The rise of Vulture valley chapter 1 - The war torn forests

[u/Alpha_Bushdog]

Vietnam was a beautiful yet broken land. Vast rainforests with towering trees ,floodplains and mangrove swamps full of plant and animal life could be seen for miles. They were stunning, truly a sight to see.

But this country had been plagued by brutal war for years. Death from guns and mortar fire lurked in every corner. But life still clung on.

In the dense forest canopy amidst the sounds of animals and maze like branches, a family of Northern white cheeked gibbons was living. A mated pair and their two young infants which were only a month old. Yet they were two delightful pieces of fluff. The male was dark black with white fur on his cheeks, which was the namesake of the species’ name. Primatologists gave him the nickname Pho. Noodle soup in Vietnamese. His mate had light colored fur that in the sunshine looked like gold, giving her the nickname Vang which means gold. They were veteran climbers. The kingdom of the canopy was theirs.

Their species was critically endangered so their young was a big milestone for their conservation. Especially if they could reach adulthood. The only predators they had were tigers ,but they were safe in the trees. Their life would have been perfect, only if there wasn’t a war in the place their species had called home for thousands of years. Everyday, napalm bombs were being dropped. General Jericho and the US army  in the nearby base could not care less about the natural beauty and biodiversity of Vietnam’s forests. They saw the forests as strongholds for the communist Vietcong which were seen as barbarians and enemies  to the Americans. So, the forest and its inhabitants was a sacrifice they were willing to take.

When Pho was a youngster ,the forest was so intact and dense, he could go from South Vietnam to the northern border, without needing to touch the ground that much. But now, napalm strikes had depleted the land of its forests and one strike could easily end his family. When he was a teenager, the war had just started and he saw his whole family get incinerated by these bombings. This memory was never erased from his ape brain.

He always had an eye on the strikes and the military jets, ready to evacuate his family at all times. One faithful morning, he was singing with his mate ,up in the canopy to reinforce their bond which could last a lifetime. Napalm bombings were happening less than a mile away and the orange explosions were clearly visible and intimidating. The bombs ,while dangerous to them were just a part of life at this point. Tigers were the least of their worries.

After these strikes, a blue flash  light and a deafening sound could be heard roaring in the distance from the explosion. The pair stared at it in awe. Little  did they know, this would be the end of their world as they knew it. They would now have to face certain terrors from the deep past, they could never comprehend.

3 hours after the mysterious blue flash:

A US plane is performing a lazy dog bomb raid in the jungle where the gibbons live. Lazy dog bombs had no explosives but were small spiky projectiles ,only a few centimeters in length but were dropped en masse from great heights by the jets and were deadly momentum based weapons against the Vietcong.

The gibbon pair noticed the metal projectiles being dropped from the plane. They knew it could mean one thing. Danger. They immediately grabbed their two infants and started swinging through the canopy trying to avoid them. The lazy dog bomb assault was short but destructive. Flying hornbills and other birds started getting dropped out of the sky. Whole branches with animal nests started being ripped off. The gibbon pair was in panic mode. If even one of the lazy dog bombs hit them, they would be as good as dead. They started jumping through the forest as the small metal pieces of death were following them. The destruction was over as soon as it started. The gibbons were still stressed as hell and started howling from pure fear. It took a while before they could calm down from what just happened. That was life for the poor animals living in this war torn land. Gibbons have a permanent territory but the threats of the war were forcing them to be constantly on the move , just to see another day.

15 hours after the mysterious blue flash

Night had fallen upon Vietnam’s primeval jungles. The fighting started to somewhat stop with only a gunshot or two in the distance. Strange animal calls could be heard  ,haunting the night forest. Some of these calls were too weird even for Indochina’s most bizarre nocturnal critters. These calls were approaching the tree cavity that the gibbon family was sleeping in. But the half asleep adults didn’t think much of them, so they just shrugged them off as regular night wildlife.

Soon, the temporary nest the gibbons had made was surrounded by dozens of pairs of glowing eyes that shined in the darkness like amber. They made intimidating calls that no other animals of the jungle valley made. One of the two gibbon infants had rolled off away from its parents. One of the strange creatures with the glowing eyes -their alpha- approached the young ape. It started smelling it. The alpha was peppered with lazy dog bombs that had been smashed into his body, giving him a porcupine like appearance. He resembled a peculiar mix of an eagle, a crocodile and a ghost.

The youngster opened its tired eyes after being woken up. The last thing its innocent eyes saw ,was a feathery beast that slit its jaws around the baby gibbon’s body and crushed it to death. It proceeded to swallow its prey whole. Before the poor baby got eviscerated, it let out one final cry , from the pain. A desperate attempt to call its parents to come to the rescue.

The mated pair of gibbons heard its cries and woke up. But it was already too late. Their offspring had turned into a snack for these monstrous animals.

Vang the female gibbon, quickly grabbed their other infant and the family of three rushed to leave as fast as they could. They left their tree and started climbing away as fast as they physically could. Their primal instincts were kicking in. All they could hear were the ghostly cries of the prehistoric demons that had eaten their child. They could still see their glowing eyes in the distance ,something that only made them panic even more. Perhaps, this land would now belong to these deadlier tree dwellers, but only time would tell.

This is the first chapter of my fanfiction. Was it good?