The group moved in silence, their footsteps echoing through the dungeon’s twisting corridors. Erik trailed behind, his mimic body rippling in response to the ambient energy of the dungeon. The Bonefiends were gone, but the tension in the group had only grown sharper, a blade balanced on the edge of mistrust.

Kaelith kept glancing back at him, her hand never straying far from her daggers. The cleric, Davin, avoided looking at him altogether, his expression tight with unease. Only Edrin seemed unaffected, his calm demeanor steady as ever, though even his neutral glances felt heavier than before.

Erik’s mimic form twitched involuntarily, the hunger still whispering in the back of his mind. He clenched down on the sensation, desperate to suppress it. He wasn’t just a mimic. He was still Erik. Still human.

Wasn’t he?

The corridor opened into a massive chamber, the ceiling arched like the ribcage of some long-dead beast. Strange glyphs etched into the walls glowed faintly, casting an eerie green light across the space. At the center of the room stood a pedestal, and atop it rested a crystalline orb, its surface swirling with faint, mist-like tendrils of light.

Davin stepped forward, his curiosity momentarily overriding his unease. “What is this place?”

Kaelith narrowed her eyes, scanning the chamber. “A trap, most likely.”

Edrin gestured for the group to halt, his gaze fixed on the pedestal. “Stay back. Let me check it out first.”

But Erik wasn’t listening. The moment he entered the chamber, the orb’s glow seemed to intensify, and a strange pull tugged at him, almost magnetic. He could feel it resonating deep within him, like the echo of a forgotten memory.

“Wait,” Erik said, his voice rasping unnaturally. “There’s something... different about this.”

Kaelith bristled. “What do you mean ‘different’? Care to share your mimic wisdom with the class?”

“I don’t know,” Erik admitted, his mimic body shifting uneasily. “But that orb... it feels connected to this place. To the dungeon itself.”

Kaelith’s expression darkened. “Of course it does. And you’re connected to the dungeon too, aren’t you? Maybe that’s why you’re still alive. Maybe it’s been protecting you this whole time.”

“I don’t know why I’m here,” Erik said, his frustration bubbling over. “I didn’t ask for any of this!”

“Enough,” Edrin said, his voice cutting through the rising tension. He turned to Erik, his expression unreadable. “If you think this orb is important, then we’ll proceed carefully. But no one touches it until we’re sure it’s safe. Understood?”

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Erik nodded, though his gaze remained fixed on the orb.

The group moved cautiously toward the pedestal, Kaelith circling the edges of the room while Edrin and Davin examined the glyphs. Erik stayed near the back, fighting the pull of the orb. It was stronger now, almost unbearable, as though it were calling out to him.

And then the chamber shifted.

The glow from the glyphs flared, bathing the room in blinding green light. The floor beneath them groaned, and the walls began to warp, the glyphs twisting and rearranging themselves into new, incomprehensible patterns.

“Get back!” Edrin shouted, raising his sword as the air around the pedestal shimmered.

From the shifting glyphs emerged a figure a humanoid shape cloaked in tattered robes, its face obscured by a hood. Its movements were slow and deliberate, its form flickering as though it weren’t entirely solid.

“Who dares disturb the sanctum of the Arbiter?” the figure intoned, its voice hollow and echoing.

Kaelith’s daggers were in her hands in an instant. “Great. Another self-important dungeon guardian. Just what we needed.”

Edrin stepped forward cautiously. “We mean no harm. We’re only passing through.”

The Arbiter’s head tilted slightly, as if studying them. “Passing through?” it repeated. Its gaze or what Erik assumed was its gaze shifted to him. “And yet, you bring it here. The aberration. The mimic-that-is-not.”

Erik froze, his mimic instincts screaming at him to run, to hide, but the pull of the orb kept him rooted in place. “What do you mean? What am I?”

The Arbiter didn’t answer directly. Instead, it raised a hand, and the orb on the pedestal began to glow brighter. Images flickered within its surface scenes of adventurers battling monsters, of the dungeon twisting and reshaping itself, of Erik awakening in his mimic form.

“You are a fracture,” the Arbiter said. “An anomaly born of a world unraveling. The threads of this realm fray, and you are the loose strand that should not be.”

Erik’s mind raced, the Arbiter’s words igniting a dozen questions. Was this why he had been reincarnated as a mimic? Why the dungeon felt alive, almost sentient?

Kaelith, however, had no patience for riddles. “Enough with the cryptic nonsense,” she snapped. “If this thing’s a threat, let’s deal with it and move on.”

The Arbiter turned its hooded gaze to her. “You would strike blindly against forces you cannot comprehend? Foolish mortals.”

With a sweep of its arm, the Arbiter unleashed a wave of energy that sent the group sprawling. Erik felt the force ripple through his mimic form, and for a brief moment, the hunger flared so intensely that it nearly consumed him.

When he struggled to his feet, the Arbiter’s attention was back on him. “The choice is yours, aberration,” it said. “Take the orb, and the truth of your existence will be revealed. But know this: the path you choose will determine the fate of this realm.”

Erik hesitated, his gaze flickering between the Arbiter, the orb, and his companions. Kaelith was already back on her feet, her daggers raised, while Edrin stood protectively in front of Davin, his sword at the ready.

“Don’t,” Kaelith warned, her voice like steel. “You can’t trust it. You can’t trust him.”

Erik’s mimic form quivered, the pull of the orb stronger than ever. The hunger gnawed at him, whispering that the power within the orb could sate it, could make him whole again.

But he didn’t just want power. He wanted answers.

“I don’t have a choice,” Erik said, more to himself than anyone else.

And before anyone could stop him, he reached for the orb