The Mimic in Monsterland

Dreams of home dominated my sleep once again. I was grading some papers in my living room. I thought about the students I was teaching. They were a pain most of the time and prone to cheating but there weren’t a bad group of kids. I can’t even blame them for cheating, it was just so easy these days with all the new AI tools popping up out of nowhere. Hell, I wished they would copy off each other. It’d be better than having to grade the same AI written drivel everyda…...

Cold water splashed on my face, shocking my body awake and back into reality. My eyes opened only to be met with more water. I thought water was being thrown in my face, but it looks like my face was the one being thrown. I brought my head above water. Taking in a big breath as I surveyed my surroundings. Something must have thrown me in but I didn’t see anything or anyone around until a vaguely familiar voice spoke from behind me.

“Finally awake.” The low gravely voice said.

I turned around to see a man sitting cross-legged on the shore, with what looked to be a piece of wheat sticking out of his mouth. A piece of wheat that smoldered at the end but somehow didn't burn. He wore a simple white shirt much like my own, well aside from the blood stains. But there was a weird patch on his chest. It was crimson red but I was too far away to get any details other than the color. He wore brown pants that honestly looked like burlap sacks with holes cut at the bottoms and a pair of straw sandals bringing his hobo-chic look together.

“Being dumped in a river will do that to a man.” I retorted. I stood up only to be hit with the worst headache I have ever experienced in my life. Like my temples were inside a vice.

“Exhaustion migraine. Not fun. First time?” He asked.

“Yep.” I groaned.

“Don’t worry, it’ll go away pretty quick.”

Sure enough he was right, after I made my way back to shore the headache vanished. Now that I was closer, I got a better look at the man. He looked to be about mid forties, gray hairs peppering his short black hair and surprisingly well trimmed beard. He had a lazy expression as he looked out towards the river.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“We’ll get to that. First, I have some questions for you.” He responded.

“Okay.” A gust of wind blew by, causing me to shiver in my wet clothes.

“Here let me get that.”

The mystery man snapped his fingers and a blast of heat crawled across my skin, underneath my clothes. The heat flowed from the bottom of my feet to my head, drying my clothes and hair almost instantly. My mind went back to last night. He must be the source of the flame pillars that scorched the gremlins in 10 seconds flat. It sent a chill down my spine.

“Thanks.” I said, trying not to reveal my nervousness.

“Sure thing.”

I swallowed that anxiety and sat down next to him, following his gaze out to the river. We sat there staring at the river for a good couple of minutes, not saying a word. The gentle sounds of the river and pleasant weather helped calm me down.

The scene reminded me of a lot of trips I took with gramps. Just the two of us out in the wilderness, eating off the land and rivers much like this one. I had a million questions for the mysterious fire man but truthfully I was just happy to have some company; and not the kind that only exists in my head and constantly berates me about every decision I make.

“So you gonna say anything to him, Fartface?” Tutor said in my head.

I winced at the snide comment, that wound was still fresh apparently. I wanted to respond to her, but I didn’t want to make the insanely powerful fire wizard think I was crazy in the event that talking to a voice in your head isn’t a common occurrence in this world.

 

Finally, our mystery wizard broke the silence.

“So what are you kid?”

“I don’t really know how to answer that. What do you mean?”

He turned to me and looked into my eyes, searching for something. When he didn’t find it there he started looking at the rest of my body. I basically got a TSA pat down, he checked my arms, fingers, legs, back, then finally my mouth.

“Ahh there it is, your trope. That's a hell of a set of chompers you got there. But not the bear trope, or the gremlin trope for that matter. Turning into trees and rocks isn’t one of their powers either so I'll ask again. What the hell are you?”

“Do you mean my monster gene?”

“Yes, that's what I mean. How green are you?”

“Umm I’m not sure that’s info I should just be giving out.” I wasn’t even lying, I really wasn’t sure. Is sharing that detail a bad call in this world? Is it giving away the source of my power or something?

He sighed and looked back out at the river and said.

“You kids these days are all too skeptical. This is why I hate talking with city people. No manners with you lot. Fine, I will go first.”

He snapped his fingers again, this time summoning a ball of flame in the palm of his hand. He played with it, throwing it between his hands and in the air. Then he got fancy with it, juggling multiples flames through the air. It was an absolutely entrancing display. It reminded me of the flame juggling they do at tropical resorts but on steroids. They didn’t literally have the fire in their hands; he kept the show on until in one last flourish, wherein the flames landed in my lap. I yelped and jumped, trying to pat the fire on my groin, expletives bounding out of my mouth.

