XIV. Judgment
"Exile."
Gaps were heard among the crowds. As much as the elders threatened, no one had ever before been exiled, cast out from the only home they know, the only place that can ensure protection.
They must be guessing the severity of my crime by now.
My mate steps up first.
"Tell me it's not true."
I look away.
She begins to sob, quietly though, for the elders have more to say.
"You have endangered our race. Do you know why we stopped revealing ourselves to humans," one says, more of a statement than a question, because of course I know; everyone knows.
"I can tell you some of them care. Most humans would rejoice at the site of us. They build shrines in our honor and bless the towns we've revealed ourselves to. Only a select few actually want to see us suffer."
"Which is why," he shouted angrily, "we disguise ourselves to remain hidden! The ones who do want us to suffer will mercilessly manipulate those who do not, and they have the skills to capture all of us if we are not cautious!"
I scowl. "Such cowardice appalls me. I am a Mew, one of the most powerful and unique beings in the universe! Yet I stoop so low as to take the form of a Slopoke? What shall we be next month: Kakuna? By doing this we deprive ourselves of our way of life. We live in strange lands following strange customs. Judge me if you will, but I must be free of this tyranny."
Dead silence.
One by one the clan changes form and ascends. I transform as well, but only to mock them. The eldest member stares down at me.
"That may be true child," he rasps, voice dried by millennia of speech, "but exposure means death. Has it ever occurred to you that we are searching for a haven so that we may put an end to this rubbish? However, such a place cannot coexist with humans. Some would aid us, of that I am positive, but eventually one shrouded in darkness would figure out where our sanctuary lay, and they would not hesitate to strike. That is why it is crucial to remain a mere myth, nothing more than wisps of a child's fairy tale."
On that note they speed off, condemning me for good. Sighing, I trudge into the sky and fly sluggishly to the forest opposite of where my former tribe took off. Finding a hollow tree, I curl up and let the tension and strife ebb out of me. If only they understood why I had to reveal myself, instead of putting on a trial with half the evidence.
I turn over, trembling as the sun goes down to hell in the same manner my life collapsed around me. My hopes tumble atop me, and I am left berating my idiocy.
If I had confessed from the start, I wouldn't be in this mess. But I feared the judgment I would have undoubtedly faced.
How ironic.
I begin to drift off, my thoughts haunting me. I am a human turned Mew by mysterious ways. Embracing my new culture, I thrust my old life behind me, until we settled here, my former dwelling, Azalea Town.
My sister –dear, sweet Maisy-was mourning at my grave. I transformed without thought, and once she caught a glimpse of me, zoomed far away. Now I face punishment for the wrongdoing of giving solace, and I regret nothing.
For now, I will be a lone Mew.