MARCH 1, 1896 (Adwa, Ethiopia)
It has been 600 years since Kanaan, the former short-lived emperor of Ethiopia, was overthrown, executed, and resurrected by the Egyptian God Apep.
Upon the ancient snake god bring Kanaan back to life, he gave him three wishes and put him in a deep sleep. During his 600+ plus year sleep, the world would change with Kanaan gaining knowledge of this change.
Innovative technologies were developed, empires of the past would collapse with new ones replacing it, new religions and ideas never seen before were being created. With the good and progressive aspect being introduced to the world, there's always something bad to ruin it. Many bloody wars were waged, disease and strife would plunge the into darkness for years, people invading other established nations across the sea in a brutal fashion, and corrupt, evil individuals would be the ones to control these empires.
The worst thing Kanaan discovered is what happened to Africa and what is currently happening to it now. Over the decades, the slave trade has become an international monopoly with Africans becoming major targets to be sold into slavery in places outside of Africa.
Several decades after the establishment of the international slave trade, it was formally abolished, but that did not stop the elites of Europe from finding other ways to exert their dominance. From 1884 to 1885, the leaders of the European nations would meet up to devise a plan to divide Africa amongst themselves.
Parts of west, central, and southern Africa were already being colonized by the Europeans and even now, a group of Europeans known as Italians were currently invading Ethiopia.
It was time to wake up.
While the army of Ethiopia were fighting off the Italian soldiers on an even playing fiend, a group of three Italian soldiers carrying rifles strayed away from the battle out of fear of death. To avoid any possible Ethiopian soldiers, the Italians hid in what looked a decrepit tomb near the
"Pensi che ci troveranno qui? (Do you think they will find us in here?)" Soldier #1 questioned.
"Non ci troveranno. Questa tomba ha centinaia di anni ed è stata sigillata prima del nostro arrivo. Quei selvaggi non lo sanno. (They are not going to find us. This tomb is hundreds of years old and was sealed before we came. Those savages don't know about it.)" The second soldier answered.
As the soldiers entered the medium sized tomb, they closed the stone door to the tomb back up. While they were hiding out in the tomb, they could here two different sounds going on: the sound of gunfire and fighting from outside and growling from inside the tomb. Thinking it was an animal the somehow gotten inside, the second soldier ordered the third to go check for the sound over at the dark part of the tomb where the sarcophagus was.
"Vedi qualcosa? (Do you see anything?)
"No, ma la bara è... (No, but the coffin is...)" The third soldier said before being pulled back into the darkness.
"Antonio!"
The two remaining soldiers quickly grabbed their rifles and began firing in the darkness. They could hear the screaming and gurgling of their comrade along with the tearing of flesh. After a few seconds of silence, a ball-like object was thrown back at them.
It was the bloody, decapitated head of their fellow soldier. The most terrifying detail was that his bottom jaw was ripped off. Looking into the shadows, they spotted a pair of gold eyes staring down at them.
Horrified by the brutal attack, the Italians decided to hightail it out the tomb. Soldier #2, who was closest to the door, banging on the door to escape while Soldier #1 tried shooting at the unknown being again. As he ran out of ammo, a red blur flew from the shadows and forcefully shoved its hand through his chest and out of his back.
The final terrified solder felt something liquid splatter on his body and saw that his body was covered in blood and pieces of heart and spine. He saw his dead comrade but didn't see who or what caused it.
The man screamed for help, hoping that someone can hear his cries and not caring if it was from an Italian or an Ethiopian. Backing up, he bumped into what he thought was the door but when he turned around, his heart sank into his stomach.
It was the monster that killed the other two men.
Finally getting a good look at the creature, he thought that it was demon from hell with its red skin, bat-like wings, and horns.
"Stai indietro! (Stay back!)" The soldier exclaimed as he pulled out a large knife. The demonic creature continued to slowly walk towards the Italian man and the soldier tried to go for a gut stab.
This attack would fail as the monster grabbed the knife and yanked the weapon toward it. Along with the knife was the man's hand which was ripped off while still holding the handle. The man let out a bloodcurdling scream and looked down to see a slash across his belly and his intestines spilling out.
Falling to his knees, he looks at the demonic being holding the bloody knife while staring him down. With his last, dying breaths, he asked, "Cosa sei in nome di Dio? (What in God's name are you?)"
The disemboweled soldier didn't get his response as the dragon-like being stabbed him in the brain with his own knife.
