"Ugh." Jay complained aloud. "Why does it take so goddamn long to walk down this path?" He left the city more than half an hour ago and he still hasn't made it down the hill. "No wonder nobody wants to attack this place, they'd be exhausted by just the walk up here."
Jay looked up to the sky seeing the islands that floated there and the occasional creatures flying about. "Must be nice having wings, why couldn't I have been born a Harpin? Being human sucks." He sighed. "I'd take anything over this." Not long after, Jay had finally reached the bottom.
'From what I heard in school, Solrock should be north of here.' He looked up at the sun. 'Which way is north again? I can't tell because I don't know which way the sun rose after walking on that path for so long'
Far off in the distance he saw a mill. 'Guess I'll head that way for now." He looked around as he walked, it had been so long since he'd been outside of the walls. The last time was when his father and his step mother took him and Kura to visit a town called Riverview. Apparently the humans that settled there believed in some 300 year old river god, they always delivered food to the river and mysteriously it'd disappear the next day. 'Maybe I should go back and visit one day, it's possible Damon went out towards there but I'll ask around in Solrock first.'
As night had fallen he had finally made it to the mill, he walked up and knocked on the door but no one answered. "Is this place abandoned?" He turned the doorknob, surprised to see it was unlocked. "Hello!" He called out as he walked in and closed the door behind him. "Why is it so dark in here, definitely not ominous at all. Maybe I should just sleep outside for the day. No, I wouldn't want to get attacked by wolves." He tried to feel around but instead just felt like he kept walking into things.
He reached into his pocket, grabbing some wood he picked up on the way over here and struck it against the wall, immediately setting it aflame. As the area lit up around him, he froze. All along the walls and all across the room were webs and what seemed like hundreds of spiders of varying sizes. "Nightcrawlers." He whispered as their red eyes stared down at him. He immediately backed up towards the door, opening it and throwing the flaming piece of wood onto the webs, setting it on fire as he closed the door behind him. "Bug infested places deserve to be burned down, I'll find somewhere else to sleep for the night." He began walking away until he heard a crash behind him, turning around he watched as the mill began crumbling to the ground and the flames raged out of control. The spiders inside letting out screams of agony. "Maybe I went a little overboard with the flames. I mean I could've just closed the…" He was interrupted as a massive spider burst through the tower, its body in flames as it located him. "Of course this would happen." He immediately turned and began running towards the woods, hoping to lose the massive arachnid; he could feel the earth shaking as it got closer.
As he ran through the tall grass he saw a gray tail pop up in alert as it streaked towards him. Assuming it was a wolf Jay veered off to the side, trying to stay ahead of the two threatening creatures. "God will you stop running from me and tell me what the hell is going on!" A voice yelled as the gray tail leapt forward.
"Who the hell are you, and why should I stop running? You're chasing me."
"I'm not chasing you, idiot." The woman popped up above the grass, switching to two legs to run. "I'm running from that giant ass spider that showed up while I was trying to sleep. What the hell did you do?"
"I tried to sleep in the mill but when I went in there I was surrounded by spiders, so I burned them." Jay told her.
"So it's angry because you killed its family."
"Yep." Jay shrugged.
She sighed. "Based on that fire." She glanced at the massive spider seeing its body still aflame. "It shouldn't last much longer."
"That's good, we just have to run a bit more and this will be over." Jay breathed out in relief.
"We?" The girl asked. "It isn't after me, you can run on your own." She told him as she dropped down to all fours and disappeared into the grass.
"Okay…" Jay trailed off. He kept running, finally a couple steps from the woods until the spider sent a massive web out to block the path forward. Jay turned, looking up at the spider as it shot down webs all around blocking his escape, its body no longer on fire. "Well that sucks. I don't have any way to burn the web." He steeled himself to dodge for his life when suddenly he heard a howl which was immediately followed by four more as the glowing spirits of wolves jumped at the spider biting into its legs.
