“Hey, am I the only one thinking something ‘s off here?”, asked Zeke tiredly as he walked in front of Reizel.

The two had been walking on that path for a while now and hadn’t come across a single stone monkey as of yet. Unlike the other corridors they had gone through before, this one wasn’t only the longest, it was also getting wider and wider the further they advanced into the cave.

“Yes, this is definitely different from before...”, muttered Reizel as he scanned the surroundings for potential enemies. The little buggers were really good at hiding. Not only could they act like unassuming rocks under their feet, but they could also stick themselves on the ceiling, patiently waiting for prey to pass below them before falling on top of their heads.

Just from this alone, it was certain the stony creatures had a basic level of intelligence. Thankfully, even though they had the smarts to pull off an ambush, their strength wasn’t enough to pose a threat to our two fellows. Their strange way of fighting could definitely surprise someone the first time, but, once one knew what he was dealing with, they could easily find ways to fend them off.

Silencing their steps, the two continued in a more quiet manner than before. They had fought against enough monkeys to know better than anyone when a corridor looked fishy. And, while they hadn’t come across anything yet, the path leading further into the mountain gradually turned into a small slope heading downwards. The gravely path they had been walking on was replaced by smooth stone, while most of the stalactites on either side of them had long since formed pillars that touched the stalagmites below them, connecting the ceiling of the cave with its floor.

“Hey, should we turn... *Gulp* ...Turn back, maybe?”, asked a stuttering Zeke as he gulped down a mouthful of saliva before adding. “It’s... It’s getting cold in here.”

“Oh, come on Zeke! Where did your adventuring spirit from a while ago fly off to?”, answered Reizel, slapping him on the back. “I don’t know man; this place somehow feels different from before...” whispered the spooked out Zeke.

“Just keep calm and stay alert. Worst case scenario, we make a run for it.” and, as soon as those words left his mouth, the end of the corridor finally appeared in their field of vision. “Look! There’s an opening here.” added Reizel as he pointed forward with his torch.

Pausing in his steps, Zeke tightened the grip around his wooden club and whispered while letting out a cold breath. “Ya sure we gonna do this?”

“A hundred percent sure!”, confirmed Reizel from behind him as a toothy grin emerged on his face.

⚔ ⚔ ⚔

Stopping just before the cave’s opening, Reizel unstrapped the remaining torch sticks he was carrying on his back and lit them on fire one by one. As confident as he might have been in his ability to deal with the monkeys, he still wouldn’t dare to underestimate them.

That having been said, one of the now lit torches was thrown straight into the room, illuminating a small part of it.

“Gasp...”, Reizel and Zeke couldn’t help gasping at the sight before them. The sheer number of suspicious boulders inside the room was one too many for them to count. Freezing right in their tracks, the two had cold sweat rolling down their spines as they hurriedly looked at each other.

‘What do we do now?!’ was written all over Zeke’s expression, forcing Reizel to take the lead.

“Shh!”, he motioned for Zeke to be quiet and perked up his ears.

One second, two seconds, a dozen seconds later, Reizel let out the breath he had been holding in for a while now and let his shoulders relax. “It’s fine. Those are just rocks, look.”, he said and pointed towards a boulder-sized stone.

“Yea, stone monkeys are also made out of ‘rocks’!”, added Zeke with the most ironic expression he could master before throwing another lit torch inside the cave. Unfortunately for him, the torch fell inside a small pool of water and immediately ceased burning.

“Damn it...”, he growled and picked the next one. Throwing it into the darkness with even more force. Flying through the air, the torch hit one of the many rocks in the cave and fell with a dangling sound on the floor.

“Screeeeeech!”, the unassuming rock screamed as it slowly pulled itself out of the ground.

“Oh, for f*ck’s sake!” further exclaimed an irritated Zeke before hurriedly throwing the remaining torches into the cave.

“Screech! Screech!”, one shriek after the other resounded inside the cave as monkey after monkey awakened from their slumber.

“Scree-”, amidst the countless boulders, one was unlucky enough to slumber right in front of the entrance, making for an easy target as Reizel busted it with a kick before shouting. “Get them now!” and to that, Zeke’s figure instantly rushed forward as he let a maddened scream out. “Ahhhhhh! Come and get me ya little sh*ts!”

‘At least he is ferocious when fighting. Now then...’, glancing at his buddy’s straight forward rush, Reizel scowled inwardly and scanned the surroundings. He had to know how many foes there were as well as the best way to keep them distracted.

Even though the room was quite spacious, rocks of all sizes were scattered everywhere making it hard to pinpoint the exact number of enemies in the darkness. And, even though he couldn't see them clearly, he could still make an estimate according to the jumbled sounds he heard.

‘At least 10 and counting... This will be rough.’, he thought and bushed another skull with his knee. “Phew...”, Reizel exhaled and, before the rest of the stone creatures had time to realize what was going on, he was once more on the move again. Sadly, the two monkeys he managed to kill so far were the only ones that were still halfway into the ground, providing a good enough opportunity for him to show off his kicking skills. As for the rest? They had already formed into groups of two or three as they searched for stones to throw, a task which, as you might have guessed already... Wasn’t hard at all.

