"Please," I sighed, my frustration mounting, "Just tell me what's happening. Is this some sort of twisted joke?"

  The monkey let out a deep, rumbling laugh as he rose abruptly from his lavish seat, sending a cascade of golden coins tumbling to the ground. "Come, flying pup! It has been told."

  With that, he turned and began to make his way through the sea of glittering treasure, his every step echoing through the chamber. I followed, floating along in his wake, eager for the answers that had been so elusive. We approached the stone wall of the pyramid, its surface bathed in the shimmering light of nearby crystals, illuminating a series of elaborate drawings etched into the ancient stone.

  The drawings appeared to depict a series of battles between monkeys and a tiny, mysterious figure. I leaned in closer, my eyes tracing the intricate lines, and I realized with a start that the figure was not a monkey at all, but something else entirely. It seemed to float effortlessly above the fray, locked in combat with its simian adversaries.

  The monkey's voice boomed beside me, deep and resonant. "As told by Banana Goddess, one day the flying pup will come to Simian Kingdom and restore bananas to Great Tree!"

  The story told by the drawings began to take shape before my eyes. After the tiny figure triumphed over the monkeys, it hovered above a pyramid while a sea of simians prostrated themselves below, their adoration etched into the very stone. Beside the floating figure, a small and familiar sphere hovered, its significance a mystery.

  In another drawing, the airborne figure stood before a massive tree, its branches stretching skyward as countless monkeys sat below, their arms raised in supplication. The parallels between the images on the wall and my recent experiences were undeniable, yet I couldn't shake the feeling that there had been some mistake.

  "Look, I'm not denying that all of this is crazy," I said, gesturing to the etchings, "But I have to be honest—I'm not the flying pup you're looking for."

  The monkey's gaze darkened, his eyes narrowing in anger. "You speak false truths! You are the one Banana Goddess said—the white monkey with no fur and no tails who will save Simians!"

  My head throbbed, the weight of the monkey's conviction and the bizarre events that had led me here threatening to overwhelm me. As I rubbed my temples in consternation, the monkey’s rough voice boomed next to me, his tone solemn.

  “The flying pup has nine tails that eyes can't see. He will use tails to show Simians his strength. We been waiting for you for one hundred and one hundred harvests.” he finished, a fanatic look flashing over his eyes.

  I wanted to know who this Banana Goddess was, for I had never read anything that mentioned them. Whoever was behind these drawings were clearly spreading misinformation and making my life harder.

  “I don’t know what to tell you. Look, I’m not even a monkey!” I urged, making frantic gestures towards my body.

  The white monkey was growing frustrated now, and he growled as he turned to head back to his mountain of treasure. He stopped before it and reached down to grab a silvery object from its surface. I realized that the monkey was now holding a small mirror. He promptly tossed the mirror at me, and I caught it with my aether before it was able to smash into the ground.

  “Look! You are flying pup.” The monkey said while nodding his head, utterly convinced that he was right.

  I shook my head in annoyance as I brought the mirror in front of me. However, when I looked into it, the reflection that looked back surprised me. I first noticed that my pure, white hair had now grown to just above my ears. What was more interesting though, were my eyes. My eyes shone in the mirror with a shining blue light, and my irises sparkled as I blinked.

  “Woah! Since when did my eyes look like that?” I wondered, for they were now an entirely different color than they were when I was born.

  I had previously looked in a mirror once when I was still with my mother, so I knew that my eyes were supposed to be green!

  Strangely, they now shone with an ethereal blue light. In this world, blue eyes would commonly be found on beings that had absorbed raw celestial energy during their development. I imagined that being raised on Picea’s essence for the past year was likely the cause of this, for it was essentially celestial energy in its purest form.

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  When I looked in the mirror, I realized that my bright blue eyes and white hair did make me look remarkably similar to the monkeys. As the six-tailed monkey looked at me expectantly, I came to the realization that this might actually work out in my favor. Having a literal army of monkeys believe you were some religious figurehead had undeniable benefits. If I could count on them to not eat me, maybe I could convince them to lead me out of this magical forest.

  I suddenly let out a laugh, “Ah! It seems you have found me! I was just testing you earlier.” I said, lying through my teeth.

  My weak lie had evidently convinced the monkey though, and he bore a sharp-toothed smile on his as face as he approached me, “Yes, yes! You are the flying pup! Now bring back bananas to tree!” the monkey demanded.

  I didn’t know what all of this banana mess was about, but I didn’t want to appear too ignorant, “Of course, but first tell me what you know about the... Banana.. Goddess.” I responded. It sounded more ridiculous when I said their name aloud.

  The monkey nodded its head though, eager to tell me more, “The Banana Goddess planted great tree for Simians. Great tree gave us bananas that are good for monkeys. Strong monkeys fight for bananas to get big strength and more tails.” he explained, clearly leaving out a lot of important information.