"Okay, so I came back to help." A woman said as she walked up to him. "But only because I'm not the type to run from a challenge, it would've been pretty cowardly of me to just save myself."
Jay smiled. "Pride huh? I can get behind that. Now let's help those wolves of yours before they're all destroyed."
"Alright, make sure you don't fall behind." She dropped to all fours dashing forward and jumping to meet the spider's head. "Wolf's spite!" She growled, her claws shining as she gouged out half its eyes with one slash.
"Warrior magic." Jay realized. "Not being able to use it sucks." He sighed as he rushed forward with a punch to the spider's leg, breaking off the bottom half.
He caught it in his hands as the giant spider turned on him. 'I've never… used a sword before.' The human though while parrying the remaining legs with the spider's limb.
"Hey, use some magic, we'd be able to end this much quicker." The woman barked down at him as she howled once more, three wolf spirits rising to fight.
"Slight problem!" Jay shouted back as he took out another leg, the giant creature staggering before regaining its balance. "I can't do magic! I wasn't born with it!"
"What kind of idiot human would fight a nightcrawler with no magic?" She yelled. "I mean if you were any other race you wouldn't need the magic but a human?" She dashed up the back of the spider taking out its other set of eyes with another attack. "Head back to wherever you came from."
"Wow you're rude, if I was a weaker man I'd cry." Jay told her, emulating Ryuma.
"Well the problem is, you are a weaker man. Even my younger brother would do better than you." She panted. "I'm basically fighting this beast myself."
Jay glared at her from where he was sitting in the grass. "Hey, I took out two of its legs, I just got tired."
She slashed through two more of the legs as her wolves took out another causing the spider to fall to its side. "And now I've taken out three, you're so much help." She replied sarcastically as she leapt into the air ready to finish it off.
Jay stood up, dashing over and grabbed one of the other dislodged spider legs, he swung it cutting into the spiders head, killing it. "And now I got the finishing blow." He boasted as the woman landed on top of the already dead monster. "You're welcome."
"You bitch!" She roared. "You stole my kill!"
"It's not my fault your slow, just admit it, you couldn't win without my help."
"This is why I hate humans, should've wiped you all out when we had the chance." She growled. "I'll remember this, if I see you again, your dead."
Jay watched her leave with a smile on his face. "Sure is a weird one isn't she? Can't even let something this small go, so childish." He walked up to the spider and took out an empty water container, carefully extracting its poison. Jay turned around and began walking back towards the woods, the moon finally coming out from behind the clouds.
.
"Maybe a tree isn't the best place to take a nap." Jay told himself as he jumped down from his resting place.
The moment he made it to the forest he had found a tree to sleep in, his legs were aching but he couldn't find a better place. He brushed the sticks and leaves off his clothes and began traversing deeper into the woodland. "Maybe I should've brought a map, then again I don't have a bag and there's only so much this coat can carry." He sighed, walking off in a random direction. "Oh well, I should make it to a village or something eventually, I can just ask for directions when I'm there."
"You're new here." A voice called from up above. Jay looked up seeing a man hanging from a tree by his tail. "Names Sunny." He introduced himself. "What's yours?"
"Jay." The still tired man replied shortly.
The tailed man swung off the branch, landing in front of him with a bright smile "Nice to meet you Jay, I don't usually see many furless apes around here. Where are you going? This forest can get pretty dangerous at night."
'A monkey simur?' Jay hummed in acknowledgement. "I need to go north, will you act as my guide."
The monkey-like man jumped around thinking about it. "I mean I could but what do I get out of it? Oh wait, maybe it could act as training, protecting the weak furless ape from the horrors of the dark jungle."
"I hate these simur already." Jay mumbled under his breath, he hadn't encountered many before but between the wolf from the previous day and this monkey it seemed like they all looked down on humans. "Will you do it or not?"
"I guess, but you have to do exactly as I say. I'll make sure to protect you." He declared.