‘This won’t work... There are way too many.’, Reizel’s mind raced as he searched for the best way of dealing with this. “Zeke! How are things on your side?”, he said out loud and awaited Zeke’s answer. Alas, even after a minute had passed, the only thing he got in return was the unceasing screeching. “ZEKE!”, he shouted even louder this time, forcing an answer out of him.

“Reizel, where are ya? There’s way too many! Ouch!”, resounded Zeke’s voice hurriedly, before a wild rock hit him on the leg. “Head for the corridor! We’ll block them there!” Reizel’s yell soon followed suit from somewhere in the distance.

⚔ ⚔ ⚔

*Crush!*

The sound of a monkey crushing straight into a boulder resounded inside the cave as Zeke’s figure covered in bruises and scratches emerged from behind a giant boulder. “I am finally here!”, he happily exclaimed and rushed towards the opening, where he saw Reizel defending against 6 of the stony creatures all on his own.

‘How is he doing that?’, Zeke wondered as soon as he glanced in Reizel’s direction. The two must have been separated for no more than a minute, making the sight before his eyes even more surprising.

‘I couldn’t last more than a minute against four of them... How is he managing with six at the same time?!’. Disbelief painted all over his face, Zeke run straight towards Reizel’s direction. He knew that even though Reizel’s figure showed no signs of injury, when faced with so many monkeys, his stamina wouldn’t last another minute.

‘Not to mention, he must have finished quite a few of them already...’ were Zeke’s last thoughts before he once more threw himself in the fight with his usual catchphrase. “Come and get me ya little sh*ts!”

The critters’ attention was instantly drawn to Zeke’s scream as they all turned their small rocky heads in his way.

“Scree-”, one of them shivered as it tried hard to move its little body out of the way. Zeke’s surging figure swung the wooden club widely above his head, before bringing it down with the force of an elephant smashing down an ant.

*Crush!*, the stone creature’s body couldn’t hold against the weight instantly shattering into countless rock fragments.

“Haah... I am here!” Zeke exclaimed once more as his massive figure finally stopped right beside Reizel’s. “Hah... Haah... Glad... Glad you could make it buddy.”, Reizel managed to utter, breathless. His body was covered in cold sweat and bruises as he firmly protected his head with his hands raised, never letting his guard down for even a single second.

“Ya good?”, Zeke asked in passing as he once more raised his club high into the air, scaring some of the monkeys away. “Never been better!”, Reizel returned as a devilish grin emerged on his face, only to be taken away by the following question.

“Good! Should we make a run for it?”, he almost stumbled when the words left Zeke’s mouth. Astounded, he glanced back with a look that said everything he wished to say. ‘Why?!’ and to that ‘face’, Zeke could only let out a light sigh before adding.

“Sigh. Thought so, let’s bash some more skulls then!”, grinning like a certain devil he knew, Zeke’s silhouette brandished the bump-ridden wooden club he had been swinging all afternoon and moved a couple steps forward.

The bloody bruises on his body didn’t seem to deter his fighting spirit. A definite change from when he first met Reizel.

“Now then, I’ll distract them while you finish them o-”, he said without looking back as a rock brushed right by his side. “Screeeech!”, the monkey that had thrown a stone his way laughed as it scavenged for another one.

Sadly for it, the only thing its miserable attempt to graze him managed was to annoy him even more than he already was as he locked onto it. “I see, ya wanna be first!”, Zeke shouted and rushed straight in its direction.

Following closely behind, Reizel thought as he counted the enemies. ‘There shouldn’t be more than ten to fifteen monkeys remaining... This is going to take a while...’

⚔ ⚔ ⚔

“Screeech!”, the last two monkeys screamed as they tried to run back into the cavern they had come from. Alas, who were Reizel and Zeke to let an opportunity like this pass? With a swing of his club, Zeke’s figure was launched towards one of the monkeys, effectively shattering it into multiple pieces.

As for the monkey, Reizel was chasing? Be it its luck or skill, they were definitely higher than its predecessors. Making a swift turn to the right when faced with a giant boulder allowed it to safely dodge Reizel’s dropping kick as it stumbled and fell to Reizel’s right side.

“Sceeeeeech!” screeching indignantly, the monkey scrambled to get on its tiny little feet as it rushed further into the cave opening. “There is nowhere to run!”, Reizel shouted in anger while running after it. Even though the fight against the monkeys was dangerous, it couldn’t be called a life or death situation for the two of them.

Sure, they were outnumbered and separated at the start but, once Reizel and Zeke joined hands together, the stone monkeys' threat was no longer an issue. As for why that was the case? Well, the tunnel they had come from might have been wide enough for the two of them to pass, but it didn’t have enough space for all the monkeys to squeeze in at once. Five to seven monkeys seemed to be the tunnel’s limit as it quickly turned into a crowded fight.

