It was a stiflingly hot, dead-still night in the Lord's manor. The air hung thick and heavy, pressing down on everyone. Rachael Sullivana held on to her father's photograph, seated on a chair next to Marrielle Suvallina. Both were silent, the humidity making their skin slightly tacky. Leornars walked to the balcony, the crisp white of his coat looking suddenly too bright in the dim, stale air. His crimson eyes seemed to absorb the faint, hazy light of the distant, smoggy sky. The air was so still his coat hung limp, but he looked at the sky anyway, as if searching for a breath of wind that would never come. He sighed, the sound loud in the oppressive silence.
He turned, seeing Zaryter and Shullah on the bed, sleeping soundlessly beneath a thin sheet, the temperature not seeming to bother them. Down in the basement, Ayesha and Salene's experiments flared with a sickly, yellow-green light that seeped up the staircase. Stacian walked in, moving with a silent grace despite the heat, holding a cup of tea that was probably lukewarm, and handed it to Rachael Suvallina and Marrielle.
"Thanks" Rachael said
Stacian nods.
"Don't worry about it" Stacian said, walking to give Leornars a cup. He took it, sipped once, then exhaled, the steam dissolving instantly in the hot air.
"It's a beautiful night," he said calmly.
Stacian went and took a sword, the polished steel glinting dully in the low light, and she looked at it then to Rachael.
"So, with your father gone, now what?" Stacian asked
"I'll take over Vurnam as the new Lord, we need to end this Pollium and slave trading rigs off permanently" Rachael said determined, leornars nods.
"I don't want anyone else to be addicted to Pollium as my father was and began selling our own people. I don't want a town carved in fear ,I want peace and justice" Rachael Suvallina said
Leornars turned to her, his shadow long and unmoving against the wall.
"Justice? You do know justice doesn't favour anyone,it feels nothing" Leornars said
"And for that,I will try to make a change in this world" Rachael said
"What changes do you think will be enough to get rid off all corruption,all sins of the world? I'd say none but the effort may bare fruits, even if it's a little bit" Leornars said
Stacian walked to him, her expression a mask of severe anticipation.
"Lord Leornars when are we going to get the captured slaves and raid the rig?" She asked..
"Now" he said removing his coat.
"We can't claim to be judges of lives, Stacian if we ourselves are no less than the killers" he said.
Leornars and Stacian headed off, their steps muffled by the thick carpet, as Zaryter and Shullah remained behind. They ran through the humid, suffocating night air to an enclosed area where the heat seemed to radiate off the bare stone. Stacian pointed to a cave a few metres ahead, the entrance a black maw in the oppressive darkness. He smirked, the expression sharp.
The cave air was stale and heavy with the reek of cheap alcohol and unwashed bodies. The slave traders were all drunk, their voices booming in the cramped space as they ordered the female demi human slaves around to carry drinks for them. Their laughter was a harsh, scraping sound. The demi humans, thin and covered in grime, began to cry silently as they were abused by the traders.
"You are mere tools for us , nothing else" Bryant said
"Please gods, grant us this wish. Give us redemption and justice for what they are doing to us" the demi humans began to chant, the quiet, desperate prayer barely audible over the drunken noise.
Bryant seemed pissed, slamming his cup onto a barrel.
"Justice? You want justice? Justice is only for humans not you disgusting species" Bryant said as he threw an empty bottle on a demi human girl, the glass shattering against her shoulder and causing her to bleed. He threw his head back and laughed—a sound of pure malice.
"Justice is only for us" Bryant, the leader of the slave trading rig, sneered, his hand on a wine glass as he brutally pulled over a demi human girl. She tried to regain control, but he pulled her in, grabbing her hair and throwing her to the rough stone wall as other slave traders laughed along, their mirth echoing in the stagnant air. Leornars, crouched silently on the cave's roof, looked at Bryant and remembered the list of warrants the adventurers guild held for him.
