The Mimic in Monsterland

“Awesome… What does it do?” I asked.

Len smiled. “I won’t go into the details quite yet. I will save those for when some of your fellow members join us in the upcoming days. But for now…” Jaren coughed, interrupting Len before he could continue.

“Little ahead of yourself there, Len. The boy hasn’t agreed to being a member, and he couldn’t even if he wanted to. Remember no family record.” Jaren tapped his head with an index finger.

“Right, of course. First of all, Liam Foster.” The timbre in his voice sharpened as he said my name. He turned to me and gave me direct eye contact. “I would like you to join my Guild. To be one of the first of the explorers. To go and discover the deepest secrets of…”

“Pfft.”

We both turned to the source of the chortle. It was Jaren. “Sorry. Sorry. Continue with the rousing speech.”

Len cleared his throat. “Where was I?” Daila sidled over to Len’s side and mumbled something in his ear. “Right deepest secrets. To uncover the deepest secrets of Kniyas. To travel every road, to leave no stone unturned, no mountain unclimbed, no…” But he was cut off once more by the giggling of the half-elf companion.

Jaren couldn’t keep himself quiet. He broke out laughing this time, full belly laugh too. Almost falling out of his chair. “I can’t. Hoo. I can’t do it Len. It's not you ole buddy. It’s me.”

“What is it, you idiot?” Len said, a bit flustered now.

Jaren got a hold of himself. “Sorry my friend. You, giving this stirring address to us, was too much. Here. Let me handle it.”

Jaren shifted in his chair over to me. “Hey Liam. You’re new to this land. Correct? I don’t know all your circumstances, whether you're feral or something else entirely. Len didn't clue me in much about you. From how he described it, it sounds like you are exactly what this guild needs. Even before taking the powerset you’ve been gifted in. You have something we need for this venture to work.”

He got up before continuing, gesturing to me to stand up with him. We walked out of the office and into one hallway. He brought me to a ladder I didn’t notice before placed at the end of the hall. He climbed up the ladder and opened a hatch at the top. Then climbed onto the roof. I followed him up. It led to a small patio, big enough for only five people maybe.

My eyes flowed across the landscape. I could see so much more of the different school buildings, the fields that lie between them. The trees dotting more of the cityscape. It was amazing. It reminded me of the view I got from the top of the Capitol Tree. Sure, this building’s roof wasn’t even remotely as tall, but it still stirred that feeling of wonder and amazement at a world so ethereal, so different from what Earth was like. Jaren spoke up while I was stunned by the sight.

“It’s that, right there.” The tall half-elf pointed at me, or maybe my eyes. “That look in yer eyes, that look you give this city. Nay this world. A look that drives you, begs you to learn everything there is to learn about this land.”

I couldn’t disagree with him. I never had this level of desire to explore a world. A twinge of guilt burrowed out of my mind. Like something locked away just rattled its cage. No. No that’s not true. I thought back on the days long past. Of all the time I spent with Gramps. How he told me about the world he discovered. The trips he took, the wars he fought in. A world that inspired him to go out and squeeze every drop of joy, pleasure, and happiness out of it. He was so good at making the world sound so large and beautiful. Compelling those around him to believe in that auspicious view of the world. He told me time and time again to not march to the beat of others. But that didn’t mean to shun others. No, he said to clutch on to those who share your dreams. That was the simplest way to live a life you will be proud of.

I couldn’t help but think about what happened to me back on Earth. When did I let myself get so bogged down by the world? When did I let that sense of adventure, cultivated in me by my grandfather, die out? When did I let the world start dictating me so much?

A wave of pure emotion swept over me. I had to catch myself before a tear slipped out. Jaren laid a hand on my shoulder.

“And not only that Liam. You have something Laurel desperately needs: Fresh perspective. You aren’t tainted by the traditions and beliefs that are so ingrained in us. These shackles that hold us back from taking this world from the beasts that rule it. You can go out there unimpeded. That’s why we need you.” Jaren finished and took his hand off of me.

I stared out for a little while longer before speaking.

“I’ll do it. Even before we came up here I was ready to join. Len saved my life and taught me how to keep myself alive as well. But you’re right. I do want to go out there and grab Kniyas by the horns. Force it to show me all of its secrets and mysteries. To make friends and probably enemies. To live a full life knowing that I did my all.”

