Chapter 16

"OOHHHHHH, dance for me the dance of immortality. Dance for me the dance of eternity.

Mercudiaaa, Mercudiaa, you light-footed dream with a ring of bells!"

"Ooohhh, sing me the song of joy and bliss. Sing me the song of heart's delight.

Mercudiaaa, Mercudiaaa, you whispering dream with the sound of bells!"

Lord Mitten hurried across the canopy towards Minthral. There were only trees around him, he was in the deepest wilderness. The nearest outpost of civilization was still far away.

Here, no one could hear him and - more importantly - no one could interrupt him. Here he could breathe new life into the songs of the sirens with his singing skills, undisturbed. And that - he had decided - he would take full advantage of.

Lord Mitten let his voice ring out loudly.

"Ooohhhhh, write me a poem filled with tenderness, write me a poem filled with wisdom.

Mercuuuuudiaaa, Mercuuuuudiaaa, you poetic dream with ink heart!"

Krakrakra!!!!

In the distance, a flock of birds took flight, startled by Lord Mitten's singing.

Lord Mitten had been traveling continuously for two days and was almost halfway to Minthral. Theoretically. Because in order not to attract attention, he would have to move much more slowly for the last stretch and pick up the speed of a humble village cat.

I'll need a day more, he thought grumpily. For the most boring part of the journey, of all things. A day's journey from Minthral, the forest was bustling with activity. In addition to hunters who offered their prey for sale in Minthral or worked directly for the upper classes, shopkeepers with carts full of food, cloth and other everyday and not-so-daily necessities regularly used the well-trodden forest paths. Residents of the nearby villages around Minthral went into the forest to cut wood or to provide for their own meals at home.

So it was no place for undisturbed singing. And walking across the canopy would also attract unwanted attention.

Instead, it was the beginning of inconspicuous mediocrity.

I should enjoy the wilderness while I have it, Lord Mitten realized once again and filled his chest with air.

"OOHOohhh, paint me a picture of hope rising, paint me a picture of darkness setting.

Mercuuuudia, Mercuuuuudia, you brush-wielding dream with a robe of color!"

For the next few hours, melodies thought long gone rang through the forest, scaring off birds and smaller ground dwellers. One or two predators dripped saliva from their mouths at the sight of the prey running across the canopy, frustrated at the inaccessibility of the nimble creature. More intelligent monsters relied on their instincts and hid until the monster had moved away again.

Suddenly a hand shot out of a crown of leaves and grabbed Lord Mitten's paw. Faster than a thought could form, Lord Mitten dodged the hand and stopped. Following a premonition, the hand tried to retreat again quickly, but not fast enough. Lord Mitten caught it with his telekinetic abilities and pulled the hand out of the treetop with the rest of its body clinging to it. That was the plan, anyway. Apparently the creature seemed to have grabbed onto a branch with its other arm at the last second, leaving only its upper body visible.

AICKkdCHKAikckck!!! screamed the creature that neither wanted to let go of the life-saving branch nor be torn in two by the telekinetic forces.

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"What the —"

Lord Mitten quickly lowered his hand again so as not to turn a monkey child into a half-orphan prematurely. For that seemed to be what the creature was. Some kind of ape, a very ugly ape.

He frowned.

Nature seemed to have reached generously into the pot of possibilities with this creature.

The head resembled that of an ape, except for the oversized canine teeth. And the body structure with two arms and two legs also resembled that of an ape. After that, however, the resemblance ended. The hands were tipped with claws like those of a cat of prey and the body itself was covered with green-grey feathers.

AICKkdCHKAikckck!!! The ape continued to screech indignantly as it dangled between the sky and the treetop.

Lord Mitten was irritated. Shouldn't he actually be the indignant one? That the creature had gotten in his way and wasted his time? What a perpetrator-victim reversal this creature was doing!

AICKkdCHKAikckck!!!

The screeching was getting on his nerves and made it difficult for him to think clearly. He released a small portion of his carefully restrained magical power.

"SILENCE."

