IX. RESTITUTION
VIII. RUMOR-MILL
Eustice put his unwavering attention on the river where the Twin-Tail was first sighted. "My time has arrived. After all the belittling air-waves and earthquakes, my time has arrived..." he thought to himself. Eustice had on a straight face, but deep, deep, deep down, he is shaking in his feathers, stiff as a board shocked paralyzed by his overthinking's anxiety.
Plop. A fish fell into the face of Eustice's reflection. With the agility of a cheetah, he twitched his body ready for flight. With the razors edge of a blade, he cut through the air and flew as high as he could. With the excitement of newfound love, his eyes and ears became entranced, "my time has truly arrived. Restitution is falling upon me at last!" Eustice disappeared into the clouds as he flew back to Billowing Embers.
Eustice arrived at the library in the center of the village. A rectangular building standing strong due to its pillars forming its foundation. Flags with the mark of the Wynter Force blew against the wind near the entrance. He entered with hasty feet and twitches that tore off his fidgety feathers. Anticipating the adoration took so much of his attention that he is unable to enjoy the smell of paper aged like fine wine serenaded by cool air. The library usually felt like a real home to him. It became his place to come back to from a strenuous day of examining other people and the world, but today it felt like a confession hall surrounded by onlookers looking to repent for their negligence of Eustice's vast knowledge. "They know not the knowledge I possess. Precious as gold is what I've learned. Entitlement for what I bring to these nameless twats is what I earned," he thought to himself.
As Eustice arrived to the back of the library where he could be visible to the entirety of its patrons, voices began to wash the halls. "What does that egotistical maniac want with his face of an idiots?" "More like the face of a monkey's unwiped bum." The entire gallery of porcupines, mice, rabbits, and Eustice's kindred eagles, erupted into laughter. The roars triggered Eustice to lose his illustrious demeanor into one of primal savagery. He opened his beak without a moment's hesitation. This was his time to shine and show his worth to be one of intellectual royalty, yet this is how they react to his presence before he got his word in? This nonsense blinded Eustice.
"You degenerates! You check the mirror to see kingship, but the only reflection being returned is one of ineffectual jester dolls! I return from on top of the forbidden land to share my discovery, and you simpletons have the gall to see me as the clown? Nay. I shall retract my findings from this conceited community, and I shall return with the trophy belonging to the gods! Crush your beaks from your folly! You shall never open them again once the holy flames are within my beak!"
A patron tried his best to hold back his chuckle, but his laughter bested him. His peers followed suit in the decry of Eustice. The laughter could be heard for miles away. Unable to take their pettiness, Eustice flew out the door as fast as a meteor being pulled into Earth's gravity. Unfortunately, Eustice is being sucked into the flagpole at the library's exit. He knocked himself out with the hauntings of their laughter for this nightmare.
Night had come when Eustice awoke. He had trouble raising his head as he tried to stand up on his own two feet. His entire body shook as he emulated trying to stand firm. His leg lost balance as he fell beak first into the cold pavement. He passed into temporary unconsciousness once again until the sun rose. A young mice passerby, Maryl, came in with feet running only to come to a screeching halt at the sight of Eustice's indignity. "Hey, Mister, too stupid to read? The sign above you says 'Liberry.' You're supposed to open the books, not your skull." The girl's tease got to Eustice's already fragile ego from the previous night's demolishment. In a fit of anger from her defaming mouth, Eustice pounced onto the girl with his claws ready to pierce her chest only to shortly be tackled to the ground.
"There shall be no disruption of peace in Billowing Embers as long as offycer Whyte is around. Got that, jailbird?" She held Eustice down, but the sweat from his feathers got him to slip out of her authoritative grip. She grit her teeth in disappointment. How did she make such a rookie mistake? She wondered as she is feeling a bit tired from arguing with the Wynter force for their recent behavior not too long ago. Coupled together with the emotional turmoil of losing her sense of identity recently, mistakes became an unwelcomed friend. "Crud."
