Axel heard the rhythmic ching-chang of his restraints as he walked into the meeting hall for his trial. A step behind him was a pair of enforcers from the Harmonizers, the policing arm of the organization that kept the peace between the City-States. Both men were in full armor with helms hiding their faces, as was standard for their kind. Axel, on the whole, did not hate the Harmonizers but always disliked their tradition of hiding their faces while on policing tours of duty.
The shackles did not help with his still battered body. They were made to suppress a core through means only the crafters of such tools could explain how they worked. Axel could feel his proto core go quiet for the first time in his life when, with a meaty clang, they locked his wrists behind his back. Axel could not decide if this, the trial, or his wounds were the worst part of the moment. While he was healed, that did not mean Tessa made him whole. The only bright side was that as the healers were leaving his cell, Lyra had brushed his hand and, using her Goddess Blessing, told his blessing how to better prioritize his body’s healing. That was a risk she did not need to take and, in his mind, should not have, but like he had said and heard many times growing up “even the Goddess could not change the past, so work with what you have in the present”.
After the mental pep talk, Axel arrived at the door of the chamber and was forced to stop in front of them. As the seconds ticked past, it was getting hard for Axel to ignore the emotions he had been suppressing for however long it had been since the duel. Axel could check his journal to see how long had passed but was mentally avoiding that as a part of him did not want to know. As he was stuck, Axel tried using his mother’s breathing trick to calm himself but not to get lost in his memories this time. He needed to be on his toes to not be next to his former friend being returned to the Goddess that day.
Just then, the two large ornate doors slowly opened to reveal the council chambers and village meeting hall. The room was a large circle with a large bench holding five seats to the north. Next, there were seats on the east and west for members of the tribe to sit in on meetings or, in this case, a Trial of Innocence or Guilt. The rafters had seating for the Aurelians of the village along with special seats on the sides for the local Thalaxians to rest comfortably.
In the stands were a mix of the other villagers, from humans coming in all their shapes and sizes, though most were around six feet tall with dark hair and eyes, to the Krellians. Krellians were amphibious humanoids with a robust build, typically standing between 5.5 to 6.5 feet tall. Their skin was smooth and slightly moist, with a range of colors from deep blues to vibrant greens. They had webbed hands and feet, and their skin often had a slight sheen from the water. Krellians had large, expressive eyes adapted for seeing underwater and gills along the sides of their necks, allowing them to breathe both air and water. Since he was young Axel had always admired their ability to move seamlessly between land and water, the ability to explore more of the world they lived.
Mixed in sparsely were the Vortan, a tall and slender race, with sweeping bone that ran along their foreheads around the sides to the back of their necks. A typical Vortan stood between 6.5 to 7.5 feet tall. Their bodies were lean and elongated, giving them a graceful and almost ethereal appearance. Their skin was bioluminescent, with patterns that changed color based on their emotions, ranging from soft blues and greens when calm to vibrant reds and oranges when agitated or excited. Vortan had high cheekbones and elongated faces, with large almond-shaped eyes that often glowed softly in the dark. Axel found that all the Vortan in the audience were in hues of red.
Glancing up into the rafters where the Aurelians, enjoying the show like normal. From Axel’s experience, their beauty juxtaposed their nature of freedom. Aurelians were avian-like beings with feathered wings and hollow bones, allowing for flight. If not for the wings and near perfectly symmetric facial appearance they would look like humans. They typically stood between 5.5 to 6.5 feet tall and had a slender, lightweight build. Their feathers had a unique metallic sheen, often iridescent, reflecting light in a dazzling array of colors. Aurelians had sharp, angular features with keen, piercing eyes adapted for seeing great distances.
Then there was the most alien of the races the goddess picked to live in their world, the Thalaxians. This was a non-humanoid race that many would think were close to the beasts of the land, but this race was the engineers of the People and was what allowed communication through what he was taught was called the Hive Mind. Thalaxians were insectoid beings with a chitinous exoskeleton, typically standing between 6 to 8 feet tall with a broad, sturdy build. Their exoskeletons were reinforced with metals, making them durable and capable of withstanding harsh conditions. They had six legs and two manipulator arms, which were thinner and more dexterous than their legs, used for fine motor tasks and manipulation of tools.
Realizing his mind was wandering again, Axel admonished himself mentally and tried to resist the mental pressure that was building in the room as many in this room had completed a trial to gain a mental power of some type, if not made adept and either strengthened that power or gained a subsidiary mental power. Gathering his still tattered thoughts and willed himself to stand straight and not let them see him as weak.
As his slow, purposeful steps moved to stand in the center of the chamber, he looked over the council. A group that, while growing up, he knew quite well. On the far right was Finn Quake, the father of his once friend. Cade and Finn look almost exactly alike with only Cade looking like a younger version of Finn.
To the left of Finn was a Vortan councilor who was an officer of the Storm and the main trainer of the youth of the village. He wore armor of leather and metal plates covering vital areas but leaving a lot of room for mobility. Even after years of training Axel did not know his name as he would only tell it to someone who beat him in a dual or proved themselves in some way.
At the center was the Chieftain of the village, a mountain of a man with dark hair and eyes, wearing clean beast hide armor with strategically placed metal plates and missing his right arm. Continuing left quickly as to not look the Chieftain in the eyes was a Krellian female who was the head of the local Luminaries of Lore branch and keeper of the library, Icthia. Icthia was also the main teacher of all the village young so that they could read, write, and learn the knowledge needed to survive and thrive in the world.
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Last, at the end of the table, was the head of the Thalaxians of the village known as Thunderstorm as their native names were not pronounceable to the other races and gave headaches if transmitted mentally. His position meant that he was the leader of construction, craftsmen, and the Communion of the village. The Communion was what is used to message the other villages or the City-State of Greenhaven.
