The Trial of the Tainted

THE WORLD  was a blur of colors. The Pull's effect lingering on your body disoriented you. You tried to regain your ground, but the crowd shoving and shuffling around you only worsened the dizzying side-effects of the Pull.

You cursed under your breath. Even after countless times of using the Pull, you never got used to it. The two blinking lights on Pull's metal band alleviated your uneasiness and reminded you that if you succeed, you can finally go home.

A huge dome made of black crystal enclosed the area on which you stood. The ground inside the dome sloped to a depression at the center where a round platform stood. Starlight shone through a round opening on the centermost part of the dome and illuminated the platform. You adjusted the configuration of your spectacles and zoomed in on the symbol embossed on the surface of the stage: a twelve-pointed golden star eclipsed by a tiny onyx planet - the Muisirun emblem.

You sighed in relief. You recognized the place as the Muisirun Great Common Hall known as the Khapp. For once, the Pull managed to land you close to your destination.

"Watch it!" barked someone. You stepped back just in time as a humongous creature with smooth grey limbs stomped on the same spot where you stood moments ago. Before you even recovered from your shock, the ground trembled. Dozens of the same grey-limbed creature whom you recognized as a Fomesi, followed in its wake. They all towered above you, each Fomesi twice your height.

"Filthy Earthling," a Fomesi huffed, looking at you with contempt. The Fomesi Tribe had an outspoken disgust for your kind and your better judgment told you to back away rather than stir a commotion. You turned on your heel and scanned the dome for any sign of an exit. If you were not mistaken, your destination should be a few blocks from the Khapp.

You paid no heed to the mutterings and shouts of the Muisirun denizens. One of the reasons was that you hardly understood what they were saying – a fact that was ironic for a polyglot like you who had mastered more than five hundred different languages. You didn't mind though. Nobody had ever mastered Muisiruni due to its diverse and complex language structure. You were content with your comprehensible knowledge of its dialect: Fomesi, E'nnoxi, and Airacsumi. Besides, in all your previous escapades in Muisirun, your expertise on Alyxian common tongue was all you needed to communicate with them.

Snippets of conversations you overheard from an Airacsumi couple told you of a public trial currently taking place. You thought it was unusual for the entire Muisirun populace to congregate at the Khapp for a public trial, but time was a commodity you coudn't waste just to speculate on the matter. Your mind was fixated at the thought of homecoming. You only needed to find someone and deliver the message written in the old parchment you've kept for so long. Only then would your miserable odyssey finally come to an end.

"Feed him to the Worm!" cried a tall female Airacsumi. You froze, appalled by her cruel demand.

The scarlet-veiled Airacsumi tribe shouted in agreement, joined by the other Muisirun tribes. Their intense hatred for the condemned individual frightened you. You felt their anger and contempt rippling in high frequencies in the air around you.

"SILENCE!" A voice rang inside the Khapp. All beings inside the dome fell silent.

You lost the sense of urgency you had for your mission and turned to face the platform. Two beings stood on the stage. From afar they both looked like Earthlings. However, you noticed that the other's skin shimmered like crystals under the Alyxian starlight.

"A Son of Alyx," you muttered, recognizing the distinct feature of the ruling race of the star system.

The Alyxian raised his hand and beckoned to the man kneeling beside him. "You ask of capital punishment for this Earthling?" His voice resonated within the Khapp.

"To the Worm!" the crowd roared their affirmation. You pitied the Earthling. It was unthinkable to condemn anyone to the Worm but refugee races like yours had no voice in a host planet's court. Besides, your mission forbade you to interfere.

"This Earthling is guilty of nothing but the practice of the ancient ways of his race. Yet you want to bestow upon him the highest sentence in this star system. What wrong has he done you?" the Alyxian asked the angry Muisirun crowd.

"His ways will destroy Muisirun like how their race destroyed Earthland." The Fomesi's voice echoed across the dome.

"That Earthling is Tainted. His existence was not predetermined by the Laws of Alyx," added the silver-haired E'nnoxi. "He's an anomaly. He must be destroyed."

Tainted. Your eyes widened upon hearing that word. You instinctively clutched your abdomen as you zoomed in on the stage with your spectacles. Right at the center of the Earthling's belly was a round, knotted depression – the mark of a Tainted.

Your heart raced in your chest. You pulled out the parchment from inside your robes and read the passage near the bottom.

The trial of Jmmanuel Supling took place on the third light of Alyx, on the fifty second hundredth Muisirunian cycle.

You looked up at the open sky above the stage. The faint pinkish light of the star, Alyx, bathed the swarthy Earthling and the Alyxian Prefect that stood beside him.

The Alyxian stared at the Earthling. "Earthling, what say you of the accusations thrown upon you?"

You stood in shock when you recognized that the person you were looking for was the man on stage. With lips quivering, you realized that the Pull landed you on the exact location where you ought to be, only you arrived a little too late.

With a heavy heart, you tapped one of the two remaining lights on the Pull and activated it.