Enken pushed open the door into a cozy-looking office.

An angel sat regally behind a grand office desk, impractically large wings folded as perfectly as a painting. She wore a sharp-looking white suit and a set of silver bracelets that contrasted nicely with her dark hair and eyes.

A human-looking lady in a pale blue sundress stood at her side. Mostly human-looking at least. Human eyes didn’t look like that. Two dark blue whirlpools swirled back at him when he met her eyes. He was sure it would be intimidating if it wasn’t so interesting looking.

Macera was already there, sitting across the desk from the pastel pair. At least, he thought it was Macera. It was hard to tell without the armor, but even sitting down, she towered over everyone in the room. All the humanoid ones. Enken was pretty large too.

Cael was relieved to find that he was taller than the human with the vortex eyes and, he wasn’t sure, but he felt the angel wasn’t too far off. He’d been starting to think he was going to be straining his neck every time he wanted to talk to someone.

Enken took the seat to the left of the door, and Macera was already in the one on the right.

Cael didn’t want to sit in the remaining seat and wasn’t sure if he was meant to anyway.

“Please, sit.” The human said.

Now at least he knew the seat was for him, but that didn’t make it any more appealing a spot to be in.

However, he knew that wasn’t a suggestion.

The changeling sat across from the angel and human, flanked on either side by a giant and a lizard person. He realized he didn’t exactly know what Enken was, but was also sure that this wasn’t the time to ask.

“I am Mercy, a Side of the Truth.” the angel introduced herself.

Cael didn’t know what that meant, but it was spoken with the gravity that a famous person introduced themselves with. The kind that suggested you should already know, and that the announcement was just a formality.

He did his best to treat it as such, pursing his lips and nodding as if he had already known. Cael didn’t want to offend her if she was going to be the one deciding his fate. Clearly, his acting wasn't good enough.

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“You… don’t know what that means.” It wasn’t a question.

Cael slumped a little in his chair. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to offend you.”

“No, that’s quite alright. Refreshing even.” She waved her hand dismissively, “Though your acting could use a bit of work. I don’t think I’ve ever met a changeling as genuinely bad at faking body language as you are.”

That hurt a bit, but Cael decided not to take it as a personal insult. He had been born yesterday, after all. Technically.

“Though, that raises the question. If you don’t know who I am, then why were you pleasantly surprised to see me when you entered the room?”

“I half expected I was being taken to be tortured into a false confession for a bunch of crimes I didn’t commit,” Cael replied easily before his words caught up with him. Everyone was staring at him oddly. “Uh, I didn’t mean to say that.” He hadn’t meant to say that either.

“Yes, because you don’t know me, I suppose it would only be polite to explain.” Cael had somehow managed to make the angel pause before she was able to answer him. “As I said, I am Mercy. I am a Side of the Truth, meaning that I am a highly ranked member of the church of Vera, the current [Goddess of Truth].”

Nobody interjected, but Cael could tell that they wished to speak. Mercy continued, “What you just experienced is a passive ability of mine that encourages honesty. If you are unaware of its effect, you may find yourself admitting to things you never intended to say.”

She tapped the desk thoughtfully. Cael liked the sound it made. “Additionally, I have an ability that allows me to gauge the level of truth a person speaks. It is helpful when determining half-truths and lies of omission.”

She fixed him with a stare more befitting of a hawk than whatever bird her wings suggested. Cael didn’t think doves and such had this kind of purpose behind their eyes. “When you claimed to be relieved that you were not to be tortured, I felt that this was only a small portion of your truth.” She stared at him expectantly.

“Ah. Can you tell how big of a portion of the truth that was?”

“Yes. I would estimate that was about thirty percent of the truth.”

Yikes. That low?

“Oh, wow. Uh, I guess, I think you look really cool.”

“Fifty.”

“Total? Or in addition to the thirty?” He asked hopefully.

“Total. She won’t move on until you satisfy her curiosity.” The human chimed in.

“Damn. Please don’t take offense to what I’m about to say?”

“I make no promises.”

“Well, uh. Recently… I’ve been meeting a lot of really tall people. And it’s been making me feel really conscious about my height.” Cael refused to meet anyone’s eyes. “So I was just relieved to see that you weren’t as... physically imposing as I had thought you would be.”

“Full truth.” She declared happily.

“Oh, thank Vera.” He sank into the chair, glad that Mercy hadn’t seemed to care at all. He could already tell that this conversation would include a lot of picking at his thoughts and opinions.

“Indeed,” Mercy agreed, “Thank Vera. Now, as you are acquainted with my relevant abilities, I believe it is time to continue with the interview.”

Cael liked that she used the term ‘interview’; it was so much more neutral than the ‘interrogation’ he had been expecting.

“First, have you ever killed anyone?”

Ah, getting right into it. Cael glanced pointedly at Macera, who looked like she didn’t want to be there. He could sympathize with that.

“No,” he responded.

“Have you ever harmed someone?”

“No.” What was this, twenty questions?

“Explain how you came to be in this form.”

Cael actually had to think about that one. He’d been himself for as long as he could remember, but based on Macera’s assertion that he had taken his form forcibly from another, that answer wasn’t going to cut it. Moreover, he was pretty sure he shouldn’t tell them anyway.

Hadn’t The System told him expressly not to inform anyone of his status as an [Extraplanar Reincarnator]? Cael didn’t know nearly enough about this world to explain this one away. So he didn’t.

“The System told me I shouldn’t talk about that, I think.”

“The System did what?” Based on her tone, Macera didn’t believe him and voiced that opinion quite clearly.

“Sixty percent true.”

“I’m sorry?” Macera looked at the angel.

“Don’t be.” Did Mercy not have a concept of sarcasm? She returned her attention to Cael. “Please tell me as much as you can without revealing the information deemed hazardous by the System.”

“Alright. I’m going to err on the side of caution, so the story might be a bit lackluster.”

“That’s okay. Just say what you’re comfortable with.” The human said. Cael was starting to feel a little bad about not knowing her name.

Cael nodded in confirmation. “Well, in that case, I guess it starts with meeting Arx. He-”

“As in Arx, God of Sanctuary, Arx?” Enken was the one to interrupt him this time.

This was absolutely going to take forever, but at least it didn’t seem like he was going to be executed after.