(Chapter 41: Aftermath)

All Mowgli saw was a black void for a moment, all of his senses were dead. His vision, taste, touch, smell. His whole body was numb, and cold. His hearing was fading away too as he heard the dholes howling victoriously, his final moments alive would be the confirmation of his defeat...

Suddenly, he felt alive again, but a bright light overtook his vision. Again, Mowgli had to shield his face to protect his eyes from how bright the light was before him. It was like a glow at the end of a tunnel.

"Come with us, Mowgli." A voice was heard, it was a male voice, it was Abhay's voice. Mowgli's biological father was calling out to him, the man looked at the end of the tunnel where the light was most intense, and a silhouette of a man was standing there.

"We miss you, come home dear..." A female voice requested, it was Esha's voice. Mowgli's biological mother was here too, he began to walk towards the light, reaching for it with a tearful smile.

"Come hunt with me, brother. Shere Khan would like to give you some aid as well." Bagheera's voice said as his silhouette appeared as well!

"Bagheera?" Mowgli asked, tears streaming down his face. If he joined them, there would be no more Mowgli in the mortal world. His soul would have passed beyond the veil and joined the others that have passed on in the afterlife.

Meanwhile, at the water filled gorge, Hathi emerged from the waters!

The old elephant was alive, having used his trunk to draw in air as he was beneath the waves. He had drowned the dholes, but at what cost...

The first thing that Hathi noticed, was the dead body of Bhediya Khan. He snorted aggressively before nodding his head towards the carcass.

"Good riddance, fool." The ancient elephant grumbled before heading into the gorge, the field was littered with the dead. Dead dholes and wolves alike, but he also noticed the body of Toomai, and Kala Nag.

"No..." Hathi groaned as tears began to stream out of his eyes, rolling down his face before splashing on the ground.

"H-Hathi..." Baloo groaned in pain from nearby, the mentor of the bear looked over to see the bruin slowly rising to his feet. The brown bear's legs were shaky, threatening to give way and have him simply collapse again to the dusty ground. Baloo looked rough, having patches of his skin revealed, and bloody marks all over his body.

"How are you alive?" Hathi asked, his voice filled with shock.

"My body protected me from harshest of blows, I guess it pays off to be a fatso sometimes eh?" The bear chuckled to himself, the elephant was surprised that Baloo was laughing it off, or did the bear go insane?

It was then that Baloo noticed the downed allies of Mowgli, every single wolf was dead. Chupake, Sundar, Kaa, Toomai, and Kala Nag were all downed as well.

"Oh no..." The bear said softly as he rushed over to Chupake, he desperately tried to wake the Asiatic cheetah up by nudging his body and licking him, but there would be no reviving this day for the spotted feline.

"H-he's dead..." Baloo groaned as he looked over towards Toomai and Kala Nag.

"Those are among the dead as well, Baloo..." Hathi sighed.

Baloo turned around, and noticed that Kaa was down as well.

"Not Kaa too!" The bear roared, his voice filled with agony and sorrow as he rushed towards the great python. The bear tried to wake her up by softly tapping her body with his large paws, and nudging into her, but nothing was working...

"Please not you, Kaa!" Baloo begged, his voice in a whimper, on the verge of tears as he looked over at Hathi.

"Get some water, and splash her with it, hurry!" The bear roared, Hathi ran towards the secondary gorge, and began to suck up as much of the water as he could with his trunk all while Baloo continuously tried to wake the snake up, but his efforts weren't working one bit...

After a minute or so, Hathi came over to Kaa and shot all of the water from his trunk. The contents of the newly created lake splashed all over the serpent like a great wave, and a gasp was heard as the snake began to worm around.

"You're alive, thank Tha..." Baloo said softly, tears of joy now flowing out of his eyes as he began to lick Kaa thoroughly.

"Wh-where am I?" Kaa groaned as she looked around the battlefield, licking Baloo back on his face to clean some blood off of him. Hathi let out a sigh of relief as he saw that the python was alive still, all she needed was some cool water.

"In the gorge, the battle is over. We can all rest now." Baloo replied.

"Where's Mowgli?" A voice asked, the three looked over to see Sundar Ek standing on shaky legs.

"How are you alive like us?" Baloo asked, his voice filled with shock.

"A dhole's jaw isn't enough to kill me with a bite to the throat...although it hurts...it hurts a lot." Sundar groaned as she looked around for Mowgli, he was nowhere to be seen.

