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The voice that finally addressed me was androgynous in the extreme, a perfectly level timbre lacking any sort of inflection or accent. "You stand accused of assisting an extraplanar being's manifestation in this world by way of your complacency...." The second of the shadowy giants picked up where the first left off, hissing in a voice barely above a whisper that somehow carried throughout the spacious room. "Furthermore, you are guilty of conspiracy against the Triumvirate for your failure to alert the matriarchs to your sibling's machinations. This is an act of high treason…" Though the words stung, I held my pride-and my tongue-in check. I had no right to speak in my own defense. This was a judgment, not a trial. Even if I could have somehow convinced the Tribunal that I was an innocent pawn in my sister's scheme, I knew I would receive no mercy. As far as the Society of Shadows was concerned, weakness was chief among the cardinal sins. Another period of silence passed as the third figure before me seemed to be in deliberation. After several minutes, a third voice finished what the other two had started, rumbling long and low with a sort of quiet power that I felt more than heard. "The punishment for such heinous acts is death." My heart sank, though not so low as might have been expected. While waiting to appear before the Tribunal, I had been given much time to think about what had happened and what would happen. My sister and mother were both gone, and my home likely destroyed by the Society of Shadows to purge the world of any traces of the infernal sorceries which had taken place therein. There was nowhere left for me to go. Death would be a merciful sentence.... I should not have been surprised, then, that it was not to be. "However, you are of noble lineage," the first shadow amended, trailing off to let the third continue, "and your family is known to possess tremendous natural talent." The second arbiter began to speak once more, an undertone of malice slipping into the serpentine whisper, "Instead, you will be cast into the Pit of Souls for one century's time. Perhaps, if you are able to survive, the Society of Shadows will be able to find some use for you…" A protest died before it reached my lips. The beam of light ceased to shine on me, and the vestibule fell into darkness so deep even my drowish eyes could not penetrate it. Even so, it paled before the eternal midnight of the void into which I would soon be cast… Fate. |
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