"Hurry everyone! this way!" Mowgli called out, gesturing to the bridge leading across the river and into the jungle, behind him were several children roughly his age or younger led by Shanti.
"A-Are you sure about this Mowgli?" Asked Shanti as her little brother Rahjin hid behind her. "You know it's dangerous out here... even for adults..."
Mowgli turned to face Shanti, and by extension, the rest of the children who had followed him. And as they made their way across the river however, Mowgli found his thoughts drifting back to the horrible fate of the Man-Village…
Or rather, what remained of it.
It had been such a peaceful day, almost a month had passed since he'd come to the Man-Village, but despite him being somewhat of a "wild child" as some had labeled him, Mowgli had managed to fit in with the other humans quite nicely. Awing them with his tales from the jungle and some of the skills he learned.
It wasn't long after he'd become acclimated to his new home the Village...
...and then, everything came crashing down.
As he was on his way to pick some more fruit, disaster struck as what seemed like an earthquake caused the ground to shake, sending everyone into a state of panic.
And then, the walls around the village were forcibly knocked down by the Elephants, all of whom immediately started stampeding through the Village!
Within seconds, the entire man-village was in utter disarray, chaos ensued as various people ran to try and find a safe place to hide while others desperately grabbed any weapon they could get their hands on, but the elephants seemed intent on causing havoc, not caring for who or what they trampled!
Barely able to keep track of what was going on, Mowgli desperately ran as fast as he could towards the nearest tree, noticing Shanti carrying her brother towards a group of armed hunters for protection, with several of the village children following close behind.
The man-cub was about to call out to them... until a ferocious roar echoed throughout the village.
Mowgli could have sworn he felt his heart stop as he watched a tiger leap out of the wreckage of one of the huts! His massive jaws were agape and his eyes fierce with killer instinct as he lunged toward the hunters followed by a score of other jungle predators. Mowgli's eyes widened as he saw the hunters being brutally cut down without mercy.
Shanti's scream snapped him out of his thoughts as she and the children ran as fast as their legs would carry them. Mowgli knew he couldn't afford to freeze up, the survivors, his friends, they needed him! While the tiger and predators were busy viciously mauling the hunters, he rushed towards the fleeing children and ran alongside Shanti. "We have to get out of here!" Mowgli called out to them, "I'll do whatever I can to keep you all safe... but you gotta follow me!"
"But the predators are going to catch up to us!" Shanti shouted back as they ran, turning around to see the tiger still attacking the hunters. "We'll never make it to the jungle!"
"That's why we have to run as fast as we can!" Mowgli urged as he tried to make Shanti realize the gravity of the situation. "If we don't get away from here, we might as well give up."
Shanti sighed heavily, resigned to running alongside him to their original destination...
Mowgli was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of village people yelling for help from a distance, the flames ranged non-stop throughout it, the thunderous sound of the Elephants tearing down everything in their path as they rampaged through the whole Village, and terrifying roars and howls could be heard as the fire engulfed the remains of the Village.
Looking back to the horrified faces of the children who had followed him, Mowgli knew there was no turning back now... he had to lead them on, they would have to go on without their parents... or any adults for that matter. "We... we don't have a choice." He began as he leaped over the rocks and crossed the river. "We have no village to go back to, and if we stay we're as good as dead!" He stated firmly, causing some of the children to flinch as he turned to face them once more. "Listen to me, I've lived and survived in the jungle since I was born! I know how to survive!"
"We might die if we go out there!" Shanti protested, hugging her brother Rahjin tighter as some of the children nodded in agreement.
"We'll die for sure if we stay here!" Mowgli countered, anger rising within, not at the little humans for fearing for their lives, but at their nearly hopeless situation. "You know there's vicious predators in the village, we have to get away and to safety!"
The children, who had originally started to protest, were now mostly nodding in agreement, with the only exception being Shanti who continued to stare at the village in despair.
Mowgli could only place a hand on her shoulder and gave her a slight shake of the head. "I'm sorry Shanti, but we have to go." Mowgli said with a determined look on his face, causing Shanti to sigh heavily.
"Go where?" She asked with a disbelieving tone, the village was in utter turmoil, and if they wanted to survive they needed to flee. "Isn't the Jungle equally dangerous?"
