Hey Manav! Be careful they could attack, Sammy alerted Manav.
They are just kids Sammy, don’t be afraid of them, get my Walkman from their hands, said Manav.
Goooooo! Gooooo! Hooooo! Hooooo! The ape continued and didn’t let Manav take his Walkman from its hand. Sammy pushed the ape with the shotgun and Manav using this opportunity grabbed the Walkman from the hands of the ape. But the apes didn’t take the attack too well and instead jumped and sat on their heads, the 3feet apes were strong enough to attack Manav and Sammy.
Manav with one hand wasn’t able to defend himself, he howled as though he had a snake inside his pant pockets. Get away from me! Somebody save me!!!
Sammy using the bottom of the shotgun hit the ape on its head, the ape fainted and fell to the ground its forehead bleeding. Once the ape fell to the floor, the other one started to make some dreadful sounds.
Naaaggg! Naaaag! Kaaaav! Kaaaaav! Shouted the ape and jumped up and down.
Hey! Why is it shouting like this? Give me the gun. Manav started to shoot next to the ape (The noise of the gunshot reverberated through the forest) and the ape ran inside the forest.
Sammy, this is how it to be done. See the little fella ran out of our sight, said Manav with a laugh.
Previously, I have not even seen any apes in the zoo too. Are they harmful, asked Sammy.
Never!! If they do so, just throw a banana, said Manav and went down to take his walkman.
When Manav bent down to pick his walkman, he saw the small stones on the ground shaking. Suddenly, a deep hollow sound came out from inside the forest, rumbling bestial roars filled the place. The trees in the distance started to shake, their canopies swaying as if pushed by an unseen force. Manav and Sammy squirmed as the forest before them broiled and seethed! Trees were swaying ferociously. Manav slowly looked up, his face filled with dread.
Load the bullets!!!! We are going to be attacked by someone. Be ready, said Manav.
It’s already loaded, if anyone attacks I will drench them in blood with my bullets, replied Sammy.
Then, what are you waiting for, shoot towards them, automatically they will run away hearing the sound, said Manav.
The trees and shrubs seemed more tangled and intertwined than ever. Huge leaves held deeply shadowed areas where anything could be hiding, ready to leap and bite, sting or assault them.
When Sammy was ready to fire, they saw the ape which ran away earlier fearing the gunshot. Seemed like it wasn't alone. Soon the rumbling bestial roars came from the group of more than 30-40 apes, which were furiously approaching them to attack.
Those gorillas look strange. Don’t wait, shoot! Shoot! Kill them! yelled Manav.
They outnumber us and each one of them is more than 6feet. I don’t think we can defeat them, instead let’s run away from this place, screamed Sammy.
Manav cradled his Walkman from the ground and started running.
OMG!!! Where the hell is the banana trees on this island, shouted Manav in the middle of his run.
They don't seem like ordinary apes! Run, run, run. Faster, faster! Freaked out Sammy.
What kind of place is this? Have we ventured into the deadliest Amazon forests, I am unable to run. I should have stayed in Goa, said Manav.
Meanwhile, the apes split up to circle them.
No! No! Not that way, they will corner us! Take this right, shouted Sammy.
I feel so weak, we must get back to others, said manav with wheeze.
Why are you slowing down? Run! Faster! Faster! They are right behind us! Faster! Faster! Don’t give up. Run to save your life, said Sammy.
I am exhausted! I got to have a breather, you go up front! I will follow you, said Manav in panting.
No! No! There is no time for that, come on now, run, run, said Sammy and both ran to save their lives.
The sun was blazing down on them. Manav wasn’t able to keep up. He wheezed more and slowed down to his pace. All of a sudden, he fainted and fell into a pit.
Manav, Wake up! Let’s go! Come on! They are almost right here, we need to move, Sammy tried to wake up Manav. But, the apes were fast approaching, so Sammy covered Manav with some dried leaves and ran away from that place to save his own life. Sammy kept shooting at the apes to chase them away but the gunshots only made things worse. They got more furious than before and chased him with a vengeance.
A group of apes halted at the pit where Manav fainted, they were searching for Manav all over the pit.
Manav having feigned unconsciousness cautiously opened his eyes, and he sensed the mass of warm bodies poised above him. They didn't have to chatter or scream. The mere breathing of so many was enough. They were not five or ten but a mass of them weighed down the limbs of the jungle trees searching for him.
Manav lifted his head, risking a quick look around. The place was too steep to attempt an escape, but there was a narrow passage across the area, leading down to the jungle. Inch by inch Manav started to edge forward, crawling on his stomach towards that way. When the apes turned in his direction, Manav froze and lay one among the dried leaves, the gorillas didn’t notice him. With only a few feet left to go, Manav quietly rose and scurried towards the end of that passage. He clambered into the narrow passage finally out of the apes sight. Glancing back over his shoulder, Manav hurried down that way.
