Once Upon a Time – Chap. 51.6

So, here we are a on the a.m. side of Sunday rather than the p.m. side of Saturday. Apologies once again for being a bit later on the snippet than planned. Quite simply, number of hours needed in the day did not quite equal number of actual hours available in the day. Fun random fact I learned tonight is that a day on Venus would equal about 243 Earth days, so if I just moved there then time definitely wouldn’t be a problem. Good news, however, my beer is brewed! Well, no not the actual beer..my wort is sitting happily in a fermenter with what I hope is some equally happy yeast (otherwise the end result in a few weeks will not be very happy at all). I so, so, so wanted to get the home brewing started last weekend but there was just too massive a cleanup needed to the kitchen and, yes, that uncooperative vixen called time refused to be a team player as well.

Everyone in the room watched as Gwendoloena blew on the feather in her hand and caused it to take flight over the table. Some, such as Kirkaronus and Serena, watched in apprehensive curiosity of what new surprise might daunt to their world domination plans. Some, such as Sylvia, watched with held breath while hoping for something spectacular to occur when it landed. And some, such as Seth and most of the others, simply watched it in silence while knowing better than to make any assumption of what might happen next. Within a few seconds, Gwendoloena’s feather finished floating and made a gentle descent onto the table to provide the room with the answer as to just what it could do – which seemed to be absolutely nothing from the looks of it.

Kirkaronus looked back and forth between the feather that happened to also be directly in front of him and Gwendoloena before speaking. “It didn’t do anything.”

Gwendoloena nodded and smiled. “Yes it did.”

“Wait a minute!” Serena pushed Kirkaronus aside and bent over the unimpressive feather to inspect it closer. “That’s one of the feathers left over from when we turned those useless villagers into birds. You could have just picked it up off the ground earlier, it’s nothing extraordinary!”

“You’re correct about its origin,” agreed Gwendoloena, “but that’s actually what makes it extraordinary. Yes, this feather is left over from that curse which caused so many people to look different from their normal selves. And appearing to be a bird is certainly more agreeable than appearing to be a monster as others and myself in this room.” She raised a brow at Serena, whose face was now entirely moldy green. “But as my brother tried to explain to you a moment ago, some of us in this room who appeared not be monsters shall soon find themselves revealed for what they truly are.”

“So we’re supposedly monsters because of our greed, pride, and lust for power as you all like to call it then, is that your game? Well looks like the childish illusion you conjured up to prove that only works on her!” Kirkaronus, threw a chin toward Serena while pointing at himself. “Sure, you have her looking frightening enough but I haven’t changed one bi”—he sucked in a gasp of air upon catching glimpse of his pointing hand and realizing it too had begun to take on a greenish tone—“but, but, wait, how can this be happening to me?”

Gwendoloena walked toward him, stopping at her side of the table. “Because just as the villagers were foolish and unaware of themselves when you turned them into birds, your own pride blinds you to the point of being a fool.” She turned her head to nod at Seth and Albert, two of the more obvious monsters in the room. “Just as a zombie suffers insatiable hunger,” she turned back to Kirkaronus, “your greed rekindles itself with each new possession you steal. And just as a vampire must deal with a form of unquenchable thirst,” she gave a heavy sigh over her own current state, “your desire for power would never be satisfied even if you truly did manage to rule the whole world.”