Chapter 145: Revelations – Chapter 137: Courtly Confusion

They did not have to wait long for both the Light and the Dark judge to appear. Just like the previous Celestial, neither of them seemed concerned with the Goddess of Duty and Loss in the room.

"Welcome," the Dark Judge said, bowing slightly. "I see your endeavour has proven most fruitful. Congratulations."

"It was not 'fruitful'," Aperio said, her eyes settling on Epemirial. "She is most unhelpful." And seems to believe her delusions.

The Light Judge took a step towards the soon-to-be disgraced Goddess, grabbing at the air in front of it and producing a scroll made of parchment. "Is she saying something to the effect of you being an evil deity that enslaves us all with the System?"

"Yes," Aperio replied. "I still fail to see how the System is enslaving anyone, however. It is what gives most mortals — and Gods — their power. It enables them to become more than they were. That is hardly enslavement.

"What they do, on the other hand," Aperio continued, trying her best to keep her aura from flaring up too much, "is most definitely slavery. The worst kind, at that."

The mere fact that Epemirial and her ilk had been going around engraving the Mark of Servitude on people’s Souls was already enough for Aperio to write them all off and be done with them. Sadly, that would not get the information she wanted and, while it was certainly theoretically possible to rummage through their Souls in order to forcefully retrieve the information, that action was very much against her own beliefs.

"I do believe we can gather some more information from her," the Dark Judge said, stepping up next to its Light colleague. "We may bear the title of Judge, but we do much more than simply proclaim a verdict."

"And now," the Light Judge continued, "we finally have the chance to actually prosecute one of the deities that thought themselves above the court." The Celestial looked away from the scroll in its hands, eyeing the Goddess in front of it. "The list of your crimes is quite long."

Aperio would have guessed that the Judges were happy, but neither of them seemed to be capable of expressing much emotion. Kind of like me? The All-Mother was not really good at showing what she felt. Unless I am angry… Destruction was easy to see and do, after all.

"Your little Court is below me," Epemirial said. "The only reason you can reach me is because the Tyrant decided it was a good new way to torment me."

Aperio closed her eyes, letting a bit of her Void flow around her as she tried her best to not hear the words Epemirial had just said. How full of yourself can you be? It almost seemed like the Goddess of Duty and Loss was trying to get herself killed. Do the Judges have a better way to get information? If they touch her Soul…

She might not like Epemirial, but that did not mean she would let anyone mess with her Soul either. The only action she would permit to happen would be to cast it into the River of Souls and let it be washed clean. Or destroy it completely if her crimes are too grievous.

"There are only a handful of beings that are truly above the [Court of Heaven]," the Dark Judge said. "You are not one of them."

"And what will happen now?" Aperio asked. "I want to know what she did, and why, without having to look through all her memories."

"Normally we would have depositions and the works," the Light Judge said, turning to face the All-Mother. "Gather all the relevant facts from both sides to best be able to judge the case.

"For her," it continued, gesturing at the scroll in its hand, "the matter is both easier and more complicated."

"How so?"

"It is easier because we do not need to gather evidence and listen to witnesses," it replied. "Most of the information we need is already recorded in the System from other cases."

"Which makes it more complicated," the other Judge continued. "We cannot know to what extent those cases relate to her, and the reason we cannot rely on witnesses is because they would rather remain silent than speak out against a Goddess of her stature – the act would be useless."

"That is an easy problem to solve," Aperio said. "Her time as a Goddess has come to an end regardless. It does not matter if I strip her of my blessing now, or after the case."

That goes for most of the Pantheon. Nearly everything she had learned about the current Pantheon of the deities she had personally elevated was less than stellar. Aside from a few exceptions like Edisicio, the Gods she had made had turned on her and fallen to depravity for reasons that were still not quite clear to her. Power corrupts?

If that statement was true, she should be a tyrant like Epemirial had said. But I don't do much besides cleaning up the mess they made… All Aperio wanted to do was live a life in peace, away from the struggles of the divine. Just me and Caethya… Maybe open a small shop?

Epemirial did not seem to like her suggestion as she glared at Aperio. The All-Mother could not help but smile back at the Goddess. Serves you right. She still wanted to just grab the woman by her throat and give it a nice little squeeze until the life in her eyes went out, but that was counterproductive.

"That will sadly not help much," the Dark Judge said. "Her word would still carry some weight." The Celestial hesitated for a moment, its usual expressionless face contorting briefly before it continued. "We also do not like to pass any form of judgement before a case is complete."

"Fine," Aperio replied, not bothering to hide her dislike for their decision. "Then what can you do now? You said that witnesses would not be forthcoming — and I am not even sure where you would find any, besides myself — and the evidence you have is with the System. And you are not even sure how it relates to her yet." Seems like it was a waste of time to bring her here. They can't do anything.

"We will do what we always do," the Light Judge said, offering Aperio the scroll. "It will take a day or two, but the method has yet to fail. There is always a Truth to be found."

The All-Mother took the offered piece of parchment and carefully unfurled it. Her eyes darted over the ancient-looking letters that she did not know but still somehow understood. At the top there was a list of crimes that Epemirial was accused of having committed; ranging from trivial infractions all the way up to deicide, heresy against the Creator, and the literal theft of Souls. The last two are one and the same. Heresy against her could only come in a few forms. One of which was messing with Souls.

