The Celestial Foe

A Story by Grislobo

A tale of the alliance formed by Native American tribes to oust a common enemy: Extraterrestrials with imperialistic ambitions.

Before the White Devil sullied our Holy and fecund expanses, we Warriors bravely defended our land from our rivals. The White Devil has come to accept our Native American history as one of savage feuds between clans of barbaric peoples. Although we took up bow and tomahawk against other tribes, we were doing so in the name of honor and pride.

Over 200 years before the White Devil displayed horrific acts of imperialism on our hunting grounds, the Seven Holy Tribes achieved peace between each other. The Seven Holy Tribes were the Apache, Comanche, Cherokee, Sioux, Seminole, Arapaho, and Creek. After centuries of tragic bloodshed between the tribes, we sought to change the world we lived in by forming an alliance against the Savages.

Each tribe elected a council of six to follow their Chief into the peace ritual. The six members of the council were the most intrepid of all Warriors. Upon the arrival of each tribe, an animal sacrifice was made by each of the Seven Holy Tribes.
The Apache elected to sacrifice the Grizzly Bear, for it symbolized strength and ferocity. As a result of the sacrifice, each Apache Warrior encompassed the Grizzly Bear's strength and ferocity. The Comanche were the next to sacrifice their power animal, and they chose the Mountain Lion for its agility and stealth. Next in line were the Cherokee, who sacrificed the Gray Wolf because of its cunning and endurance. For the Seminole the choice was easy, they chose the Falcon for its amazing vision and speed. The Arapaho shocked everyone with their choice of the Prairie Dog, but they reassured the other tribes by explaining they would gain elusiveness and communication skills. The Creek's choice was natural, electing their power animal to be the Salmon for its directional skills and swimming abilities. The final tribe was the Sioux nation, and their choice was the Bison for its strength in numbers and for their thick protective hide.

The summation of the sacrifice caused lightning to engulf all of the Warriors of the Seven Holy Tribes. As the Warriors were struck, they lost consciousness and entered a dreamlike state where they all met in the Spirit Realm. The Warriors were instructed to defend each other in the face of peril, and strike down any enemy with extreme prejudice. The Seven Holy tribes were the only tribes connected to the Spirit Realm, so any other tribe was seen as an enemy to a common cause.

For decades, the Seven Holy Tribes cooperated and thwarted any potential threats with relative ease. When fighting alone, any one tribe was at risk of failure because when their Warrior attributes increased, they lost other skills. Fighting as a group allowed them to capitalize on the combination of strength, ferocity, agility, stealth, cunning, endurance, vision, speed, elusiveness, communication, directional skills, swimming, pack strength, and armor, making them impossible to defeat.

Even though no nation on Earth could bring harm to the Seven Holy Tribes, their true strength was yet to be tested. As the sun began to evaporate dew from the moist blades of grass, an eerie silence fell over the Seven Holy Tribes as they gazed up at the Cosmos. Every ray of energy from the sun fell short of the grass, as an enormous floating vessel cast its shadow over everything in sight. A threat of this scope had never crossed the mind of the Seven Holy Tribes, but their pride and confidence did not wane as they readied the Warriors for a Celestial war.

Creatures, not unlike dragons, descended from the vessel at daunting speeds and crashed to the Earth in an explosion of rock and soil. As the Warriors approached these creatures, they noticed each one of them squirm as the breath was quickly snatched from their lungs. Although the creatures were already dead, each Warrior claimed at least six scalps from the lifeless bodies. The Warriors let out war calls for the whole world to hear, claiming victory over their mysterious foe.

Their complacency was ill-conceived. As night fell on the first day of contact, the same creatures began to descend in disconcerting numbers. This time the creatures came baring oxygen tanks that fed into a glasslike bowl that encompassed their heads. Without hesitation, the Warriors charged the creatures and found that a glancing blow with a tomahawk, or a well-aimed arrow, would shatter the protective cases. With this knowledge, the Warriors were again able to easily overthrow the creatures. The Seven Holy Tribes suffered no casualties, but the Chief of each tribe was lifted to the vessel by way of nothing but light.

