My dreams were pretty peaceful this time. A few memories of some family camping trips, not the kind Gramps took me on. The more normal family affair. I was sitting by a fire with my younger siblings, Gabby and Tim. They were twins. They were 3 years my younger and even if they were annoying most of the time; I loved them all the same. This trip happened when they were about seven I think. I was showing them how to make s’mores, well roasting the marshmallows at least. Gabby picked it up pretty quick, as she did with most things, making the most perfect golden brown marshmallow. Tim did not. He was playing with his molten glob of sugar and threatened to fling it at me and Gabby. I told him to stop and Gabby ran behind me in faux fear. Tim lifted the stick in the air just a bit too quick and the flaming sugar landed right on my exposed foot. Damn it was hot. Like really hot. Like my foot actually felt like it was burning.

 

My eyes shot open and I looked at my feet. Yep, burning. I jumped up and booked it for the river. Putting the flames out in the still stupid cold water, I sighed in relief. I looked behind me and saw Len curled over doing his best not to laugh. Tutor started chuckling in my head again.

“God, I love the old guy. Can we keep him?” She said through her laughs.

“That’s the goal.” I whispered. Even if I already had told Len about Tutor, I was still self-conscious about him seeing me talk to myself.

I pulled feet out of the river and saw there was no actual damage to them. Just another prank from Len. He got up from his poor attempt at concealed laughter and spoke.

“Okay. Let the questions commence. Fire away.”

I found myself at a bit of a loss. There were a thousand questions I wanted to ask, but I wasn’t sure where to even start. But I guess there was something that bothered me more than anything else since I got here.

“Where is all the wildlife?”

“Pardon?”

“You know animals, birds, anything other than squirrels and that one bear. Or ursa I guess.”

“Oh right. The low tiers.”

“What do you mean low tiers?” I asked.

“One at a time. We’ll get there. Your quiet trip through the forest is thanks to that, oh how did you put it? Big scary thunder bird. Very eloquent.”

I rolled my eyes.

”When a high tier monster the likes of that roc comes through, most of the weaker creatures hightail it out of there. Well, except for the squirrels. They’re real territorial bastards. A battle between two neighboring squirrels always ends in death. Brutal creatures. But enough about them. The low tier monsters that don't leave in time usually end up as food. It normally takes them about a week or two to get the courage to come back to the area.”

“Then why did the Roc leave if this is its hunting ground?.” I asked.

Len shook his head at my question. “Nah this isn’t its home. Most Rocs live in the mountains surrounding Dendrun or Tiamantis. It probably came around here after a unsuccessful confrontation with another beast. Came here to recover.”

“You’re telling me that was the bird at its weakest?”

“That's the only reason I was tracking it by myself. I wouldn't've had a chance if it was at full strength. It would take at least three of me.”

“You were hunting that thing?” I exclaimed.

“Not really hunting, more keeping tabs on it. Making sure it didn’t get too close to Laurelhaven. Even weakened, that thing would tear up Laurel.” He answered.

“Laurelhaven. That's the town that’s close by right?”

“Yep and my current abode.”

“Then what about the woods, what are they called? Scratch that. What is this world, or country or whatever? Could you give me a rundown on how this world is set up?”

“You really don’t know anything huh kid.”

“Wasn’t lying.” I assured him.

“We’ll see. Main reason for the questions.” Len said. Which puzzled me. I wasn't the one getting grilled. He was. But he continued on.

“We are in The Forest. Capital F. I know, not the fanciest of names but we keep things simple here and it's the only forest this size in Kniyas. That's what this, as you say, world is called.”

He bent down and pointed at the ground. A thin line of fire flowed from his fingertip and scorched the ground. He used the line of flame to draw a charcoal colored rectangle. He then scorched four more lines into the rectangle, dividing it into five sections. Keeping his finger lit he began speaking.

“This is how Kniyas is laid out. At the top you have the Spires. Snowy mountainous region home to Tiamantis, my hometown.” He burned a dot into the ground slightly left of center in the section.

“Tiamantis is known as a Splice Capital. Each of the regions have a capital where the majority of its people live.”

“Are there any other cities of note in the region?” I asked.

