The Mimic Becomes a Merchant King

Having spent most of the ducats Elijah had given him, Coin left Parsar's store carrying a canvas bag weighted with neatly stacked tins of preserved meat and fish. A weight that most normal humans would struggle, at least partially with. But Coin scarcely felt it on his forearms. Canned, preserved food was apparently something of a recent invention. Certainly, Coin couldn't recall seeing any adventurers eating tinned food in the past.

But as he left the store, he very nearly walked face first into a gorilla.

The towering ape loomed a few paces from the store's entryway, his knuckles braced against the cobblestones. Uncommonly, for an ape, he was clothed. His raven fur was starkly contrasted by a tailored white jerkin, a red cape resting over his right shoulder. His belt was covered by an assortment of pouches and pockets.

Despite having a physique that could tear a man in half like wet paper, he regarded Coin with an uncanny intelligence in his eyes, and bore the tranquillity of an undisturbed pool of water. This wasn't just some wild animal who had wandered onto the busy streets of Sentinel.

Coin stared at the ape in turn, blinking a few times as if expecting the creature to vanish the next time he opened his eyes. And while a few people also watched the gorilla in passing, it was only with mild intrigue. Apparently he was something of a common sight to the citizens of Sentinel, which somehow made the entire situation stranger to Coin.

"H-hello?" Coin eventually asked.

"You are... Master Coin, yes?" the gorilla asked, in a snorting voice that partially struggled to grasp human speech. His great face shifted as he spoke, displaying a look of curiosity.

"I... am," Coin hesitantly replied. Were it not for the weight resting in his arms, he would have thought he was dreaming. This was, after all, a creature unlike any he'd seen before in his entire life.

The gorilla nodded stiffly. "Jolly good. I am Merrick Vaust, a local wizard," he replied.

"You're..." he winced and recoiled a bit. "Not a human." Well, it wasn't like he was one to judge, but he could at least blend in.

Merrick narrowed his eyes. "I am aware." He raised a massive, leathery hand, motioning toward himself. "My... transmogrification, such as it is, came as a result of a duel with another wizard, leaving me with the countenance of a gorilla. Casus magici, to use the official term. But I came to quite enjoy the strength and agility that comes with this form. Thus, I have chosen to stay this way."

"I see," Coin replied, taking the most insane thing he'd ever heard in his life in stride. "Then, can I help you?"

"A cohort of mine, a witch known as Scylla, told me that an individual with impressive potential was coming to Sentinel. And so I was intrigued for a chance to see this potential for myself," Merrick explained.

Coin blinked in surprise, thinking back on the enigmatic yet kindly woman. "Oh, well, that's a surprise. But, yes, I know her. I guess wizards and witches keep in touch with each other?"

The gorilla shrugged his massive shoulders. "Some do. It is a matter of whom you are willing to tolerate." His gaze briefly darted to the bag clutched in Coin's arms. "I see you are busy. But would you perhaps be willing to give me a moment of your time, so that I may see your abilities for myself?" he asked.

"I suppose I can. As long as it's quick. We have a job we need to get started on," Coin replied. He looked from side to side. "Only... magic is kind of destructive. We might need somewhere more isolated if I'm really going to show off."

Merrick snorted and ambled around, moving about on his knuckles and feet. "Follow me," he instructed. And, as he did so, Coin couldn't help but notice the promethium rings that glittered on his hands and feet. One ring per limb.

He followed the gorilla to a vacant lot behind a set of stores, the walls marked by piles of refuse that had flies swarming about. Merrick halted, maintaining the same beastly posture. Coin set his supplies beside the ape. "Please," he said in a low voice. "Show me."

Coin nodded and raised his right hand. He had kept up his studies, improving his comprehension of Scylla's tome as his literacy grew more pronounced. There was still much he had yet to learn, but the fundamentals made more sense to him now.

A cyclone erupted around Coin's feet, swirling winds that flapped at the tails of his coat. Then, rather suddenly, coils of electricity strobed up the length of his splayed fingers. He focused firmly on his palm, clenching his jaw tight from the mounting exertion. A crackling ball of lightning blossomed to life in his hands, releasing a glow that dispelled the shadows on the edges of the back lot.

