As I fell from the air I was able to catch a brief glance of a hulking figure out in the distance.

Its white fur shined under the moonlight and I could see that it had at least six tails. It roared into the night sky as it pounded its chest with thundering fists.

My vision blacked out as my head smashed into a branch, sending me tumbling towards the darkness below.

image [https://static.vecteezy.com/system/resources/thumbnails/027/187/944/small/gold-and-luxury-under-line-png.png]

I opened my eyes to the sensation of my entire body burning.

I screamed, my throat raw from the effort. When I looked at my chest I saw that it was sunken in completely, which explained why I couldn’t seem to regain my breath.

Even more dismaying, I realized that something was carrying me.

I looked up to see that a white monkey with two tails was holding me by my leg as it dangled me off of a branch.

Looking down, I could see that the forest floor was still almost twenty meters below me. Small blue lights flickered on the ground, and strange plants glew with the same blue energy that seemed to permeate this region.

I was forced to now turn my attention back to my captor, as he was now violently swinging me around in the air. The monkey screamed as it held me in the air like a trophy, but the other monkeys clearly had a problem with it stealing their prize.

A much larger monkey with three tails pounced on them, latching onto their throat with their jaws. The attacking monkey tore the other’s throat out before proceeding to steal me from its grasp.

As I hung usesully in the air I attempted to gather my aether for one last desperate attack, but it was to no avail. My entire body wasn’t listening to my commands, and I figured that I was slowly dying.

I had long since lost track of my weapon as well—It had no doubt fallen down to the forest floor at some point.

The monkey that had just grabbed me began to rapidly jump up the treetops, paying no mind to me even as my broken little bones shifted around in my body. My vision swam as I felt my consciousness fading, but I fought to stay awake.

I knew that if I passed out here I would likely be devoured by these ravenous creatures.

Suddenly, the monkey that was carrying me roughly flew to the side as he lost his grip on the tree. Another monkey had evidently smashed into them, and the impact had sent me flying into the air.

I saw that this new monkey had four tails! I realized in bitter sorrow that each monkey higher on the food chain was now taking their turn to fight over me.

The four-tailed monkey jumped from a tree to grab me in its meaty grasp, its claws digging into my flesh and drawing blood.

Its victorious howl was interrupted by a white arm that had abruptly pierced through its chest.

This arm was bulging with an uncanny strength, and its sharp claws looked to be at least three inches long. I watched in astonishment as I saw that its clawed hand was holding the dislodged heart of the other monkey!

They roughly clenched their fist and destroyed the monkey’s heart in a splash of gore, splattering me with blood. As the attacking monkey discarded the other monkey’s corpse, I became able to see it in full view.

The monkey’s white fur was so thick that it looked like armor, and its limbs bulged with terrifying strength. It was hard to tell, but I estimated that it was at least eight feet tall.

This towering monkey didn’t scream or holler as it stared at me, and all I could hear was its deep, rumbling growl.

I realized belatedly that this monkey actually had six tails, and I figured that this was the one that had initially hit me with that vicious rock.

I blacked out before it could grab me from the air.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

In my mind I was just happy I would not have to be awake to suffer my fate.

image [https://static.vecteezy.com/system/resources/thumbnails/027/187/944/small/gold-and-luxury-under-line-png.png]

To my great misfortune the monkeys did not plan on letting me have a quick death.

I awoke to find that I was laying on what appeared to be some large block of stone. My body was also completely numb, and I couldn’t feel an ounce of pain.

This was actually very concerning, for I knew that I had a number of life-threatening wounds. I could see that the sky above me was dark from the midnight, and I could see the faint light from the moon shining down upon me.

After regaining my vision, my next sense to come back was my hearing.

My ears trembled as they picked up an intense wave of sounds that rivaled a heavy metal concert. Instead of music though, my ears were greeted with the screams and shrieks of hundreds of monkeys.

I strained my head to see that I was on some type of stone platform. To my horror, below me sat a sea of white figures, all jumping up and down as they screeched at the top of their lungs. The monkeys stood in a wide field that had been cleared of trees, and it was easily the size of three football fields. Behind the clearing I could see the long trees of the forest looming in the background.

Strangely, my body seemed to have returned to an almost functional state. Where my chest had previously been caved in, there was now just rough bruising.

I sat up from the stone platform and gasped as I realized that I was standing dozens of meters up in the air, on what appeared to be a massive pyramid.

This stone pyramid was as wide as it was tall, and I sat right at its peak.

I had seen enough history shows about the ancient Aztec of my previous world to know where this was going.

My first instinct was to activate my aether and soar into the sky.

Surprisingly, my aether responded to my will. I began to float shakily, but I pushed myself to rise as high up as I could.

As soon as I took into the air the swarming mass of white below me began to intensify. Their screeches were deafening now, and as I looked down at them I knew I had no hope of escape.

