Unbalanced

The Pity in Meanwhile

  Perhaps it was the pitiful stares she kept getting while going outside of her home, but Ephidora was becoming tired of the public thinking she was forced to kill her own child. Especially the stares that reflected pity more than hatred. When strolling down the street, pedestrians actually stopped what they were doing to stare and gawk at her. The worst part was the aching in her heart, telling her to refute all claims that she was an 'evil witch' or as a man that had walked out of a bar in blind stupor decided to put it, 'crazy bitch.'
The question was though, how was she to retort to the claims of saints, bystanders, and banshees all in one sitting?
Well, with an anti-government revolutionary pamphlet of course.
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"Detain that blasphemous woman immediately!" Malutni screamed in a fit of rage. "This she-devil will resist my reign no longer!" His large cloak swished vigorously, as if enraged along with him.
His office was a impersonal and gloating one, with an pompous marble desk, overly done golden lacing on the black polished chairs, and a maroon marble for the walls. It was dubbed the 'murder chamber' by most of his workers and assistants because of the dark maroon of the walls. Not to mention Malutni's spiteful character.
Standing in the middle of all of this was Malutni and his personal assistant. The assistant looked extremely flustered as he announced with a quiet voice, "Sir, we can not do that, as one of your laws as ruler was freedom of speech. Your parliament can not go against the founding values of your government."
This statement was true, and Malutni knew it. His whole rise to power was built on strong opinions select people (as in wealthy people) had on the former rulers domain. He had blatantly stated the former rulers negligence in listening to the public when making his few amount of public speeches.
The freedom of press was now an illusion, of course, as he couldn't have some exploiter giving his people revolution-like ideals. Though he could not let his people know this, as it would bestow outrage to the already extremely suppressed public.
Still, he could not simply leave this evil pamphlet here for the masses to read. He needed to denounce any of these might-be-true claims any way he could. Although without throwing away the wisp of morality he appeared to have, how could he?
  It infuriated him that he could not decipher this problem, and his face grew almost as red as his office walls as he knocked stray paperwork off his desk.
   The personal assistant staggered back in fear.
  "Get out! Can you not see I need to be left alone! Of course you, a blundering idiot, can not see that!"
  The pitiful man scurried out of the vicinity as fast as his shaking legs would take him.
   Malutni then sat back down at his desk, staring at the, now, bane of his existence. He opened the 32 paged pamphlet with the fury filled hope he could find a claim to refute and save his, now jeopardized, political career.

