Guards, Part IV: "Veritas"

As the testimony continued and as the evidence was produced, the “Judicator” and the other black-clad man remained stone-faced and silent, displaying no emotion. When at last it ended, the man said “People of the commune, citizens of humanity, your testimony has been heard and the crimes of this man have been laid before our eyes this day – your judgement is clear and now here is ours.”


The woman’s face was like ice as she began to speak: “By the authority of the law invested in me by the Conclave of Universal Justice, I now pronounce judgement on a man whose spirit is so weighed down with guilt as to be unforgivable; his heart is stone and his alienation from his fellow human beings all-consuming as his actions today and in the past firmly and blatantly attest. You have preyed, like a monster, on your fellow human beings and the only merciful judgement that can be granted to such a tortured soul is immediate release. It is with a heavy heart that I sentence you to death.”

Rambo knew it was over, but even now no guilt could penetrate his heart and he just knelt there, expressionless, like a still breathing corpse, as his two executioners walked forward, stood together behind him and levelled their pistols at the back of his head. The villagers watched, some weeping, some with cold anger, others shouting obscenities at him, some smiling at the warlord’s fate and others displaying no emotion whatsoever in their blank stares. To Rambo, however, their faces seemed obscured by his own mental haze.

Two voices sounded out, ringing in Rambo’s ears as he awaited his end: “In the name of humanity we liberate this tortured spirit from its now accursed form. In death may you find redemption and renewal, for though our bodies die and go the way of all flesh, the noble spirit of humanity within us all is immortal and unbreakable, and so it is for all human beings from the most just to the most wretched. Now the healing can begin. Humanitas Universalis!”

With these last words came a sound like thunder and the last thought that ran through his mind before his vision went to black was the curious observation that both of his executioners had been crying for his sake. He had indeed been freed from the crushing weight bearing down on his spirit. For both himself and for the villagers, the healing could indeed begin.