Divine Justice

I began to pour loose-leaf tea into my master’s cup alongside mine, a wise man, and he invites me to sit with him on his planet and drink.

“You lack faith in mortals, speak.” he inquires

“This tea is a mirror, pointed inwards, if the soul of it’s maker is clouded, then it shall be. So is it fear, or bewilderment?”

“Master, you have said something often; to make mistakes but learn from them, thus forging a better world, that is the essence of a mortal spirit. But as far as I can see, mortals don’t learn this way at all.”

“Planet Earth is no outlier, master, you’ve seen this countless times before.”

“Patience, every seed needs its time to grow” he says, my spirit flares

“Gardens are tended, not just watched, should a gardener not pluck the weeds? When I was created, I thought you would teach me divine justice, but all you seem to do is watch as these monsters stain existence with eachother’s blood!”

“You give mortals too much credit master, evil does not inform justice, it sullies it, like the earthlings sully their world with violence.”

The cup in front of me turns as black as pitch…

My master sighs gently as his planet’s moon floats slowly overhead, passing by the curved horizon in a small amount of time. The tree we sit beneath in our chairs shading us somewhat, a gust of wind passes by us gently.

“Do you ever ponder the relationship between good, evil and justice?” He asks

I pause a moment, letting my mind wander to express itself, but soon the words come pouring out, just like the tea from the tea pot I poured moments earlier.

“Mortals receive the the divine gift of intellect; the potential for wisdom, something beautiful that should be used to create peace and overall a better world, but they misuse it to destroy the beauty of creation. Justice is a byproduct of good, which is a sword that eradicates evil to forge these better worlds I speak of.”

I sip from my tea as I pause, content in my own views and he speaks.

“You feel as if there is an imbalance perhaps. A strong urge for justice is a good thing, but we must put temperance over righteousness. Guiding the mortals to the path of good in time, at a pace that may seem slow to us. Think of justice as a scale keeping good and evil in balance, Keeping both in line with each other; beings succumb to evil, and good keeps that evil in check.”

I feel myself talking before I’ve even thought of a response, this response I have always imagined and as if it was automatic, my subconsciousness guiding me. I begin to respond only seconds after he finishes.

Mortals do not “succumb” to evil, they are the evil. They create it and spread it with minds they shouldn’t possess. How can we call ourselves gods if we do nothing and just watch this plight plague the world above? As they enslave each other, destroy each other in a barbaric fashion and bicker like children over such trivial matters. Is that not nigh-on the pinnacle of evil, master?”

“Remember, as I stated, we guide these lost children to the path of good. The time it takes may take hundreds of years, maybe even millennia upon millennia, but one day, we will bring them onto the path of good.”

I finish the last of my tea, but hide my mouth behind the cup as I grit my teeth in frustration. Master has almost finished too, the tea becoming colder, yet he speaks.

“We hone our spirits on our journey towards enlightenment, and over time, on that journey, we mature and begin to understand the universe and its complexities in a slow yet informative manner. Yet also remember that being gods does not make us perfect, we too must learn and mature over time”

He takes his last sip of tea, before placing the cup upon the saucer and returning his piercing gaze towards me.

“Ponder upon our discussion whilst you make more tea.”

I stand and bow respectfully, before taking our empty cups and wheeling the cart next to us away, to retrieve more water and tea leaves. Sighing as I finally am out of master’s presence and begin speaking to myself.

“Merely watching this unfold is a sin too, is it not? Why do you not see…”

I look upwards again, towards earth, half blanketed in shadow as it turns ever so slowly. Even in that shadow are small spots of light. I focus my mind and feel myself as if on the planet itself, watching upon the people of this world as they go about their lives.

I witness a man beating his wife into submission, bruises and scars apparent, her cries for him to stop ignored as he persists.

Men charging en masse over the corpses of fallen comrades and enemies alike, rifles unloaded and bayonets affixed and pointed towards their nearest opponent, simply to serve their country’s respective agendas.

A man being sentenced for a crime he didn’t commit, all because he couldn’t afford a person to defend himself, whilst his accuser hired an expert persecutor who probes and pierces every defense he is able to afford himself.

I come back to myself, the kettle whistling and boiling now and I fetch more leaves. Making this tea is complex, yet I’ve done it countless times that I can do it without a single thought, as natural as breathing.

“Mortals, humans included, do not succumb to evil, master… They are the evil, why you of all of us cannot see this is beyond me…”

I close my eyes, and feel joy at the thought that one day, I may deliver divine justice upon this world, for all the sins they’ve committed, and to finally make the world perfect and good, with or without human presence…