And so, the night came in the Tahuayo forest. The Jungle had been witness of an incredible combat this day. The tahuayos spent the rest of that day celebrating Y'shaati's victory over her master K'uno until dusk. After that, all the gorillas went to sleep with a smile on their faces and a profound sensation of peace. This day had been a memorable day for the Tahuayo pride.
Y'shaati, having being completely recovered from the rough encounter, proceeded to do the same as them. Once she found a good spot to sleep, she layed on a tree branch, had a deep sigh and closed her eyes...
A couple of hours passed... the jungle was quiet. All the tahuayos were slumbering deeply. However, Y'shaati was still awake. The poor monkey-girl didn't manage to fall asleep. Something was bothering her...
She was still trying to understand what happened during her combat with her master. She was trying to find an explanation about her sudden loss of memory. But most of all, she was trying to find the reason why all her fellow gorillas were looking frightened at her when the combat ended. There was something odd about that situation... a riddle for the ages.
No matter how hard she tried to sleep, the intrigue wouldn't let her.
She closed her eyes again. But then, some noises from above alerted her. Something was approaching her. However, a few seconds later, she saw who was making those familiar sounds: it was K'uno. He had descended from his high treetop to see her. The gorilla spoke to her in low ape howls, as if he were inviting her to climb along with him back to the top of the tree to talk privately. Y'shaati accepted his request and soon started to climb the tree quietly to not awake the other tahuayos.
Once they reached the top of the tree, K'uno, still hurt from the battle, slowly sat in his branch and invited Y'shaati to sit next to him. Then, both of them gazed at the beautiful starred night sky. K'uno began to explain to the monkey-girl what had happened after she lost consciousness during their combat. He told her that she suddenly began to emanate a green resplandescent aura from her body, and that her strength and aggressiveness greatly increased. Y'shaati was shocked to hear this... but then, she answered K'uno that this wasn't new for her and that this wasn't the first time that happened to her. K'uno turned his gaze towards her, confused.
Then, Y'shaati began to tell him about that strange dream she had the other day, and how she woke up from that sleep with her body covered in that same green aura. At that time, she felt like if she were someone else... like if she had transformed into another being... like if some spirit other than hers were living inside her...
K'uno was astonished from hearing this. He quickly realized that there was only one possible answer to explain it everything: the Spirit of Amazonia.
Y'shaati was confused and didn't understand at the first time, but then K'uno told her about the myth of the goddess Yacuruna's second arrival in this world. Yacuruna would choose a mortal being to be the vessel of her soul. And looks like Y'shaati had been chosen...
The monkey-girl felt anguished and scared when she knew this, and thought that this would mean that she wasn't going to be herself ever again. She didn't wanted to be the bearer of this fate. But K'uno told her otherwise. He mentioned that before fainting, a mysterious voice tried to tell her that he would have the mission to protect her, because now she was the incarnation of a Goddess. Her master explained to her that she wasn't alone and, from now on, he would help her to dominate this new power. He told her that she should consider her power as a blessing, rather than a curse. Destiny choose her to be the savior of Amazonia, and for that she would need the support of all the beings that live in it, including humans.
The monkey-girl, still doubting her master's words, told him how her first approach with humans didn't went exactly the way she expected, and only brought her more problems and sorrows. She even revealed to him that, because of this, she had a traumatic encounter with Mai D'goa, the titanic-toothed Serpent.
Just from hearing that name, K'uno's face went pale. He couldn't believe how a young girl like her had survived an attack from that hideous monster. Then, he gazed at her directly to her eyes with a serious look on his face. He warned Y'shaati that Mai D'goa is a vengeful creature, and once the serpent puts its mark on a prey, it will never stop chasing it. He adviced her to be more careful from now on whenever she traveled through the jungle.
At that moment, K'uno promised to help her in everything necessary to gain control of her power and fulfill her fate to become the savior of the jungle, until the end of his days. Smiling and relieved, Y'shaati embraced K'uno to thank him for all the nice things he said to her.
Soon after, both of them laid on their branches and finally fell asleep together.
The jungle remained calm for the rest of the night until the dawn of the next day...
In the morning, just when the sunlight was beginning to illuminate the majestic landscape of the Jungle...
A lot of gorilla howls and growls abruptly woke up both K'uno and Y'shaati...
Startled, both looked around them to see what was going on. Then, K'uno realized that the thunderous howls were coming from the jungle floor below. Right after, K'uno began to descend from the great tree. Y'shaati wanted to do the same, but K'uno turned around and ordered her to stay in the treetop for her own safety. Then, K'uno jumped off the tree...
Meanwhile, in the jungle soil, all the tahuayos were furiously roaring and beating their chests in a violent way. When K'uno finally reached the ground, he at last saw the cause of the gorillas rage: a large group of tribal humans, armed with spears, clubs and bows, had arrived at the tahuayo forest. It was the same young Tupinámbá-Guaraní group that found Y'shaati sleeping the other day... but this time, they were accompanied by the tribe's warriors, three wisemen of the tribe, and even the chieftain himself. They had followed the direction Y'shaati escaped that day and had came upon the Tahuayo's home.
