The Spider Queen

Chapter 269: What is Justice?

(Unova Syndicate- K’reare’d Galaxy)

(Planet Solris)

What is justice?

A simple word to be sure but ask a thousand men the same question and you may receive one thousand different answers.

Some men think that justice can only be delivered by the higher powers.

Others believe that justice is fair and good.

The rest…. well, the universe often teaches that justice is nothing more than a fanciful dream.

To the members of the Hyperion Order, justice will always be delivered from the righteous. 

Those who believe in the glory of the sun and will risk their lives to stand by their beliefs.

It was a warm and peaceful day on planet Solris. Enormous flying beasts with wingspans thousands of meters across soared high above in the sky.

The magnificent sun shone warmly on the residents gathered together in the town square to witness the salvation.

Twelve sinners were bound tightly with metalloid chains that prevented any movement. 

The sinners were dragged onto a raised platform in front of the crowd and dumped unceremoniously.

Each of these twelve individuals was sick with a disease that only fire, and blood could cure.

It was the responsibility of the grand inquisitor to return them to the light of the sun. 

The mouths of the sinners were not blocked so their pleading cries echoed around the quiet town square.

“Please I have a family!”

“I haven’t committed any crimes. I was framed! I was framed!”

“I will repent! I swear to the gods above that I will change!”

“You monsters! You are the demons! Please kill me before he comes here!”

A tall pale-skinned alien with long slender limbs and a golden mask concealing his facial features stepped onto the raised platform.

The cries of the damned temporarily stopped as an expression of deep fear mixed with hatred could be found on the faces of every sinner.

Their mouths opened to spew out hateful slurs and cries against the man who had tortured them for weeks, but no sound came out.

No matter how much they tried nothing came out because during the process of salvation…. 

It was the responsibility of the grand inquisitor to silence their speech.

The grand inquisitor raised his slender arm and gently touched the face of the closest prisoner to him.

A purple crest shone brightly in the air and the crowd watched in reverence as the sinner’s body slowly burned to ash.

The process took a total of fifteen minutes and the prisoner was fully conscious as the fire first burnt his lower extremities and then moved slowly upwards.

He died with a bloodcurdling expression of agony.

This process was repeated on every other prisoner on the platform. 

There was no discrimination as men, women and even children burned alive.

The sun would shine on all without bias.

“Glory to the sun,” the grand inquisitor spoke slowly as he wiped the last traces of ashes on his palm onto a white cloth he kept in his pocket.

“Glory to the sun!” the crowd roared back. 

Whether they chanted due to their religious beliefs or fear made no difference to the man standing in front of them.

He simply knelt and offered a prayer before walking steadily back to the enormous building with numerous strange symbols carved onto its walls.

Pale-skinned aliens wearing white ceremonial clothes dispersed the crowd and offered food and water to those seeking aid.

Only sinners needed to be punished as the faithful deserved the warmth of the sun.

“You killed my sister! I hate you all!” a small juvenile alien with thorny scales roared at the priest giving him water.

“Your sister was sick,” the priest smiled gently and rubbed the boy on his head.

The boy angrily stared back and opened his mouth to reply but his mother hurriedly put her hand over his mouth before stammering out an apology.

The priest waved good-naturedly and allowed the mother-son duo to leave without any punishment.

Often the family of sinners could not accept that their loved ones could be tainted by evil. 

There were even times when priests of the Hyperion order had been attacked or ambushed by vengeful relatives. 

The resulting reprisal by the order would cause every single creature with even a drop of blood connecting them to the attacker to be burnt alive.

Still there were those brave enough to try.

Curiously enough, not one of these attacks had ever been directed at the grand inquisitor….

At least that is what the order said publicly. 

Whispers circulated that no one was foolish enough to go against the man who controlled the lifeblood of the planet.

But it should be more accurate to say that all the men who tried were dead.

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(Temple of the Solris)

No religious organization is complete without a place of worship. 

On every planet controlled by the Hyperion Order, a grand temple would be constructed.

The temple of the Solris named after the planet itself had taken over twenty years to construct as the entire process was done by hand.

According to the words in the scriptures, the holy temple could only be built by hand, so no form of technology was used during its construction.

Slaves brought in through underground channels were the ones responsible for its creation under strict supervision by the temple’s guardians.

The final product was a spectacular marvel of architecture. 

A tall sprawling black castle with spires that seemed to pierce the heavens itself. 

The materials used in the temple’s construction were exceedingly rare and valuable.

As for the artwork and statues found throughout the castle… every one of them was priceless.

Inside the temple on the highest floor were a series of spacious rooms where the grand inquisitor and high-ranking guests of the order would stay.

The room where the grand inquisitor resided was extremely barren. 

There were no pieces of furniture nor decorations that adorned the walls.

Only two items could be found inside the room. 

One of these items was a rug with mysterious markings and religious prayers all directed towards the sun.

And the other item was a terminal connected to the private network of the Hyperion Order.

The grand inquisitor stared at the terminal in the room with a thoughtful expression. 

There were no traces of guilt hidden in his eyes even after burning twelve people alive.

It was as though no emotion could be seen beneath that mask.

“I will be summoning Bishop Archearon to my chamber,” he whispered into the air. 

There was a flurry of movement inside one of the walls and sounds of a creature slithering through the ground could be heard.

The dark bodyguards appointed to serve the grand inquisitor for life swiftly disappeared once they heard their master’s command.

A finger than was almost translucent gently touched buttons on the terminal in a specific order. 

The grand inquisitor waited patiently as the signal he sent out connected to a pocket communicator on the other side.

Bleep! Bleep! Bleep!

Three mechanical buzzes were emitted from the device before a holographic figure was projected into the room.

“My lord,” the grand inquisitor bowed respectfully.

Bishop Archearon observed the kneeling man for ten minutes before uttering out a simple phrase,

“Rise my loyal servant.”

The grand inquisitor did not seem annoyed by the long time spent kneeling on the floor and got up with graceful movements.

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