"Sh-she's right, where is M-Mowgli?" Kaa asked as her forked tongue flicked around, trying to pick up Mowgli's scent.

After a minute or two of searching, they came across Mowgli's body laying on the ground. His body was soaked in blood as well as his ripped and tattered clothing, they all ran towards him and embraced him with hugs and licks, but he wasn't moving at all...

"Guys..." Sundar said, her voice filled with worry as she gently placed a paw on Mowgli's chest. The tigress could feel his heart was slowing down, it was almost at a complete halt now. The closed eyes and fingers of the dying Mowgli twitched every few seconds as his muscles began to relax. The tigress began to weep as she lowered her head, embracing her dying leader softly.

"What's going on!?" Baloo roared, his booming roar sounded like a sorrowful howl, it was high pitched as he seemed like he was on the verge of tears again.

"His heart is slowing down, he's dying!" Sundar cried, her voice raising up before she began to weep hysterically into Hathi's pillar like leg.

"You're bluffing, there must be a way to wake him up!" Baloo roared, Kaa slithered over to Mowgli, and gently rubbed her head against his chest. She could feel his heart beat slowing down, one beat every few seconds...

"P-perhaps I can be of some assistance." Kaa said softly as she slowly wrapped Mowgli's entire body into her coils gently, making sure her thickest coils were wrapped around his chest area.

"What are you doing?" Baloo asked as he held a crying Sundar in his arms.

"I'm going to try and start his heart back up, this cannot be the end, Tha willing." Kaa replied as she squeezed as hard as she could around Mowgli's body for two seconds before relaxing, she waited for a split second before squeezing at full force again. Flexing her coils and retracting them around the body and chest of her dying friend, performing some sort of CPR on him.

Mowgli noticed that the dark walls of the tunnel began to shake in his vision, and the silhouettes at the end of the tunnel began to morph into black splotches. He frantically looked around as he began to back up slowly, not knowing what was going on.

"Guys, it's working!" Kaa exclaimed happily, her jaw opening up in a wide smile, her eyes widening. She could feel the heart beat starting to work back up to normal level as she continued to pulse her coils around his body.

"It's not your time yet, you've done well. You may return to your home." A thunderous voice called out from above Mowgli as the tunnel walls felt like they had suddenly compressed against his body. Mowgli's face strained up in discomfort as he was forced to look down, he noticed a bright blue vortex, and his stomach dropped!

Suddenly, Mowgli felt like he was falling. He let out a scream of horror as he rapidly approached the blue vortex that looked like a cross between some type of portal and a whirlpool. When he entered this vortex, his vision went to black immediately! The first thing he noticed was that he had regained his senses, he felt something cool and wet compressing his body every second.

He heard a blurred voice speaking to him, a calm and gentle feminine voice. A horrid stench of iron filled his nose, the foul smell of blood. His face shriveled up in disgust, causing his friends to gasp.

"Mowgli's alive!" Baloo cheered.

"He is!?" Sundar asked, her voice filled with hope as she stared down at him.

Hathi smiled as he watched Kaa lean in close to Mowgli's face, watching the serpent lick him and nudge her head into his affectionately.

"I thought you were gone, sweet Mowgli..." Kaa said softly as Mowgli's eyes slowly opened up.

"What happened...?" Mowgli groaned as he looked over to see the dead body of Bhediya Khan with the axe still lodged in his back, this sight completely woke Mowgli up from his stupor.

"I, we...it's over!" Mowgli cried out happily as he grabbed Kaa by the sides of the head and kissed her, pulling her into a tight hug while laughing cheerfully. His friends rushed towards him and all began to love on him with licks and hugs.

"Let's go home, and put this war behind us. Let's return to our peaceful lives once more." Hathi said, everyone nodded their heads in agreement. They wanted peace, they no longer yearned for violence, they wanted love to prosper and not hate.

"I only wish for happiness, and good hunting for the rest of our days." Mowgli said as he gently scratched Baloo on the top of his head. Sundar gently rubbed the top of her head under Mowgli's jaw while grumbling affectionately.

"Let's see those desires fulfilled, dear. Let's go home." Sundar said happily to close out the conversation.

(The next night)

Mowgli finished burying Toomai in the ground underneath a mango tree. He had spent the past few hours burying all of those lost from the final battle, making sure all of the wolves got their proper burial.

Chupake had been buried, and so had Kala Nag right next to the mango tree in which Toomai was buried under.

