It would be lying to call the room a typical dungeon room. Sure the walls were that strange grey stone brick that didn't make any sense; and there was a massive treasure chest that no sane person would ever make to one side. But instead of guttering torches sending dark shadows everywhere, magical lights softly filled the room with a mix of light and dark. The floor was neatly swept, the debris moved to the sides, and the bookshelves were well dusted. In fact one of the shelves was even filled with books!

Which is why the two adventurers that walked into the room really should have realized it was a trap.

The duo was a warrior healer pair, and obviously very new. The warrior was a human man in generic 'newbie' armor. The stuff that the guild deliberately discounted so that people wouldn't go into dungeons in their work clothes. At least he had been bright enough to get a good sword and shield, as well as backup weapons.

Meanwhile the healer was likely a half elf. Elves were consistently lean, so only a woman with human blood could get anything like a chubby figure. She had a spare knife along with her staff, and she'd cut her robes to make it easy to run. A good move.

Still this was obviously their first dungeon delve, since they headed straight for the chest. No one with any experience would even bother with a treasure chest without a trained lockpicker.

The woman threw out a quick spell, then stood by while the man pulled out a cheap pair of lockpicks. "There's no magic, but are you sure that's a good idea? What if there are non magic traps?"

"I've got good gloves, and you can cure any low level poison gas. We should be fine." The man turned to the lock and began to prod at it in a display that was certain to frustrate anyone who knew anything about locks. After all this chest wasn't trapped, but the 'lock' was just a hole without any real tumblers.

As the man continued his futile task the woman looked around cautiously. It was again a smart move, but just not enough. Because while she was checking the doorway leading further into the dungeon, the trap sprung.

The bottom two rows of books shifted as one to a rough grey skin, then poured out, rapidly taking the appearance of a box with a halfling woman's torso poking out the top. In a single fluid motion the grinning mimic unleashed its crimson missile right at the man's head. "Gotcha!"

The woman yelped and interposed her staff, while the man quickly rose. To his credit he managed to both draw his blade and hit the projectile. But that didn't matter. His fate was sealed.

After all, cutting a pouch filled with tomato juice just increased the splash radius.

"Ack!"

The man staggered back, stumbling as he tripped on the chest. His companion managed to keep him from taking a spill, but it was still hilarious. The mimic girl laughed at their utter surprise. Finally she gathered herself and gave a quick clap. "Reflexes aren't bad, but next time use your shield! 63 points."

"You're too nice, Shiina." A halfling woman stepped out of the shadows. It was clear the mimic was trying to emulate her body, but still had a ways to go to get everything right. "I'd say they deserve a 52."

"Eh. It's a pass either way, Mali." Shiina waved to the two confused adventurers. "Come on now. You do remember there was a test to progress to the second level right?"

The warrior looked confused. "I thought that would be a battle test."

Mali folded her arms. "We already know your combat powers when we scanned you. Both of you are level 13. But 80% of new adventurer deaths come from ambushes and traps. The monsters won't fight fair. If you want stand up fights go become a gladiator or something."

"What were we supposed to do here?" the healer asked. "Mimics, um, Shiina is a master at hiding. And she's level 16! Her skills have to be better than ours."

"The books are the clue." Mali pointed. "There haven't been books on any of the shelves before here, right?"

"Ah." The two looked properly chagrined.

Shiina smirked. "You should have probably also noticed that the chest doesn't open. The lock's a fake too."

"Damn." The warrior looked embarrassed as he wiped off the tomato juice.

"Still I didn't completely surprise you. And you were keeping an eye out. You should probably get more members though. You people can only look in one direction."

"People don't want to pair up with new adventurers until they've gotten through this dungeon," the healer said with a sigh.

Mali groaned. "Oh is that nonsense starting up again? Like the other kids around here have any reason to act so smug. All the dungeons here are training grounds." She shrugged. "Well this dungeon should be fine for you two. Let's see, Samuel and Deliliah." The halfling pulled out a paper and scribbled down the name. "You'll complete the course when you bring the tokens from the boss room back to the guild house. Take care and retreat if you need to. The second level isn't swept constantly so we can't guarantee what you'll face down there."

