Beginning Beyond The Horizon

Michio held Meiji in his arms and slowly followed the monkey, finding that he had walked out of the beach and started to approach the forest. Michio thought to himself this would be as far as he would follow the monkey, because his direction was poor and if the monkey took him into the forest, it would be difficult for him to find his way back. It wasn't too late to return to camp, as he could still see the beach from where he stood. He looked at the back of the little monkey walking happily in front of him. Although he didn't want to make the little monkey sad, he decided to go back; now others may have returned with some kind of food.

Michio stopped walking. "Hey, little monkey," Michio said calmly. "I don't know where you want to take me, but I guess that's as far as I can follow you. The sun will set soon, and I have a terrible sense of direction, so when there is still sunlight I will return back to camp." He paused, suddenly feeling stupid, as if the monkey could speak human language or understand him. He shook his head and took two steps back.

The monkey turned and looked at Michio. He pointed to a rock next to a tree. The monkey barked at Michio and showed his yellow and white teeth to Michio with a bright smile.

Michio asked, "What you want to show me is behind that rock and tree."

The monkey gave him a big smile.

Michio hugged Meiji tightly with his left arm and held the three-section staff in his right hand. Michio walked slowly to the rock, wondering what the monkey wanted to show him. When he reached the rock, he was stunned by what he saw. He turned to look at the monkey, only to find that it was gone.

"Little monkey," he shouted happily. "Thank you!" 

Michio looked down at the ground, where all the belongings they had lost in the river lay on the ground behind the rocks in front of him. He quickly checked all the bags and backpacks, nothing seemed to be missing. He reached out and grabbed Hajime's backpack, because he knew that there were two bags of goat milk in Hajime's backpack. He quickly took out a bag of milk with his right hand. He reached into Hajime's backpack to look for the clay pot but couldn't find it. He found that searching with one hand wasn't very effective, so he had Meiji sit on the rock and searched Hajime's backpack with both hands when he felt a breeze blowing past him quickly. He quickly turned around and found Meiji hanging upside down in the black wolf's mouth.

The black wolf grinned at Michio, who was standing a few yards away. He bit Meiji's right leg with his fangs and tightens his fangs around Meiji's right leg. In pain, Meiji let out high-pitched long shrieks. Meiji's shriek echoed throughout the island. Meiji's shriek rang loudly in Michio's ears and Michio has no choice but have to cover his ears.

Meiji's shriek bothered the black wolf's ears, and the black wolf began to shake his head violently. The more the black wolf shook his head and clenched his jaw more tightly, the more painful Meiji became, and Meiji continued to shriek as loud as he could. 

As Meiji's shrieks continued, a powerful deep roar echoed like collapsing mountain shook the very ground beneath Michio and the wolf. The thunderous sound hissing and booming ripped through the air, travel from the top of the mountain to the foot of the mountain leaving a trail of cracks on the ground as the cracks continue towards the white sand beach.

Hearing this thunderous roar, the black wolf quickly let go of Meiji and ran back into the forest with his tail between his legs, as if he already knew that Meiji was something he could not touch.

Michio quickly rushed to Meiji, who was sucking his fingers on the ground and crying. Michio quickly picked up Meiji, rolled Meiji's pants up to Meiji's knees, and found that Meiji's wound healed quickly on its own.

Michio hugged Meiji tightly and kissed Meiji on the forehead. "Oh, thank you Buddha for taking care of us. If anything happens to you, your fathers and godfathers will kill me." He comforted Meiji by gently patting Meiji on the back. "Although you look nothing like your father, Hajime, you have his healing ability."

Michio walked back to the stone and sat on the ground. This time he held Meiji in his arms while pouring goat milk into the small clay pot and began to feed Meiji. After Meiji finished eating, Meiji fell asleep. Michio pulled out the slash of his belt, folded it into a sling, and carried Meiji on his back. He grabbed all their belongings and U-ri medicine box and started walking to the beach.

Bong felt uncomfortable looking at this strange monkey with no fingers or feet, so he stood behind Abrafo. "Who would be so mean to chop off this monkey's fingers and toes," Bong asked, trying not to look at the disabled monkey.

