Somewhere, near the frozen lake. A faint fog covered the sight. Two silhouettes quarrelled as they walked to the obelisk. They moved quickly through the fog, and soon their appearance could be discerned. One had blood-like fur, an elongated jaw, and a long tail. It was a monkey-man.

The other was a broad-shouldered man with tanned skin. His rugged appearance hid the boiling rage in his eyes. However, even the eyes tried to keep the deep loneliness, sorrow, and despair hidden inside them, away from the world. His coarse beard violently shook as the monkey-man yelled at him, "Igor! Shut up! Didn't you blame enough? I have enough o your complaints. Wake up already! If I didn't save you, you would be dead by now! Don't you even understand this? What now?"

Igor's first trembled, and he stood still. The monkey-man turned around, looking down at him. Igor gazed back up, pointed his finger defiantly at the face, then he shouted while his spit flew his around, "I would be better off dead than living like this! You don't understand! His Highness, no, His Excellency is thousands of millions of times more worthy to live further than me! But you, but you escaped like a coward! Favour this, favour that! What about it? Saving me is paying it off? To hell, no! I am not worth it! Let me tell you that you haven't repaid the favour to His Excellency. You killed it!"

The monkey-man grabbed the pointed finger, slowly squeezing it. Igor clenched his teeth as his hand started to squirm in pain. However, he didn't do anything else except staring into the eyes of the monkey-man. The monkey-man suddenly let the finger off and turned around. He snorted as He travelled further to the distance obelisk, "Don't show off. You are weak. I repaid the favour!"

Igor's hands trembled. He glared at the furry back of the monkey-man and then quickly followed.

Soon they reached the north obelisk of the frozen lake. Igor slowly trotted behind the monkey-man. His steps were heavy, as his gaze wandered around. Faint steams rose from the lake, slightly thickening the fog around it with time. At the edge of the lake was the obelisk. After quickly casting one last glance at the monkey-man who was now eating a loaf of bread, he stepped towards the obelisk.

However, his belly growled at this moment. Sighing, Igor took out his water bag and placed it at his lips. A single drop of water fell on his lips. Peeking inside, it was empty. Sighing once more, he walked to the lake. After he kneeled down, he carefully inserted the tips of his finger inside the lake before he quickly pulled them out. He frowned, muttering, "Strange..."

The water of the lake was icy cold. Usually, it should be frozen to ice. However, it strangely didn't freeze. Moreover, only the water was icy cold, and the surroundings weren't. Igor refilled his water bag and hung it back at his waist. For now, it was too cold to be drunk immediately. As such, he waited for the water to warm up.

Igor stood up before he touched with his hand the black surface of the obelisk. Then he slowly walked around, but even then, his hand always touched the obelisk. There were shallow grooves following a circular structure. Several intersections between different groves had created countless strange symbols. At some point, they appeared just like a jumbled mess. However, at others, they seemed to hide a great secret.

After walking for a while in rounds, Igor sighed. It didn't matter now. Even if the obelisk hid a secret, it wasn't destined for him to know it. He sat down at the ground while leaning against the obelisk. Following, he took a sip from his water bag. It was still cold. Again, his belly growled. Absent-minded, he started a while in the sky before he finally took out a slice of bread from a pouch hanging from his waist and ate it.

"Hey! Igor! What are you going to do from now on?"

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

As Igor was quietly eating beside the obelisk, the monkey-man approached him. After he glanced annoyed at the monkey-man, Igor shrugged his shoulders before he curtly replied, "Don't know."

Then he continued eating his slice of bread. The monkey-man stared stunned at Igor. Recovering, he quickly opened his mouth again. However, he hesitated for a short moment. Then he frankly told Igor, "That boy may be alive."

Instantly, Igor's eyes widened. He threw the slice of bread to the ground and jumped up. Immediately following, he grabbed the shoulders of the monkey-man. It was as if Igor feared that the monkey-man would suddenly vanish. His voice was hoarse as he questioned the monkey-man, "What did you say? His Excellency, is alive? But didn't you say he is dead? How can he be alive? Where is he now?!"

The monkey-man laid his hands atop of Igor's shoulders. Then he spoke deliberately slow, "Igor, calm down. I did say he was dead, but it was only not to create a false sense of hope inside you. I didn't see him die, but the same, I didn't see him live. He can be alive or-"

Igor released his grip on the monkey-man and laughed out all of a sudden, "Haha! He is alive. Alive! Absolutely! He is still alive! Haha!"

Igor laughed and laughed. He plummeted to the ground before he picked the slice of bread. Quickly patting the dirt away, he finished eating it. Then he leaned relieved against the obelisk as occasionally giggles escaped from inside his mouth.

The monkey-man looked down at his feet and sighed as he saw this. Nevertheless, he asked once more, "What will you do from now on?"

Igor looked up. A relieved smile plastered his face. However, due to the slightly drooping eyelids, he appeared tired. His gaze unfocused as if he was peering into the vague future. Sighing, he said, "I will wait for His Excellency here."

The monkey growled, "You do understand that he may never come?"

Igor replied carelessly, "Then I will wait here forever."

The monkey-man sat down beside him while sighing, "I won't be waiting with you. I and the other beast-men need to travel further."

"Alright. Go on. There is no one forcing you and the others to be here."

"I know, but we can't take the humans with us. They need to stay by your side or go somewhere on their own."

Igor shrugged his shoulders, "Alright, I will just build a village."

The monkey-man repeated dumbfounded the last words, "A village?"

"Yeah. Don't you think that they need a new home after they had lost their old? Even though most of the young ones had been unwilling to remain in a village and had yearned to explore the world, but now, it should be different. They are now likely mourning and shouldn't have the energy to do anything else."

"Yeah..."

The night arrived, and it passed quietly without any trouble. Later, the sun hung once again one day more in the sky. In the distance, a large group of beast-men and humans travelled to the north obelisk of the frozen lake. Two monkey-men waved at each other.

"Ferox, did you have fun managing such a large crowd?"

"If you want, you can do it next time! Besides that, where is that boy?"

Ferus walked near to his brother as his eyes constantly peeked at Igor. Then he whispered into the ear while his gaze wandered to his feet, "He had other things he needs to do. As such, he instructed Igor to wait for him here."

Ferox glanced weirdly at his brother before he shrugged his shoulders, "Did you already told them that we won't travel with them from here on?"

"Yes. Igor plans to build a village here for the humans to stay."

After thinking for a bit, Ferox smiled, "Then let us remain here a bit longer. Then at least, we could help to build the foundation of the village. Alright, I will go to meet up with Igor while you watch over Lamia."

Ferox walked towards Igor who was leaning against the obelisk. Reaching him, Ferox asked, "You already knows that we can't stay here, right?"

Igor shrugged his shoulders as he casually replied. However, to the end, his voice turned hesitant, "Yes. Why are you asking...? Ferus?"

"No. Ferox! Anyway, we decided to stay a bit longer here to help to build the foundation of your village."

"Oh, sorry. You and your brother are just too similar. I can't see any difference between you two. However, I am grateful for your help."

Ferox laughed, "This is nothing. We brothers would even sacrifice our lives to repay our debt."

Igor pursed his lips as he stood up before he waved his hand dismissively. Then he irritatingly replied while going to the large crowd, "If you say so. I should probably be telling now to the people, what exactly will happen to them. Goodbye."

Ferox could only stare at Igor's back in puzzlement. Did he say something wrong?