All of the trees had the marking of their face, Chupake had his face carved into a tree, Mowgli did his best to re-create Toomai's face in a tree, and he carved Kala Nag's face into a tree. All serving as tombstones for the bodies that were beneath them.

All of the dead wolves were placed in a mass grave that was dug by Hathi and his herd, their tombstone was Mowgli's new shield in which was only being used for a ceremonial purpose. Having it buried and packed into the ground so that it wouldn't move if touched, on the front of the shield was a painting of a barking wolf to resemble all of those that have died in the war.

"Rest easy brother, I look to join you again one day when my time truly comes." Mowgli said softly as he gently patted the dirt down after burying Toomai, rising to his feet with a torch in his hands.

All of the wolves that didn't join the war such as the pups, mothers, or wolves who just didn't wish to fight were at this funeral/celebration at the war's end. Joining the wolves was Kaa, Sundar, Baloo, and Hathi.

Mowgli looked to the spots where he wished he could have seen the other friends that perished over the course of the war, but he had confidence that they were somewhere watching over them. He didn't know where they were, but he knew that they were loving what they were seeing.

The funeral pyre was the massive heap of bodies of all of the dholes that died in the final battle, the carcass of Bhediya Khan was laying at Mowgli's feet with the axe next to it.

"Wolves, and others. The war that has taken so many from us has finally reached fortunate end, a long lasting conflict that has washed our brains over with fear and hatred, it has come to pass. It took years, but the nightmares are over. The jungle is free because of the brave wolves that have died in battle, along with the other brave souls that gladly gave their life out of respect for our home such as those that we've buried this night, as well as Bagheera and others-" Mowgli started his speech.

"The end result of said war was close, with us losing battle after battle, we only came back towards the end. Our final stand against the legions was a successful one...and not so much of a successful one. Although we may have lost almost all of our fighting force..." Mowgli continued, pausing as he looked down at the carcass of Bhediya Khan.

This dire wolf caused him so much trouble, the mastermind behind Nirmam Yoddha and all of the others. The defeat of the crimson canid was a long time coming, Bhediya Khan had also done what no other enemy of the jungle couldn't do...that was clinically killing Mowgli, twice. The man was lucky to be brought back to life in both circumstances, had Mowgli never met any of his jungle friends, his death would have been permanent.

Mowgli's tales of survival, and dying, but being revived instilled a great sense of hope and light in the wolves, and in all of the jungle. No longer did the wolves look upon him as a legend, but as some sort of deity. A warrior sent by Tha himself to forever watch over the jungle, and was blessed with the ability to survive and thrive in the most dangerous of situations.

"We still claim victory in the end!" Mowgli finished as he severed the head from Bhediya Khan with his battle axe, and lifted it up with a war cry. The wolves and the pack howled into the night to celebrate the victory!

"Tonight, we mourn the loss of those that have been taken from us. However, we mourn them with a bright look to the future of the jungle. Tonight, we celebrate the ending of a dreadful war, and pray to Tha that no other conflict breaks out anytime soon." Mowgli replied as he dropped the head of Bhediya Khan to the ground, lighting the torch, and then burning the large heap of dhole bodies into a great flame.

A great celebration commenced, Mowgli played the flute that Shanti had crafted for him for the young pups who danced to his music. The others sang and danced in their own ways, others feasted on the evening hunt.

Once Mowgli got towards the end of his musical score with his flute, he felt an urge to head towards Council Rock which was only a few minutes away worth of walking.

There was no fire lit, only the moon provided enough light for the man to see through the darkness. The moon shown through the thunderheads in the distance as Mowgli walked to the edge of Council Rock, wrapping an arm around the lone tree that stood at the edge of the cliff.

Now Mowgli didn't know that Sundar had seen him creep away, and that the tigress had followed him to the rock. She curiously watched what he was doing from behind at a distance, hiding in the brush.

What am I doing here? Thought Mowgli as he watched the clouds move in the distance, with the lightning flashing within them. The thunder booming in the distance, but then a voice called out to Mowgli like a faint whisper in the wind.

"Look up." The soft voice spoke, and Mowgli looked higher in the sky where the clouds began to seemingly morph into what appeared to be a big cat, a panther!

"Bagheera!?" Mowgli asked in shock.

"Not just me, brother." The astral projection of the panther said within the clouds.

The clouds then began to form into another big cat, it was Shere Khan.

