A/N: Hi everyone! Happy New Years! I wish all of us do well this year after the horrid year that was 2020, my apologies for getting this chapter out fairly late. I typically work on my chapters during the evening time, and finish them in the late night hours, around 1 AM to 2 AM EST.
I didn't have any ideas to write this chapter last night, but one came up as of 1/1/21. This brings a whole new saga to my story, and it has the potential to be the longest saga of them all, it may exceed my longest story on this site which is The Marston Gang. That story sits at 29 chapters before I discontinued it, and even then, I plan on having ANOTHER, completely custom saga to this story. Y'all are in for a ride, lemme tell you that much! Anyways, happy new years, may us all do well. Feel free to leave a review, follow, or favorite as it helps not only this story, but me as an author as a motivator to continue writing this story, enjoy the beginning of a new saga! - KaijuCrazy02
(Chapter 15: A new beginning)
(Start of the "Red Dogs" Saga)
A lone wolf was rummaging around within a temple, you would know it as the Hanuman Temple to the North of the Seeonee Hills. The rain season had flooded out his home, and now he was seeking refuge within a cave close to the temple. A storm had came in from the North as well, having powered over the snow tipped mountains, having began in China.
This storm would bring a new threat to the jungle, a group of creatures known as the Dholes, their leader being a massive alpha. This alpha had a will of iron, a determined mindset of unbreakable strength, his physical power just as strong as his will power. Like King Louie, he was the last of a nigh extinct species. His body was naturally a gray color, but due to years of constant battle, suffering, and near death experiences, his fur had been forever stained red. His left eye was blind from a burn, and a scar also ran through it. The tip of his bushy tail was missing, a chunk of his ear had been torn off. The Dholes had good reason to follow him...
The lone wolf had managed to kill a deer, and had dragged it into his home in which was the Hanuman Temple. It was the perfect home, it provided shelter for the winter and when the rains came. There was a well out in a courtyard in which was always full, the wolf drank from it.
As he took a chunk of flesh out of the deer with his jaws, he could've sworn that he heard howling from outside the temple. These weren't wolves howling, they were the Dholes, otherwise known as the Red Dogs. Their howls sounded different from wolves, but what came a couple seconds after that was similar to a wolf, but much lower in tone. This wolf had to be bigger...
The lone wolf's hairs stuck up on his body, he began to look around in confusion, wondering what he just heard. The wolf then heard several footsteps all around the chamber of the temple, he stood alert, guarding his evening meal.
"Whoever is out there, this meal isn't for you!" The wolf exclaimed, but the footsteps only got closer, along with a different type of footstep, these footsteps sounded heavier.
"Don't come any closer, or else I will be forced to attack!" The wolf continued, still protecting his meal, and his lair for the time.
"We come not for food, we come for your shelter." A deep voice growled from outside of the chamber, the wolf bared his teeth, growling at this looming threat, whose shadow could be seen on the wall as it slowly crept in.
A towering wolf like figure stood in the entryway of the chamber, he was larger than any other wolf that he knew. This couldn't be a wolf, it had to be a wolf from some bygone era, something ancient, something determined to keep his species alive.
"Who are you?" The wolf asked in shock, not expecting the larger wolf to be so much greater in size than he was, this lone wolf was nothing more than a juvenile that had decided to go out on his own to which his parents had agreed to, this would be a testament to such bravery.
"I'll never speak my name, but my pack knows it. Perhaps you can speak to my Dholes..." The larger wolf said in his deep voice.
"Why should I speak to them? Why do you need my temple?" The wolf asked.
"We need this temple for shelter, it is large enough to contain us all almost. We need it to store food, and to thrive." The larger wolf grumbled, the smaller, lone wolf growled.
"You store food? You're breaking the jungle law when you slaughter game for the other predators!" The lone wolf barked furiously, now deeming this larger wolf as a threat, deep in his mind, he knew he couldn't take this larger beast on in a fight, especially when he has an enormous pack.
"I care not for the laws of the jungle, I come from an area where it doesn't exist, I was born in an era where it more than likely didn't exist, or the first few laws were being thought of. I'm willing to break these laws in order to survive, my species is erased. The land bridge that my old pack arrived in on, has been severed, our kind has been split apart, and potentially all of them are dead. I originally lived away from this jungle, in another location (China.) I come from the snowtipped mountains bordering that location, there are no jungle laws there." The wolf growled in response.