Eustice fidgeted his way back towards the library walls. He took a few seconds to take hasty, shallow breaths. "I was being antagonized! You should put your fallacy towards that little convict!" Eustice gave a harsh scowl while pointing his shaking feathers towards Maryl before continuing. "I come from the rocky stairway leading to heaven to bring a God into our lives', yet you speak to me with such disrespect. Once the Twin-Flames is in my mouth, you'll see. You'll all see! My honor will be cleansed!" Eustice burst out of the scene and flew towards Lana like his life depended on it.
Maryl's ears is caught by came from Eustice's mouth. "A stairway to heaven to find a God? How interesting. I'm small enough to enter a God's door without detection, and soon enough, I will no longer be small enough to be walked past indiscriminately. Wonderful." Maryl's eyes thinned as she became laser focused on bringing home gossip from what she is about to venture forth to. She may not be big enough to bring the God back home, but her thought process is grandiose enough to find and capture the attention of the village to seeing her as a messenger from the heavens.
Zigzags ensued as Eustice is unable to fly in a straight line. Quickly rocking back and forth, he tries to make the fastest route with the least amount of energy needed to make it to Lana. He no longer cared for being just a tactician who helped a warrior slay a god. Nay. He would be the one himself to not only capture the god, but be the one to bring it near death and make it his pet. With a god tamed by his efforts, who has the right to defy him then? If anyone were to deny his words, he needn't get his claws dirty. He could have his pet consume all that got in his way of rewriting the laws of the land. From the 12 years of him eating dirt to become self-sufficient, from the 12 years of being told the audacity of his beliefs being too far-fetched to be taken with even an ounce of truth, from the 12 years of having not a single creature take his research with even a tinge of being resourceful, this is his chance to become the prophet who’s words become fact.
But Lana would be a problem. He couldn't devise a concrete idea of what to say when he made his way to her He simply had to make an attempt at dissuading her. Eustice, with heavy breath, made it to Mighty Rock where Lana had been training her hunting abilities by swiftly being able to maneuver from one giant rock that was on the edge of tipping to another.
Lana didn't like having her practice being interrupted so abruptly. She has a one tracked mind, yet the Little Bird dares to interrupt her growth? Does he not know dethroning a God requires hyper focus? She grit her teeth as she spoke. "Inconvenience! What brings you beneath my feet? Come to realize you are but a bug to be squashed by my footsteps?"
Panting like he just fought for his freedom after being imprisoned for a decade, his words were jumbled and nonsensical.
Lana stiffened up as she jerked her head ready to pounce any moment now. "Make waste of my precious time, and you'll be the disgusting appetizer to the gala of the gods!" Lana's breath grew rough as her temper had reached its climax. Every second wasted was like the distance from her true recognition of omnipotence being stripped away from her.
Eustice put his feathers against his chest as to calm himself down. With deep breathes, few audible words escaped his beak. "I-I am here to r-retract my request." A few deeper breathes came by, but Lana began to walk closer as if she were ready to satiate her ravaging hunger. "Y-your assistance..." he drew another deep breath," is no--longer--r-required..."
Lana lunged forward until her teeth was less than a centimeter from making its way through Eustice's eyes. "On what authority does someone who is less than the bottom of the barrel of commoners think he has permission to make demands on me? Choose your words carefully, for they might be the last the heavens hears from you."
This is it, Eustice thought. It's the end of the line for him. After all the work he's put into finding out how to be above everyone, and all the downplaying he shouldered just to be able to stand on his own thoughts undiluted by the opinions of others, was his choice to stand alone and cultivate himself into one who knew himself to be right on all accounts all for naught? It can't end like this! He truly believed he is the coming of a newfound genius the world not only asked for, but a truly brilliant mind the world created out of necessity to bring prosperity by bridging the Earth to the Heavens. He laid his doubts to rest as the adrenaline came in to give him the moment he needed to make a break for it. Eustice's eyes saw an escape. He made a leap of faith for his life by flying where the rocks could block Lana's dashes, but her teeth cut through his beak as he made his escape.
Lana spit out the piece of Eustice's beak caught in her fangs. "Filth like you has no place in the royalty of my mouth!"
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