No judge is of Future

Mariya held the gun right above Daniels head and spoke-

"I will kill you."

It wasn't a lie, definitely. Daniel lay on the floor; he pulled his knee up to get up, but Mariya stepped on his hand.

"Don't move move again and you'll be goner"

Daniel yelled-

"But I already told you I don't know what happened here! Why are you so hell-bent on blaming me?"

*10* Mariya started counting down,

"I swear please, just listen to me, I really don't know!" Daniel pleaded, the tears welled up in his eyes,

*9

"Please! Please! I was not even born! I swear, let me go!"

*8*

"Please! Please! I am telling the truth; you know I can't lie!"

*7*

"What the fuck is your problem! Can't you hear me? Say something! I told you I don't know anything about this thing, cult whatever it is!" The tears dropped from his face.

He cried from his lungs, he yelled, he begged…

*6*

"No, no, please just stop! I will help you find them! Just spare me. I don't know what they are, but you said I am your lead! Please stop!"

*5*

"LISTEN TO ME! I AM NOT WITH THEM! I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING! I CAN'T EVEN LIE!"

He cried, his loud voice echoed, entering through the broken windows of the building.

"4*

"FUCK IT! IF YOU ARE GOING TO SHOOT! DO IT NOW!"

Daniel readied his heart; he knew talking would have no effect on her.

He had done everything he could to save his life, but she seemed nowhere close to being interested in talking.

*3*

Daniel took long breaths, he closed his eyes and tried remembering everything, where did it go so wrong?

*2*

.

.

.

*1*

"I hope you find them and peace too…" Daniel uttered,

*0*

*Click*

Mariya pulled the trigger, and nothing happened.

Daniel stayed silent for few minutes and slowly opened his eyes and peeked at her,

She holstered the gun, lit another cigarette, and moved her step from his hand.

"Did you lie? No, what did you do! Don't lie! You'll die-"

Daniel got up and kneeled.

"Calm down, idiot!" Mariya smacked Daniel's head.

"But, but you will die! You lied." Daniel yelled at her…

"I didn't…" Mariya calmly spoke.

"What? But you said you'll kill me!" Daniel looked at scratching his head in confusion.

"Listen boy, what I said wasn't a lie or truth, let's just say it was a promise, assumption or prediction." She sat on the floor and crossed her legs.

Now listen carefully, I think I have a loophole in your power.

Do you know about Pinocchio's Paradox?" Mariya looked at Daniel puffing out smoke.

"Yeah, I saw a video on the internet about it. It is about a puppet who can't lie; if he lies, his nose will grow."

Daniel spoke with anticipation, with a wish that whatever she was saying or claiming was true.

"Good, that ends half of my work. Now you know if Pinocchio lies, his nose will grow, like if he says he's a demon or the sky is green or whatever.

But if he says, 'My nose will grow,' what will happen?"

She took a pause and puffed another.

"Nothing—

The paradox asserts that if Pinocchio's nose grows, that makes the statement true, so his nose shouldn't grow, but if it doesn't grow, it makes the statement a lie, so it should grow, and again, if it grows, it will be true."

The cigarette was about to end...

"But, if nothing happens, wouldn't it be a lie?" Daniel rested his chin on his knuckle, thinking,

"That's where the paradox answers lies, the answer is, you can never lie about future,

Whatever you say, whatever the stupidest or most outrageous thing you can think about and tell it to someone, is neither a lie nor a truth.

Truth and lie are the nature of statements that have a ground or fact to back them up, and that fact is present or past because of their certainty, but with the future, the probability is always 50/50."

Mariya continued,

"Think of it this way: someone says the sun will be blue tomorrow. He didn't lie or speak the truth because nobody has seen the future."

"But we know that's impossible-" Daniel raised his brows in confusion.

"That's where the third condition comes in: what if the man dies before seeing the sun?"

She lit another one,

"Then it will be neither true nor false for him because he won't be there to confirm it.

"Exactly, so there are three rules of your power we know,

You can't lie to anyone

No one can lie to you

Anything about the future will never be a lie or truth…

"So that's why…"

"Exactly, that's why! I really thought you would've killed

me…" Daniel let out a chuckle in nervousness…

"Well, you can't lie about the past, so I'll say, yes, I would've killed you."