"The law states the one that doesn't follow the laws will, and must, die." The smaller wolf snarled, trying his best to intimidate the beast.
"Really? A foolish set of rules states that, mind me asking you: Who made the laws? Is there some force that is going to kill me if I break them?" The large wolf asked, sounding arrogant in his voice.
"I know not of who made them, I just know that it is the creatures of the jungle that enforce them. If one breaks them, they must kill the one that broke the law. You're breaking them, therefore you must die..." The smaller wolf growled, baring his teeth.
"I must die?" The larger wolf asked before breaking out into a fit of wicked laughter.
"You think you can take me on? Let alone take me on, and my pack on? You must be delusional." The large wolf laughed as he marched towards the smaller one.
"Come any closer, and I will fight back!" The smaller wolf barked, the larger wolf only snickered at his continued bravery.
"The thing is, you aren't going to." The larger wolf growled as he lunged forward, snagging the neck of the smaller wolf into his jaws before flinging him against the cracked wall of the chamber with a massive thud!
The smaller wolf whimpered in pain, the bite was excruciating, but it wasn't hard enough to snap his neck. He writhed in pain on the ground until the larger wolf placed a paw on his side.
"When you die, tell the creator of the Jungle Law, whoever may it be, the elephants, bears, or tigers, you name it, that I piss on their laws, and I piss on them as well..." The large wolf growled before baring his bloodstained teeth, as he went to go for the killing blow, the smaller wolf cried out submission.
"Wait!" The smaller wolf cried out, raising a paw to sign his defeat.
"Speak!" The large wolf commanded, his voice rumbled like thunder, echoing off the walls in the chamber in once held treasures.
"I'll give you my meal, if you let me go. If you want anything to piss on, head to the Seeonee Hills to the South, there you will find plenty of things to piss on!" The smaller wolf exclaimed, he knew of the legend of Mowgli, and his amazing allies in Bagheera, Baloo, and Kaa, as well as the entire Seeonee Pack itself in which was being leaded by Gray Brother.
"The Seeonee Hills, tell me, how do you know of such places?" The larger wolf asked curiously, removing his paw from the injured wolf's side.
"The man-cub, the legend of Mowgli, it has been spread like red flower through the entire jungle, through the entire continent at this point!" The small wolf yelped.
"A man's cub? Don't kid yourself, perhaps I will have to meet this one. I shall kill him where he stands, when I find him."
"You're going to try, you won't be able to..."
"Whatever you say, you outcast, lonesome wolf. Travel Southbound, and tell them that I am coming, tell them that I do not care what laws they enforce. They cannot enforce nothing if they are all dead beneath my paws." The larger wolf growled, the smaller wolf did as was told, leaving the chamber!
As he ran out, he could see a gigantic pack, no, an army of these Dholes. Some of them were tending to their young, others were playing, others were sparring, others were even fighting. Several others ran through the jungle, hunting down game to store it in the chamber where their leader slept now as the lone wolf ran as fast as his legs could carry him, towards Council Rock.
(A few days later)
It was around evening time again, the time for the hunt. Mowgli had shown off his hunting skills that was taught to him by Ranbir to the animals, a few juvenile wolves ran behind him excitedly, Gray Brother waited for him at Council Rock. The leader of the Seeonee Pack couldn't hunt due to being injured by a sambhur deer, thankfully he was alive, so he entrusted Mowgli to take his place as leader of the pack as he was destined to be after passing the challenge all of those years ago.
Mowgli looked up with a smile as he carried the carcass of a buck on his shoulder, seeing the rest of his allies and the pack, patiently waiting for him. As he marched through the fields to get to the patch of jungle in which would inevitably lead to the path in which would go up to the highest parts of the large hill where Council Rock was situated on; he heard a great outcry, it was a cry that he hadn't heard in a long time, ever since the days of Shere Khan, this told him that something was going terribly wrong, the others at Council Rock heard it too, and they looked around with confusion, but sternly, staying alert for whatever might be happening.
The four juvenile wolves behind him stopped, their fur bristled up into a bushy appearance, their lips slipped back to reveal their gums and teeth, snarling at whatever was going on. Mowgli reached into the sheath in which kept his hunting knife, the same one that slain Shere Khan. A stern expression crept upon his face, could this be a reincarnation of the evil tiger? No it couldn't be.
