Running off into the trees again, up the path faster than he did last time, having found some vines in the branches of the trees that he felt could be used as straps to attach his sack to his body. The two strings were not as comfortable as the backpack he had just lost, but it was better than leaving it behind for something to pick through and destroy.
As he felt the energy within his body flowing freely around himself, Norbert realised that this may not be the best thing to do. As he started to guess second himself, Norbert saw the first monkey appear before him. Sliding to a stop on the branch, Norbert waved to the creature before running behind.
Looking behind himself, confirming that the monkey was still there chasing after him, several white creatures appeared as Norbert nodded to himself. Charging ahead, drumming his feet on the dirt as he continued to run through the maze of branches around him.
Seeing the clearing, he made up ahead; Norbert took out his sword while waiting for the monkeys to come. He looked down the path, and they all lined up nicely. The smile cracked his face, not wanting to let the opportunity that arrived flutter away in the wind.
Clenching his fist, his fingernails digging into his hand, his palms becoming sweaty as he moved them about. The tips of his fingers gliding across his hands, wiping it on his leg out of habit, his skin not relieving the sweatiness.
The monkeys were up ahead as well. Norbert willed himself to punch the first monkey and send it flying through the others. The force behind his punch rippled through the world as it rattled everything before him.
The first monkey reached him, jaw wide, as he looked at its sharp teeth, pointing down and aiming for his neck and stepping forward; Norbert twisted his body around as he released his punch. Impacting with the monkey, feeling its jaw crack under the force of his fist. Staying still, Norbert breathed hard as he listened, not hearing anything else from the monkeys.
Cracking an eyelid open, he didn't realise he had closed. Norbert looked out along the pathway; he was on. The monkey that he punched the head missing from it, its body crumpled to the floor, stuck in the branches on either side of him.
Further, looking clean, there is not a single sign of the monkeys there, like they never existed in the first place. Feeling the energy within his body depleted to the bottom, he looked, wondering where all the energy went.
Leaning down to the side, picking up the body of the monkey and ripped out its muscles, face and hands bloody as he ate it with reprehension—the energy he received from the creature was not as great as the gorillas but still filling him up.
After taking everything he wanted from it, his reserves passed halfway as he started feeling sticky from the blood drying all over his body. Having lost his waterskin, Norbert moves the saliva around in his mouth before spitting the blood out, trying to remove as much coppery taste as possible.
Walking forward through the empty passageway as he looked out for the bodies. Coming to the place where he first saw the monkey, the changing over of lanes, Norbert saw all the bodies.
About ten monkeys piled up here, stuck in the ceiling in different parts of togetherness. Red ooze dripped rhythmically down onto the pathway before going further down and looking at his success but not understanding the outcome.
Climbing up, Norbert took the monkeys down from it, and moving one released them all to fall on top of him. Flattened by surprise as Norbert became drenched in blood. Moving them about, pushing his head out of the pile and gasping in relief as he pulled himself the rest of the way up.
Looking into the branches above that held them, I saw that they were bashed and bruised but, like constantly, forming together once again. He took the biggest corpses he could; Norbert dragged them back to his clearing, wishing they wouldn't have fallen so far.
Back in the clearing with several corpses, Norbert looked for the next tree for him to punch. Standing in front of the tree, thinking he had it down pat how to use this, at least for the force required.
Standing next to the tree, Norbert placed his fist there as he breathed again, the energy once more coursing through his body. Pulling his fist back, Norbert imagined a cylinder out of the tree, a perfect spherical hole forming, with his fist nicely inside.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Willing his thought onto the world to make it happen, Norbert punched forward, feeling its impact with it. A cloud of smoke appeared in his way; breathing in the vapour, Norbert stepped backwards, coughing as he tried to breathe in the clean, fresh air.
Taking control of himself once more, Norbert stood up, the clear air whistling through his nose as he looked at the tree. The smoke had cleared by itself. Norbert looked at a hole dug into the tree.
Thinking he did it, the round cylinder he wanted, Norbert was disappointed. The tree itself cracked up the centre, not the clean-cut as he had hoped for. If it could even be called, the jagged circle looks more like a loop-sided triangle cut into the tree, with several more points than needed.
