Using the automobile, Michael and the newly evolved Yellow Mankeys traveled through the desert to find their village. The wheels jumped through the cracks in the ground and maneuvered through cactuses as Kong did his best to recall their village’s location.
Finally, Michael’s eyes caught sight of a large collection of Life mana in the distance. Using a simple 1-star spell called [Telescopic Sight], he was able to confirm the location of the village.
Strangely enough, the village was located on a large crater, which made it almost undetectable in the vast valley of the desert.
As soon as he parked the automobile, the Mankeys all rushed out and looked down to their village.
The once vibrant and lively collection of homes made out of mud and clay was now completely covered in a strange black liquid.
This was the reason why the village was in dire need of assistance. This strange black liquid had invaded their homes and destroyed their safe haven.
This meant that they would have to relocate to a safer place. However, such a large migration of Mankeys would need a lot of resources, especially water. That was the reason why Kong and the other Mankeys journeyed out of their village. They needed resources to resettle.
Kong, Anne, and the rest of the Mankeys jumped down, surprising the rest of the villagers that were hiding within the homes embedded on the sides of the large crater.
Children screamed, while their parents tried to shush them from creating any noise.
They thought they were getting invaded.
The power and magic emanating from these five strange figures were unlike any species they had ever encountered before. Even though they had the same yellow fur and monkey-like features, they were completely different from normal Mankeys.
They stood tall with pride, with strength—completely foreign for yellow Mankeys.
“We surrender….we beg for mercy…”
One elderly Mankey, with his yellow hair almost turning white, and a spine even more curved than a circle, walked out of the homes and confronted the five strangers.
But upon gazing at these five figures, the elderly Mankey felt as if he was looking at something ancient, something transcendent.
And somehow, they looked familiar. But that wasn’t possible.
“It’s us,” said Anne, but her words did nothing to convince the old man. After all, she looked even more beautiful than most humans.
Kong knew that words wouldn’t convince the old man. So, he approached him and took the elderly man’s hands, and respectfully put them over his forehead. This was a cultural act that only Mankeys knew.
It was then that the old man’s eyes shone in recognition.
“You!…but how?” the old man’s excitement made the other Mankeys hiding in the houses finally come out of their houses.
As more and more Mankeys came out, more of them recognized the five ‘strangers’. A celebration occurred within them, with hugging and jumping spreading through the Mankeys.
When they didn’t return after a few days, they thought they had all died.
But somehow, they didn’t just survive, they turned into this completely new Mankey with strength and power that was completely uncharacteristic of the weakest race in the entire world.
“How…how did this…happen?” they all asked.
Kong and Anne smiled as they pointed upwards.
Just then, the village of Mankeys looked up at the skies and saw the figure of the ten-year-old human boy floating in the air. He had his hands in his pocket and a casual smile.
Michael slowly floated to the crater, introducing himself to the Mankeys with a simple, “Hello.”
“He saved us!” Kong said, showing his admiration and respect for Michael with just his tone.
“He gave us water, he gave us food. He gave us everything we needed to survive without even asking for anything in return,” Anne said, her eyes shining once she started to talk about Michael.
They told the whole village that his powers allowed them to transcend from a normal Mankey into this new and better form, filled with talent and magic.
The elderly Mankey looked at Michael, disbelief written all over his face. As the oldest one in this village, he had met a lot of humans before, even the most powerful of wizards, yet he hadn’t heard of anyone capable of doing this.
“Sir…” the old man uttered, “Why have you come…to our village? As you can see… we are close to extinction… the curse of the lands…has taken over our home…”
More than half of the homes were flooded with this strange, sludge of black liquid. Some of the houses were completely submerged, making it impossible to live in.
These Mankeys considered this to be a curse.
But when Michael set his eyes upon this black liquid, he didn’t see a curse. He saw liquid gold.
It was petroleum oil! This village was smack dab in the middle of an oil well, which had so much oil that they were overflowing to the surface.
If America existed in this world, they would have already invaded this land.
Michael, of course, wasn’t going to let this chance go to waste.
“I have come to this village for only one reason,” Michael said, addressing everyone in the village. “I came here to give you a chance to live without worrying about food, water, or a place to live.”
The elderly Mankey shook his head. “We cannot….offer anything…”
Michael pointed at the black liquid behind them. “If you are willing to give me ownership of that black liquid, I can give you everything you need to survive and more.”
They wanted nothing more than to survive, than to drink water and eat food every day. And Michael was the person that could give them that.
They were ready to do anything for Michael. They were ready to become his slaves.
But he wanted nothing more than the black liquid, something they considered a curse.
It was too good to be true.
To fully convince them that he had nothing but good intentions, Michael snapped his hands, and five big barrels of water floated from above and landed down to the village.
The elderly Mankey slowly approached the barrel.
Upon seeing it filled with cool, refreshing water, the old Mankey’s body began to shake.
He trembled, until finally, he couldn’t take it and plunged his whole head into the barrel, drinking all the water he wanted to drink.
The rest of the Mankeys soon followed, celebrating as they filled their bellies with life-saving water.