"Thanks." Jay replied sarcastically as he followed the man.
"So where are you coming from, where are you going? Do you know any other furless apes, what about people like me? I heard there were jungles made of stone, have you seen one before? Oh wait, are you one of those travelers? I met one two years ago, she was really strong. Are humans allowed to be travelers? Wait, are you actually a super strong mage?" He asked rapidly.
"Silverfall, Solrock. Yes, no. Also no. Yes. Yes again. And no, I can't even use magic." Jay answered. "You ask a lot of questions."
"My master says knowledge is power." He said proudly. "I know, you should study, maybe you can become stronger even without magic."
'I can't tell if he's mocking me or being nice, that condescending tone doesn't help.'
"Take two steps back." Sunny ordered. Jay obeyed as a monkey's paw barely missed his face. Sunny swung his staff knocking the monkey to the ground. "What did I tell you about attacking people?!" He asked.
The Monkey snarled at him before jumping back into the forest. "Thanks." Jay said sincerely. "How did you know it was coming?"
"Have you ever met a beastkin before?" He asked.
"Beastkin? Is that another term for Simur?" Jay inquired rhetorically. "Yesterday I met a Wolf simur but that was the first time I've ever seen one outside of school."
"Well beastkin have heightened senses, I heard it coming." Sunny explained. "We also have the ability to communicate with the animals we are kin to, it's what separates us from Dragonkin and Harpin."
"Yet another reason to loathe being human." Jay grumbled.
"So you met Hikori?" Sunny jumped into the trees, swinging around as he kept a lookout.
"Who?"
"Hikori, she's wolfkin, hunts right outside silverfall. I met her once when I was kid, she wandered into our territory and almost got in trouble with my master."
"You guys have territory?" Jay asked. "I thought you all lived together like most humans do."
"Of course not, we're beastkin, we still have our enemies." He explained. "The north of Silverfall is canine territory. All the beastkin who share kin with a dog of some kind live in the plains of that area. To the south is feline territory, they have some sort of rivalry with each other. This forest is Ape territory which is why I don't really mind you being here, you're a furless ape even if you're not beastkin."
'Good to know I was headed in the right direction.' Jay thought. "How far until we're out of this forest?"
"The ape territory is pretty huge, it could take us days depending on what fights we get into. There are some pretty strong creatures here, some of them even I have trouble with. Some of the Apes here are no longer domestic, as you can probably tell from the monkey that attacked you earlier." Sunny told him.
"What happened?"
"My master, he died of old age, all the Apes mourned his death but with a shift in power this forest has become far more dangerous. I'm not strong enough to bring them under control yet."
"Should I be worried?" Jay asked.
"No." Sunny answered immediately. "The only one that's a problem is King, he was a Gorilla that my master raised. He's always on the other side of the jung…" He was cut off as a massive fist smashed into his staff. Sunny flew back from its force, catching himself on a tree before looking up at his attacker. "Let me rephrase that, he's usually on the other side of the jungle."
.
Jay watched on as Sunny flew at King, the wind pressure from the clash enough to knock Jay back. As the two landed King continued the assault throwing a massive bolder at his opponent.
Sunny jumped to the side and dashed in swinging his staff, King put his arms up blocking the attack. The Monkey dropped down hanging from his staff by his tail as he pummeled the gorilla in the chest. King swung wildly, Sunny used his arm and propelled himself into the air before slamming down his staff on King's head.
"Come on King, keep up." He laughed.
King growled as he grabbed Sunny by the leg and slammed him into the ground. He roared as he began pummeling the man, not letting up for a second.
"Come on, you know I can't understand you, I'm not a Gorilla, I'm a monkey!" He shouted as his tail wrapped around the gorilla's fist and threw him to the side.
'They're strong.' Jay thought as he watched them fight. 'Either one of them could take on the massive spider from yesterday.' As his thoughts came to an end Jay felt something wrap around his tail, looking down he saw what looked like a brown snake when his leg was suddenly pulled out from under him and he fell face first into the floor.
