The Mimic in Monsterland

Fennel looked down at the stamped documents in his hands. And then back to the entrance of the Capitol Building. He knew he must have had a stupid look on his face. He wasted hours the previous morning just waiting in line to get these papers sorted. Yet today he was in and out in roughly 20 minutes. The lines moved steadily and the clerks were efficient. He couldn't help but feel a little bitter.

He scratched behind his ear, while shuffling through the documents until he found his own invoice. “First One’s above. I don’t even begin to know what to do with all this.” The number on the page astounded him. He’d never gotten a paycheck like this before. The invoice listed his kill count as 549. Which was way, way higher than what he actually killed. His Leader of The Pack ability gave him partial credit for his allies' kills, but even then that number seemed off. His crew fought like champions in that raid but they couldn’t have killed that many.

There was also an achievements list on the invoice that listed notable events that raid fighters, well, achieved. Fennels eyes were drawn to one in particular:

 

Karibu Slaughter (SOLO):

Took out a legion of backline magic missile slinging moose, with no help either.

Way To Go Tiger!

 

Why did the Watchers give me credit for that? Liam’s the one who took out that whole lot. My blade didn’t even touch a single Karibu hide. And Liam wasn't under the effects of Leader of the Pack.

His mind played back the brute strength beatdown Liam gave the Karibu. He seemed like a completely different person out on the battlefield.

He pondered on it for a while longer, But in the end, decided to worry about it later. He had a long day ahead of him. He made his way to the gate leading to the Barracks. He needed to give the invoices to his squad, and then on to the family of the deceased in the Residential District. And then head over to Len’s construction site in the Academy District.

His feet hurt just thinking about all the walking thrust upon him today.

 

——

 

Daila walked through the market street like a woman on a mission. Purely focused on heading to her destination. Completely ignoring every vendor who shouted at us as we passed by. She had a tense look about her, but I guess she always kind of had that look. I tried to ask her where we were going and what we were doing today. But I only received death glares for answers.

It probably didn’t help that I stopped and looked at a few shops while we were walking. I couldn’t help it. I had no clue that my mimic gene would add such a fascination with shiny trinkets and baubles. To be fair, this was my first time being around such shiny, beautiful knick knacks and it made sense, but I’m not sure if my heart can take any more of those scowls.

After about a two hour long walk (probably an hour if I wasn’t stopping at every jewelry and weapon stand) we made it to another one of the massive root gates that split up the city. I wondered if this one would lead to one of the sections I saw from the tree. Maybe the housing one. The gate was already open when we arrived so we didn’t have to wait this time. Bummer, I wanted to look at it more. Man, I hope I get to explore on my own one of these days.

This side of the gate wasn’t as full with people. The street was just as large but not nearly as congested. There weren’t any merchant tents set up on the side of the street. The occasional food cart was there. Most in the prep phase. My mouth watered at the scent of food cooking.

The buildings in this section were more spread out and a lot bigger, with large fields in between them. I think this is the district that I thought was for farming. There was a field directly next to the gate. It wasn’t filled with crops though. No, it was filled with small children. Running drills?

A whole group of about 30 kids, who couldn’t be older than 12, were doing exercises. A few of the movements looked really familiar. Each child had a different trope, some had animal ears, a trope that I have a feeling is very common, some furred limbs, others had scales on their bodies. One or two had tails, a couple with claws. One adult yelled out some commands and the whole group switched to another exercise. I watched as a little girl, with red hair and cat ears that matched, started doing some burpees. It was immensely adorable.

Then it clicked in my head. These are the same drills Len had me doing. What the hell?

Daila must have moved along while I was busy watching the kids because I turned back to ask her something and she was gone. I was thankful the street wasn’t full because I found her white bun a few hundred feet away easily. I chased after her. That tense look she was wearing seemed to calm down a bit.

“Hey Daila, quick question?”

“What?” She responded, without the death glare now.

“The exercises the kids are doing over there. Do all the ages do them?”

She looked back at the field with the kids. “No, those exercises are for the 8-12 range. Why?”

A burning annoyance flared up in me. “Nothing, just curious.” Damn it. Len had me doing kiddie drills. Come on. That bitterness stuck around for a while.

We walked by a few more fields filled with older kids running more complicated drills. Some sparred, others practiced with various weapons, and some ran through weird obstacle courses. The courses were made from trees and ropes tied around bark-covered structures. It looked like a JROTC but bushranger edition.

What was odd was that the trees didn’t look like they were manipulated into the shapes. There weren’t any cuts or bends in the bark. More like they grew that way naturally. I looked back at the road.

Daila left me again.

I sighed and caught up.

 

“What section of the city is this?” I asked.

Her nose twitched for a second before she answered. “This is the Academic District. Where we train new soldiers, or teach trades to the children with poor stat distributions.” Her nose twitched again. “It is also where I reside.”

“You don’t live in the residential area?”

“No, I’m an instructor for Academy number three. Instructors live in the school buildings.”

“Interesting. Wait. I thought you said you and Fennel work for this Jaren guy. Is he the head of one of these schools?”

She scoffed upon hearing the question.

“Holdsburn, a teacher. What a sight that would be.” She scoffed once more. “No, Mr. Holdsburn sits on the council and runs his own legion, the largest in Laurelhaven. I’m one of his lieutenants.”

