Respect Is Not Reverence

Benson wheezed against the pavement.

“We were just asking you to be respectful… show reverence to the Judge.”

Atriya pressed the man’s shoulder harder into the concrete.

Respect.

Reverence.

The words meant something very different depending on who was speaking them.

Atriya had grown up outside the Jury’s protection. He knew exactly what reverence looked like when it was forced on people who didn’t belong.

Broken teeth.

Threats whispered in school corridors.

The quiet understanding that some people were untouchable.

So when Benson begged for the knife with the Judge’s emblem on it…

Atriya kicked it into the gutter.

Some symbols deserve loyalty. Others deserve gravity.

Continue Atriya’s Story

Atriya’s journey through war, hierarchy, and the hidden forces shaping his path begins in the Echo Saga.

New readers can enter the story here:

or start the full book:

Curious about the rest of Kent Wayne’s worlds?