... As most things have come to light, the truth does so very rarely. As unorthodox as it may seem, this enclosed message will have begun exactly so, with the truth. And what is this truth, you may ask? It is none other than that the author of this had not indeed murdered a defenseless child at the hands of cruel men, but sent the child off to live another life, away from the drivels...
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  The movement went quicker than Ephidora thought it would, in all honesty.
"DOWN WITH THE RED! ON WITH THE BLUE! MALUTNI'S NOTHING MORE THAN AN ILL WOMAN'S SHOE!"
She chuckled at the young citizens of the town parading the streets, yelling odd rhymes and throwing red flags on the ground. Ephidora could not be commended for this one, it started all on it's own.
The pamphlets had reached the corners of their ethereal plane, and it obviously did not sit well with the powder-keg-about-to-explode public. Seeing a chance to overrule the government, people fled to the streets, showing off unsheathed rage. Ephidora almost shed a tear at the power of her brilliant community all together. Well that, and the over explicit enlarged picture of the current oppressor in rather inappropriate clothing (also somehow created overnight).
As stupendous as the people were doing, they obviously needed a leader. Burning, hexing, and cursing things at random could not go on for this long. So, Ephidora decided to gather the people in a direction, not just action. Of course they listened to her, who better to lead a revolution than the woman who started it?
It had been only a week and a half, and Malutni had been overthrown. Gone into hiding no doubt, as they could not find a trace of him or his unsightly goons after storming into the capitol on victory.
Ephidora just faintly heard the rhyming cheers of the children after stepping through an archway to a dim, dark red room. Ephidora just slightly cringed at the awful color palate, dreary blacks and reds, able to give grown men nightmares. Which, now with Ephidora looking back at the statement, it probably did.
Just from the atmosphere, Ephidora was sure this was Malutni's office, and was to become hers after many heavy renovations. As former knight and most loyal to the king, Ephidora was an obvious choice for their new queen, as all the remaining of the first royal family had been executed. She took this with a spoonful of grief as soon as she heard it, but decided she will do right to her people. An inauguration ceremony was to be held as soon as the Thesal House was refurbished with depictions of the new ruler.
Yes, Ephidora was expecting some odd things while renovating the now horrid office a once power hungry man had owned. A lot of odd things, except for that same power hungry man crouched in the left side closet, muttering in hatred, self doubt, and delusion.
Unbeknownst to Ephidora, the goons he hired had fled without a warning to their employer, allowing him to become unprotected and assume the worst of his situation. That, and the several death threats he had received while being kicked out of power, was the overall reason Malutni had to be muttering in a dark closet.
An odd mix between a shriek and a growl filled the room, as the former oppressor caught sight of Ephidora in the dim light. It was apparent the delusion part of the crippled man had come through.
"Please, Please! Do not hurt me! I desist, I desist!" The man shook in what could only be seen as unadulterated fear.
Ephidora used to have her hands held in a defensive stance, but now she had put them down, a quizzical look on her face. How could have the people not have found this man for so long? From the overall demeanor of the the man, to the random shout of terror he uttered as soon as she entered the room, he should have been found in his makeshift panic room awhile ago. Ephidora's guess was that others were as uneasy in this office as she was, and after staying in it a couple of days, Malutni was a master at closet hiding.
  Feeling for the magic in the air, Ephidora wordlessly binded the crippled man with ropes appearing from thin air, and rendered him unconscious. It would be annoying hearing someone beg for the pity she oh-so despised.
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   It had been 3 months, and finally, Ephidora's rule as queen had fallen into an irregular pattern. She had sentenced Malutni to life in prison in her first month.
In all honesty, him being alive and screaming in delusion was just cruel and unusual punishment for everyone else. Although, Ephidora found the whole situation ironic, to take pity on his life. Something in her heart told her not to euthanize or torture the man to death though, as easy as these methods were to procure. She had many sleepless nights thinking about why exactly she saved the diabolical dictator from an early grave, and after all the sleepless nights, her question's answer was still unknown to her.
During this first month, she had also set up a plan for the foreseeable future of Thesal. Something that the former ruler rarely did, she shared her plans with her civilians in news and public speaking, and asked for opinion. Thesal was not perfect, and some people still showed an extreme disliking for her ideas, but she set forward on her plans and tried to compromise for the better.
In the second month, her parliament was sectioned into certain parts in the government, to, for a lack of better words, govern. She had replaced most of the staff, except for the timid personal assistant. He, overall, had done his job well, had a burning passion to chop Malutni to minced meat, and served her morning tea at perfect temperature. Ephidora found no reason for fire him, and he took her offer to stay in humble stride, doing his daily task with a little more confidence.
Soon, by month three, Ephidora found solace in this man, now referred to as Hercy Pinrest. On late sleepless nights, she and Hercy would discuss government plans, as he was very qualified in the area. He was incredible at counter arguments, and by morning, they both usually had finished sorting through gargantuan piles of parliament hypothesis and government plans. Although he thought she did not notice, when the night faded and Ephidora was half awake, surrounded by scattered paperwork, Hercy would be as quiet as he could, and wrap a quilt around her presumed-to-be-asleep form. For the last couple days, Hercy left a wisp of a kiss just slightly on Ephidora's hair.
Ephidora smiled everytime, right after he exited the dark room.
Its was indeed an irregular pattern, but it worked, and Thesal was finally starting a new era. Her sleeping patterns were anything but normal as well, but Ephidora tried to ignore it with the comfort of Hercy, and the promise of a growing nation.
Still, late nights after Hercy was long gone, the thoughts of a young child, in some unreachable place, living another life without her breached her mind. She never stopped thinking about her beautiful Emmeline, no pmatter how tall the work order was, no matter what solace, or maybe pining, another brought to her heart.
  Late that night, or maybe very early in the morning of that day, Ephidora lay in bed, thinking.
  She still was stagnant in finding an answer to why she had saved Malutni, why she had given him the pity that she disliked so much. This man had such hatred, such spite, it was almost common sense to rid her people of him, once and for all. Then her darling Emmeline breached her mind for the first time again that night.
  As she, again, feverishly hoped and wished and prayed that where ever Emmeline was, she was safe and joy filled, a thought crossed two of her main worries together in one big conclusion.
   She pitied Malutni, as someone with a sizable heart would do. Besides his hatred and spite and all the evil traits she could find within him. And Emmeline, her brilliant babe, would have to endure a precarious future, without Ephidora to pity her and help her grow into a strong woman anyway she could. Yet, she herself hated the pity of others because she already had enough of it, and was ongoing and strong already.
  She pitied Malutni because no one else could or would.
   Ephidora hoped someone, somewhere, could do the same for Emmeline.

  She slept a deep, dreamless sleep that early morning.
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A/N: HELLO! IM SOOOO SORRY FOR NOT POSTING FOR SO LONG! THINGS GOT IN THE WAY......
  THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR 300+ VIEWS!! LUV YAH SO MUCH, HERES VIRTUAL UNICORNS!!!! 🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄
  THIS CHAPPY WENT BACK TO AMMIE' S ROOTS TO SHOW WHAT HAPPENED SHORTLY AFTERWARD. I THINK MY WRITING STYLE IS DIFFERENT, BUT I LIKE IT LEL. WHAT YOU THINK?
  NEXT TIME: Will Ammie get her body back? Will Hercy be Ephidora's new baby daddy? What lingerie was Malutni wearing in that poster? Was this chapter just a fill in while the author finds the plot?
......
Most of these questions probably will not be answered....
Next time....