Most of the monkeys had to remain inside the cave, waiting for a spot to open up as they threw rocks into the tunnel now and then.

Squealing in fear, the little critter rushed further into the cave as it slowly but surely drove itself into a corner. Shivering with its small hands above its stony little head, the monkey tried to fake its existence with that of a rock as Reizel’s figure neared it.

‘I am not letting you off even if you act cute, little basta...’, he thought as his attention was drawn to a big boulder a few feet away from where he was. ‘This is...’ ceasing in his steps, Reizel ignored the shivering monkey for a few seconds as he focused on the white-brown object right beneath the boulder.

“Screech!”, the monkey wasn’t stupid enough to miss such a heaven-sent opportunity and escaped from Reizel’s vicinity with a screech, as it ran madly towards the tunnel’s direction.

“Hey, Reizel it’s escapi-!”, shouted Zeke as he neared Reizel’s position. Breathing roughly, the two couldn’t take their eyes off of the white skeleton as they moved closer towards the boulder.

“Haah... Hah. Phew... Is this really a human’s...”, Zeke questioned as he peeked at the pile of bones that clearly belonged to a human. The dim lighting inside the cave didn’t really help in pointing out details, but the corpse before their eyes seemed to be wearing a complete set of leather armor as it lay in a sitting position with its legs fully stretched.

“Yea, this must be the person I am looking for...”, answered Reizel without taking his eyes off of it. “So, correct me if I am wrong, what you mean to say is, we went out of our way to search for a cave in the middle of a godforsaken forest, risked our lives several times and all of this was for a single pile of bones?!”, Zeke shouted the last few words as he turned to inspect Reizel’s expression.

“Sigh... Yes.”, he answered simply, a light sigh escaping his mouth. Moving closer towards the pile, Reizel’s search for clues started. “Haah... At least we get a pair of boots out of it... Ya want them?” said Zeke jokingly as he too closed in on the corpse.

While searching, Reizel decided to let Zeke know some of the finer details behind Erin’s story. “This must be the corpse of my... No, our benefactor and the original owner of the cabin.” taking in a deep breath, he continued.

“His name was Erin; the man was a hunter living off of the forest before the mist appeared. I learned about this from a letter he left for someone named Isabel.”, Reizel paused as he pulled a paper-thin leather book out of Erin’s pocket. ‘A diary?’, he thought and hid it in his pocket for now.

“I see, so ya wanted to check up on him?” Zeke asked the obvious and fell silent.

“Yes, even though I knew he would most likely be dead already, I still had to make sure. He is my benefactor after all...”, Reizel mumbled and his brows creased into a frown as he finally unstrapped the leather armor Erin donned.

‘This is weird...’, he thought and stared at the white ribcage before him. “Zeke, bring me a torch for a second...”

“On it!”, he simply said and scuffled to grab one of the torches from the floor.

Before long, Zeke returned with a torch in hand, finally lightening up the area around them. “What is it?”, he asked while pointing the torch at the white pile of bones. “This is definitely weird.” now that he could see clearly, Reizel confirmed his earlier thoughts before adding. “Look at his ribcage, it’s shattered.”

And to that, Zeke asked while still baffled. “What’s so weird about that?” sighing, Reizel answered. “How many monkeys have we fought up until now? Do you believe they can deal a blow of that level?”

Zeke fell hard into thinking as he answered. “So, what you are saying is...” alas, before he had time to say anything, Reizel completed his sentence. “Something much bigger and stronger than the monkeys must have been here...”

Cold sweat began dripping down their backs as they thought about it. If that something was still here... Then they probably... Wouldn’t be able to see the light of day again. Feet trembling in fear, Zeke muttered in an attempt to assure himself of his safety, voice shaking as much as his feet did. “At... At least it’s no longer here... Right... Right?”

Clearly, Zeke hadn’t heard of the phrase ‘Don’t jinx it!’ before, as the boulder behind Erin’s corpse shook and started showing signs of cracking here and there.

“You... You just had to open your big mouth, didn’t you?”, Reizel said as he stared in disbelief. Why did it wake up now of all times, he wondered, gulping loudly, and got in a fighting stance.

The giant boulder kept cracking as a giant hand made out of stone freed itself from its side and grabbed the rock-solid floor as it tried to further free itself. The next thing to separate from the boulder was what seemed to be a giant tail as it swayed with a whoosh behind it.

“He... Hey, should we... Maybe run for it?”, Zeke asked in passing.

By that point, the creature was almost half-way out as it raised its rock-like head in their direction. Standing at three meters tall, the stone monkey’s- no... The stone giant’s red gem-like eyes glittered as a sneer emerged on its rocky snout.

“Ye... Yes, I think this is where we make a run for it...”, confirmed Reizel while taking a step back.

“GRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”, shouted the monkey king, scaring the living sh*t out of them.