“Mom?” Leo blurted out in surprise the moment he woke up.

Everything around him was a blur, but he instinctively assumed that the one gently caressing his head was Camille, his real mother. While she was not the prettiest of his mothers and neither the funnest one, she loved him the most and often played with his hair just like now. Her touch was gentle and caring …

But then Leo’s train of thought was interrupted by a loud shriek. The two silver-back ape babies who were previously searching through Leo’s hair got startled from him suddenly waking up and, screaming in fear, darted towards their respective mothers who patiently hid them putting on their backs while sending annoyed looks towards the source of distress of their babies.

Holding the forehead with one hand, Leo slowly sat up, trying to comprehend where he was and what was going on. His whole body ached just like that time after the weird storm with the purple lightning, but the head was heavy as if he had drunk Firewater for two days straight.

When Leo’s sight cleared up, the boy realized he was sitting in a lush, green meadow, maybe thirty or forty yards wide. It was encircled by thick bamboo jungle and scattered around in the thick grass in the shadow of the trees lie dozens of huge apes. Their fur was of a silvery color and it was clear they were the ones whom Leo met on the ship.

The commotion that was caused by his awakening didn’t draw attention of any of the beasts except those directly involved – just like in the human society no one here payed extra attention to the games children played unless they were in an actual distress. The two little ones he scared earlier also came back after seeing there was no danger and began to curiously poke his skin. For some reason they were interested in the black layer that Leo was still covered in and since his clothing was almost completely torn during the ‘volleyball’ match on the ship, his whole body was on a display.

While Leo was scared out of his mind and the poking was annoying and sometimes painful, once again he experienced the terrifying agony of thirst.

‘After I get home, I’ll always carry a bottle of water with me!’ Leo swore to himself and tried to get up.

Obviously these apes looked scary, but since he was still alive, they were not going to eat him. Although he was unclear for the reasons they brought him here, finding something to drink was much more important.

Leo struggled to get up with the two annoying ape babies harassing him, but when he finally did, he noticed a neat pile of boxes and barrels stacked between bamboo trees not too far away.

His eyes lit up realizing that for some reason apes brought his cultivation supplements here, but he was not going to thank them. With large strides he walked towards the closest barrel, when he suddenly he heard loud ‘U! A!’ close by. The next moment Leo found himself flying through the air, world spinning around him and before he could blink he landed in the middle of the meadow, miserably rolling several yards in the grass.

Luckily apes were not in the mood of playing catch, but the elegant throw of their leader was met with series of ‘U’s!’ full of respect. In Leo’s ears it, of course, sounded as if tens of apes were loudly laughing at him and the worst thing was that they actually were.

But before Leo could react to the humiliation, the patriarch heavily landed right beside him, slapped the ground with his two humongous fists and then hammered his own chest few times. He did it so fierce the leaves from the nearby bamboo trees fell like snowflakes and the surrounding apes stared at their leader in deep fear and admiration.

Leo wasn’t the smartest kid in the world, but even he understood the meaning – he immediately decided to never go against a guy this big and strong just to protect his pride. With a sigh he sat back up in the grass, trying to think of a way out of the predicament he was in, but what happened next made his scalp go numb.

After the display of his might, the huge ape looked around for few moments and noticed another, a smaller one not too far away. The smaller one currently had its back, or rather – the butt turned towards the leader and the big guy jumped over in a lightning speed and began to hump the smaller one. The victim yelped few times, clearly calling for help, but the rest of the ape family ignored the development and got busy with their own things.

‘Alright! I am not allowed to piss him off ever again no matter what!’ Leo took the transpiring events as a lesson that was taught to him personally. Seeing how the poor ape struggled under the huffing and puffing leader made him realize there were much worse ways to die than from a simple thirst.

Of course, Leo had no clue the patriarch’s lesson was over already after he threw the boy away. The hammering of the chest was just the usual way he liked to show off and inevitably some females of the tribe immediately turned their butts inviting patriarch over for a ‘chat’. The guy just picked one whom he fancied most at that particular moment and followed his beastly instincts.

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On the other hand the child’s perception of the events was also logical – from his perspective it was obvious the smaller ape got ‘punished’ and did ‘struggle’ under the big one, trying to stay alive. It was a tragic sight and he was surprised by the indifference from the rest of the tribe, but it only pointed out the gap of power between the patriarch and the rest.

In the end Leo shook his head chasing the unnecessary thoughts away and as stealthily as he could tried to slip away. Of course, his round, black body rolling in the grass was immediately spotted by a bunch of ape babies who for a while excitedly rolled along until they got to the bamboo trees and their respective mothers called everyone back.