“Aye, and that is exactly what we are all about.” He nudged me. I turned and saw that Len and Daila had joined us at some point. Len had a contented smile on his face and even the stone-faced Daila smirked.

“Alright then. Let’s get back to business.”

We returned to Len’s office and sat down. Daila whispered something to Len. He nodded and said, ”Sure thing, let's go over the raid business first.” She nodded and sat down, returning to her notebook.

“Okay Liam. Now that’s been settled, let us return to what we were talking about prior. As I said, I have a few more members in mind and will discuss the nitty gritty of this guild’s purpose when we have all gathered. But I can tell you why I have Jaren here.” Len cleared his throat before continuing.

“So first of all, you are going to be recruited into one of his raid squads in the coming week. There is no getting around this.”

I raised my hand. “Yes?”

“What does that entail?” I asked.

Jaren answered this one. “Means you better get used to fighting in battles like the one from a few days ago. I don’t know what your stat spread looks like; we will go over that soon, but from the report Fenny gave me, you are a fighter no doubt. Not many could achieve what you did in that raid. It’s a shame the Watchers didn’t bother recording you.”

I mulled over his reply. I hadn’t spent much time even thinking about that battle. It felt like a blur at the moment. Probably from how hopped up on flowers I was. I decided to share a few worries of my own to them.

“I don’t really know how to fight in a group. I’ve spent so much time fighting by myself. And the majority of my abilities are self-centered. Like the rage you saw earlier. And that performance was severely enhanced by those magical flowers. I could only keep that up while Energized.”

Jaren nodded at me. “That's all fine. Group fighting can be taught, even if you are starting a bit later in life then everyone else. But that fighting prowess, despite being under the influence, just shows that you have the potential to do it, without the aid. Can’t say I know much about the magical veggies. Daila here is the one in the know about that kind of stuff. And I can tell she is itching to ask you some questions about it.”

The woman in question just rolled her eyes while going over her notes again.

Before anyone else spoke again, I asked a question that bothered me from earlier.

“Why did the body count matter so much, in regards to my corpse pile? I can gather that it was attracted somehow to that giant mass of flesh you said was the raid boss.” That last sentence was wild. I'm using this gamer lingo for something that actually killed people..

Len took the lead on this one.

“We wanted to make sure you weren't the cause of that monstrosity. It's about how raids are formed out in the wild. We know they form up in the middle of the night” Len pulled out a journal from his desk. And opened it to a blank page.

“Raids have a simple structure to them. They are layered in waves. First the Vanguard waves. Typically weaker monsters that are mostly fodder. Normally, there are two or three waves of these monsters.” He wrote vanguard on the paper then a line above it.

“Then come the Soldiers, the largest fighting force in the raid. A mixed bag of monsters but they follow a trend usually.” He wrote the Soldiers down and another line.

“Then finally come the Boss and his Guards. The boss is a much stronger version of the guards usually. Like in the last raid, The Greater Graveball was the boss and the Lesser Graveballs were the Guards.”

Jaren spoke up. “The toughest sons of bitches in the raid. But there is a blessing. Scouts can normally find the boss early and we can make some adjustments in formation before the raid begins.”

Len nodded in agreement. “He’s right. But what we don’t really know is how or when a boss is made. It’s actually one of the goals of our little guild here. And part of why I was in the Forest when we first met. Aside from the Tempest Roc. We theorize that some monsters are just born stronger than others and they eventually grow into them. But that doesn’t explain the undead. We don’t really understand them at all. They aren’t common in the Forest. And we are very good about burning bodies.”

I thought about what they were telling me. I didn’t burn a single one of the corpses I made out in the woods.

“You guys don’t think my pile turned into that?” I thought about all of the death it caused. Is that blood on my hands? Did it have something to do with the flowers?

“It wasn’t because of flowers was it?” I looked down at the floor.

“No, those flowers don’t do anything of the sort. And no, that Graveball was made from the bodies of hundreds of corpses. Something that would take you half a year of collecting.”

It was Daila who spoke up and alleviated my fears.

“I actually have some questions about those flowers. Mr. Ainsworth, Mr. Holdsburn.” The two looked at her and nodded. “Go ahead Daila. I could grab a bite, how bout you my dear chap?” Jaren asked Len who responded with “Yes, I do believe I could. Only fair to Daila after making her lose a day of lecturing.” Jaren and Len got up and walked to the door. “Have fun.”