7:05 AM, 21st of December, 1728.
Alexander looked ahead at the man, his expression unreadable, when suddenly a heat grew within his chest.
“And sorry, but did you say you’ve lived here your whole life?”
Vines flew from the trees at absurd speeds. Alexander saw them coming, but barely managed to move at all before they wrapped around his leg and pulled, making him fall face-first onto the ground, where they then wrapped around his wrists.
Alexander yelled, a twinge of fear in his voice, “What the hell are you doing?”
The man walked forward and leaned down, picking up Alexander and throwing him over his shoulder with surprising ease.
“If you’ve really lived here, I need to put you on trial to see if you’re one of his mindless drones or not. If you’re not, you’ll be free to leave, so don't resist, and we can get this over with quickly.”
-
Alexander watched as the man carried him through the forest, staying silent the entire way.
As they exited the densest part of the forest, Alexander caught sight of something. A moment passed before the silence broke, “And what’s up with the blindfold? You’ve made it pretty obvious you can see through it somehow.”
He didn't respond, in awe of the sight laid out in front of him.
A grand city, almost familiar in the way it looked, entered his vision. The buildings were constructed entirely of marble, simple in design yet still beautiful. He could see hundreds of people just on the outskirts of the city, attesting to the large population it must hold.
Not trying to hide the fact that he could see, Alexander responded. “It’s beautiful.”
“Isn’t it? It’s the City of Truth, an apt name, I like to think.” He paused for a moment as the vines he controlled lifted him off the ground, slowly bringing him down the side of the cliff they stood upon, before continuing. “By the way, don't take this personally. It's just protocol. I personally don’t think you’re one of his thralls.”
“You’ve mentioned twice now about being under someone's control, but I thought you said the God of Order is dead? Whose control am I suspected to be under?”
“It’ll all make more sense to you tomorrow at your trial, but to be honest, we don’t know who's abusing Order’s Authority, so I can’t give you a straight answer on that one.”
Now on the ground, they walked into the city. No one seemed that surprised by the presence of a bound man being carried into the city, so Alexander was even less worried about the situation than before. On top of everything, his Authority was silent, leading him to believe that there was no immediate danger.
At what looked to be the centermost point of the city was a large circular building, also constructed entirely of marble. Alexander was brought inside, through a series of near-identical hallways, seemingly built to be confusing to any intruders, before being carried down into the basement of the building.
As they entered the room, Alexander coughed, surprised by the cold, stale air entering his lungs.
“You’ll stay here until early tomorrow. They’ll bring you food within the next few hours. Don’t cause unnecessary trouble, please.”
He gently sat Alexander down in the cell, closing the gate behind him, before walking away. The vines binding Alexander’s limbs unbound themselves and slithered away, like snakes running from a predator, and chased after the exiting man.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Alexander looked around the dark enclosure, waiting for his eyes to adjust before taking in his surroundings. There were three other cells, four including his own, though his was the only one occupied. A toilet sat in one corner of his cell, and a small cot in the other, the rest of the small cell left empty. He moved to the cot before leaning his head back, thinking about the events that had unfolded leading him up to this point.
Amidst his thoughts, he realized something: he had learned the reason this city had a vague familiarity. This must be the city displayed in Dolon’s book. It was rather close in proximity to the dome, and Alexander had assumed it was where most of the survivors came from. While it could still be true that they hailed from here, he had made the incorrect assumption that it was one of the last standing cities.
Was Dolon trying to tell them that there was life outside of the dome, leaving a map on how to reach it? Either way, Alexander seemed to luck into reaching it already, and the note containing the script was long gone, lost among the chaos that overtook his home.
Not wanting to think anymore, he lay on his side, trying to let his sight lose focus. A singular tear ran down his cheek as he fell asleep.
-
The cellar door creaked open, a rush of air coming in as it did, bathing Alexander's cold skin in newfound warmth. He sat up, looking around, blindfold still covering his eyes. A small platter with bread and a cup of water lay on the floor at the entrance of his cell. Someone had put it there without waking him up.
