Chapter 61: Marching to Wakanda, 200 CE

Grodd was now exiting the throne hall proudly, on his finger was a blue ring, glowing faintly as he took his steps. As he exited the room, he saw his advisors gathering nervously in front of the door.

As the advisors saw the king, they walked up to him. “King! Where is god and goddess?!” an ape shouted excitedly while using his hands to communicate.

“They are resting.” spoke Grodd using a local language, surprising the other gorillas around him.

“K-King!? You spoke?!” questioned another gorilla.

Grodd nodded while beating his chest proudly. “God has chosen me as his apostle, do not worry my brothers, we will win this war!”

The other apes then jumped giddily around Grodd, excited for the prospect to come. They roared to the sky, making the birds that are hiding between the leaves scour away, and their roars echoed throughout the entire jungle.

“So now, what do we do?” questioned an old advisor. “Would we make peace as you said?”

The other apes then froze, they did not want peace, they would not give up.

Grodd then smirked. “No. Instead, we will make them have peace with us.”

The apes then continued their dancing around Grodd, jumping happily and excitedly.

—

As Grodd and his men were celebrating outside, Pluto and Thena were standing in a room, overlooking the entire village of the apes.

“Isn’t it too quick?” questioned Thena. “You don’t know much about him, you just met him.”

“True.” hummed Pluto. “But I saw it, he just wanted to save his people. His determination is strong. Desperation brings the true face of men, or gorillas…”

Thena sighed. “Still, why him?”

“Isn’t this our fault?” asked Pluto rhetorically. “We taught them how to live, how to fight, even if it’s just to cure boredom, they are still our responsibility.”

“Like our children?” said Thena with raised eyebrows. “Look, we’ve been together for a couple of centuries, but the possibility of having thousands of gorilla children?”

Pluto chuckled. “Honestly Thena, if Eternals could have children, we’d have thousands by now.” he said, making Thena roll her eyes.

“But seriously…” Thena looked at the gorillas who were walking on the ground, she saw a gorilla mother carrying her baby through the trees, and he saw gorilla children playing with themselves. “You think we could protect them? All of them?”

Pluto sighed. We walked to her, and hugged her from behind. He kissed her head, and said. “You protected Babylon from thousands of Deviants, why can’t you do it here?”

“I had help.”

“Well, you have me.” added Pluto.

Thena looked hesitant. “They will be in conflict with the humans, and will surely lose.”

“You underestimate their tenacity.” hummed Pluto. “Besides, we could hide them, and Grodd would develop something that would help them.”

“Could you even trust him?”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Pluto. “The one ring, remember? If he proves to be incompetent and full of greed, I could just take it away from him.”

“Fine,” said Thena. “I will trust you.”

Suddenly, the door slammed open, and Grodd was looking at them excitedly.

“Oh Eshu! This ape will need advice on-” he froze as he looked at Pluto and Thena. “I- Did this ape just disturbed the process of making little gods?!” he panicked and knelt in front of both of them. “F-Forgive this ape!”

Thena then looked at Pluto, and she said in a deadpan expression. “On second thought, yes, it doesn’t matter…”

—

[A couple months after]

A Wakandan party was now camping on the border between the plains and the jungle. They looked calm, as they won almost every time in the war. They were having a meal and polishing their weapons, they fed their horses, but they didn’t bring elephants, because they were going to the jungle, wanting to annihilate the gorillas once and for all.

While they know now that the apes weren’t involved with the Jabari tribe in every way, they were still suspicious of the ‘smart apes’. They could just tell the other society about the Wakandans existence, or attack their lands to take the vibranium away. Naturally, they thought that the smart apes were not normal, they thought that there was someone behind them, they were right of course, but they didn't know that…

A watchman was looking out at the jungle when he noticed a couple of eyes looking at the camp. The bushes around the jungle were moving, and the trees were shaking. The watchman frowned, and shouted to the camp.

“Someone is approaching us!” he shouted.

The Dora Milaje who’s overseeing the training of the war party also frowned. she walked towards the watchman, and asked.

“What do you see?” she questioned.

“Trees moving, bushes shaking,” said the watchman.

The Dora Milaje hummed. She walked towards the jungle much to the watchman’s dismay.

“What are you doing my lady?!” the watchman shouted.

The Dora Milaje shrugged it off and kept walking. She kept getting closer and closer as she gripped her spear tightly, and finally, when she thought that it was near enough, she stopped.

“Come out!” shouted the Dora Milaje.

Silence. There was no sound whatsoever.

But then, something suddenly jumped from the trees above her, landing in front of her. The ground shook as that thing landed, and that ‘thing’ turned out to be a gorilla, holding a warhammer that was resting on his shoulder.

He wore a helmet, and a metal armour, like a true warrior. The gorilla also seemed to be wearing a blue ring, shining faintly from his finger.

“You are not welcome here.” said the Gorilla in Wakandan language, surprising the Dora Milaje. “Turn back.”

“You… How can you speak? How can you speak our language?” questioned the Dora Milaje seriously.

“It doesn’t matter.” the gorilla growled. “Turn around, and never come back. Otherwise, blood would spill in this sacred land.”

The Dora Milaje shook her head. “I am sorry, but it is the king’s orders. We cannot risk exposure because of your kind.”

The gorilla then sighed. “We will not tell other humans. You have my word.”

“I cannot trust you, ape.” said the Dora Milaje. “Once again, I apologise, it is the king’s order.”

“Then I apologise as well, for killing your kind.” sighed the Gorilla.

The Dora Milaje was suddenly alert, and from the trees came a rain of arrows, targeting the camp in front of the jungle.

How can this be? Apes could use arrows? Thought the Dora Milaje. In the first months of the war, the apes just relied on brute strength alone, using hammers and sticks to attack, but arrows? That’s new….

Meanwhile, the soldiers of Wakanda who were still eating at the camp were shot from the sky, getting pierced by arrows. There wasn't any time to protect themselves, they were just killed from the arrows quickly and swiftly.

The Dora Milaje was caught off guard. She despaired at the sight of her warband getting slaughtered like this. Their horses were fleeing everywhere, screams of pain could be heard as more and more arrows came down from the trees.

The Dora milaje turned around to the gorilla again, only to see a warhammer coming down on her. She was thrown down a couple of feet. She groaned in pain, before passing out from the sheer blunt force of the warhammer.

The gorilla sighed as shouts and screams of apes were heard from the top of the trees. It was their first victory, of course they were happy.

The gorilla in front smiled, and took off his helmet. He roared at the sky, celebrating their first of many victories to come.