THE GRACE JURY: BACKGROUND

  The group was still stuck in the room, all in shock at what had happened.

  Josh got angry at the group, saying he blamed them for Cora's death. The group tried to calm him down, to talk it out, but his anger kept flaring until the Captain went to him and apologized. He apologized for doing such a terrible thing to Cora, but it seemed like they had no choice. Brian added that even if they had disobeyed the orders for Cora, it wouldn’t have changed anything, because the moment you speak is the moment you die. So how was she supposed to know the answer? They themselves — except Lucky — knew nothing.

  The priest interjected, saying he knew the answers. The moment he gained that knowledge, he already knew them.

  "Lucky, what a knowledgeable boy. He knew so much. It's a shame he is gone. I wanted to learn more," said the priest with a sad expression.

  Josh looked at the priest with a frightening expression after hearing what he said — he hadn’t even mentioned Cora. Drek picked the Captain up from the floor and gave Josh a reality check. That they were the ones who survived, so they had to stay together. They had to be grateful for that and figure out a way out.

  Josh snapped. "Let's be grateful?" He questioned what gratefulness even meant when they were about to die in this room.

  Molly walked up to Josh and slapped him. He turned with anger in his eyes, but when he saw the fear and trembling on Molly's face, he hesitated.

  "You think we wanted to do that? We were all scared. You making it worse and blaming everyone doesn’t make the situation any better," said Molly.

  Molly walked over to Cindy. Josh seemed to regret it a little, but he calmed down.

  The Captain decided to try lifting their spirits, even a little, because everyone was still crushed. Drek, with his loud personality, said they must listen to the Captain, hope for the best-case scenario, and prepare for the worst. Brian spoke to the Captain about the situation, but it felt like nothing they said would change anything. They looked at the being — even now, it was still sitting on the throne, unmoving.

  After their talk, Brian checked on Cindy. As strong as ever, she tried her hardest to put on a smile, but Brian reassured her that she didn’t need to pretend in front of him. He knew she was scared. Cindy broke, admitting how terrified she was and that she didn’t want to die. Brian held her hand and promised he would do everything in his power to protect her.

  Molly interrupted.

  "Me too, right? I also need protection," said Molly.

  Brian gave a faint smile.

  "Yeah, you too."

  Timmy was sitting alone, not saying a word. The Captain tried to talk to him, but he was so scared he could barely respond. Things were not going well for Timmy. The Captain reassured him that they would try together to get home safely to their families. He told him to stay positive and hopeful. Timmy just stood there silently.

  All of a sudden, the being changed its sitting position on the throne. That alone alerted everyone. The group stood up instantly. As soon as it moved, four people were surrounded by circles — the priest, Timmy, Molly, and Josh.

  Panic erupted among those inside the circles, but the priest remained composed. He knew his time would eventually come. Molly panicked, crying out to Brian. Brian tried to calm her down until they saw what was forming on the wall.

  Out of panic, Timmy began speaking worst-case scenarios. Josh shouted at him repeatedly to shut up.

  Then it appeared — the crafting of another question.

  WHAT ARE THE GRACE JURY'S...

  INTEREST?, VISION?, AIM?, GOAL?

  ANSWER FOR EACH.

  The group overthought the phrase. Each believed it had some hidden, deeper meaning, while panic clouded their judgment.

  The priest answered calmly.

  "Justice and Judgment."

  Everyone turned toward him in shock. They did not understand why he had answered so quickly. Drek lashed out at the priest for risking his life. But Brian suddenly noticed something.

  The circle around the priest had disappeared.

  He stopped Drek from speaking and pointed it out. The group froze in disbelief.

  And as Brian looked again, the “interest” part of the question disappeared as well. Only the remaining parts stayed.

  That’s when Brian began to understand.

  The Captain asked the priest how he knew the answer.

  "I've read a lot about such beings and other worlds, so I know enough," said the priest.

  "And I know two more answers to the question."

  Brian stops him that he shouldn't say because there's no guarantee that he won't get killed. The priest explained that he was disappointed by Brian's intelligence and even made sure he knew that. The priest explains the previous thing that the being did to them. The being gave them the conditions, and they needed to obey those conditions. So, he explains that as such a conditional being, it is none other than the jury. But this time, there was no condition, so there was nothing wrong with telling the other the answer. The captain was skeptical about how the priest knew so much about the beings.

  "So that being, this being is the Jury," said the priest.

  They all looked at the being again — confused, curious, uneasy.

  Timmy broke the silence, urging the priest to share the answers.

  The priest said he could not simply choose randomly. There were three of them in the circles, and he could only choose two to give the answers to. So he suggested they tell him their background stories. He claimed he deals in pity and vulnerability — he helps those most in need. Based on that, he would decide who deserved the answers.

  Shock spread across their faces.

