eyes of the forest - a kingdom of the planet of the apes story

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙸𝙸

With determination, Noa ventures further into the heart of the forest, his gaze fixated on the faint trail of human tracks. He rounds an upturned tree laying on the ground, its roots exposed. Beside it, the remains of cooked fish lay scattered. Noa's brow furrows with the realization that this was the same kind of fish that his clan prepares, confirming his suspicion that the human has stolen from them.

Noa continues his pursuit, following the faint human prints on the damp forest floor. As he approaches a small hill, the rustling of leaves and twigs reaches his ears. Trying to be as silent as possible, he eases himself off his horse and creeps around the incline, his heart quickening at the sight before him - there, crouching near the babbling stream, is the elusive human, refilling a pouch with water from the creek.

Noa's presence is immediately noticed by the human, whose eyes widen in shock before a flurry of motion ensues. They drop the pouch into the creek, scrambling to their feet in a desperate attempt to flee.

Noa immediately pursues the human, swiftly closing the distance between them. He seizes the fabric of the human's cloak, however, the garment comes clean off and the human falls to the ground with a grunt.

The human looks up at him, suddenly throwing dirt in Noa's eyes before running off. Noa groans and rubs the soot out of his face, blinking away the stinging feeling. He had meant to grab the human and give it a quick death so he wouldn't have to chase it and have its last moments be in fear. Yes he wanted it dead, but he wasn't heartless.

Tossing the cloak to the side Noa chases after the human, running on all fours, his muscular arms propelling him with powerful strides. He sees light peeking out of the trees and knows where he is. Soon he'd have the human cornered by a cliff.

Noa bursts through the bushes with a huff, his keen eyes scouring the clearing in anticipation. To his dismay, there's no sign of the human. Panting for breath, his thoughts race as he wonders how the human had managed to vanish so swiftly and silently.

He lets out a grunt of frustration and tosses his bag to the ground in anger, but his eagle totem that his mother gave him was now rolling out of his bag and down the sand towards the cliff. Noa gasps and lunges forward, just barely missing it as it falls.

His hand grasps onto a small tree clinging to the cliffs edge, and with a burst of strength, he thrusts himself off the cliff, his foot catching the totem mid air. As his body dangles precariously over the yawning expanse below, he draws in a ragged breath of relief, carefully maneuvering his way back up the cliff.

Gripping the young tree, Noa braces himself, hoping it would hold. However, the small roots prove unable to withstand his weight, groaning and creaking under the strain. With a loud snap, they tear from the dirt, and the entire plant giving way, sending both Noa and the tree tumbling over the edge of the towering cliff.

The ape lets out a cry, digging his fingers into the side of the cliff desperately searching for something, anything, to grab onto. Noa finally barely catches himself on another root jutting out of the side of the cliff. He hoots softly, still panicked and catching his breath.

He looks up at the cliff's edge with worried eyes. The apes knew not to go near this cliff, as when the tide from below comes in it washes away the sediment, turning most of it to wet sand, making it nearly impossible to climb.

Noa swings his hand up, digging his fingers into the gritty dirt and trying to pull himself up, but to no avail as his hand just keeps digging sand out of the cliffside wherever he tries to get a hold.

Noa is snapped out of his panicked thoughts when he hears rustling above him. His heart flickers with hope, maybe an ape had found him and he would be rescued. But his heart quickly sinks when the human peers down at him from atop the cliff.

Noa snarls at the human, how could his plan to kill the puny creature be foiled so badly? And now they were going to watch him die. Pathetic...He cursed himself.

Noa hears more rustling up above, looking up to see the human had gone but he could hear their soft grunts. The human appears again, looking over the cliffside, and to Noa's surprise they throw down some long vines and tangled up roots, just barely reaching him.

He looks up at them, his brows furrow in confusion, before the human runs away once more. Noa reaches out and tugs on the vines, seeing they are secure he quickly scales them, making his ascent back up the cliffside.

Once one the stable ground again Noa puts his totem that he was still holding with his foot back in his bag. He looks around and down at the vines the human had thrown over the edge. They look like they would be heavy for a human and Noa thought once more on why a human would make an effort to save an ape? Let alone one that was trying to kill them.

Noa sighs and runs his hand down his tired face. He makes his way back to his horse who was nibbling on some bushes. He greets the large animal with a pat on its nose and mounts the horse, guiding it in the direction of his clan.

word count: 934
i wanted to add this chapter so that noa has a confusing experience with a human before he goes on his adventure. the next chapter will be when the plot of the movie starts

- raine