"Number your thumb
Impossible sum
Of the monkey fist hung on a vine
Organism assembly line
Everything's gonna be fine
Play pretend" - Ruler of Everything Demo
(Inspired by "Ruler of Everything" by tally hall)
Juno knew the warren was soon to be his. Not just him; everyone. The young tan-brown rabbit was the son of the chief rabbit himself, and was already head of the Owsla; it was only a matter of time.
The warren had many holes and burrows that had been dug into the soft dirt hill in the middle of a clearing somewhere in the woods. A way away the clearing led to a dark blue lake, which many rabbits used to swim and play in the shallows.
Soon it would all be his. Juno-rah had a nice ring to it. He smiled. All he had to do now was wait, but for how long? Juno knew that the current leader was long past his glory days. Each day he seemed to grow weaker and weaker; it was only a matter of time. But Juno was growing impatient, how long did he have to wait for Lily-rah to die?
"Juno! Me and Lavender are going out to raid the far garden and maybe drop by Sandalford warren. Want to come along?"
Juno was pulled from his thoughts to see who had just spoken to him; it was Marigold, one of Juno's most respected of the Owsla. He was known to take initiative and help others before himself, and on several occasions helped with digging the warren (causing much commotion amongst the other rabbits). Juno disliked him for it. Although he never dared to say it out loud. Just behind Marigold stood violet.
"No," Juno stated simply.
"If that's your decision I cannot change that," Said Marigold, and then swiftly disappeared into the forest with Lavender at tow.
Juno watched the two disappear into the woods before continuing his morning silflay.
Soon He became aware of the dryness to his mouth. No matter, he reasoned, I'll just head down by the lake and take care of it there, and perhaps I'll take a swim as well, after all, it is quite hot today.
After heading across the clearing, and drinking his fill, he waded into the water until it was just halfway up his flanks. He stood there for a good while letting the water cool him off.
Then, from the woods, a rabbit emerged, at first, Juno thought it was Marigold or Violet, but was proved wrong when he noticed it's brilliant-white fur that glistened in the shine of the sun. The stranger hopped up towards the lake and lapped up some of the water, then started to hop along the shore until he was in the spot Juno had stood when he got in.
The wading rabbit tensed himself, anticipating the stranger to suddenly jump on him and attack him. Juno knew that his position would mean that the stranger would get the first hit in. But the stranger did not attack, much to his surprise.
"Excuse me, sir, have you seen a rabbit named Juno around here? " The stranger said, in a smooth voice, it sounded calming, as a mother to her kits, and intimidating, like an owsla officer. But Juno couldn't tell whether the stranger was a buck or a doe.
Juno decided not to reveal his true identity to the stranger just yet, and rushed out of the water until he was face-to-face the stranger, who was, curiously enough, radiating a warm heat, like the sun on a foggy afternoon.
"Who are you? State your business!" Juno said, in a commanding voice he had always practiced. The warren never had any intruders so Juno practiced on the outskirts of the warren quite often.
"My business?" The stranger said, "I'm here to talk to Juno,"
"What for?"
"I'd like to meet him first,"
"Why can't you tell me?"
"It's classified, you wouldn't understand,"
Juno finally bit, "Fine. I'm the rabbit you're looking for; I'm Juno"
The other rabbit clapped his paws together, "excellent," he said, "I've been sent by Frith himself to talk to you,"
"F-Frith?"
"Indeed,"
"You're insane, now leave. We don't want you at this warren," Juno commanded. He wasn't going to get fooled by that trick again.
"Is my appearance not enough for you?"
"Just, just leave. You're giving me a headache and I'd like to not deal with this right now."
"You know why I'm here, don't you Juno?"
But Juno wasn't paying attention and was instead heading back to the warren with the intention of talking to the chief rabbit about the whole ordeal.
"Where do you think you're going?" The stranger had suddenly materialized in Juno's way causing the poor buck to jump a good 6 feet in the air.
"What the- How?"
"I asked you a question and I expect you to answer it," the stranger commanded.
The stranger began to unnerve Juno more and more. First frith and now popping from out of thin air? Perhaps he was a messenger of frith, but that would be just stupid. There was no way it could be true.
"I don't have to answer," Juno said stubbornly, sitting down to add emphasis to the fact, "Now I'm going to tell the chief rabbit about this, and when I do, my owsla will chase you off our land. Do you understand?"
The stranger expression went from an expression of cheeriness to one of pure annoyance, causing Juno's heart to drop. He knew he had said something very wrong. So quickly he stood back up and started for the warren only to get knocked over and pinned on his side by the stranger.
"You're not going anywhere until you answer my question,"
Squirm as he might, the stranger's grip wasn't going to loosen anytime soon. He was cornered. Powerless. He hated it. He tried again but to no avail.
"Fine!" He said, "Could you let-"
"No"
"You're here because you want to attack the warren?"
The stranger just stared at Juno for a good while. The young rabbit tried to squirm away but still couldn't overcome the surprisingly heavy rabbit.
Juno grunted, "Just let me go! I'm going to be chief in a few seasons and when they find out I'm dead you're going to regret it!"
"And that's why I'm here," The stranger finally spoke.
"T-to kill me?"
"No. I'm here because Frith sent me here. And do you know why?"
Juno shook his head.
"Because of how egotistic you are,"
"Me? I have no idea what you're talking about!"
"You have a mate, don't you? Am I correct?"
