My brother has been accepted into the fold!

As we neared the end of our journey where our duty were to visit the soaring monkey tribe's outposts at the edges of the forest, we arrived at one where an expedition had gone awry. It had been weeks since they ventured out and they never returned. Rescue teams had been send out, but regretfully also went missing. Our arrival sparked new hope amidst the people, who feared the worst, as their leadership and broken down as important members were among the lost and confidence in the remaining authority was dwindling. There were many who had been brutally wounded from infighting, when we arrived.

Shortly after we arrived, the misfortune continued. We would face an unforeseen raid by a flock of gorillas, just days after.

There were little to no defences to back their attack, as the young adults and strong warriors had been the first to join the expedition and the following rescue teams. The invaders were only three strong, but their towering size and powerful physique were enough to overpower the weakened outpost. One of the raiders were carrying a satchel and lead the others with strong gestures and terrifyingly powerful growls.

Gavin gave little pause and immediatedly ordered our retreat and the few men positioned in the outpost followed along. It was the first time our group had chosen to disengage. Our men had willingly thrown themselves into seemingly hopeless battles and fought on Gavin's order without question, even when being clearly outnumbered. Gib and Gab had been able to confidentily fight off hundreds of plague rats, encircling them and using advanced tactics to take advantage of their endless numbers. Yet Gavin chose to retreat when up against only three gorillas and everyone trusted his judgement. I did not understand the danger we were in, but their reactions filled me with unease and my body trembled. Caution. I had become too accustomed to my new life, but this situation reminded me to take caution when facing the unknown.

The attacking gorillas quickly made their way into the center of the outpost. They brutalized anyone who dared stand in their way by bashing them, grabbing and ripping them apart. No mercy was shown and their cruelity and violence went as far as to chop down and chew on their victims. Soaring monkey flesh and gore quickly littered the place, making it a nightmarish hellhole.

I was caught off-guard, as I led children, the wounded and weak civilians to safety. We got cornered by the satchel wearing gorilla and without thought I brought a child behind me and stood up to him. It wasn't heroric, I regret my decision, as I would have been sacrificing my life in vain. Only having delayed him by the time it would take him to smash me to bits. The real hero was my brother!

Just as I closed my eyes, ready to die, my brother came swooping in from above. He landed right on top of the aggressive gorilla and smashed him to the ground with incredible force. My brother had utilized the tall trees and his heavy weight to bring down a powerful and explosive slam, having jumped down all the way from atop the crowns of the trees. His opponent had been taken by surprise and died on impact, his whole skeleton bend and crumbled. The blow was so strong, the smashed gorilla's corpse was clampered to the ground.

The other two raiding gorillas arrived right away on scene, after the impact. They froze up, stunned at the sight of their leader stuck to the ground in a bloody pulp. My brother shouted at them in their language, but they didn't immediately back down. They instead resorted to heavy roars and small, but aggressively threatening steps towards us. My brother responded in tune and waved his arms, he made it clear he wouldn't back down.

In the middle of their scuffle, my brother handed me the satchel from the dead gorilla and motioned me to take it and bring the civilians to safety. He kept inbetween the raiders and us, as we circled around the raiders to an opening that would be our exit.

As we neared our escape route, the two gorillas grew more hostile and one of them eventually jumped my brother, while the other attempted to get to us. The gorilla that came at us aimed for the satchel I was carrying and successfully grabbed on to it. I held on, even as I was tossed in the air. My brother managed to shove his opponent away and got enough space between them to tackle the gorilla, who held on to the satchel. The enemy's grip loosened and with a flap of my wings I managed to break free with the satchel in tow.

We successfully fled the battle, while my brother kept them at bay. We regrouped with Gavin and the others, who had made their escape much earlier. Worried about my brother I pleaded to Gavin to send in a team to help him, but while Gavin recognized him as an ally of the monkey tribe, he refused to risk any more of his men's lives.

Gab grabbed my shoulder and so did Gib, they looked each other in the eyes, then down at me and nodded. In a glimpse, they were off to back up my brother.

Later, as we waited at a safe distance for their return. I brought the satchel to Gavin, who took a look inside and told me it was full of artifacts he recognized as they belonged to the soaring monkey tribe. Studying them future, it became clear that many of the artifacts had been entrusted to members of the expedition team and people in the rescue teams. The faith of the lost members from the outpost had become clear: they had fallen victim to the gorillas and their artifacts were stolen.

Gib and Gab later returned safely, while covered in deep wounds. they ensured me that my brother managed to run away, but told he had been heavily wounded as well. I healed them up using the last leaves of the stick and managed to keep them out of an otherwise critical condition. While I was worried about my brother, I needed to give Gib and Gab back for their bravery. I spend that night clutching to the stick of mending with every thought going into searching for my brother early morning.

That morning I went away from our camp and called for my brother, but he didn't come. As my worry turned into grief, I returned to the camp and packed up to return to the village with the survivors. We had to inform Shirley and the others that the outpost was lost and warn them of the dangers the gorillas pose, as they grab hold of our territory and take possession of our artifacts.

We made our safe return to the village, without any further incidents. Every night I called out to my brother without answer. We were given a day of rest. It had been arranged we share our story in the great hall.

