1689
"HOW DARE YOU CALL US INSANE!" Gaal screamed at Marie Cruz, "WE'VE DONE NOTHING WRONG!"
Nearly everyone turned to the witches, who seemed to be fighting everything in every step of the way. Much of this was taken as a shock to those present. Especially Linus, at least before Marie's opening statement. When Marie had decided to defend the witches, he thought that she would try to argue for their freedom. But, based off her opening statement, it seemed more to Linus that she was arguing more for their souls, if they had any, then for anything else.
Marie calmly turned to the witches and spoke in a calm collected voice.
"What you have done can not be argued," Marie answered, "What you have done lies throughout your yard and home. That can not be denied. And based by what you have told me, the only thing that I can conclude from it is that you are mad. From what Linus has told me about how your Infinite Chaos works..."
"WHAT DOES HE KNOW ABOUT MAGIC!?"
"My guardian was part of your grandmother's coven before events that I do not know of forced them to move," Linus spoke, "I may not be able to cast spells, but I have learned how the system works."
Marie then picked up, "and he's told me that the unfiltered use of magic, either through a familiar or through some magically charged object, or the use of a magic powder or object that does not require a magic user to use it, is DANGEROUS and comes with the risk of causing insanity if used too much. And from what you've told me, that is EXACTLY what happened. You ignored your teachings and played around with something dangerous to the point it backfired on you. Drove you mad."
"IT'S MAGIC, IT SHOULDN'T FOLLOW RULES!" Gomorrah yelled.
"It has rules for the magic user's own protection," Linus spoke, "Breaking those rules brings about unintended and dangerous consequences."
"The Prosecution may present its evidence or call its first witness," Dr. Azrael spoke, knowing that such outbursts weren't tolerated in normal courts of law, but if the witches were insane, these sort of outbursts were likely to be expected.
Linus turned back to the "doctor" and nodded.
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"For their soul..." Alice spoke slowly, "Do you mean that Marie was arguing that they deserved God's forgiveness?"
Marie-Eliza nodded.
"But how... certainly they should have been punished for what they did!" Maddex gave a low growl, partially making Eliza pull her daughter closer to her. She wasn't indestructible in the mirrorverse... neither was she, but it was her duty to protect Marie, as any GOOD mother would.
"The lord granted forgiveness to all who believed in him," Marie answered calmness, "should one repent of their sins and ask forgiveness. Under this, it is entirely possible that Hitler could be in heaven if he truly repented."
There was a collective shudder at that prospect.
"I can see the point," Lawrence said slowly, "I don't think it is likely, but I can see the point."
++++++++++
"The prosecution calls Mal'akh Bialyk to the stand," Linus spoke in a calm voice.
"Me?" Mal'akh gasped from the back of the room.
Linus turned and nodded. Mal'akh then slowly made their way forward and approached Dr. Azrael.
"Where do I stand?"
"To the right of the table," Draco said calmly and ushered her over to where a chair was waiting. She then stood before him as he held a Bible in front of her, "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you, God?"
"I do...?" Mal'akh answered.
"You may sit down, young one," Dr. Azrael spoke.
Linus then approached her as she sat down.
"Now, Mal'akh, can you tell the court when you first met the witches?" Linus asked.
"About a year or so, I can't really remember the date," Mal'akh admitted.
"Can you remember what happened that day?"
"Yes," Mal'akh nodded.
"Could you tell the court what happened on that day?"
Rosa watched as Mal'akh shuddered.
"Aimiliona and I were out playing with our dog, Joshua when they came up to us and offered Aimiliona some candy," Mal'akh said slowly, "It was Gaal who offered her the candy, and Joshua somehow knew something was wrong. He went to defend his master from what he saw as dangerous. He drove Gaal back and caught some stupid bird... a crow, I think..."
"SOLOME WAS NOT STUPID!" Gomorrah roared.
"SILENCE IN THE COURT!" Dr. Azrael answered with equal force that made everyone back away, "Continue my dear."
"Joshua killed the crow and the witches killed him for it," Mal'akh answered, beginning to cry, "he defended us and he died for us, and they killed him! But in all the crisis, their candy was dropped and Aimiliona ate some of it. It drove her mad. She lost the majority of her ability to recognize most things. All her family, the ones who loved her, could get out of her was "mum"."
"So they drove her insane and killed your pet for protecting the two of you," Linus surmised.
"Yes," Mal'akh said slowly.
Linus then nodded, "this is only one example of the tyranny that the witches wanted to bring to this earth. Before the battle... before the trial... we've all learned that they seemed to think that children are somehow better then adults... yet despite this, they deliberately drove a child, A CHILD, insane. If that is what they would do to children, what do you suppose they would do to the world's adults?"
"Objection, as tragic as what the witches did to Aimiliona Bialyk is, it is not an indicator of what the witches might have done to adults or the world's political leaders," Marie spoke.
"Sustained."
Linus only sighed, "that is all that I have."
"Does the defense wish to cross examine?"
"Yes, your honor," Marie answered. She then slowly approached Mal'akh.
"Mal'akh, I know this is hard for you, but going back to when you first met the witches," Marie began, "did Gaal every say why they were offering you and your sister the candy?"
"Something about freeing her mind, I can't remember the exact words she used," Mal'akh answered.
"Freeing her mind," Marie mused, "From what? Was your sister enslaved by some other witch?"
"No."
"So her mind was already free?" Marie asked.
"Yes."
"That is all I have," Marie said to Dr. Azrael, "it is a clear sign of insanity if you're seeking to free minds that are not enslaved."
Marie then returned to her small table.
"You may step down," Dr. Azrael said to Mal'akh, who returned to Rosa and Monica's side, "The defense may call it's first witness..."
++++++++++++
Present Day
For Gillie, and those like her that could remember all things of the "past reality", the alterations in reality were difficult to bear, largely as past problems from the game sought to fix itself. The alteration of entire families to fit the Big Bad Wolf Pack's altered family structure was probably one of them, but unknown to Gillie or Serenity at the moment the changes that reality was making to account for Lupmen, Leomen, Felmen, Dragons, Gargoyles, and humans sharing the world had some changes that weren't necessarily a bad thing.
In the first reality, because of human enterprises, vast numbers of animals had gone extinct or become critically endangered. The large populations of Leomen and Lupmen changed that as reality shifted. As they needed large relatively undeveloped pieces of land to hunt, the Leoman and Lupman populations had actually saved many animals from this fate as their interconnected hunting grounds soon became the reserves for many species endangered or threatened in the previous reality. Some cases could not be avoided. The Caspian Tiger and the Atlas Lion and Bear were doomed to be fed to Imperial Rome's gladiatorial games. And the Dodo did not know any predator before man arrived, and couldn't defend itself against the predators that man introduced, some unintentionally. But many others, including the Grey Wolf (which wasn't actually in danger of extinction in the wild), the African and Asiatic Lion, the Bengal, Indochinese, Sumatran, Chinese and Amur (Siberian) Tiger, the Gaur, various Rhinoceros species, Bison and many others were protected by the presence of Leomen or Lupmen, or both.
And any naturalist who might happen to remember the previous reality would find this to be a hopeful change... For Gillie though, she wasn't thinking in that broad a concept. She mostly wondered how much her grandmother and her friend could smalltalk over.