Whatever semblance of a name they’d had, they had since forgotten. The harder they tried to remember what they had been called before the collapse, the more the word ‘sinner’ wormed into their brain. They knew their parents had not named them that – but that’s what they had been. Just a sinner.

Now – they were the Judge. They passed judgement on behalf of the Father, they atoned for the sins they’d committed in their past life. So long as they atoned, so long as they judged whom they were told to judge – they were no sinner. They were right. They were safe.

So what were they meant to do now? With no Father to guide them, no righteous leader to tell them who to judge, what worth were they? Their hands trembled as they stared into the crystal blue water. All that met them in the reflection was their mask. They were no longer human – they were simply the Judge.