Jin and Gerlath, Luca Guez [reading strategies book txt] 📗

is this really the answer you are giving? Or the one you are supposed to give? In any case, you shall go now. Your final judgment awaits.

Sen

Master, could you go with me? Together we would…

SPIRIT

No, Sen. A spirit and a human should never work together. The two realms have been created as different, we are not the same. This is your problem to solve. Spirits have no power here. Now you should really go. I have little to no time left.

Sen

Yes, Master.

Exit Sen

Scene III

Sen, Jin

Sen

My final judgement… Could it be? Will I really be able to pass judgement with no feelings at my side? This murderer, he deserves nothing but death. All the lives he has ended and the way he did it... With human element removed from the equation, what is it that is left of him? Nothing worthy of a life.

Sen starts the teleportation process; stands still with arms kept at the height of chest, at the far end of the scene Jin appears.

How… How could it be? Is it him? It must be him. The feeling of terror is almost touchable. But how is it possible? Can someone access the spirit realm but for me?

Exit Sen

Act IV

Scene I

Sen, Zet and Kush

Sen

I have come

Kush

Do you have any news for us?

Sen

More than I hoped for.

Zet

Tell us what happened. 

Sen

I saw him. He was the one. The singer without a voice, the dancer without legs. 

Kush

How could you have met? How come are you still alive? 

Sen

Twas but a glance.

Zet

Don't make us wait for more details. 

Sen

 I caught a glimpse of him while exiting that world. I couldn't see him clearly, but the identity was unmistakable. The theatrical aura of death around him filled the room and a mix of horror and amazement could be felt. 

Zet

Did you recognize him? 

Sen

He wore a mask. We will not know him unless we tear it down

Zet

And so we shall do.

Kush

We were told that the murders were glamorous for the sake of art, but it seemed like they were meant to attract the attention of the populace. 

Zet

He's always going for high ranking targets

Sen

And causing terrible deaths with arrogant flamboyance and style. 

Kush

What terrifies me is not the scale, but the method. It must take a monster to make an art out of killing. His works, albeit beautiful, are inhuman and terrify beyond all expectation. I cannot imagine what monster would be able to commit such crime. 

Zet

We must act as detectives on the case. If we get distracted by his methods, we may never catch him. 

Sen 

Surely we cannot ignore the monstrosities that he causes. 

Zet 

If we don't, we let him win. Public outrage is what he is trying to achieve and he's on his best way to finishing his goals.

Sen

So what if we give into his manipulations? Surely we aren't his main goal. 

Zet 

His goal are high ranking officials. He started with Lee, then came the governor. So the next logical choice would be a leader of an influential order, just like 

Kush 

Kush explodes 

 

Scene II

Enter Jin

Zet

Why do you partake in this madness? 

Jin 

Art requires a certain… cruelty.

Sen (with a cracking voice) 

And so you kill poor Kush, a nobleman so wise that he has no real enemies? Have you no qualms?

Jin

This art is a compulsion… I cannot resist it. 

Zet 

You're a madman. 

Jin

All artists are mad. 

Jin and Zet charge at each other. Zet cuts Jin's weapon out of his hand. 

Jin 

Whisper… 

Zet 

Not so great without our gun, are we? How are you going to kill us now? 

Jin 

I will wait until the composition is perfect. 

Zet 

Cut it out with your drama club. We need to solve this case once and for all right now. And the two ways we can do it is either for us to kill you or for you to start talking. 

Jin 

(menacing silence) 

Sen 

So it shall be. 

Sen and Jin charge at each other. Sen tears off Jin's mask in two swift arm gestures. 

Sen (visibly astonished) 

Is it you, my friend Jin? 

Jin 

Which is the lie? The mask or my face? 

Sen 

Even after all that you still keep character? Jin, my dear, please talk to me like we used to. Please tell me the old you is still there. 

Jin 

I have risen from the filth and muck. I am the lotus blossom. I… am beauty

Sen 

You are nothing but ugliness. No one who kills for pleasure deserves respect from me. 

(after a short pause)

My dear Jin, we can still make things right. Your art might exist without your killings. We can help you realise yourself in your 

Zet kills Jin. 

Scene III

Sen

My dear friend! 

Sen runs up to Jin's body and punches Zet

Zet

If you believe that his death was undeserved, you are as much of a monster as him

Sen 

I would have never killed a friend and so I feel nothing but disgust towards anyone that does any harm to him. 

Zet 

How would you then pass judgement to him? What you are saying is at odds with our order’s morality.

Sen 

We would have figured something out...

