Clouds Of Witness Novels & Stories

--- ### The First Witness The Audit began at sunset. The Adjuster and Jax set up a table of white light in the center of the ruins. One by one, the people of the Intersection were summoned to stand before them. It wasn't a trial of deeds; it was a trial of **Essence**. When a person stood before the Adjuster, their entire life—every thought, every fear, every act of kindness or cruelty—was projected into the sky for everyone to see. The first witness was Marcus Thorne. The scientist stepped forward, his arm still in a sling from the crash. He looked terrified, but he held his head high.

“Cleo, Prue, under no circumstance do we tell the customer about this until we have no choice. Erin, follow me.” My stomach dropped; I had no idea what he needed from me. I followed him out of the office and on the floor. He headed straight for the machine. The manager had pulled all the pallets from the warehouse immediately. They were lined up on the floor. “We will not allow this to go wrong any more than it already has.” He stated. “What do you need from me?” “Witness.” My stomach jolted. I had no idea what he was thinking but his tone was dark.

Having the Witness watching everything is immediately uncomfortable, like an itch in my consciousness that I can’t scratch because it’s not physical. Every thought I have about my sons, every glance at Alistair, every moment of grief or hope or fear, the Witness is there documenting it all. “Can we have any privacy?” I ask. “No,” it replies simply. “Privacy would invalidate the observation. You agreed to complete access.” Possibility appears looking troubled again. “Timeline update,” she says. “The Witness observing your family for a year creates interesting branches. Some good, some catastrophic.”

She felt like a wave of happiness was spreading to her entire body from her heart. "How did you get these pictures?" Rebecca asked. "Have you forgotten that I'm good at maintaining history?" She asked. "No I haven't," Rebecca smiled. "It was really bad how things turned," Amirah said. "Yeah, some histories are better left buried," Rebecca said as she gave Alice back the pictures. "No they belong to you, you should keep them," Alice insisted. "Okay," Rebecca replied. *** At about 2 pm, Richard finally decided to go the welcoming ceremony. Achuba decided to join, because he was supposed to meet Tina there. The three of them talked and laugh on their until they finally arrived their after some

he spoke into a small, encrypted radio. On the other end of the line, a cold, familiar voice responded. "Report." "The assassin spoke with the witness." The observer paused, watching the empty street below. "Did he eliminate her?" "No." A long silence stretched over the airwaves before the voice replied, noticeably colder than before. "Damien has become a liability." The transmission ended with a sharp click. Without a word, the observer slipped his camera into a canvas bag and quietly disappeared into the shadows of the building.