Ch. 4. You want to honor his legacy?
M’Baku stood in a dark chamber. It had once been flourishing with dark flowers. Flowers, which had provided Wakanda’s champion with great strength and durability. After the incident with Erik Killmonger, the flower had nearly gone to extinction. Only thanks to efforts of Queen Mother Ramonda and princess Shuri, the source of champions power had been managed to be revived. Though still, every time the power of the herb was used, it was risk. The species was still weak.
But now, M’Baku was entering the ritual that was to give him the powers of a champion and a king. While he would not take the title of the Black Panther, he was from the gorilla clan, not panther clan, he would officially ascend to the throne of Wakanda.
The journey he was about to embark to the Ancestral plane also had a new meaning. He was to seek answers from there on the questions on one of these infinity stones, the soul stone. He would ask the souls of those past. These were the thoughts in M’Baku’s mind, as he was covered to the ground after drinking the elixir of the heart shaped herb.
M’Baku opened his eyes and looked around. He saw an African landscape that looked so otherworldly. Under the glowing night sky there was a valley that looked like places somewhere in Wakanda. M’Baku began walking through the tall grass, taking in his surroundings.
On an acacia tree in the valley, he saw panthers resting on branches. Their gaze felt piercing, even from a distance away. The ancestors of the panther dynasty. The ones T’Challa and his predecessors had greeted here on the ancestral plane. But he was no panther. He was M’Baku, a gorilla of the mountain tribe. M’Baku turned his head and started walking towards the edge of the valley, where mountains began to rise.
As he arrived at the mountain side, he saw them. Watching him as he approached. Great silver back mountain gorillas. In them rested the spirits of his ancestors. One of them approached M’Baku. Stopping in front of him and changing form into an old white bearded man. M’Baku recognized him. The man who had been the chief in the mountains when he had been but a boy. The man whose words had always inspired him. Same man who had given him the idea of bringing the tribe out of mountains and challenging T’Challa’s rule.
“Grandfather.” M’Baku raised his hands in respectful greetings to the man.
“Chief M’Baku.” The man responded.
“I have come here to face you. To tell you that I now stand as the king of Wakanda. But also, to ask your counseling.”
“You acted nervous before me. Why is that?” Grandfather responded.
“I…have not acted the way you might’ve expected. I have walked on paths I never saw myself in.” M’Baku answered.
“We have seen the path you’ve have walked. And you should feel only proud when addressing us, son.”
M’Baku looked at his ancestors, whose eyes rested on him. His grandfather continued.
“You have acted only to benefit your people, whom you have sworn to lead. You have not held on to your own selfish desires or petty grudges on others expense. You have made peace but been always ready to face combat for the right cause. You have done well. And others have seen this too and for that are now seeking for you lead them as well.”
“I always though T’Challa would be my great adversary.” M’Baku confessed. “But in the end, we became brothers-in-arms.”
“You chose your friends and your enemies wisely.” His grandfather said. “The journeys you and king T’Challa took mirror one another. You sought to bring the mountain tribe out it’s isolation into with rest of Wakanda. T’Challa sought to bring Wakanda to be part of the outside world. You both acted for the benefit of both your own people and those outside.”
“We also know the difficult task you face now.” M’Baku’s grandfather continued. “But your past experiences already hold the answers to your questions.”
“I don’t understand.” M’Baku responded.
“We cannot help you further. You need another guide.”
Out of a corner of his eye, M’Baku saw movement little away on the higher mountain side. Animal with a snow-white fur was staring at them.
“The White Wolf is a creature that runs both in Wakanda and outside of it.” Grandfather said. “If you follow it, it can help you to find what you seek.”
M’Baku took steps towards the White Wolf. The animal tilted its head and then started to run further up the mountain. M’Baku followed as the wolf made its way toward cliffs on the mountain. As M’Baku got closer, he noticed something. Beyond those cliffs there was new light coming. An orange glow, almost like a sunset, shimmered from the horizon behind the cliffs.
And that’s when he saw them. Above him, on the edges of the cliffs, there were people standing. M’Baku could only make out their silhouettes against the orange light, but that was enough. He saw that some of them were old, others young. Men and women, people of all kind. Some of them looked…almost familiar. But even though he could see them, they still weren’t there, in the valley he called the ancestral plane. Because, M’Baku thought, like Wakanda was part of a bigger world, this valley was part of something bigger.
“Yes. I understand.”
As M’Baku woke from his trance in a Wakandan chamber, his eyes opened different than they had been before the coronation ritual. The color of his eyes had changed. They were now orange.