The cracks ranged along the tree, spreading throughout it as he looked through a hole not being punched out the other side. He stuck his hand in the hole, feeling the heat it generated from his punch. Wiping his finger on the back, removing his hand and seeing a single black digit, Norbert looked back there, realising that the wood had been compacted, heated up and burnt so fast, the force of the removal being so great the cracks and strain on the tree.
Looking at his energy inside, he still has most of it intact. The control he placed on it, Norbert realised that it limited the amount he used. Wondering what the amount and perfect ratio would be as he walked to the monkey pile.
Eating it again, he only has two more monkeys left to fill himself up. The amount of energy they gave him compared to the gorillas was less. As he sat there, taking out a throwing dagger, the last thing he would want to test before moving out, believing he had somewhat of a grip on this use of energy but not wanting to experiment anymore in case something terrible happened before getting the opinions of others.
Walking to the same tree as last time, Norbert imagined the blade cutting into the tree, getting itself embedded in it. Standing on the side, Norbert moved his hand back, swiping at the tree as he placed his energy into the blade.
"AAARGHHH!"
Norbert screamed as pieces of metal stuck into his arm and the lower part of his face. As Norbert picked at the pieces of metal in his neck, the ones in his arm getting pushed back out of him by the energy.
Plop plop plop
The sound of the metal pieces falling to the ground, tinkling against one another before sitting peacefully. Looking at the tree, wondering what went wrong to cause the dagger to explode. The energy inside his body was depleted more than with the hole he made in the tree.
The tree itself was painted a picture; first, Norbert saw the gash inside it, the pieces of metal forming there, still mostly together, as Norbert saw a piece of the blade. Next, Norbert saw his fist, baked into it, with a single extended finger.
Norbert looked around, unable to find the weapon's handle anywhere, as he stared at the gash. Instead of placing it into the weapon, he placed the energy into the handle. Looking at the other toppled tree, he could now see why it exploded as it did.
Even though he wanted it to do less, all the energy was placed into a much smaller and weaker item: the blade's handle. He was resulting in the entire thing blowing up in his hand.
Only having so many weapons, he didn't want to go on a breaking frenzy; with the depletion of the energy currently, Norbert knew it wasn't the time to test. He wondered if Granny or Azalea would know what was happening, which he thought would be weird for her to know that piece of information.
Leaving the pieces there, Norbert set out, wanting to clear this hallway now out and move on to the next one. Sitting back down on his stump, taking out the coin as he flicked it into the air. Watching as it tumbled in the air, Norbert let it loose as it went into the canopy of the other trees.
He was no longer looking at it, holding his hand out until he felt it plop in his hand. Holding it between his fingers by the edges, Norbert flicked the coin, watching as it spun around, the two sides flipping from one to the other.
He looked at it, wondering how he could get out of this hall and what was the solution. Sitting there lost in thought, for Norbert didn't know how long, he saw a white creature emerge between the trees.
Looking up, surprised at what he saw. A bison standing there with a long tail. Instead of hooves, it had paws like that of a lion. Norbert raised an eye at the creature, looking at its horns and the shaggy white coat it had. Snorting at Norbert, it padded around to what was left of the monkeys, eating it.
Norbert watched its horns grow slightly longer, finishing its meal, the front of its body red. The creature shuffled past Norbert to the tree he had fallen, eating the tree's leaves ground.
Hearing the munching around the tree leaves, Norbert walks toward the bison, letting it eat its leaves. He was surprised to see a creature that would eat the trees, the only plants he remembered being there. Mixing up at the trees, filling the entire hall with height, Norbert could understand why.
Though feeling one would be hard, for something to grow that big, it must be packed with nutrients for everything to grow. Walking forward, away from the monkeys, not wanting to deal with that headache anymore, Norbert turned the other way, proposing that the further he went, the more exotic the differences were.
The memory of the forest grew up towards him as he ran from the foxes. Thinking about the pendant he received, it not being anywhere on the ground, at least hoping it would turn up someday.
He stopped, spinning around on the balls of his feet as he looked at the monkeys, remembering them throwing the projectiles at him—the use of tools and possibly other items, like a necklace.
He was annoyed at the thought he had of the monkeys. Trampling back through the forest, along the path, he waved at the bison, who continued eating its meal. "Those monkey mother-"