Spirited by a cool breeze, and beautiful evening sky he decided to take a long walk in the deep forest with his guide, Mani whose tribe, the Teke tribe, resided in the heart of the Congo region. His expedition, dubbed the Taylor Expedition, named after the renowned 19th Century anthropologist E. for its purpose: to document the practice of Animism in the region. The study of traditional African beliefs of Animism, where they souls or spirits exist not only in humans but also in all other animals, plants, rocks, and natural phenomena fascinated him. He was struck at so many religions such as the Shinto, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Pantheism, and Neopaganism religions from around the world shared similar beliefs. The Teke tribe was one of the oldest and most mystical and he was looking forward to spending the next few days leaning about their culture and belief systems.
He decided to sign up for the Taylor Expedition in his final year at Oxford with the Cassadia Institute in the hope it would buoy his graduate application to the University of Sheffield in the UK in the Archaeology Department. He smiled at that thought. When he informed his parents of his wish to remain in Europe rather than return to the states for his graduate work, they were supportive until he informed them that he wanted to attend Sheffield instead of the expected University of Cambridge. It took him almost a full week to defend his choice of school with his parents, citing the different archaeological research facilities housed at Sheffield that served his interests the most. His parents eventually acquiesced albeit reluctantly. He smiled again at last thought. He had just finished a satellite call with his parents earlier that evening. His mom was very excited about an initiative she had become involved in a few years ago that was shaping up well, and she planned to become more involved with it. He loved his parents for their activism, and always shook his head whenever they wondered out loud why they had such independent children.
He plowed deeper into the forest, walking stick in hand with Mani in front of him guiding him along the way. Mani was surprised that he wanted to venture out in the late evening. Mani stated most expeditionists preferred to stay within the tribal village at night for safety reasons due to unpredictable wildlife. The twenty other researchers, film crew, tech and medical staff who were also part of the Taylor Expedition led by current subject matter expert, Dr. Chewa Yerodin who also hailed from the Congo region and currently instructed at Oxford University decided to remain within the village. The man understood the caution, but at the same time wanted to take advantage of a beautiful evening in the Congolese region. He thought to himself: how often do such opportunities come along alike that?
"God, this bush is deep here." The man said as he beat through some particular dense brush with his machete.
"Is this your first time in the Congo?" Mani asked.
"Yes." The man answered.
"Well, you are going to have very strong arms by the time you leave." Mani said.
"I can see it now." The man replied.
They continued to walk along the night treading through the deep forest when they reached a point where Mani said they had better turn back for safety reasons. It was getting way too dark to navigation soundly or safely, even by the moon in the sky. The man agreed. Just as they were about turn back something made Mani stop dead in his tracks.
"Mani? What's wrong?" The man asked.
Mani held up his index finger and put it to his lips, and then motioned for the man to turn off his headlamp. Instead the man moved closer but Mani motioned for him not to move and again, to turn off his headlamp. The man obeyed. Mani looked around and then took a few steps into a deep brush. It was so dark now that the man could hardly see five feet in front of him, and suddenly realized that maybe it wasn't a good idea to venture out on a hike in the deep Congolese jungle at night.
The man saw Mani disappear into the deep brush, and he began to panic because he still had no idea why Mani had stopped in the first place. After a few moments Mani stuck his hand out from the bush and motioned him forward. The man quickly moved inside the bush.
"Mani, what is wrong?" The man asked again in a loud whisper. Mani said nothing as he guided the man through the deep bush into a small clearing. When he emerged he saw they were atop a precipice overlooking a brightly lit small village. There were a great many of the villagers standing in semi-circle around three people who were facing one another.
"What village is that?" The man asked, but Mani answered only with a raised index finger to his lips.
The man quietly took the tiny backpack he carried off his back, placed it on the ground, and reached in for the small set of binoculars he had with him. They were powerful enough to see people conversing with one another, but not enough to make out any faces. The man cursed himself for not having his more powerful binoculars with him, but then again he didn't think to grab them either. He tried to get a good look at the three people speaking to one another, but could hardly make out anything. He handed his binoculars over to Mani.
"I can't make out any faces, only forms. Can you make out anything?" The man asked. Mani took the small binoculars and peered through them.
"I can't make out faces either, just forms like you. No, wait! Of the three people talking to one another in the circle one of them is the leader of this village. Beni is his name. I recognize the accoutrements he is wearing. The black and white women he is speaking to I have never seen before. Especially, the red-headed one." Mani then raised his binoculars closer to his eyes again for a couple of minutes, scanned the area then brought the binoculars back down.
"Anyone else you can make out?" The man asked.