Mowgli needed answers, and he sped up the pace at which he walked until he reached the Council Rock with the juvenile wolves in which had helped him hunt the buck down.
"I've brought you the evening meal, but there are matters of concern that must be discussed." Mowgli said, his usual joyous voice was filled with concern, but he shown bravery as the pheeal continued to rage on across the lands.
"There is no striped one that hunts here such as Shere Khan? I killed him not too long ago, Tabaqui has fallen as well." Mowgli continued, looking all around him just like the rest of the animals were.
"This is not the cries of the tiger? My brother, it is a great killing..." Gray Brother said, having more knowledge of the pheeal than Mowgli.
The pheeal swelled again in sound, mixtures of rage, sorrow, yet delight were heard all together in this large agonizing shriek of a call.
"I, Mowgli, leader of the Seeonee Pack, am now calling council to discuss the matters of this pheeal!" The man announced, the entire pack stood at attention. Phao, Gray Brother, Baloo, Bagheera, and Kaa had joined by his side as members of the pack looked upon them all.
"Does anyone know within the pack, a new disturbance to the laws of the jungle!?" Mowgli called out, the pack got into an uproar, most of them saying that they had no idea, others made the assumption that Shere Khan had somehow risen from the dead, and was raising an army of fallen law breakers to attack the jungle as means of revenge for his death.
It was then that a great voice yelled out at the top of his lungs: I DO!
The pack silenced, everyone looked around in confusion, but eventually parted away from a wolf in the pack. This wolf was all black in color, the rest of the wolves of the Seeonee were different colors, but none of them had a coat as black as the night sky.
"Who are you?" Mowgli asked, with a raised eyebrow. His allies stood on edge, ready to attack if this was the disturbance. Kaa coiled up, her forked tongue trying to catch the scent of this wolf.
"Are you the one causssing the disssturbance?" She hissed aggressively, the wolf shook his head in response.
"Good hunting, whose pack do you belong to, because you certainly don't belong in ours..." Phao asked, Phao was to be the leader after Mowgli serves his term as leader, they all knew that humans live longer than dogs and wolves.
"Good hunting to you, I am a Won-Tolla." The black wolf said, basically meaning that he was a lone wolf. He had no pack, he fended for himself.
"I come from lands North of the Seeonee Hills." The lone wolf said, Baloo noticed slight puncture wounds around the neck of this dark wolf.
"As Kaa spoke, are you the one responsible for the pheeal?" Mowgli asked in a harsh tone.
"No, the one that brings devastation is the Dhole. The Red Dogs of the Dekkan, they came to my lair the other day, one large one, who stands as wolf, sent me fleeing in retreat. He told me that he cared not of the jungle law, he told me that he pisses on the law, and the creator of the law, he told me that he will kill as much game as he pleases to hold his pack standing." The lone wolf spoke, this made Mowgli and the others furious, causing them to scream angrily at the news.
"Who is the cause of this? Give name." Mowgli said sternly.
"He never told me his name, but I must tell one more thing. His pack isn't a pack, it is an army. One that could potentially fill the entire depths of the jungle up, he's potentially caused the eradication of several species in the jungle in the North of this location. He is the last of his kind, an ancient species in which has been long forgotten, I'm afraid none can look to the past." The wolf explained, Kaa spoke up after hearing the final words of his sentence.
"I do." The serpent said, the wolf's eyes widened.
"Are you serious?" He asked.
"Yes, I've been blessed by Tha, the creator of this jungle, the power of a kind heart, but a brave heart at that. As well as the ability to look into the future, and the past." Kaa answered.
"Amazing...You may know his name if you hold such capabilities and knowledge." The wolf said happily.
"To know his name, I must rest and think for some time. Eventually name will come to mind-" Kaa began with a grin.
"I must head to my lair, where I hold peace and quiet, only one may come with me, Mowgli, our leader." She finished.
Kaa had driven the enslaved monkeys out of her lair, the only ones she allowed in were those that respected her and loved her as ally.
"I go with Kaa, Won-Tolla, you are welcome to our pack if you were driven from your home." Mowgli said as he followed Kaa towards her lair.
"Gratitude, Mowgli." The lone wolf said, and so there was no reason to have a special vote to join him in, as the leader had announced his welcoming.
