Webber's POV

"Over there!" The boy rushed forward on clumsy legs before ducking behind a rock.

"Shhh, they'll hear us," the girl whispered, although she was having a hard time holding back her own giggles. The night was chilly, and both children were wrapped in puffy koalafant coats that hindered their movement more than it already was by their small size and chubby limbs.

The boy shushed her back, which erupted into a short battle of hushes as the children giggled at each other's antics. Finally, they managed to get themselves under control, and the boy peeked his head out to look ahead.

"They don't look too dangerous," the girl said with a pout. "I think Mom and Dad are scared of them."

The boy didn't reply, only tipped his head and watched the creatures busy at work.

Several yards on the other side of the rock they hid behind was a massive, towering structure of silk. He only knew it was silk because his mother often led the raids on these kinds of structures and often brought home the same material to weave into clothing or sell for money. She always told them that it made good money only because it was a dangerous job, and that the children should never ever ever go near this place.

But curiosity was eating away at the twins.

The creatures- the spiders- were big, but far from the biggest things the twins had ever seen. The family's goats were bigger, and totally harmless.

The spiders moved with a kind of dexterity that their goats didn't share, though. They moved with precision and carefulness. Some were weaving thick silk over their home, while others were hurriedly crawling over some sort of animal carcass. Really all that was left of the animal was bones, but they still looked like they were trying to eat from it.

"Hey!" The boy scowled. "That's a beefalo! That's our food!"

"Mom and Dad did say that they ate the same food as us," the girl pointed out.

"We should teach 'em a lesson!"

The girl suddenly looked uneasy. "But... Mom and Dad said they're dangerous."

"I'm not scared!" The boy announced. He stood up straight and put his hands on his hips. "Hey! Stop that! That's our food!"

The spider stared glumly down at the remains of their last meal. Meals had become few and far between recently, with the advancement of the human settlements. No one was ever satisfied.

He looked up at the sound of some loud human cry. He and his comrades immediately prepared themselves for a fight, but the spider relaxed slightly at seeing that it was a small human. Too small to pose a threat.

But... not too small for a good meal.

As the spiders turned to glare at him, twisted fangs bearing in hisses and snarls, the boy realized he had screwed up. His sister grabbed his arm and started to run.

The spider gave chase. Hunger curled his stomach.

The boy ran, his heart pounding in terror-

The spider was close-

-the boy fell-

-the spider lunged-

Next, heat.

So much heat.

We were burning alive. Every single inch of our body was ravaged by heat and impossibly stiff. Despite what we could only assume to be literal fire scorching away our fur, our body shivered violently with cold. Or maybe it was fatigue?

We had to wake up, though. We were too young to die, and had too much to do. Too many people counting on us. We had to fight to gain consciousness, clawing violently away at the exhaustion crippling our limbs. Our hearing was shot, with only a roaring sound echoing in our head.

Finally, finally, we managed to crack open our eyes, but we had to slam them shut a moment later. It was so bright. The ground was so bright.

The next attempt was more solid, and we were able to drag ourselves up onto our hands and knees. The ground crumbled softly beneath our claws, which gave us the immediate realization that this was not dirt. It was sand. A quick look up confirmed that we were entirely surrounded by sand. Not rocks, not mud, not grass.

We were somewhere completely unfamiliar to us.

We didn't know of any place with this much sand. Maybe some at the bottom of the cliffs, but this was an entire beach. However long we had been lying out in the sun, our black fur had absorbed the heat and was now gleefully using it to cook us alive. Our head was throbbing, and every inch of our fur was caked in salt and sand.

We made a weak attempt to call out, but our breath simply rasped against our throat without much sound. It brought attention to how ferociously thirsty we were. We shot an uneasy glance back at the ocean, which was gently lapping at the edges of the... island? This was probably an island. We doubted it was on the mainland, but it was definitely not anywhere near our home.

How much salt water had we swallowed?

As soon as the thought entered our head, our stomach churned unpleasantly. A moment later, several mouthfuls of water and sand came out in a painful retch. None in our lungs it seemed, thankfully, but far too much in our stomach.

It took several minutes, but finally, we had emptied all the contents of our stomach. With a pained groan, we leaned back, hoping to see anything ahead other than sand.

In front of us, not even ten feet away, there was an animal who had, presumingly, been watching us the entire time. A... monkey, perhaps? Yes, a monkey wearing a crown on his head. Its head was tipped, as if in curiosity. We ducked our head, embarrassed.

It let out a string of strange noises, its head tipping to the other side. It prompted us to at least look back at it, and it said something else, this time with a completely different set of sounds. It slowly paced closer to us as it tried a third set of noises, a set of barks and growls.

We inched away. If we were about to be mauled by this creature, we really weren't in the shape to fight back.

"How about... spider?"

Ah. Languages.

"We'd prefer English."

"Nope! Sorry, can't help you there. Although, in hindsight, perhaps I should have tried spider first. You don't look the type to recognize Prime Ape, Dragoon, or Hound." The monkey grinned, its long tail waving back and forth. It was clearly pleased with itself for finding a common language. "You are quite... ah, spidery. Is that offensive?"

We shook our head, more to dislodge some of the stand stuck on us than to answer his question. He clearly took it as the other option, though.

"Fantastic! Splendid! Wondrous! I do believe that sets us on the fast track to become BFFs. At least, probably not on the fast track to become mortal enemies, since that is likely what offending you in the first five minutes of conversation would do."

"What?" We frowned. Was this creature speaking nonsense? "Whatever. Listen, where are we? We're... not on the mainland, right?"

