Avenger by Su Halfwerk

Jameson O’Brian howled, its ghostly appearance shifting and twisting.
    “But you gave part of your inheritance to charity to redeem yourself,” Marteenk countered.
    At that, the spirit settled in feeble whimpers of anticipation, a semblance of hope.
    “Your willpower was weak, you fornicated with women other than your wife. You infected her and the child within her with the disease you carried from those women,” Remei said.
    A roar of anguish reverberated through the Dome, it finally dwindled to a moan of self-loathing.
    “Yet you recognized her importance in your life when her health deteriorated faster than yours. You remained by her side and became loyal to her after that,” replied Litwiq.
    The spirit faced each High Domine as he or she spoke. For each evil action there should be a redeeming one until the good deeds High Domines fell silent. It was a given that human nature was weak in the face of temptation. However, when the number of offending deeds increased and their proportions broadened, it was a good indication to which side the judgment would fall. Souls destined for heaven traveled peacefully to their paradisiacal destination. Laymour spirits either ended up in Hell or, if the High Domines couldn’t agree, were given a second chance on life through reincarnation. The second time around the judgment was sterner.
    Despite all the security and organization, there was an incident when spirits joined forces in an upheaval to overturn the Laymour, like what happened under the watchful eyes of the previous Pit Keeper. Periodically, the Pit Keeper must replenish the pit’s surface from his or her life force. That renewal took the appearance of a liquid that locked and contained the spirits within the Pit. That one time, the spirits had infused the Pit Keeper’s thoughts with deceitful notions of mistrust, which allowed them to trick her into thinking the liquid’s level hadn’t lessened while they escaped to Earth and took over unsuspecting hosts. Luke was still dispatching some of those spirits as well as the ones there before them.
    From the corner of his eye, Celestine caught movement, and turned. Naiten was waving him over to the Watching Point. “You do not have to wait. The judicial proceedings will take long.”
    Celestine’s attention shifted to the judgment process below.
    “Ah, you are distraught by the judgment,” Naiten said.
    Celestine settled his vapor form into a semitransparent one. “Not distraught, but fascinated. I have never witnessed one. Will we not be distracting them if we speak here?”
    Naiten flashed a slow and sad smile he hadn’t been able to get rid of when he purged himself of emotions. “They are locked in another dimension where they can neither hear nor see us.” He gestured to the half circle. “I can call on their assistance if there were a need. This is a better placement.”
    Celestine nodded. There was nothing worse than an emergency without the ability to reach them. Without the High Domines’ help, Celestine and his previous Spirit Hunter would have lost a very important battle with the spirits.
    “If you recall, Naiten, I have mentioned a spirit without an aura that only the Spirit Hunter can see.”
    Naiten nodded.
    “I saw her body. She is in a coma at a hospital and her spirit wanders in search of company. Luke is working on finding out more about her.” Celestine paused, hesitant to bring up the other matter he had in mind about the girl.
    “Speak up, Celestine. I can only help and advise if I am aware of the whole situation.”
    “Luke knows her from his stripling days.”
    That got an arched eyebrow and an “hmm” from Naiten. The Pit Keeper closed his eyes and ran his fingers through his beard, a sign he was deep in thought. Celestine turned back to the judgment, his mind drifting back to his reluctant hunter. Luke was a wild one, forced—in his own opinion—to do a job he hadn’t signed up for. Despite Luke’s responsibility to extract