AICKkdch —

The creature froze with a jerk, looked at him with wide eyes and then lost consciousness.

"What the —"

Scrutinizing, Lord Mitten let the hand float a little higher again and this time there was no resistance, no branch to clutch. The feathered creature hung in the air in front of him in all its ugliness.

How unfortunate, thought Lord Mitten, wrinkling his nose at the sweet, musty smell that wafted towards him.

What should he do with it now? He could hardly put it back in the tree unconscious. Within a few minutes, the predators would be all over the animal and eat it. It had tried to eat him and was very ugly, yes. But even ugly predators had a right to a fair chance to survive.

Hanging unconscious in a tree and being eaten because you had encountered an Ancient Being did not sound fair to Lord Mitten's ears.

Too bad, he thought with sincere regret. That would have made everything so much easier. Now he had to think of something to do with the ugly monkey.

Sighing, he set off towards the forest floor, the monkey creature hovering at a safe smelling distance behind him. Lord Mitten leaned it against a tree and looked at it from a distance.

What exactly are you?

Lord Mitten had seen races and species come and go in the long time of his existence. Some had spread across the continent a long time ago and survived the disasters that had occurred, others had disappeared into nothingness after a few thousand years. And he knew them all.

Except for this creature.

This monkey creature, which looked like a badly thrown-together mixture of individual parts.

It seemed like a foreign body in the harmonious melody of the wilderness, where plants, animals and elements grew, lived and died in balance with each other.

The longer he looked at it, the stronger the feeling that something was wrong.

A discordant sound. A shrill note in the composition of creation.

Lord Mitten frowned.

What do I do now? he asked himself, confronted with an unknown variable that could potentially become a danger of minor or major proportions. Should he investigate this mystery further? Perhaps there was a simple explanation for this ugly monkey, a one-off mutation due to negative environmental factors perhaps.

Lord Mitten preferred this explanation. Even if it did contain a few logical holes that had to be ignored if it was to be considered sound.

Of course, there was also the less palatable explanation. That the creature was merely a symptom and harbinger of far-reaching negative developments that would possibly affect all the inhabitants of this continent.

Lord Mitten sighed. Couldn't this continent just leave him alone for once?

Apparently not, unfortunately.

So he would have to make a decision. A decision as to whether he would once again interfere in the affairs of the continent and thus de facto resume his role as Guardian against all intentions. Or whether - now that it mattered - he would really put his plan into action; to keep his distance from everything that would drive him back towards his former role as Guardian.

Lord Mitten thought for a moment and then decided to postpone the decision for the time being.

Either way, he needed to take a closer look and assess the situation, regardless of what he would ultimately decide to do. So he would first examine the creature and get a more accurate picture of the situation, Lord Mitten decided.

Satisfied with the non-decision made, he turned to the ape to study it more closely with his magical power.

Suddenly the monkey opened its eyes and disappeared in a flash with a mighty leap into the bushes.

Stunned by the sudden disappearance of the creature, which had apparently regained consciousness for some time, Lord Mitten stared at the bushes.

“Huh.”

He didn't expect that. Inwardly, he adjusted his assessment of the creature's intelligence upwards by 2 points.

Now that the ugly monkey was gone, it had made the decision for Lord Mitten. There was no creature, therefore no closer examination of the creature. And since there was no examination, there were no concrete indications as to how dangerous the creature was. Without them, no further action could be planned. And that was the end of the matter – except perhaps for a brief information to the other Guardians. He would use the next tea party for that, Lord Mitten decided.

Lord Mitten had to admit to himself that he felt a little relief. Relief that he had not had to make a decision against the good of the continent. It was quite easy to say that one was no longer available as Guardian when there was no need. How much harder, he now realized, it was to remain inactive in the face of potential danger. He had to admit that B'ellfyth was right, once again.

Lucky me, he thought with relief and banished the events of the last few minutes from his mind.

Out of sight, out of mind.

Let‘s move on.

Lord Mitten jumped from branch to branch towards the treetop and, once on the canopy, headed towards Minthral again.