"Uh, Yes."
"And do you know what she thinks of you?"
Juno only glared at the stranger. Despite them being together, his mate, Papaveri, didn't like him very much, constantly criticizing him for being egocentric. But he had always disregarded it as her jealousy of his position in the owsla. They were yet to have any kits together.
"Low blow," he grumbled, "Now can you get off of me?"
"I'm not finished yet,"
Juno scoffed.
"Frith sent me here to stop your egoism; So Stop," With that The Stranger let Juno stand back up, "That is all."
The stranger started back towards where he had come but stopped when Juno called back to him. He wasn't going to trust the word of the strange rabbit. Proof. That's what he needed. He wasn't the captain of the Owsla for letting people fool him.
"If you say that Frith sent you, why don't you answer me this question?"
"Go right ahead,"
"Who are you? And how do you know my name?"
The Stranger grinned, "How do I know your name? Simple. Frith himself told me; as for who I am, I'm the Ruler of Everything,"
Who did this stranger think he was? There was no way he was the Ruler of Everything. Frith was. Juno could hardly believe this imposter.
"Do you want me to show you?" The stranger had sensed his doubt.
Juno nodded, "Prove yourself."
The stranger nodded his head. He closed his eyes tightly, and an expression of concentration appeared on his face. Suddenly the wind began to howl, the trees whipped around in the flurry at an alarming rate; Juno could feel his heart start to race. The sky began to darken as the sun bolted across the sky in a lively arc and landed halfway below the horizon, turning it a brilliant shade of orange-red.
Then it all stopped. Everything became still once more. Juno felt his fur to make sure that nothing bad had happened to him. When he realized he hadn't, he found the stranger standing there, staring at him.
"Is that enough evidence?"
Juno looked around, "What did you do?"
"What I do best. Make sure that time always go forward,"
Juno was amazed. He really had been visited by one of the great rabbits.
"How far forward can you go?" Juno asked He was beginning to get giddy.
"As far as I please; I just can't go backward."
All the possibilities! Thought Juno. He could skip through his own life and get to the good stuff! Then a plan formulated in his head. If hopping across time itself was such a beach walk for the "Ruler of Everything" perhaps Juno could skip over the chief's death and simply become Juno-rah himself. Yes. It had to work.
"Could you skip ahead a season?"
The stranger sighed, "Yes."
Then he made the same concentrating face. The wind picked up. The sun spiraled below the horizon and jumped up from the opposite side. Then all was quiet.
"Here we are," The Stranger said.
"Thanks!" Said Juno, and with that, he hopped back towards the warren.
[line]
"J-Juno? You're back! We all thought you drowned or something awful like that! Where have you been these past seasons?"
"Away, but that's beside the point. Where's Lily-rah?"
"Lily-rah?" The rabbit cocked her head, "he's been dead since winter. He's been replaced anyhow."
Juno tensed up. He had a feeling who knew who had taken chief in his absence, but he still asked. Perhaps Marigold hadn't, "Who?"
"Marigold-rah," the rabbit said.
Juno flinched at the name. He knew it. He had gone too far forward, missing his mark, and now Marigold had taken his place. With his position of power robbed of him, he stormed out of the warren.
"Where are you going, Juno?" The rabbit called.
"Away,"
"Where too,"
"Sometime when I'm more wanted,"
"When will we see you again?"
"For you? Never"
The Ruler of Everything was waiting for Juno in the same spot Juno had left him. He called out to the rabbit when he saw him return.
"Oh! You've come back!"
Juno simply scoffed at the greeting.
"Take me more foreword in time,"
"I see." The Ruler of Everything looked concerned, "How far?"
"Hrair seasons,"
"Could you be more specific? Hrair is a massive amount of time,"
"How big could it be? It doesn't matter,"
"As you wish," the Ruler of Everything sighed.
Then the wind started to whip around at ludicrous speed, the sun spun around the sky so fast that it seemed to stretch into one continuous bright yellow line. Slowly, the grass started to turn brown, in places and in a blink of an eye disappeared, giving way to dusty dirt. The sky started to change as well, slowly changing from a bright blue to a cloudy, dirty orange-red. Suddenly it all stopped.
At once Juno found himself in the middle of a horrible scene. Not only had the grass died. The trees and shrubbery had as well, in their place rotted trunks and twisted branches trembled. In the distance tall factories stood, their crumbling smokestacks like sharp knives scraping at the clouded, twisted sky.
Juno whipped around to face "The Ruler of Everything"
"You have to bring me back! Right now!"
"I cannot do that,"
"What? But you said you're the Ruler of Everything! Bring me back this instant!"
The "Ruler of Everything" only looked slightly concerned about what Juno was saying.
"I have to go now," he said simply.
Juno watched In frustration as the rabbit suddenly disappeared into strips of magnificent silvery light which in turn disappeared completely.
Juno cried out anguish. He was stuck here, alone. Why did he have to be so eager to be chief rabbit.? Now his entire warren, his family, was completely gone. His life had been completely wasted. He cursed at frith for sending the rabbit down to him. And for the first time in his adult life, he started to cry. Letting cool teardrops roll off his face and into the dusty dirt below, only to get sucked up by it and disappear.
It was now that Juno realized the dryness of his mouth. Taunting him. Perhaps a drink of water would help cool his nerves. But the lake, along with all the rest of the water, had completely dried up.