515. Broken Blood Moons

515. Broken Blood Moons

There was a belief that the worst crime one can commit is treachery. Justica Arms saw the sin of pride as an inarguable one-way ticket into the Lament Cycle. Frost believed it was a loutish decision.

It still did not change that the Blood Moons, the Red Giants, Marduk and Iscario fell into this category of sin. Frost was not the kind of person to catalogue a person’s wrong doings. What mattered to her the most was the degree of it and their state of mind at the time.

However, there were hideous acts that did not need a state of mind to be proven. The principles she followed were cultivated from Earth; the Actus Reus – the Act; and the Mens Rea – the person’s state of mind during the time of the act.

In rare cases, the person’s state of mind can justify the act committed. Justica Arms followed a similar principle and were extremely lenient on those that were able to have their sins rationalized. The ones convicted on the other hand were treated like unwanted filth and were exiled into the City of Spades or became the Condemned.

But if they truly desired to change – then they were given a chance of redemption.

That chance was of course processed via the Lament Cycle.

If they could not overcome their trials, then they could never properly repent?

“Galia always said it was a shame that people can only die once.” Carpalis giggled. “She’s a believer in change. But that change can only be achieved in the depths of the same despair they caused others. Hehe. Isn’t she so kind?”

“Has she always been like that? Scary to think that she used to come from Earth.” Frost agreed with Galia’s approach, although of course, this was only so long as it concerned the worst of the worst. “We’re heading to the lowest level, I presume?”

“The last catwalk holds all the traitorous Stars and Moons.” Acedia eagerly responded, like a dog slobbering by the ringing of Pavlov’s Bell.

They descended the steel walkways, their weight causing it to groan. It seemed like it would fall off at any moment, unnerving Abigail as she stuck close to Carpalis.

“That reminds me. Abigail.” The girl jolted in response to Frost’s voice as they neared the bottom.

“Y-Yes!” Her bright voice echoed throughout the miserable pit, rousing groans from the damned.

“Are you sure you’re comfortable in this kind of environment? I can think of a thousand different places you can be here.”

“T-To be honest with you – I’m like this because you’re here.” Abigail confessed, causing Frost to make a silent ‘huh’ as she pointed at her face.

“I’m not that scary, am I?” She genuinely asked, slightly wounded by her.

“I don’t know what it is, but you’ve become much scarier than last time.”

I don’t have Beyond the Threshold active, right Nav?

“You do not. It must be her instincts and intuition at play.”

The first was that they were still evil at heart.

But the second hinted at a broken compass that they had been following all this time.

“Carpalis. Why do you want me to forgive them?” Frost desperately wanted to understand what was going through her mind.

There was a few Blood Moons that still had the colors in their eyes. They locked up in fear when they noticed Frost. It was an instinctual response. They did not know who or what she was, but even so, their bodies could not help but tremble, their shackles clanking in a cacophony of terror.

The arrogance that once defined them was nowhere to be seen.

They were almost like children that had their powers stripped away.

“Because they are Moons.” Carpalis stated, her voice echoing throughout the pit.

“Is that it?” Frost didn’t understand. It was as though Carpalis expected her to. Instead, it only caused her eyes to sharpen as she scrutinized these Blood Moons, peering into their hearts as she took out a certain pocket watch.

“Carpalis. These people tried to take your life. They tried to kill my friends. They followed the orders to invade a territory that had nothing to do with me. Hundreds of thousands died in that war. Do you think I can forgive them? Just like that? Even now they’re only afraid because of death. I don’t sense a semblance of regret on them.”

Indeed. None of them spoke up to defend themselves. One tried but their mouth quickly shut. Just like Frost, they too were confused by why they were being punished. Their hearts burned with the color red.

But strangely, the color of their intentions was white. Carpalis claimed that they still sought to kill her, but in truth they had no desire left within their hearts. The revelation was surprising to Frost.

Did destroying the Monarch change something?

“Scarlet Logic operates like a eusocial society with an unbending hierarchy of command. What you have destroyed is the very core of their meaning. Without the Monarch then what other purpose do they serve?”

Are you telling me that Blood Moons can’t think for themselves? That all they’re good at is fighting?

“The same can be said for all Moons.”

Nav had a point. Frost wanted to feel empathy towards them. She truly did, but everything they had done quelled what little pity she had left inside of her. But even so, she recalled the themes of the Blood of the Covenant.

... A Collective Illusion. Betrayal for going against one another. They lived in constant terror. Moons wanted nothing than to belong to something even if it meant joining Scarlet Logic. To continue to belong meant to conform.

Frost fell into deep thought. What were only minutes felt like years as she used the Traumatic Clock to glimpse into their past. She placed a hand onto the cheek of the Blood Moon directly beneath her as her surroundings began to slowly shift.

Before that, she placed the pale diaphragm of Die Agnosis against this person’s chest in the case that she Corrupted. Her physical body was still present, and her eyes were sealed shut. But, in an unexpected twist, she mentally entered the collective memories of the Blood Moons.