The Wild Mules naturally were as black as tar. In shape, they were often put into a comparison with horses, only that the mules were smaller in size. Originally, these animals used to roam in and out of Tiger Mountain Village freely. The villagers considered them harmless yet friendly and even domesticated several of them to be trained as pets or help out in farm labor. Things went well between the people and the mules until one day, a village guardian name Ralph Allan came across a rotting corpse of a mule near the entrance of Bamboo Cave. Due to the insufficient food supply the government was providing, he endangered his whole family by taking the mule's double-dead meat home. The world turned upside down when surprisingly, the meat was found out to be tasty. From then on hunters from all over the village gathered and began to mass-hunt all the mules to temporarily put an end to the food crisis. However, it extended to the point where a widespread of various mule delicacies occurred. They existed in all kinds: roasted mule, corned mule, fried mule, mule adobo, mule in tomato sauce, rice with chopsuey and mule toppings, you name it.
The poor creatures had suffered a wipe out. Well, almost. Since only one was fortunate enough to survive.
Three days later, a decapitated body was discovered in the forest. Nobody knew what happened. Then more were found the next day, equally as macabre as the first one. Intelligence reports stated that the culprit was an animal--a Mule--as confirmed by a number of eyewitnesses interrogated by the investigators.
Was there a mutation? The only theory on how such harmless beings could turn into vicious monsters seemed vague.
The World Government declared Tiger Mountain’s state of quarantine until the mystery was solved.
After a few weeks, an old hermit called the authorities claiming that the Aborigine Chief had employed his demon magic to transform the last remaining Mule into some kind of a blood-thirsty beast. The investigators bought this. So a troop of village guardians was dispatched to negotiate with the Aborigine Chief in hopes that the magic could still be reversed. It was led by Ralph Allan.
“Lift this curse from the Mule, Chief. The potential hazard has already been foreseen. 64 villagers were killed violently in just a month. Please, Chief, we will agree to your terms.”
“Potential hazard? Nyahahahaha! But it seems to me that you didn’t foresee the potential hazard 1 year ago, when you decided to consume the dead mule instead of burying it and letting it rest in peace.”
“My family was going to die! I had no choice!”
“Did the Mules have a choice? You and your…gluttonous army of carnivores slaughtered them all so fast that you made it look as easy as harvesting crops in Farmville.”
“…So it all comes down to this. Even if I say I’m sorry for the rest of my life, it won’t change anything. The Mules are gone because we killed them. And now…”
“Yes! And now… you humans, it’s your turn to be gone because the Mules are going to kill you.”
“Mules? So it wasn’t just one.”
“It was only one! The last Wild Mule came to me asking not for revenge, but for his mother. His father. His brothers, sisters, cousins. His friends. Good heavens, the poor animal was blaming me for what happened when it was all your doing! He was crying, asking desperate questions like, what if he died? Being the last of their kind, the Wild Mules would completely disappear from the face of the earth.”
“And as nature’s protector, you couldn’t let that happen.”
“That’s why even if it cost him being turned to a zombie, I did what I did. The magic could never be undone. Bwahahaha! And to ensure the continuity of his specie, I’ve resurrected other Wild Mules as well.”
“What do you get out of this?”
“Hahaha! So now you’re thinking I’m doing this for fun. Ralph Allan, it is my sole duty to keep nature in balance. I am not helping the Mules to exact their revenge on you. I just helped them survive. Revenge is up to them. Wahahaha!”“But revenge is always an option. If they choose vengeance, there will be killings!”
“I thought that’s what you wanted? Men eat Mules, Mules eat Men… that’s pretty balanced out. ”
“I never wanted that. And I understand that it is because of our own weakness and folly that all these happened. But nonetheless, Chief Aborigine, let’s keep it real… so, what do you want?
“A sacrifice.”
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