The great hall was filled to the brim that day, with everyone in the village turning up, villagers were standing outside in a big crowd.

I was together with my team sat kneeling in the middleo of the hall, while Shirley stood before her throne and greeted us back. Once Shirley was done, she sat on the throne and Gavin began delivering his report. His first major reporting was about the increased activity of The Plague and how we had fought off a swarming horde before it could spread and cause chaos. The news were alarming and gasps of awe and worry filled the hall. Shirley demanded silence from the crowd, then reassured everyone of their safety and told Gavin to continue.

The men we lost in the battle with the swarming plague rats were listed, but Gavin avoided to mention how some were killed to avoid the potential spread of the plague. Families cried out as their sons and daugthers were named, some left the hall to grieve. The soaring monkeys show a care for family stronger than I have experienced among humans.

The outpost that had been attacked by gorillas was the last major report. Gavin made it clear that the outpost had been lost and too many lives to count had perised. He mentioned briefly the heroric actions of my brother, as a gorilla who fought alongside us, but let Gib and Gab be the ones to go through the battle. The twin brothers told their story as a tale fit for a campfire, every mention of my brother was focused on his brutal strength and how he used it to fend off the other gorillas. They even made his entrance grand, as it was, and told how one of the gorillas had been crushed under his weight with a "Bamm!", they waved their arms and were full of joyous expression. The twins love for fighting shined through in the way they shared every moment. It made them great storytellers, who they grasped everyones attention. They waved their arms wildly and mouthed every explosive strike in the fights as they brought us through the battle.

When I had escaped with the satchel and the twins returned to support my brother, they told how he was struggling to hold the two gorillas back, as he was shielding some survivors, who was trapped underneath some rubble. The twins took action without pause and knew their roles, as they attempted to rescue the survivors, but the rubble was too heavy and the clutter too stuck for them to move. They quickly changed tactics as they went to support my brother by distracting the raiders.

It gave my brother enough time to turn around and free the survivors from the rubble, but one of the raiding gorillas caught on to them and struck him with a devastating blow to the back. The twins acted fast and spun around my brother in a flash, wrapping the rope around him. The raiders were about to unleash some heavy blows when Gab in the nick of time switched place with my brother and reflected their blows with his shield throwing the attackers back with their own power.

The twins noted how quick my brother caught on to the rope's ability to switch the users places, as just after Gab reflected the enemies' attacks, my brother switched back and threw himself at them with extended arms resulting in a well-placed double lariat on the unsuspecting raiders. Just then, Gib had brought the last survivor to safety and switched with my brother, bringing him outside with the survivors.

Gib and Gab retreated shortly after, but found that my brother had untied himself and left the survivors. With some interrogation they learned that my brother's sudden appearance had spooked the survivors and he likely ran away to avoid inciting any more chaos.

This was the end of their tale, I shared pieces of my relationship with my brother to the hall and begged them to treat him as a member of the tribe. Shirley responded by taking a stand from her thrown and clapped. Everyone in the hall joined in and filled the hall and the outside with claps celebrating my brother.

Shirley made it clear he was to be considered one of us and demanded a search party to be dispatched at once, to do a broad sweep towards the lost outpost.

I was told to hold on to the stick of mending for now, as Shirley believed he may approach me and it could be needed.

Most of the village joined in on the search, but they didn't find any trace of him. He was quickly considered a legendary hero and gossip filled the village of his heroism. This was when they started referring to him as Bamm.

Days of searching went by without any findings. It was only when I finally gave up and sat grieving on a stump far from the others that my brother showed himself, he approached me with the tell sign gestures we shared and wiped away my tears. He was hurt badly, but had survived. I brushed his wounds with the stick of mending and spend every green leaf on his health. He then spoke with comprehensible words for the first time.

"Thank you".

My brother had learned to speak the tongue of the soaring monkeys! It was shocking and scared me, he even seemed surprised at first. He told me, that by saving us from the gorilla attack, he had completed a quest. I was told to check my panel as well and sure enough, I had obtained and completed a quest without knowing it. I gained a level once I saw and acknowledged the quest and its completion.

He had earned a higher rating than me and with it he had been rewarded with a passive ability called "Aping of the Monkeys", which gave him the ability to understand and speak with us.

I finally got to learn his Class as he shared how he fought the raiders. His class was Berserker and his class trait is "Wounds to Wound", which makes all incoming damage boost his strength of the next blow within the same minute. He had been fortunate with how his muscular gorilla body synergised with his barbaric class.

The first skill he had chosen was "Body Slam", which he used to crush the gorilla who wore the satchel. The ability gives him a downwards smash attack, which damage increases exponentially based on his downwards velocity. He had initially chosen the skill because it also removed all fall damage and he had been using it to safely practice climbing and leaping between trees.

We briefly went our everything that happend since we were turned into animals. We had a few good laughs over misunderstandings in what our made up sign language actually meant and I explained to him why my name now was Prio. I then told him how the village considers him a hero and calls him Bamm, he had thought their search for him were to hunt him down and he had been hiding. He laughed upon hearing the name, but was happy to be called that from now on. To him it was only fair, since I had to go by Prio, for him to also be renamed.