Chapter 11

The Trial

Ben, Anna and Short Bus all looked up at the surprisingly small courthouse that sat alone on its own plot of flat barren glassy black ground in the upper tiers of Solas. It reminded Ben of how schoolhouses were depicted back in the pioneer days of America, the geometry of a simple rectangular box with an angled roof. The building was a stark and pristine white, in sharp contrast to the ground around it, and looked to be made of some high tech future material, some sort of super ceramic that allowed the building to exist as one singular piece. Ben didn’t know much about how the Legal Classes worked in The World, but even he could tell he was looking at a top tier piece of equipment. It was like in certain games that had a town or city building aspect to them, where buildings provided bonuses to whatever action was being done inside of them. A low level crafting hall, for instance, might allow the crafting of items, where as a high leveled one might provide a flat +50% to the stats of all items created in the hall, as well as a chance for it to transform into a magical or legendary item.

Ben hadn’t been a gamer, not really, but he’d played enough to understand what he was feeling just at a glance. This courthouse was powerful, and whatever happened in here would be final.

“This is the Supreme Courthouse of the Signatory Races of Solas,” Anna whispered, finally confronted by something in life that actually humbled her a bit, “a Relic class building, and one of the most powerful courthouses ever constructed. Our [Lawyers] are inside already,” she continued, “and they’ve collected a huge amount of Testimony.”

“How? There are only a few of us who were actually there.”

“So, we’re rich now, super rich, so we were able to purchase the services of some of the best [False Witnesses] in Solas. They’re really high level individuals, all their skills are designed towards generating gobs of Testimony for Legal Classes to use in court.”

“That’s,” Ben was about to protest, but then thought better of it. “Never mind. How much Testimony do we have, exactly? Is it going to be enough?”

“Ben, we’ve got enough Testimony to get out of anything. Trust me, I’ve seen this play out enough with Daddy, who is a literal [Crime Lord], we’ve got enough. We have the best [Lawyers], the most money, more Testimony than the other side, and you’re a member of the Signatory Races, and therefore, you’re entire Quest party is defacto also apart of the Signatory Races. All you have to do is remember how to retrace your steps through the time loop and recreate this series of events, but you don’t even have to do that, because Dubdella, Humna and me all have that time loop scrapbook app, so when you break the loop, we’ll be able to get ourselves up to speed on all this.”

“When you put it like that,” Ben said, rubbing his chin with a [Magical] hand, finally allowing himself to feel a measure of relief, “yeah, I think we’re as ready as we can possibly be. Come on, let’s get in there.” His heart started pounding and the calm cleared from his mind as he realized that his long and painful journey was finally coming to an end. Relief, blessed relief, entered him then, and he knew that he had already won. Now, all that was left was to claim his prize. “Come on,” Ben said to his sort-of wife, “let’s end this.”

The entered the building.

--

______________

Some Time Later

______________

The Trial was going unbelievably well. They hadn’t gotten Urth, the dwarven hammer, but instead an ancient looking Sunlet was presiding over everything. It didn’t seem like that actually mattered, however. Their [Lawyers] argued before the [Judge], using skill after skill, endless pages of Testimony flowing out of their briefcases as they spoke. Ben was shocked at the behavior of the prosecution, who had apparently been so cowed by the defenses display that they actually declined to even make a counter argument or utilize a single skill. They just sat silently on their side of the courtroom, hands folded in front of them as they endured the powerful barrage of skills.

The Judge, likewise, had also remained silent, listening intently and nodding his head along to the arguments of the defense. It all boiled down to three main points, each individually backed up by a mountain of evidence and magical power: One, Ben’s party had destroyed the Citadel, and thus no crime could be said to have been committed. Two, nobody could prove that Vivi had engaged in any criminal summoning, thus, there were only accusations. Three, there was absolutely no evidence that a Purebeast was illegally in the possession of Prince Ben, and as a member of the Signatory Races, it was illegal to murder him to seize his possessions on a mere suspicion.

Those were, after all, all the charges against him and his party. Reckless raiding of a Citadel, Criminal Summoning, and the Possession of Celestial Materials.

