In an alternate universe, where Muuri remained corrupted this round, she is reunited with Yira and the following exchange occurs.
On consideration, I’m kinda glad this exchange is happening in an alt-universe because it means I can give it the pyrotechnics it deserves...
*Somewhere deep in the Highwind Woods*
Yira froze in fear. He could hear something big moving through the trees. Fast. It had to be at least the size of his mother. Probably a predator. Would it see him?
The seconds of suspense as he waited seemed to stretch into long minutes. But when he finally caught a glimpse of it through the trees, he blinked in disbelief. Was it...? No... It couldn’t be... But it was!
“Mother!” he cried happily and bounded towards her.
“Yira!” she said with obvious relief as he pressed himself up against her, “I’ve been so worried about you! First the storm, and then the wave, but...” her voice turned quiet and deadly, “where is Waabi, why are you not with her?”
Yira faltered for a moment before responding.
“I-, Oh Guni I was worried about you so I left, I wanted to find you,” this didn’t seem to go down too well. She was baring her teeth and growling at him, he had never seen her so angry before. Hurriedly he tried to explain, stumbling over the words as he did so, “I just... it was the storm, I... wanted to find you and... and make sure that, you were s-safe,” he backed away as he spoke, trying to get out of reach of her murderous teeth and claws. His soft paws felt the cushion of leaf matter on the bare earth. Up in the tree his mother let off a low-pitched, inarticulate noise of anger.
“You were alone in that storm? In that wave?” she asked, eyes narrowed in anger.
Oh! Well if that was all she was worried about, “No, no! I wasn’t alone,” he assured her with a sense of relief, “I met some really nice animals who helped me. There was a moth-cat and her spirit-brother in the storm, and then Dara the silver octopus, and there were lots of nice creatures in the cave so we travelled with them and we found the golde-... Guni?”
She seemed speechless with rage. When she eventually found her tongue she all but roared at him, “and you trusted these others? You TRUSTED them? When you didn’t know ANYTHING ABOUT THEM?”
“...yes,” squeaked Yira meekly, so quiet that it could barely be heard.
With one smooth movement she dropped down from the branch to the ground and prowled slowly and menacingly towards him. Yira sat stock still, his heart pounding. Behind her an approaching storm head of black thunderclouds loomed, the deep booming and howling of the wind providing a terrifying backdrop to her next words.
“Oh I’ve told you many times before,” she said, “but you need to hear it again,” she brushed past his shoulder and then whipped around to face him, “You may
never trust another beast, praise Gali you weren’t slain!”
Yira frowned in confusion.
“They whisper falsehood all day long,” she continued, “their tongues are dripping with lies, they’ll draw you in, and then hurt you, and then laugh and off they fly.”
Yira opened his mouth to object, but no words came out.
“They’ll leave you helpless lost and trapped with no one to hear you scream,” she asserted, “So
never trust another beast because no one is ever what they seem.”
She was prowling in circles around him so that Yira’s neck was getting sore from twisting to odd angles to keep her in view.
He bounded half a pace away to put a little distance between himself and his mother, took a breath, and explained, “but mother, they were really kind – they kept me safe in the cave”
“That’s what you think but they have you fooled as they dig your early grave!” she snarled in his direction.
Yira’s face was utter confusion by now, how could she really think that? “But not everyone is all that bad, some folks are really sweet,” he said.
“Oh when you have lived as long as I, you’ll learn it’s all deceit.” Her voice was dangerously low and she was prowling again. “They smile and charm, they act so nice, but it’s just their evil scheme,” she leered with an entirely mirthless grin right in his face, “and it’s all a part of their disguise because no one is ever what they seem.”
The storm was almost upon them by now, and the crack and rumble of the thunder put Yira even more on edge than he already was. He didn’t even think that was possible! With a few big bounds he sprang to the opposite side of the clearing, putting a little distance between himself and his mother.
And then, CRACK! CRACK! Lightning bolts struck two tall trees either side of Muuri in quick succession. Immediately the resinous substance in the tree bark and the oil in the leaves caught light, turning the trees into impressive pillars of fire in just seconds. Silhouetted between the two burning pillars, Muuri cast an even more terrifying silhouette and, supremely unconcerned by the sudden appearance of fire in the middle of the woods, continued pouncing and prowling as she resumed her tirade.
