Veritas Coacta

‘Forbidden magic’

A frightening combination of words in our world.

But I wasn’t surprised, these are criminals we are talking about after all.

I wouldn’t put it past them to use illegal methods to get me to talk.

In fact, what I am surprised about is that it took them this long to do it.

The only catch was that I had nothing to hide, I wasn’t lying to them in the first place.

I had no choice but to prepare for the worst.

“Are you going to torture me?” I asked, fully aware that even if he responds, truth would be an option.

Instead, he laughed.

“We might be criminals, but even we have morals,” Xax said, “we don’t torture prisoners, let alone children like yourself. All of the injuries you might have seen in your previous prison chamber were self-inflicted by former… uhm… residents.”

“This one has blood marks all over it too,” I said.

“These were all from despicable men, capable of repeated murders and other unforgivable offences,” he said as his face turned stern and apathetic. “It would be an understatement to say that none of them deserved anyone’s sympathy.”

They must have been repulsive criminals to get him this passionate talking about them.

And now, I was among them.

“Why were you putting your own people in prison? I thought this was Aireven, the city of criminals,” I nagged at him.

His face turned even more fierce.

“Like I said prior, we have morals. Even though we are criminals, most of us have only committed petty offenses, often for our own survival. But this world doesn’t give offenders a second chance, no matter the size of their crime, so we had no choice but to seek refuge here,” he explained.

“Naturally, word amongst criminals spreads fast, and even the most revolting of them find their way in here,” he continued. “Therefore, in agreement, we decided to segregate them.”

“Understood,” I said, completely uninterested.

I was too exhausted to keep on listening to his drivel.

I went through a lot of mess because of this man, so I wanted him to leave as quickly as possible.

“Now then, to ascertain your position in this we will be using a more reliable, yet unfortunately, illegal method in this country,” he continued, “you will temporarily lose your ability to wield magic.”

He caught my attention.

Lose my magic? That sounds extra fishy and questionable…

“This will allow us to freely question you in a way that will either clear your name or condemn you, with your own effort – a procedure known abroad as veritas coacta, or forced truth,” he said as he put on his signature fake smile.

Is that it?

No torture or pain involved?

“When will I get my magic back?” I asked, ready to start the interrogation.

“Now, now… I will explain things when you are ready. At the present, we don’t want you to starve yourself before we even begin,” Xax said, “please eat and call upon the guards when you are ready to proceed. It could take a while.”

He took his leave.

I glanced over at my breakfast expecting horror.

Only to find two eggs and a thin piece of bread on the tray.

Thank God she was lying.

This must have been Xax’s doing.

Maybe he wasn’t such a bad man after all.

As I was eating my breakfast, I realized how funny the world worked.

With good food, your faith and desire to live can be fully restored, at least for another day…

When I finished, I called upon the guard.

While on my way to the interrogation place, the guard’s torch illuminated the arching hallways. Even underground, a criminal city at that, they still had some fashionable sculptures and engravings decorating the way.

They’ve clearly put a lot of effort into this place, over long periods of time.

If it wasn’t so gloomy and depressing, it would be a nice location to explore further.

I arrived in a well-lit circle room with two chairs in the center facing one another. There were two men standing there, talking before our arrival.

“I take it you are ready?” asked Xax.

“Yes,” I replied.

“This is Dr. Lobaum,” he explained, gesturing towards the other man, “he will be conducting the interrogation alongside me.”

“Morning,” said Lobaum, a nearly bald, fat man with round glasses.

By the looks of it, he was around 60 years old. He was wearing a long, black mantle, covered in what looked like foreign numerals.

A shady character but Xax was here so I was probably safe…

I nodded in response.

“Right then, if the party is ready, I shall begin the incantation,” said Lobaum, as he sought approval from me and Xax.

I had no objections, the sooner this was over, the better.

He wasted no time.

“Earth, water, fire, wind. Oh, the four elements from which all life stems, find your respite in this lonely vessel, for it shall temporarily relieve you of your burden,” chanted Lobaum as he lifted a crystal rock above my head.

“Allow us to inhibit your blessing for the purpose of enlightenment, upon the completion of which, all will be wholly reinstated.”

I felt as though I was being stripped bare.

