The Weight of Justice: Williams' Legacy

Dusk was slowly falling on the lands of Cælora. Volmeryn stood on a rock watching the horizon. His subordinates were gathered around him ready to listen to the revelations he had chosen to share. That evening he was going to tell them a secret which until now had been carefully buried within him.

They knew that something important was going to be said. Volmeryn had always kept his distance from his allies, never really willing to reveal any weaknesses.

Tonight everything was going to change.

Volmeryn (serious voice): «There is something you need to know, a secret that I have not shared with anyone until now.»

Lyara felt the heaviness of the moment. Darius simply waited without any expression. Carlos, however watched Volmeryn with intensity.

Volmeryn took a deep breath before continuing.

«Before I was Volmeryn Vorthyx, the dragon you know, I was a man. A man named Williams Allens. A lawyer. It was in a world... very different from this one. »

Silence fell. Lyara and Darius exchanged glances while Carlos remained serene. All were hanging on his words. Volmeryn then told them about his old life, the human world and the struggles he had faced.

Flashback – The Life of Williams Allens :

Williams Allens was a lawyer in his twenties, a serious man always impeccably dressed in a black suit. He was respected in his field and was an authority figure in the legal affairs of his city.

One day he was confronted with a difficult case: a man named Marc-Andre Duvall, a notorious criminal accused of several murders and scams. The man was rich and powerful and he could afford a renowned lawyer. Williams, as always was not ready to defend someone he considered a monster. He had studied the case in detail and his instincts told him that this man was guilty.

Williams Allens stood with trembling hands on the defendant's file. The criminal's file, the one he was about to defend, was thousands of pages thick. There was overwhelming evidence, irrefutable testimonies and yet... Something was wrong.

Since he was sworn in, Williams had always believed in justice. It had to be pure, uncompromising, and flawless.

«The law is the law,» he repeated to himself every time he was faced with a difficult decision.

But this criminal, this man he was about to defend today was different.

"The law is one thing, but humanity is another," one of his colleagues whispered years ago.

Williams had always rebelled against the idea, but today... Today it resonated differently in his mind.

The criminal he was going to defend was not only accused of fraud or theft. He had killed and the evidence was there overwhelming. But through the papers, the testimonies, a deeper truth surfaced, a truth that required a form of compassion and understanding.

He was not a monster, just a man devoured by circumstances.

«What if justice is not just about punishing, but about understanding?» thought Williams with his heart full of doubt.

He remembered his own childhood, the times when he had been condemned to observe the flaws in the system. The weak, those who were condemned before they were even heard.

He had never believed in redemption, nor in mercy. But today something was wrong. This criminal, this man whom society rejected was perhaps not so different from him as he would have liked to admit. Perhaps it was this human fragility that he found in his own reflection.

«Who am I to judge?»

His conscience struggled between the implacable logic of the law and this strange empathy he felt.

«If I defend him, I am betraying everything I have built.»

His thoughts were running in circles. But a small voice in his mind whispered to him that this choice that of defending the indefensible, might well be his last chance to act according to what he believed to be right.

Williams would get up from his desk with his decision made despite the anguish troubling him. He had spent too much time doubting.

Click! He abruptly closed the file in front of him.

He was going to go all the way. Not just for this man, but for himself. To understand if he could really free himself from the prison of his own convictions.

In Williams Allens' office:

Williams stood looking at the file. At his side, his superior, Martin Laurent, a man with gray hair and round glasses approached him.

Tock, tock, tock! His shoes hit the ground.

«Williams, you were chosen to defend Duvall. You can't refuse,» he told him in a firm tone.

Williams then turned to him with his eyes filled with conviction.

«I refuse. This man killed several innocent people. How can I defend such a monster? This is not justice. It's a farce.» Bam! He hit the table with his fist, the sheets of paper on it flew away.

Martin, frustrated replied in a serious tone.

«You know it's not a question of morality, Williams. This is a major case. You can't afford to refuse. You know the policy of the cabinet. If you refuse this client, you lose your job.»

Martin's words resonated with him but Williams remained firm in his decision.

«I am not a man to sell my conscience for a position. I'd rather leave.»

Martin was still approaching Williams like a predator before attacking. It wasn't a gesture of force but rather a precision he had learned over the years.

«Do you really think idealism is a thing to stand for here, Williams?» he whispered with a smile.

«You are a man of principles, I see that. But principles don't pay the bills. What awaits you is a look at your reflection in a broken mirror when you realize that you have sacrificed everything worth saving for an illusion of justice.»

Sweat beaded on the back of Williams' neck. Drop... Drop... It was not the brutality of the threat that reached him. No, it was the precision with which Martin knew how to play on his internal doubts. It took away the possibility of a simple way out.

«You know what you're going to lose, don't you?»

«What do you expect from me, Martin?» replied Williams.

«I don't expect anything. I just want you to understand. If you really want this position, if you think it's still worth something, then you know what you have to do.» Martin turned as he left without saying another word.

Clack! He closed the door behind him.

In the court:

Volmeryn was on his way to the court where his client was already waiting. When he entered the courtroom he felt the accusing looks of the spectators weighing on him. Part of him wanted to turn on his heels and leave the room.

The trial was unfolding before his eyes, he saw it as a cruel theater. With each new testimony, with each new proof, he felt even more the weight of injustice but also that of the truth that escaped everyone.

His words resonated in the courtroom, every argument he put forward, every defense he made, distanced him a little more from the world he had always known.

Williams Allens: «I defend this man not because I believe he deserves clemency but because I believe that justice cannot exist without the understanding of the human heart. Yes, he made mistakes but who among us can claim to be free from fault?»

Click, click, click! The keys of the clerk's keyboard echoed in the silence.

The day drew to a close as Williams left the courtroom, tired but strangely relieved. However, a pressure was exerted on his chest. Ba-doum, ba-doum... He had acted according to his principles but the anguish persisted.

CHAPTER ENDED.