Suddenly, a big explosion of noise came from the outside—a loud, jarring crack that temporarily silenced the drunkards. Stacian ran from the door, a blur in the darkness, slicing one of the traders' heads off. Then, as Bryant watched in horror, a section of the roof cracked open, raining down dirt and stone. Leornars descent, double-kneeing Bryant to the floor, then instantly got up and activated his aura of depravity. The air pressure in the small cave seemed to drop instantly; a palpable wave of cold fear radiated outward as all the slave traders fell on their knees, clutching their heads, their drunkeness instantly replaced by terror. The demi humans flinched, hiding behind tables. The slave traders, now completely overwhelmed by the aura, began hallucinating of their loved ones' deaths on repeat. Leornars walked outside, his crimson eyes glowing, reflecting the hazy moon like polished rubies.
"Stacian kill them" he ordered as Stacian, moving with ruthless efficiency, took a knife and began to stab the slave traders who were on the ground, twitching and whimpering. Some cried, begging for forgiveness.
"This is not right,!" Bryant finally said, his voice a choked, desperate rasp.
Leornars turned to him, a shadow in the dim light.
"What isn't?" He asked knowing the answer
"This ....this is not justice, you can't kill us and say it's justice" Bryant said
Leornars bitterly smiled, the expression cold and hard, as the demi humans slowly got up to listen. Stacian stopped her execution, the knife dripping onto the dirt floor.
"Tell me what is justice?" Leornars asked
"It's a fair thing,it's fair to all . It's equal" Bryant said
Leornars smiled bitterly.
"**Saying that justice is not fair is barbaric, justice is like every single thing in our everyday life. It's not fair or unfair, it's the same as our lives, there those born in poverty and others into nobility. That's just how the world is, it's like a maze of infinite possibilities and also a web of infinite misery. Life is worth living but it's also tough living, it's for you to take your stance.Never falter,one single misstep and the world will devour you whole.
You ask me why I'm saying that the world is not an unfair place,look around. If it was fair would we have slums, would we have wars, would we have poverty? No , an unfair world is just a fair one, without wars mutual relationships would be difficult as to a minor percentage of our lives are situated in wars, war is like the air we breath. It's something that existed with our ancestors and it will still go onto our descendants. Logically thinking,we create items to help us in our everyday life and somehow they are used in wars, a knife to a sword , a mining bomb to dynamite. It's natural,so if you ask me if I think the world is fair, no it isn't. Perhaps… that's why I envy the ignorant. Sounds Ironic coming from me but the previlaged have it all.
They still believe the world owes them fairness.
I've long since learned — it owes us nothing.
We made weapons before building friendship,we justify murder claiming it's justice. But what's that justice that we cry upon? Is it real? Is it fictional? Everyone cries upon its name but no avail as to those in power and authority claim to be Justice. But Justification without proper action is just plain murder, it's like a tree, alive and visible but called out and never responds.Justice is a fictional word that we claim to know of and if nothing happens we cry to the gods,and pray to the gods for forgiveness,yet we despise eachother and still try defending eachother.
Pain and justice go hand in hand .
We can't have Justice without pain and we can't have pain without justice.
Reality and fiction intertwine to create something new ,yet it's unreasonable as to why. We don't need it as the cycle of suffering goes on as we cling upon to false judgement. As to power and Lies are one, the oppressors and the oppressed have one thing in common, death. Yet we fear it and still cling to it. Murder and kindness are polar opposites,yet are just a common occurrence in our life, bitterly as it sounds we can't live without them. Since good and evil need to exist so that our existence may seem valid, because even if you created a perfect world ,sins and chaos still exist,in shadows and on our hearts. It's natural, something we can't get rid off.
Sarcastic as it sounds,we are at fault creating our own murderers. Making it impossible to succeed by the creation of wealth and bribery. Yet still complaining as to why we are poor.
This world is an unfair place, nothing feels real but the pain we accumulate is, We don't deserve better since it's our own fault for doing everything wrong, After all we never had justice,we had survival and fear but always surrounded by pain. Truly it seems we are born to pain." Leornars said in a bitter laugh, looking up at the hazy, heat-obscured moon.
"Justice is something we cling upon to,it's something we deeply hope for but never comes. It's exactly what you were doing to these demi humans, they cried for justice and it never came, so here I am. I'm not justice or a judge,I'm only a man doing something everyone is afraid to do. I'm a man who knows that you can't rely on gods for help I have seen my share of pain ,I've seen children die on the streets due to your actions of taking their parents. I've seen children crying since noone wants to look out for them . You are not at fault since you and I are mere pawns in this world" Leornars adds as the demi humans got up, their eyes wide, walking slowly toward him.