I never knew magic was such a big part of my existence.

As it left me, the only thing that remained was my weak, fragile body.

“I shall begin the second incantation,” said Lobaum, as he repeated his search for approval and then looked me straight in my eyes.

“In the name of Aletheia, the Goddess of Truth, I call on you to speak the truth for the duration of this obligation. Let the tongue be bound to this undertaking, infringement upon shall mean one’s future to be cursed, from now, forever.”

I felt a sharp, stinging sensation on my tongue, as if something was written upon it with a razor-sharp blade.

Despite the pain, there was no blood.

The elements were an obvious case, but were both of these incantations just now magic, too?

And what was that about me being cursed? No one notified me about any of that…

“Are you ready, Zenzo?” asked Xax.

“Yes,” I replied.

I could feel that the spell inclined me to make my answers truthful and as prompt as possible, wasting no words.

Like I said before, I had no complaints.

“Alright then, first off, who are you?”

“Zenzo, son of Froid. Inhabitant of the Saples Village.”

“Was it your first time in Neveria, like you were claiming initially?”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever heard of Aireven before you came here 5 days ago?”

“No.”

“Where you sent to Aireven by someone?”

“No.”

“How did you get into Aireven?”

“I fell through the floor of the Oracle’s marble room.”

There was a silence while Xax and Lobaum were exchanging bewildered looks at each other.

It seems they realized that there was now a high possibility of hearing the same story I told Xax previously, all over again.

“Why were you in the Oracle’s marble room?”

“I was maintaining magic laws stating that newborn children and those who are 3 weeks past their 12th birthday, have to hold an audience with an Oracle to plead allegiance to our country’s interests.”

“How old are you currently?”

“I don’t know. I lost track of time due to my imprisonment.”

They were both lost for words.

The long interrogation that was meant to go on for hours ended up lasting a few minutes.

“Uhm… When you were in the Oracle’s marble room, why did the floor break from under you?”

“I don’t know.”

Xax paused again.

I could see he was troubled with his findings and couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Lobaum, what is the meaning of this!” he whispered. “I thought he was bounded by the contract!”

“He is, sire…” said Lobaum, just as troubled. “He can’t possibly be lying right now... The clause for punishing the infringement of this contract is originally designed for powerful criminals that can resist the spell; a child like him couldn’t possibly break it, even if he still had most of his magic…”

“So he is telling the truth…” Xax muttered under his breath, looking disappointed.

“It would seem so, sire…” Lobaum responded quietly.

There was a moment when Xax thought about his further actions.

Clearly, this scenario had never occurred to him.

“Escort him to our guest chambers. We’re done here… I need to mull everything over inside my head…”

“Understood, sire.”

It was over.

Just like that…

Lobaum cast a spell called Break on me, and I was freed from all incantation side effects.

At last, I was proven innocent.

I was a free man.

While I was being escorted a different way, a real city came into view, not the gory chambers I was seeing up until this point.

It looked like it was sculpted out of the surrounding rock, fitted perfectly within the curvature of the cave.

There was no source of light underground, but somehow, it had a bright, radiant atmosphere, unlike anything I’ve seen before.

Cheerful laughter, smiles, and happy families filled the small streets. The stone houses held together by mortar, were layered in rows, ascending higher and higher like a giant, circling staircase.

Must be nice living like this.

It made me curious if they even knew about the dark part of their city which had nothing in common with this place.

But it didn’t matter anymore, I was out of there at last.

I arrived at a small room that had barely anything in it.

It came with a clean bed, a mundane vase with no flowers on a nightstand, and a loaf of bread placed on a small, round table, nothing else.

Although I felt hungry, I was too tired to eat.

I couldn’t stay awake any longer, I fell onto the bed without touching the food and submerged myself into deep sleep.

But while I was sleeping in my room, a man was sprinting as fast as he could to Lord Xax.

He was delivering him an important message.

“It’s me… Braun… Let me in… Quick!” he shouted, gasping for air.

Eventually, he got through.

He wasted no time.

“Sire… please… take a look…” he said out of breath as he handed Xax a folded, local newspaper.

Xax unfolded it and looked at the first page. His eyes widened.

“Doesn’t that look mighty similar to our kid?” asked Braun.

“…”