Leo was f*cked. He knew that enough greenlander beasts escaped and surely will follow him in the darkness even after he left. And for now he had no clue how to resist the fog and not pass out like he and everyone from the expedition did every night. He surely regretted coming back, but unfortunately there was no medicine for that. He had plentiful of antidotes though …

Forcing himself to calm down, Leo looked around, trying to find a way out, but apart from the mutilated bodies on the ground and fog covered trees in the vicinity there was nothing.

‘Right! The trees!’ A sudden tinge of hope brightened his mood.

He had spent days in trees while living with the silverback apes and now all he had to do was to somehow get high enough where there was no more disgusting mucus covering the trunk – if it was actually possible. Unfortunately a closer examination of the nearby trees led to bad news – they all were similarly covered in mucus which also seemed to have a slightly acidic properties or rather – it was so toxic, it felt like acid.

Leo knew that after advancing to the Foundation establishment stage without the Cleaver he could jump several yards high, but that was not even close enough. He could also try to run up the tree trunk and get even further, but it was unlikely to reach the branches since he couldn’t even see the lowest one trough the fog. In fact, he would doubt the trees here had any branches at all if there were no broken ones on the ground.

The fog was getting darker and Leo wrecked his brains for a while, nervously pacing around the bloody battlefield, when he suddenly noticed a sword one of the guys from the Sacred Order left behind and this gave him an idea. He gathered all the weapons he could find, seven in total – all swords, sorted them out by size and stored in the amulet.

Then he took out the smallest one and jabbed it in the nearby three with a quick motion. It didn’t sink in too deep, only two thirds of a foot, but it was enough to hold his weight. Satisfied with the result, he hid the Cleaver in the amulet, took several steps back, drank three antidotes in one go, just in case, and dashed towards the tree at full speed using the technique Elsa taught not so long ago.

Stepping on the tree trunk felt like stepping in a puddle of rainwater – the toxic mucus splashed around, but Leo fully concentrated on maintaining the speed and running upwards. After seven or so wide steps he noticed he was slowing down and immediately took out two swords from the amulet, with a wide motion thrust them into the trunk and a moment later stood on them, his heart pounding wildly.

Everything went better than expected, but the problem was he couldn’t use the current footing neither to jump nor as a support to start another long sprint. The good news were he was quite certain that far above through the fog he could discern something that resembled a large branch.

Fueled by the newfound motivation, Leo half jumped, half run up the trunk again, but this time he barely made four yards. Now he could see the branch almost clearly – it was rather large and thick, but the problem was it was at least fifteen yards away. He had only two more swords left and he really had to make the next part count.

After regulating the breathing Leo darted up once again, poisonous mucus splashing all over, almost slipping in the process. This attempt was better than the last and after stabbing the last two swords in the tree trunk and taking the foothold on them, Leo calculated he had at least eight yards left till the branch. Above that he already could see several more branches, similarly thick, and it was clear he could scale the tree easily if he managed to reach the first one.

‘F*ck it!’ Leo decisively drank several antidotes one after another and darted up on all fours ignoring the burning pain coming from touching the mucus with bare hands.

Just like before it splashed all over and a lot of it fell on his body, but there was no other way as to persist. Surprises didn’t happen and he actually couldn’t run up so high, but there was only yard and a half left, therefore the moment he reached the highest point possible, Leo propelled himself away from the tree trunk, but diagonally – partially jumping up at the same time and it was just enough for him to grab the branch.

The next part went much smoother. In an instant Leo pulled himself up on the branch and immediately began to take out the small antidote bottles and use the contents to directly wash off the mucus from his hands and feet, and the spots where it splashed on him. He didn’t care he used over hundred antidotes one go – what mattered was that he was currently standing on a proper and clean branch, covered in a tree bark of a familiar texture! Yes, it was so wet as if it was currently raining, but at least the lack of toxic mucus meant it didn’t pose a direct threat to his life.

After Leo was finally done, his palms still had the burning sensation, but he didn’t care. For a while he watched the dark foliage above like a thirsty person looks at a river. There was still no wind and no rustling of leaves, but he swore he could hear the birds chirping now and then. And if the birds could live here, he could survive as well. All he had to do was to find a suitable spot to make a crude nest to rest for the night.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The wounds still hurt, but Leo ignored them and continued to jump from branch to branch like during the good old days, getting higher and higher up. Truth to be said, he was rather surprised by how tall the trees were even considering the thickness of trunks at the ground level, in fact, he was pretty sure he never climbed a tree so tall in his life.

At this thought he was starting to get curious. Since the higher he got the thinner the fog became – was it actually possible to climb high enough there was no fog at all? After the few days in the foggy Greenland he was longing for the sun and the prospects of witnessing the first sunset in this realm fueled him with additional strength.

