Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Silverwing series. I feel really sad about that...
You can tell I was really humiliated. I felt like blushing, knowing well the fur on my face would cover the redness...but this whole being dead thing made the heat needed for blushing impossible. I'm icy cold, which was a bit unnerving for me. I guess I'll get used to that too...
Zotz was still getting a good laugh out of my incident. I whimpered (a weird sound coming from me) and the laughter stopped, almost as though he was rethinking how funny this really was.
Silence. Although all the bats were gone, I knew better than to think I was alone. I could feel Cama Zotz watching me very closely. Meanwhile, I discovered that my ears pins down when I'm sad. It was interesting, but that fact did very little to help.
What's also interesting is that I'm crying, but no tears are coming. Again, that didn't make me any happier. Tears makes you feel better when your sad! There's no tears!
"Why were they so scared of me?" I muttered to myself, trying to reason this out. "I wasn't going to hurt them."
Zotz answered my question invisibly, as though his voice was the gentle breeze that was blowing around me at the moment. Well, he's the one with the power here, so I guess that's possible.
"Yes, but they did not know that." His tone sounded as though he was comforting me. This was strange. I always thought Zotz was cruel, being the death god. That's a bit of an archetype, associating death with evil. I can't help myself.
"But I'm a bat too," I pleaded, trying to understand this. "They should've known that I'm harmless."
This got Zotz laughing again, the ground beneath me shaking very slightly, barely noticable. Why was he laughing? How was I being funny? Was it my cluelessness? Apparently it was.
"You are a Vampyrum Spectrum. Of course they will be frightened by your presence." he told me, his cold laughter dying down. Then, there was this moment where his words hung in my head. I had the feeling he was expecting a very specific question from me.
He got it.
"What's a Vampyrum Spectrum?" I asked. The name itself didn't ring any bells, but when a reflective puddle of what looked like water appeared before me, I peered at myself. I looked familiar.
"They are my loyal followers; flesh-eaters. They from the south, the jungle, in the Upperworld. You should be familiar with them. You visit one of my last temples more often than other Humans."
That was a fact. Every time I lived with my mother during the summer, one of the first places I go is a nearby temple of Cama Zotz. Each day of the summer does not go on until I pay my respects to him. I don't eat without saying my praises to him. He is my favorite god to tell you the truth.
But the rest of the year is a bit different. My father doesn't even want me to mention my god's name. To him, it was as foul as cussing. Instead I muttered my prayers in my room when I was alone...and whispered for Zotz to curse my father every time my parent has his back turned (you would too if someone attacked your religious beliefs...).
But I'm getting away from myself.
Yes, I've seen rather large bats that hung around the temple I visited back in my life. I was interested enough in them to learn their common name. False vampire bats. No wonder those other bats were scared of me. I'm a cannibal species.
"Where can I find more of my kind?" I asked Zotz. I might as well find a bat that won't be scared of me. I guess my own kind is the safest bet to find in order to have willing batty conversations.
Yes, that's all I want for now. Zotz is a good conversationist, but I'm curious about what other bats had to say.
"They're on the other side of my kingdom. But I will provide favorable conditions for you to travel." he told me. I nodded and felt the wind shift.
Time to try this flying business again...
I spread my wings wide and threw myself into the air. The wind Zotz made was strong and I really didn't have to do anything to move forward, except keep my wings open. I would have loved that to stay the same for the whole trip, but you know how gods are...
Zotz lowered the wind's strength when we reached a desert that surrounded the forest (how can the landscape change so suddenly? From a lush forest to arid desert where some of the cracks in the dirt were bigger than I am? Anywho...). Prehaps he was trying to teach me to fly on my own, or maybe he just enjoyed seeing my failure. Because I crashed again in exhaustion.
Not only that, but Zotz made a mud patch where I fell, so I was really...muddy. Okay, I take back what I said about Zotz not being cruel. He's doing this on purpose!
How did I know? He was laughing at me again!
I removed my face from the mush, clumps of the filth dripping from my nose and chin. I blinked my eyes clean and flicked my oversized ears so the mud flung off them.
"Why are you mocking me?" I asked as I folded my wings in and wiped the smudge off my face with my right forearm. "I never did anything wrong to you..."
Zotz stopped laughing...for now. "That is true, and I'm sorry. But you should know that it is not very often that I get to play with a bat that cannot fly."
Play? He has one sadistic sense of humor. Who does this to an innocent..er...bat, a faithful follower just for fun? He's really starting to change the way I think of him.
"I can too fly!" I informed him. Then, more quietly, I admitted: "Just can't do it for very long on my own."
Zotz paused, as if he was considering my words. At last, he said, almost kindly again: "You will grow stronger over time. I will help until then."
"Without the mud and the crashing?" I asked quietly, swirling the mud with my left thumb claw and directing my gaze to the ground. I heard a slight chuckle from the god.
"The mud I promise not to include. But the crashing is something that I will not prevent." he told me. I was about the ask why, but I remembered myself and suddenly lost the courage to question him.
The mud dryed off to cracked arid dirt and the filthiness that was caught in my fur, my wonderful soft dark fur I was getting attached to (wouldn't you?), disappeared.
I crawled along the ground, getting my strength back up. But crawling is such a hassel. My hind legs were weaker than me front ones and only pushed me about a few inches each time. My arm and thumb claws were more help.
I guess land travel is something bats give up for flying through the air. I mean, why walk if you could fly to your destination...alot faster?
Now that I think of it, dragging myself along was more work than flying. I stopped, panting.
I felt a gentle breeze from behind, and with it was Zotz's amused voice.
"Tired already?" he said. I felt the fur on my back stand on end as I tensed. Cama Zotz is really starting to annoy me. I wanted to tell him to shut up, but that's a risk I would rather not take... I'm sure I'll be punished for such a thing.
I forced my fur to lay back down and relaxed.
This is going to be a long night...if only I knew...