Sen breaks down on his knees and faces Jin

You and I used to be so close. Whatever happened to break us apart? I put trust in you and was willing to sacrifice my life for you. And now…? I was on the verge of losing my life and you were not the saviour, but the killer. Where did your twisted personality come from? Where did the old Jin full of kindness and compassion go? The awful sequence of events that has made you this way must have been beyond human comprehension. You became a monster worse than any monster known to man. However hard I try to forgive you, I cannot bring myself feel compassion towards you. Your work is terrifying and its effects are frightening. Yet… Your person… You're still the Jin that I know and love. The same person, albeit a killer and a psychopath. And so I cannot bring myself to hate you. You're my friend and I remember it. And I will still treat you as one. That's why my friend needs to be 

Sen grabs Jin's gun

Avenged 

Sen shoots Zet

 

Scene IV

Sen

Sen holds the gun to his temple.

Sen

Now my master

Sen takes a step forward

my best friend

Sen takes a step forward

and my fellow student

Sen takes a step forward

are all gone.

(after a short pause)

And so there is no reason for me to live. All my purpose and all my life’s meaning has been taken away, step by step. The ones I loved and respected the most were the ones that led to my ultimate downfall. There’s nothing in life that holds any purpose to me now. 

(Sen breaks down on his knees and looks up)

O Spirits, give me advice just this once. What shall I do in this time of despair. I have been taken away everything with the sole exception of your wisdom. What good is a connection with you if you never solve my problems. I renounce our bond - let nothing ever connect us again. For there’s no reason for me to call for spirits that know not how to help me.

(stands up)
O, the frightening power of man. Who gave us the right to decide who lives and who dies?  If there is a god, he must have abandoned this place long ago and left it to rot in its anarchy. 

(looks at the audience)

Very well then. If man can make decisions about life and death, than let me make the final one.

Sen shoots himself.

 

Geralth

 PROLOGOS

Enter Gerlath and his allies

Gerlath

I have gathered you, my dear followers, here - at the base of the Stairs of Ascension - for this is where history is going to be made. After the ceremony of Ascension, the Great Shuriman Empire shall never be as it is now.

CHORAGOS

O praise be to our savior, the great Gerlath, who will ascend, thus rendering the current emperor, A'ir, powerless.

Gerlath

Do remember that we have to tread carefully. If my superior finds out the truth to our plotting, the cult will be dissolved at once and no one should speak of his fellow cultists. I put complete trust in you and I hope you never betray me. I require of you an oath that all I say is not to see daylight.

CHORUS

We solemnly swear not to betray you at all times and to keep your word a secret. If one of us shall break this promise, we swear to locate him and lay waste to him.

Gerlath

I am glad to have such faithful followers. This eve our emperor A'ir is going to attempt to play the main role at the ascension ceremony. That would be the ideal moment to strike. For if one has a brain to think and eyes to see, he knows that the one who should walk the Stairs of Ascension and receive the gift from the Sun is I. This land shall no longer be ruled by soulless oppressors that made me into the slave that I am to-day. The reign of A'ir has brought upon this empire nothing but misery and poverty. I shall put an end to this tragedy and liberate all that seek freedom.

CHORUS

O great Gerlath, we long for your reign as we long for freedom. We will not sit on the fence any longer, the time has come for action. Do ascend and become our leader.

Gerlath

I have to remind you, just to be on the safe side, to beware of A'ir’s personal advisor, Nasus. He is a man of great intellect and will not hesitate to tell the emperor about any suspicion that has arisen in his mind. He has already passed the ritual of ascension, therefore A'ir will be more willing to listen to his advice than mine. He might even attempt to convince the emperor of the ritual being too dangerous to perform, thus frustrating my plan. I shall make use of all of my resources not to let Nasus discourage A'ir from attempting to ascend.

PARODOSCHORUS

O great Shuriman Empire

Thou art beauty in its finest

O we truly are unworthy

Of your sands and of your dryness

Let us bathe in all thy glory

And let no one ever conquer

What's our sacred territory 

CHORAGOS

But what beauty is Shurima

To the ones stripped of possessions

Ones that sate their masters’ cravings

As their everyday profession

Slavery indeed is dreadful

But in our great society

Tis what makes our land successful

CHORUS

Let us praise thou, wise man, Gerlath

Who hast saved our precious ruler 

How it happened that thy power

Still remains so minuscular

Risen hast thou near the king

Yet even with all your honors 

Thou hast not been ever set free

CHORAGOS

When our ruler was in peril

You displayed heroic bravery

Saving him and our empire

Yet he did not end your slavery

He let you drink from his chalice

He let you lie in his palace 

But he did not see your malice

EPEISODION I

Enter A'ir with Gerlath and Nasus

Gerlath

My great lord! The time has come to take the power of the Sun and ascend above the mere mortals becoming the Ascended Warrior. There is no time to waste!

A'ir

How true your words are! For this is the day when no living creature can stand against the Shuriman Empire. I, the Emperor of Shurima, shall ascend to protect the weak and conquer the new.

NASUS

O great emperor. Do not let your pride and thirst for power put a shadow on the consequences that the Ascension may bring. After the Ascension you will no longer remain the same. I will even stick my neck out and say that your body will change making you extremely powerful. But every power has its cost. And