Prologue - Facing Judgement

Prologue - Facing Judgement

What are you doing here?

This question was asked in an annoyed and somewhat angry tone, which carried a lot of gravitas. The impressive looking man asking the question was glaring across his table at soul without distinct features, but one that the man was familiar with.

An odd question. This is the Jade Palace within the river of souls, where the souls of the dead are judged before passing on, is it not? And you are the Head Judge, are you not? I should think my purpose here is rather obvious. Everyone must stand before you or the other judges to face their due after meeting their demise.

Although the soul standing before his desk was a blur without any facial features, the judge could hear the smile in the souls smooth voice. He could already feel a headache developing.

Not your kind. Despite the thousands of Prime worlds, and the trillions of minor worlds in this universe, this is the first time in my history as the Head Judge and the Lord of Jade Palace, that one of your kind is here. And Im fairly sure the previous Lord could say the same. So I repeat my question: what are you doing here? He said with a little huff.

In fact, to the knowledge of the judge, only one other of the souls kind had ever even died before, and that one had gotten his soul destroyed beyond any recovery. No need to pass judgement, since there was no chance of reincarnation.

The soul let out a throaty chuckle and replied: As you say, my kind has not faced judgement before, and as such has limited experience with the whole process. So why not find out? Also getting reincarnated seems like an interesting adventure. The final frontier and all that.

Now he was definitely getting a headache.

Wait. So you got yourself killed and now await judgement and reincarnation, because of curiosity and boredom? Do you have any idea how much of a pain it is to try and figure out what to do with you? He said incredulously.

And he was having such a good day before this too! He thought. The Jade palace had judged souls bound for reincarnation for eons, and the other judges were quite capable of handling almost any case presented to them. Only when an anomaly happened was the Head Judge needed. He was after all in the possession of the Book of Life and Death, which had the details of the souls life and the circumstances of his or her death recorded. It allowed him to pass judgement with full knowledge, and thus afforded even the most complex of souls their karmic due in their next life.

Oh I can see that. Some of the methods you used to punish them were quiteshall we say creative. He replied with slight amusement. Especially this slaver you met few centuries ago in Drognosset. The torturers in Inferno Realm would probably want to trade notes with you on that one. Apparently he dug his own eyes out and jammed his fingers into the sockets to kill himself, just to make it stop. He continued with a shudder.

Oh yes, that one really got on my nerves. He dealt mostly in little girls as sex slaves. He also had a habit of sampling his own wares against their will. So he was in fact doubling down on prime sins by combining slavery with rape. That one has always been a pet peeve of mine, and Ive always got a Song of Khali reserved for rapists. The soul said with audible distaste and anger.

Im sure the Queen of the Inferno Realm is quite touched, that youve named the worst torture method Ive ever read about after her. He said with another shudder. Im not even kidding; she probably would be quite touched. He continued is his thoughts.

Although your actions during your life have resulted in widespread devastation, for the most part youve acted as a force for good, and had you not acted at all, the results would almost always have been much, much worse. Normally your karma would land you in the Heaven Realm, but seeing as that isnt a good idea, Im going to give you a bit of choice in your reincarnation to the Prime Realm. This might be the first time in the history of the Jade Palace that the soul judged has any say, but your case is an anomaly to the highest degree anyway, what with you carrying your memories of your old life to the next. He said with resignation.

Huge headache incoming.

Maybe the soul will play nice at the new destination with some say in choosing it He thought, although he had little hope of that actually coming true.

One of the mortal races could be interesting. One of the bit more long lived ones. The soul replied with some thought. I might have trouble adjusting to a human or something, thatll just keel over from old age in less than a century. Also it might be best if you sent me to one of the major worlds. Things might end up badly if you got me stuck bored on a minor world with absolutely nothing going on. Wed end up here doing this again.

I can do without having to go through this headache again, thank you very much! Besides, I was expecting something grander. Maybe the soul really did get bored with the old life, and wanted to try something different. Fulfilling these conditions would be pretty easy. If this was all the soul wanted, I can get off with a fairly light work load. He thought with some relief. He already had some possibilities in mind.

I think we can arrange that. Ill work it out by the time you get to the Passage. Ill have one of the titans outside escort you, if theres nothing else? He said, while gesturing with his hand towards the door while rising from his seat.

The soul simply moved through the door towards the waiting titan outside.

The judge was still looking towards the now closed door when he suddenly had an idea. A delicious idea, that would help with his now drumming headache and get some revenge as a thanks, for the soul dropping this whole thing on his head. A wicked grin rose on his face.