It finally came to a point in the proceedings where the defense had nothing left to say, after all, the prosecution hadn’t even attempted to make an argument, choosing simply to let the defense act unopposed. Anna was obviously recording the entire thing, clearly giddy that things were going so well. The Judge spoke after a few moments of silence.

“Does the prosecution have anything to say about all that?”

“Yes.” The lead [Prosecutor], who was the same Sunlet who’d been acting against Ben in the Legal District during his initial trial, “but before I do, may I speak directly to the defendant, Prince Ben?”

“Granted.” The Sunlet turned to look at Ben, an enigmatic expression of near sympathy on his face.

“This,” he said, gesturing to the Courthouse, to the Lawyers, to their stacks of Testimony, to Anna, “all this? I will remember it for the rest of my immortal life with the deepest kind of respect. No finer effort has ever been made, no greater struggle to survive will I ever witness. You have moved heaven and earth to get here, and I acknowledge you. I am humbled.” He bowed to Ben, then looked at the Judge, “your honor, please examine the character sheet of Prince Ben, which we have provided for you. As you can clearly see, his race is listed as ‘Human, (Leap-rechaun)’. This race, that of ‘Human’ and all subvariants, are clearly defined as Monsters under Sunlet law and Solas city policy. As a monstrous race, he has no rights under the law, Signatory Status or not.”

“That’s not true!” Ben’s defense [Lawyer] shouted, standing up, “when was this decided?”

“Several hours ago,” the [Prosecutor] said, giving Anna a significant look, “right about the time the two of you were saying your vows. Your honor, permission to capture the monster in the courtroom?”

Ben’s heart was hammering in his chest as shock and despair froze him into inaction.

“Permission granted, this trial is over. Good show Prince Ben, but that Purebeast you may or may not have in your possession has attracted some very powerful attention. Honestly, you never stood a chance in the first place. A bit cruel to even have this farce of a trial, but that’s what separates us from common [Bandits].”

“Wait,” Ben said, feeling as if the ground had opened up under him and he was falling, “wait, so it was all pointless?” The judge nodded.

“What you have is too valuable. Anything you did would simply be countered with the full force of Sunlet civilization. Even if you were to simply give us the Purebeast, it wouldn’t be enough. After all, you might have a second one, but more than that, you know. Can’t have that. Almost a shame to snuff you out like this though. Almost. Take him away.”

Then, it was all a familiar blur as he was bound kicking and screaming, hung on an upside down crucifix, and berated by [City Officials] to disgorge the contents of his Utility Pocket. The only difference this time was the crowd of wailing women held back by the guards as Anna, Humna, and Dubdella all tried in vain to save his life. His wife, and the two mothers of his elemental children.

As he died this time, he felt that it was not only his body, but his spirit as well that was killed. He drifted limply through the timestream, a dead soul filled with only empty despair. Death dressed in his black robes watched Ben pass him by once again and called out to him without removing his hood.

“I’ll see you soon then!” Death said, then waved as Ben returned to the past.

“Did it work?” Short Bus said, then he kept talking, “oh shit, it worked! Did you see those notifications? You totally messed up the size of the loop, good thing the capitol crystal bailed us out! Thanks capitol crystal!” He paused, only now seeing Ben’s expression, “Hey buddy, are you doing ok?”

“It didn’t work,” Ben said, sagging to the ground, “nothing worked.”

“What!” Short Bus was incredulous, not having read Ben’s mind yet, “but we haven’t tried anything yet!”

“That’s how time magic works,” Ben said, “from an outside perspective. But I’ve already tried everything. You put something in my mind, it’ll explain everything.”

“Ok sure, sure,” Short Bus said, a concerned expression on his face, then a slack jawed one as he downloaded the psychic information package he’d stored in Ben’s brain. While he did that a new notification appeared in Ben’s mind, this one written in red.

[Notice]

[City officials of Solas have been notified of the presence of a time loop.]

[Please stand by.]

There was a crashing wave of power, a burst that came directly from the Capitol Crystal in the center of the city. It washed over everything and the sound of something being shattered was heard.

[The Capitol Crystal has successfully dispelled the illegal time loop. Please be on the lookout for suspicious behavior.]

“That was fast,” Short Bus said, “how’d they figure it out?”