Leo would’ve continued his route up if he suddenly didn’t arrive at a perfect place to spend the night at. It was several hundred square feet wide flat surface, fully covered in tree bark. It almost seemed as if someone had made an improvised dance floor up in the trees, but the lack of nails and other artificial objects pointed at its natural origin.

“Heavens, thank you!” Leo didn’t think much of it and slumped down on his butt. He really needed to rest after the exhausting day and he kind of was starving as well. Since the first fight in the morning he had been only chugging down antidotes and the taste began to make him feel nauseated.

He took out a bottle of water and a piece of bread from the amulet, but before he could enjoy the long deserved dinner, he realized there were close to a dozen pairs of eyes staring at him in shock.

The good news were these were clearly no greenlander beasts – the eyes, green in color, lie on rather nice, bright faces with no facial hair whatsoever. Noses were straight and the widely open mouths – small. Even the long hair was neatly combed and the only thing that stood out were the slightly pointed ears that were sticking out from beneath the hair.

It didn’t take long for Leo to realize why he didn’t immediately notice the creatures. Their bodies, apart from faces, hands and feet were covered in tree bark, just like the ground he sat on and everything else around here!

“Whaaaaa! Halu! Halu! Halu!” Suddenly all little creatures screamed in chorus and darted away each in their own direction.

At first Leo thought they were escaping along the thick tree branches, but a moment later he realized there were at least six or seven artificially created paths leading to nearby trees! These were sentient beings who were actually capable of crafting pathways in the treetops!

A moment later he got a confirmation to this theory when five beings, taller and better built than him, arrived carrying strange weapons that mostly resembled clubs. They were similarly covered in tree bark, just like the small ones earlier and the sound of following footsteps indicated there were more coming. Soon the platform Leo previously though of being wide, became rather small and crowded with the tree-bark creatures of different sizes and ages curiously staring at him.

“Hello! Greetings! Nice to meet you!” With a polite smile Leo said in the dialects he knew without a hope anyone would understand.

Indeed, the tree-barked beings continued to whisper to each other in their own language, but contrary to the way greenlanders spoke this actually resembled a real human tongue.

Suddenly one of the biggest guys took few steps towards Leo, squatted beside him and began to inspect his bandaged shoulder.

A moment later his eyes widened in shock and he exclaimed, “Mata faka?”

The rest gasped hearing that, while Leo, of course, looked back at him in confusion.

Seeing that the guest didn’t get what he said, the guy kept pointing at Leo’s injuries and imitated biting motion clicking his teeth, “Mata faka? Mata fakas? Mata fakas?”

“Hahaha! Indeed, those were the motherf*ckers from below!” Leo laughed at the hilarious coincidence of the world play and nodded, “Mhm, motherf*ckers, motherf*ckers!”

Few from the surrounded crowd smiled along, but several shouted in concerned voices, “Kalu ola hebe! Mata fakas!”

Leo obviously had no clue what they were saying, but soon he heard more footsteps and a moment later an elderly person, at least judging from the gray hair and the wrinkled face, arrived.

They didn’t stand in ceremony and immediately began to inspect Leo’s wounds. At first the patient wanted to say he was fine, but the care of these beings seemed to be genuine and even though the old person’s touch was unpleasant, it wasn’t painful.

The crowd continued to watch how their senior began to tear off the bandages and gasped seeing the many deep wounds Leo had suffered while he calculated how many pieces of clothing he still had left to make new bandages from.

“Sigh, mata fakas! Mata fakas!” The old doctor kept sighing and apparently cursing, and the crowd made similarly concerned faces and repeated after them.

When Leo was finally stripped almost naked, the crowd speechlessly stared a horrifying sight. The youth couldn’t take a look at himself from the side, but he already guessed it was bad. In fact, that was the reason why he initially intended to rush back home.

The doctor was the only one whose expression didn’t change. They ordered the rest to leave, fished out from who knows where a wooden jar with a sticky paste and began to apply it on Leo’s wounds. It did sting a bit, but at the same time had a pleasant cooling effect. It was clearly some kind of local remedy and for a while Leo inwardly struggled to decide if it was fine for him to use it. The old person, of course, clearly thought so, because when the jar was empty, they called one of the big guys and ordered to bring another.

When Leo was finally all smeared up, the surroundings were already dark and the doctor tried to give him few instructions he didn’t understand. Then they sighed, forcefully put Leo in a lying down position and clearly ordered to sleep.

It was a bit funny, but Leo could barely make a smile before passing out. This had been an exhausting day.

The sad part about all of this was that few days ago the expedition members thought of beasts that were walking on two hind extremities as fellow human beings, while creatures covered in tree bark without asking took care of him as if he was one of their own. They didn’t expect anything in return and their concern was real.

No matter what happened in the future, from now on Leo had a clear understanding what actually made people people.