(A few hours later)
The great reticulated python had coiled herself up into a giant mass, only her head was picking out of the large bunching of coils. She allowed Mowgli to sit in them, wrapping one or two around him to apply comfort as she sat.
"It feels strange to be in here without the chattering of terrified Bandar-Log." Mowgli chuckled, Kaa snickered.
"Indeed it does, man-cub."
"I stand no longer cub, I've reached maturity." Mowgli said with a grin.
"Well, it was during those years when we interacted the most with each other." She said sweetly.
"Oh, so you had the best years trying to eat me when I stood vulnerable in a hypnotized trance within your coils?" Mowgli asked, his voice filled with sarcasm. This made Kaa giggle.
"Well, sort of that reason, but remember I saved you from the monkey people. I gave large aid in the slaying of Shere Khan, the one that brought misery to us all for too long of a time." She said.
"I understand, I'm only playing with you." Mowgli chuckled as he gently rubbed the top of the snake's flat head, she snickered with a cute smile displayed on her serpentine face.
"Now, we must get serious with these matters. I now go silent, try to seek the most knowledge you can of these Red Dogs, try to come up with who their leader is. He isn't a Dhole as the Won-Tolla spoke of, he told me that he stands among wolf and not of the Red Dogs." Mowgli said softly.
"I'll try, manling." She said as she closed her eyes, Mowgli decided to mess with her one last time.
"Sssleeeep." Mowgli taunted playfully, mocking Kaa for her hypnosis, she snickered at this.
"Hah, very funny, sweet thing." She laughed before going into a controllable sleep.
Mowgli sat within Kaa's coils for around thirty minutes, feeling them ripple and bulge, the large muscles within the constrictor's body relaxing and tensing up as she slept.
Eventually she would wake herself up with a yawn, having memorized everything she seen in her visions as she slept, willing to send them into Mowgli's mind after putting him into a sleepy trance with her hypnosis.
"Alright, I've gotten all I needed from the confines of my thoughts. Are you ready for me to give them to you?" She asked with a smirk on her face, getting her head in close to Mowgli's.
"Indeed I am, let's do this." He said, Kaa closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them up, she sent her full hypnotic power into Mowgli's eyes. Within an instant, his mind and body was overloaded with relaxation and peace, making him let out a groan in response to the comfort he felt.
"This never gets old, you know that?" Kaa asked while laughing quietly.
"Hah, very fu-funn..." Mowgli couldn't finish his sentence before falling to sleep, Kaa getting the last laugh on him due to his taunting from earlier.
Now that Mowgli was asleep, he began to receive the visions of the python into his mind as some sort of telepathic transferring of one's mind to another. While he received the visions, Kaa told him the story.
"The Red Dogs are a pack to our North, living within the Dekkan Plateaus. They feast on mere lizard, their numbers in terms of a pack swell higher than those of the Seeonee Pack or other wolf packs within the jungle." She spoke.
Mowgli saw a pack of around one hundred or so Dholes thriving within the Dekkan Plateaus, he seen cubs sparring, tumbling around. He seen juveniles eat small lizards for food, he saw the adults mating of all things.
"Once the Great Famine occurred years ago, it drove them from the plateaus Northbound to search for food, their entire pack leaving for better game than small lizards, including water to drink. Coming close to the snowtipped mountains that border another entire location much grander in scale than to what we live on." Kaa continued to say.
Mowgli saw several Dholes dead on the cracked, dried grounds of the Dekkan Plateaus. The vision switched to them marching through a field, several hundred of them heading North towards the mountains with snow coating their tops.
"It is there that they met their leader, he goes by the name of Bhediya Khan (Great Wolf.) He hunted among the mountains, he provided them warmth in great caves, he hunted for them." Kaa continued.
Mowgli had a vision of several Dholes, they gathered around a large dark red wolf, his original fur coloring was dark gray, but due to centuries of battle, his coating was eternally stained with his own blood, and the blood of his rivals.
"Bhediya Khan is unlike any other wolf in India, he was born from an ancient species known to the future as the Dire Wolf, his kind originated within another location on a grander scale than our location, they traveled to this location centuries ago, and when the land bridge eventually split apart over the course of time untold, his kind were separated, and slowly died out...His parents fell from this world when he was but mere juvenile. He made a promise to his fallen species that he will retain it for as long as possible. Over the course of time, he fought bears, panthers, entire packs, snakes, and even tigers. He even brought down a few elephants..." Kaa spoke.