“NOT THE FAMILY JEWELS!” I exclaimed.

“You’ve trained for this since childhood. STOP. DROP. AND ROLL!” Tutor added.

It was after about 2 minutes of rolling on the ground that I realized the fire wasn’t burning my clothes. It wasn’t even that hot. The flames felt more like a warm blanket than an actual fire. The middle-aged man started busting out laughing and rolling around. The ignited wheat flew out of his mouth.

“That never gets old.” He spouted out between wheezes. My face reddened in embarrassment. Even Tutor was cackling in the back of my head.

“Oh man I needed that, thanks kid. You had one of the best reactions I’ve ever had to that old prank. Most of the time they all attack me. Family jewels. That’s a good one.”

I couldn’t even find the words to respond. After a minute I just started laughing with him.

“First laugh like that I’ve had in a while. Glad you’re a good sport about the whole thing. Let me start with the introductions then. Name’s Leonard but most just call me Len. And I have the fire elemental splice. Here’s my trope.”

He rolled up his sleeve on his right arm revealing a wild flame shaped tattoo. The color constantly changed and pulsed like that of an actual fire, shifting between different shades of orange and red. A full sleeve of flames on his upper arm. It was fascinating. Way cooler than sharp teeth. He rolled his sleeve back down and turned back to me.

“So what about you kid?”

“Liam, and my gene is mimic. I don’t know what a trope is though. I guess it's my teeth.”

Len tilted his head as soon as I answered.

“Hmmm. That’s new.” Len just stared at me for a while, he brought his hand to his scruffy chin in the classic thinking man pose.

“So then my next question is: What’s a mimic?” He asked.

You know, the creature that hides itself as a chest or another object to prey on unsuspecting adventurers traversing through dungeons in most RPGs. Is what I wanted to say but I’m still on the back foot here on what is and isn’t in this world. I need to learn about this world and Leonard here is probably my best shot. So I chose to be mostly transparent.

“I’m not entirely sure myself. This whole place is new to me.”

“Not a local of the forest. I guess that explains why you were heading toward Vulug Town.” Len responded.

Happiness and a little pride sparked in me upon hearing that I was in fact making my way toward civilization and not horribly lost.

“Though you are still about four weeks out at the rate you were going.”

And that feeling of happy pride lessened.

“Actually, I was looking for any town. Is Voolug Town the closest?” I asked.

He gave me a strange look again, eyebrow cocked now.

“Nope, Vulug Town is way out there in The Desert. Laurelhaven’s closer. About a week's walk from where you had the run in with the Tempest Roc. You’d have been there by now if you went upstream instead of down.”

That pride shattered. I almost went four weeks without finding even a hint of civilization and part of that journey being in a desert, for which I am woefully unequipped. But some he said did catch my attention.

“Wait, you know about that terrifying storm bird? And you’ve been following me since?” I asked, a little creeped out.

“Yes.” He said in the most there’s-nothing-weird-about-that tone of voice. “That big bad bird is known as a Tempest Roc. Few survive a run in with a Tempest Roc, even less with no permanent injuries. Or any tier 8 monster for that matter. So that made you exceptionally interesting. Especially learning what a newbie you are.”

“How do you know I’m new huh?” I said while puffing my chest out a little.

“Lad, three gremlins nearly took you down, you’re greener than the midsummer leaves. You aren’t lacking in power that's for sure, you seem to have zero fighting experience though. What level are you?”

My chest deflated; I felt a little embarrassed but ignored it because at the end of the day, he was right. I had no experience and it must have shown. I desperately need some help. And the first step is asking for it.

“Yeah you’re right. I’m level one.”

His eyes shot open upon hearing that. He looked over at me in complete surprise.

“You’re not level one, that’s not possible. You're what, 18 years old. Let me see your sheet.”

“I don’t know how to do that.”

“Just bring it up and give me access.” Len said.

So I did, the sheet popped up in front of me.

“Now what?”

He sighed. “At the top you should see…”

“Ah yep I see the box.” The box at the top said,

 

[Share Your Character Sheet with: “Leonard Ainsworth”]

[Yes] [No]

 

I clicked yes. A copy of my character sheet appeared in front of Len. He read through it with an intense gaze. I hope I didn’t mess up showing him. Maybe I should run while he is distracted. That strange instinct crept into my mind again. Running seemed like a dumb idea. He’s been following me for a week now so I doubt I would get far anyhow. Where were these thoughts coming from? Before I could delve further Len closed out the sheet, stood up and started pacing around, muttering to himself.