After each extraterrestrial skull lay exposed, the six council Warriors of each tribe gathered to strategize. The Seminole Warriors were the only ones to see the Chiefs extracted from the Earth, for they had the vision of the Falcon. When they enlightened the other tribes of the levity of the situation, a riot broke out amongst the Seven Holy Tribes. Their intra-war was short-lived due to the fact that the Spirit Realm disallowed quarreling between the Seven Holy Tribes.

The Cherokee capitalized on the Gray Wolf's cunning and forced logic into the situation. They reasoned that the Chiefs were now gone forever and the only logical thing to do was to rule as a conglomerate of Warriors. The spark of civility and conversation fizzled out, as the Warriors knew they had a long war ahead of them. They mapped out their battle strategy and dispersed about the land.

As the Creek laid low in all the neighboring streams and rivers, the Seminole climbed to the highest of treetops to scout the battlefield. The Arapaho and Sioux trudged through the muddy outskirts of the tree line and relied on the combination of strength in numbers and ability to evade enemies. The Seminole, Comanche, and Apache marched to the blood-drenched plateau, where the bulk of bloodshed had occurred. The Cherokee divided and joined each company in order to couple their intellect with the abilities of the other Warriors.

As each of the Seven Holy Tribes waited silently for the next wave of enemy pressure, an effervescent strobe light from the vessel lit the entire battlefield. To the dismay of the Warriors, a new foe accompanied the overbearing light. These creatures soared nearly three feet over our median height of 5'6”. Every inch of their body was enveloped by a dirt brown, charcoal black, mountain grey, or auburn mat of tangled, coarse hair. An odor beyond that of a thousand rotting skunk carcasses emitted from these creatures every time they rocked back their enormous heads to boom a howl louder than any noise the Earth had ever heard.

Undaunted by the physical prowess of this new obstacle, the Seminole, Comanche, and Apache launched an assault at the largest group, nearly fifty. The beasts shrugged off arrows as if they were a nuisance as miniscule as a fruit fly. The Apache used their strength and ferocity to chop the beasts down at the knee and then proceeded to decapitate them. If one of these creatures grabbed hold of one of the Warriors, the captive stood no chance of survival. The beasts tore Warriors limbs apart as if they were made of cotton, and then they would eat every bit of the disassembled body, not leaving one bone.

The number of Warriors quickly dwindled to half of the previous day's population. The Apache, Seminole, and Comanche could do little to halt the advance of their foe on their own, so they retreated to base. The Arapaho quickly spread the word to all of the other tribes, and each of the Seven Holy Tribes met at base to devise a new strategy. The Apache informed the others of the amazing power of the beasts and concluded they could not be thwarted by strength and ferocity alone. The Seminole expressed their concern about the speed of the creatures and they knew that they could not intimidate their foe with their amazing speed.

The Creek and Sioux felt as if their skills had been underutilized, because the enemy fought alone and had thus far avoided water. The Seven Holy Tribes drew up a new plan to overpower the enemy with their power in numbers and herd them to the raging rapids past the tree line. The plan was flawless, but the execution would prove onerous.

The Warriors headed for the plateau, where the beasts were still feasting on the fallen bodies of enemies and comrades alike. The advancing tribes seemed to catch the creatures off-guard as the Warriors were able to slay ten of them before the creatures slowly began to retreat. The Seminole used their speed to outflank the beasts and herded them toward the tree line. The Creek guided the herd straight toward the most perilous stretch of rapids. The beasts retreated backwards as their heels approached the river bed, and one last ferocious push by the Apache sent them into the unforgiving river.

A handful of creatures still roamed the Earth, but their desire to fight had subsided and they sought refuge in mountainous or heavily wooded regions. Upon the desertion of its troops, the vessel vanished as quickly as it had appeared, leaving the beasts to fend for themselves. The Seven Holy Tribes let out war calls that put that of the beast to shame. After several years, the Seven Holy Tribes and the creatures that came to be known as Sasquatch were able to reach a peaceful coexistence.