"Thank you ma'am!" The duo bowed and headed out the door, further into the dungeon. Shiina smiled as she heard them discussing how to avoid further traps as they left.

"Well, that's another job done!" The mimic held out a hand. "What's the reward this time?"

Mali's stern gaze faded. "I brought lunch for both of us today! Meat and fruit pies from the bakery, and a pear cider. Got them fresh before I wandered in." She pulled a blanket out of a pouch and started setting up a picnic site.

"Sweet!" Shiina pulled herself out of her hiding place and joined the halfling. "Those are the best. I wish I could get deliveries in here. Maybe you could send some of the newbies in here with food?"

"They'd probably eat it before they got to you," Mali replied with a grin. "Especially these. Anyway I'm hungry. Let's get started."

Mali finished portioning out the food and started nibbling on her meat pie while Shiina picked up her own. "Ooh!" The mimic's eyes widened unnaturally. "Is that cinnamon?!"

"Yep!" the halfling replied, politely ignoring the drool that hit the cloth and started to sizzle. "One of the traveling merchants had a jar. Though still I don't know how you can stand tasting everything you touch."

"I don't understand how you can stand seeing with two eyes all the time," Shiina retorted before taking a bite. The mimic made a quick approximation of chewing before swallowing the chunk. "If I do that 'binocular vision' thing too long it gives me a headache."

"Guess we all have our own problems." The halfling shrugged. "So why'd you yell out before tossing the balloon at them? You'd have probably pegged him right in the head if you'd kept quiet."

Shiina blinked. "But then I'd only get to surprise them once. With this they get all shocked and panicky and then bam~! And then they stand around being surprised that they weren't in any real danger. If I just hit them with the juice it'd be 'what's happening, oh it's a prank.'"

"Mimics." The halfling shook her head. "Well you're still helping me out a bunch so it's fine. It's way better to have someone I know won't kill the new kids instead of having to scout the monsters that form every time we test."

"It's more fun for me too," Shiina said, taking another large bite. "I can't imagine people tasting better than this. And I don't wanna get killed."

The two chatted a bit more about the food's quality as they polished off the meal. Finally as they were drinking the last of the cider, Shiina asked, "Hey, how do dungeons become 'tame' like this one?"

The halfling woman looked surprised. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I guess, I kinda wanted to know how I became me." The mimic girl looked her friend in the eye. "You probably wouldn't have chatted with a mimic in a dangerous dungeon. Much less spent all the time to teach me how to read and stuff."

"Hm, I might have spoken to you if I was in a low level dungeon. After all, I'm level 21, and you were what, 11 when we met?" Mali shook her head. "But after that... well it's hard to say. I've never met a mimic who was as cute as you before, after all."

Shiina snickered. "Narcissist."

The halfling grinned, then rummaged around in her bag for a thick tome. "Well I suppose you do deserve to know more about dungeons. I'll leave you a book so you can study the details later, but I can cover the simple stuff.

"First what you already know," Mali held up a finger and Shiina nodded to show she was paying attention. "Dungeons are formed in areas where the boundary between our world and alternate dimensions has been damaged. The mixing of otherworld energies and our world's mana creates the dungeon and causes monsters and treasures to form. The type of damage determines the dungeon type. This one's from a wizard who wanted a secret lab for his experiments which is why it's nicer than most."

"And why the monsters are so varied," Shiina said.

Mali nodded. "Yep! Anyway when the dungeon master is killed the wound between realities scabs over, but it's still a weak boundary. Which means the dungeon still exists, and monsters and treasures will still form. But they'll be weaker than before. And the dungeon won't spread."

"Huh. But why do people leave the dungeons open then? Seems like you'd spend a lot of time working to keep the area safe." Shiina leaned on her chest rim, her arms sinking into the frame.

