“Mortal, why are you not speaking?”

“I-I-I...uh-” I stuttered, unable to form words. I’d always said to myself I’d walk up to a king one day and slap him straight off his throne, but while slapping him would be easy, talking to him...

Well, that’s a different story. I had a sock stuck in my throat, and I was supposed to say something. Every second I kept studdering out of nervousness, I grew even more nervous. I was in front of the triumvirate. I could have my existence wiped from reality with the flick of a hand, and nobody would see to make me a martyr.

“W-w-well...I-I sa-” I couldn’t do it. It was way too much. I just stood like a dunce, in front of my patron, who was chained and beaten, kneeling on the ground.

I heard a chuckle come from her, and my nervousness turned into fear. Was I about to be laughed at by my own patron, wasn’t I? I tried to let myself slip-fall onto the ground-anything to show these gods just how utterly terrified and useless I was, but they didn’t even allow me to fall flat on my butt. Instead, I just fell into an invisible force, which sat me upright forcibly.

“Was I misunderstood, child? You must speak, and tell us what you witnessed just before your arrival at this place.” Kvet, god of sentiment, sounded quite monotone, at least he wasn’t angry.

I started to get nauseous. I took a step backward, then looked at where I’d come from. The doors were shut, but Joe and Zufphet were leaning against it, waiting for me to finish. How come they didn’t have to be traumatized, huh?

I took a step forward, in a meager attempt to regain my confidence with movement. The arena was silent, and I didn’t know what to do. “I, uhh...I w-wanted t-to uhh...” I spoke without thinking in the slightest, after realizing that, I closed my mouth. What did I want to do, again? Oh right, get out.

I looked at Seraph again. Her head was bowed even further down, and I couldn’t see any of her face.

“Can...can I L-lea...” I trailed off, realizing just how stupid the question was.

Seraph chucked again, bobbing her head, and showing me her eyes for a moment. I’d passed by quite a few of the insane not long ago, so I could remember their eyes clear as day. She had the same eyes as the rest of them, right now.

“I believe she is experiencing a severe case of ‘stage fright’, Kvet.” Keolon, god of knowledge, said in an informational tone.

“What exactly is that?”

“Some mortals are particularly averse to speaking in a public setting.”

“How can we consider this ‘public’, this is a private trial.”

“It sometimes seems to apply to settings where they face those far higher than them in rank and power.”

“Ahh, I see. She is scared, and being faced with such an important task in front of important people has made her unsure of herself. She is, after all, unimportant. Bar this single point in her life, she will be unable to truly change the world, left to make what she can of an otherwise unimportant and fleeting life. How truly pitiful.”

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After I failed to speak for so long, Seraph raised her head, then looked at me in the eyes. All I saw was myself, reflected in hers. She laughed. She laughed like she had never seen a joke funnier than my face-like the world was ending and she didn’t have anything better to do. That was all that resounded through the great colosseum, just laughter. She looked crazy, her overgrown, unkempt blonde hair fell and rose as she spasmed in her binding chains. Her face, beneath the hair, was nothing short of a madwoman’s. Her eyes looked at me with some combination of pity and contempt. Her face looked like she hadn’t smiled in weeks, it stretched from one side of her face to another in a mad curve. Her wings flapped uncontrollably, making her fly a foot above the ground, unable to go any higher.

Laughter,

Laughter,

Laughter,

Laughter,

Laughter,

Laughter,

Laughter,

Laughter,

Laughter,

Laughter,

Laughter,

Laughter,

Her laughing shot me straight out of my stupor. I just watched as for some unreasonable length of time, the colosseum was filled with no noise but the sound of her insane laughter.

Suddenly, a hand on my shoulder made me jump in surprise. It was joe. “Yeah, this situation is pretty funny, gotta agree with the mute angel, My Hope.” The sudden warp back to reality made my emotions take control again.

Kukaltl, god of truth, spoke, “Who is this ‘hope’ you speak of, Joe?”

“This kid. She’s My Hope.”

“What is your relationship with this child?”

“Uhh...” he looked down at me, thoughtful. He then shrugged, in front of the three beings that controlled the fabric of reality, “I’m her guardian.”

I turned to look up at his face. He had a dumb smile, and when he looked at me, winked.

I buried my face into him, and tears began running down my face, soaked up by his shirt. I couldn’t let myself cry where gods could see me. This situation was nothing like planing an attack or hitting a monster. It was just torture. I almost let out a sob but held back. I’m a warrior, not a sniveling...child...?

He gently placed a hand on the back of my head.

“I don’t believe you have been permitted by this child to refer to yourself that way, Joenelle,” Kukaltl said. His voice echoed through the room, just like the others. For the first time, however, he sounded just the slightest bit annoyed.

“Hey kid, can I be your guardian for this trial?”

It took me a moment, but I looked up from his chest and nodded. I wasted no time hiding my face again.

“is that sufficient permission?”

Kvet spoke to Kukaltl with a somewhat quieter booming voice, “I have found her actions sufficiently true to her true sentiments.”

Kukaltl then spoke, “What do you wish to say, then, ‘Saya’s guardian’?”

Joe then whispered to me “You can just say what you gotta say to me, no need to talk directly to these losers.”

I gave an “mmm” of affirmation.