"Nope! Thank the Heavens, right? The mainlands are an absolutely awful place to be. Welcome to the Archipelago, little spider guy!" He extended a hand, something that we had absolutely no intention of taking. He was clearly unhinged, at least slightly, and he gave us the feeling that he would throw us right back into the ocean just for fun. When we didn't take it, he sighed, reached forward, and snatched our hand anyway to shake. "That's how you do it. Before anything else, let's get introductions out of the way!" The monkey released our hand and placed it on his furry chest. "The name is Wilbur! I also answer to titles such as Your Highness and My Lord and Savior Wilbur, but I understand if its easier for you to just say the name. I won't execute you... though it might be a tempting thought."

Was he serious?

"...you're royalty?" I questioned dubiously. On the one hand, it would be quite beneficial to us if we had somehow ended up marooned on an island in front of a monarch. One who, for all intents and purposes, would be the most likely to know how to get back to the mainland. On the other hand, there was nothing royal about this creature. It seemed far more likely that he had taken on some sort of royal persona after finding that crown as beach litter.

"The King, actually," Wilbur boasted. His long tail swished the sand behind him. "Which means that I own everything in the archipelago. The sand, the birds, the trees... you." He twitched his tail to point at us as he said that. "Not that I have the most... ruly subjects. Is that a word? Doesn't matter, it is now."

"A monkey king..." I murmured under our breath, something about that concept twinging the edges of our memories.

"Whoa whoa, hey, let's get this settled once and for all." He leaned forward, a frown settling on his face. "I am no monkey, I am an ape! A Prime Ape. My title might be The Monkey King but that's because The Ape King just doesn't roll off the tongue as well."

"You have a tail..."

He scowled. "Irrelevant."

"The Monkey King," I repeated. "That's your title? Like, the title assigned to you by Maxwell?"

"Don't mention that name." Suddenly, Wilbur looked furious. His personality switched on the dime, and we could see his muscles tensing under his thin fur. "That is illegal now. But yes, if you must know, that is what he called me."

"No way..." We shook our head. "That's not possible. You're... The One True Heir?"

"Blech, it's been way too long since I heard that." The tension melted away like snow on a hot summer morning, and suddenly, he was back to normal. "For the record, that name is completely wrong also. By the time I was called that, I had been King for centuries, which leaves me no heir to anything. Especially not that ridiculous, overblown, pompous, and incredibly stupid chair. That is up to the Young Heir, not me."

Our heart sunk in our chest, which honestly was the opposite of what we expected. Somehow, not only did we survive the plunge into the ocean and land on a totally unrelated island, but we washed up in front of someone who knew Maxwell, knew the titles the Ancient Guardian had spoken of, and was one of them?

This was the fifth destined member of our group?
A monkey!?

We shook our head. "Well... that's us. And as heir... um... we really need to get back to the mainland." With or without you, we added silently. No matter what the Ancient Guardian claimed about the five of us, just looking at Wilbur, we knew for absolute certain that we didn't need him. Another misdirection.

"No way! You're the Young Heir? That is awesome!" Wilbur beamed. "Well would you look at that! Clearly, that means that destiny brought us together! And that means that you and I are absolutely set to become BFFs. Hopefully it works out better than the last group. Which, for the record, ended up very very badly. That must mean you know the others, right? The Martyr, The Host, The Sister?"

Despite the heat of the sun, we shivered. The fact that he knew those names, something that felt unnaturally intimate for someone who didn't know them at all, felt almost inappropriate.

We nodded, looking decisively away.

"Ooof, touchy subject? You gotta understand my excitement though, at least a little. Doesn't destined to be best friends sound kind of promising? Especially if it's with, what I would argue, the coolest person or animal on, under, or around the world?" When we didn't say anything, he continued, seemingly unconcerned about our silence. "I'm assuming that they are why you are so desperate to get back to the mainland? Gotta fulfill that big grand ol' destiny of yours, right? Gotta admit, I'm jealous." He placed a hand on his chest and let out a long, dramatic sigh. "After all, what's the King of the World to a lowly local King like myself?"

"Can you help us or not?" I asked hotly. We were quite quickly tiring of this charade. "If not, we'll try to find our way home ourself."

Wilbur adopted an almost comically deeply thoughtful expression.

"Well, there is a machine on this archipelago that is said to be a portal to the mainlands. Not that that theory has ever been confirmed. We don't really have visitors from the mainland here, see." He motioned vividly with his hands. "Or the ones that we do get aren't- uh- alive."

"Lucky me."

"No no, I argue that I'm the lucky one!" Without our consent, the self-proclaimed ape launched himself onto our shoulders, balancing surprisingly easily. "Oooo, this meeting is the start of something new!"

The last of our patience spent, we roughly shoved him off and bared our teeth when he tried to come near again. "We don't want anything that you are offering, we just want to get back to the mainland. If you can help us, great, but keep your paws off of us. Otherwise, leave us alone."

"Ouch, a bite. Alright, fine. I can help you, but you're going to have to be a little more cooperative than that." He pouted. "It's only fair."

"Alright, I say we kill him as soon as his back is turned."

I internally winced.

"Ah, come on, I think it would be great for your mental state if the last dead body you saw wasn't of your best friend! Don't you think?"

I clenched my teeth so hard I worried they would crack. I tried to come up with a good response, but Wilbur beat me to it.

"Hey, you never told me your name, by the way. Unless you prefer being called by your title. Which is a bit haughty if you ask me, but I can deal."

"No," I said. Suddenly, the idea of giving him my name was thrilling. Like some sort of new start, one that I desperately needed. I raised a hand to touch the coarse fur on my face, then closed my eyes. Maybe this could be something new. Maybe I could be someone else. Not the one who was always too slow or too weak. Not the one who failed every time to save those who I wanted to save. Maybe, just maybe, I could be anyone other than Webber.

Maybe I could try being me instead.

I took a deep breath, and forced it out before I could think twice.

"Tyler," I said. "Call me Tyler."