  The Captain grabbed the priest by the collar and shouted at him about his twisted ideals. But the priest turned it around, claiming he only wanted fairness. If the Captain didn’t like it, then as the leader, he should make the decision himself.

  The Captain felt the weight of everyone’s eyes.

  He remembered something.

  BACKLASH — they had been doing well, defeating monsters. He encouraged them to go deeper into the colossal doors. That was his mistake. He found himself hiding behind a rock while a boss monster slaughtered his team. They were screaming his name. Joon stood frozen behind the rock, terrified, doing nothing.

  Back to the present.

  the captain stood back. They got shocked, but Brian understood he was carrying a lot and didn't say anything.

  "So who is going first?" asked the priest.

  The three in the circle are still in disbelief at what is about to happen. Their background determines who lives. As Molly and Josh look at each other, Molly is about to speak, but Timmy beats her to it.

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  Timmy began expressing his background. (Timmy's background)

  "I need to save my mother. She's in a hospital. She's not moving or saying anything. I was a child who was bullied a lot by some school gangs. They used to beat me a lot. They used to go buy cigarettes for them, and I didn't want to involve anyone in my issues. I tried to hide the bruises from my mother, who was so caring and loving, and I had to lie to her, thinking I was protecting her. I tried to change schools, but the same guys had friends in my school, so I tried to hide as much as possible to not be spotted. A year of hiding was in vain; they spotted me and began making things they had done to me before this time. They went too far, so far that I couldn't hide any bruises. My mother saw the bruises and decided to report them to the police, but two days after she made the report, I heard that she was in a hospital because of "some" car accident. Looking at her just lying there broke everything in me. I didn't know what to do. The same guys were at the hospital, one day, I had visited my mother, and they told me I should have stopped her. It was a mistake to do that. The hospital was expensive, so I needed money to get out of school, got in the Colossal Door since I heard that it makes a lot of money. I got the ability to light, which was useful. My ability allowed me to protect myself. The guild heard about me, and they took me in. Even the bullies stopped any means of contact with me when I entered the guild. Every single day I go see my mother, I ask myself: What if I had done this before? What if I had shown her my bruises before? before These guys became big-shot gangsters. What ifs were piling in my head. All I need is to save my mother. I don't care about the bullies; I just want to save my mom."

  Timmy had expressed his story while he cried halfway through it. The room went silent until the priest broke in and asked if Molly or Josh was going next. Brian didn't like this at all. He felt uneasy, thinking that's what the being(Jury) wants.

  Molly began expressing her background. (Molly's background)

  "I joined the Colossal Doors venture because my mother tried to sell me, and I needed money."

  The room had a shocking atmosphere.

  "When I was just a child, my father was always drunk. He and my mother were always fighting. I didn't understand it all while, but as I grew, it was because my mother was never really someone who wanted to get married. My father was a man with morals. He stayed with my mother because she got pregnant with me. I don't even know if there was even love there until one day in my final middle school year(graduation), my father kicked my mother out. She took me with her, and my father did nothing about it. We stayed at a friend's house until they got fed up with us. We moved and moved around. My mother met this rich guy who offered to marry his son to me. My mother agreed without talking to me about it. On the day of the wedding, I didn't even show up. I ran away. How ironic, right? The one who didn't want to get married is marrying off her daughter. Since then, I've gone on my own. Someone got me into the Colossal Doors and gained the ability to create a force field. But my power was only effective around myself and those near me. People saw that as a useless ability to have in a group, until the guild took me in. They introduced me to you guys. Since then, my days have been so bright, not even a thought about my mother."

  Everyone felt her story. That she is really strong. She seemed like an actor who could take on more than two characters at the same time. They never suspected she went through so much with her personality as they knew her.

  "I didn't know you went through so much. Why didn't you tell me?" said Cindy.

  "And your mother?" asked Brian.

  "Never seen her since that day I escaped the wedding," answered Molly.

  The stories were bringing down the mood, and at that, all who were left were Josh to tell his background story. Everyone looked at him.

  Josh began expressing his story. (Josh's background)

  "Neither do I know my parents or my family. I was an orphan who stayed in a terrible orphanage. We used to just eat two times a day. If you are not back by 6 o'clock, the gates will be closed. If you obey a rule, you get closed outside for 2 hours. You are not allowed to wear the clothes you want; they choose for you. When guests arrive or when we are going out, you must be in your best behavior. But behind closed curtains, it was a nightmare. They paid so much attention to what you do at school or at home, and they decide what your next move is. Similarly, you are a puppet. I didn't like that, but I stayed and endured all of it until I got old enough, and I heard about the Colossal Doors from some friends passing by outside the gate when I was being punished. I didn't know why, but I believed them about the Colossal gate. I asked the people at the orphanage, but they shut me down as they didn't want me to know about them. That only lit my curiosity. I took it as a chance to escape from home, asked around, found the Colossal Doors, and entered them without thinking or training. When I got out, I gained the ability to manipulate my body. I became great within two weeks because I was motivated. The guild took me in, and here I am. The orphanage found me, but I refused to go back with them because I was happy alone. Then, in that nightmare house, that's how I became a Slayer."

