Inside a peaceful gem shop, an old angel was sorting some new stones arrived not long ago. She was happy with her simple, yet interesting life. Her line of work was passed down to her from her parents, and to them from her grandparents and so on. This was generational.

  The sorting completed, her next task was to head toward her new flowers she had just planted at the end of the alley her shop was on. Their growth was going swimmingly. She gathered her things and went outside. The end of the alley was quite a ways from her shop, in which her husband was waiting for her. About a 3 minute walk. The old lady walked toward her flowers. 100m remaining. She continued walking, and started thinking about what she would make for dinner. 70m remaining. While she was walking, she thought deeply about the argument she had had with her husband, nothing serious, but was she really right? 50m remaining. She walked some more, and thought about those gems she had bought from her supplier. Were those really worth it? Maybe she bought them only for herself. 30m remaining. As a corner approached, she said hi to her friend, who was coincidentally by the window. 20m remaining. After she turned the corner, she spotted something in front of her flowers. Was that someone? And why were they in a puddle of red paint? 10m remaining. As the old lady stared, the lifeless, motionless Ace laid there, with a knife stuck in his cranium. The angel in front of Ace, simply could not react to the horror she had before her.

  She dropped any equipment she had. Her smile was still frozen on her face.

  She turned and ran. As fast as she could.

  Whatever it was she saw, her brain did not have capabilities to understand it yet.

  She was able to resist long enough to return to her shop, now with a worried and confused expression.

  Her husband caught the look instantly.

  ???: [What's with that look, ey? Did somethin' happen?]

  The worried husband got up from his seat to assist his wife, who was breathing very fast.

  Upon asking for an explanation, the threshold was passed.

  The old man could only watch in disbelief as the lady's head expanded.

  In about half a second, Sych, the wife, had covered the shop in red. Her head had exploded.

  --6 days later.

  The area of the shop was closed off, and no one was allowed to enter, since many who had attempted it had suffered from the same fate. But at this point in time, many angels knew and accepted violence, not without the many symptoms Val had had. As soon as the higher ups in heaven had come to know about these recent events, they didn't know how to handle it. They were easily able to understand the concept, since their souls were strong.

  Many angels, from that point on, had been introduced to the idea more smoothly, so to try and avoid the many effects other angels had endured. They had decided to not keep violence a secret, also because it would take much effort to pull it off. So, society in heaven had had a huge shift, and everything felt uneasy. The total population had decreased significantly, either for auto-destruction, or people killing each other. Fortunately, guards were able to identify the cause of the plague, being Ace's dead body. They also had progressed on suspects for the murder. Most people in Ace's friend group had suggested Echo as their prime suspect. The guards, who weren't fully free of the effects of the novelty of the concept, tended to truly believe this hypothesis. In other words, they needed to hear from Echo.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Guards brought Echo to a room inside the cities most important building: Gods' temple

  As they entered, Echo grew more and more anxious.

  The guards guided him to a room, where questions would be asked.

  Echo recognized already their aggressive attitude, probably because of the effects violence had had on them. This was not all sunshine and rainbows for heaven; Many had been changed fundamentally, becoming anxious and constantly in a panicked state. This made the guards jump to conclusions, and hardly ever change their minds. Echo had thought of this. He was almost certain his fate was sealed.

  Guard A: [Did you ki-- kill Ace?]

  Echo: [No. I did no such thing.]

  Guard B: [Yeah right. That's not it.]

  Echo: [Shut up.]

  After making that comment, Echo made a regretful face and looked to his side, avoiding eye contact. He realized too late that enraging these guards was not a good idea, though the violence in his head thought otherwise.

  Echo: [I didn't mean tha--]

  Guard A: [Sounds like someone's guilty.]

  The guards were incompetent. They had never dealt with anything like this.

  Guard B: [We know it's you! It was you, wasn't it??]

  He spoke in an anxious tone, probably because thinking about these things was still new to him.

  Echo: [I did not know about violence prior to the cities introduction.]

  Guard A: [Sure. Anyone can say that.]

  The first guard was very much more calm than his partner. He got up close to Echo's face.

  Guard A: [Listen, we know it's you... Everybody is saying that it was you! If everybody is suspicious of you, there must be a reason, right? It was you!]

  Echo looked away with a dissatisfied expression on his face, almost a frown.

  He could not answer.

  The reality was, anything Echo could have said, would have no effect on the guards.

  The whole inspection related to Ace's murder was very disorganized. Effectively, the guards had full control on what would happen to the suspects. They accused Echo, not because they wanted him dead too or because they held a grudge against him, but because they truly believed he was the killer. That being said, Echo was brought out of the room and labeled as the first murderer in heaven. What would happen to him next?

  --2 days later.

  Posters were up, signaling today as the date of Echo's penalty for having killed Ace. The case was handled so incredibly awfully, that Echo was able to turn all of heaven against him, just for being slightly socially awkward. Doesn't that speak for itself.

  Actually, it wasn't inherently because of Echo's social status, but because of the effects of the violence epidemic (that's what heaven would come to call this phenomenon).

  Everyone was in a miserable state, under the effects of the concept of violence.

  Val had heard of what was going on. He wasn't fully out of anxiety's grasp, but he could handle his emotions much better. He would often go to his room and stay in there for hours, without anyone hearing from him. In those hours of solitude, he would think about his actions, or better yet, the whole situation. His doubt slowly became much more prominent: Was he correct in killing Ace? Was that the right thing to do?

  He could not answer these seemingly simple questions. It was either right, or wrong.

  Even though in the moment, what he had done felt so right, now he could reflect on it and it all brought confusion. Maybe he was even starting to regret what he had done. Though some guilt lingered, he went to see what would be of Echo anyways.

  did ace deserve it