Revenge of the Wild (Prompt 12)

The animals had gathered together at the east end of the forest. The day had almost faded out of existence and the moon started to begin its rule of the sky. In the lingering sunlight, they observed silently, remorsefully, the destruction done to their humble homes. The once tall, proud trees were cut down and killed. Some lay dead on the green forest floor, the others had just vanished leaving behind their roots, still entrenched in the ground. As far as their eyes could see, all they saw, were the dead or dying trees and their still rooted stumps. An ax, a human weapon of destruction, was affixed to one of these tree stumps. Hundreds of squirrels were left homeless. The sparrows, the parrots, the cuckoos, and all the other birds had lost their nests. Some had lost their unborn children, some others their parents. There was a sense of grief, a sense of agony, and distress, which spread over the animal population.

The king of the jungle, Krimba, understanding the sorrow and the despondence of his populace had called an emergency gathering near the site of the madness. He let his subjects absorb the magnanimity of the devastation. There was a time when Krimba ruled the entire planet, but with the mutation and subsequent rise of the two-legged, light-skinned, hairless and ugly apes, he had lost almost all of his territory. Now the kingdom that he ruled was sparse and spread out in small pockets. He had shamed his forefathers. To avenge this humiliation, he had devised a plan to retaliate against those arrogant humans by uniting all the wildlings together.

‘Is there anyone who doesn’t feel morbid at this destruction?’ Krimba roared. ‘Does your blood boil with anger at the massacre of our green, voiceless friends, like me? These newbies, the ones who build stone houses and dig holes in the ground, will not stop here. They will not stop till they destroy all of us.’ 

Krimba had used all of his energy in raising his voice to vociferous levels. He was happy to see it had the desired effect. A feeling of revenge had spread across the audience. Krimba could hear raised voices from the different wildlife groups. The monkeys were chattering the most. Some were jumping about like crazy. The tigers, the panthers, and the leopards were talking quietly. The elephants trumped loudly and the bears grunted their approval. The groups of birds, watching from the trees chirped animatedly amongst themselves. The wolves, the foxes, and the hyenas formed close packs, seemingly giving the idea a lot of thought. The snakes and the group of mongooses left aside their petty rivalry and discussed each other, their alternatives. After giving them enough time to think over his proposition, Krimba started again.

‘What do you say, my mighty comrades?’ Krimba roared louder than before. The moon had taken complete control over the sky and the sky was darker than ever.

There was a unanimous uproar. Every single one of them was in agreement. Krimba smiled. His plan had gained fruition.

‘Let’s sneak into their houses and murder them as they have murdered the life of the jungle.’ Rana, the head of the tigers shouted.

‘No. We don’t need bloodshed. Let me and my brother handle it. We will poison them. They will never wake up again.’ Rani, the queen of the snakes hissed.

‘We should humiliate them, as they did us. Let us shit on them and poke them with our beaks. We will tug their eyes out and leave them blind.’ Jarra, the eagle spoke.

All of these were great ideas. Krimba was contemplating over them trying to decide which one to execute when Mojo, the leader of the monkeys spoke.

‘The humans have weapons or do you forget. They can just as easily kill us as they have our green brothers. How would you fare against their hot, red fire and their cold, sharp metals? They can kill us easily at range with their flying wooden arrows. Do we have a plan against these weapons?’

There were hushed discussions amongst the groups. Krimba had to concede that the point was absolutely valid. Their advanced weapons could easily kill dozens of the residents of the jungle.

‘What do you suggest then, Mojo?’ Krimba roared, out of curiosity but also to shush the chatter.

‘Why risk our lives? Why not have a weapon of our own?’ Mojo asked rhetorically, building onto something.

The crowd went silent. A sense of anticipation gripped the crowd.

‘Do the monkeys have such a weapon?’ Krimba asked the question, which was on everyone’s mind.

Mojo curled his lips in a smile. An evil smile. The rest of his group broke into laughter.

‘Qaung. Our cousin.’ Mojo replied haughtily enjoying the attention on him.

The silence was broken by multiple murmurs breaking out in all groups at once. The anticipation had turned into excitement. The Tigers were the first to give their approval with a thundering outcry. The rest of them followed.

Krimba waited. Once all the animal groups had confirmed, they all turned to Krimba. He was still the king of the jungle and could overturn their decision.

‘I concur.’ He roared as he had never before. His subjects were overjoyed and reveled in their soon-to-be-administered revenge.

The sparrows took the onus to carry the request to Quang, who lived alone, in a faraway land. He hadn’t been seen, nor heard about in a thousand years. There was a rumor that he might be dead, but the monkeys rubbished them.