“So, you’re a teacher and a lieutenant. That seems like a lot.” She shrugged. “Funny coincidence, I used to be a tea…” I stopped myself before finishing the statement.

It didn’t look like Len shared my backstory with these guys. I should probably keep the whole I’m from a different planet thing on the downlow. I’m already a pariah, don’t need to pile on more crazy.

Daila’s head turned slightly in my direction, one of her eyebrows raised. “Ah nothing. Oh shouldn’t you be teaching right now?” I said, hopefully deflecting her suspicion.

A vein popped up on her forehead. “Yes, I should be.” She answered through gritted teeth. “But that lout ordered me to do this instead.” She started grumbling about something but caught herself and re-equiped her normal sober expression.

“It matters not, we have almost arrived.”

In the distance, I saw a large two story building that was, from the rhythmic sound of hammers thumping and saws cutting, under construction. But the workers weren’t the typical citizens of Laurel. Very short little dudes, with hook shaped ears and pointed noses, each working with a different tool, some sawed some lumber, others hammered nails. But oddly enough, none of them had any visible monster body parts. Weird.

“Gnomes?” I said out loud.

“Yes, the best builders in the Craft Guild.” She replied.

“Guild huh.”

Wonder if there are more guilds. Are they local or do they branch out amongst Kniyas?

I was about to ask Daila, but her expression darkened the closer we got to the construction site. Best to leave her alone.

We got up to the front doors. The main entrance had a sign put up but it was covered so I could read what it said. Some very tired looking guards were posted out front of the large double doors. Daila nodded at one and we walked on in.

The foyer was a huge empty room only furnished with a single table and two chairs. A gnome was standing on one of the chairs arguing with a scruffy faced man wearing even scruffier clothes. It was Len.

His face looked tired, but not from lack of sleep. Closer to when you’ve spoken with someone unpleasant for far too long. He looked up and saw me and Daila enter. He said something to the crafter gnome. The gnome hopped off the chair and walked outside. I couldn’t help but keep my gaze on the interesting little guy while he left. He snarled at me.

Once he was out the door, the gnome yelled something to the crew outside and all the construction noise halted.

Len walked up to me with a smile on his face.

“Hey kid, long time no see. And thank you Daila.” She nodded at him.

I smiled back. And then threw a jab at him after he got close. He took the blow and faked a groaning sound.

“That’s for throwing a fireball at me you crotchety old bastard.”

We both started laughing. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

“Welcome to my new abode and workplace. Let me show you around.”

I opened my mouth. “Eh Eh. Please leave all questions until the end of the tour.”

 

But right before we walked further into the building. The front doors slammed open. We turned to see who it was.

A rather large bald man stood in the doorway. I couldn’t see his face well because of the sunlight behind him. But I could make out his eyes. They were a bright teal color that shifted as if they were made of flame.

“LEONARD!!!! GET OVER HERE!”

The large man roared out, singling out Len. But before anyone could react to his words, he shot out. Within a fraction of a second, his body slammed into Len, who was sent flying into the room adjacent to the foyer.

“No! Len!”

My body reacted instinctively, I shifted directly into Tigris form, aiming a slash for the man’s face. The bald man smirked and caught the clawed hand, lifting me off the ground. He pulled my face up to his. His face changed from anger to disgust for a second.

He then threw me into the same room Len was sent just before. The force of his throw barred me from maneuvering my body. My back slammed into the ground and I rolled for a second. My vision swirled while I got back up. The man slowly walked into the room, a devilish grin on his face. The teal light from his eyes trailed behind him with every step.

The cur. Who is he? Where did Len go?

My vision cleared just in time. The man was readying another charge. Darkness engulfed me right as he took off. I jumped to the side, just barely getting out of the way. The man’s body stopped in the darkness before it dissipated. He turned to look for where I went.

I launched myself at his ankles, claws primed. However, in a feat of unreal speed. He grabbed me by the shirt and flung me to the other side of the room. My back hit the wooden wall, knocking the air out of my lungs. I slid down the wall.

Okay speed isn’t cutting it. Maybe strength then.

I shifted out of Tigris and then immediately into Ursa. I rose up with a roar. I felt the pain surge in my body, egging on the rage building up. But I forced it down. Rage is a last ditch thing. I can’t rely on it.

I took the initiative this time and readied a blow aimed for his side. He caught it, but wasn’t prepared for the force behind it. It moved the man a half a foot across the floor.

He looked up and grinned. Before I knew it we were in a pushing match. Our hands clasped together in a test of pure muscle. He was bigger than me even in Ursa form. But I wasn’t going to let up. The man laughed.

“Got to hand it to you kid, you’re alright. But nowhere close enough to tussle with the like of me.” His eyes shone even brighter. He clamped down on my padded hands. Pain bursting into them. No choice.

I activated Ursa-Rage. But before I could start pushing back. I felt a snap on the back of my head. The overbearing power that pushed against me let go, causing me to fall to my knees. I got back up in a rush and twisted my torso around, searching for the threat.

Another snap from something hit the back of my head. I turned around and saw three people. Len, Daila, and the large man. The two men wore identical dumb smiles on their faces. Daila looked completely unenthused.

And then I noticed something I wished to never see again: That accursed stick.