Infuriated to see the humans had trasspased their territory, K'uno stepped in front of all the gorillas to confront them, launching a intimidating roar in order to scare them and make them return from where they came. However, the humans were determined to introduce themselves deeper in the tahuayo forest, wondering if the supposed white-skinned naked girl they were told about could be there.
Both the tahuayos and the humans didn't want this tense situation turn into a bigger conflict, but if there was no other choice, both species would be more than prepared to fight.
Suddenly, by the chieftain's command, the humans warriors aimed their bows and arrows at the tahuayos. In response, the gorillas adopted their battle stance...
It was too late now... the bloodshed was about to begin... But just then...
Just a second before the chieftain could give the order to fire and K'uno could tell the gorillas to charge against the humans... a powerful roar coming from above stopped both sides before attacking each other. The humans, confused, looked all around, trying to find the source of the loud ape-like roar. They noted it was a distinct roar and couldn't become from a gorilla. The chieftain and the wisemen smiled briefly, hoping that the majestic Spirit of Amazonia could appear right before their very own eyes. Just then, the humans finally saw something that left them speechless: the young naked girl they were looking for, was descending quickly from a tree, with the grace of a wild monkey.
Y'shaati acrobatically jumped from the tree and safely landed in the ground, right in front of the humans and the chieftain. The humans looked down to gaze at the white-skinned girl. At the same time, Y'shaati adopted her tahuayo battle stance, planted her knuckcles in the ground and looked up to see the humans right in their eyes. Y'shaati had a serious look on her face...
In a naive reaction, the younger warriors felt attracted to the girl... they thought she was incredibly beautiful and couldn't help to have a glimpse of the girl's cute and naked white-skinned breasts and womanhood; they were surprised to see that the girl was around her early 20s, just like them. When Y'shaati looked at them, they blushed.
The chieftain and the three wisemen tried to approach her to have a closer look of her, but Y'shaati suddenly produced a threatening ape-like howl and showed her bare fangs at the humans, startling them. K'uno approached the monkey-girl and spoke to her to calm her down, fearing that she could accidentally unleash her power again due to her sudden fury. Y'shaati turned around and spoke to him, as if she were trying to protect his master and the other gorillas from the threat of humans.
While this happened, the humans couldn't believe what they were seeing. They were surprised to see that the young girl was able to communicate with the gorillas; she even behaved and walked in her fours legs, just like them... but nothing more. There wasn't anything holy or mystical within the girl. The wisemen, dissapointed, began to think that the supposed Spirit of Amazonia was nothing but a wildling. A feral girl. Knowing this, they stepped away from her and suggested the chieftain and the group to return to the settlement right away; their travel had been a waste of time and effort.
However... the chieftain was in denial. He refused to believe that was all. He hoped to see the promised savior of the Jungle this very day... and nothing would stop him from witness it. He considered that girl was hiding something...
Then, from one moment to another, the chieftain ran towards Y'shaati in a deseperate attempt to grab her by her arm and take her with his group to Kayapo, the tribe's main settlement.
In a couple of seconds, K'uno saw the chieftain coming towards Y'shaati and quickly charged against him to protect her. Y'shaati saw this and remained motionless. The tahuayo tackled the chieftain, crashing him directly into the ground. K'uno, infuriated once again, was about smash the chieftain's body with his powerful fists to knock him out and end this foolish conflict for good, when suddenly... the horror happened...
A flash burst of arrows hit K'uno all over his body... the human archers had shot the gorilla to protect the chieftain. K'uno collapsed into the ground. Y'shaati and all the tahuayos remained catatonic, watching the terrible scene...
The chieftain quickly stood up and ordered all his group to retreat, knowing that the wrath of the tahuayos would surely detonate in any moment. The wisemen were also shocked to see such terrible thing. Then, all the humans turned back and ran out of the forest.
Y'shaati, completely heartbroken, rushed towards K'uno, crying. The tahuayos also approached K'uno and began to mourn and weep. The poor monkey-girl looked horrified at his wounded body. It was horrible... there was nothing she could do for him. Sheding tears, she caressed her master's face. K'uno was still alive, but his life quickly began to fade away. In his last moments, K'uno smiled at Y'shaati one last time, while Y'shaati's tears ran of her face. K'uno slowly closed his eyes... and in the next moment, he was gone... the faithful leader of the Tahuayos had died.
Y'shaati embraced his body and began to cry like she never did before. The tahuayos, completely devastated, began to cry as well.
All the creatures of the jungle could hear the cries of the gorillas as the jungle fell in deep sorrow.
A few silent minutes passed, and then, the tahuayos noticed something...
The green resplandescent aura started to emanate from Y'shaati's body, once again.
She wasn't crying anymore. Concerned, the gorillas began to draw away from her, fearing that she could lose control of herself again. However, one tahuayo approached her. When the tahuayo gently spoke to her to see how she was... Y'shaati looked up and growled at him like a wild ape. The poor gorilla quickly stepped back, scared.
Y'shaati slowly began to crawl away from K'uno's body and drew away all the other tahuayos with terrifying growls. Without a doubt, she had reversed into the same savage beast, like last time.
Y'shaati, completely enraged and feeling the wrath flowing through her body, looked into the path the humans had escaped...
She adopted her tahuayo battle stance again... and in just the blink of an eye... she sprinted into the forest like a feral creature pursuing its prey...
The hunt had began...
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