‘If he was dead, the earth would tremble and all living beings would die.’ Mojo announced to a group of nervous rabbits, to appease them.

Over the next few days, Krimba and his subjects waited with bated breaths for the arrival of Quang or any news. To reduce the destruction by humans, groups of animals decided they would guard the borders of the forest and scare away as many of the villains as they could. The animals suffered a few losses, but the human activity along the edge of the forest had reduced considerably due to these efforts. Finally, Raga, one of the messengers came back with the news that they had all expected to hear.

Not long after, the earth beneath their feet trembled and quivered, announcing Quang’s approach. He was taller than three fully grown trees stacked together on top of each other and was wider than the widest streams in the forest. His features resembled that of an ape, aside from a fury, a madness that never left his face. He walked on two legs, just as the humans and ravaged entire trees in one bite. 

He was an ancient being and only Mojo could converse with him. Krimba conveyed to Mojo his plan, which was explained to Quang. The next day all hell broke loose.

Before the sun was up in the sky, Quang made his way to the human settlement. The world shook as the supergiant ape, standing only an arm’s distance from the clouds in the sky, was readying himself to attack. Krimba and a few daring animals, followed their destructive avenger at a distance, not wanting to miss the havoc he would cause. And they were not disappointed.

The humans had sensed the tremors and were already in a state of disarray when they saw Quang approach. They screamed in fear and ran hither and thither, trying to salvage as much as they could. Most humans had already scattered far away from their huts by the time Quang reached. The ape kicked down their huts and jumped over them, wiping away any sign of them. A few human warriors who had remained behind attacked Quang with their stringed arrows and spears. With one grab of his hand, Quang picked a dozen of them and crushed the life out of them. The smart humans lit huge mounds of wood and cloth on fire to scare away Quang. The flames reached dizzying heights and any other animal would have either fainted or ran away. But not Quang. With one long exhalation, he extinguished the mighty flames, ending all hopes for the humans. Some were able to escape Quang’s clutches as they dashed away. The others just surrendered to the magnificent being and Quang being the mad ape he was, crumbled their bones as fine as sand. With no sign of the humans for miles, Quang had put an end to their atrocities. The animals had been avenged.

Quang, bored from destroying empty human huts and structures, finally made his way back to the forest. The animals were overjoyed and were making arrangements to celebrate. There would be a wild party tonight, the likes of which had not been seen for a long time... 

Quang reached the edge of the forest and sat down in a glade. He uprooted a tree and started to chew his way through the branches, swallowing up the leaves. The animals didn’t mind. Quang deserved all of their gratitude.

Krimba and Mojo made their way to Quang.

Standing in front of the wood ingesting Quang, Krimba made a low bow, showing his indebtedness to the giant ape.

‘We thank you for your help, Quang. We are forever grateful.’ He roared. Quang looked at him bemused. Mojo translated.

Quang let out a loud moan.

‘What is he saying?’ Krimba asked Mojo, taking a few steps back, as a precaution.

‘He says the jungle is his and he has asked you to disappear before he kills you.’ Mojo replied, in apathy.

‘Now listen, you big hairy dumb, useless monkey.’ Krimba started.

Before the lion could finish though, Quang beat his hard, rocklike chest with his fists - a sign of imminent attack. He picked up Krimba in one of his hands and threw him far away. The other animals saw Krimba fly a long distance into the horizon, without ever seeing him decline ground wards. He was still going upwards when they lost sight of him.

Mojo spoke softly with Quang and soon came back to where the animals were assembled.

He asked the other monkeys to gather every animal around them. He spoke when he had everyone’s attention.

‘The monkeys rule the jungle now. I declare myself as the regent of this jungle and all others, in the name of our immortal Emperor Quang.’ There was not a murmur of disagreement.

The monkeys ruled the wildlands from that day forth. They ruled with the fear of Quang. They forced their strange and felonious laws on the animals, replacing the much more ethical laws. The animals who once had been made to fear the onslaught of tiny humans now lived in despondency and oppression under the rule of the monkeys.

The same trees they had wanted to save, were all dead now, broken down by the hungry ape to satisfy his enormous appetite. Even the ground below had lost its verdant and was now only a mix of mud and gravel. The ape spent his days sleeping on the barren ground and gobbling up the trees he could lay his hands on. Every now and then, one of these depressed subjects made their way to the east end of the forest, aspiring to take up arms against the might of Quang and rid the forest of the atrocities of the monkeys. On most occasions, they would turn back after a single glance at the gigantic, frantic ape. Some, who were too embarrassed to go back to their hopeful friends and loved ones as a failure, would abandon the forest altogether, happy to live their lives in isolation. 

Thus ends this tale of revenge, in depression and gloom, as does every other tale of revenge.