The Mimic in Monsterland

The young boy cowering behind Ingrid regained his courage once she welcomed me. He cautiously walked back around, one hand holding the side of Ingrid’s cloak. Where’d all the bravado run off to? He wasn’t this tame when the two of them restrained me. I took a second to inspect the two boys. Both were human and had the same short, simple haircut. Same dark brown color as well. One thing was for certain, however, they were very young. Younger than I thought at first. I was most likely right about the elder being fourteen, but the younger one couldn't have been more than twelve. Which did not make me feel great about the fact that I almost choked him. Or that they pinned me so easily. Training starts early here, that's why they pinned me. I told myself, defending my honor.

It took a moment to see their tropes. The small boy’s face was scrunched up and mouse-like, very reminiscent of Daila’s features. The taller boy’s took a moment to find, but he spoke to the younger boy for a second and I caught a glimpse of his large front rat-like teeth. Probably brothers, too many similarities.

I knelt down to the smaller boy. Ingrid reflexively retook her place in front of the boy, getting in between me and him. I held my hands up. “Don’t worry.” Her eyes held mine, until she nodded. I returned my gaze to the small, mouse-faced boy. “Sorry for scaring you. My tail’s not great at fighting. See, look how furry it is.” Bringing my tail back in front of him, I wiggled it pathetically in an attempt to make it look less scary.

A small smile grew on his face as his eyes tracked my tail. “Go ahead, catch it. If you can.” I wiggled my eyebrows. The smile grew even bigger as he reached out for the furry tail.

“Tinn stop it!” The taller boy yelled out. “We have an important job, you can’t play around. Come here.” Tinn dropped his head and slowly waddled over to his brother.

I stood back and Ingrid looked over to the two brothers, her face filled with contemplation. “Finn, how long have you two been on watch?” She asked the taller brother.

“Not long ma’am. An hour, maybe. Right Tinn?” The young boy nodded rapidly. “Yep.”

Ingrid rolled her eyes. “What did I say about the ma’am thing?”

The boys scratched their respective heads. “To…not do that?” Finn responded, completely guessing.

“Yes. But that’s not important. Is anyone else out there tonight?”

“Nope, you were the only one. But I’m not sure about the other exits.” Finn answered back.

“Okay, then you two are dismissed for the night. Go home.” She waved her hand in the classic go away fashion.

The elder brother opened his mouth to object, but Ingrid wasn’t having any of it. She raised her hand and barked back at the two. “Go. You’re both useless as is right now. Don’t think for a second you got away with sleeping on the job. We were in that tunnel for an hour, waiting in the dark. But don’t worry, we could hear you snoring out here.”

Completely untrue. Maybe ten minutes. Max. and I didn’t hear a thing, but I don’t have big bunny ears either. And definitely I’m not going to correct her and risk a tongue lashing.

Both of the boys winced as she spoke, proving her words to be true. I looked at their faces and understood where she was coming from. Both boys were sporting bags under their eyes.

The taller rat-toothed brother’s face filled with defiance. “You just want to hang out with your cityfolk boyfriend. That’s all this is! Traitor.” He mouthed off. Ingrid didn’t react. She stared at the boy with a stern face. Then after a tense couple of seconds, her face softened. “Just go home. Look at Tinn, he’s barely staying awake as is.” She was right. The younger brother’s eyelids drooped, and his head bobbed as he leaned against his brother.

“Pick him up and go home. Don’t worry about anything. I’ll tell Ranj, just get back home.” Finn looked down at his sleepy brother and sighed. Accepting defeat, he picked up the younger boy and nodded at Ingrid. He was about to turn around until Ingrid stopped him. She dropped a small bag in the now passed out younger boy's lap.

“Are you sure? Don’t you need it for—” She stopped him.

“They're good, now get him and yourself to bed.”

Finn turned away and walked across the rooftop, heading for some makeshift stairs on the side of the building. Ingrid called out after the boy once he made it to them. “Oh, and he’s not cityfolk.” She said, pointing at me.

“What, but I’ve never seen him before.” He looked at me, then his eyes grew huge. “Wait, then is he?”

“Yes, but you have to go home. Now. I might have let you ask him some questions, but you had to be a little jackass tonight.”

“But, but.” He looked as if he was about to turn around.

“Nope, go home now. You can ask him next time.” I looked over at her. Bold assumption, I’m going to be coming back. Why are they interested in me in the first place? Finn hung his head low and trudged down the stairs, keeping a firm grasp on his brother’s sleeping body.

Ingrid waited for the boys to be completely gone before she turned back to me. “Let’s move. We have more ground to cover.” She walked over to the edge of the building.

“Wait a dang minute. Where are we even…” I stopped talking once I joined her at the edge of the building, the crazy view halting my speech.

The bustling city below looked nothing like the quiet, sleepy one just on the other side of the roots behind us. A multitude of colors bathed the city street, all from different colored lamps and braziers. I looked straight down and saw that we stood above a building with a bright blue flame outside its doors. The overwhelming scent of alcohol punched me in the face as a dwarf stumbled out of the building. I covered my nose.

Ingrid seemed to be wholly unaffected by it, as her eyes scanned the area. I don’t know how she could handle it, my eyes were currently flooding, trying to placate the chemical burns from alcohol vapors.

“Is that a brewery?”

“What? No, it's just a bar. Now let’s move.” She ran along the edge, in the opposite direction of the stairs the brothers took. She hopped off of it and over to the next roof. But instead of continuing without me, she stopped and waved me over.