Seeing all these eyes that he had grown up knowing staring at him with judgment was more than a little disconcerting for Axel. He could easily remember all the different times growing up with them helping his father do his work as the Chief of the village. Axel decided to stare straight at the symbol of the village, a tree with wide branches circled by common beasts that were hunted here. After a short silence, the noise settled down and the Krellian female banged her gavel.
“I bring this Trial to order. Axel Thunderstrider, you stand here accused of murdering Cade Quake in a Challenge of Mating. This charge is very grievous and if found guilty you will be executed. What is your pleading?” The Krellian Icthia stated in a calm, grave voice.
“I plead that I killed him in the midst of the moment when he tried to put a sword through my heart,” Axel replied, his voice only cracking slightly at the admission, even to himself, that he ended Cade’s life with his own hands.
Finn then stood quickly. “LIES!!! You wanted my son dead as he was going to take the one you perceived as yours away! You Murd—” Finn started leaning forward and slamming the table while shouting at Axel. In his anger, his necklace with a Shadowfang Serpent emblem tumbled out of his shirt and dangled over the table he was sitting at. His normally well-kept hair is also a mess and all over the place giving him a bit of a crazed look.
Axel, feeling a surge of anger, shot back, “I didn’t want him dead, Finn! He attacked me! He tried to kill me!”
“Councilor Finn, as the aggrieved party, you will have your opportunity to speak after the proceedings. Now, Axel, that is a serious claim. Do you have proof of this?” Icthia calmly said, trying to regain calm in the proceedings, and Axel could feel the calm sweep out from her as she leveraged an empathic power to get people to calm down and focus. A trick many knew about if she ever tutored you and you were too jittery, not being able to sit and study.
This also helped quell the rage surging through his veins nearly out of his control at Finns accusation . Axel knew he was not in the greatest emotional state right now and this made controlling his crimson backlash from his proto core more difficult. The shackles where also not helping him as he was feeling off balance when he could not touch a part of him he knew all his life. With a disgruntled noise, Finn sat back down in his seat with force. He was then talked to by the Vortan councilor in hushed voices. After that, Finn noticed his necklace had fallen out of his shirt and tucked it back in and just crossed his arms in anger, only to then fixed his hair back in place after a stray strand fell across his vison.
“As was taught in our laws, I bring in my health data from my Journal from the time of the duel, which shows a piercing strike between my ribs where my heart would be. It damaged several arteries, but my Blessing stopped the bleeding before it became critical,” Axel returned while trying to keep calm.
“What are you saying, you have no heart, so my son missed?” Finn shot out, earning him a glare from the rest of the council.
“I can attest that Axel has a medical condition where his heart is mirrored. It is in his medical records,” Tessa stood from her seat in the stands and added. Being one of the Healers of the community, her words carried great weight.
“Very well. We will take this record and if shown true, you will lose the charge of premeditated murder in a Trial of Mating,” Icthia said as she moved from her council seat and walked to Axel. She gently placed her webbed hand on his forehead and Axel felt a prompt from his Journal seeking permission to share health data from the time of the duel. Axel allowed the copying of the data, and he could see Icthia reading through it rapidly.
“I find that Axel is telling the truth and that a strike at the time and location had indeed happened.” In a much kinder voice, Icthia, so low only someone with enhanced hearing or right next to her would hear, said, “I knew I did not teach you in vain, young Axel. Forgive me for what my duties will still force me to do.”
With a wave of her hand, she used her mastery over light-based powers. In the air was a floating image of his health data in its basic data mode with the slowly spinning human-shaped body that everyone with a Journal was aware of. This slowly showed the damage that he accumulated in the fight with time above the image. Then in an instant, it showed an object had pierced the body through a gap in the ribs. Right before the image was dismissed everyone also saw a spike in Axel's hormones and chemicals for rage and anger, and then his whole body was glaring red damage indicators.
“As Adjudicator of the Council, I find Axel not guilty of murder but still guilty of causing the death of another member of the village in the Trial of Mating. According to his health data, Axel was overcome with rage and likely a crimson backlash when he ended Cade’s life. This is what I find the most logical happening after reviewing Cade’s Journal before the trial and now Axel’s. Axel, after a time of confinement, you will be healed and then exiled from this village, never to set foot in it again until the ban is lifted, or you complete a deed so great you cleanse this stain from you in the Eyes of the Goddess.”
Icthia then placed her hand on Axel’s head causing his Journal to alert him that he had gained a new status of Exile from Junglesheart. Seeing this, Axel could no longer hold the floodgates of grief and sadness back. He fell to his knees as they, for all their monstrous strength, seemed to lose any power in them. In this haze, he heard what happened next as if he was underwater; everything seemed distant and muffled. Finn challenged this ruling but was overruled by the two neutral counselors. Then Finn went one step further and challenged the Chieftain to a Champion’s Challenge to lead the village, stating that the Chieftain was corrupt, and his son proved it by the light punishment that Axel was receiving for the murder of his son.
As the enforcers lifted Axel to haul him back to his cell, the jolt snapped him out of his grief. He noticed his father standing and picking up his axe, preparing to head to the dueling chamber that had only just been cleaned of his lost friend Cade’s blood. The sight filled Axel with a mix of dread and concern for both his father and a man he had always considered a second one.
As the enforcers dragged him out of the meeting hall, the last thing Axel saw before the doors closed was Lyra standing from her seat with a set look in her eyes. Her expression was one of fierce resolve, a silent promise that she would uncover the truth of what was happening. Strangely, her eyes always said way more than her lips ever did. Axel held onto that image, drawing strength from her unwavering support as the doors shut behind him, plunging him into the uncertainty of what lay ahead.