“And when you know what they are like, what you must do is clear,” she all but shouted, “you have to be the first to strike, their charm is insincere.” She strutted back and forth between the burning trees as she continued, “those you cannot trust, you must turn to dust, so kill and tear and maim.
And spill their blood into the mud, before they try to do the same, oh they’ll try to do the same!” She reared on her hind legs, balanced on her tail, and let forth a terrifying shriek into the night sky.
Meanwhile the wind had reached fever pitch, and the trees all around were bending to its force, branches rubbing against each other in a deafening chorus. Even so, it was not nearly so terrifying as the storm of yesterday had been.
Muuri at this point took to the trees and leapt from branch to branch around the perimeter of the clearing until she finally dropped to the forest floor on the south side, placing Yira between her and the burning trees. The shifting light cast on her face was terrifying, especially with his own uncertain shadow looming in her direction.
Yira thought of her vengeful words from moments before and falteringly told her, “But mother, you can’t mean that, I- You know it’s wrong to kill!” His tone was insistent. Almost pleading.
“I know it’s right to keep you safe,” she asserted, “and keep you safe I will!”
“But not by hurting other beasts,” he said, almost firmly.
“I’ll do what I must do,” she snapped, “Cos each one I hunt down and kill is one less to harm you,”
A thunderclap sounded somewhere nearby, “
Everyone wants to kill you,” she roared over it.
“No mother, that’s extreme!” insisted Yira. Why wouldn’t she listen to reason?
“Oh yes, evil beasts are everywhere” she continued relentlessly, “and no one is ever what they seem.”
Yira’s bottom lip trembled. He didn’t understand it. What had happened to his mother?
“Well they smile and charm, they act so nice, but it’s just their evil scheme,” she screamed, crossing the clearing in a single, powerful bound.
“It’s all a part of their disguise because no one is ever what they seem!” She prowled in front of the burning tree pillars once more.
“They’ll leave you helpless lost and trapped with no one to hear you scream,” she screeched, “so never trust another beast because no one is ever what they seem,” she leapt into the branches of a nearby tree, “no one is ever what they seem!” she repeated, “No one is
EVER what they seem!” she added one final time, bounding back to the ground and landing squarely in the middle of the clearing.
And with that the rain came, muffling all else and slowly extinguishing the burning trees.
Did someone ask for a villain song? No? Oh. Well you get one anyway! \ o /
Some people may ask if it has a tune. It kinda does...
I’m no great shakes at writing music, so I used the tune of another song that I quite like and I think is musically just wonderful for a villain song. It... could probably best be described as Satan’s villain song.
As you can possibly guess, it does have religious underpinnings, so if you’re not comfortable with that sort of thing I suggest you click no further. But if you are, and are interested, see below:
Full lyrics if you wanted to read them uninterrupted or have them to look over while listening to the song:
Oh I’ve told you many times before, but you need to hear it again,
You may never trust another beast, praise Gali you weren’t slain!
They whisper falsehood all day long, their tongues are dripping with lies,
They’ll draw you in, and then hurt you, and then laugh and off they fly.
They’ll leave you helpless lost and trapped with no one to hear you scream,
So never trust another beast because no one is ever what they seem.
“But mother, they were really kind – they kept me safe in the cave”
That’s what you think but they have you fooled as they dig your early grave!
“But not everyone is all that bad, some folks are really sweet.”
Oh when you have lived as long as I, you’ll learn it’s all deceit.
They smile and charm, they act so nice, but it’s just their evil scheme.
And it’s all a part of their disguise because no one is ever what they seem.
And when you know what they are like, what you must do is plain,
You have to be the first to strike, their charm is insincere.
Those you cannot trust, you must turn to dust, so kill and tear and maim,
And spill their blood into the mud, before they try to do the same, oh they’ll try to do the same.
(Instrumental /Stormstrumental?)
“But mother, you can’t mean that, I- You know it’s wrong to kill!”
I know it’s right to keep you safe, and keep you safe I will!
“But not by hurting other beasts,” I’ll do what I must do,
Cos each one I hunt down and kill is one less to harm you,
Everyone wants to kill you, “No mother, that’s extreme!”
Oh yes, evil beasts are everywhere because no one is ever what they seem.
Well they smile and charm, they act so nice, but it’s just their evil scheme.
It’s all a part of their disguise because no one is ever what they seem.
They’ll leave you helpless lost and trapped with no one to hear you scream,
So never trust another beast because no one is ever what they seem, no one is ever what they seem! no one is EVER what they seem.