CHAPTER 8 — THE FIRST JUDGMENT
The pull from the Throne was gentle.Almost loving and caring,it warmth was same when mother hold her baby in her arm.Arjun felt it wrap around his heart, promising warmth, silence, relief. The pain in his palm dulled as the threads of worship tightened, steadying the chaos inside him.Stay, the pull whispered.Let them hold you.
Devak watched him closely, eyes glowing brighter. "You feel it," he said. "The suffering ends here."
Rudra shook his head, voice hoarse. "It doesn't end. It spreads."
The chanting rose, filling the chamber like water filling lungs.
Arjun looked at the people kneeling before him.They weren't evil.They weren't foolish.They were afraid.He raised his hand in air.The mark cracked further—then stilled.
Silence fell in every direction till Arjun spoke, his voice carrying farther than it should have.
"I won't be your god." You have misunderstood me like someone else.
His words struck like thunder to them.The threads snapped.
Pain exploded through him, white-hot, unforgiving. Arjun screamed as blood poured down his arm. He collapsed to one knee, vision blurring.Devak's smile vanished."You don't understand what you're refusing," he hissed.Arjun forced himself upright."I understand exactly what I'm refusing."The air bent.The mark on his palm burned black instead of gold.For the first time, it didn't bleed.
It was opened but as an eye. The moment freeze for a while.The kneeling people stopped mid-breath. Candles stilled. Even Devak was locked in place, mouth half-open in rage.A presence filled the chamber—not above, not beyond.Within.
A voice spoke, not in sound but in certainty.
JUDGMENT REQUESTED.
SUBJECT: SAINT DEVAK.
CRIME: FALSE DIVINITY.
Arjun's chest tightened. "I didn't ask for this."
AUTHORITY CONFIRMED.
Devak's body began to crack.
Golden light leaked from his skin, unraveling into screaming fragments. Beneath the saintly form, something twisted and hollow writhed—thin, starved, terrified.
"STOP!" Devak screamed. "Without worship, I'll collapse!"
Arjun met his eyes.
"You already did," he said quietly.
The scale tipped.
Devak screamed one last time as the light tore itself free, dissolving into nothing. His body fell—human again, lifeless and empty.
Time resumed.
The people collapsed, gasping, their eyes normal once more.
The chamber shook violently.
Rudra staggered forward. "Arjun…"
The mark on Arjun's palm closed.
Burned into the stone floor beneath him were words etched by no hand:
FIRST JUDGMENT COMPLETE
Some where in space or else where the throne was, it roared.
Not in anger but In recognition.Arjun collapsed on ground.
As darkness took him, one final truth burned into his mind:
He had just killed something worshipped as a god by his people.
And the world had noticed it.
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