Chapter Text
The wind was gentle, rustling the leaves ever so slightly. Beneath that, bugs of all kinds shifted through their own perspective of an endless forest. Along the dirt and stone and up the mountainous trees. They chittered and chirped their songs to each other. Beneath even that, worms dug through the dirt, churning it, keeping the soil fresh for plants. Up above in the endless blue skies, birds flew. Some preying on fish, others on the bugs below or those that strayed into the air. They filled the air with their sweet tunes. The greatest of them all was the phenoxies, whose earthly counterparts still outshone normal songbirds. Deeper in the mountains, dragons roared at tigers. Around, in the oceans, the tide was calm, no waves came crashing into the island shore.
All was well on Flower-Fruit Mountain. Things were as they always had been in this evergreen paradise. Though…there was one peculiarity. A heartbeat. Up at the top of the island chain’s namesake. All alone. One that, as of late, had grown steadily more and more noticeable.
“Six-Ears? Hello?”
“Huh?” Partially muttered the Six-Eared Macaque. His black and brass eyes still pinned on the peak of the mountain.
“You’re still staring at the mountain.” Chided another monkey.
“Yeah?” Was the dull answer from Six-Ears, still not entirely paying attention.
“Why, have you been staring at Flower-Fruit Mountain so much lately?”
“Is another family doing something up there?” asked another monkey. This one more worriedly.
“No, nothing like that.” Six-Ears remarked, quick to reassure his fellow family members. As a guard and sentry for the Waterfall Family, it was his job to make sure everyone felt at ease. Speaking of which, he got up from his sitting position. “I’m going to go do a quick check of our border. Call if anything happens. I’ll right back.”
The other member of his family could only exchange looks with one another. Before they knew it, Six-Ears had disappeared into the forest. Eventually they shrugged it off and headed back to the river to play. Certain that if anything did come up, he’d either report or come back if they did call. Besides, prancing in the river seemed like a much more fun use of their time.
In the forest, Six-Ears jumped from tree to tree, heading straight for the boarder of his family’s home. Nearest to the base of Flower-Fruit Mountain. It’d been years since he’d first heard the sound on its summit. He’d just been idly listening to the sounds of his home, which both relaxed him and kept him up to date on the goings on. At first, nothing had been thought of it. Something had likely just wandered up there, perhaps sleeping by the sound of it. Yet, it remained there. All alone, unmoving. Gradually, he noticed it was getting louder. It’d gone from an oddity to a bothersome anomaly. He had to figure out what was going on. Otherwise, this would never let him be.
He reached the edge of the jungle, perched on the tallest tree he could find. Out before him, the landscape transitioned from jungled into the rapid incline of a mountain. Still lush with fauna, but on a more upward slope. Even the rocky areas were pristine with life. As was paradise. Although, the island still wasn’t completely safe. They still had to contend with predators such as tigers and snakes. As such, Six-Ear’s kept his heightened sense of hearing out for anything that could be potential danger. After a listen to his surroundings, he felt safe enough to hone his hearing, again, towards the summit. Hands clutched to the trunk of the tree his ears shifted forward as he focused.
Thump, th-thump.
There it is. Still there. He thought to himself. His brow furrowed, no, he wasn’t imagining it. The heartbeat was definitely more active than yesterday. It was like one of somebody who was excited or worked-up. Intrigued, Six-Ears craned his neck forward, trying to gain any new sort of details by the slightest of increased proximity. What is going on up there?
His black-tail twitched. Much as he wanted to go running up the mountain. He couldn’t. He promised that if his family called, he’d run right back. It wasn’t that he wouldn’t be able to hear them from up there. No, he was confident he could. He could hear almost half of the island with his three-pairs of ears. It was the issue of getting back in time . No way would he endanger them like that, even if he was certain the other guards could keep them safe. As such, he was left straining his ears.