A few lines down from the list of crimes were a set of scribbles, presumably written by the Judges, that outlined how they wanted to approach the problem. Apparently they were quite sure they could wrangle the truth out of the Goddess as most of their plan was built upon the fact that she did not lie. How is that supposed to work?

The All-Mother made a wave with her hand, erecting a barrier around Epemirial that would stop her from seeing and hearing what happened outside before she asked her question. "How do you intend on getting her to tell the truth? All of what you wrote here assumes she does not lie.

"And even then," Aperio continued. "Is it a lie if she believes it herself? What if she is so delusional that she thinks what she does is the right thing?"

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"Then she admits to committing the crime," Caethya said from her position next to Aperio. Her disciple had largely remained quiet since their arrival, either not comfortable enough with the Judges to speak or too polite to interrupt them. "I think they want to determine the truth of her actions, not her words."

"Very astute!" the Dark Judge said with an enthusiastic nod. "Though I am a little surprised that the Creator has forgotten about the abilities we were given.. Our job would be impossible if we could not tell if someone actually did what they are accused of."

"If you can do that, why even have witnesses?" Aperio asked, quite confused as to how the Court was supposed to work. She was well acquainted with the system the Empire had used – and ignored, the times nobles presided instead of an actual judge.

"It doesn't hurt to have more perspective," the Light Judge replied. "We would be fools to assume we are infallible. Therefore, proper research and procedure is required. You made that very clear when you gave us this position."

The All-Mother rubbed her temples and sighed. "Just do what you have to do," she said, handing back the scroll. "I will take a look through her Dominion and try to find some answers there."

"Of course," the Light Judge replied, bowing slightly. "We would take the accused to her room, if you would allow it."

Aperio tilted her head slightly as she felt a small draw on her well when the Judge spoke the words 'the accused'. A quick check revealed that Epemirial's most prominent title was no longer Goddess of Duty and Loss, but The Accused. Did that only work because this realm suppresses her powers?

"You may," she eventually said, dismissing the magic that had granted them privacy from the delusional Goddess. "I will keep an eye on her nonetheless."

Both Judges bowed slightly at her words before they, alongside Epemirial, disappeared in a small flash of golden light. Aperio had little trouble finding them again, as the Judges had brought the Goddess a good distance away, to a room that seemingly had no doors. Still better than what most of her followers have.

The room Epemirial was now in had a nice bed, a separate washroom that Aperio was fairly certain she did not need, and even a shelf that seemed to contain more books than it should.

Caethya rested her head against Aperio's shoulder as the All-Mother heaved another sigh. "And here I thought I would get some answers. But no, it's just more accusations. What did I do that they even think that?"

"That's what we have to figure out, isn't it?" her disciple asked as she slowly brushed her fingers over Aperio's arm. "I do not know what those two intend to do with Epemirial, but they seemed to have a plan."

"They are the Judges of the [Court of Heaven] ," Aperio said. "It would be very bad if they did not have a plan."

"You are the All-Mother, and rarely have a plan."

"That is…" Aperio began. She wanted to object the statement, but Caethya was correct. Most of the time she didn't have a plan. Like now. Sure, she knew what she wanted to achieve, but she had never really thought about how she might get there. "True," she admitted with a sigh.

But how should I plan for something I know almost nothing about? Aperio wondered, a part of her mind focusing on the two Judges to, perhaps, get a glance as to how they planned.

Sadly, their approach seemed to include staring at each other and not actually talking. Telepathy? Aperio already knew that the Celestials did not really speak — they had no mouths to do so, after all — so seeing them just stare at each other while still somehow looking like they were deep in conversation only seemed to leave telepathy for a plausible answer.

"How do I plan for something that I know so little about?" Aperio asked. "I don't even know what my limits are. Do I even have any? Why did I die in the first place if I am this strong? I know I could sit in my Void and just execute everyone who is against me, but that doesn't tell me why, and forcefully ripping that knowledge from their Souls is just wrong."

"Breathe," Caethya said, moving herself in front of the All-Mother. She cupped the All-Mother's face with her hands, trying her best to get Aperio to look only at her. "We already know you wanted to live a life of a mortal; Moria told you that. She also said that you knew that you might not remember everything right away."

"But why?" Aperio asked in exhaustion. "Because I was bored? Because I had to do it?" Because I wanted to become even stronger? …How does that even work?

"I think you did it because you wanted to," her disciple said. "But I also think that you having forgotten everything was not part of your plan.

"The best bet for answers at the moment is Epemirial," she continued. "I know you don't trust easily, but have some faith in the Judges. They made it sound like you created them explicitly to solve issues like this."

"Perhaps I did," Aperio mumbled, lowering her gaze slightly before she took a deep breath. Then she shook her head. "While we wait for them, I would like to visit Epemirial's Dominion. Maybe I can find something I missed before."

"We could try asking the people there," Caethya suggested. "If Epemirial wanted them to forget that you existed, they might not know what you look like."

"It's worth a try," Aperio said. "Seems a little far-fetched, however."

"Any plan is better than no plan," her disciple said, standing up.

Aperio followed suit, offering her hand to Caethya who took it without hesitation. "I hope your 'plan' brings some answers."

GamingWolf

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