Chapter 118: War of the apes, 1890 CE (1)

A church stood in the middle of the village. It was a modest church, with only an altar and wooden seats provided inside the building. There, a woman with raven hair was praying, she was solemn and serene.

“Oh, god almighty…” she murmured. “Why? Why have you forsaken them? They have been devoted to you, praying nonstop, so that this hell on earth would stop…”

Men then suddenly started to flood the village, they were banging on the church door, who had been barred from the inside.

The woman didn’t care, she kept kneeling, praying to her god.

“Your creations are suffering,” said the woman solemnly. “Forced by their fellow brothers under the whip, enslaved for selfish gains… mothers separated from their children… wives torn from their husbands… and many suffered from diseases and inhumane torture…”

The men tried to kick the door open, they kept trying and trying, but it didn’t work.

“Is it all just an entertainment to you?” she questioned. “All these deaths… all this blood… yet you sided with them… the ones who commit the atrocities…”

The men continued to try to kick the door open, and it’s working. The lock was starting to get loose, and the door was slowly opening.

The woman stood up from her prayer as her back suddenly glowed bright. Wings made of bright light started to spread, almost covering the entire church.

“If that is the case…” continued the woman, light swords started to appear around her as she turned around, and she conjured a spear and a shield in her hands. “Then you are no god of mine.”

The men then barged in, the church’s door broke down as soldiers with rifles and muskets flooded the place, and they started to open fire.

The woman covered herself with her wings, the bullets stopped when it hit it, dropping to the floor, it was as if the soldiers were throwing peanuts at the woman, it made no dent at all.

The swords that were floating around the woman started to move, it launched towards the soldiers, nailing them one by one to the walls behind them. The remaining soldiers were still shooting, desperate to kill the woman.

They were trying to call the woman a monster, but how can that be? She looked like an angel right now, sent to earth herself by god.

The wings then spread abruptly, pushing away all the soldiers, and practically destroying the church, opening the roof above the woman.

“Heed my words!” she shouted in anger. “I am Jeanne! The apostle of Eshu! And I will send you to him myself!”

The woman then rushed towards the remaining soldiers, she impaled the first soldier with a spear, raising his body so all could see. She threw the body to the sky, and as the body came down to earth again, she split it in two, bathing her in blood.

The woman stood in front of the soldiers, her wings spread, spear and shield in hand, covered in blood, and her face full of rage.

The soldiers thought that she wasn’t just an ordinary angel, god had sent the angel of death herself.

Then, the soldiers could hear shoutings from the jungles, it wasn’t a human, it was something else. It was the screaming of apes, hooving and shrieking. The jungle trees move uncontrollably, like every single one of them would fall under the weight or something. The soldiers felt a sense of dread in their hearts, an angel of death in front, and some strange apes coming towards them.

The apes then suddenly jumped from the trees, towards the villages. They were armed to the brim, wearing metal-like attires, darts floating around them, and warhammers in their hands.

The woman then suddenly walked towards them, making them flinch. As the woman did that, the apes did the same, the soldiers started shaking, some of them even shit in their pants. The soldiers were surrounded, apes in the back, and the woman in front. As the apes neared them, they quickened their paces, and the soldiers could sense death after that.

The apes then roared towards the soldiers, their warhammers raised.

After that, all the soldiers could see, was blood.

—

[GEORGE WASHINGTON WILLIAMS’S POV]

An African-American man that was wearing rather sophisticated clothing was walking solemnly towards his tent. He was escorted by two soldiers, local mercenaries that were hired by King Leopold II to ‘guard’ the Congo Free State.

He entered his tent with a grim look, he sat down in front of his desk, and massaged his forehead.

“Dear god…” he murmured painfully.

He had seen what these men had done to the locals. They had practically enslaved them, even though it had been banned. They forced them for labour, cutting latex from vines, hunting elephants for ivory. They had no intention of improving the lives of these locals at all, they just wanted them to make money for the king. 

If they didn’t meet the quota, the mercenaries would kill them, and take their hands as proof for their master that they didn’t waste a bullet. But hands became a currency for the locals now… tribes fought over rival tribes so they could get hands, and trade it for quota… over half of the population are dead because of this… and it isn’t stopping.

He had come here on the promise of seeing the development of an African country… but… it was all lies… lies told by the king… he knew he couldn’t protest to the governor of the place, and he would be killed if he did so… but… he knew a way… to make the world aware of the atrocities in this place…

He then quickly began to write on a paper. He was trying to make a letter to the king, voicing his complaints to him. But it won’t be just a letter, it would be an open letter, and the king won’t do anything to him if all of the newspapers around the world made a headline out of this letter.

All day, he didn’t get out of his tent, as he kept writing and writing about the atrocities that have been happening in this place. But then, he heard screaming from the outside, which made him frown.

He quickly got out of his tent, only to see all of the buildings being burned. He saw apes running around, slaughtering every single soldier and officers that stayed in the settlement.

George’s blood ran cold as a gorilla turned towards him. The gorilla’s face was full of rage, blood all over his body. All of them had one thing in common, they were wearing metal-like attire, like they’re some kind of… army.

The gorilla then rushed towards George, which scared the shit out of him. He ran towards his tent, but then, he saw the gorilla was stopped by another gorilla. The gorilla was bigger than the others, and unlike the others, he had a straight back, and could stand with two feet for a long time. He was wearing some kind of a crown, filled with jewellery, and the gorilla walked towards George, but George could feel he was not hostile.

“You are not with those demons, are you?” questioned the gorilla in fluent English, surprising George even further.

“I-I’ve come from the United States of America…” the man stuttered. “I-I served the Ohio House of Representative…”

The gorilla gruffed. “You’ve come from the new world…” he stated, which George just nodded. “Then tell them… about the atrocities that happened here. If any country dares to step on our lands, and wreak havoc again, they will suffer consequences.”

George gulped and nodded. “Pardon me… but who are you? Apes talking?”

“You have a problem with that?” questioned the gorilla, frowning.

“N-No… it’s just… uncommon…”

“Fair point.” the gorilla gruffed. “I am Grodd. King of the apes. Ruler of Zimera.”

“Zimera?” George questioned nervously.

“A nation of apes that oversees the jungle of Congo.” the gorilla informed. “Write to your representatives, I will talk with you again… what is your name, human?”

“George…” the man said. “George W. Williams, the baptist minister.”

“Then George the baptist minister, I advise you to enter your tent once again, and close your ears.” said Grodd, turning away from George, putting his warhammer on his shoulder. “It will be loud for a while.”

George nodded vigorously, and ran towards his tent. He quickly sat down on his chair again, sitting in front of his desk. He breathed in, and breathed out, trying to calm himself down.

He then quickly wrote on his letter again, adding more things in it concerning the apes that he had met.