A response I made to a reddit writingprompts post. This prompt was: "You have been sentenced to death in a magical court. The court allows all prisoners to pick how they die and they will carry it out immediately. You have it all figured out until the prisoner before you picks old age and is instantly transformed into a dying old man. Your turn approaches."
The crowd jeered as the prisoner was brought back into the courtroom, and but for the muzzle he would have spit back at them. As it was, we could all see the sneer in his eyes, and even though the epithets he snarled back at the crowd were muffled by his gag, nothing could disguise the vitriol, the sheer hatred behind them.
"Order!" I shouted, banging my gavel until the crowd settled. "We will have order here or I will have this chamber cleared! I know there are many here who have been harmed by the actions of the Usurper, but we are here to deliver justice. Sit, and see justice done."
The prisoner's words were muffled, but I could still make out the word "justice" said in that mocking tone. I motioned to one of the guards, who cuffed him soundly across the face for his gall. He sat for a moment, hatred in his eyes, not staring at the guard, but staring at me. I met that gaze, without fear. He couldn't hurt us. Not anymore.
"Thibus Arxidus," I said, staring down at the prisoner with contempt. "You have been convicted of high treason, murder, and the attempted genocide of your own people. I will not ask you if you have anything to say, in repentance or remorse, for there is but one sentence. We hereby sentence you to death, to be carried out immediately."
The crowd erupted into cheers and cries of joy, and I let them cheer for a good minute before I banged my gavel to restore order once again. I let their joy warm me, along with the thoughts of the justice to come.
Arxidus had been one of our leading scientists, a genius in that new field that was giving our ancient ways of magic a run for its money, but he had grown bitter and disillusioned with society, first with the corruption he saw in government, and later with what he saw as the fundamental flaws in society itself. He wasn't alone in his opinions, and he quickly gathered allies and followers, but when he began talking about the stain of humanity itself, and the need to purge the world of life so that it might begin again, unstained and uncorrupted, most left him, leaving only the most violent and misanthropic.
These he sent against our institutions, carrying out bloody assassinations and campaigns of terror in the name of "The Purging." We had never seen such violence, and were totally unprepared for it, and our leaders were all lost in a week of horror we came to call "The Sadness." He and his remaining followers seized control, and forced the court mages to begin construction on an artifact of unsurpassed destructive power, a device meant to strike at the very heart of the world itself, to crack it and shatter it, and then feed upon the remains to build more of itself, spreading outward into the universe to consume all worlds, leaving the heavens barren and finally, in his own words, "clean."
We fought his followers in the great battle before the gates of the palace, and slew them to the last man. The Usurper was seized when the mages he'd captured took the opportunity to turn on him and restrain him. They dismantled and destroyed the unfinished artifact, and Arxidus was taken into custody so he might face trial for his many crimes.
I stared down upon him. "You were once our most celebrated scientist, finding truths and making observations about the heavens and the universe that our mages had never dreamed of. And those truths, it seems, are too much for the human mind. You took that knowledge, that renown, and turned it against your own people, as your mind turned against yourself. You will die, and your twisted schemes will die with you, and your name will be ever after whispered as a caution, as a warning to those who seek after truths we were not meant to understand."
I motioned to the mages standing near to the prisoner, and they stepped forward.
"You know well our law. You know that in our benevolence we allow those condemned to death to choose the manner of their passing, and through the magic of our mages we see that it comes to be. A peaceful end, or violent, this is the choice we give to even the worst offenders, for we are merciful even when we must be stern. Even you, who has transcended the very bounds of madness in your ambitions, we will allow to choose the manner of your own death."
There was a murmur of outrage from the crowd, but I banged my gavel once, loudly. "Even this one, even the Usurper, deserves the mercy of this court!" I turned back towards Arxidus. "Speak your death, and the magic of these mages will see it happen. Choose well, for once the words have left your lips, nothing will stop the doom that you have chosen from encompassing you."
The mages waved their hands, and a soft glowing light surrounded the prisoner. I nodded to one of the guards, who removed the prisoner's gag.
"Choose your next words carefully, Thibus Arxidus, and die well."
Thibus Arxidus, former Chief Scientist of the Royal Academy, Overseer of the Library and Observatory of the Heavens, Regicide of Cinu VII, Usurper and Would-Be Destroyer of Worlds, lifted his hands to his mouth, massaging it softly. With great dignity, he slowly stood, staring at me no longer with hatred in his eyes but with what I could only read as sorrow, or perhaps pity, if I didn't know better. He turned to face the crowd, and bowed his head towards them before turning back to me. He smiled, and again it seemed somehow sad.
He looked upwards, as if to the heavens, and then smiled. He looked back at me, and drew in a final breath.
"FALSE VACUUM DECAY!" he said with a shout, and there was a flash of light, and then there was nothing, anywhere, ever again.
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