The second monster kind of looked like a bird while at the same time didn’t, but of course the scary part about it was the humongous size. The moment Leo noticed it, his escape was interrupted by first instantly stopping in his tracks and then inevitably falling face down because of inertia.
“Mother tuck…!” Leo wanted to curse, but immediately felt the stare form the two pairs of eyes burning his back and half crawling, half running dashed to the side.
While the child was terrified, the two grand creatures found the play comical. Truth to be said, the boy was so small it couldn’t even pass as a snack, to not speak about the fact they were not going to eat a human even though that stupid bird brought one here.
The two peak rank seven beasts, the goldenglow tiger and the nightfeather griffin watched how Leo ran off in panic while screaming his lungs out and then turned back to start another motionless staring contest. During the past three centuries they had done this countless times and there had never been a clear winner, but there were not that many things to do on this damned island so they learned to enjoy their little game.
Leo, on the other hand, had different problems in mind. After leaving the platform, he found himself in a thick jungle, much thicker than the bamboo groves he was used to. Purely out of habit he scaled a larger tree and, jumping from branch to branch, dashed away from the scariest event he had ever experienced.
He didn’t care how the two monsters would split the dead ape between them, but he was certain that the second the ape was gone, they would come after him. Judging by their size there was no way they’ll get satiated with the tiny three hundred pound ape … But at this thought Leo almost lost his balance and fell off a branch.
“Mother tuckers!” He cursed the only way he knew how to.
These monsters were so big it didn’t matter how high up the trees he had climbed. And one of those even had wings! At some point Leo even considered he was seeing things, but since he had long lost any hope of waking up from this weird dream he found himself in for the past year, he simply accepted everything that transpired as the reality no matter how unbelievable it was.
This island seemed to be much larger than the previous one he was on and after madly running through the jungle for who knows how long Leo was finally out of breath. Tired and bruised all over he found a thicker tree cluster and tried to hide in hopes the two monsters would forget about his existence.
It was not the first time he stayed for prolonged time up on a tree so it was not uncomfortable at all. In addition, the trees here were much taller and their branches were thick and long, therefore Leo soon passed out as if he was sleeping on the ground.
Leo woke up with a distinct feeling of uneasiness. The first rays of sun colored the treetops and the morning was joyfully received by birds whose chirping made the jungle sound alive and busy. But the splitting headache and the pain coming from every part of his body didn’t allow Leo to enjoy any of it.
In addition, the moment Leo opened his own eyes he saw another pair of black and shiny ones staring back at him. For a period of few breaths the boy and the snake stared at each other, but when the snake finally attacked its prey, its jaws found nothing but a thin air. In confusion it looked around trying to find where the daily breakfast has gone, while Leo with soft ‘thud … thud … thud’ sounds fell down the tree, hitting every branch on his way.
Somehow at the very last moment before the snake’s attack he jolted back only to loose the footing and inevitably stumbled down, but since he was already hurting all over and falling from trees wasn’t anything new to him, the boy didn’t even let out a yelp.
After heavily landing in the bushes below, Leo did murmur something that should’ve meant a curse, but then he realized what just transpired and immediately darted away not caring about the direction he was running to.
As expected running on a soft ground through the jungle was much harder than jumping from tree to tree, but Leo wasn’t bothered by the implications. The sight of the snake jaws right in front of his face resurfaced yesterday’s terror and once again Leo was on the brink of loosing sanity. On the other hand the rank three emerald boa was a bit upset by its meal escaping so easily, but soon noticed a clueless pheasant and the earlier event was forgotten.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Already after running for a brief period of twenty or so breaths, Leo recognized the value of his own rules, the second of which was ‘Always carry something to drink!’.
‘It’s not my fault!’ He angrily retorted to himself, ‘I haven’t seen a jug or a bottle since I left the ship!’
While complaining, finding excuses and at the same time suffering from severe pain and dehydration, Leo ran until he was completely out of breath. Just when he thought he was ready to give up and pass out right on the spot, he suddenly ran out the jungle and found himself in front of a wide, beautiful lake. In the middle of it there was an island with a weird looking tree without leaves near a pile of rocks, but the scenery didn’t matter. What mattered was the fact that the water in the lake was still without the slightest ripple and so clear one could easily count the pebbles on the bottom.