Looking at the three soldiers, the humanoid creature looked down at his clawed hands and began inspecting the rest of his body, including his tail and wings.
"What the hell am I?" The being said before covering his mouth. He wasn't speaking Amharic.
"Ha, ha, ha. Good to see you're awake, Kanaan."
The now-revealed Emperor Kanaan flinched at the sudden voice and looked around the tomb for the owner of the voice. The only ones in the room were him and the three corpses.
"Who said that?!"
"I'm hurt, hatchling. Did you already forget the God that saved your life?" The voice said. Coming out of Kanaan's chest came a purple astral projection in the form of a familiar rattlesnake.
"Apep? Is that you?" Kanaan said shocked at seeing his "savior" and hearing this unknown language coming out of his mouth.
"That's right, son. After you went to sleep, a sleep that lasted for over 600 years, I fused our bodies together. You are an actual dragon god now. I'm just along for the ride as your sub-conscious of sorts." The snake god said.
"How am I speaking this language? I only spoke Amharic before I died. I could even understand what those white men were saying."
Coiling around the dragon hybrid, Apep said, "You're speaking English, one of the many languages you assimilated during your sleep that you can now speak. For someone that's been asleep for decades, you soak up knowledge like a sponge."
Kanaan nodded his head at the realization until an even bigger realization popped up.
"My people, I need to help them with the invaders."
"Go ahead, do whatever you want, I'm just here to watch."
With confirmation from Apep, he unfurled his gargoyle-like wings and flew out of the tomb through the roof towards the battle.
BATTLEFIELD
The fight between the Italians and the Ethiopians were on even ground with an almost equal number of soldiers dying on both sides from either gunfire or cannon blasts. The Ethiopians completely outnumbered the Europeans with their armies having over 100,000 soldiers.
Gunshots and combat came to a stop as both sides heard a loud roar. Looking into the sky, they could see a winged creature situated in front of the Sun. The Italian side, thinking that the figure was an angel, were too distracted to see a large, blue fireball heading towards them.
The lucky few that were away from perimeter of the fireball were only blasted away with minor injuries. The 100 Italian soldiers who got hit were currently being roasted alive. Their screams of pain and misery riddling the area.
The emperor-turned-demigod flew towards to the battlefield at fast, sound barrier breaking speeds, literally going through the invading soldiers, and causing them to explode in a bloody, gory mess. As Kanaan landed on the ground, the Italians got a better look at his dragon-like appearance, making them even more fearful.
They also noticed that he specifically attacked Italians with none of those savage Ethiopians barely being harmed at all. He was helping them.
Kanaan, armed with nothing but his claws, tail, and wings, brutalized the Italian invaders. Bones broken, organs ripped out, and limbs slashed off. No form of killing or dying was unsafe for them. At least 600 were ruthlessly killed by the dragon god.
The Italian army tried shooting at Kanaan, but the bullets were bouncing off him. The last resort came when a cannonball was shot at him. If any soldiers got hit by the cannonball, then so be it. This beast needed to die. The former emperor matched the cannonball's speed by throwing a soldier into the air, back at the cannonball.
The cannonball (along with the soldier) exploded on contact with fragments of the metal ball and bloody, liquid mess that was formerly a man hitting anyone in the vicinity.
With no other way to injury the demigod, their numbers dwindling down, and the acts of brutality delivered by the demonic beast, the Italians tried to retreat. The remaining soldiers had their escape cut short as several rings of blue fire circled around the escaping army, even catching some on fire.
The Ethiopian army, still shocked by the power of this angel of death, marched towards the fire and accosted the invaders.
Kanaan, feeling a sense of pride and mild ego from helping his people, tried to shift his draconic appearance back to a human one. He felt pain as his skin changed back to its original black color, his reptilian feature receded back into his body, and his wings forced themselves back into his back.
As the Ethiopian citizens and army had their attention back to Kanaan and his painful grunts, they noticed that the dragon god that helped them win the battle with the invaders shift into a nude, muscular human with dark skin like theirs and long, curly platinum blonde hair.
"ይህ አዲስ ነው? (This is new?)" Kanaan said casually commenting about his hair while touching one of the strands. There was also a large tattoo of a dragon on his right arm that wasn't there before. He looked at his fellow Ethiopians and let out a small, sly chuckle with one thing in mind.
Time to fuck shit up.