I leaped over between the buildings; Ingrid started running when I caught up with her. She never got too far ahead this time as we ran along the buildings. Which was nice, I didn’t have to watch her so diligently this time and could get an eyeful of the surroundings. Splicers of all shapes and sizes roamed the vibrant main street. A good portion seemed inebriated in some form or fashion, many laughed and chatted in groups as they wandered.

Don’t know why it's called the Gloom. Seems pretty upbeat to me. Not really my scene, though.

The whole place reminded me of my trip to New Orleans back in Sophomore year of university. A group of us went for Mardi Gras. It was an overall great time. Until a pretty girl with eighty sets of plastic bead necklaces around her neck gave my less mentally adept friend, Kyle, some sketchy looking booze. We all had a sip. It ended up being spiked with who knows what. We woke up the next morning, four towns over, in half ripped tuxedos and tap shoes. Never learned why. Swore off partying that day. I’d never felt sicker than that trip back home.

From what I could gather, this district was the nearly literal red light district of Laurelhaven. We even passed by some stores with red lights and sultry men and women out front. Funny how some things just don’t change no matter what world you find yourself reincarnated in. One woman in particular caught my attention. A dark haired, rabbit eared woman with entirely too little clothing. Seriously, one slight breeze and it was gone. But enchanting all the same. Ingrid shouted at me when I stopped to get a better look.

Eventually, my remote tour ended. We got close to the end of the street and hopped into the rest of the town that wasn’t nearly as colorful. This section had the buildings all crammed together, the distance between rooftops shortened dramatically. I looked down and saw the maze-like alleyways below. Man, it’d suck getting lost in those.

The cramped buildings gave way to a wide open courtyard like space. A dried up fountain laid in the center along with a withering tree. I could help but feel like it was a shame for some reason. A few vagabonds and drunkards littered around the fountain square. Ingrid pulled on my shirt. Her index finger pushed up to her lips. I nodded. She walked over the edge of the rooftop we stood on and hopped down, landing on a small shed without a single sound. I followed after her. Not quite as stealthily. A few of the drunkards murmured, but none went over to check out the noise.

I got off the shed. As soon as my feet hit the ground, Ingrid shoved me into the musty shed. She closed the door and fastened it shut, then walked over to one of the corners. Ingrid pulled out two rocks and banged them together. Sparks flew out from them, igniting a large round candle. It burned with a dark green hue.

“Okay, we should be good.” She said, walking back to the shed door and kneeling down. She peered through the cracks of the door.

“What now?” I asked.

“We wait.” Ingrid replied, eyes still on the door.

“How long?” Her response came in the form of rolled eyes. “Then I guess we wait.”

And so began our silent vigil in a dingy shed that may or may not have smelled like garbage. After a few minutes, my Apis form body got antsy. It didn’t care much for sitting around doing nothing. My tail flicked left and right vigorously. I reverted after Ingrid gave me those I’m extremely annoyed with your very being eyes.

I checked the newly minted Apis timer under my status bar and saw another five minutes had passed. Which was enough silence for me. I thought back to the two boys from earlier, then decided they’d be a decent enough icebreaker.

“They’re good kids. Finn and Tinn.” Ingrid nodded her head, turning towards me for a moment. “Finn’s a good older brother. But I can't say their parents are the most inventive when it comes to names.”

She scoffed. “No they weren’t.”

That was past tense. Time to avoid that subject, then. Then I asked the burning question. “Are they Ferals?”

Ingrid’s head swiveled over to me. She shook it. “No, those two aren’t. Born and raised in Laurel.”

“Then why did Finn call me city folk like that?”

“Just because they’re city borne doesn’t mean they’re proud of it. Most of us aren’t.” She said dismissively, her attention returning to the cracks.

“Ah, I see.” I lied. Still had no clue about it. As I was about to ask some more, Ingrid stood up. I went to join her, but she pushed me back down.

Three guys walked into the already cramped shed. Each wearing hoods. One wielded a club and patted it in his hands. A sinking feeling dug into my stomach. “Dammit. I should have known better.” I got up, about to shift into Ursa form. When Ingrid stopped me, laying her hand on my shoulder.

“Stop, we are not going to hurt you. Garl, put that damned club away and wait outside, didn't you see the green flame?”

The man with the club grunted and stepped outside.

One of the other hooded men walked up to me and tried to put something on my face. I swatted it out of his hands and stood up. “Don’t know what’s happening, but I’ve seen plenty of horror films. Letting the cultists take you away is never a good play. Adios.”

Ingrid stepped in front of me. Her hands planted on my chest. “Just wait. Look I know it looks odd, but we can’t trust you. We can’t take you any further without relieving you of your senses. I’m already breaking more than a few rules taking you this far. We need to blindfold you for the rest of the trip. And Brutis here will carry you.” She patted on the largest man's arm.

I closed my eyes and thought about it. This Is stupid. I should not do this. I should not do this at all. But an incredible curiosity filled my entire being. I really wanted to see the whole picture of Kniyas. Not just the section that’s been far too conveniently cut out for me by Len and the others. And Mrs. Warbler still vouched for her, but she did also say she got mixed up with the wrong crowd. And these guys scream wrong crowd. Yet I’m not so defenseless either.

I opened my eyes again. “I’ll allow the blindfold. But no carrying and absolutely no ropes. I will walk on my own two feet. I’m out of here if not. And trust me, you won’t be able to stop me.” I bluffed.

Ingrid’s face twitched for a minute. She looked at the other two men. They shrugged.

“We…we can do that.”

I picked up the black cloth I swatted and handed it back to the man. He walked behind me and tied it.

The world went black, but I wasn’t afraid. Because if they so much as shoved me the wrong way, they would join me in the darkness and every single one of them will be given a very personal and, more importantly, bloody lesson.