Through the Living Wrath

The Render stared into the eyes of the one brought before him, shivering. “You know why you were brought before me, yes?”

The man giggles slightly, then hiccuped before nodding. Tel grimaced; the man was drunk.

”Do you want to know what happened to the other one?”

The man hesitated only slightly, then hiccuped again, nodding.

”They were brought to a surgeon, to fix the damage you did to them. The punishment for assault is quite severe, unfortunately. I am sorry. Do you have words of remorse before I enact it?”

The man thought, then spoke. “Good!” He giggled at his own voice, then continued. “The cycle needs to end, you see. Violence, leading to more violence, looping on and on and on…” The drunk assumed a far off look, staring at nothing.

Tel nodded, then raised his Focus. “This is why we have such severe punishments, you see.”

The drunk nodded, then frowned. “It isn’t, is it? It’s not a cycle. That implies… that implies sustainability, repeatability. But it isn’t. It’s a vortex, each recursion bringing you closer and closer to an inevitable doom. I was famous once, do you know? I saved a child from thugs, from outlaws… they forgot me so fast.” His voice was quiet now, though another hiccup interrupted the silence. “Thank you, my friend, for this. For pulling me out of the vortex before I reached the center. I’m not… I’m not sure what I would have done in the center”

He hiccuped again, but kept the semblance of calm. Disturbed, Tel pressed the focus to the man’s skin, executing him.