Manav ran in the opposite direction to Sammy. Unfortunately, he went straight into the main camp of the apes. The camp had more merciless apes that interpreted mere eye contact as aggression. But, the apes were holding their positions. His eyes only darted up for a second, but it was as though he triggered a bomb. The apes exploded into a shrieking mass of orange fur and pounced on him. He ran, but he had never seen any animal move so fast. They slid down the vines as if the things were greased. Leaped unimaginable distances from tree to tree. Fangs bared, hackles raised, claws shooting out like switchblades.
At a distance, he saw a big baobab tree, a massive 47metre circumference and a height of 22metres, the age of that baobab tree would have ranged more than 4000years. The trunk of the tree consisted of two connected parts, both these parts were connected to a 3feet hollow. He was just five yards from the tree when he sensed them. To protect himself from the apes Manav bent down and managed to get into the tree hole and hid from the apes.
Meanwhile, Sammy ran towards the borders of Dinolaya, he wasn’t just running but bolted out of that place. When he turned back to see, there weren’t any apes chasing him so he halted and gasped for some breath, he was famished running all the way from the apes. But, this break of his didn’t last long. Out of nowhere, he was attacked from behind. His neck was firmly grasped, Sammy’s reflexes were amazing though, he managed to take his shotgun and turned to shoot it, surprisingly it was Mosses.
Hey Sammy! You nearly shot me, why are you looking like a ghost? asked Mosses.
We need to get out of here soon, many deadly things are happening here if we stay here for another minute, our lives too will be in danger, we need to get out, said Sammy.
Relax! Relax! Why are you getting so tensed, and where is Manav? Why you are standing here alone, asked Mosses.
The apes chased us, they looked strange, not like ordinary apes, more furious than the usual. They captured Manav, I tried to save him but I couldn’t, they must have killed him by now, said Sammy.
Killed him! What are you saying, you *****. You have a gun with you, why didn’t you attack them and save him, asked Mosses.
No! We can’t. There are just too many of them. We need to get out of this island as soon as possible. Where is Royston, let’s go to him, said Sammy and started to move.
No! Wait! We can’t leave Manav alone, we need to go back, save him and then we will head back to Royston, said Mosses.
He will be dead by now, and every minute we delay is time wasted, we need to get out, said Sammy.
Eh!!!!!! Eh!!!!!!!!! Wait!!!!!! I am getting a feeling like we are being watched by someone, be cautious they may attack us, said Mosses.
>
Yeah, I too have the same feeling. This silent forest has something else in it. Do you think it’s the apes, asked Sammy.
Mosses knelt down and stared at an unmistakable indent in the sand: a giant footprint!
Sammy, check this foot mark here. This isn’t the footmark of an ape, looks like some weird enormous creature, watch your step, and load the gun, commanded Mosses.
There is another footmark over there, but it does not look the same, there must be more than 1 creature here then, let’s move to the shore, said Sammy.
Kearack! Kearack! The sound came from their back, both turned slowly, there it was, the dinosaur Velox at their back.
Sammy and Mosses were petrified after seeing the Velox, started to step backward in fear. The velox with its sturdy legs moved forward propelling them closer and closer to its prey. Meanwhile, Sammy slipped and his gun fell to the ground. Both of them were crawling back in fear.
I will divert it towards me, Take the gun and hit that **** creature, said Mosses and shouted, “Hey you, come on and get me, I am not scared, catch me if you can”.
Sammy slowly moved towards the gun, but Mosses was nearing his end. Another velox rose up behind him, Mosses was unaware of the advancing Velox at his back and he was still bracing the upfront velox. A guttural snarl rose behind him, he spun but not in time to only see the Velox launch itself over him and chunk his flesh.
Sammy managed to take the gun, shot one of the Velox, but there were just too many of them. Veloxes always hunt in groups. Soon they circled Sammy and gobbled him up.
Meanwhile at the tree,
The apes were searching for Manav all over the tree. They sensed something in their nostrils twitch. With the smell, they guessed Manav was somewhere around the tree.
Inside the tree, Manav was full of fear and praying to god to save him. Some apes jumped onto the trees to check, once they jumped, Manav inhaled the dust particles and sneezed loud. The apes heard the sneezing and found him hiding inside the tree, they tried getting inside the hole but their large size prevented them. They tried to get hold of him with their muscular hands. Inside the hole, Manav had no place to escape. He was trying to save himself from the ape's hand by moving and jumping inside that small area. Suddenly, he spotted a sharp wooden bark sticking inside that hollow baobab tree. But, it was out of his reach. Manav thought if he could manage to get it, he could use it as a weapon against the apes. So, he jumped and tried to take that sharp wooden bark but no luck. And in the meantime, the other apes started to beat the tree and tried breaking it.
