The fruit was dangling from a branch, a couple feet away, and it might have just been a trick of the light, but it appeared to be almost glowing.

The off-yellow oblong shape hung from a branch in a cluster with other such fruits in close proximity, like one big, cluster of eusocial insects crowding together for safety. The cream colors ebbed and grew hypnotically, as if beckoning me closer with their hypnotic gaze.

My stomach rumbled, and I had no reason to ignore its call. So, I slithered across the foliaceous figment, with utmost gusto that I could manage without falling to my death for complete carelessness.

Once I was there, underneath the massive clutch of opulent treasures, its value seemed to dwarf any jewel or rare earth metal. My mouth watered, as I peeled off my shredded poncho as carefully as I could, and then tied the opening for my legs shut so that nothing could fall out in transit.

From there, it was as simple as reaching above, and pulling slightly on the underside of the gourd shaped fruit. The skin was soft, and supple, like a grape; and the flesh gave to the touch almost like a water skin. It was so ripe, that it nearly fell off the branch with the slightest nudge.

Amber nectar—which smelled like a mix between roasted raptor breast in a honeyed glaze, and an aged yam porridge with flecks of suspended cinnamon infusion—dribbled from the open portal created by its separation from the stem, but I resisted the urge to lick up the sticky fluids until I could get a second opinion from either the tree or forest experts that we had just so happened to have brought along with us.

My hands shook as I fought against the crashing symptoms of anemia and overexertion to control my actions. My heart rate skyrocketed, and my vision swam, as I recalled everything I had endured since the hours that an actual plant almost gobbled me whole with the promise of a single, unremarkable apple.

I had been so desperate for that little bit of food that I had nearly lost everything. I would not make the same mistake twice. I wrenched my eyes shut, and shook my head wildly to ground myself.

"No!" I shouted, frustrated with my own weakness. "We aren't by ourselves anymore! You're going to rely on your friends' strengths, and every one is going home in one piece."

My hands continued to oscillate as the makeshift knapsack slowly filled with tender fruits, and I began to wonder if I'd be able to control them well enough to find handholds the entire way back down. I'd just have to risk it, I supposed, as the final fruit of the bunch fell into the neck hole, and I tied that one shut, as well.

The spider's slits had just so happened to make two gashes that were the exact same length of parallel slashes, so it appeared like a palm-width strap hung over an opening that I could hold in my mouth, or throw over my shoulder in a pinch; if need be.

Not willing to damage the integrity of my cargo before even getting to taste a single drop of that sweet-smelling ichor, I chose to put the "strap" into my mouth. Then, I casually slid it over my shoulder so that its weight rested squarely on the center of my back; so that it wouldn't have to scrape along the irregular surface of the leaf coverage.

I didn't know how easily bruised the fruits might be, so I figured it would be better to be safe, than sorry. I slowly worked my way over to that same tree that I had seen Fimbs and Rilah disappear under, now made obvious with the clear white splintery edge that was left by the gigasven's meteoric assault.

As I drew close, though, I spied a small copse of violently red berries with black spots a couple paces past the clear way down.

"Now, I'd just be greedy if I went for those, wouldn't I?" I thought aloud, before sighing. I knew how difficult it would be to work my way up here again, and the curiosity would nag me forever, if I didn't take the chance.

"Well, variety is the spice of life!" I justified, as I crawled my way past the zone of safety on bloodied palms and scratched up soles.

I reached a patch that gave a little too much for my liking, so I bore left in order to make what I hoped would be a short detour around a loose patch of vinework. Unfortunately, by the time I was ready to head back toward the fruit, it was clear that I was heading into a peninsula of sinking leaves.

'Is it really worth all this effort?' A helpful voice asked, as I inevitably looked back to the safe route back to my friends, and potentially back home.

I wasn't the kind of person that would give up so easily, though. If I were, then Rilah wouldn't have made it back to begin with. I furrowed my brow, and started the long trek back the way that I had come; eventually bearing right at the crossroads this time, and following a circuitous path that took me halfway across the field of reeds, before I finally arrived at the delectable looking orbs of violent colors.