"We don't have any other option..." Mowgli stated firmly, his mind racing as he began to make a plan of escape.
"W-W-What about our parents! Who'll look after us!?" Rahjin piped up, now looking as scared as the little humans, asked, getting more attention than he had intended.
"We... we'll have to take care of ourselves..." Mowgli replied desperately. "I'm sure we can survive in the jungle, as long as we stick together." He added looking directly at the children.
"But, but... but our parents..." Rahjin protested.
"Rahjin, I'm sorry but... they're gone..." Shanti said sadly, her distraught face void of any sign of hope.
"We're all gonna die..." Rahjin whimpered, the little human's eyes welling up.
"We're not going to die!" Mowgli exclaimed in a harsh tone, the children now looking fearfully at him. "You NEED to learn how to survive in the Jungle. If I can do it, so can all of you!"
The frightened kids looked back at Mowgli, who was now standing in front of the river, the entrance to the jungle only a short distance away.
"I'll show you how to live in the jungle, step by step! Using your senses to live your life and survive, just as long as we all stick together!"
"But... we don't know how to live in the jungle! We've never done it before!" Another child protested in fear.
"No, but we're gonna learn now, no matter what!" Mowgli stated firmly. "Would you rather wait for more of the predators to finish us off" Or do you want to survive?"
"We want to survive!" One of the older children answered in a determined tone.
Shanti, a little more confident than she had previously been, nodded. "We all do!"
"Then we're all going to make a new home in the jungle right now!" Mowgli stated in a determined yet encouraging tone. "No matter what the jungle throws at us, we'll survive!"
The small group of children cheered with a new sense of determination in their eyes, and with that, the group all began to walk away from the burning village and into the depths of the jungle…
As they wandered through into the jungle however, Shere Khan stepped over the remains of the wall, blood dripping from his claws and fangs with a proud smile on his face… which quickly turned into a scowl as he watched the man-cub leading the group into the jungle.
"It doesn't look like any of the animals are coming after us..." Mowgli exclaimed, keeping close to the children, who were now clinging to each other as they walked through the jungle.
"Well it's either that, or we're not worth much to them as well..." Shanti commented with a bit of a chuckle, keeping her eyes on the group as they continued walking.
"It does seem a bit quiet... should we pick up the pace a bit?" One of the males added.
"We've got a long way to go, and the sooner we can get to the Wolf Pack, the better!" Mowgli answered, taking on a more serious tone.
However, unknown to the small group, another creature was stalking them from the trees...
Slithering through the branches, Kaa smirked as he watched from above, his plan had worked perfectly.
Earlier that day, Grey led the elders who had taken Leah, Rama, and the Wolf Pack Leader: Akela with them as protection into the depths of the forest, heading straight for the swamp where the supposed "voice of the jungle" had been heard.
Apparently, according to Grey, various animals would be gathering in the area to hear the "wisdom of the voice", as well as finally deal with "the threat of the man-village". As such, the elders chose the most influential members of the wolf pack to assist them in finding the source and ending this charade.
This so-called "voice of the jungle" would meet its end today. The elders wanted to witness the death of the upstart who dared to threaten their powerbase and cause others to dismiss their wisdom.
However, as they arrived near the center of the swamp, they found that there was no one there, no animals at all...
"Where are they?" Akela asked as they continued their search? "This so-called "voice", all of the animals…"
"They must have gone deeper into the swamp…" Grey replied, prompting the rest of the group to keep moving. "We'll need to split up and properly corner the creature first."
But as they quickly started searching the area, little did they know, the hypnotic serpent had them right where he wanted them.
With Grey now acting as his little insider pawn, Kaa had learned all the dirty secrets of the elders… including how they purposely broke up his friendship with Khan and Bagheera during their younger days, simply because they feared the potential power and authority they could have wielded throughout the jungle by staying together…
And how Bagheera was turned to their side because they saw "potential" in the panther.
The more the snake learned from Grey, the more he found out that much of the unrest led back to the elders in one way or another. And naturally, the most influential of the old bastards had to be eliminated.
But of course, he needed to be clever about it, their disappearance would need to be used as a rallying cry for the jungle.
