The menacing calls of the monkeys hooted from the peanut gallery like a packed crowd at a stadium. Their shadows swing from branch to branch, leaping between trees above in numbers more than the naked eyes catch. The howling and shrieking in pitched screams of excitement drowned out everything else.

Jed stumbled lost through the jungle. He fumbled over terrain he wasn’t well suited for. A coconut smashed beside him as the chase and heckling from the other primates continued.

The plan to find Fred’s path and track him was closing. Things had escalated to the level an individual had to protect his own neck over anything else. Jed's foot caught into a root and he fell tumbling slowly down a hill over and over. His legs over his head, and back twisted. His body spun down a hill unable to make heads or tales of where he would stop. He rolled fast enough to become like the speed puck did on ice when children hit it with reverse magnetic tipped poles.

“SPLASH!”

Jed was soaked from head to foot. His mind took a second to catch its breath to recalibrate what had happened in an instant and was over. His body was definitely screwed up even worse.

The water of the river was so dirty, murky, and full of particles dislodged it might as well have been gravy. He spit out a stream of green and purple algae that grew thick. Something reached from the dark wrapping at his ankles. The sound was muffled as he bubbled. Finally things made sense when he cleared rope from the wheel by hauled up the offending vines from underwater.

Jed returned up for air breathing in gasps of the good stuff. He wasn’t a Bootlicker or other fishy animal with gills, but he could sorta swim well enough to not drown. .

The Jungle he drifted beside had gone quiet. Time to take a break from the heat. Jed relaxed, floating backwards gently downstream. The soothing sounds of the water running and birdsongs had replaced the troublemaking monkeys.

He needed a bath bad, but the water was really dirty. Whatever it felt good enough for just a few more minutes of soaking. He thought of Fred in danger from the loss of blood, and things for his best friend were perilous. They were both surely being hunted by the others, and time was running out for even more reinforcements to be called into the hunt. Knowing how horrible his chances required at least one more minute of soaking before his body would cooperate.

Finally Jed snapped into gear again. Mud on the shore engulfed his boots, sucking him in deep with each step. He bent down to apply a fresh layer to his face and arms like his father had always told him to stay cool in combat. Jed had a feeling he was almost out of the worst of it. Everything would shake out alright in the end.

He stood in the tall grass where the treeline started. The intrusive thoughts dawned again that he was very lost and probably going to die alone in the jungle. He would become nothing more than a piece of food for the other animals. It could be fate waiting, but he wasn’t about to tap out without fighting death first.

A dark blanket of night engulfed the valley. The two moons remained hidden while the daytime birds had clocked out for the owls. A new rotation of nocturnal noise makers took over the rotation who peeped, hooted, and hollered. Jed laughed to himself knowing he was too stubborn to let anything break him. He walked back into the forest for another round of action.

The breeze had increased and the temperature lowered substantially. A tree branch broke underfoot while arms held overhead. Jed was dangling high in the air off a tree branch. It was a steep enough fall to break bones. Jed did a slow pull-up straining, and giving everything to get higher. He lifted his neck over the bar. Finally his chest rolled the limbs before he used both arms to haul himself. The stars could be seen glistening above the tall tree rocked back and forth in the wind.

Meanwhile far below the whips of the empire cracked in order to keep schedule. The slavers broke their backs to motivate the goblins below them. Hundreds of bodies forced to drag giant blocks of ice over hills and across a frozen wasteland. It had been cut in massive chunks with magma torch cutters from glaciers near the frozen oceans discovered in the center of the planet.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“Move it lazy goblins!" yelled the commander sitting above everyone as they pulled him.

“Yeah before we all turn hotter tempers from this cold,” yelled a foreman on a sled below.

Additional Empire soldiers sped past on dog sleds. This path headed to where cabins, barracks, and a mess hall had been built and hot fires burned in stone. The soldiers cracked wisecracks with an increasing frequency. They were coming to the steepest incline on the route. A big hill, but a small mountain before the slaves would go for more and their shifts would end.

At the peak Queen Elizabethy the 13th sat in her pure white throne room. Her newest castle under construction was going to be pure ice. The first government project she had ever been the sole architect would be nothing but perfect. The now dead king had many opinions that she respected when it came to running the kingdom. Now it was her turn to rule so she would expect no less than full devotion from the royal family.

Queen Elizibethy strode out of the new throne room. She went into the adjacent quarters, and sat herself in front of the mirror.

This place would be the new capital. An impenetrable fortress of crystal in a location safe from any enemy. An ideal lair to work remotely while controlling her empire that would soon span the entire planet. Everything was possible in the core with the ridonculous deposits of crystals laying around everywhere. And this was only what they had already discovered. The best part was the scouts were discovering more and more everyday. It was enough to where the empire would never run out again.

Snaggy had tried to explain that currency of crystal would be devalued with the glut. The fool seemed to think they were a useless thing like gold except the shards had unlimited utilitarian uses. They would always be in demand forever (end of story). The Queen studied herself closer in the mirror. She had begun to wrinkle below her eyes, neck, and had dark spots. It turned out running a kingdom alone was stressful.

"SNAGGY where are you?!" she cried.

The jester came running into the open door.

"Yes Queen," he cried, bowing.

Elizibethy took out a container labeled crushed crystals and cracked it open. She began to rub the special mix over her face and more into her nose.

"Any news from the kingdom again since you're always being sent back there when I need you most?,” she said, scowling.

Snaggy quivered.

“Part of me thinks you've figured out some teleport trick none of the rest of us know" she said going into interrogation mode.

"No your majesty I figure I'm such a fool just being here offends the planet so much it keeps spitting me out, and sending me back early" he said.

She turned, and crossed her legs, sticking one foot into his face.

"That makes sense. Now I order you to start rubbing my feet, run and heat some water in the bucket, get the clippers, angle grinders for the worst skin, and prepare some foot masks" she commanded.

“Yes Ma’am,” said the Jester, inspecting the cruel and unusual punishment he was ordered to do.

Her feet were crusty enough to make a rat blush, and the nails hung out longer than cat claws. There were also stains and fungus showing between the piggies she started teasing him with. He wished one of most famous movie director, and Bootlickers in the kingdom was here to see what he really worshiped.

Living across the frozen wasteland was Ned the wizard. He still sat in a cave by the roaring fire of burning shards of magma at his feet.

“Not much for talking but at least you can communicate” he spoke to the dead girl staring at him.

She had been standing in the other corner without moving for hours.

“We must return for my revenge before I can sleep again,” she repeated in a monotone voice.

“Yeah of course I hope so too ha you would think we could just teleport back by using another crystal to do so, but after those experiments failed ahh,” he said sighing, as he threw away spent Farcs.

“I can wait an entirety,” she replied.

“Well I can’t..seems like this is a place you choose to travel to, while it decides when you take the return trip” said Ned.

Nancy nodded in agreement with the wizards theory. Unbeknownst to her many old memories, one of which she wished to assassinate weren't far from their location.

“I really hate to ask favors but as soon as morning arrives, and the storm clears since you're dead and all.. Would you mind trying to catch me some food out there women? I'm on my last donkey snack that I had in my pockets” said Ned

The dead looked him over with lifeless eyes for a bit. Finally her frozen armor creaked into action and she headed for the exit.

“Wait! Don't you have any self preservation.. you will be buried alive out there in that blizzard that is brewing.. Er you know what I mean by that figure of expression” said Ned pointing to the entrance of the cave.

“No, not really. This is a place where all you get is a single moon forever shining. No morning, midday, or afternoons ” she said walking outside.

The snow continued to pile up in a land that appeared to never melt with a moon that seemed always full.