"The treasures," Mali said. "Dungeons are the only place in the world where you can get materials like mithril, nightcrystal, and ironwood. And then there's all the stuff that's a huge pain to find in bulk, like gold and gems." The halfling motioned to the west. "This dungeon is only good for training kids, but the Blue Spike caves gives the village enough steel from all the swords that form inside that there's two trading companies that export metal to Highspire."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Shiina hummed considering what she learned. "And what keeps someone from breaking open the scab and making the dungeon 'wild' again."

"Short term? Nothing," the halfling's smile turned vicious. "But anyone who does that gets the Arbiters after them. And that's a death sentence."

"Ooooh? The Arbiters? Who are they?" Shiina

"No one knows," Mali put on her scary story voice. "They say that anyone could be an arbiter. Adventurers hidden all over the world, working for a secret cabal of wizards who keep dungeons in check. Anyone who violates their rules ends up dead."

The mimic's form rippled in a shiver. "So cool!"

"Well, I'm sure most of them are just paper pusher types," the halfling said with a laugh. "Still though, people take that stuff seriously."

There was a chime, and Mali groaned. "Ugh, speaking of paperwork, I gotta get back to mine."

"Good luck!" Shiina shimmied up and gave her friend a big hug, which the halfling returned. "And thanks for the book!"

"Just the book?" Mali asked as she packed up. "What about the food?"

The mimic waggled a finger. "That was payment for services rendered!"

"I knew giving you a book on trade was a mistake." With a wave the halfling headed out.

Shiina stretched her body about double its normal length, then shifted back into her cubbyhole, book in tow.

The next hour was stillness, interrupted only by the occasional page flip. For a mimic sitting and waiting for days wasn't uncommon, so boredom wasn't a concern. Shiina had spent weeks just lurking in this room before, and eating the occasional rat.

This time however her wait was interrupted by stumbling footsteps from deeper in the dungeon. She pulled the book inside her and filled the rest of the shelves with a fake book imitation.

It was the half elf healer that staggered into the room. "Help!" The woman managed to call out before crashing to the ground. Two arrows were lodged into her back. She tried to push herself up, but she only managed to get to her knees.

Seeing someone in danger overrode Shiina's innate instinct to hide. She pulled herself out of her resting place and tumbled over next to the woman. "Whoa, what happened down there?!"

The half elf tried to speak, but all she managed was a choking gasp. The mad dash must have exhausted her. Shiina figured the arrows probably weren't helping and moved to check on them. The two were small sharp heads, designed to pierce armor. That meant no barbs, so the mimic pulled them out.

Immediately she wondered if she'd messed up because more blood started exiting. "Uh, sorry." She placed her hands over the wounds and let her adhesive slime leak out. That should probably help right?

Sure enough in a bit the woman managed to catch her breath. She pulled out a cheap potion from her belt and drank it, before looking at Shiina. "There's an army of skeletons down there!"

"What?" Shiina blinked. There shouldn't be any undead in this dungeon. She'd only seen a zombie once, when someone brought one in as a meat shield.

The rapid clatter of bones on stone caused her to look up. Well apparently there were skeletons now. The half elf, Delilah she finally remembered, turned pale. Apparently she wasn't up for running yet.

Fortunately while Shiina wasn't exactly fast, she was quick witted. She wrapped Delilah up with one arm, and flung her other arm towards the top of one of the broken pillars. With a jump and a pull she launched them both up next to the ceiling.

And then in a second she shifted around the woman, creating a facade that perfectly matched the pillar below. To any observer it looked like it was a single piece.

Moments later ten skeletons clattered into the room. Eight kept charging on, while two lingered, their skulls peering about. Shiina had no idea if they actually saw out of their eye sockets, but if so she'd chosen wisely moving up. While the undead found her cubbyhole and several other hiding spots, none of them spared a glance at the ceiling.

Delilah shifted uncomfortably, so Shiina very carefully opened up a 'crack' in the 'pillar.' Now the woman could see what was going on. It'd probably also help her breathe. That was important for humanoids.

