Something New

It was rare and generally frowned upon for Inversians to express their emotions, and for the Judge it was especially important. She had a reputation to maintain, and if she expressed anything other than strict rigidness the country would hate her. She couldn't allow it to slip, even as she was strapped to a chair with her eyes held open by clamps.

This was going to be televised to all of Inverse, possibly beyond Inverse. Why wouldn't it be? It was such a big event, the Judge proving her power, how could anyone miss it?

Anesthesia was unheard of in this country, but even if it was it would not be used for this miraculous display. She had to be awake and aware, as did the rest of the country.

She was in a circular room not unlike an execution chamber. The walls and floor around her were of course colored black, but the floor under her chair was white, as was the rim of the floor. Many monitors lined the wall, broadcasting the footage of her room. She could feel the countless eyes across the country and beyond watching her, but she paid them no mind. She was always being watched of course, being the country's leader. This was no different.

The higher up doctors were hustled around a massive machine in the middle of the room. It was a mess of metallic arms, wheels, and various tools extending from a black box. It was on rails, and the Judge noted that those rails ran to her chair.

Off to the side on a table was her glasses, kept in a cylindrical glass case. Her vision was fuzzy without them, but not bad enough that she couldn't see around her. Next to her glasses was a glass box with a pair of bright blue eyes, likely from a powerful magician. The stronger magicians tended to have blue eyes, the Judge had learned. It only made sense- all Stratoversians had blue eyes and that famous Gloomversian entertainer with the space magic had blue eyes. Part of her wondered if it would gain her that powerful magic. Now that would be wonderful.

There was a thick book next to the case of eyes that she couldn't clearly read the title of. Not gathering any information from it, she quickly lost interest. Propped up next to the table was a fuzzy blob of intolerably bright colors, and it took the Judge a second that it was the body that she'd get her eyes from. Why did foreigners insist on wearing such bright colors? She couldn't even tell what country it was from.

She shifted as much as being tied to a chair could allow her. She didn't like waiting. The doctors were still tinkering with the machine and the monitors still gave off a faint buzz. Her eyes started to dry out, but a liquid dripped from a hole in the ceiling before the sensation could become unbearable.

After a couple more minutes of waiting, the group of doctors finally turned to her. The head, a taller woman (tall compared to the Judge, whose height wasn't anything special anyway) with colors opposite the average Inversian citizen. She wore a long white lab coat, straight white hair tied in a bun. She bowed out of respect at the Judge, who would have bowed back if she hadn't been restrained.

"Are you ready for the procedure, our dearest Lady Judge?"

The Judge nodded without much hesitation. "Yes." The doctor nodded back with a smile, adjusting the clamps on the Judge's eyes slightly.

"I apologize for the wait. There's much setting up to do, since this is being broadcast." The doctor gestured around her to the monitors on the wall. "The operation itself should only take a few minutes, so there's no need to worry about that. You might not be able to see very well for a while, but that will clear up soon."

The Judge nodded again, and the head doctor turned to the group of people managing the machine and gestured them the signal to turn it on. With a complicated pattern of flipping switches, the machine whirred to life and began to approach her on its railings.