Six-Ears closed his eyes. Block one sense, to unburden his others. Expression tensed with focus; his ears twitched. There was something else. It was ever so faint. At first, he wasn’t entirely sure what he was hearing exactly, shifting? Something like that? Of what, he couldn’t tell, but something was moving up there. Yet, strangely, he couldn’t hear footsteps of any sort. Nothing hitting stone or grass. Then, something happened. A crack. Of rock? Six-Ears found himself more and more perplexed.
How could rock be cracking…if nothing was moving up there? Couldn’t be an earthquake, he’d notice if there was one. Most of the animals on the island would be freaking out. Even then, they were so rare…enough that, he’d never actually experienced one. Could they just be located at the top of a mountain? He’d never heard anything bad really happening from an earthquake, just the ground shaking and everyone getting spooked. So maybe? No, that didn’t sound right. Earthquakes happened when the ground shook, not the tops of mountains.
Six-Ears opened his eyes, brow knitted, this wasn’t doing him much good. It was only leaving him with more questions. His mind prodded him, pointing out that he hadn’t heard any of the other families in the area, or anything dangerous up that one on the mountain. He could just take a quick peek. Immediately he shoved the idea away. No, he couldn’t just up and run off. He had a job. The lure of curiosity was a strong one though, it kept telling him that this would just keep bothering him. The not knowing. He’d break eventually, might as well get it over with while the situation was calm.
With an agitated groan he hopped onto another sturdy branch, slumped back, and stared at the mountain, internally debating with himself. Even if he didn’t come to a clear decision, something was still definitely going on up there. As a sentry, it was his job to get an idea of what to do before returning home. Yes, that’s what he’d do. Sit and listen.
As he did, he felt an unease stir in his stomach. The cracking, it was getting more frequent, a few chinks, then full on cracks. Rock splitting apart. It was building up, something was breaking apart, breaking out-
BOOM!!!
Immediately, on pure reflex, Six-Ears tried to cover all his ears to shield them from the blast of sound. Even still, he cringed. One eye cracked open, he ended up staring. From mountain top, he saw a brilliant beam of golden light. It shot upward and pierced the sky above, going up for- who knows how long. Quickly though, the light dimmed, from brilliance to a few specks of gold twinkling like daylight star before vanishing completely.
“What…was that!? ” Six-Ears found himself yelling aloud. His heart was pounding in his chest from how unexpected that was. He hadn’t known what to expect, but- that wasn’t it. An explosion of golden light hadn’t been on his list of suspects. And there hadn’t been a list to even begin with!
Was that it? Was that what the heartbeat had been building up to? Intrigue, now laced with caution, renewed, Six-Ears tentatively focused his hearing back to the mountain top. Maybe he’d mistaken the noise for a heartbeat? This theory was quickly dashed by the sound of a voice?
“Wha…? Huh?” It started off quiet but quickly increased in volume with pure wonderment, “WOAH!”
A…monkey? Six-Ears was, somehow, was left even more stumped. It had to be a monkey. How else could he understand what was being said? Beings couldn’t understand the language of other species. Monkeys couldn’t understand snakes, tigers, or birds, and vice versa. Six-Ears tried to make sense of the chain-of-events to no avail. First, he heard a heartbeat, then he heard the cracking of stone, followed by a big beam of golden light shooting up into the sky and…somehow, someway, that resulted in a monkey popping out of nowhere. Seemingly.
This makes no sense. None of it. Six-Ears thought to himself, head low. A possible headache coming on from trying to force this to make sense in his head. He sighed, “Well, I’m sure not going anywhere for the moment.” He kept his ears trained on this, apparent, new monkey, he needed to hear what he was up to…
~~~
A blinding brilliance gave way to everything. After being stuffed inside that rock, for literally as far back as he could coherently remember, a monkey born from stone was finally greeted by the whole wide world. It was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen, and the first thing he’d ever seen. Intrinsically, he knew the bright azure above was the sky, and the deeper blue below was the sea. They were so similar yet different at the same time. He turned his head one way then the other, everything seemed to go on forever! Gingerly, he pulled himself up to his feet in a typical monkey posture, hind legs crouched, body supported by forelimbs, tail out behind him.