  SILENCE...

  The atmosphere was still down with all three of them having told their stories. The priest was grateful for their bravery and even suggested a prayer for them. He suggested they bow their heads and stay quiet as he prays. The priest prays for them. In Brian's head, a lot of things were going on until he thought of an idea, and he interrupted the prayer, and Brian suggested that if the being is a judgmental thing, as the priest said, and he knows the aim and the vision, shouldn't the goal be for him to bring order in the world? The priest disagreed to such idea because, according to his knowledge, the goals of the graces align with each other. They are not separated; each grace has one goal, and that one goal is what all of the graces want. So, that is why he doesn't know the answer to the goal.

  But even so, unfortunately for Brian, the priest had already used his ability to send messages to the two he chose to their minds, and the messages were the answers. Timmy answered.

  "Rules are to be followed, vision of judgment."

  Then the vision part question disappeared, leaving one that either Josh or Molly knew.

  "Learn all the truth of existence," answered Molly.

  The aim question part disappears, leaving the goal.

  Molly looked at Josh with a sad face, and Josh looked back. Molly apologized as she braced in tears. Josh was terrified, but Brian suggested that we could at least try his suggestion. But the priest still says that whichever answer you can think of will be wrong. Josh heard someone touching his shoulder as he turned. It was Drek, and he had gotten inside the circle that had surrounded Josh, which had turned red. Everyone was shocked by Drac's approach.

  "Why did you lie about your background?" asked Drek

  "You came from a rich, controlling family. You got fed up and decided to be on your own and live. There was no reason for you to lie so you could survive. Besides, the priest knew you lied. That's part of his ability. That's why he didn't choose you."

  "D..D.Drek," Josh stuttered.

  In that moment, Drek got hit by an unknown shot that sent him straight almost to the end of the room (close to the door). Everyone was still shocked, questioning what hit him and why he did that. Drek stood and said, "My friend needed me; I just did what I could to save him." In that moment, Josh tries to move. The being's eyes lit blue, and their bodies got paralyzed; none could move. Confused about why they are not moving, some normal-sized, five-soldier-like beings with small knife-like artifacts came by, but Drek didn't stay down; he took out his sword and stood his ground.

  The five soldier-like beings all attack at once. Drek went straight for one of them, and they clashed. As he was fighting, one came from behind; he had to retreat, but others came in some direction where he had no choice but to block their attacks rather than retreat. As they kept coming, Drek was feeling overwhelmed by them in a battle of five on one, but he didn't yield. When they pushed back, he pushed harder. The group was watching as Drek kept on fighting. Josh screaming Drek's name (it seems the being didn't paralyze their mouth).

  Drek was able to hit one of the soldier's leg beams, which vanished. But in that moment, he got sliced at the back. He went on his knees from the pain just as he opened his eyes, a knife was heading for his face. He was able to block it with his sword and deflected the soldier's knife, giving him a chance to move away from them, to face them head-on. Just like that, Drek rushed straight at them. They collide with each other, but the soldiers were stronger in numbers. They pushed Drek back, while his feet were dragging on the ground, and they hit the door, dust-covered. In that dust, the sound of slashes was happening. Just like that, the soldiers got pushed back as far as they could. The first soldier in front of the others didn't see anything. Drac, with his green-lit eyes, slashed it, and it vanished.

  Drek remained standing, but he was sliced up all over the board. The soldiers were getting ready, but Drek was five steps ahead of them. Got to one soldier and clashed with it. As the two came, he dodged the attack, and in that moment, Drek became something else. Not even the clashes were fair for the soldiers; he pushed them back as many clashes as they made, and eventually sliced all three soldiers-like beings. One by one by one.

  When the group saw Drek standing there with his sword, they were all shocked and scared for him. What came next, even Drek couldn't stop it. More soldier-like beings went for Drek. One soldier clashed with Drek, but this soldier was way more powerful than the previous ones. When they clashed, Drek's sword broke. And all of a sudden, a soldier-like being came from nowhere, took his arm, then his leg, then all of a sudden, more soldier-like beings were slicing him even more.

  More than 4 soldier-like beings had stabbed Drek throughout his whole body, the neck, the back, the legs, the stomach, all of it. The soldiers took out their knives from his body all at once, and they stood back and vanished.

  In the meantime, Drek was bleeding profusely, and he fell on the ground. Josh cried, as did some other group members, as they were crying. They found themselves able to move, but it was too late. Drek had already been killed.