Jay looked up to see the small monkey from the floor staring down at him. It began laughing. "Yep, you're dead." Jay said calmly as he jumped to hit feet, kicking it away.
Sunny jumped over the gorilla's fist as it pounded into the ground, kicking up earth. "Hey calm down, you're gonna destroy Masters forest." Sunny complained, kicking the creature.
In response the gorilla roared, slapping wukong into a tree. The Simur barely rolled out the way as King sent a fierce kick right after, sending leaves tumbling down around them.
Sunny leapt forward trying to conjure up some magic as he slammed his staff into the gorilla's torso, his flames igniting. "I did it!" He cheered.
The gorilla smiled as he snuffed the flames with his hand. King began to laugh as he pounded the ground, each hit sending tremors out all around causing trees to fall.
"I forgot you had magic." Sunny sighed as he jumped into the trees, King jumping after him.
Jay dodged as the monkey he decided to call prince began throwing rocks at him. It was a fitting name considering the gorilla seemed like its friend. "Hey how about you stop throwing rocks and come fight me like a real monkey!"
Prince stuck his tongue out as he continued his assault. "So that's how it's gonna be?" Jay asked. "Fine then, two can play that game." He caught one of the rocks in his gauntlets, throwing it back hitting the monkey's tail as it dodged.
The monkey screeched curling its tail around his waist as it responded with another rock. The human simply punched through it with a smirk. "You may have caught me off guard before but there's no way I'm going to lose to an ape like you." It took to the trees throwing rocks from all around as the wind seemed to shift in its favor. 'It's faster than the specters.' Jay noted as he struggled to dodge. 'Is it using wind magic?'
Prince smiled wickedly as he grabbed a sharp rock and threw it at Jay's heart, knowing it would be dodged he grabbed another using his own magic to increase his speed as he jumped forward. Jay sidestepped the rock seeing the monkey behind it at the last second putting up his gauntlets to defend. "You're a nuisance!" He dropped his guard, the monkey slipped past him being caught in Jay's hand as he was slammed into the floor. "Getting close is the last mistake you'll ever make."
Prince quickly scrambled out of his attacker's grip jumping up at him as the two continued to exchange blows. Each hit he took felt like his bones were breaking but each hit he gave out gave Prince a rush of adrenaline, eventually he managed to get a good cut in, happy to see his enemies blood pouring from the fresh wound.
"I love this feeling." Jay smiled. "Come on, fight harder!" He roared, punching the monkey in his chest and sending it crashing into a tree. "Get up." He ordered as he stared down at his opponent.
Prince stared up at him in fear before smiling and scrambling back as a massive fist nearly struck Jay across the face. Jay looked at his new opponent, King back and bloodied from his fight with Sunny. "Did that guy lose?"
A man swung in from up above swinging his staff as he slammed the smaller monkey into a tree. "Nope, didn't lose, I'm just switching opponents, good luck!" He called as the two jumped off into the trees in a flurry of blows.
Jay glared at his opponent, the smile on his face growing wider. 'If he's protecting me, he's got a funny way of showing it. Oh well, more fun for me.'
The two fights raged on for what seemed like hours, neither side giving in. The surrounding apes and beastkin that had come out of hiding watched on to see which side would win and as night fell the victor was finally decided.
Jay sat panting, his smile gone. His opponent stood over him, ready to deliver the final blow, but the hit never came. As the towering ape swung his fist it was stopped by a staff. "Looks like I finished up just in time." Sunny said cheerfully. "The young monkey has been subdued."
Jay smiled back weakly "I vote to call him Prince."
"Done." The beastkin responded. "Now King, I think it's about time we finish up."
Jay reached into his pocket, biting into the last of his Reyasu as his pain faded. Even without the pain his body wouldn't move right due to his injuries but he stood up anyway. "You're gonna need some help, I'll back you up."
