Kallad zoomed through the air as he made his way south of the centre of the island. The reservoir that Amy and Lina had found as they travelled inwards was what Naam and Lilly said to be the direct centre. It was supposed to be easy to find the different biomes from there.

Kallad felt like he was on the right track as he flew over the reservoir towards a surprisingly thick jungle canopy.

A sneaking feeling of excitement welled up within him. There were many monsters inside the jungle that Kallad could sense, even from out here.

Is Rai singlehandedly dealing with them all? But that wouldn’t make sense... he’s gotten lots more leadership points, while somehow only having 6 kills...

All Kallad wanted to do right now was find Rai and see what he was doing to gain all of those points.

Through the vines of the jungle trees and the multiple layers of canopy stacked atop one another, Kallad manoeuvred himself. He took note of the more dangerous creatures, who all avoided him on instinct. They weren’t creatures that Rai would easily be able to deal with by himself.

After minutes of transforming into different animals and traversing the jungle, Kallad finally noticed something.

It wasn’t much, but it might be a clue that would help him find Rai. Since his daughters didn’t tell him anything about Rai’s whereabouts, Kallad had to track the boy down himself.

The thing that was strange about this jungle was that the predominant species that was supposed to inhabit it and reign over the region, was surprisingly absent.

There’s supposed to be a whole troop of umbral monkeys around here according to Naam... but there’s no sign of them at all! Did Rai kill... no he couldn’t have. He doesn’t have nearly enough kills to have done anything like a slaughter.

Kallad descended the tree that he was looking around from, and transformed back into himself.

“Ahhh. That’s more like it. There’s really nothing like your own skin.” He said to no one in particular.

Kallad stretched, then continued on foot. The creatures here posed no threat to him, and also seemed to avoid him, so Kallad was fine to do this.

*Rustle. Snap!*

Kallad immediately turned invisible, and masked his presence in the shadows.

*Ooo! Ikaa!! Kakakak!*

There was an umbral monkey making noises as it remained perched up on a large tree branch close to Kallad. There’s one of them... where have they all been?

Another monkey made similar sounds in response from behind.

Then, they started rhythmically slapping the tree branches they stood on.

More and more sounds of slapping came from around Kallad.

They’re communicating with each other...

Kallad remained silent and hidden away as he observed the umbral monkeys.

The first monkey dropped to the ground and walked in a certain direction, further into the jungle.

The other monkeys around Kallad did the same, following the first monkey.

I suppose they’re hosting a meeting or something but... it’s so weird... I’ll follow them and find out exactly what this is all about.

Kallad followed the umbral monkeys.

He’d always been fond of the appearance of these things. They had incredibly beautiful silver fur, lined with blues and greens to blend into their natural environments. The thing that was most impressive to Kallad, however, was how fast these little buggers were. They weren’t a threat to someone like Rai, who was inherently faster, but against any average adventurer or warrior, the umbral monkeys could easily assassinate them by working together and whittling away at their victim with quick claw strikes and cuts.

After a while of walking, Kallad noticed his surroundings getting brighter.

There was a light that they were all walking towards, which was strong enough to reflect that far into the jungle.

Kallad was amazed. Nothing could’ve prepared him to witness what was a pseudo-society of umbral monkeys gathering around a single focal point.

But here he was, walking towards that point alongside a small troop of umbral monkeys.

What met Kallad’s eyes met his expectation. The expectation that he’d see something he couldn’t ever expect.

A massive bonfire revealed itself past a bunch of vines and leaves in the clearing just out of the path they’d followed.

It was like a family of umbral monkeys gathered around it, eating sticks, leaves, and the remains of small animals. Some of the monkeys were dancing in groups beside the fire. There were even some just sleeping off to the side, using the fire to keep themselves heated. They’re... all here? The umbral monkeys are all here!

There weren’t many things that actually left an imprint on Kallad’s memory, but this scene right here might have done just that.

After watching the monkeys for a minute, Kallad’s eyes drifted to a figure hidden, further back in the shadows.

No way... no fucking way...

Sat atop a throne made from two conjoined trees was Rai.

He was watching over the umbral monkeys as if he was their leader.

Kallad was utterly stumped.

