The Chancellor's brown eyes widened. His lips tightened and he nodded.

"We rule that Juslin Shezzar is guilty of desertion, and that he should burn forever."

"Do you understand the ruling?" Chancellor Madik asked the accused, a tall, dark-tan skinned male with the usual blue molted skin of the aged Duffeil tribe of Anskull. Juslin frowned, nodded that he understood. "Then I must find you guilty and charge you with the crime stated; desertion without a doubt, a crime on Natu and your race on Anskull," the Chancellor lifted the steel gavel, slammed it to the base of the table.

Juslin squirmed in his seat, reached out, his hands quaking as he pushed against the invisible force-field that surround him. He strained to say something in his defense.

"You knew your time was up thirty years ago, Juslin, and that we've had an energy shortage for some time now. We could have used your help. Still, your blatant selfishness has led to many having to do without. Many had to deal with sickness, even death!"

"But, I lived as a slave those thirty years-"

"And were promised more?" the Chancellor asked and shook his head. "The By-Laws are clear on this. The Duffeil are bred for nothing more than thirty years on Natu. After that, you are used as fuel. No one ever promised a Duffeil more than that. You were born to be what you are, Juslin, just as I was born to be what I am, the Chancellor. You know the laws and were created, in fact, to uphold them and make sure that all survive on Natu and Anskull."

Juslin stood up, punched at the force-field that held him stationed at the hovering silver table. "I worked ten hours a day in the Natu suns without sustenance or hydration. I only consumed what I had to, when I had to."

"Others needed sustenance and hydration as well for the thirty years you deserted us."

"I-I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I just needed time before-"

"Before what? What you did is considered desertion, a most heinous crime on Natu. This is truly the most dishonorable thing anyone could have done. I therefore condemn you to burn. Burn for eternity with the others."

"It's not fair! I've only just began my life on Natu. Thirty years is not enough for me or my my brothers. It's not enough," Juslin yelled to no avail. The Chancellor stood, turned and suddenly vanished, as did the others in the courtroom. The hovering table before Juslin flipped upwards, shuddered and liquefied to a swirling door to another world, one which Juslin had seen many times, in dreams. Bright orange flames licked forth at the door and if not for the force-field Juslin would have been engulfed. He watched as the flames subsided, stared at the barrage of swirling orange that became a living pool of lava where many large humanoid forms moved languidly within the liquid molten rock. They called to him and he turned away, ashamed as the faceless ones invited him in. Just as quickly the table's surface shuddered, floated downward once again to hover at his thighs and the flaming world disappeared.

Juslin took a deep breath, sat down and waited for sleep to take him. The two suns of Natu returned no favors of rest or pleasantries for one such as him, locked in his prison of ruin. His skin couldn't tolerate shade and he needed the natural inhibitors of sunlight. Natu's extreme UVA and UVB rays which burned most were a lifesaving commodity to the Duffeil. Juslin was bred to withstand the fire and radiation that burned above and below. The elders of Natu bred him and others like him to stoke the fires of Anskull and bring balance to the land above. They stirred the superheated innards of Natu while playing in the molten surface. They balanced the pressures, which caused liquids within to push upwards to the surface. The Duffeil were all a part of the greater environmental scheme of Natu. They helped create the atmosphere and all that sustained life. Juslin had read this in the By-Laws of Natu and knew that it was said to be true. Still, he was scared. So, he ran away, ran after his thirty year term of being on the surface was over and he got lost.

Thirty years later, they caught up with him. His skin had molted from bright orange to an ugly tan with the usual dark blue molting, burns from the shade. The decree was passed, only it was passed daily by a holographic counsel that was stuck on repeat. Seems the planet had succumb to the heat of the two suns and Juslin was the only living being left on the surface, left to receive a verdict, every single day, a verdict that tortured him, showed him the precious life below that he had ran from.

The Chancellor would appear, give his verdict, then disappear as Juslin pounded on the force-field knowing that no one ever heard him and only a photon's edge of energy charged static stood between him and the wondrous heat, the marvelous smell of brimstone from the fires of Anskull. Oh, how he longed to feel the thick lava on his skin, the heat from the fire. He watched as others frolicked in the pools of crackling flames, he watched as the door closed and he was forced sit, wait for the day after, and the day after that, with hopes that one day he would be worthy of Anskull, worthy of heaven.