Leo inwardly cheered at the obedience of the little annoying things who actually were almost his size and didn’t question why no one followed him. Delighted he managed to escape so easily, he fought through the jungle trying to make as little noise as possible. From time to time he paused figuring out the ‘correct’ way, but since he didn’t know where he was going, there was not much to figure out.

Either because he was clueless or too tired, Leo didn’t think of meeting dangerous beasts or poisonous insects. He struggled through the jungle for a while until he suddenly found himself on the beach. The sun was up high and he got blinded by the sudden light for a moment, but then with a loud cheer he ran directly in the water.

A short while later a dark, sorry figure of a fat boy could be seen walking on shaky legs along the beach, trying to remain in the shadow of the trees.

‘So that’s why …’ Leo thought to himself, ‘Father is always right!’

Feeling thirst any human’s first reaction is to drink water, but there was a reason why his father never allowed him to drink the sea water. Not only the salty taste was unpleasant and nauseating – after drinking few mouthfuls he was even thirstier than before!

‘Those damn monkeys! Stealing all my stuff!’ Leo was upset. Supplies on the ship surely would’ve lasted until he was found, but they took everything for themselves as big bullies and left him thirsty, hungry and helpless.

Leo really wanted to curse them, but since his father never cursed he didn’t know any real curse words. The only ones he remembered were when during the fight with crabs sailors shouted something about tucking the mothers of those crabs. He was not clear what was all that about, but from the bottom of his heart he wished all the mothers of the apes in the world were tucked … and that big ape … he was one really mean mothertucker.

He was not only mean to Leo throwing him around whenever he wanted to – he was even mean to his own tribe-people! In comparison Leo’s father was always strict, but never tortured anyone like that. The rules of the Renaud clan were just and so were the punishments … but those apes … were only a bunch of mothertuckers.

Leo’s thoughts were interrupted by, probably, the most beautiful sight he had ever seen in his life.

A hundred or so yards away Leo saw a river that suddenly appeared right from the jungle and ended its journey in the ocean. Leo knew that rivers carried fresh water and didn’t care that actually the yard and a half wide brook was not really a river. To him this was the river of his dreams and, ignoring the fatigue and pain, he darted towards it.

The water was a bit murky, but it was sweet – sweeter than any candy Leo had ever tasted! Just in case, he went couple dozen yards upstream to make sure he didn’t drink the sea water on accident again and then began to drink.

Leo had no clue how long he drank or if it was too much – he was so thirsty he didn’t care. After he was so full he simply couldn’t swallow neither water nor his own saliva, he lie in the stream and let the freshwater wash over him. This was the best bath he had taken in half a year … well … and the only one, of course.

He continued to lie in the water without a thought and maybe even fell asleep for some time, but when the sky darkened Leo realized there were some actual worldly worries he had to pay attention to. He was alone in the middle of nowhere without food or clothing.

Since he couldn’t do anything about the latter, there was no reason to worry about it, but the former could be only solved in the morning thus he climbed out the water and decided to make a camp. After sitting down besides a larger palm tree Leo contently nodded to himself … and immediately passed out. The stress of the resent events was too much for the little boy and his brain performed an auto–shut down procedure to conserve the last bits of sanity he still had.

Before entering the dreamworld he had one last thought though, ‘In the future I have to find a way to always carry something to drink. Yes, I’ll make it my second rule!’

Although Leo carelessly lived on the ship for half a year, he was actually incredibly lonely. Up until now he was always surrounded by many people and all of them took care of him. And then there was the best person in the world, his father, Leo could always rely on – the tall and mighty man. Even though he witnessed his father’s tragic end, Leo still carried a silly hope father would somehow show up as if nothing happened. Actually this blind belief was the only thing keeping the boy from loosing his mind – that and the wish to become a strong cultivator to impress his old man.

During the past months the diluted beer on the ship was strong enough to keep the little boy permanently drunk and his judgment cloudy, but now, after a couple of days sober the reality overtook him along with the alcohol withdrawal.

Luckily Leo was a child and had a child’s mind. He slept soundly till the first rays of sun shone in his face and woke up in much better shape than the day before. Of course, he was still incredibly thirsty, but that problem was solved with the sweet water from the nearby brook.

After drinking to his fullest, Leo washed his face and began making plans. Since he wasn’t on a drifting ship anymore, he didn’t have to wait for someone to come and save him. He could look for people himself and it shouldn’t be really that hard – all he had to do was to go along the beach until he found a town or a fishermen village and then ask people to take him back home.

Of course, Leo didn’t want to risk and experience thirst again, therefore decided to go along the shore only for half a day and if he wasn’t successful, he would return to drink and rest and then try the opposite way the next day.

Armed with this plan, Leo departed.