Finally, Manav managed to get the sharp wooden bark by stamping on the ape's hand which tried catching his leg, he stabbed the ape's hand with the sharp wooden bark. The sharp bark nailed its hand and went right inside the ground. The ground started to rupture, and the rupture hit the roots of the tree and moved all over the baobab tree. The 4000 year strongest tree started rupturing, the apes on it fell down in its violent shake, and soon it broke into two pieces. When the tree revealed Manav in the open, he was surrounded by the most furious apes. Each one’s eyes were raging to kill him. They let out a furious snarl and charged towards Manav.
Manav took the nailed bark from the ape's hand and tried to use that as a weapon against the furious apes. The wooden bark dried the barks on it. That was the scepter, not the wooden bark. By seeing the scepter, Manav was so excited and displayed a brave stance to the apes keeping the scepter on his shoulder.
“Come on, then! Come on!” shouted Manav, panting with rage. What unfolded in the next few minutes was bizarre and awesome at the same time to behold. The apes started to withdraw, behind the trees, fading into the jungle with fear.
(A Phoenix bird flew in the sky)
Spotting the scepter, the apes started to wheel around, trumpeting in fear, crashing the trees and rocks and stamped over everything in the way. The apes went mental as though they saw a ghost. Some jumped from tree to tree, others jumped over the rocks, the rest just slid over the hill slopes. They were all out of sight within minutes. There was a sharp whimper among the apes as they retreated for safety.
The scepter that Manav had was the “scepter of Arrogance” which was gifted by the lords Emra and Emla to Pitheceus Babi for controlling the arrogant apes. By the power of the scepter only, the tree broke into pieces, and also it’s the reason for the stampede of apes. They felt fear seeing their master and tried hiding. But because Manav did not have a clue, he misread the situation and thought the tree split due to the furious beats of the apes and the stampede was the result of the scepter force. He didn’t realize he was the lord and the master of those apes.
Ameer and Peter were traveling on the rugged surface of the Dinolaya. They were looking out for a boat and so needed to spot someone for help. On the way, they were conversing about the maelstrom.
How the maelstrom happened all of a sudden!!! We completely lost all our wealth. Traveling from Goa to Miami to rob the high-tech securitized museum along with Tommy, the cheater and losing the life of our mates just to sink away all the treasures into the sea, said Peter frustratingly.
It’s all because of that Royston. If he had shot the chopper, the rudder wouldn't have got jammed, and we would have been millionaires right now, said Ameer furiously. Exactly!! Will they be alive? I don’t think so. But, if Royston was alive! Surely he would have built a boat of his own, said Peter.
No doubt in that, he will do everything. But for that, he should have survived the maelstrom, said Ameer.
Meanwhile, the creatures of Dinolaya started to make some creepy sounds.
Ameer ji!! I am so scared, this sounds like something is searching for its prey. What kind of place is this!! I have been to Bermuda more than 8times but not even heard about this place. I fear we are farther away from Bermuda, said Peter.
Don’t be a school kid Peter, this is a jungle!! Always one will make other has its food. This might be the island like the north sentential island, and there are possibilities for some weird people like them too, said Ameer.
North sentential island! Where is it, what you mean by weird people ji, asked Peter.
It’s a tiny island situated near Andaman Nicobar islands, though it comes under the province of India, the people live there aren’t having any touch with the outside world, and also not allowing the outsiders into their island. Every time when they receive a visitor, they greet them with a hail of arrows. Those people will be looking like headhunters, Even if a ship or flight goes near to the island, they will start attacking that by their weapons and also by throwing stones. Anyone trying to land on the islands today should write out his will first. Our team was forced to turn back after the lead team member got an arrow through his thigh, and two local guides were killed, said Ameer.
I hope there won’t be any headhunters here, this so calm and peaceful, said Peter.
Hahaha! Just a minute back someone said it’s so creepy, kidded Ameer.
Ji! Inside I am so feared and hungry too, this place is filled with mountains and plateaus, let us rest somewhere for food, said Peter.
I hear the sound of water flow, there must be a river somewhere near to us, let’s head towards it. If we are lucky, we could find some people on that banks, said Ameer.
Both headed towards the river on the ruggedly surface.
Once we see people there, first ask for some food, then we could ask for a boat, said Peter in starving.
Other than a rotten meat smell, I couldn’t feel any human sense around this place, (Ameer wipes his brow) and it’s too hot! Give me the sunglass. Eh! Watch your step. These stones are more slippery, said Ameer.
Yeah! Riverside stones are always wet. Ji! If we could jump into the sea, we could able to take back our treasures right! Excitingly asked Peter.
Scepters of Empyrea Page 15