Now, he could see a bit better. Below was the sloping frame of the mountain, solid stone, decorated with various greens. Further down, was a deep green of various shades from light to dark. Lots of green in an area, it had to be a- jungle! Yes, his mind told him it was a jungle. Even from where he was, he could pick out that there were so many different things inside the jungle. His mind was just abuzz with possibilities. It left him in pure, unbridled, awe, “Woah!”
He fidgeted where he was with pure excitement, tail twitching with indecisiveness. Before him, there was a whole world! What to do, what could he do, what should he do first? There was so much, just so much! He started first with what he was, he was a monkey. He knew this as a fact. So, what did monkeys do? He cocked his head to the side, this thought giving him brief pause: monkeys. Plural. As in more than one. His eyes lit up, ah! As a monkey, he- should be with other monkeys! Oh yes! Things would be so much more fun with others of his kind! Monkeys were some of the things he knew he could find in the jungle!
A bird was startled off the spot where it was foraging for food, pecking the ground for insects, by a loud, hollering whoop. Feathers ruffled it squawked indignantly. It turned to see a monkey galivanting, very loudly, down the mountain. Head cocked it wondered, what was a monkey doing so far up the mountain? No fruits this far up. Didn’t even have a playmate to get into mischief with. Odd as it was, the bird minded it no more and resumed pecking for food- up until a startled yell caused its head to dart up. Rather flatly, it watched the odd monkey tumble its way down the mountainside.
At least the ruckus would die down now.
For the odd monkey though, the ruckus continued for quite some time. For how long? He didn’t know. All he knew was it stopped as he skidded along some grass and then- flopped over, tail draped down his face. With a groan he shifted to a sitting position, muttering about the rock that’d slipped out from under his foot. Fast as it was to tumble down it (and it’d certainly been fast), he’d been having way more fun bouncing around! Ugh, whatever, he looked around and then up. Eyes wide, he gazed at the line of trees before him.
Yes! The jungle!
He didn’t know how he knew, but he just knew that this was where he’d find other monkeys. He just knew. Just like he knew he was a monkey. A monkey born from stone, a stone egg to be exact.
Jumping up, the stone monkey ran headlong into the forest. Sporadically realizing he could climb he clambered up the first tree nearby and suddenly things became even more amazing. Going from branch to branch, up and down the trunks, this way and that! At times it almost felt like flying. The surroundings whizzed by like smears and wind whipped through his fur. This was so much fun! Everything got that much better when he spotted vines. Immediately, he leapt forward, grabbed onto it without so much a second thought. His stomach lurched at the sound of a snap. Gripping hard, he held on as the vine flew forward and- slammed him, face first, into a tree trunk.
Dazed, he fell back onto the ground. Everything around him looked to be spotty and out of focus. Slowly, the stone monkey pulled himself up. He could feel his head swaying, but it was difficult to keep still. His body seemingly became jelly upon impact. His face stung something smart.
“Wow. That was possibly the best face-first crash I’ve ever seen.”
Shoulders twitching upward, the stone monkey looked around wildly, “Who-?”
“Up here.” The rather amused voice answered.
Head tilted backwards the stone monkey managed to focus his gaze on- another monkey. At first all he could make out was a darker shape amongst all the greens of the forest canopy. A couple blinks cleared up the image. It was another boy monkey. This one with darker coloring, save for streak of light fur at the peak of his hairline. Annoyingly, he was hanging sideways off a vine. Despite the taunting, the stone monkey was far more transfixed by the sight of his own kind. So much so he didn’t respond.
