Yog-ka's Trial

Yog-ka's Trial

"Several of my friends and I felt that the proposed penalty of death was too harsh. We believe in forgiveness after all... We wanted to see Yog-ka apologize for his actions, and spend more hours teaching to make up for the hours of Sabra he had taken away. I visited the newly returned lyran Tzintha to ask if anything might be done.. and to talk about Yog-ka.

"As it turned out, Tzintha knew Yog-ka as a child.... She seemed rather to like him, even though she told awful stories of Shade searching through hundreds of dreamstruck essences for the remains of his father. His cousin Yog-ka looking on, smiling slyly..."

Nziri shivers.

Calysto feels a chill as she holds her pen.

"I believed that Yog-ka was simply in need of a friend... he had been alone all his life, with even his cousin Shade refusing to acknowledge him. Or maybe they were half-brothers."

Nziri sighs, her memory failing her.

"So, as it turned out, I would again be unable to dream the date of the trial. I was obligated to attend a religious retreat in cloudsbreak... seeing as I was the only priestess left in my village after the loss. And such retreats require full attention, no dreaming. So again, I heard about the trail secondhand. Yog-ka was convicted by majority vote, not unanimous. But that was enough by the trial rules. He made no real attempt to defend his actions. Then he walked out, razorwinding left and right. He became a fugitive, and soulthief became obsessed with collecting his heads. This sick pastime lead to a weakening of Soulthief's spirit, and allowed TyKoth to take over Soulthief's body. That's another story though.

"Eventually, Yog-ka agreed to serve his sentence. Shade was to perform the execution but since Shade had recently lost his lyran status in the discovery of earthquake, Balthiir did the honors instead. As Balthiir stepped forward, a deadly black device in his hand, Yog-ka announced that Balthiir would now bear the title "dark lyran", and gave him his cloak. I believe Balthiir has worn it since. Balthiir used the talisman, which he claimed was "death" and Yog-ka's last words were praising a being called the Dread One. Pure lucidity it is said, perhaps much as Solister is pure insight. Yog-ka vanished then... And shortly after, the ghost of Sabra appeared. With help from her many devoted students, the details of which I do not know; her avatar was restored to her, and Sabra now dreams once again.

Reference

• http://www.acheron.com/~marian/dreamhistory/chapter13.html