Seeing that the white monkeys had spotted me, I cursed to myself.

‘Damn, now they know I'm here.’ I thought to myself, not intending to stick around.

I forced my Aether to accelerate, but it wasn’t listening to my commands. At this point it was taking all of my effort just to stay afloat.

This entire time I had been carrying the mysterious letter and my sword behind me simultaneously. I knew that if I dropped those items I would likely be able to regain my speed, but I felt that would be ill advised.

After all, this sword was my only physical weapon, and the letter likely held clues to finding my mother.

I just resolved my will and continued to travel towards the large tree in the distance.

Those monkeys had clearly spotted me, but I hoped they would leave me alone. It was obvious they had no chance of reaching me, so maybe that’s why they disappeared below the treetops.

The next score of minutes were a blur as I trudged myself forwards, urging my aether to push my body past its limits.

By the time the large tree came more into view, I became able to make out some details. I immediately noticed that the tree looked to have an ethereal bark with glowing blue streaks stretching across its length.

Even more interestingly, the tree’s leaves were a vibrant blue that glowed brightly even in the daylight. Although I had yet to fully develop my celestial core, Picea had taught me how to sense celestial energy in the air.

The celestial energy emitted by this tree was staggering, and it rivalled even Picea’s.

When I looked at Picea the flow of her energy looked like a torch that flowed off of her body. This tree, however, was like a bonfire.

Raw celestial energy was supposed to appear in a sapphire-like color, and this tree made that apparent. While Picea’s energy was an emerald green, this tree had ethereal blue light that blazed like a beacon as it stretched towards the sky—It was almost blinding.

When I had initially spotted the tree I couldn’t make out these details, but it really stood out like a sore thumb in contrast to its surroundings.

The tree wasn’t giving off an ominous vibe like the last one I had found though, so I figured stopping here would be alright for the moment.

It’s not like I really had a choice as well, for I doubted I could use my aether for any amount of time longer.

As I drifted towards the strange tree’s upper branches, I began to rapidly lose altitude. It’s like my body knew that I was close to a resting place, and my Aether fled me like it was water in a drought.

I heaved a strained breath as I came to a stop on a thick branch. My body collapsed onto the wooden perch as I rolled over on my back, gasping for air.

My head was throbbing with immense pain right now, and I could hardly think straight.

It must have been half an hour before I could even sit upright.

I realized at some point that my nose was bleeding, and no amount of wiping would make it stop. Clearly, using my Aether in such an intense way was dangerous. I had been exerting my power for more than an hour and a half at this point, but one hour was likely the limit I could comfortably use it for.

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As I laid upon the branch I could feel my faculties leaving me, and my eyelids began to feel heavy as my vision darkened.

Before I fainted, I managed to pierce my sword into the bark of the tree. The letter fell down to my side on the wide branch, and I could only hope it wouldn’t drift off somewhere.

As I laid down I remarked that the air at the top of this tree was refreshing in every way imaginable.

‘It almost smells like cotton candy.’ I thought, quickly falling into a sweet, blissful sleep.

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The sounds of low grunts roused me from my sleep.

I immediately noticed that it was now night time, and the only thing illuminating my surroundings was the dim moonlight painting the forest.

The next thing I noticed was a pair of crystal-blue eyes peering at me from the darkness.

I shuddered as I raised my guard, using my Aether to command my sword to fly in front of me. The iron sword flashed under the moonlight as it dislodged itself from the thick bark of the tree, floating above me at the ready.

Those blue eyes were staring at me intently, and my heart skipped a beat when I noticed a second pair of eyes watching me from a different direction.

I spun around as I tried to assess the situation.

I was more horrified to discover that the blue eyes seemed to be multiplying, and soon there were scores of eyes staring at me through the darkness.

‘There must be dozens, no maybe a hundred eyes.’ I realized, knowing that I was incredibly outnumbered.

The dim light from the moon illuminated enough of the forest for me to catch glimpses of white figures dashing across the treetops around me.

‘It’s those white monkeys! Those f*ckers must think I’m an easy snack!’ I thought, using my Aether to float towards the sky.

As soon as I started flying, the monkeys began to furiously shriek and scream, their commotion literally shaking the forest.

I picked up my speed, trying to break through the treeline above my resting place. I had been sleeping on a wide branch several meters below the treetops, and the ground was likely 70 meters below me at this point.

In my exhausted and delirious state I probably thought that this was high enough. It clearly wasn’t though.

A scrawny monkey with one tail hollered as it launched itself towards me from a neighboring tree. These monkeys were small, likely not much larger than a small child on average.

However, their speed was astounding.

This monkey quickly reached my position before I could react, and it slashed out at me with sharp claws. A single attack like that would likely tear my throat out and leave me dead.

Luckily, at this moment my sword was already right next to the monkey.

My aether sent the sword in a sharp arc as the monkey was cleanly bisected in half. It’s legs were severed from its torso, and the momentum of its jump caused its dismembered pieces to slam into a nearby tree.

I quickly turned around to see that half a dozen more white figures were now jumping towards me. The monkeys screamed as they launched themselves, intending to grab me out of the air through sheer numbers.

Without even thinking, my sword travelled through the air in a blinding flash and tore through the first monkey. It didn’t slow down as it cut through two more monkeys right behind it.

Turning around, the sword continued in another pass as it neatly dissected another three monkeys who had just launched themselves into the air.

A rather large monkey with three tails howled as it narrowly dodged the sword, twisting its bulky body out of the way.

I commanded my sword to return to me though, and it flew through his neck and severed its head before it could even land.

With this first wave subdued, I tried to regain altitude before I was swarmed again.

I willed my Aether to move me forwards, but a sharp impact suddenly smashed into my head, sending me tumbling out of the air.

As I fell, I spotted a monkey with two tails cackling as it hooted on a tree. It was holding a rock in its hands as it prepared to take aim a second time.

The bastard had thrown a rock at me.

I quickly regained my senses even as I could feel myself shaking in the air. I grabbed a hold of my sword and letter before they had fallen too low, and then stabilized my aether. My forehead stung with a sharp pain and blood was dripping down my forehead, right into my eyes.

Luckily, this time I saw the flash of a rock flying towards me, so I was able to drift to the side to avoid it.

When I looked back towards the other side of the wilderness, the sea of blue eyes had somehow grown. Without warning, a sea of white began to converge on me from the trees. The monkeys released a cacophony of screeches as they flew towards me, intent on tearing me into shreds.

I strained my aether into action even as my body was telling me I couldn’t. My sword flew towards the wave of white monkeys as it cleanly tore limbs and tails from bodies, or separated torsos from their other halves.

Many of the monkeys couldn’t even let out screams of pain as they were turned into minced meat that fell into the darkness below.

No matter how many of the creatures I cut down though, ten more seemed to show up in their place.

I ducked down as I saw a monkey fly over me, missing me by a mere foot.

Even as I quickly dispatched it with a swift slash of my sword, another would appear behind me to throw me off guard.

My ascent towards the sky never slowed, but it was becoming clear that they were going to overwhelm me if I couldn’t move faster.

I turned around to cut down a pair of monkeys that had snuck up on my blindspot, but four more were immediately behind me! Just as I was moving to dispatch them though, I caught a glimpse of a dark object flying towards me.

It was so fast I didn’t even have time to process that it was in front of me, and before I could command my Aether to move it violently smashed into my chest.

My lungs collapsed in on themselves as my ribs were instantly broken. I coughed out blood as I flew towards a nearby tree.

I couldn’t even wheeze out a single breath as my eyes glazed over—My body limp as it slammed into several branches on the way down towards the forest floor.