The Sumu Forest, occasionally punctuated by birdsong, is a vast, green canopy that blocks out the sun, leaving the plants on the ground almost completely obscured from sunlight.
This has resulted in a strange combination.
A Nightmare Leopard of astonishing size, Furnace-Core Creature, a predator standing at the top of the rainforest's food chain.
And on the back of this apex predator sat an old White-Faced Monkey.
It sat atop Nightmare Leopard, its coat of pure white fur a testament to the predator-prey relationship. In bygone days, such a Nightmare Leopard could tear White-Faced Monkeys to shreds with a mere leap.
"We're almost there. That's the sappan tree that Nar and I agreed on," Colin said.
Lucius followed old Colin's gaze and saw the enormous Samei tree, thicker than the surrounding sappanwood. "Thank you for your guidance, Lord Colin."
He jumped off Colin's back, stepped onto the green moss, and walked forward, with Colin following behind him.
Old Colin eyed the monkey warily. Lucius, the Intelligent Species watched by Black Typhon. Colin had come to see Nar not only to take over as Rainforest Messenger, but also to introduce Lucius to Nar so that Lucius could also serve as a messenger for the Mara River region.
Colin walked around the giant tree several times but found no trace of Nar.
"Isn't the messenger you mentioned here?" Lucius asked.
Colin leaned forward, his upper body erect, against the tree trunk, trying to make out the bird nests in the canopy. "I don't know either, he usually stays here."
"Want to come up and take a look?" Colin asked, his eyes gleaming as he looked ready to grab the tree trunk and climb up.
Nightmare Leopards are expert climbers; Colin can even climb into the canopy to steal the eggs of Titan Feather-Crested Herons, although if discovered, he will be chased and pecked for miles by the flock of birds.
"Me? I'd better not. I'll wait for you here." Lucius didn't quite understand the rules of messengers, but he was a monkey, and for monkeys, trees were territory and home.
He believed that trespassing on someone else's property without their permission was not a good idea.
"There's no reasoning with you guys." Colin shook his head. In the eyes of the Nightmare Leopard, there was nowhere worthy of his respect except for the territory of the Super Species.
Moreover, he reached a consensus with Black Typhon in a certain sense regarding the training of Headscar and some issues concerning offspring.
He was appointed by Famu as Headscar's teacher. Although Headscar couldn't understand what a teacher was at all, for Colin, he had successfully latched onto Black Typhon. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Colin had the backing of a rainforest overlord. He was a far cry from his disheveled state at the end of the dry season!
With such favorable terms, Colin originally intended to back out.
The messenger is bound by many rules and regulations, and those constraints designed to protect weaker groups are completely incompatible with a Nightmare Leopard. Colin detests these rules, and a Nightmare Leopard bound by the messenger's rules would undoubtedly be ridiculed by other Intelligent Species.
Unless that's what Black Typhon demanded.
Colin propelled himself up the treetop with his hind legs, leaping between branches until he broke through the canopy. Peeking out from under the canopy, he saw the Nightmare Leopard's head bathed in sunlight. Colin squinted; the nest atop the tree contained only a few eggs and some scattered red feathers—these belonged to Nar.
At that moment, a sloth living in the tree slowly crawled down to the ground.
Sloths are slow-moving creatures that often live in the tree canopy. Every week, they slowly crawl down to the ground to defecate. Their excrement nourishes the tree roots, which in turn nourish their home above. The feces nourish the tree, and the tree serves as the sloth's house. This sloth is clearly carrying out its weekly defecation routine.
Colin pulled his head back, not seeing any sign of Nar. He was getting hungry and set his sights on the sloth.
Like a black gust of wind whipping through the treetops, Colin caught the sloth, jumped down from the trunk, and planned to share some of the food with Lucius.
Lucius was taken aback; he was startled, thinking Colin had killed the messenger. "Lord Colin! What are you doing?"
Upon hearing Lucius's voice, the sloth swayed and cried out, "Oh--! Good heavens, thank goodness, it's Lord Colin! Lord Colin, please spare me--!"
Colin was startled, not expecting his prey to talk. He threw the sloth to the ground and asked, "Are you Intelligent Species? Who are you?"
"Please... please forgive my concealment. My name is Guman, and I'm actually the caretaker of this settlement. We still live according to the habits of Savage Species, rarely speaking. I thought the predators had come... and tried to sneak away... but I didn't expect you to catch me. I thought I was going to die..."
Colin took a few steps back. "I can tell."
The sloth's Mud Language wasn't even as good as his, and it spoke too slowly, with long, drawn-out sounds at the end of each sentence.
"Where's Nar?" Colin asked.
"Nar... is not here," Guman continued in his slow, deliberate tone, "But... I presume Nar has already learned of your arrival... he is... is on his way here."
"Lord Colin, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting." Red wings swept through the leaves, Nar arrived, looking travel-worn.
"I was delayed for quite some time, so I'm so glad to see you safe and sound... Oh! There's another guest?"
"He is Lucius, from the Blackwater Swamp," Colin introduced.
"Yes, Your Excellency Nar, I wish to become a messenger," Lucius said.
"Wow—" Nar exclaimed in surprise, scrutinizing the old monkey closely. "It seems you are a White-Faced Monkey, which is wonderful! Your kind is already full of wisdom, and now that you have been promoted to Intelligent Species, you will surely become a learned scholar in no time. We are delighted to have Lucius join us!"
"However... I've heard that your tribe lives in the Blackwater Swamp. I recently heard a rumor about that desolate body of water. It's said that the Blackwater Swamp is inhabited by an incredibly large Typhon, even larger than some adult females, possibly from an ancient and prestigious family. I wonder if you've ever seen it?"
Lucius paused for a moment, then said, "I'm sorry, Nar, I don't recall Typhon as you mentioned."
"That's true. How could such a desolate place possibly support an adult Typhon? It's not even in the Mara River system." Nar smiled.
He first looked at Lucius, "Lucius, you are currently an 'Listening Disciple,' but I believe that with your intelligence, you will soon be promoted."
After speaking, Nar looked at Colin, "Lord Colin, you are a noble Nightmare Leopard, but you are not the Furnace Core of the Messenger. The scholars' arrangements were originally somewhat controversial, but now, with the help of this elder, everything is just right."
"You have been officially appointed as 'Word-Bearer,' governing the vast region west of the Mara River, south of the Akalai Mountains, east of the Silent River, and north of the Samei River. All messengers within this region will obey your commands, and their messages will pass through your eyes. If a storm is brewing, you will be the first to know," Nar exclaimed.
"Bless you, Speech-Bearing Colin."
"Please take this oath to pledge your loyalty to the messenger and never betray it."