Ape of the Wilds

The door opened slowly, revealing a corridor that stretched into darkness deeper than before.

Not the absence of light.

Not the void of an empty ruin.

But something alive.

Something that had never stopped waiting.

Kuro stepped forward, his breath steady, his claws flexing as his knuckles brushed the stone beneath him.

This was his choice.

He had chosen to remain Kuro.

But the jungle had not yet accepted it.

And now, it would test him again.

Kota walked beside him, his daggers loose in his grip, his eyes flicking between the shifting walls, his body tense, but ready.

Sia's bow remained drawn, but her fingers were light on the string, her breathing slow, controlled.

Boru grunted as he stepped into the new passage, running a hand along the smooth stone, frowning. "This place feels different."

Ruka nodded. "Because it is."

Varek's grip on his spear tightened. "This is not a ruin anymore."

Kuro didn't respond.

Because he knew they were right.

The moment they crossed the threshold, the walls behind them sealed shut—not with the grinding of ancient stone, but silently, seamlessly, as if the door had never been there at all.

They had been invited in.

But they would not be allowed to leave.

Not until the jungle decided.

The corridor did not twist, did not branch into multiple paths, did not lead to traps or puzzles like before.

It was straight. Direct.

And Kuro knew what that meant.

There was no longer a test of intelligence.

No longer a test of strategy.

This was a test of will.

A test of who he had chosen to be.

And the jungle would try to take that from him.

The air shifted, and the whispers returned.

Not like before.

Not as warnings.

But as echoes of a life that was not his—but could have been.

Kuro blinked, and the corridor was gone.

He was standing in a jungle untouched by man, the trees taller, the sounds richer, the world alive in a way he had never felt before.

And then—

He saw himself.

Not as he was now.

But as the Maw'Tanu he had once been.

The other version of himself stood tall, powerful—not as a beast, not as a hunter, but as something else entirely.

Something closer to human, yet beyond it.

Something that had once ruled.

"You were meant to be more than this."

The voice was his own, yet not.

"You were not meant to scavenge, to hide, to run from those who hunt you."

"You were meant to lead."

Kuro's claws flexed, his breath steady, his instincts burning.

This was not just a vision.

This was a temptation.

A reminder that he had once been powerful.

And the jungle wanted to know if he would take that power back.

But he had already made his choice.

He was not that person anymore.

He was Kuro.

And Kuro did not bow to the past.

The moment he denied the vision, the jungle reacted.

The air snapped back, the corridor returned, the whispers ceased.

Kuro staggered slightly, his claws digging into the stone, his breath sharp—but steady.

Sia's hand was on his shoulder. "You saw something."

Kota's gaze was sharp. "What was it?"

Kuro exhaled slowly.

"The past."

Ruka frowned. "And?"

Kuro straightened.

"I don't belong to it."

The walls trembled.

Not from anger.

Not from rage.

From acceptance.

The jungle had tried to take him back.

And he had refused.

The corridor ended in another door, but this one was different.

It was not sealed.

It was not guarded.

It was waiting.

Because Kuro had passed the final test.

And now, the jungle had given him its answer.

He was no longer a remnant of the past.

He was something new.

And now—he would face whatever came next.

Kuro stepped forward.

And the door opened.

The door opened without resistance, revealing the next chamber bathed in a faint, golden glow.

This time, there was no grinding of stone, no shifting of ancient mechanisms.

It simply yielded—because the jungle had already acknowledged his presence.

Kuro stepped through first, his knuckles brushing the cold ground, his movements silent, his instincts sharp.

He had rejected the pull of the past.

But now, he had to face what came after.

The room was unlike anything they had encountered before.

It was circular, vast, the walls lined with engravings that still pulsed with life, untouched by time.

At the center of the chamber, a raised platform stood—upon it, something that made Kuro's breath catch for the first time since entering these ruins.

A body.

Not a decayed corpse.

Not a skeleton left behind by time.

A Maw'Tanu, preserved in a way that should not have been possible, its form intact, untouched, frozen in time.

And as Kuro looked at it—his chest tightened.

Because it was him.

Not in the way a reflection is.

Not in the way a descendant resembles an ancestor.

But in the way a shadow follows the body that casts it.

Kota let out a slow breath, breaking the silence. "Well. That's new."

Sia moved closer, her bow still in hand, but her fingers not on the string. "It's not just preserved."

Boru frowned, stepping around the platform, his fingers grazing the stone. "It's waiting."

Kuro knew they were right.

This was not a tomb.

This was a pause.

A moment of time held still, waiting to be resumed.

And now, it was his choice.

"Do you accept?"

The voice did not come from the chamber.

It did not come from the engraved walls or the ancient markings.

It came from within him.

And he knew—this was the last time the jungle would ask.

Did he take back what was once his?

Or did he leave it behind forever?

The air tightened as the moment stretched.

The others did not speak.

Because this was not a decision they could make.

It was his alone.

Kuro clenched his fists, exhaling slowly.

Then, he took a step forward.

He reached out.

Not in acceptance.

Not in rejection.

But to understand.

His fingers brushed the preserved body, and the moment they did—the world shattered.

Kuro was no longer in the chamber.

He was falling again, through time, through memory, through a past that had never been fully erased.

And now—he saw it all.

The war. The betrayal. The fall of the first Maw'Tanu.

He saw himself, standing in the ruins before they were ruins, making a choice that would seal away everything he had been.

And in that final moment, before the vision collapsed—he understood.

This wasn't about power.

It wasn't about legacy.

It was about freedom.

And he had already chosen.

He was Kuro.

Not the past.

Not the forgotten.

Something new.

And when his mind snapped back into the present, when the chamber returned around him, when the others were once again at his side—

The preserved body was gone.

The ruins had finally let go.

And so had he.

Kota exhaled, shaking his head. "Well. That was unsettling."

Sia nodded. "It's over now."

Kuro rolled his shoulders. Lighter than before.

"Yes."

And for the first time since entering these ruins—

It felt true.

The next door opened.

And this time, it was his decision alone to walk through it.