  The monkey continued, “One hundred and one hundred harvests ago the great tree become sad. Great tree then stop making bananas for Simians.” he finished.

  I eventually connected the dots from this new information and what the monkey was telling me earlier. This monkey obviously couldn’t count past a hundred, but clearly a long time ago something must have happened to their ‘great tree’.

  Perhaps the bananas he was talking about were some type of celestial fruit. I remembered reading a passage about those in one of Picea's books. The fruits required astounding amounts of energy to ripen, but they would provide creatures immense strength if they were eaten. Maybe that was why these monkeys had gathered in the vicinity of this 'great tree'. This monkey apparently expected me to bring back the fruit to this tree, but I had no idea what that even entailed. Regardless, I resolved to keep up my appearances as a blessed monkey baby.

  “Don’t worry, big monkey. I’ll bring back the bananas for you.” I said, not knowing what else to say.

  When the monkey heard this he looked like he wanted to cry from joy, and he hooted in excitement as he jumped up and down. His actions caused gold coins to fly around the chamber, but he paid the treasure no mind as he bent over to dig through a seemingly random mound of gold. I watched with interest as the monkey dragged what looked to be a large horn out of the pile. This horn had a bone-white appearance, and the monkey grasped it in his hand as he held it up to his face.

  The monkey promptly blew on the horn, creating a deafening boom that made my ears quake. The headphones I was wearing seemed to lessen the traumatic sound, but it nonetheless made my head spin. This hulking monkey seemed unaffected though, and he merely tossed it back into a random pile of gold and went back onto his sofa.

  I rubbed my temples in consternation, floating over towards the red sofa. I had spotted my sword laying off to the side, and I wanted it back, “Hey, Mr. Monkey. Can you give me my sword back now?” I asked, trying to appear friendly.

  Unfortunately, the monkey looked confused, and he tilted his large head at me, “You want sword back? We made trade.” He said, making a gesture towards his ears.

  ‘Is he talking about these headphones? How is that a fair trade!’ I remarked inwardly, groaning in annoyance.

  "Okay what about the letter that I had with me, where is that?" I asked.

  The monkey just looked at me in confusion though, "Letter? What is letter?"

  "Paper! It's made from paper, shaped like this!" I said, making hand motions at the white-furred creature.

  The monkey still tilted his head at me, not understanding, "What is paper?" he asked.

  I couldn't help but sigh again. Truthfully, I didn’t want to deal with this at the moment. My brain now felt like it was trembling within my own skull. If I didn’t lay down soon, I feared that I would pass out.

  “Where can I rest at? I need to sleep.” I said, changing the subject.

  The monkey simply waved his hand, “Bed is everywhere.”

  I shook my head in dismay, not knowing what I should have expected. This mountain of gold didn’t seem comfortable even to my exhausted eyes, so I decided to rest somewhere in the corner of the chamber. I found a suitable spot after a moment and settled down on the cold, stone floor. A stray celestial crystal sat next to me, and its light illuminated my small form while I stared at dusty cobwebs above me.

  As I drifted off to sleep, my thoughts lingered on everything that had happened since I arrived in this world. I wondered where my mother might be, or if she was even still alive—and reflected on my past life back on Earth.

  "I miss mom's Tamagoyaki." I mumbled, sleep overtaking me.

  I awoke to the sight of a giant monkey’s face in front of my own. The six-tailed monkey had his meaty paws on my arms and was shaking me awake like a salt-shaker.

  “Wake up! Wake up!” the monkey said between shakes.

  “What the hell!” I shouted, overwhelmed.

  I instinctively sent a wave of my aether out, and it collided with the towering monkey’s form. The monkey dropped me as he was sent flying a dozen meters across the chamber. He slid across the stone floor and only stopped when he had collided with his mountain of treasure. Coins and trinkets scattered in every direction as gold flew across the room from the monkey’s impact.

  ‘Sh*t! Did I kill him?’ I wondered, floating up in the air as I cautiously approached the piles of gold.

  Luckily, the monkey looked entirely unphased. He flipped up from the treasure with a surprising nimbleness, turning to face me with a toothy grin. I was inwardly relieved to see that he wasn't harmed, but I was still pissed off nonetheless.

  “Don’t do that! I was sleeping!” I yelled, confused why he woke me up so violently.

  The monkey scratched his head in confusion, “You sleep strong, little monkey. I wake you up.” he said as if it was obvious.

  I sighed, starting to get used to the way this monkey’s brain operated. I then watched the monkey trudge out of the gold pile, heading towards the chamber’s exit.

  “Come! We hunt now.” he said, his deep voice booming off of the stone’s walls.