"The are others standing with the villagers, but they are wearing normal clothing, not clothing that looks like they are on an expedition. There is a brunette and blonde-haired woman standing together. There is a tall, hairy-faced man standing with another tall, blond woman." Mani replied as he scanned some more. "There is another brunette with a small person, a man, with a hairy face standing next to her." Mani looked some more then put the binoculars down.
"The red-headed woman is fascinating." Mani said.
"Yeah, she caught my eye too. I may not be able to make out the face but that figure would be hard to miss, even in the dead dark. You don't see too many redheads?" The man asked.
"No." They both chuckled.
Mani brought the binoculars back to his eyes, and then his mouth suddenly went agape as he slowly brought them back down. The man quickly looked at Mani and followed his gaze and his mouth went agape as well. The man didn't need binoculars to see what he was witnessing as a giant King Cobra slithered out of the tree line near the village, and stood on its back hind with its tongue moving in and out.
"Dear God! What is that?!" The man said stunned. Mani said nothing for he was just as stunned.
Then to the left of the giant snake out came a giant lizard which made them both step back even though they were high atop a precipice looking down on the village.
"You know what that is?" The man said his voice mixed with both excitement and terror. "That's a Ripper! A Ripper Minotaur lizard!" Then they saw the gills of the lizard expand and the lizard hiss which made them take another step back.
"Scratch that! That is a Dilophosaurus, or a Ripper or a meshing of them both! Holy cow!" The man said as reached for his camera phone in his pocket. He pulled it out and was about to take a picture when Mani stopped him.
"Your flash will alert them to our presence, and I doubt we could outrun that giant snake!" Mani warned. The man looked at Mani, cursing himself for not thinking of that, but then again he could not help it. He was too caught up in what he was witnessing before his very eyes.
Then they heard impact noises of something walking toward the village as they saw the tree line make way for something rather large to the right of the giant Cobra. What came out of the tree line looked like the upper half of the body was Minotaur-looking and the bottom half was man. Its eyes flashed orangish-red, as it stood next to the snake.
"A Wildebeest! A giant, walking Wildebeest!" Mani said in a loud whisper. Then they heard another round of impact noises as they saw the tree line make way for something rather large to the left of the giant Ripper. What emerged was a gorilla-like beast which nearly caused both the man and Mani to drop from shock.
"King effing Kong!" The man said.
"Pretty close. But it also looks a bit bearish, almost beastly." Mani replied.
Their attention returned to Beni and the two women he spoke with as Beni bowed before the two women and the entire village followed suit. Then black woman turned facing the Ripper/ Dilophosaurus and the Cobra and walked towards the tree line. As she walked she began to shift and grow. Both Mani and the man took a third step back at what they were witnessing. By the time she reached the tree line she had shifted into a giant 100-foot dark brown bear.
"The Atlas Bear!" Mani said incredulous.
"The Atlas Bear? I thought they were extinct?" The man queried.
"So did we!" MANI said as they watched the bear disappear into the tree line. When they saw the bear was followed by the snake and the Ripper/Dilophosaurus then man turned to Mani.
"You know what? Time to go now!" The man said as they both turned, and broke back through the bush they came through at a run.
Mani led the way as they ran back to his village breaking through trees bush and flapping through rivers. They reached a clearing and they were about halfway across it when the foot of the Wildebeest - looking giant came down in front of them. They came to near dead stop. The other foot of Wildebeest - looking giant also came down in front of them, and they looked straight up at the 100-foot creature looking back down at them. The man did not know whether to scream, laugh, cry, or crap his pants. Instead he followed Mani's example and just stood there petrified, shocked at what was in front of them. The Wildebeest - looking giant bent down to get a closer look at them as his flamed organish-red.
Then they suddenly heard something ruffle to their right in the bushes, turned and were greeted by a pair of bluish eyes that peaked out from the edge of the forest and then its head broke out of the tree line. They got an up close and personal look at the Ripper/Dilophosaurus whose tongue slithered in and out of its mouth. The man had no idea how he and Mani were still alive let alone standing upright they were so terrified. The Wildebeest - looking giant stood up, and spoke - one word - in the direction of the Ripper/Dilophosaurus.
"Jock." Then Wildebeest - looking giant, turned, bent down, shifted into a full-fledged Wildebeest and shot off into the night followed by the Ripper/Dilophosaurus. Both Mani and the man stood petrified to the ground as their eyes darted back and forth looking for any of the other giant creatures they saw from the village.
"What should we do?!" The man nearly screamed in panic.
"Run!" Mani replied as they continued on their path towards Mani's village.
As they ran, their hearts raced, fearful that another one of those giant animals would find them again. All they were counting was making it back to the Teke village alive, in the hopes none of the giant animals they saw followed. In any event, as Mani led the way running through the bush, Mason Saen realized his life was changed forever.