As Rama approached one of the more dense sections of the swap, a shadow loomed over behind him… right before Khan lunged at him from the tree above. The wolf had no time to retaliate or even cry out for help as the tiger's paw struck him across the face and knocking him out, the elder simian who had accompanied him froze in terror as the tiger unsneathed his claws as approached him with a look of pure fury.
Kaa watched from the shadows, his eyes narrowing as he gazed down at Akela and the old wolf he was protecting. "Now the jungle shall have a new order…"
Akela and the old wolf looked around in mild panic, searching for the source of the voice… but unfortunately, they had yet to fully register the danger they were in before the old wolf was immobilized by coils and Akela was assaulted by multiple rings of colors pulsating from the center of Kaa's eyes glowed at night with an addictive radiance.
"…but you won't need to worry about it…" Kaa hissed as he lowered himself down from the trees, unleashing the full force of both his hypnotic gaze and enchanting voice. Each spiral and every word sent a wave of euphoria through the wolf's mind, and it wasn't long before his own eyes began to reflect the serpent's colorful stare. "In fact, you won't have to worry about anything at all… so just relax, let your mind sink into a never-ending dream of bliss…my newest little wolf pet."
Akela's eyes remained locked onto the snake's addictive, colorful gaze, moving closer towards Kaa, the serpent's voice dominating any conflicting thoughts that dared to distract him. "Yessss…" He replied, his tail wagging eagerly as his pupils shrank and expanded, the spirals pulsating as the irresistible sense of bliss washed over him. "...ssink… b-blisssss…"
*PING*
"That's a good cub~" Kaa chuckled, taking a moment to savor his victim's blissful smile, the wolf now completely ignorant to the muffled cries for help from the terrified old female wolf's mouth which Kaa held shut with his coils.
"Now then, with him out of the way I got plenty of time to deal with you…" He hissed at the old wolf, she tried glaring at him as best she could despite her fear.
"Be a dear and take a little nap Akela, your master has some work he needs to do before he can attend to you."
Nodding obediently, Akela's eyes slowly shut and the wolf curled up on the ground and fell asleep like his master had bid him. He would not get to hear how Kaa slowly squeezed the elder wolfess harder and harder, savoring her fear, pain and breathlessness.
When Kaa was done getting revenge against her for all the wrongs she and the others had done against him he coiled a few more loops around her face and then forcefully sharply jerked her head to the side, snapping her neck.
"And thus, the old way of the jungle dies…" Kaa sighed in satisfaction as he turned his attention to the sleeping Akela and then Grey brother who was coming out the undergrowth with bloodied fangs and claws indicating he had eliminated the elder jackal who had accompanied him.
"…and a new way takes its place." He finished before slithering off to find their final target, the elder under Akela's mate Leah's protection.
While removing the elders as an obstacle was his plan, he couldn't make it too suspicious by ending them all at once, it had been quite a game of wits to get all the elders who were the ring leaders of their little group to show up today, carefully worded rumors had to be spread and people close to them had to be brought under his control. But when the last one fell, the rest would be all but powerless and could be picked off one by one at his leasure and if he played his cards right he might even get them to use their last influence to spurr the jungle against the humans for killing their co-conspirators.
In another part of the swamp near the river, Leah sniffed the air as she searched for any signs of other animals, but sadly came up short. "This makes no sense… just where is everyone?"
"Quite simple, my dear…" A voice echoed around her, prompting the wolf to look around in an attempt to find the source. "…this was a trap and you all wandered right into it just like I had planned."
"W-What? What are you talking about? Who's there!?" Leah growled, turning around as she heard a twig snap behind her… and froze.
Within seconds her pupils began pulsating as her mind was assaulted by the sight of Kaa's radiant, multi-colored spirals, Kaa weaved back as she desperately struck out, her mind was more resilient than mosts, but he had dealt with Khan who was leagues above, she would not last long.
"Talkia, run!" Leah urged the elder and the female leopard did not have to be told twice and bolted out of there, leaving the wolfess to her fate.
Kaa cursed, despite being an elder the leopardess was still spry and fast, she had to be intercepted or she might get away!
"Khan, don't stop her!" The serpent called out and turned to deal with the troublesome wolfess.
