Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

(part 2 is here. part one linked from there)

The beast rose, and the hammer fell. The flames blazed, and the hammer fell. The crowd parted, and the man stepped forward. In his hand, he held the hammer, in his presence, people stared in awe. He was justice, he was the law, but few remembered he was still just a man. Days past, months past, years past, all the while the crowd was there. All the while he held the hammer, he dealt out punishment, he kept the peace. So rarely was he able to join the crowd, his duty called too often. When he could join the crowd as one of their own, his weapon, ever present, was always the first thing they saw, his words, his presence distorted by it. Maybe that was why he changed. Maybe it was simply the power the hammer held. Whatever the reason, as time passed, punishment came faster. The beast didn't need to rise before the hammer fell, the flames were barely a spark before the hammer fell. And then it happened. For no reason, the hammer fell. And again, and again. He'd gone mad. People shouted to stop, cried injustice for those he'd struck, and on them the hammer fell. People ran, cowered before him, but still the hammer fell. He was justice, he was the law, who were they to argue? He held the hammer, and he would use it. A man stepped forward and fell to his knees. He begged for justice, begged for this to stop. The hammer rose. The man pleaded, and the hammer fell. The man remained, still on his knees. Before him there was no longer the one who held the hammer. It lay alone on the ground. Even the one who holds the hammer is not immune, proven by the sign that glowed where he had been. b&.