"Lord Leornars!" They began to cheer, their voices thin and reedy.
Leornars looked at them, his expression unreadable.
"I wish my pain could have been erased too by someone with enough power and wealth but none did, even for my surbodinates all have seen their own piece of pain and all have cried upon justice" Leornars adds, he walked to Bryant, who was weakly trying to crawl away on the floor.
"You see, justice is not fair. It's like life unfair to all" Leornars said gently, the softness of his voice a terrifying contrast, then grabbed Bryant by the hair, slamming him on the floor, then began to choke him.
"Stacian, what did the guild issue on this guy?" He asked
"Dead or alive notice" Stacian said
Leornars's expression shifted to cold and icy. He kicked him on his ribs, the sound a dull, sickening thud, as Bryant groaned in pain.
"That's mildly how they felt, you rumbled over being superior to them. Now tell me -" he kicked him on the face as Bryant's face began to bleed, the dark red liquid mixing with the cave's dust.
"How are you different from them? They -" he added, kicking him again on his face, a spray of blood hitting the cave wall.
"They have their own dreams and ambitions, they have families, someone waiting for them. If you don't have anyone. You should find them, not wallowing in your own little delusions" he said.
He grabbed him by the throat and bashed him on the ground. As Bryant collapsed, his spine broke with a wet crack. He screamed out in pain, a terrible, guttural sound.
"How many children have you orphaned,? How many people have you killed?" Leornars asked, no response.
His gaze shifted to pure malice, his aura flaring outside the cave like a sudden, palpable wave of cold in the hot night, causing the surrounding, humid air to shimmer. A few small, unseen desert rodents ran frantically from the area.
"Ok, the moment you began rumbling about justice it just pissed me off,so I'll just kill you" Leornars said, turning to see Stacian had finished all the other slave traders, their bodies now limp and unmoving in the dust. Leornars grabbed Bryant's hand and kicked him on his ribs, breaking some, then pulled him closer and used his threads—thin, nearly invisible lines of energy that sliced with impossible precision—to slice his legs clean off. Bryant screamed out in pain, a high, drawn-out wail.
"This way you'll atone for all your sins," Leornars said as he touched Bryant on his chest.
"Bubble" he said as his skill activated. A cluster of glowing, shimmering spheres immediately descended on the man. Leornars dropped him down and began walking away. Horrific, gurgling screams followed as Bryant's skin began to melt off due to the skill, the thick, hot air carrying the scent of burning flesh and copper.
"I don't even need to collect your bounty, you never existed" Leornars said coldly, the glow in his eyes receding into a flat, crimson emptiness.
The demi humans were escorted out by Stacian into the humid, moonlit night.
The slaves were taken to the town's centre and began to reunite with their families, a scene of desperate, tearful embraces. One woman came carrying the small, limp corpse of her dead child. She walked slowly, her face pale with grief, to Leornars.
"Thank you Lord Leornars for allowing me to bury my child,I'm grateful" She said in a bitter tone, her voice flat and strained.
"I was captured by the slave traders three weeks ago andy child was only a month old. I never fed him but I'm grateful for you for delivering justice to the traders. I'm eternally grateful" she said, her voice getting lower, almost tearful.
Leornars held the child's tiny, lifeless corpse in his hands.
"I had only know about the slave trading rigs a week ago,if I knew earlier I would have done everything to protect this kind of tragedy" Leornars said in a bitter tone as Stacian looked genuinely saddened, her eyes fixed on the child's body.
"I..I never had someone looking out for me when I was a slave for two thousand years,I don't know anything about parenting. But I do know the pain of losing someone" Stacian said.
The woman took her child and walked off, slowly disappearing into the shadows of the still, heavy night.
"There's only two things in this world, love and pain both intertwined, relevant to all . And painful to all." Leornars said
"There's no need to save this world,it needs to be fixed. Children shouldn't die , parents shouldn't mourn. I'll be the problem that fixes this tragedy, and ironic twist of fate" Leornars said with a bitter laugh as he looked to the hazy, smog-filled sky.
The demi humans began to quote his words of justice as they departed slowly, their figures fading into the oppressive heat and darkness.