Abrafo looked at the monkey, then at Yul and Hajime. "According to the villagers of Dongxue Village, the monkey incident happened hundreds of years ago, so... how did this monkey survive until now, and thousands of miles away from home."

Hajime said, "It is impossible for any monkey to live so long, unless the monkey is immortal, or the monkey is not one of the monkeys of the past."

U-ri had been observing the monkey from the beginning, and he found it strange that the monkey was so clinging to Yul. "This is indeed strange," U-ri said, walking towards the others. He knelt down and gave the monkey a cherimoya, but the monkey refused to go to U-ri and instead he moved himself closer to Yul. "Look at this monkey, it seems like it refuses to leave Yul's side." 

Hajime asked, "Do you know why this monkey is so clinging to you?"

Yul shook his head and said, "No, this is my first time seeing this monkey."

U-ri stared at the monkey for a moment, then at Yul. "Oh..." He finally opened his mouth and stood up. "Perhaps because you are a descendant of the Great Grand General, and Maybe this monkey has the ability to recognize his greatness's bloodline." He turned to look at the four people standing with him. "If this statement is correct, then this monkey must be one of the monkeys saved by His Highness and the Great Grand General. Only in this way can it be clearly explained why the monkey clung to Yul. He probably felt safe standing next to Yul because he knew that the blood flowing in Yul was the same as that of the person who had saved him before."

Abrafo said, "So, this proves that His Highness and the Great Grand General are indeed the saviors of Dongxue villagers, but this does not explain how this monkey survives until now."

Hajime said, "A lot of unexplainable things happened here. No matter where or how this monkey came from, our first priority now is to find Meiji and Michio."

Hajime suddenly fell to his knees, holding his chest and gasping for air, feeling a sharp pain in his heart.

"Hajime!"

Hajime gasped heavily, feeling like someone was pinching his throat. No matter how hard he tried to breathe, it seemed that the heavier he breathed, the less air entered his lungs.

"What's wrong? Where are you hurt?" Yul asked worriedly, holding Hajime in his arms. "Hajime...don't fall asleep."

Hajime began to shake violently, twitch and continued to gasp for air.

"U-ri! Do something," Abrafo shouted in fear.

U-ri stared at Hajime for a while, all the symptoms Hajime was showing were symptoms of sacred disease. "Sacred disease," U-ri said doubtfully. "But when did Hajime start getting this disease?" He looked at Yul and Abrafo. "I don't remember Hajime having such an illness in the years we've known each other. Moreover, Hajime is an immortal mage who doesn't age, doesn't get sick, and has the ability to heal himself. Therefore, to have such disease is very rare..." He scratched his chin.

Yul yelled worriedly, "I don't care when or how he got it. I just want to know how to cure him."

U-ri said, "There is no cure. The reason this disease is called sacred disease because it is a punishment from heaven."

Bong said, "Well, if anyone deserves to be punished by heaven, that person is definitely not Hajime, so I don't believe in the theory of heaven punishment. There must be other explanations."

U-ri said, "I can't think of it."

Abrafo asked, "So, when will Hajime regain consciousness?"

U-ri said, "It depends on the individual. Some people take longer than others to regain consciousness."

Hajime felt as if his body was submerged in open, deep water. He heard the voices of many people around him talking in reverse in super slow mode. He tried to understand what the reversed voices were saying, but since everything was reversed in super slow mode, he had a hard time hearing what the people around him were saying. So far, the only word he understands is "car accident," but if he thought clearly, he couldn't have been in a car accident because he was lying in a hospital bed in another universe. Therefore, the word car crash must be crash cart, which means he had another stroke or epileptic seizure. No matter what happened next, he didn't want to go back to that hospital bed, so he closed his eyes and listened intently to the sounds of marine life in the deep sea.

"Hajime," the angelica voice sounded clearly in Hajime's ears. "Open your eyes."

Hajime opened his eyes and saw a blue GloFish swimming upward towards the surface. Hajime thought that this must be his only ticket out of the underwater trap, so he started swimming, following the blue GloFish.