The other monkey hopped down with a short swing of his body and landed in front of the stone monkey. Suddenly, unsure of what to do, he froze up and just continued to stare. With him right in his face, the stone monkey had no choice but to take in the black eyes and brass pupils of his kin. The stone monkey just watched as the other looked him over, going around him before stopping in front of him. Was he...examining him?
“Who are you? I don’t recognize you. So, where’d you come from?”
“I came from up the mountain.” He blurted out, pointing up towards the summit.
This seemed to perplex the dark monkey, “Up the mountain? There aren’t any families up there.”
“There aren’t.” The stone monkey affirmed. This just caused the other to stare, so he elaborated, “I hatched from a stone egg.” He said casually, with a smile.
“I think your mother dropped you on a stone.” Bluntly responded the dark monkey.
As the stone monkey opened his mouth to retort, the other rounded to the back of him and started to sniff. Immediately, the stone monkey realized he was inspecting to see if he bared the scent of another monkey group. If he played it cool, maybe this one would take him to his! This was the chance he was looking for. Knowing he spoke the truth, there was nothing for him to worry about, and so he allowed it. Soon came a hum, “Huh, you really don’t have the smell of another group. Nothing to worry about after all.”
“Worry about?” The stone monkey echoed, arcing his brow as the other monkey sat himself down in front of him.
The dark monkey cocked his head to the side, amused again, “Was doing a round when I heard you tumble into the forest. So yeah, I was following you around to see what you were up to. Can’t ever be too careful.” Noting a variety of claw and bite scars, the stone monkey assumed he was a sentry of some sort. Cool. The stone monkey perked when he asked, “Still haven’t told me, what’re you called?”
“Oh, uh,” with only one thing in mind, he went with, “Stone Monkey.”
“Really sticking to that, huh?” The dark monkey remarked. He shrugged it off with a wave of his tail, seemingly not bothered by it. He gestured to himself, “Six-Eared Macaque. Six Ears for short. Or Macaque, whichever.” He pushed some of the fur that framed his cheeks back, revealing what were, in fact, a set of three, notably tattered, ears.
“Nice.” Stone Monkey complimented, the sight piquing his interest. On reflex, his hand traced his own left ear. He found it to be smooth and pointed and only one. Comparatively less interesting, he felt, but the smoothness was his own.
“I know, right?” Six-Ears responded with a note of pride. He then gestured with a nod of his head and pointed a finger over his shoulder. “So, you want to-?”
“Join your group? Yes!” Stone Monkey cut in, popping up to his feet, tail flailing excitedly. Unable to contain himself he began to scramble about, running in circles and bouncing off tree trunks. “I came to this forest to join a family group!”
Rather surprised by this, the Six-Eared Macaque had to take a moment to respond. He smiled to himself before getting up and leading the way on all fours, tail held up as a marker to follow. “Alright then, let’s get going.”
Spotting Six-Ears' tail, Stone Monkey quickly caught back up his own still wriggling with excitement.
~~~
“Woah, hold up.” Six-Ears grabbed Stone Monkey by the shoulder. Before he could just tromp his way into the area where his family was nesting. They’d traveled for a short time since they’d met up and it was clear that Stone Monkey was very, very, very excited. While it was good to see him so eager to join, Six-Ears knew there was a bit of a process to go through. Showing up unannounced wouldn’t be a good first impression. To say the least. It could get the newcomer attacked.
“What for?” Stone Monkey questioned with a twinge of impatience. He was sitting back on his rump, tail twitching with pent up energy.
“Let me go first,” Six Ears started, “and introduce you to everyone. So, they don’t attack you. Follow behind me, okay?”
Stone Monkey blinked, realizing, “Oh. Okay.”
Nodding at understanding, Six-Ears led him through the brush. Stone Monkey was greeted with a beautiful sight. Down the center of the clearing, was a crystal-clear river, dotted with stones that were above the surface enough to be used as a path across. At the head of the river was a huge waterfall that gave off enough mist to create a rainbow arcing off it. The greenery was no less impressive. Lush and vibrant, there were ferns and trees coated with a fine layer of moss. What caught Stone Monkey’s eyes even more and kept them darting from one to the next was the other monkeys. From old to newborn, they were all over, eating, bounced, groomed, napped and splashed in the water.