Without a second thought Leo darted into the lake while loudly cheering and dived in mouth first, ready to drink to his fullest.
The child’s shout and the splash woke up the ‘rock pile’ on the island that turned out to be one of the beasts that scared Leo yesterday, the tiger. It raised its head and stared in disbelief at the body that just fell in the water and began convulsing uncontrollably.
Putting aside the question how the kid got here, no sane human, even a child would ever come close to the Divine tribulation tree and the waters surrounding it even if they didn’t know what it was! If the person didn’t notice the purple lightning flashes between the dry branches, they should’ve at least seen the lightning discharges on the water surface right? And if not, they should have some instinctual fear towards the place! And that ignoring the fact that he, the mighty rank seven goldenglow tiger was guarding the place!
The tiger sighed, shook its head and lied back down. This had nothing to do with him. He had already given enough face to the humans by letting the boy getting away alive last night and didn’t intend to risk getting burns by saving him. The kid was already dead for sure and his body was most likely muscle spasming even though the little soul was back in the cycle of reincarnation.
Leo, on the other hand, was currently anything but dead. Of course, once again he experienced similar torture to what he went through while entangled in the ship’s rigging during that weird storm with the purple lightning. Although the strength of the lightning emitted by the Divine tribulation tree was nowhere close to what an actual Heavenly tribulation brought during an attempt of ascension to the Nascent soul stage, the lightning charges that constantly flowed through Leo’s body made the pain even more excruciating especially because for some reason he just couldn’t pass out.
Leo’s body quivered and jolted, convulsed and shook – all at once while splashing water around as if he was a duck caught by a catfish. Of course, similar to any duck he was unwilling to die, but living for long in such pain was also not an option.
When the boy’s agony continued for a period of over thirty breaths, the tiger became annoyed and at the same time curious.
‘It can’t be that the Divine tribulation tree suddenly died off?’ It thought to himself while throwing a glance above, but the tree emitted the usual lightning discharges between its branches.
Then the tiger pondered for a moment and stretched one of its paws towards the water. After taking a deep breath it slowly touched the surface only to pull the paw back in an instant. Even though it barely touched the water, the toe beans were burnt and ached, but they were wet so it was not an illusion.
The tiger’s expression changed as looked at the convulsing little human again. Although it had spent the last several centuries guarding this place, it had lived a long life and seen many strange things and creatures. Maybe the boy there was also one of those freaks of nature one couldn’t explain. Then it remembered that from time to time there were some birds who after getting electrocuted while trying to drink from the lake after some time got up and flew away. Who knows, maybe the kid also will crawl out at some point.
After this thought the tiger licked its paw a couple of times and then lied back down while keeping its eyes barely open – just enough to observe the body in the water. Unfortunately, or rather – as expected, the convulsions slowly died down bit by bit and in the end the boy spasmed only now and then. The sight soon got boring and the tiger soon fell asleep again.
“Oh no … mother tucker! No … not again!” A desperate child’s voice reverberated across the lake waking the tiger up.
For a split second tiger was in daze, trying to understand what was going on, but when it focused its vision on the small body on the opposite side of the lake, its expression changed into one full of disbelief once again.
The sun was setting and it meant that he had slept the whole day, meanwhile at some point the little human somehow managed to crawl out of the water. And the most incredible thing was that he was still alive! Of course, his body was all charred over, but one couldn’t wish to be unscathed after bathing in the waters of the Divine tribulation tree!
Leo had a completely different opinion though. He stared at his hands and legs and … well … the rest of him and all of it was once again covered in the same black substance. From his own experience he knew it won’t come off in many months and what’s seven worse – soon it will become incredibly itchy underneath, but he won’t be able to scratch himself properly for a long time! He was really pissed!
Of course, if the tiger knew what the boy was thinking about, it would slap the kid out of anger, but now, not being able to believe its own eyes, with a long leap it jumped and nimbly landed right beside the human.
After instinctively jolting at the appearance of the huge cat right next to him, Leo looked at it angrily and said, “What? Did you come over to laugh at me like those mother tucking apes?”
The tiger slightly tilted its head and the next moment gently … slapped Leo unconscious. It knew humans had many languages and it could understand a couple, but not the one the kid spoke in. Thus, just in case the guy was impolite, it decided to teach him a lesson as a preventive measure.