The last sound Kael heard was the dry clack of the switch.
An atrocious pain shot through his body, rising from the soles of his feet, enveloping him in a mantle of electric fire. The muscles in his face contracted into a silent grimace. He didn't scream. There was nothing left in him but despair, the coldness of the metal, and the smell of burning rubber.
Innocent.
It was the one thought that persisted, bitter like blood on his tongue. He was Tiffoun, the bright but naive and somewhat foolish young intellectual, executed for the murder and theft of a stranger—a perfect trap set by the girl he loved. He had cried for weeks in his cell, begging heaven for a second chance, not for life, but for justice.
"I want them to rot. All the trash." This was his last vow, whispered in the silence of his fear.
Then, darkness. Not rest, but the void.
The Awakening to Judgment
The void yielded to light, a blinding golden glow that tore through the shadows. Kael collapsed onto a floor of pulverized rock and arid earth, coughing up acrid smoke.
He was on his knees, his entire body trembling, yet alive. Around him stretched cracked plains beneath a tormented sky, torn by sick shades of purple and orange clouds. In the distance, a gigantic silhouette stood, a kind of monument or gate.
"So, you wished for justice, Tiffoun?"
The voice was a warm murmur on the back of his neck, like a breeze in an icy desert.
Kael turned abruptly. Standing a few meters away, an ethereal entity floated. She was clad in a linen robe, her face obscured by an aura of pure gold. In her hands, she held an immense stone tablet and a balance with oversized scales.
"Where am I? Who... who are you?" Kael tried to stand, but his legs gave out.
The entity did not answer directly. She raised the tablet, and luminous glyphs, seemingly made of stardust, appeared before Kael.
The FP System
| Name: | Kael (Tiffoun) |
|---|---|
| Origin: | Earth (Unjustly Executed) |
| FP (Fault Points): | 0 |
| Moral Corruption: | 0% (Pure Soul) |
| Skills: | None |
| Rank: | The Condemned |
The entity looked down at him, her voice now a reverberation that seemed to come from the stone itself.
"Welcome to the Final Judgement. You were executed for a murder you did not commit. Your balance is empty. But this place... it is not made for the innocent. It is filled with all the guilty souls, all the criminals, great and small, from your world."
She pointed her finger toward the landscape.
"Look."
Kael looked. Men and women were scattered across the plain. Some were crawling, weak. Others walked with insolent confidence. One of them, a bare-chested colossus, crushed the skull of a smaller man with a single kick. The body disintegrated into bluish particles, like silver dust flying up to the sky.
Then, surprise. The colossus straightened, and a dark red aura enveloped him for a moment.
"That colossus was a serial killer on Earth. He was reincarnated with colossal FPs. The wretch he just annihilated had merely stolen candy in his previous life but was repentant."
The entity explained the system:
"Here, Power is measured by Fault Points (FP). Every crime committed on Earth would have given you FPs. The colossus has thousands of points. You, Kael, have zero. Every annihilation you witness is an act that gives you the power to survive."
Kael shivered. "Me... kill? Never."
The entity leaned in, her golden aura vibrating with sadness.
"You don't understand. This world is an existential prison. Here, one does not die of old age. But if you are killed by someone else, your soul is not reincarnated. It is annihilated, scattered into the Void without return. Only FPs will give you a chance."
"So... I must commit the very crimes I wanted to punish?" Kael's voice was a thread.
"To survive. To become strong enough to perhaps achieve the justice you so desired."
The First Sign of Threat
Suddenly, a shadow loomed. The colossus who had just finished off the repentant man, drawn by the light of the entity, approached with heavy steps.
"Look at that. A little pure soul, not yet tainted. And you, old Balance... scaring this kid." The colossus sneered, his voice deep like distant thunder. "I'll finish him. He won't get any FPs, and I'll have some fun."
The ethereal entity disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Kael alone to face the colossus.
The criminal advanced, smiling. Kael was without strength, without skill, without defense. He felt fear paralyze him, a fear far more intense than that of the execution, because this one led to total oblivion.
He's going to kill me. I'm going to disappear. It's over.
As the colossus raised his fist, Kael remembered the betrayal, the girl's smile, the injustice that had sent him here.
Fear transformed into a cold rage, a chilling acceptance.
No.
There would be no oblivion. No annihilation. If he had to become a monster to destroy the trash, then so be it. But for now, he had to survive.
The colossus took one more step...