The taste was so bitter, that the corner of Marcus mouth started twitching. Sinh must have used a mixture of all the possible leafs and roots that could be found nearby, because the taste was awful. He had tried many treats around Red Mountain, some were delicious and some were absolutely horrible, but this without a doubt one was the worst he had had on his tastebuds.

“Why does it taste so… funny?” He did not want to be too rude to Sinh.

“Why didn’t you use some of the sweet fruits and berries that can be found nearby to make it more drinkable?” Marcus asks Sinh.

Marcus turned over to Lup. He had a similar problem as well. It looked as if he also had a rough time swallowing the greenish liquid.

“I would rather get a tip about the taste of this brew Kii, than about the visions, but thank you!” He sneered over at Kii. His teeth were all green.

“What is the fun in that?” Kii replies while a smile on his face.

They were close to finishing the brew and almost instantaneously, Marcus started to feel a bizarre sensation inside his body.

“I think I have to lay down” He reached for his big leaf with his left hand, practically unsure if his bed really was behind him or not. His eyes started to feel heavier and heavier in a way that he could not explain and all his senses began slowly to dampen until everything around him seemed to stand still.

He could not feel the wind anymore. Now that he thought about it. He could not hear it or anything else either. There was no sound around him and neither was there a sense of being able to touch anything. His bed of leafs were gone under his back and the feeling inside of him was inexplicable.

“Why can’t I feel anything? Are my eyes closed or open, because it is so dark that I cannot tell the difference right now...!”

Then slowly, with each passing second, his eyes started to get more and more accustomed to the dark and he could finally perceive something that was in front of him. It looked as if it was radiating out of the darkness. It was a strange light and it emitted a color that he had never seen before. All he had ever been familiar was the huge glowing orb in the sky but that light was completely different from what he saw now and he could not really put his furry finger on what it was he was observing.

The emitting of the light was growing to the extent that the darkness that was surrounding him before, was now gone. The light had filled his eyes and he could finally see again. He noticed that he was staring at an ape. It did look like an orangutang that he had encountered on his adventures but this one was very small in comparison. Its fur was red and orange. The red color reminded him of the dead antelope that he saw a few days ago. He looked around the ape and noticed that he was the only one there, looking down on the ground. He seemed lonely and Marcus began to wonder if he should ask if he was the only ape here and what he was doing.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

Marcus attempts to speak but to his surprise, nothing comes out.

Hmm, he tries again.

“…H..Hi… Who are you and do you by any chance know where we are?”

There seem to be no response.

“He must have heard me. Maybe I should just go to him, he looks friendly.” He thought to himself.

Marcus decides to approach him instead. Maybe the ape is not a talker. Some are like that. He takes a step forward and to his amazement, he hits his head on something hard.

“What was that?!” Marcus is now visibly confused.

He lifts his hand to feel what it was he hit his head into. His touches it and recognizes that the surface is smooth but it does not have any color. It is completely transparent. He can see through it but he cannot walk through it.

This is really strange.

His other senses had returned to him and out of the blue, he heard a voice.

“Marcus, there you are!” The voice sounded so sweet and innocent. He had never heard such a lovely voice before.

“So, you could hear me before. Why didn’t you say anything? And… wait… how do you know my name?”

He turned to the orangutang once again. The ape was still staring at the ground, just as he was doing before.

“'Where is the common courtesy of looking at the person you are talking too?'” the same voice says to him.

Marcus got confused... He thought he did? He tries talking to the red ape again.

“Are you not the one talking to me, Red One? Can you also explain why there is something that I can feel but not see, that is stopping me from reaching you? I have not seen such material before.”

Marcus now hears his name being called out for a second time. He distinguishes that the sound is now coming from behind him. He turns around and sees that a creature is walking towards him. This creature was walking on his two legs, upright without the need of his arms. In the corner of his eye, he also notices that this environment is completely different from the one that he knows.

Why does he feel so cornered and where is the glowing orb in the sky Why can’t it reach in here? There were so many questions going on inside his mind.

The creature that was approaching him before was only coming closer. It was now, maybe one to two swings away depending on the speed.

“I should prepare in case it wants to fight me. What would father do?” He begins thinking about what Zahn had taught him and how he would react in a situation like this. He had surely been ambushed before but he could not think of anything.

“Maybe if I stand still and don’t move a muscle, it will not notice me and go away.” It had worked before when he had been where the water was falling together with Chim, and he hoped it would work again.

But this creature did not go away. It was coming closer and closer. He took a closer look at it. It had long hair that was as bright as the orb in the sky. Its skin looked softer than anything he had laid his eyes upon and to his wonder, the skin did not have any fur on it, at all. The creature’s eyes were big and green and he could tell that they looked a bit confused, staring at him.

“Marcus, honey… hello?” the voice says.

“Earth to Marcus. Are you there? Can we go and eat now? We have been at the zoo for almost four hours and I’m starving! Watching all these animals are making me hungry. Ok, it’s not like I want to eat this monkey but you know. I saw a pizza stand before. Let’s go and eat there, pretty please?”