“You really are level one. How is that possible? All 18-year-olds are normally level five from the academy training alone. You aren’t allowed outside a capital without being level five in the first place. Maybe a talented four squeaks through every once in a blue moon but never lower than that. Are you Feral? No, you’re much too well mannered for that, you’d also be a lot higher level like seven or eight. You also don’t have a recorded splice which is not a completely unknown phenomenon, that you have a gene from a monster that’s not recorded is. None of this makes sense.” Finally stopping he turned to me.

“I know I keep coming back to this question but what are you?”

I was reeling from the sudden new information being thrown at me. All I could give him was a pathetic “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know? You have to know. Where did you come from? Where are you going?”

I got frustrated by him asking all these questions and finally snapped.

“Look man, you want the truth, fine.”

I divulged everything that had happened to me so far. How one day I died in my world, how I met a god of rebirth and was reborn into this world with nothing but the clothes on my back, a new body that plays by a different set of rules, and an unhelpful voice in my head. How I narrowly survived the encounter with the Roc. How I have no idea where I am or where I’m going; that I don’t even know what this world is called.

Len sat back down while I was telling him my story, never once interrupting. Nodding was the only confirmation I got from him once I finished. He went back to his thinking pose, tugging on his short beard from time to time. He probably thought I was some loon and figuring out what to do with me.

We sat there for a while, again. After the first hour, my eyes grew heavy. Must have still had some fatigue built up. I lied down. Len didn’t move from his thinking pose. After closing my eyes for what felt like five minutes, I opened them to see the sun had just set and twilight time was kicking in.

I rose and looked around to see if Len was still there. Wouldn’t have blamed him for leaving. I probably seemed more trouble than I was worth. Or just a nutcase. I viewed my status bars for the first time today, my health was around 80% full, stamina and mana were full. My stomach did its violent growling again reminding me I hadn’t eaten since yesterday. I couldn’t recover fully on an empty stomach.

My nose picked up something and I turned around. About a dozen feet away, Len was sitting next to a campfire with some dead, skinned squirrels sitting on sticks roasting in the fire. Relief washed over me. I walked up to the fire and sat down. Len pulled out a bag from… somewhere(?) and pinched inside. It looked like salt. He sprinkled it on the morsel and offered it to me. I grabbed it and thanked him. I had to wrangle the instinct to shove the whole thing into my mouth.

Heaven’s holiest angels landed in my mouth. It was the first warm, and more importantly, seasoned meal I had since I got to this world. I always thought it was funny how battles were fought over spices in Earth’s history. Seemed like a mundane thing to fight over. But try eating unseasoned food for an extended period. You’ll see why I almost cried after putting it in mouth.

But I held strong and finished the food in just a few bites. Bones included. Couldn’t suppress it all I guess. Len didn’t seem bothered by it though. He just munched on his like a normal person. The fire cracked. I didn’t feel like sitting in silence again.

“I’m surprised you’re using a normal fire, figured your magic flames would be easier than gathering firewood.” I said, taking the initiative this time.

“Nah, I hate cooking with them. Feels weird. Those flames are part of me, a part of my body. It’d be like boiling the food in your own spit.”

“Eww.”

“Exactly.”

He paused again but then turned to me.

“All of that is true eh?” He said.

“Every word.” I said, nodding my head.

“Well, you have found yourself in one hell of a predicament haven’t you then.” He got up and brushed his clothes off.

“Alright, no more questions for today. We will deal with all that in the morning.”

I was burning with questions but figured if he was willing to stick around then I wouldn’t push my luck. Len got up and with a quick wave of his hand the fire died out. There wasn’t even smoke, it just went out like a lightbulb. I controlled my impulse to nerd out and ask no less than 500 questions about his powers.

He pulled out a bedroll and blanket from… where was he keeping this stuff? He didn’t have bags or pouches that I could see. I got up and started walking towards the river.

“Thanks again for the food but this gene of mine requires a bit more to fill the tank.” I explained, hoping it wouldn’t bother him.

“Sure, see you in the morning.”

I walked into the insanely cold river water, trying but failing to not curse under my breath. It was stupid cold. I turned into my rock form and prepared myself for the fish feast.