Magic, as the books described it, was regarded as a form of mental mathematics. It was a case of knowing the nature of the spell you were trying to form, and sculpting the dimensions of a spell in your mind's eye. As the act of channelling magic led to the mind and body passively becoming quicker, a talented wizard could sculpt rather complex spells in the blink of an eye.

Exhaling, Coin let the balled lightning float from his hand. Then, with a thought, he let it orbit around his waist, the speed of its movements gradually growing faster.

The sight made Merrick grin, his upper lip curling like a flap to reveal rows of sharp, yellow teeth. "Fascinating. Scylla spoke true. You have the skills like a novice, at least, but the power I can sense radiating through your body... it's like that of a seasoned master," the ape said. "You're a rare breed."

"I suppose I am," Coin replied, his brow knit. He released his hold on the crackling sphere, which burst like a water balloon and sprayed a slew of sparks onto the cobbles. "But learning it solo is long and hard."

"Aye? And do you need a master, perhaps?" Merrick replied, tilting his head to the side.

"I already have one. More interested in being a merchant than a wizard, honestly," he replied in a low voice. "But I'm grateful for the concern."

Merrick gave him a firm nod. "Very well. I shall not force you. But I must still firmly insist that you continue to practice your grasp of magic. Until you can control it as easily as you control your own breathing." As he spoke, he took a scroll from his belt. A gust of wind danced on his palm, lifting it and carrying it toward Coin's grasp.

He examined it, and found an assortment of figures and lines of text elegantly displayed on the parchment. Basic spells of storm magic, accompanied by detailed illustrations of humanoid figures performing the described motions. Powerful gusts of wind that could shred stones into powder, bubbles of air pressure to ward off projectiles, rolling waves of crushing thunder that could be thrown from the palm...

And, at the very bottom of the scroll, sat instructions for a set of meditation instructions to sharpen the mind and emphasize mental, emotional control. A core tenet of wizardry, according to the listed instructions.

"Why give me this?" Coin asked, raising a brow.

Merrick rose to his full height, with a posture that looked uncanny on the stooping, sloping frame of a gorilla. He clasped his massive hands behind his back. "Control is a necessity for every wizard. The power will never leave you if you are born with it, and you must live with it. As such, the risk of losing control of yourself is never zero."

Coin slowly nodded. He didn't need to think to hard to imagine how devastating wild magic could be. A wizard under intense emotional turmoil, lashing out with their own magic... the destruction would be like a maelstrom in human form. "I'll keep that in mind," he said. Much of his focus was on becoming a merchant, naturally, but he still wanted to be capable and responsible when it came to using his magic.

The towering ape wizard went on, gesturing as he spoke. "We wizards can be a... competitive people. My condition is a testament to that fact. Yet when we are faced by an external threat, we will often face forward as a united front. We survive together, we hang together," he explained, gesturing skyward with one massive hand. "And layfolk often find reasons to fear us, given what we are capable of. Especially if young novices end up losing control of their power, and wreaking havoc as a result."

"Ah. I see," Coin said, inspecting the scroll again. His gaze flicked above the top of the paper, meeting Merrick's own. "And because of my 'potential', the risk of that is higher?"

Merrick nodded. "Very much so. You seem a... reasonable lad. Certainly, I know many fools who have used magic as an excuse to commit horrid acts. Good to know you're not like that," he remarked. "So, fortunately, there is no current need to be strict with you. But know that the powers that be tend to be rather quick to notice magic being mistreated."

He raised his left hand and, with a thought, summoned a ball of lightning nearly twice as large as Coin's. The mimic stared with widening eyes. Then, just as easily, he clenched his fist and willed the flickering sphere of energy away. "Magic is not a toy. |It is a tool, one that can cause great havoc and destruction if mishandled. Treat it with respect, for all of our sakes."

Coin watched the gorilla lower to his haunches, before he knuckled away with surprising grace. Alone, he took another moment to inspect the scroll he'd been gifted, before tucking it into one of the inner pockets of his coat.

Sentinel really was a strange place...

The mimic made for big bag of supplies and hoisted it back into his arms. "Better get back to Elijah and Essine, before they leave without me." He couldn't wait to see the look on Elijah's face when he told him all about meeting a talking gorilla!