“No, some the regions shy away from having extra villages. You might find a few of these settlements here and there, but that only when someone finds a truly valuable resource worth protecting. Even then they're never permanent. Monsters get stronger and bolder the farther away from a capital you get."

He pointed at the next section with his fire pen. "Next is The Hills, home to Dendrun, mostly dwarves there.”

It shocked me to hear him mention other races. The idea of other races didn’t feel real to me. Terrence told me I could change races when I was building my character. If you can even call it that, not like I got a lot of choices. Name and race. Worst character creation ever.

“Are there gnomes there?”

He looked at me with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

“So you do know something about this world.”

“It was a choice I could have made before I got here. Changing my race. Terrence told me it wouldn’t be smart to change races considering how dangerous the world is. He said I would have plenty to learn and the specifics of a new body didn’t need to be among them.”

“Good advice, that. And yes there are gnomes there. Stingy little bastards too. Can’t count how much coin I’ve lost to those guys.” He commented, having the same venom as Terrence when discussing gnomes. What's everyone’s problem with gnomes?

“Moving on.“ He pointed at the middle section.

“This is where we are right now. The Forest which has Laurelhaven, but you already know that. Biggest population of elves here. Good amount of humans too. Which means you can probably guess the next race easily.”

I thought for a second then felt dumb I didn’t get it right away.

“Half-elves.”

He put his still lit finger on his nose. He sneezed, I laughed. After snickering for a moment, he pointed to the penultimate section.

“Next we have The Desert; its capital is Vulug Town. Mostly orc territory out there. Mean bunch but a hardy breed to be certain. Desert living and all that. And lastly we have The Beach. Housing Kailis, biggest Splice capital on Kniyas. It’s more of a hodgepodge of the races. Little bit of everything. It's located on the coast. And that is a basic rundown of our little world here.”

“How many people live in these Splice Capitals? Also why are they called that and not just capitals?”

“Laurel has I’d say around 150,000 give or take some. It's the middle of the bunch. Tiamantis only ever has around 50,000. Real rough and tumble monsters up there. It gets hard to defend from the attacks if the place gets crowded. Vulug is much the same. First Ones know how many are in Dendrun or Kailis. But if I’m just spitballing maybe 200,000 each. Probably more. The smaller races tend to make the counting hard on account of their size.”

I mulled over what he was saying. Such a small population count here. Roughly half a million. Smaller than most countries back on Earth. Kniyas can’t be very big if that’s true. But just as I was going to ask him about the size of Kniyas, Len stood up and stretched.

“Alright enough of the questions.”

“But.” I stammered. I still had plenty of questions for him. He just shook his head and continued talking.

“There will be time for all of that later. I can’t sit around all day. Need to move, get the blood flowing. Plus, we need to get a better grip on your gene. It seems interesting to say the least. Let’s start with what you know.”

I gave him a rundown about what I learned about my powers while we broke down our meager camp. How the powers were split between two types of mimicry, objects and creatures. How I could change into objects at will and stay as the object for as long as I wanted.

“Why didn’t you sleep in a form from the start? Sleep as a log instead of sleeping in the tree. Which, by the way, was a terrible idea.”

“I tried a few times but I always woke up in my base form. Also, why was sleeping up there a bad plan? Just because of the roc in the area?”

“No, because of them.”

Len pointed to the trees. I looked up but didn’t see anything.

“I don’t see…” But as I really focused my gaze into the branches, one branch shook. A strange monkey with small black eyes was hanging upside down from the tree by its tail. It had dark brown fur with a white face. Its tail seemed much too long for its body. The monkey its self was maybe two and a half feet, while its tail must have been 4 feet long. It didn’t move while it stared at us. He didn’t seem all that harmful, just a small monkey.

“Jackanapes.” Len said while pointing up at the tree. “I know what you are probably thinking. He looks pretty weak. I can’t imagine he would do anything to me. And sure if he is by himself then yeah, he is just a tier 2 monster. But.”

Len started moving his hands around and flames formed around his wrists. He clapped his hands together. The evergreen tree the jackanape was sitting in lit up like a Christmas tree. Flames sitting at the edge of each branch. The light from the flames revealed small brown fur bodies clinging to the branches. The bodies moved almost in unison as dozens of jackanapes rose from their slumber.