“I’d put good money on Dryst,” Ben said, his voice muted. “Ok, let’s just start another loop, and we’re back to square one.” Ben pulled out the Pocketwatch of Time Loop, but before he could even realize that he didn’t have the Experience Points to fund another loop, a regular notification was displayed in his mind.

[This item is currently on cooldown. Time remaining: Three Days]

[One time Plus Player tooltip]

[The Pocketwatch of Time Loop shall always have a cooldown equal to the length of it’s previously cast time loop. For instance, if you were to create a time loop of one hour, upon the breaking or expiration of the loop, the cooldown would be for one hour. As your previous loop was for the duration of three days, the cooldown shall be the same length.]

“Well,” Ben said, closing his eyes, “we’re dead.”

--

Ben sat in a quiet glade outside of Solas, not quite far enough to trigger a manhunt, but far enough to be away from it all, staring at his own dead body, the same one he’d recovered from The Citadel of Horrors. Though there seemed to have been some preservative effect from whatever mutagenic liquid it’d been suspended in, time had not been kind to the corpse. It was a gruesome and bleak thing. Ben stared at his puffy face and swollen body, slightly warped and insectile in only cosmetic ways.

He'd already broken the bad news to the rest of the party, and that had taken longer than he’d liked. Vivi and Ghost Ears had taken it the hardest, the two of them unable to accept that there was no solution, that there was no way to escape their fate. Ben hadn’t tried to stop them when they’d stormed off to do something, anything, but he’d made sure Short Bus shared as much information about the future with them as possible.

Slowly, fearfully, Ben reached out his hand and touched his corpse, touched his own ruined and cold dead flesh. It was inert, nothing like what a body should be, both too firm and too soft at the same time. Everything about it was wrong, and Ben shut his eyes and pulled his hand away, tears streaming down his face. He began to sob, to grieve.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “I’m so sorry I got you killed.” It wasn’t his original form, but it was his original body, despite the magic and mutation that had warped and transformed it so completely. It was the body he’d been born in, and it was dead. “You carried me for decades,” he sobbed, “and now you’re dead and it’s all my fault.”

He was alone in the glade, nobody had tried to follow him at his request. He reached out and held the dead hand, no matter how wrong it felt, how limp, and gave it a squeeze. “You deserved better than what I gave you. I know you’re just the flesh, just a body, just a- an accumulation of all the food I’ve ever eaten, a pile of meat. I know it, but still.” Ben sniffed, “you still deserve better than this.” With that, Ben got to work digging the worst kind of hole. Two and half feet wide, eight feet long, and six feet deep.

A grave.

Ben took his time with it, using his Utility Pocket to make it perfect, to smooth the walls and floor, to make it look the part and take longer to complete. When he was finished, he jumped out of the hole effortlessly and approached his body. Ben crouched down next to it and went forehead to forehead.

“Goodbye old friend. Thank you for carrying me so far.”

Ben closed the eyes and lifted the body, carefully carrying it down into the deep pit. When he laid his old corpse to rest, he couldn’t help but laugh at how comically oversized the grave seemed in comparison to the Leap-rechaun body he’d put in it. He stared one last time, then crossed the arms over the chest, and jumped to the surface. He opened a Utility Pocket and began pouring out dirt.

His body would rot under this alien soil, would decompose and hopefully enrich this single patch of world, starting the cycle of life anew. He created a respectable cairn of stacked stones to mark the grave and said a prayer.

[You have laid a body to rest with care and performed adequate funeral rites. This corpse may no longer be raise as an undead.]

The notification hit him like an offensive smell, breaking the mood completely.

“I need a fucking drink,” Ben decided, and started his long walk back to the city. He considered the single wish remaining on his finger, wondering what he should do with it. As he walked, Frankie climbed out a Utility Pocket and draped himself over Ben’s shoulder, looking completely exhausted, but also happy, like he’d just accomplished something truly difficult.

“Frankie, there you are! I was starting to get worried little guy. What, you need a drink too?”

Frankie lifted a single stumpy arm and angled it towards the place where Ben imagined a mouth would be, clearly saying yes.

“Come on little guy, let’s go. Wasn’t Thirty-One talking about taking us out to some robot bar?”