Sunny nodded as he rushed the right while Jay rushed the left. King fought them both, using earth magic to shift the ground and cause them to slip up. He may not have been that strong but he was the original disciple of Kong, his only true successor and his only friend. He wouldn't allow this forest to fall into the hands of someone so weak, the forest needed a strong leader. He roared as he smacked Sunny to the side only to be hit in the back of the head by Jay.
The pain continued to build up as he struggled against his opponents, he slammed his fist into the floor causing pillars of rock to erupt all around him but it didn't last long as Sunny smashed right through with his staff blazing and a smile on his face. "I'm ending this now!" He declared. "Howlers Will!" He shouted as he slammed his staff into the ground, flames erupting all around as the Apes took to the trees.
Jay smiled as he watched the massive Gorilla fall to the floor. Sunny looked out to all the spectators with a bright smile. "Who's the king of apes?!"
Slowly one by one they jumped down to bow in respect as Sunny's smile only grew brighter. He flashed a peace sign towards his new friend. "Told you I'd win."
Jay laughed. "Did you?" He sat down as the pain came rushing back all at once. "I'm starting to understand the appeal, the threat of death fresh on your mind when you wake up every morning, I can get used to being a traveler."
"Ain't that right?" Sunny picked back up his staff and threw it over his shoulders. "Nothing can make you feel more alive than being so close to death. Now let's get ourselves back to the village before we die of blood loss."
'Village?' Jay thought as he hit the floor, the pain and blood lost making him drowsy.
.
Jay flexed his hand and smiled, looking up at the young woman who saved him. "Healing magic is hard to come by, thank you."
"It's not a problem." She answered.
"What's your name?" He asked her.
"Sunflower." Sunny answered as he entered the room with a smile. "She's my twin sister, even if we don't look anything alike. I lost her for a while when King took over this side of the jungle, thank the Howler he didn't harm anyone.
"The Howler? You mean the Monkey God?"
Sunny took his staff off his back as he nodded. "Yep that's the one. He was a real Monkey back in the day, he led this forest. All of us Apes look up to him. This Staff was his, it's passed down to the chief of each generation."
"It's the main reason why King wanted to be chief so badly." Sunflower explained briefly. "Now moving on, I heard from my brother that you're heading towards Solrock. I know this may sound rude but you don't have the strength for that. I think you should take the young monkey along with you." As she said that a howl could be heard from outside as the small black monkey from the previous day entered the room and leaped onto Jay's shoulder.
"Prince?" Jay said in surprise. "You're not trying to kill me now?"
"I'm Chief, remember?" Sunny answered. "All the Apes in this forest have submitted to me, we take great pride in our loyalty. Despite how King was before, even he would listen to me now."
"So this was an order of yours?" Jay questioned him.
"Partially." Sunflower responded. "The other part is due to his respect for you, you were able to beat him despite being human."
The monkey began chattering. "He says he'll follow you, he wants you to be his master." Sunny translated.
"Alright then, I could use a partner. It could be fun." Jay accepted.
"Perfect, then before you head out I'll need to check your condition properly." Sunflower smiled sweetly.
"Of course, what do you need me to do?" Jay smiled back confused as to why everyone in the room started sweating nervously.
"Meet me in the arena." She replied.
"Wait what?" Jay stammered out as she grabbed him by the arm and dragged him off outside. "I don't really get what an arena has to do with a check up." Jay said as he looked around the village he was in, they were high up in trees where houses and bridges connected the city surrounding a clearing where a platform was held. On it, Jay could see several Simur and Apes of all kinds training.
"Well it's obvious, the best way to check your body's condition is a fight." Sunflower explained. "Besides I haven't had anyone to fight since Sunny left, I had to spend my time avoiding King."
Sunny wished him good luck as they made it to the bridge that connected to the battleground. They found a spot off in the corner as Sunflower began wrapping her hands in bandages. "You ready?"