I realized that my nose had also started bleeding again, and my aether was beginning to shut down. Even if I couldn’t escape anywhere far, I still forced my body to rise higher into the air.

Taking a glance at my surroundings, I spotted another pyramid directly adjacent to the one that I was above.

The top of this neighboring pyramid was closed off to the sky, and there appeared to be some sort of room sitting on its top layer.

This pyramid was also connected to mine through a long, stone bridge.The end of this bridge held a doorway that led into its depths, and this doorway had a figure walking out of it.

This white figure soon revealed itself to be the giant monkey who had presumably brought me here.

Its six tails flowed around it as it marched across the bridge connecting the pyramids. The sea of monkeys below somehow reached a new pitch and fervor after this six-tailed monkey appeared.

‘That guy must be their leader.’ I surmised, seeing that he had his own little pyramid house.

I knew that I couldn’t hope to defeat this thing in my current state, and even escaping was likely a far cry away with my current capabilities.

Suddenly, the head monkey barked out a sharp roar. This roar instantly silenced the army of monkeys below, and the area became eerily quiet.

The six-tailed monkey then looked up at me in the air, and began to bark and shout at me in low tones.

I tilted my head in confusement, was it talking to me? If that thing was asking me to come down there, it was out of luck.

However, my bewilderment continued when I saw that the monkey looked to be holding some type of glowing ball.

It was too far to see clearly, but I noticed that it was made out of some strange stone that glowed with faint blue lines. The blue lines streaked across the stone sphere and pulsed with a rhythmic power.

‘What the hell is that?’ I wondered, but my eyes widened as I saw that the monkey was preparing to throw the sphere at me!

I forced my aether to send me even higher, just in time to see that the monkey was tossing the sphere up into the air.

The monkey didn’t throw the sphere hard, and I watched it slowly fly towards me. I didn’t plan on letting this strange thing get near me though, for it could be a bomb for all I knew.

Before it was several meters away I sent my aether towards it, grabbing it with an invisible wave of power.

Just this action caused my vision to swim and my brain to tremble, but what happened next convinced me I had made the right decision.

The stone sphere violently pulsed with light when my aether came into contact with it, sending bolts of lighting outwards into the air. This lighting was so powerful that a stray blast shot into the crowd of white below and instantly vaporized a number of unsuspecting monkeys.

I shuddered at the sphere’s power, ‘I knew that thing was a bomb!’ I exclaimed internally, holding the stone object at bay.

I was lucky that none of the lighting had hit me, for that would have been a tragic end.

Surprisingly though, the stone sphere still appeared to be completely intact.

An idea suddenly came to me, and I quickly commanded my aether to move the sphere above the mass of monkeys below. After doing this I began to violently shake the sphere as hard as I could manage. I intended to obliterate as many of these bastards as I could before they took me out.

However, even after I had shook the sphere for a few seconds nothing happened.

What confused me further was that the vast gathering of monkeys below me had suddenly started prostrating on the floor.

To my amazement, it looked like they were bowing towards the stone sphere!

I scratched my head in bewilderment as I turned my attention back towards the leader of the monkeys. Blinking my eyes, I saw that the monkey was holding some small object. This object looked like a normal paper fan, and I wondered what it was doing with that dainty little thing.

To my dismay though, this fan held some type of profound power.

The monkey swiped the fan in the air and torrential gusts of wind swept over me in an instant. The wind sent me flying in several different directions, and for a long moment I felt like a leaf trapped in a hurricane.

The six-tailed monkey directed the fan like the conductor of an orchestra as he commanded the wind to send me crashing towards the stone pyramid below.

While this monkey appeared to be a brute at first glance, it clearly held incredible intelligence. This was evident by its delicate control as it operated the fan. A gust of wind appeared below me to stop my descent, and another swift torrent drifted me back toward the stone surface.

I gently touched down on the block of stone atop the pyramid, and a feeling of dread started to creep up on me.

‘Is this supposed to be the table he’s going to eat me on? That’s probably why he was being so gentle with me, he doesn’t want to play with his food.’ I thought in bitter amusement.

My power had long since fled my body at this point, and I couldn’t command my aether to so much as lift me a foot upwards. My aether seemed to come back to me in brief intervals, almost as if it was on cooldown. This only happened whenever I exerted my powers too much, and I doubted I would get them back in time to fend off my attackers.

I laughed to myself bitterly as I accepted my fate, watching the towering monkey approach my pyramid.

His booming footsteps resounded loudly in contrast to the now quiet surroundings. Soon, the behemoth of a monkey had reached my position.

It looked down at me as I laid upon the block of stone. Its crystal-blue eyes locked with my own, and I could swear that its expression looked overjoyed.

I closed my eyes as I prepared for the inevitable.