Once they saw the flames on their tree they began to make weird hooping and humming sounds. The noise almost had a rhythm to it and bore into my head, causing another unbelievable headache. The pain wasn’t as great as the exhaustion one was but this one caused the world to spin around me. My knees hit the ground as I clung to my head. Len twisted his hands and the flames grew even larger. The jackanapes saw this and began fleeing the tree they were on. Hopping from branch to branch until finally they were far enough away that the sounds died out, along with my headache.

“In a group like that they turn into a tier 4. And they really don’t like to share. They weren’t around when the roc was here. You got lucky. They would have torn you to shreds for sleeping in their domain.”

“What did they do that messed with my head?” I said as I picked myself off the ground.

“That would be their Tortured Song ability. Confuses those around who don’t have the proper resistances against it.”

“What are the proper resistances?”

He pulled two cotton balls out of his ears and answered, “These.”

He chuckled as I swiped the makeshift earplugs from him.

“Couldn't you have given me those before your little show? How long did you know they were up there?”

“I have found experience to be the best teacher. And they started watching us last night. They don’t leave the comfort of their trees much so I knew they wouldn’t bother us. Besides, we need one of them.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

As I asked, Len waved his hand and a ball of fire moved towards us. As it got closer, I saw that inside the fire was a lone jackanape freaking the hell out. What can't this old guy do with his fire?

“So what's the plan with this one?” I asked.

“His job is to help you explain the other half of your powers. Your creature mimicry. The object mimicry makes sense. It's a basic enough concept; you turn into inanimate objects. It's the creature side of things where it seems your powers become quite complex. And I think a live demonstration would be helpful. So that’s where Reginald here comes into play. I want you to mimic him.”

“Sure that's fine but..." I scratched my head, "Reginald, really?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

He put Reginald down and I mimicked the poor monkey.

 

The familiar skin burning sensation was becoming more tolerable the more I used this power. Some patches of fur sprouted on my body much like when I use Ursa form. But this time the fur wasn’t as thick and matched the deep brown color of the jackanape’s body opposed to the black bear fur. There was a new sensation that came along with this that originated from my lower back. It wasn’t painful or anything but just felt weird. Probably nothing. Not like I have used this power enough to tell the difference between forms.

I just got Gremlin the other night and only used it one time. My face felt funny too. Upon inspection I found that I had grown hair around my face. But oddly enough, according to Len it didn’t match the Jackanapes’ white fur they had around their faces. My body didn’t seem to change in size either. Once it was complete, I got the same notification as the others.

 

[Mimic Entry “APIS” Recorded]

[Proficiency Level 1]

 

APIS - Proficiency Level: 1

Type: Beast

Timer: 1 hour

Stat Changes:

STR + 1

DEX + 2

AGI + 3

CON - 2

INT + 2

WIS - 2

CHR - 2

 

Abilities:

Ignorant Ears:

Ignore the effects of sound-based abilities.

Learned Behavior:

Unlocked at higher proficiency.

“Hmmm strange.” I said.

“What is, aside from the whole transformation thing?” Len asked while walking around me.

I pointed at the flame caged monkey.

“You said Reginald was called a Jackanape, right?”

“Yep, that’s what they are called.”

“Well the entry is called Apis not Jackanape. Could you be wrong about Reginald?”

“Nope, I know my monsters. And Reggie here is most certainly a jackanape.”

“Fair enough. Then do you know what an Apis is?”

Len pondered for a moment, hitting his classic thinking pose.

“Well that explains part of your splice.”

“How so?”

“First, what is your bear form called according to the sheet?”

“Ursa, I’m pretty sure I told you that. I got it when I ran into that Ursa down by the river. I assume you saw it yourself. You know the whole following-me bit.”

“Yes, but what you ran into was not an Ursa. It’s known as a Beruang. A tier 5 monster that usually lives in a pack.”

“Where was its pack? Did they leave when the roc came through?” I asked.

“Dead. All of them. Eaten by our thunder bird. Found their remains the day before your run in with the roc. Nasty scene.”

