Interlude 1: Present day

The silence of the court room was interrupted by a middle-aged man, sat in one of the panels that bordered either side of the judge. He didn't bother introducing himself, but with his condescending tone, he at least thought he was someone important. His expression twisted in disgust when he spoke. "Are you telling us that Garlantia took children from neighbouring countries and turned them into monsters?"

"You're twisting my words sir. They experimented on children and when it went wrong, they were turned into creatures without a will. But it wasn't just other nations children either, they did it to their own too." The young man defended.

"It sounds like you pity them." He assessed, trying to hide a smirk. He was the type of man he hated the most; someone who relished in stirring up trouble for other people to deal with for the sake of entertainment.

Mummers began to spread throughout the crowd. Doubt was spreading. No-one knew what to make of the young man that stood before them. He'd claimed to fight for Reagen, but as of his account so far, it seemed he'd done terrible things for the enemy, even if it was when he was a child. His cool headedness was both a blessing and a downfall; while he wouldn't rise to the bait, he came off as cold and detached.

He raised his voice a little "My point is, Garlantia's authorities repressed their own people as well as ours." He clarified without breaking that stone cast expression.

"You said ours, but you were a Garlantian for a while, is that why your defending them?" He smirked, pushing for further trouble.

"When I stood up here today, I was prepared for you to tear my words apart, but don't you think you're going a bit far? I was sold to Garlantia when I was seven and I spent almost three years there. They were the worse days of my life. I'm no more Garlantian than you are." Without realising it, his fingers ran over the faint scars on his arms, tracing their lines back and forth, like it provided some form of comfort.

"Do you have proof? Of the experiments?" The judge asked, changing the subject. Before then, he silently assessed the exchange, but now the court room was silent once again, and everyone's eyes dart between the young man and the judge.

His expression flickered for a second, but it returned neutral so quickly that most didn't see the look of hurt that flashed across his face in that moment. "Many people saw the beings that resulted from Garlantia's experiment, many of them fought against Garlantia for the things they did to them to manifest it."

"The court have not seen these beings. As far as we know, its fiction." The judge coldly argued.

"That's right. When children won your war, you were safe in your bunker, tucked away out of reach until you received a message that things had blown over. Fine. You want proof, I shall give it to you." There was a hint of anger in his words, but he didn't raise his voice. Instead, the area behind him shimmered and morphed, dark shapes churned behind him like fog until a semi solid figure formed. The young man doesn't look back, he knows his oldest companion stands behind him. He keeps his piercing eyes on the crowd, even the blind one seemed to bore into the minds of people that returned his gaze.

A few second pass and no-one says a word, then- "It's a monster!" Someone yelled in the audience, breaking the silent shock that had taken them over. Just like that the spell is broken. The crowd erupts with complaints and questions. Restlessness takes over and the overcrowding started to become an issue as people bustle to converse with the people near them, likewise, knocking away those who weren't looking.

"It is not a monster, but this is related to another matter-" His voice rises over the noise. It isn't especially deep or load, but there was a power behind it that commanded silence.

"What other matter?" The judge quickly recovers from the shock.

"30 years ago, Garlantia refused to sign the union treaty that among other things, stated that all forms of slavery would be outlawed, and all scientific advancements would be done humanely, and first approved by their ethics committee. This was particularly unfavourable to Garlantia due to their forte in scientific advancement at all cost, but the treaty was proposed due to trading rights and other advantages of bridging the countries together. Unfortunately for the treaty, mere months before the proposal Garlantia made a ground-breaking discovery that was to change the way the world viewed science, and they weren't going to let the opportunity slide. Instead of mutually joining a union, they decided they would just take the other nations by force."

"What discovery?" The judge leaned into his words.

"They discovered a different plane of existence and certain children had an affinity for the beings that lived there. Due to their unique properties, this experiment was to bind these children to these beings so they could utilise them in war and other tasks to further the advancements of Garlantia."

"That's quite an unbelievable claim." The judge let out a slow breath, as if he couldn't quite believe what just happened.

"Well, you saw my shadow. It is quite unbelievable." He agreed.

"Why can we only see your 'shadow' but the others are invisible?"

"I don't know." He admitted with a slight puzzlement to his expression.

"So you're saying there could be these creatures in this room right now and none of us would ever know?" The same middle aged man piped up at that in horror.

The young man's eyes locked onto several points into the room and nodded grimly. "I feel like we're veering off course. Can I continue my account?"

"You may. But I'll remind you that it can be held against you."

He nodded. He knew that he would be held accountable but refused to leave out any of the gory details. He knew he owed it to the people who died that the whole truth be known.