Side story 7

Side story 7: Uncle Bibi's military career (Read part 1) 

Uncle Bibi P.O.V 

My name is Bibi. I am a forty-five-year-old imperial army veteran. I began my military service at the age of eighteen years when the Great Batang IV was the reigning Emperor. I was first enrolled into the regiment of Okala in the west of the empire where I spent the two first years of my quite long career. Then I was transferred to Okunde barracks in the north and stayed there for five years before being assigned to the regiment of Ekule, that is to say, the imperial city and also my hometown. The empire had been peaceful for over a decade until it was on a sunny afternoon in shock after a Monster with an unbelievable might killed the fifteen-year-old Crown Prince Dida the first during a promenade on Okunde's mountain. The villain was a giant bird created by Edimo the god of ruin, a bad divinity that was expelled from the heavens by the ancestors for he took vicious pleasure in human suffering. Edimo was angry and nourished a burning desire for revenge. He was determined to harshly strike the Batang empire, knowing how much the forefathers cherished the land. Following the death of the Heir to the throne, Emperor Batang IV strictly forbade access to Okunde's mountain for hiking. He then sent to the village of Okunde backup troops from Okala and Ekule. However, I wasn't chosen for the expedition on the front line. I was among the comrades that were designated to be at the back line of defense against the redoubtable aggressor. We were tasked to protect the imperial city Ekule so it would not fall under the wings of the giant bird if the comrades at the front line in Okunde had failed to abbreviate its life. But surprisingly the Monster never showed up and remained in its stronghold for five years to the extent it was forgotten and the men in uniform at the front line returned to barracks. Our units in the imperial city Ekule also lost focus, thinking the beast was maybe dead for various reasons such as it had been killed and eaten by its master Edimo, the god of ruin. I was now thirty years old when out of the blue a big howl emanated from the forbidden mountain and sent a shiver down my spine and that of my comrades in the barracks. The Monster wasn't dead as we wrongly thought and by its strident scream, it announced its looming attack. Frankly, we weren't ready anymore after those long years of waiting for a Monster that was never coming. We were taken aback and were disorganized. We had even ceased the military exercises during which we simulated how we would defend our position in case of an attack by the beast. Nevertheless, we went back to the battlefield and prayed that the troops on the front line in Okunde achieved the result that we all expected, namely the killing of the villain. On the next day, the Monster left the forbidden mountain and marched toward the north gate of Okunde. It swept the imperial sentinels with a devastating windy attack by flapping powerfully its enormous wings. Then it went inside the village and decimated with the same windy attack the two hundred armed forces that had been deployed. Informed, the Emperor called on all the sons of the land, military, and non-military, to gather at the imperial city's east gate toward which the Monster was heading. We were thrilled with His Majesty's appeal to civilians because we were only three hundred men in uniform on our defense line and given what was told of the Monster, that it was invincible, we felt a bit boosted. Civilians of different ages massively answered the Emperor's call. They took with them all sorts of weapons, essentially stainless steel swords. Our joint forces now reached a thousand men. We waited for the Monster that was en route to approach our position while chanting encouraging songs. But my goodness! This beast was incredibly mighty. The moment it appeared, it shattered the fighters' enthusiasm. The soil trembled at each of its steps. All of us were tetanized, except for one teenager, a seventeen-year-old apprentice lumberjack who defied the Monster with an enormous axe. But the young man's courage was insufficient against the beast's windy attack. He was sent into the air with the other comrades that were standing in the path of the violent wind and they landed hard on the floor. The fighters either died or were seriously hurt like the lumberjack. I was able to avoid the attack because I bent down inside a trench along with the men of my unit. Then whereas the Monster was howling even stronger, the lumberjack found extra resources from the ancestors. His health was restored and he raced to pick up his axe before throwing it with impressive power on the giant bird's limb. The villain was badly wounded and began to spiral to the inner side of the village. Finally, it fell on a house and the most striking thing was that the house was coincidentally mine where I lived with my little sister Anna and her three-year-old daughter, Suzie. I ran toward our crumbled house while shouting my sister's name but I knocked over a stone and sprained my ankle. The lumberjack heard my sister and her baby's cries underneath the villain, ran past me, and snatched the axe from the wound. He thereupon mercilessly cut the head of the evil creature off. I was suddenly invaded by an immense joy and hailed the comrade lumberjack whom I had never met before and ignored the name. All I knew was that he was a civilian who heard and answered the Emperor's call for patriotism. I later learned his name was Babida when he took the beast's head on a silver platter to the Great Batang IV and the latter wrapped around his neck the medal of the highest honor and merit before he then left the land for an unknown destination. As for me, I returned to the barracks with fellow imperial warriors. I continued my military service and sought advancement in the hierarchy. One year later Emperor Batang IV died of undisclosed illnesses and his second son Bila who was Crown Prince since the passing of the first son Dida became the new Ruler under the name of Batang V. Five years later, His Majesty Batang V appointed me Commander of Ekule's regiment and I conducted some top-secret missions abroad. I was now thirty-six years of age and sixteen years of a military career. I was getting tired of the army life and was feeling lonely. I wanted to marry and found a family. So I gave my letter of resignation to the Emperor but he rejected it without stating a reason. I was hence compelled to serve His Majesty for a longer time. Five years later, I turned forty and was physically diminished. I wasn't enjoying anymore my life with the uniform. I wrote a long letter to the Emperor begging him obsequiously to let me go to retirement and he finally did authorize me. The very same day I got the positive response from His Majesty Batang V, I quit the barracks and went back to my chalet that I had rebuilt after the Monster of the forbidden mountain had destroyed it by falling on it. A new civilian life then started for me. I was living alone in my house but I could visit the twin house in front where my mom lived with my thirteen-year-old niece Suzie, the daughter of my late junior sister Anna. We were a united family and very supportive of each other. I had been most of the time in the barracks and couldn't share more moments of joy with them but with my retirement, I made sure to not spoil a single second.