4/26/2023- The trial of Oural

 Hear me mortal, and tremble. I am the god Hades, and my voice is the last that the ears of men hear.

Among your people I may go by a different name, but in the hereafter, names mean nothing. I am the one to whom you thought of sending yourself, your father, Psyche, on occasion your sister, and the one who received that whiny Prince of Phars (his thought that he should not wet his sword with a woman's blood, and that he insisted that he should hang you assuming his victory in single combat, was deeply offensive to me. Where else is equality so real than the grave?)

Among womenfolk I do not often find one so unperturbed about the transportation of others' souls from the realm above to my realm below. I took a special interest in you, my child, on that stormy night, when you journeyed to the border of the realm of the gods. In that moment, you saw the reality of existence, that mortals rarely ever perceive on this side of the grave. That reality, that the meaningfulness of life can be measured by the capacity to give it up.

Death, my child, is simply the other side of life. There is no right or wrong to each state of being. One is simply dead or is alive. However, the truth of this does not give one the right to take the lives of others at whim. You rob their ability to make that choice themselves. Who are you to seek to take the role of a god? For both death and life are in the hands of the gods, and your accusation against us displays a blatant disregard for this reality. If the gods should seek to marry, why should you say otherwise?


For that, Orual, I sentence you to a lifetime of servitude to me. You will be the executioner for the kingdom of Glome. No more will the criminals of your nation die by the hands of the guards, but by your own.


However, I understand that a certain story has been circulating around about the nature of your crimes against the gods. You truly wish to be vindicated, do you? I have heard from the swift-winged one that you have begun writing a catalogue of the crimes which you believe the gods have committed against you. Do you think that the words of one who has already been declared a enemy of the gods, young and old, will be heard? Do you really think you account of that fateful day will triumph over the myth which calls you a villain? I admire your moxie. I will allow such an account to be published.


And Orual, I know we will speak again. All men eventually do.

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