Standing at the entrance of the newly opened door was the same man from the day before. He walked up to the cell before unlocking it. “Come on, let's get this over with.” His face looked tired, and his demeanor was relaxed, leading Alexander to be even less worried than before.
Standing up, Alexander put his wrists out towards the man, waiting for them to be bound again.
He waved his hand dismissively, “Don’t worry about that; it was more of a precaution in the city, but even if you ran in here, I doubt you could find your way out.”
The man turned and began walking out of the cellar, before stopping just outside the doorway, indicating for Alexander to follow him. They made their way through the same winding hallways, though this time around, the more they walked, the shorter each new hallway became.
They were nearing the center of the circular building. The ceiling slanted upwards, and a grand door stood before them, though this time it was constructed entirely of black marble.
As they approached the door, it split down the middle, a roar echoing through the halls as it opened, air rushing through and ruffling Alexander’s hair. Before them was a perfectly spherical room, save for a podium raised in the center, and eight seats surrounding it.
The room was made entirely of the same black marble as the door, while the seats and podium were of the white variation. Seated at the podium was one woman, two guards positioned behind her. On the opposite side of the podium were two other guards, all of whom had long swords sheathed on their hips, clad in white and light blue uniforms. The woman was old, her hair gray and her face wrinkled, though there was a certain air about her, confidence maybe.
Alexander was led to the podium and seated across from the woman. As he sat, the guards positioned behind him moved to his side. In front of him, sitting perfectly in the center of the podium, was a pristine black hardcover book. It was unreasonably thick and looked as if it were brand new, with no title or engravings on the cover.
The woman before him pushed the book towards him and started speaking. “I, Claudia, Judge of Truth, will now begin this trial. You will repeat each question I speak aloud, with no alteration in the words or the intonation. You will then open the book to whichever page you desire. After that, close the book again. Understood?”
Alexander was a little confused at the state of this trial, but nodded in response anyway.
“The first question is this: Was I born under the nearest dome created by the holder of Order?”
Alexander looked up at the woman before questioning, “The nearest?”
Without answering him, she repeated, “Ask the question.”
He looked back down at the black book sitting in front of him before speaking aloud, “Was I born under the nearest dome created by the holder of Order?”
He then grabbed the center of the book, opening it to a random page. Only the page he intended to turn separated, the rest acting as if they were solid blocks of wood bound to their respective covers. The book now sat open before him, the page barely translucent, almost revealing the text on the opposite side of the paper. Written on the page he had turned to was a single word, written in a language he had thought he didn’t know. And yet as he read the word, the information seemed to instill itself within his head.
Yes.
He closed the book.
Dumbfounded by the situation, an even odder revelation came to mind. The text on the page was the same language written at the end of Dolon’s book. The Elysian language that he previously couldn’t read was now firmly positioned in his mind.
Interrupting his thoughts, Claudia began talking again, “Now ask: Does the Holder of Order have his eye on me?”
He complied, “Does the Holder of Order have his eye on me?”
Yes.
The guards around him tensed up as they read the revelation displayed before them, their grips tightening around the handles of the swords at their waists.
“Alright, now ask this: Am I currently under the Holder of Orders control?”
“Am I currently under the Holder of Orders control?”
As Alexander revealed the page before him, the tense atmosphere in the room seemed to die down.
No.
Claudia slouched after reading the answer, bringing her hand up to her chin and resting it on the table. “That will be all of the questions then. I believe the second answer was a lie, and the rest were the truth. Charles' observations on you back that up, as he says you seem to be your own person. I declare you innocent.”
The man who had found him at the edge of Orders Zone, and the one who escorted him to this room, whom he now believed to be Charles, spoke up. “Sorry, we wasted your time. As an apology, we’ll allow you to ask one question of the book.”
Before his question, Alexander first needed to clarify something. “What even is this book anyway? Why are you guys trusting it to run entire trials?”
Charles and Claudia looked at each other before they both began laughing. Charles was the first to answer his question, a small sense of irony in his tone and a tear in his eye, “We trust that book to run our trials because that’s the God of Truth.”
