Epic Dreams
Chapter 6
Title: The Peak of Powerlessness
Endo didn't know what to do.
Should he spend the night in that place with the monkeys or continue his journey?
Night was already falling, so the answer was obvious. He sat at the entrance of the nest.
He was inside a gigantic nest, hanging from a tree. And it wasn't just one nest—there were dozens of them, all built by the monkeys.
The monkey carrying the small one approached him.
Now that he was closer, Endo realized he was different from the others.
He was entirely reddish, covered in scars, and about 1.68 meters tall. The others were brown, averaging only about 1 meter in height, and lacked the robust physique of this particular monkey.
The reddish monkey pulled out a glowing pink fruit and handed it to Endo.
Endo took the fruit, didn't think much about it, and started eating.
The reddish monkey seemed to like Endo.
"Uuhhuhhuuuuuu."
After making this sound, he grabbed Endo by the waist and jumped.
Endo was astonished.
If the monkey had jumped to the ground, which was 30 meters below, Endo wouldn't have been too alarmed.
But instead, he jumped upward, above the treetops, and remained suspended in the air.
Then they fell.
Boom.
The reddish monkey hit the ground, creating a crater.
He emerged unscathed.
Endo was shocked—not just that he had survived, but at the size of the hole.
It was far too large and deep for the height they had fallen from.
Besides, it should have been impossible to survive such a fall.
All the other monkeys climbed down from the trees, carrying something in their hands, and threw it into the pit.
"Potatoes?" Endo wondered.
Then, the monkeys covered them with a layer of sand and firewood.
Everything happened so fast that it seemed like a routine activity for them.
Once the woodpile was fully covered, the reddish monkey approached again.
Night had already fallen, and Endo had lost track of time. Watching the monkeys' actions was fascinating.
The reddish monkey picked up a piece of wood.
Thunder.
Lightning crackled from the monkey's hand, striking the piece of wood and setting it ablaze.
He tossed the burning wood onto the pile, and everything caught fire.
The monkeys began dancing around the flames.
It all seemed so unbelievable that Endo got up from where he was sitting and joined them.
The dance was quite simple.
After about thirty minutes, the monkeys extinguished the fire and pulled the potatoes from beneath.
Endo had eaten many kinds of potatoes throughout his life, but this was the first time he had ever tasted one so, so, so… soooooooo good.
It was too good.
After the meal, a monkey appeared—one that seemed to be the small monkey's mother.
She carried him on her back, walked up to Endo, and handed him a bright red fruit, which shimmered even more than the previous one.
Endo took the fruit and began eating.
It was so juicy, so delicious, that he could hardly believe something like this could exist in the world.
It seemed like a festival for the monkeys, who resumed dancing.
Endo was so full that he couldn't bring himself to join them again.
After a few hours, they returned to their nests.
Endo was very happy.
For the first time in a long while, he was certain that he would see the next day.
A smile appeared on his face. He lay down on the comfortable leaves of the nest and, without realizing it, drifted off to sleep.
He could feel, almost millimetrically, the pleasure of that sleep.
It was so good!
Suddenly, Endo felt both intense cold and searing heat at the same time.
But it wasn't enough to wake him.
He felt a strange wind.
It was as if he were falling, with nothing to hold onto.
He ignored it. A mere nightmare wouldn't be enough to wake him.
BOOOM.
Crash.
BAROOM.
Endo vomited blood.
Everything was in chaos. He couldn't hear anything except for a strange, incessant sound:
Suuuiiiiiiiiiimmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
He lay there, unable to get up. He pushed himself.
Finally, he managed to stand.
Everything around him was illuminated.
Boom.
Roar.
Another boom.
He took a deep breath and tried to focus.
All the nests were in flames. He had fallen from the nest while he was sleeping.
His right arm was twisted the wrong way. Aside from that, miraculously, he had no other injuries.
"God doesn't exist." Those words escaped his lips.
Three gigantic creatures were causing all this chaos.
They were black, covered in scales, breathing fire from their mouths, and seemed invincible.
"Dragons!?"
The dragons, according to Endo, were mercilessly devouring the monkeys.
The reddish monkey did everything in its power to save its people.
The monkeys tried to flee in different directions but were paralyzed by something—then devoured.
The cruelty of these creatures was beyond anything Endo had ever witnessed.
One of the dragons breathed fire toward the small monkey and its mother.
The reddish monkey leaped and, in a way that Endo's eyes couldn't even follow, violently hurled its family away.
As it tried to turn back, it was sliced in half.
Two dragons devoured it simultaneously—one from below, the other from above.
The third dragon unleashed a breath of fire, turning the entire area into a sea of flames.
Endo's lips began to tremble.
He left that place.
He ran.
He ran.
He ran.
He ran.
He ran.
He could no longer feel his own body.
Maybe it was from physical exhaustion. Or maybe from emotional overload.
The sun was already rising when Endo spotted a place to hide. He went inside.
Unable to feel his body, he took the chance to snap his arm back into place.
Everything around him started losing clarity.
He panicked. He tried to stand, but his body wouldn't obey.
Endo was terrified. He didn't want to fall asleep. If it were possible, he would never close his eyes again.
He started crying.
The depth of sadness and guilt he felt was immeasurable.
His body and mind were at their limit.
He collapsed.
His throat was dry. His mouth felt heavy.
Leaning against a rock, he fell asleep.
Tears streamed from his eyes.