Sundar couldn't believe it, and she went to retrieve the others so they could watch what was happening before their own eyes. Mowgli wasn't the only one who could see it, those who lived or respected the jungle, could see these apparitions in the sky that was as big as the thunderheads themselves.

More apparitions began to appear, the next one that appeared was Chupake, and then came Toomai, riding on top of Kala Nag with Chil the kite on Toomai's shoulder.

The last few apparitions that shown up was Mother Wolf and Father Wolf, including the long dead Akela...

"Brother, you've done an incredible job at protecting this jungle. All of the lessons in fighting that I taught you long ago, you have seemed to master everything. You've accepted that you're a man, but fought like an animal of the jungle and man combined in the last fight. In my eyes, your training is complete." Bagheera announced as the wolves began to emerge from the trees to watch this spectacle that was taking place.

"Gratitude, for saving the jungle." Shere Khan thanked Mowgli for successfully sending the dhole menace back towards the Dekkan Plateaus, putting the war to a fortunate end.

"To watch my son grow has been the greatest blessing." Mother Wolf's apparition said softly.

"To see the warrior he has become makes me proud, the legend he has become. The love I hold has no boundaries." Father Wolf added on.

"Gratitude, for giving all of us proper burials." Chupake, Toomai, Kala Nag, and Chil all said in unison.

It was Akela's turn to speak.

"Mowgli, we've come to speak with you. To congratulate you on a job well done, your dual terms have been the most impressive thing I've ever had my eyes upon. However, all great things must come to an end. We thank you for a great job, your name surpasses legend now. You've become a deity among the wolves and the creatures. When the animal fears the end of the jungle is nigh, they call upon you for help as if they are calling to Tha." Akela explained, Mowgli gasped.

"It's over already?" Mowgli asked, Akela chuckled as his apparition vanished, and then re-appeared in front of him!

"Time flies by, doesn't it?" Akela asked, Mowgli nodded his head.

"Everyone has a place in this world, your place is to protect this jungle and be there when it needs you. You don't have to leave, you may stay as a mentor for the others." Akela replied, Mowgli gently patted the apparition on the top of his head.

"I leave for the man-village to rejoin my human family and allies. I will pay this jungle a visit from time to time, but I feel that it is time for another human to join you all, and learn the ways of the jungle." Mowgli explained, much to the shock of the other animal friends that stood behind him.

"A respectable decision, you will be the jungle's savior, your strength will be like that of the lords, the tiger, the panther, the bear. Your will to live and protect all that is sacred will be the jungle's teeth. You remain alive and unbroken, for you are the legend of the jungle." Akela spoke as Mowgli embraced all of the wolves and his animal friends.

"Gratitude, Akela." Mowgli replied as he embraced Baloo now.

The apparitions vanished in the stillness of the night, and they all returned to the den to continue celebrating their victory in the war. The next morning, Mowgli said his goodbyes in a proper farewell address, swearing by the bull that bought him that he would return when he feels the jungle calling for him.

The animals of the Seeonee Hills sang a farewell song that lifted Mowgli's spirits as he headed away from the jungle, and back to his man-village.

(End of 'Bhediya Khan' Saga)

('Red Dogs' Arc concluded)

A/N: Wow, what an arc that was! For the few months it has existed, I have fun writing it. I never got bored of it, but I did get stuck a few times since I didn't have any ideas of what to do. However, you can all rejoice now that the most bloody, emotional, violent arc is over. The next one should be more lighthearted :)
I figured that I would reveal the voices for my characters now that two entire arcs have went on. I'm starting with the main heroic characters only because I don't want to have this Author's Note be a long one:

Voice of Young Mowgli: Rohan Chand (Mowgli, Legend of the Jungle '2018)

Voice of Adult Mowgli: Liam McIntyre (Spartacus, Spartacus '2012-2013' and Mark Mardon, The Flash)

Voice of Bagheera: Christian Bale (Bagheera, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle '2018' and Batman, Dark Knight series)

Voice of Baloo: Andy Serkis (Baloo, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle '2018')

Voice of Kaa: Scarlett Johansson (Kaa, Jungle Book '2016' and Black Widow, MCU)

Voice of Gray Brother: John Boyega (Finn, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, and Bigwig, Watership Down)

So those are the voices for the heroic main characters, I will do the heroic side characters next chapter. Feel free to leave a review on how you liked this entire arc or how you liked the story to this point. It will continue for a good few more chapters, the third and final arc of this story will focus on Ranjans story through the jungle!- KaijuCrazy02