“Damn how many were there?”

“Beruang packs typically range from 30 to 50. But this one was turning raid-sized from the looks of it, so about 80.”

“What do you mean raid-sized?”

“Ehh ignore that for now. All that matters is that the pack won’t be a problem. So back to what I was saying about your gene. Seems to me you don’t quite mimic the creature itself, but rather...”

While he began giving his boring theory, my mind wandered. I crossed my arms and scratched my head with my tail. Wait. What?

 

I turned and jumped when I saw the furry tail.

“Holy shit, I have a tail!” I exclaimed.

“Just noticed?” Tutor chimed in.

Ignoring the rest of Len’s sleep-inducing explanations I started examining my new appendage. It was about five feet long and shared the brown fur that had grown on my body.

Len, seeing that he no longer had my attention, pulled out a fresh piece of wheat from that mysterious somewhere and put it in his mouth. The end ignited immediately.

I spent the next 30 odd minutes experimenting and testing the capabilities of my tail. Ah who am I kidding. I was playing. My mind transported back in time, to my younger years. When your imagination was all you needed to have a good time. I recalled the time I made up a game with my siblings we called Monkey King. We were staying at my uncle’s house for the weekend and we all watched some cheesy kung fu movies.

One of them starred Son Goku, the monkey king from legend. I spent the afternoon ordering Tim and Gabby around as Son Goku. Okay so maybe we didn't make the game up together and it was just me terrorizing them. Don’t care. Suffice to say, I had some ideas of what to do with a tail.

I was picking up sticks, rocks, whatever I could get my tail around. Even Reginald wasn’t safe. Len must have set him free at some point. I picked him up and threw him into the tree branches. He hissed and ran away. I climbed up after him but then remembered the one monkey that swung from the branch by his tail. I wrapped my tail around the branch I was on and swung.

As I swung there, I started laughing. It was awesome until the branch snapped and I fell a good 15 feet. But the tail seemed to add an improved sense of balance and I twisted in the air and landed perfectly fine on my feet. No tumbling this time.

I looked over to where Len was sitting. He had this unreadable expression on his face. I started feeling guilty; he was giving some much needed insight on my powers and I went out and played with my tail. With my tail literally between my legs I walked back over to him, turning off the form in the process. The cooldown timer for it was an hour like Ursa form’s.

“Sorry about that.” I said sheepishly.

He still had that weird expression while he puffed on his wheat. His eyes focused when I spoke. He looked over at me and shrugged.

“Not my first run in with Apis types.”

“What do you mean?”

“Going back to what I was saying before your… distraction. I want you to try to mimic me.” Len said, completely ignoring my question.

“Really?” I responded, deciding it was probably best to go along with it.

“Yep, let's see what happens.”

I turned my sights to him and turned the power on. A notification popped up.

 

[NOT A MONSTER]

 

Bummer. His powers were awesome.

“Nope. Says you're not a monster.” I told him.

“My ex-wives would disagree.”

I chuckled. “What? Do women not fall head over heels for the brooding-old-man-in-the-woods type?”

He smiled. “Can’t say it helps, sadly. But I had a feeling that would be the case. Looks like your powers are meant for monsters and monsters only.”

He rose from his seat under the previous home of the jackanapes. A few grunts here and there.

“Oh by the way what were you saying before I, you know…” I asked, “trailed off?”

“Eh, I've decided it's probably best to wait for that explanation when we get to the city. I’m not a gene specialist so I wouldn’t do it justice. I have someone in mind for that particular talk. Don’t worry they will have plenty of answers as well as questions for you too.”

I got excited at the prospect of going to the city. “Are we going to head to the city now?” I asked.

“First Ones above, no not at all. You’re still level one. I can only imagine the headaches that would come from bringing you to the guards. An inspection of your character sheet is mandatory for anyone entering the city for the first time. And a level one outside of the city raises more than a few red flags. Especially at your age. It would probably warrant a visit from her.”

“Who?”

“Someone I’d rather avoid for the time being.”

“So then what's the plan?”

A wicked smile grew across Len’s face.

“It’s time to grind.”