Mowgli saw the life of Bhediya Khan play out like a movie, he saw him being born as a cub over in North America, he saw him traveling with a large sum of his species across a great land bridge. He saw Bhediya Khan mourning his fallen parents, shifting to his violent life of combat. He saw the mighty dire wolf fighting against Himalayan brown bears, slaying panthers, easily besting wolf after wolf in combat, seeing him easily defeating venomous snakes, surviving in the coils of large snakes, and even slaying tigers. All of these battles took chunks of flesh out of his skin, only for them to grow back as a permanent scar hidden under his fur coat.
"Over the course of these battles, he sustained injury after injury, he lost vision in his left eye where a scar has formed over it. He received wound after wound, but he won all of his battles, and after each victory, he devoured his conquered enemies. His dark gray coat was morphed into one of red, it became his new color. What was once a beautiful dark gray fur coat, became a crimson stained one that will now be permanent due to the many fights he's had to stay alive." Kaa explained.
Mowgli would witness Bhediya Khan suffer wound after wound, just to narrowly escape death each time. He saw the dark gray fur coating slowly turn a dark red that would forever stay until his dying day arrived.
It would be then that Kaa would give a hard squeeze, but gentle enough so it wouldn't hurt Mowgli, this was to wake him up from his hypnotized slumber.
"Now he seeks to travel down to us, the Won-Tolla has given warning of us. The demon wolf knows of your legend, and he is coming to demolish the game in these hills." The serpent said at last, Mowgli's eyes were wide thanks to the story of which was just told. He now knew everything.
"It was hard for me to lose King Louie, but I understand that you killed him because you were wanting to protect me. He told me that he was the last of his kind out there as well, now we have this Bhediya Khan as another dying breed of wolf..." Mowgli said to himself, Kaa sighed.
"It's gonna be hard to kill him, you were able to kill Shere Khan without hesitation thanks to what he has done over the years." Kaa replied, Mowgli looked into her eyes and then said:
"We'll need to spare him, we've got to. I do not wish to see any other endangered species be wiped from the world." Mowgli said, straight to the point.
"Sweet one, the law states that anything that goes against it must die." Kaa said, reminding Mowgli of how cruel the jungle law could be.
"Kaa, would you be willing to forget the law for but a day? When King Louie had to be killed, there was a brief window of time that I purposefully forgotten about the law, because my heart forgave him." The man said, Kaa sighed for a moment, but then smiled.
"Mowgli, I don't call you sweet thing because I like you. It's the truth." Kaa said, gently squeezing Mowgli for a warm hug.
"I know, let us report back to Council Rock to give my final details. I'll think what I will say on the way there." He explained.
"Alright then, let's go." Kaa said, slithering out of her lair along with Mowgli walking beside her.
(A few hours later...again)
The two had arrived back at Council Rock, it was being watched over by Gray Brother until Mowgli returned. The pack parted a way for Mowgli to step up on the rock so he could give his judgements on the case of Bhediya Khan, the blood colored dire wolf that was leading the army of Dholes.
"Seeonee Wolf Pack, we're being faced with another menacing threat the likes of we have never seen before." Mowgli announced, getting everyone's attention.
"At the lair of my good friend, Kaa. I learned that our enemy is an ancient being known as Bhediya Khan, he's survived a mass eradication event, he is the only member left of his now dead species." He continued, getting a gasp out of the pack.
"I know, I felt the same way. You see, when I was kidnapped by the Bandar-Log, several seasons ago. I met a being known as King Louie, and out of all that we say about the monkey people, King Louie would make you think that all of what we've said were wrong. He fed me, talked great about the Seeonee Hills, and provided the best he could for the Bandar-Log. He was the last of a dying species, and now they are wiped from this world all due to the misfortune of having his legions kidnap me." Mowgli continued.
"I want to spare this threat, but if he is malicious without remorse, just as Shere Khan was, we will slay him without hesitation. Do not be one to judge him so soon, but know that he has broken the jungle law, and for that reason he must perish, but I wish to spare him. Let the Red Dogs come, and we act only when they begin to cause mayhem and devastation to our jungles." Mowgli announced, the pack had mixed feelings about his decision, but since Mowgli was their leader, they did as was told.