Chapter 7 - Determination

The Eagle who was once a fierce force of the sky, now lay helpless and harmless. It was a disheartening sight.

“Dear friend, you must reclaim your might. You are not meant to be in this state. These old eyes have seen so much, but this even I cannot bear”, the wise old Monkey requested.

The Eagle replied to the request of his friend, the old wise Monkey, with a lot of discomfort and visible difficulty of his old age, ”Reclaim? (laughs) Do I look in the proper shape to claim anything? I am dying, my beak is killing me, it is giving me a headache that I can’t tolerate even a minute now. It would be a good death if I just lay here and let it consume me”.

“That is not true dear friend, you still have half a life left. You just need to endure the pain, trust nature, and simply bounce back. You will come out stronger than before. You know in your heart that there is not worthy warrior of the sky than you are, certainly not those vultures”, Monkey said.

“You don’t even know what I am going through. I can’t fly as the weight of my feathers has become too much for me. My body is unable to handle it. I am dying of hunger, as I haven’t eaten in days. And, to top it off, My beak is giving me a headache that grows more and more by the passing time. Being in this life is a curse”.

“I get it friend, and I respect your wish of welcoming death. But can you do one last thing as a favour to this old friend?” the old Monkey requested.

“I can’t promise my friend. If it is within my abilities, whatever is left so far, I will give it a try”, the Eagle said with a visible lack of determination.

“Don’t worry, it is just a small one. You only have to come with me till the edge of this cliff”, Monkey assures.

The Monkey takes the Eagle to the edge of the cliff where he nested.?

“Why are all these animals gathered here?” the eagle asked upon finding a crowd of the nearby living animals. They were all looking up towards the cliff, all looking hopeful.

The Eagle was left shook.

“They are all gathered here to request you to reclaim your empire. You have always been a noble hunter, respecting the circle of life. But now, in the absence of no fierce force in the sky to guard us, the vultures are taking over. I suppose you know how they are”, the Monkey explained.

“So what? I wasn’t doing all of that on purpose. I had no intention of being a guardian, I was just living my life. And so what vultures have taken over. Someone will, if not them”, said the Eagle.

The Monkey now explained with a face steady and serious like a rock, “I think you don’t understand the seriousness of the issue here. The vultures are a dark force of nature that turn the place they encroach into a graveyard. They eat anything from the dead to the living, adults to the babies. Other times, they wait for the creatures to become helpless, and then consume them while the lifeforce is still inside of them”.

“You may have not done anything purposefully, but it was the virtues and principles you possess that these animals look up to. The best leaders are the ones who do not know the fact that they display leadership, and hence never act entitled”, the Monkey continued.

The Eagle left after listening to the Monkey.

He had found a cliff where he could smash his beak and break it down. One hit after the another, the Eagle repeatedly smashed his head against the rock, elevating his pain to unimaginable amounts, till it was no more.?

The pain had finally gone. He was left without his beak, looking ghastly. But the miseries have only begun, as without his beak, he can’t eat.?

He looked like a living skeleton after eating nothing for months.?

He woke up one day and felt a difference in his head. His beak was growing.

After a few more weeks, his beak was grown enough to help him chew some soft food, like small fish. He gathered his energy only to rip off his feathers with his fully grown beak. Another round of pain had begun. Enduring the pain, he was successfully freed of all the weight that was not letting him rule the sky again. However, his flightless days had just begun, and no flight meant no food at all. He was afraid if he would become food of the vultures being in this state himself.

“It is ok. Sometimes we have to accept defeat. I think it is what’s a part of our destiny”, Monkey addressed the worried animals who came to him for help once again.?

“It has been half a year since the Eagle is gone. Help us!” the animals pleaded.

“He won’t return! It would be better if we accept our fate”, replied the depressed Monkey.

Two vultures slowly landed on the remains of the carcass nearby. They had their eyes on the younglings of the group of animals. They called a few more. Soon, the group and the Monkey were surrounded by the approaching vultures.

They all accepted their defeat as the Monkey said and slouched.

“What happened? Are they gone?” asked one of the animals from the group.

Slowly, everyone gathered courage to look up and check on the vultures. They were nowhere to be found.

“Are we dead? Is it what death looks like?” asked a few animals more from the Monkey.

The Monkey scanned the sky carefully, shading his eyes from the rays of the sun. With a slight smile, he responded, “I think the vultures will not be a problem anymore”.

“What are you saying?”, cried the animals.

“I'm saying that the protector we always looked up to has not let us down after all”, replied the monkey, pointing towards the mighty shadow of the eagle moving on the ground.

The animals cheered upon the return of the guardian of their sky. He had finally defeated death and bounced back.

Gold medals aren't really made of gold. They're made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts - Dan GableRead

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