Sebastian

I do not know how things are done in other places in the world, but here in the landscapes there are three kinds of justice: common justice, Wizards’ Justice, and Heart’s Justice.

Common justice is performed by law enforcers and the magistrates who hold court to settle minor wrongdoing and disputes that arise wherever people gather to live.

Whenever violence has been done, a wizard is summoned to decide the penalty. Sometimes it is Wizards’ Justice—the lightning they can summon that, while inflicting agony, is a quick death.

But sometimes the penalty requires something less, and more, than death, and the wizard will send word that a Landscaper is needed for Heart’s Justice.

Nothing produces more fear—and more hope—than Heart’s Justice. The Landscaper forges a direct link between Ephemera and the accused, and that person is sent to the darkest landscape that resonates in his heart. It is an inescapable punishment, because no matter what landscape the person ends up in, he must live with the knowledge that this reflects who he is, and whatever hardships he endures in that place have come from his own heart.

But there is also the hope that a person will learn from his past and change enough so that, one day, he’ll be able to cross over to another, gentler landscape.

Most of the time, though, the person disappears into some desolate part of the world and is never seen again.

—The Magistrate’s Book of Justice