Heritage

Heritage (Chapter 34)

Chapter 34 - Leon

"So, this is the Keza tree huh?" I ask, wiping the sweat from my brow and looking up at the towering tree above.

"Yep. Someone has to climb it and get one of Keza nuts," Stella replies, looking up herself.

"Uh, who's gonna be the one to do that?" I ask once more.

"That who would be you."

"Huh? Why me?"

"Because you're the man in the group and your stronger."

I roll my eyes and sigh. "Alright. Fine," I say as I walk towards the tree, stretching my arms out so I can limber them up. I stop and turn around and look at Stella. She looks somewhat hurt by the tone of my voice. I take a deep breath and let it out.

"I'm sorry, Stella. I don't know what's going on with me lately. I say things and hardly realize I say them until it's already done. Don't take anything hurtful I say to heart. I really don't mean it," I say to her. Stella nods her head, still looking at the ground

"Okay..." she says quietly.

I turn around and grip the Keza tree, finding foot and handholds. Once my grip is stable enough, I begin climbing the tree. It must be at least fifty feet tall and covered in vines. Climbing it is tedious due to the vines also being covered in thorns. I have to carefully pick my handholds. Ten minutes pass and I finally reach the top of the tree. I pull myself up on to a branch and rest for a few minutes. I close my eyes and lean my head back against the tree and take a deep breath, and when I open my eyes there's another big pair of bright, sapphire blue eyes staring right back me.

"Gah, shit!" I yell as I fall off the branch I'm on.

I grab on to the branch quickly with the arm that had just recently been fixed late last night by Anika's medical supplies. The bone still isn't up to par since it was artificially repaired and the pain is agonizing as I hold on to the branch.

The little creature looks over the branch at me and I look back up from the ground and look the animal in the eyes. It tilts its head at me and examines me. I see it extend a clawed hand out towards mine. I frantically try to pull myself up as I think it's going to scratch my hand and make me fall to my death. Instead, it places his hand on mine and grips it. He does the same with his other hand and it I can feel him pulling as if he were trying to pull me up. I can't help but grin at his effort.

I reach my other arm up and pull myself back on to the branch. I get a better look at the animal and see that it very much resembles a lemur or small primate. It grabs my arm and examines it. It rubs the center of my forearm with his hand and then places my arm back down on my leg.

"Look at you. You aren't harmful at all, are you?" I say to it with a smirk on my face.

"Is everything alright up there?!" Stella yells. I look down at her.

"Yeah, everything is fine, I'll be down in a moment!" I yell back. I quickly grab the Keza nut and climb back down the tree.

"What happened up there?" Stella asks as I hop down from the tree.

"Slipped off the branch but, I had a little buddy here help me up," I say as the strange animal climbs on to my shoulder.

"Hey, it's a Neon-Eyed Lemur," Stella says as she approaches and begins to pet the animal.

"Why do they call it Neon-Eyed?" I ask.

"Because at night, their eyes glow," Stella answers.

"Um...Stella, Leon...we have a problem," Anika says in the distance.