Hoping that this was worth the effort, I reached up, and gathered a healthy amount of the fruits, and smiled proudly as the thumb-sized orbs tumbled into my makeshift knapsack. I double-checked the knots, just to be sure, and then I prepared myself for the time-sucking ordeal of retracing my path back to the sanctuary of my tree-shaped ladder back to the surface world.

In the meantime, the sense of calm that had washed over the clearing had allowed its previous inhabitants to slowly begin returning back to their regular activities. Monkeys, lemurs, and parakeets filed back into their normal routines of foraging and feasting mindlessly; without a care in the world.

How I coveted their unfettered lives up here, inches away from the great blue. A few curious figures looked my way, eyeing me with the sort of looks on their faces that one might wear when you catch your friend rifling through your cupboards unbidden.

I suddenly realized the position I was in, as a marsupial with gangly limbs and a large pouch on the front of its throat raised an arm to gesture at me. She looked at her small troupe of assembled family members, and started to chortle accusingly.

"Oh, by the wooded course," I cursed around the fabric in my mouth. "It's a diving howler."

She pursed her lips, and bounded excitedly, back and forth. "Ook, Ook."

"Now, you don't have to worry about me, alright? I was just leaving." I knew it was hopeless, but it probably didn't hurt that I had tried to calm the situation down.

I wasn't more than a few feet away from the tree, now. I just had to keep it quiet until then. "Hoo-hah! Hoo-Hah!! HOO-HAA!!!" she howled, announcing to every being around her own presence, as well as probably the fact that something interesting was going on, here.

"Great blue! Thanks for nothing!" I yelled, as her younger fellows began repeating her call. I could feel a rumble through the vines underneath me, as I could feel a large volume of opportunists rapidly approaching the trees in this area.

"Dive, dive, dive dive dive...!" I repeated, self-flagellatingly, because I knew that whatever was about to happen was entirely my fault.

"I should have left when Rilah told me to, I shouldn't have bothered gathering fruits or anything, I could've just gone at any point, but no, I had to see what the pretty fruits tasted like! Stupid, stupid, stupid!" I said, scrambling with all of my might to hurry along my way, before the animals gathered the nerve to rush me.

Almost as soon as I had the thought, a few lemurs padded over; springing listlessly across the leaves that they were perfectly designed to traverse, while I flopped my way across like a catfish out of water.

I waved my arms to dissuade them from drawing much closer, but they were not so easily convinced that I could defend myself; let alone my cargo. Before long, I had a neat company of the critters crowding around my lower half, just out of range of my flailing limbs. The vines slowly bowed downward under the strain of the extra weight around me.

I chastened them, saying, "No! You stupid animals, you're going to make me rip through!" but they didn't seem to have a solid grasp on the vocabulary, as more and more tried to squeeze into the mob regardless; in hopes of being the first to successfully lay their strange, fingered paws on my pilfered goods.

I was only a few feet away from my destination, when the howlers joined the fracas, jealous of the smaller animals reaping the rewards of their hard detective skills. My powerful arms were useless in the current position, and I knew that the shortest route to the tree led through a particularly dangerous swath of coverage where it was incredibly thin.

Running out of time, I cursed again, and spat the tatters of the shirt into my right palm. I knew that the extra weight of these encroaching creatures would make all my careful patience worthless. So, I took matters into my own hands.

By raising up onto my haunches to make myself appear as big as possible, while still using the full breadth of my shins in order to hopefully spread out my weight enough, I swung my pack around, in a wide circle, while speaking a language that they could definitely understand.

"HOO-AHH! HOO-HAH!! HOO-WAH!!!" I howled back, making it clear that I was no longer messing around. The lemurs all seemed to get the message, scattering almost immediately, but the monkeys seemed to take it as some sort of challenge. They also raised onto all fours, and squared up, blocking my path of safety, and calling my bluff.

"I can't believe this." I grimaced, having opened the wounds along my back with those wild motions. "You're telling me, I actually managed to communicate with you stalkspawn, and the message I sent was 'Come and get me, I'm not afraid?!' How is that possible?"

My new friends didn't seem intent on giving me an answer, so I took a deep breath, and shook my head. 'This is a bad idea...' I thought, before turning back toward the tree, and readying my arms for the most efficient transference possible.

Then, I jumped.

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