The tiger arrived in a pounce aimed at the fleeing elder, but she manage to get out the way and continued running, both tiger and snake cursed as she was reaching the edges of the swamp, but just as it looked like she would get away someone stepped out the foliage and she looked relieved seeing it was a feline they all knew.
"Bagheera, you got to hold those murderers off while I get away!" She ordered him, but in her haste to put an obstacle between her and her pursuers she had not noticed the look of barely contained anger in his eyes and thus was not prepared once he suddenly pounced her and began tearing her apart.
Both Kaa and Khan were a bit speechless at how merciless Bagheera killed her despite her pleas and begging.
Once she was dead for sure he looked bloodied at them with a blank look "They lied to me..." his tone was darker than they had ever thought he was capable of.
"They did Bagheera, but we never did." Kaa agreed in a soft tone. "perhaps we can put the past behind us and start over again, friend?" The serpent would not let such a prime opportunity slip him by.
"I'm not forgiving him." Khan huffed and pointed accusingly at Bagheera. "You willingly became their puppet, believing them over me, your friend." The tiger sneered.
"You don't have to forgive him Khan, but please consider him a chance...you owe me that much." Kaa requested and the tiger considered it for a few moments, sending the dead leopard a short sideways glance.
"Fine...but don't ever turn on us again." Khan looked intensely at Bagheera who nodded sternly. He knew where his alliance lied now and it definitely wasn't with the manipulative elders, Bagheera didn't quite feel like he deserved it, but if his old friends were gracious enough to give him a chance despite how badly he had fucked up he owed them to do his best to make it up to them.
Kaa was very pleased how this little unexpected turn of events had gone. It was a shaky start, but seeing Bagheera kill one of the elders had definitely gotten him into better standing with Khan, he could work with this...soon he would have his friends back, just like before it all had gone wrong.
Kaa smirked as he was brought out of his thoughts, Akela and Rama, after he hypnotized him too, had been such willing toys and he had thoroughly enjoyed breaking them in like he had Grey Brother. With the removal of the elders and all the most influential wolves now under his spell, Kaa's subtle influence throughout the jungle became even stronger, and once word of the wolf elder's "untimely end at the hands of the humans" spread throughout the jungle. And it wasn't long before more animals became enticed by the concept of taking action against the Man-Village.
And thus, here they were.
The Tiger on the other hand, was less than satisfied.
"I still take issue with these humans living in the jungle…" Shere Khan grumbled as he watched the group wandering through the jungle from the tree. "Ending them all would be more efficient…"
"We've talked about this Khan." Kaa retorted in a stern tone. "Besides, think of this as an experiment. You hate man because of what they have the potential to become…" He explained as he gestured to the group of children. "…but now that they can be raised by the ways of the jungle, we can control that potential."
Khan growled a little, somewhat put off by this method of thinking, but said nothing in response as Kaa slithered down from the treetops.
And now, it was time to truly change the order of the jungle…
"Welcome to the jungle, my dear man-cubs and girl-cubs…" Kaa hissed, his voice sending shivers down the children's spines as they all huddled together in fear.
However, the moment his entrancing voice reached their ears, each of them felt a wave of calmness spread through their minds, as if this serpent was one to be trusted, not feared. Mowgli, already familiar with this blissful feeling, took a step forward, much to Shanti's confusion.
"M-Mowgli? What are you doing!? That's a snake!"
"It's alright Shanti." Mowgli replied, his voice calm and relaxed as the serpent approached them, the pupils of his eyes pulsating as he gazed up at Kaa almost lovingly. "This is our new home, and he… will help us find our place in the jungle…" He explained, remembering the snake's words from their previous encounter.
"Right you are, Man-Cub. You all must learn your place in this jungle if you wish to live amongst us." Kaa hissed, the very power of his hypnotic voice taking hold of the young children's minds, the youngest ones having already fallen under his spell while the older ones felt themselves unable to resist the words of the mighty serpent. "…now, let me help you… all you have to do… is open your minds to me~" He cooed as his eyes blossomed into an endless array of hypnotic spirals…
And thus, a new age in the jungle had begun…
Author's Note:
This story was made possible and seen earlier on November 29th, 2021 by my generous supporters on my pay-to-write sites. Be sure to PM me if you either want a story written or wish to see chapters earlier!