Jay yawned. "I guess, come on." He urged her forward as he set into a stance.
"This isn't gonna end well." Sunny whispered to Prince. "He's looking down on her."
The young monkey nodded as he watched Sunflower dash in.
Jay dodged the healer's fist, watching her movements as she grew more and more aggressive. "You're pretty fast, and the weight behind those punches is incredible for a healer." He praised her as he countered her attack and punched her in the stomach.
Sunflower laughed off the hit and sent a kick to his chest sending him flying back. "You're not so bad yourself, let's kick things up a notch."
Sunny watched the battle with a mix of excitement and fear. He was afraid his sister would accidentally kill the lesser ape like she nearly did him all those years ago when she used to be stronger than him. However before he could start reminiscing on the past one of his newly appointed knights swung over from the trees. "Apo, what's wrong?" He asked.
"We have Cattle on our territory." The man told him, he had orange hair and arms that were twice the length of any normal person sharing kin with Orangutans.
"Cattle? What are they doing here?"
The man shrugged. "They're being led by Red, they likely plan to take us down while we're weak, they don't know you united the forest yet."
Sunny smiled. "Well if it's a fight they want, I need someone to escort the furless ape north, the rest of you are with me."
Apo nodded. "I'll get right on it."
Jay laughed as his battle with Sunflower came to a close, he was barely able to knock her to the ground ending it in his win. She shook his hand as the wounds along her body healed instantly. "You're strong, how would you like a place in our army? I know the chief." She joked.
"Sorry but I'll have to decline." Jay teased. "Any army where I could be considered strong must not be a good one, you used to have a king that could Rival the ancient dragons, what happened?"
Suddenly screaming and the sounds of battle erupted from the ground level, Jay ran to the edge looking down where the clearing below the arena was filled with clashing fists. "What's going on?!" Sunflower shouted.
"There's no time for that." Apo told her. "The cattle are attacking and someone needs to escort our guest towards the north border."
"Send King." Sunflower ordered.
"King? But he was just fighting with the Chief yesterday…"
"Exactly." Sunflower cut him off. "He'll be eager to show his loyalty, with King and the young ape by his side he should be able to get out safely." She turned towards Jay grabbing him by the collar. "I'll temporarily transfer you some of my magic, you'll only be able to use it once but if you're ever seriously hurt make sure you do."
Despite his many questions Jay decided not to ask them and simply nodded. "I'll see you around, thanks again."
A moment later a roar could be heard as the Massive black silhouette of King appeared in the sky. Prince jumped up to my shoulder as his previous partner landed in front of me and gave a short bow.
"Alright you guys, get moving and keep our guests protected. As Apes we never go back on our promises and a promise of the King is a promise of us. Get him through the north passage." Sunflower jumped off the platform falling straight into battle with a Goat simur.
King jumped into the trees waving for Jay to follow. "I'm not Beastkin remember, I can't make jumps like that." Jay reminded him.
While Jay thought of a different plan, Prince began howling at King. The Gorilla nodded as it jumped off. "Did you figure something out?"
The small monkey gave him a thumbs up as he pressed his hands to the humans back and pushed some of his magic out with Jay as the center.
The wind in the area began swirling around him, it was almost enough to take him off his feet but with just this, he felt much lighter.
Jay followed after the bigger ape, keeping to the trees as they escaped. 'I wonder who's attacking, will they be alright?' Eventually Prince's magic fell and they had to make the rest of the journey on foot. "King, are you sure you shouldn't be with them helping in the war?"
King simply shook his head with a sad look in his eyes. He tapped the ground as a message appeared beneath Jay's feat, carved into the ground.
[This is our territory so we have the advantage. Sunny will be able to beat them off for a while and with the army together it wouldn't be impossible for us to win.]
"Then what's the problem?"
[Their chief is still alive, and without my Master here, no one can defeat him.]