"Wow, I didn't see that coming." Marlon looked at what was in front of him, not knowing how to react.
In his vision, he could see a bear trap, but instead of some prey, inside was some kind of red fruit. The trap was filled with a red pulp, while the shell made up all the teeth of the trap.
"..."
"REALLY?! I'M SO HUNGRY! WHERE DID THAT FUCKING FRUIT COME FROM?" said Marlon angrily. He started looking around, but found nothing. Then he looked up at the top of the tree. The tree was about 5 meters high, it had multiple branches that made it wrap around and connect with the other trees around it, thus monopolizing all the trees as a whole all the views to the sky.
This tree is not a fruit tree, otherwise I would have known by now. I've been going into this part of the forest for at least a month to set these traps I bought from the merchant last time. Enough time to know if this thing produces any fruit this season. From the looks of it, I'd say that at least all the trees around me are the same species, so it wouldn't make sense that only one of them produced a fruit, and coincidentally fell into my trap. Not only that, but that would mean that the fruit from it is only produced once, because I don't see any other fruit growing on the tree, or any of the others. There's something strange here... maybe someone found my trap.... but this forest is deserted and far away from the village.
Marlon began to recall the content of the classes his late grandfather taught him a few years ago, before his departure to the afterlife. In those classes, Marlon's grandfather taught him how to farm, how to care for animals, and how to analyze plants to know when they were ready for harvest. In the old days, Marlon's family farm had a lot of crops, from rice to fruit trees. And not only did they have a few pigs, but they also had horses, cows and ratats, a type of giant domesticated rat that helped in the farm's fields. Usually a mortal couldn't afford an animal with magic like that, grandfather said it was a sign of status. But everything changed when something went wrong on the farm at night. Marlon only remembers that there were fires, screams, and then silence, pure and absolute silence. He had never felt so good as he did at that moment. Maybe that's why he remembered it so well, even though it happened when he was still very young. From that time he only vaguely remembered that he had parents, or so his grandfather told him.
"Who...?"
Suddenly there was a small noise. Marlon turned, and saw a small monkey with red and blue tufts tracing a line through its brown fur approaching with something in its hand.
Marlon looked at him, and the monkey stopped. The two stared at each other for a few seconds.
Grrrrrrrr...
Marlon's stomach rumbled.
"..."
The monkey frowned and stretched out his mouth in doubt. Then he took a bite of the red fruit in his hand and laughed playfully.
"You... monkey, you better give me some of that before I beat the crap out of you!".
The monkey seemed to understand and thought carefully. Then he held out the red fruit to Marlon.
Marlon looked at the fruit doubtfully, but still accepted it. He saw that the monkey had taken a bite out of it earlier, so it must not be poisonous.
As soon as Marlon took a bite of the fruit, the monkey swooped under Marlon's legs with an agility he had never seen before. With no time to react, the monkey grabbed the bear trap, spun around, climbed the adjacent tree and swung nimbly with its tail through the branches.
Marlon, seeing this, ran after the monkey. "Damn monkey, this was all your plan to rob me, you won't get away with this!". Marlon said as he ran in the same direction as the monkey. He could see him a few feet away. He ran a couple of hundred yards, always seeing the monkey at the same distance.
Strange, this monkey was very agile in stealing my trap, but now it's like he's playing with me.
He had no time to think, because he recognized where he was going. It was a place near a river, where he had set some traps before. He stopped and looked at the place where another one of his traps should have been, but it was not there.
"Where's my trap?" said Marlon to himself, then turned to look at the monkey in the distance, who had stopped.
"Where are you taking me, I hope you have my traps there or I'll make you eat my pigs' food until you're old enough to have your own little monkeys," Marlon said as he pointed his finger at the monkey.
The monkey looked at him and then continued on his way, with the trap in one paw, using his other free hand and his tail to swing through the trees.
"Fine, we'll play your game," Marlon said as he began to follow him again.
...
Marlon trotted after the monkey a couple of kilometers further into the forest. In the village Fandal had heard stories about this forest, and they all said that it was best to stay away from the deep areas of the forest, as it was home to monsters and wild magical animals.
The Monkey stopped at a cave, looked at Marlon and entered.
"This is a very bad idea, I'd better not go in there, I'll stay out here and watch."
Suddenly a grunt was heard.
"What's that?"
It was a herd of sheep. Each one of a different color, with different colored eyes. He watched as they approached his direction.
As Marlon looked, he saw in the distance a herd of wild boars with deer antlers and large hooves approaching just behind the multicolored sheep.
Panicked, Marlon rushed forward, but with nowhere to go, he had no choice but to turn right and enter the cave.
"Hhhhhheh."
Marlon took a deep breath. He had only gone a short distance into the cave. It was dark and damp. Then, he heard something strange at the bottom of the cave. It sounded like a fight.
What's going on over there? They're fighting, so they won't notice if I sneak out and take a look. I should see if I can retrieve my traps.
Marlon made a decision, and crept stealthily through the cave. As he walked, he listened as the sound of battle intensified.
"I must be close, thank God this cave has only one way."
As he approached, he saw a bit of light.
When he reached the center of the cave, he saw how a six-foot tall blue and red striped monkey seemed to be having a fight with a brown bear with a scar on its head.
The bear used a kind of earth magic while the monkey used its paws and tail to dodge and deliver blows to the bear from time to time.
Wait a minute... why isn't the bear moving... wait, that's... those are my traps...?