The Guide

The new day had arrived and the expedition team went to the ruins as planned. Lyra did not leave with them and instead opted to stay at the camp to take care of Linri and Jaime in case an unexpected situation arises.

"So you really do not want me to come?" asked Jaime reaffirming Linri's decision.

"Of course! If anything I would be even more worried if you were to come. Since this is my story I can be considered to have a partial plot armor against the deities. They 'need' me. But you? Well I do not know how they will act upon seeing you so I think it would be safer to stay here" Linri was smiling wryly towards Jaime. What he said was not the whole truth but it could not be considered a lie either.

Jaime was unwilling to let him go alone but what he said make sense so she had no way to refute it. So she just nodded her head gravely.

"If you really want my help there is one thing you can help me though. Keep Lyra busy. If she notices I am gone just tell her that I said something about going to train near the camp in the jungle."

Now that there was a way she could help Jaime felt much better.

So Linri bade her goodbye and left in a random direction. Seeing him leave like that Jaime clenched her fists. She felt awful that she was too weak to help. What's more unless she finds a way to get stronger she was easily going to be left behind by the others. She feared to become a burden to others just like now.

After running for about 15 minutes Linri did not see any monkeys. He thought that he was going in the wrong direction so he was going to change his direction when something suddenly hit his head.

Once he looked at what it was he noticed that it some kind of half-eaten fruit.

"Ukikiki!!!!"

Linri looked towards the source of the voice and he saw his target. It was a brown furred monkey. The monkey was pointing at him and screaming wildly. That did not ease Linri's worry though. According to the story he wrote the monkey should have come to him and interact with him. Jump into his shoulder, play with him that kinda stuff. Since the monkey instead threw him something instead of that made doubtful whether this one was the one or not. Seeing that this monkey falsely raised his hopes Linri took the fruit and threw it back at the monkey. That should at least teach that vile animal not to mess with humans any more.

If Linri knew that this monkey was indeed the one he would probably kowtow before it and try to do anything to curry its favour. Alas he did not know the effects of his bracelet so he immediately forego any decision about this monkey being the guide.

Currently he was believing that if something was not mentioned or vaguely touched in the back ground it was up for interpretation but if it was in the back ground it had to happen. It was a weird belief that considering nothing he stated in his background had happened yet. He did not meet the gods, he did not go to Autumnfall or he did not have any powers. What he had already done till this point was already vastly different from what was supposed to happen in original Linri's life.

He could not be blamed though. He was in a dangerous environment and wanted to feel some kind of control over his fate so he was stubbornly believing that whatever he wrote was supposed to happen, like the scribe of god. That was his mental support. Otherwise he would just crumble.

After throwing the fruit Linri turned towards another direction and kept on running. There was still no sign of any monkey aside from the one that was following him. It occasionally kept throwing some random stuff to get Linri's attention.

Still not seeing any monkey for half an hour he was furious with the monkey following him. He believed that it's mad cries were scaring off the other monkeys and that was why he still did not find his guide. If monkey knew what Linri was thinking it would feel wronged. It was doing everything in its power to make this unreasonable human listen but to no avail.

Now that it's been an hour and he still did not see any monkey aside from the initial one Linri wondered if he might be wrong. He was doubting himself but he also had immense belief in what he wrote but seeing no other choice he decided to give it a go.

"You annoying little c*nt! What do you want from me! Go away!!" Linri shouted at the monkey. If monkey did not leave he was gonna check its reaction to see what it was gonna do.

Seeing the human finally paying attention to it monkey was happy. It kept jumping up and down. It kept screaming and pointed its tiny little arm towards him and the monkey turned around to leave.

At that moment Linri wondered whether he should follow or not. He decided to go with following as there was no way a human could follow a monkey in a forest on foot. If he could follow it that meant that monkey was adjusting its speed to let Linri follow it.

About 5 minutes later Linri was sure that this was his guide. He felt ashamed and puzzled at the same time. He was ashamed because he kept on running for additional 45 minutes even though he had found his target. He was puzzled as to why didn't the encounter with the monkey followed what he wrote.

He wanted to know more about that but he did not have any time as he was going to meet the most dangerous beings to his life. They were literally going to decide on Linri's destiny and whether he can survive in this world or not.

It was not long that he found the place he was looking for. A ruin of a doorway covered in vines. Once he went in there he was going to meet them. At that moment when he stepped on the hallway his heart beating so fast you could hear it. Then Linri noticed it was not his heart but the passage instead. It was collapsing to trap Linri inside the ruins so Linri picked up his steps and ran at his fastest speed to the end of the hallway.