Seeing his companion positively vibrating in excitement, Six-Ears kept moving forward. He was headed for a particular monkey, but it wasn’t before long that the newcomer had eyes on him.
“Six-Ears, who's this?” One asked. Others nearby eyed him with a mix of curiosity and healthy caution.
“I’m Stone Monkey!” Said monkey exclaimed, loudly. Almost getting right up in the other monkey’s face.
Six-Ears pushed his face back, to the chagrin of Stone Monkey. “I found him on the edge of our turf. He doesn’t have the scent of any other family. So brought him to join us. After brining him to Elder, of course.”
The monkey blinked. “Oh, well, if you say he’s okay. I’m sure Elder will be fine with it.”
“That’s what I’m hoping.” Six-Ears concurred.
“Elder?” Stone Monkey questioned as they walked on. Word had already spread and the tension in the air had already begun to ease up. Now the on-looking eyes were more curious. A few had even gone back to what they’d be doing prior.
“He’s, our leader.” Six-Ears answered simply. “If he’s good with you, everyone else will follow.”
“That other monkey was fine with you brining me.” Stone Monkey pointed out, before asking, “Am I going to have to do a test or something?”
“Probably not.” Six-Ears admitted, a shrug in his tone. “Elder tends to have a good read of other monkeys. Been around long enough to be able to do that, I guess. As for me...well, no one usually brings others home with us. So, the others are figuring it's for a good reason.” He stopped at an alcove at the base of a tree, a sheet of moss blocking out in-coming sunlight. The Six-Eared Macaque sat on his haunches and readied to pull it open. Before he did, he looked back to Stone Monkey, adding, “Just make sure you give a good first impression.”
Somewhat more collected, Stone Monkey nodded with an affirming grunt.
Inside the alcove, was a greying monkey, sitting on a cushy looking nest of leaves, moss and flowers. He’d been in mid-process of grooming himself when Six-Ears pulled the curtain back and entered, but not before asking to speak with him, “Of course, Six-Ears, come in.” There was a pause when he noticed the unfamiliar monkey behind him, “Oh, I see what this is about. Who’s this with you?”
Before Stone Monkey could blurt out an introduction again, Six-Ears cordially did it for him, “This is, Stone Monkey.” He then went on to explain how he found him. His faceplant getting a healthy chuckle from the Elder. Much to Stone Monkey’s embarrassment. Wrapping up, Six-Ears asked, “Is he good to join?”
The Elder monkey looked from Six-Ears to Stone Monkey. Only giving him a casual glance before giving his answer, “I don’t see why not.”
“YES!” Whooped Stone Monkey, throwing his arms up in celebration. Beaming and eyes shining he gratefully said, “Thank you so much, Elder Monkey! Yes! I’ve got my family group!”
“It’s just, Elder.” Six-Ears placidly corrected.
The Elder laughed softly, “I don’t mind.” He then turned his attention solely to Six-Ears, “I’m sure you understand that he’ll be your responsibility, yes?”
Six-Ears nodded.
“Good, good.” Elder said before he yawned then shifted onto his side, facing away from them. He waved them off. “Why don’t you start by showing him around and help him pick out a spot and set up a nest for himself.”
“Yes, Elder.” Six-Ears responded. He nodded his head for Stone Monkey to follow. “Come on, we’ve got a bit of walking around to do.”
“Coming!” Stone Monkey exclaimed as Six-Ears began to walk away. Before he followed, he looked back to the Elder, “Thanks again, Elder Monkey!”
“You’re welcome again.” Elder answered back, amused. He scratched his head lazily, saying to himself, “He’ll be an interesting addition. That’s for sure.”