The day of the trail arrives and the boys gathered by the village gates and waited for Lokena's words. As Lokena arrived, the villagers a few steps behind him, he raised above his head a spear decorated with leaves, wrapped with vines from the jungle andfeathers from the local birds.

"I hold in my hand the spear of destiny," he said holding it out in front of Aki'bo. "This spear is passed to those boys leaving on a journey to manhood. This spear will provide you food, protect you and strike fear into your enemies only if you put your trust into it and into yourselves. At the end of your journey you will come across a great beast of the jungle who will determine if you are worthy to become a man of this village. Those not worthy will be devoured and those he feels confident in will be tested. The victor will return with his gift of life. Honor him when he offers it and quickly return to prove your worth."

Aki'bo bowed his head as he received the spear. He often saw his father working on it, preparing it for this day and now his father is handing him the spear and sending him on his journey to manhood. Yet Aki'bo can't help forcing back a tear when he waved to his father as they left the village ... a dreadful feeling that this was the last time he'd ever see his father alive.

Shaking off his feelings of dispair Aki'bo led his pack into the thick jungle holding his head high as his father would have wanted and kept his eyes forward. His body began to shake with sorrow and his skin cold. One of the other boys patted him on the back to let him know they felt the same way.

The group walked for what seemed like hours, the light through the branches of the tall leafy trees and vines began to fade and the boys knew that soon they needed to find shelter from the night stalkers. Those sleek black panthers, ocelots and other flesh eating creatures who would not hesitate to take one of them down as their evening meal. But in the midst of their journey into the jungle they were so absorbed in their sadness that they've neglected their body's need to feed. Remaining silent to avoid attracting predators, Aki'bo signaled two of the best hunters in the group to quickly find a quary in the area and two others to find some greens growing in the underbrush beneath the roots of the thick vines while he and the remaining boys tried to find a small cave or suitable area to set up camp and light a fire.

After the last rays of sunlight disappeared and the restless night stalkers wake from their slumbers. Aki'bo and the boys quickly eat the remaining meat from a monkey the hunters flushed out of the canopy and swallowed the last of the wild roots they've found near the camp. Once they've picked the bones clean they took it away from the camp and buried the remains and carefully walked around the flames and entered a small burrow Aki'bo dug into the base of a tree. Using the flames at the mouth of the entrance to guard them as they slept. Placing a few loose stones against the base of the fire the boys leaned against the cold dirt wall to sleep. Aki'bo waved the others to sleep and took first watch to keep the flames burning for warmth and protection.

Somewhere in the jungle a creature stirs and moves into the shadows.


After what seemed like days, the boys stopped as they approached rubbles of what appears to be an ancient ruin then froze. Something wasn't right in the jungle. The birds have stopped calling and the monkeys satfrozen in the branches. It was as if something sileneced the jungle, the boys stopped and listened.Nothing but silence.

As they looked around, Aki'bo couldn't help but feel a little jumpy when he backed into one of the others. It was as if their instincts were telling them to huddle together and they slowly put their backs against each other and waited. Looking over the landscape and into the canopy above them the boys listened, smelled and felt their surroundings. Something was very wrong in this area.

A small bird flittered between trees and a loud roar sounded close by, sending the animals screaming as they ran for their lives nearly trampling the boys as they rushed past. Then fear began creeping down their spines as they held their ground when a rather large tannish creature bounded towards them and pounced on one of the monkeys. The monkey screamed and howled as it pulled on the creatures whiskers trying to get it to release him. Managing to yank one of the whiskers out the giant cat-like creature spat him on the ground. As the monkey tried to get up and ran, it couldn't. Screaming as it tried to pull himself away from the creature. It's hindlegs crushed and mangled from the creatures poweful jaws. In a second attempt the creature scooped the monkey into its jaws head first. As the monkey struggled to pull himself out of the creature's jaw it suddenly stopped. It's body went limp and dangled from the creature's lips.

Aki'bo knew this was the creature his father meant for him to challenge. Tightening his grip around the spear he focused on the creature, in his mind he could see his father's nod of approval and then he roared as his body tensed and thickened. The creature looked up at the strange boy running towards it and took a defensive stance.

The two stood their ground waiting and anticipating one another's next move. As the creature's shoulder twitched and its claws digging into the ground Aki'bo squeezed the speargrip tightly. His muscles also twitched with anticipation wondering when the creature will leap and which direction should he roll out of the way. Soon he didn't have to wonder, the creature didn't leap ... it ran ... straight at him.

Aki'bo's muscles tensed as he jumped into the air as the creature neared then with his spear drove it into the creature's back as deep as it can go and held on tightly. It seemed like the fight was taking forever as Aki'bo held on for dear life. Part of him afraid to let go and be devoured by the beast and the other feared disappointing his father.

After what seem like hours the beast began to tire. The blood that seeped from the wound began to slow and finally it laid down on the ground and with a sigh its head fell to the ground and with its last breath gave its death roar and closed its eyes.

Aki'bo couldn't help but feel sadness for this strange creature and even more so when a young cub came racing out to mourn for its mother. 'This must be the gift father spoke of,' he thought to himself as he gently reached out to pet the cub. It ignored Aki'bo's touches and continued mourning for its mother. Aki'bo soon lifted the cub and held it. The rest of the boys lifted the body as a group and pulled it towards a giant table at the base of a statue and together lifted the body onto the table.

"Tonight we pray for its soul to reach the stars and mourn its death as well as celebrate our completed mission," Aki'bo announced as he left the group to hunt some deer and a few monkeys for the cub to eat. Even though it is the creature's cub its still the size of a goat and must eat. As he walked away, the cub followed with its head hung low. "You don't have to follow me little one, I owe your mother a ritual and a promise to see that you're taken care of."

As if it understood, the cub sat down and waited, whimpering as Aki'bo disappeared into the jungle.


After what seemed like weeks of walking through the jungle, Aki'bo had an uneasy feeling as they neared the village and he knew the others felt the same.

As the boys approached an open area where their village once stood the cub began to growl and back away from the area. Aki'bo wanted to do the same but needed to investigate what happened to their village, but there was nothing to investigate. No pits smoking with fresh meats, women chattering and men boasting their day's hunt while the children played. Not even a hut is standing.

"Aki'bo!" shouted one of the boys as he runs into the center of the village.

"Lan! No!" Aki'bo screamed as Lan fell into the earth revealing the trap beneath the lightly covered ground, his eyes grew wide with horror as he counted the bodies of villagers impaled on poles beneath the ground staring up at them with bodies twisted and contorted faces. "Who ... Who has done this!!!!"

The boys fell to their knees in anger and screamed, their faces slightly changing as their muscles began transforming their bodies.

"Aki'bo?" a shy voice called out from the jungle.