“Ok, goodie. I’ll be the one speaking for...Saya, My Hope, I’ll speak nothing less than the sincere and full truth of her words.”

Seraph slowly stopped laughing when she heard that.

“This is acceptable,” Keolon said. They each sounded almost the same, but simply spoke for different things.

I raised my head a little to look at Joe. It was so much easier to speak in the claustrophobic space between my face and his, “S-so I-I-I fought and killed some [cobold]s with Maldrain, an adventurer, and we found t-th-at they had been caring for a [drake]. So I looked-”

“Wait, stop a moment. Small snippets.” Joe said to me, then looked back at the triumvirate, “Ahem-I fought and killed some [cobold]s with uhh, Maladrain, who is an adventurer, then we found that they had been caring for a [drake].”

“[cobold]s do not care for drakes. This seems unlikely.” Keolon said.

“I-I don’t know why they did, but that’s the truth.”

“She says she doesn’t know why they did, but that’s the truth.” He shrugged

“Then you may continue.”

“I went to check the-” I inhaled sharply in an attempt to stop snot from falling down my nose “-the [drake]’s stats, but its menu was really weird.”

“She went to check the [drake]’s stats, but its menu was really weird.”

“It had two patrons...It was Drakonis and Maophas. It also had a blessing from both of them, [blessing of maophas] and [drakonis’s fate]”

“The [drake] had two patrons, Drakonis and Maophas, and it had [blessing of maophas] and [drakonis’s fate]”

“IMPOSSIBLE!” Keolon yelled, “Drakonis would never betray us like this! Kukaltl, please do not trust the words of this preposterous falsehood! Surely some other being is framing him!”

Kukaltl spoke again, “Keolon, do you have any evidence to back up this claim? Surely no one could have planned this child would report this to the heavens. We keep our affairs secret to the mortals, and she should not have known the importance of her discovery. Continue, child. What else did you witness, before contacting us?”

“I...I-I saw that it had [fire breath] even though it was a [drake], and also that it had [deaf], and [death wing], and I realized that it must have been blessed by Maophas because it was deaf, just like how I’m blessed by Seraph.”

Joe looked surprised by my last statement, but continued anyway, “She says it had [fire breath], [deaf], and [death wing]-”

“Please repeat that line, mortal,” Kukaltl said, almost sounding outright angry.

“Sure...She said it had [fire breath], [deaf], and [death wing]”

Their voices no longer boomed across the stadium, but I could hear yelling from far away, some sort of argument.

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A voice boomed out again, “Seraph. Before we send this witness away, we must apply this knowledge to your actions.” It was Keolon, “You attempted to tell this child to spare the accursed [drake]. Do you stand by this, goddess?” He talked down to her. The anger that lined his words made it clear that standing by it was an admission of guilt, “You may speak.”

“...” I felt the need to look at Seraph, so I turned my head to see her. Her eyes were far warmer, but I couldn’t see anything other than my reflection in them, again. I saw a tear fall from her face. Even gods can cry... “...Kill it...” Her voice was filled with pain, and after speaking those words as if she had just asked me to kill her own child, her head fell in shame. Did she really want me to listen to her when she so clearly wanted nothing more than to say the opposite?

“I have found your words carry no sincerity, Seraph. You may leave, mortals,” Kvet said.

“I-I’m sorry, what?” Joe said, confused.

“Leave, mortals. You are no longer needed in this realm. You will return to the material plane when you walk through the Precipice of Heaven” There was tightening anger in Kvet’s voice.

“Uhh, ok?” Joe looked back down at me, “Let’s go...I guess.” He was clearly nervous and confused but still had a small, sly grin on his face.

We walked back to the massive double doors, Zufphet followed right behind us, and then we unceremoniously stepped through them without another word.

I arrived where I last was, next to the fire. I fell on top of my [soul cushion] and saw Joe and Zufphet fall nearby at about the same time as me.

Maladrain was gone, but the drake remained. It looked up at me with surprise. Clearly, I hadn’t been gone for too long.

“Damn that hurt!” Joe said, “Oh! I can finally say damn and hell again! damn, hell, damn, hell, damn, hell, damn, hell, hey! this is damn nice!”

Zufphet just laid on the ground. He was dead, long dead.

“Good to see he could finally retire.”

I grabbed my sword, which was on the ground. I was dressed the same way I was before I had been ‘temporarily ascended’ then stood up.

The drake was on its back-tiny, harmless, and entirely unaware.

I raised my sword. Joe looked at me with slight curiosity, wondering what I would do. I remembered what Driver had said to me: “She speaks in falsehood and fear”. Seraph didn’t want me to kill it. She had no other choice, so she betrayed her own feelings and told me to kill the creature.

What would happen if I didn’t? It was my duty as Seraph’s Chosen to follow any direct command from her, and if someone performed an act in direct violation of their patron’s wishes...?

I lowered my sword. She didn’t want me to, so there was no reason to perform such a cruel act, even if her words betrayed that sentiment. I would spare the ‘accursed creature’

You have directly contradicted the wishes of your god.

You have no patron.

[seraph’s wisdom] removed

[life wing] removed

New classes available!

You have unlocked every prerequisite for the [oathbreaker] general class!

You are now damned.