Almost instantly they both regretted it. The freshly reanimated corpse of Samuel staggered in, followed by a human in black robes with a skeleton honor guard. The pale man's shaved head had tattoos on it that Shiina didn't recognize. Delilah gave a soft whimper at seeing her partner's body, but fortunately no one else heard the tiny sound.

Shiina focused on the fresh zombie. It looked like he'd fought a number of skeletons, but from the number of wounds he'd been overwhelmed. Something not surprising for a level 13 warrior. The skeletons were armed and in some cases armored, the runes that had animated them covering most of their skulls and a good chunk of their femurs. They had to be at least level 9. Even a battle mage would have been overwhelmed.

That meant there were no clues as to how powerful the necromancer was though. Delilah might be able to use Scan magic, but Shiina couldn't whisper while she was pretending to be a pillar. So all she could do was watch and wait.

Fortunately the man was a monologuer. "Where did that little bitch go? The blood trail stops here, but I doubt the mimic ate her." He turned to the zombie. "Well? Start searching! If you kill her I might let your soul rest when your flesh finishes rotting."

Shiina seethed as the zombie began tearing the room apart, throwing her books on the floor and generally making a mess. She wanted to reach out and smash his head, but that wouldn't work with the necromancer there.

Inside Delilah was wiping away her tears and had patched up her wounds with something better than mimic adhesive. Shiina wished she could offer the woman more help, or at least strategize with her, but right now they were both stuck. There was nothing to do but wait.

And as any good mimic would, Shiina waited.

The necromancer paced as his minions tore up the room. "If the girl did escape then the guild will be here quickly. I'll have to use my trump cards early, then stall with my minions until the dungeon accepts me completely. Yes, clearing out the other dungeon rooms is vital so my own monsters can spawn." Shiina set that aside to tell Mali when this idiot stopped wasting time here and left.

Sadly he was determined. Delilah was squirming uncomfortably to keep her circulation going. And Shiina was biting down her urge to just burst out of hiding purely for the surprise factor.

A clatter of bones drew everyone's attention to the hallway that came from the dungeon entrance. With unnatural grace two skeletons dragged in a familiar halfing. Shiina froze as she focused all attention towards her friend.

Mali had obviously taken some hits, but none of them looked too deadly. She'd probably been overwhelmed as well in the small corridors, but her extra experience kept her from being killed. Unfortunately as a rogue, undead were a terrible matchup.

Still it didn't make sense. Level 21 was almost ten times stronger than level 13. Either these skeletons were much stronger then the ones that had attacked Samuel down there, or something was up.

Shiina peered closer and saw that Mali wasn't quite as helpless as she looked. Her 'broken' arm was close to one of her nastier magic daggers, and her eyes were sizing up the necromancer, looking for weakness.

As an ambush predator herself, Shiina could tell her friend was just waiting for a moment to strike.

"So, you're the flunky they have keeping tabs on this dungeon?" the necromancer said. "It must be embarrassing having it stolen out from under your nose."

"Almost as embarrassing as having to take over a training dungeon." Mali sneered. "Why didn't you go for one of the novice dungeons? Giant spiders too scary for you?"

The man chuckled. "Oh this isn't something I'm planning to keep. Just a stepping stone. But I'm afraid I'm not quite dumb enough to tell you my plans just because you're at my mercy. No, I'm planning for you to give me information."

"About what? The guild that'll be here to kill you in another hour?" Mali gave a weak shrug. "Sure, ask away. Won't change anything."

"I was more planning to ask you about the Arbiters," the man said.

Mali laughed. "Well good luck there. Despite the rumors, the guild doesn't actually have any connection to the Arbiters. At least not any connection someone like me would know."

"Hm, I figured you were the local spy. That stupid boy running the place isn't bright enough to keep things a secret." He shrugged. "Well as my old master always said, 'kill people first and ask questions later.'"