 

---

 

Rai had just dealt with the four monkeys that attacked him, and now he was making his way through the jungle. He was worried about the others, since there was no indication about where they were or if they were even okay. But right now, Rai had to deal with the situation as it was.

The monkeys around him were still watching him, but they kept their distance, unlike when Rai first appeared in the jungle.

As Rai pushed aside the vines and leaves to find more footing, he stepped on something that was different from the ground he’d come across so far. It was hard, much harder than tree bark, at least. Its sturdiness was surprising as well, as Rai pushed against it without any kind of feedback that would’ve indicated a structural weakness.

He crouched down to look at the strange object.

To Rai’s surprise, it was a stone tablet buried underneath a bunch of leaves and vines. There was some kind of engraving or design on the tablet, but not enough of it peeked through the surface for Rai to see the whole image.

Rai brushed the wood chippings and wet vines off of the sides of the tablet and tried to pick it up so he could see the whole thing.

*Hmmph!*

Rai struggled. And failed.

He was too weak to lift up the tablet.

*Chitter*

Rai heard monkeys closing in on him.

But... there wasn’t as much bloodlust as he’d felt before.

Still, Rai drew Ghost and stayed on the defensive.

One of the monkeys revealed itself to him. Its hands were up in the air, as if it was surrendering. This monkey was slightly larger than the ones he’d come across before, and looked a bit older as well. Rai was surprised that the monkey was almost as tall as he was. Bet Sin won’t be happy that a monkey’s almost taller than her, haha!

Rai put aside the monkey’s surprising height, and stared into its eyes. All he could see, surprisingly, was resignation.

“What? What do you want?” He asked the monkey. This was rather silly, Rai quickly realised, since the monkeys he’d heard of couldn’t speak.

*Aki! Aki!*

Huh? Monkeys can speak?

The monkey pointed at the tablet just below Rai.

Rai looked down at it, then back at the monkey.

“You... want this thing? I can’t get it out, it’s too heavy.”

The monkey slowly edged forward with his hand aiming for the tablet.

Rai remained motionless. He had enough sense to realise that this monkey wasn’t trying to attack him, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t a distraction. Rai remained on guard.

The monkey creeped towards the tablet.

Once it was there, the monkey gently bowed to Rai. Then, it moved its sole focus unto the tablet.

The monkey wiped away the vines and leaves that Rai missed, then dug the tablet out of the dirt that covered the rest of its form.

The whole process took about 10 minutes. Rai stood completely still while watching the monkey work. The monkeys surrounding them kept stationary where they were as their emissary went and communicated with Rai, who was basically an alien to them.

*Aki! Aki!*

The monkey repeated as it pointed at the stone tablet on the ground.

Rai took in the design on the tablet.

It was a crude enough image that Rai spent a solid minute figuring out what all the different shapes were supposed to mean.

The big blob in the middle of the tablet, Rai thought to be a big monkey. He made out a large scar on its chest. The monkey itself was much larger than the rest of the smaller monkeys on the tablet. There was another larger monkey, but not as large as the central one. This monkey was stood beside the larger one. Grotesquely, both of the larger monkeys were drinking the blood from the half corpses of smaller monkeys that they were holding in their massive hands.

From the image, however, Rai realised what the monkey in front of him was trying to say.

“You... you want my help?”

The monkey’s eyes lit up. It nodded and jumped around screaming joyfully.

*AKI! AKI!*

Other monkeys revealed themselves and began celebrating.

Rai raised a finger, stopping the monkeys from jumping around in joy.

“I will help you, on one condition!”

The monkeys looked around at each other, and then back at Rai. They listened to him.

“You have to help me with something afterwards!”

The monkeys tilted their heads at him.

Rai pointed at them, “You.”

He shook his own hand, “Help.”

Then pointed at himself, “Me.”

Rai shot them a thumbs up, “Good?”

Finally, Rai held his hand out, waiting for the lead monkey to shake it.

The monkeys all looked at each other with quizzical looks. Then one of them started screaming some gibberish, and that’s when the others looked like they finally understood.

The lead monkey smiled wide, revealing its large gangly fangs.

It shook Rai’s hand.