It all happened in a flash. The man raised his hand, and Mali was already out of the skeleton's grip. Her dagger was lined up, and she started the weaving run that would close the distance. Then the man snapped his fingers. "Triggered Corpse Bomb."

The skeletons Mali had escaped detonated.

Stars danced in Shiina's brain as it tried to handle the dazzling light. As the haze in her vision slowly lifted the forms began to get back into focus. The man, smirking wickedly. The remaining undead, standing silently. And Mali's still body, lying on the floor in a pool of blood.

Mali, the first person she'd met. The person who'd treated her as a friend, who raised her as a daughter. The one who Shiina owed nearly everything to.... And now she was just a corpse on the ground.

It was only her instincts that kept her from screaming in fury. From quivering in rage and sorrow. How dare he? How dare that human take something that was hers?!

Blind to the hatred of his observers the man sighed. "Well now, that was dangerous wasn't it. Tried to Assassinate me. But I'm wise to those tricks." He looked to his minions. "Now go guard this room. I can't be disturbed while I'm performing the interrogation ritual."

The undead shuffled out of the room as the man started drawing a circle with chalk. He was unprotected, Shiina thought. Obviously he was higher level than her. Twenty, maybe even thirty something. But he was just a human. Alone. In her dungeon.

But she also had to warn the woman she was protecting. How to do that? She couldn't use sound, and with the woman looking out into the room vision was out. So it would have to be touch.

She carefully placed four fingers on Deliliah's shoulders. The half elf twitched in surprise, but seemed to calm quickly. Shiina hoped the woman would understand what was happening, as she slowly removed one finger at a time. Counting down, three... two... one....

And then she leaped.

Abandoning the disguise was easy. The harder part was keeping on target as she shifted to her preferred form. Fortunately the man was engrossed in the floor, drawing his circles. He didn't notice her fall until she hit.

The impact from the ground wasn't as heavy as she would have liked. The man screamed nicely, but she didn't feel a single rib break. Must be her amorphous body. Shiina made up for that by slamming his face into the ground with a tentacle arm. That gave a nice crack as teeth chipped. She let her other arm wrap around his neck and face, tasting his seat and surprise as she started to squeeze.

The man flailed about at the sudden assault. He couldn't chant any spells, and his strength wasn't all that impressive it seemed. Shiina slammed his face into the stone again just because she could. He twitched, stunned for a moment.

Then he twisted his entire body. Surprised, Shiina found herself tumbling off the man. Her arms were still glued to his mouth and face, but he could move his arms now, and he grabbed a wand off his belt. Shiina tightened her grip and hoped that he'd pass out before being able to use the weapon.

With a crunch Delilah fell on the man. The wand scattered away, as the half elf screamed in pain from the impact. Both of them probably had broken bones now. But Delilah was on top. And she didn't have a mimic choking the life out of her. What she did have was a knife.

The stabbing was erratic. Terrible form. Delilah cut herself once or twice from how poorly she was doing it. But she definitely hit the lungs and probably the heart as well. Repeatedly.

Shiina let the woman continue even after the necromancer let out the last savory gasp of his life. It was only after she snapped the body's neck that she decided to speak up. "He's dead."

Delilah stopped, letting the knife fall as she took deep gasping breaths. After she recovered she managed to choke out, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Shiina replied. "You should look into healing yourself. I don't have bones so I can't break any. You do."

"Right." The half elf rolled onto her back and lay there. "I'll do that in a bit." After a few more breaths she added. "Thank you."

Shiina nodded. "Thank you." That wand might have ended her revenge right then and there.

Seeing that the woman was okay for now, Shiina moved to her friend's body. Turning Mali over it was amazing how little damage there was. All the major wounds were on the back. But those were fatal.

"I'm sorry." Shiina pulled her friend close. "I'm so sorry Mali. I just sat and watched and then... now... now you're dead. Why? Why did you have to die? Why didn't I do anything?"

She held the body tightly until the adventurer's guild task force arrived, wishing her fake eyes could cry.