The instant Erik’s mimic tendrils touched the orb, a shockwave of energy exploded outward. It wasn’t just light or sound it was something else, a force that seemed to reach inside him, tearing through the fabric of his being. He screamed, though whether it was a mimic’s rasp or a human cry, he couldn’t tell.

The world dissolved.

The dungeon walls melted away, replaced by a swirling void of shimmering colors. Erik felt weightless, like he was floating in the space between dreams and nightmares. The hunger that had been gnawing at him since his transformation was gone, replaced by a strange stillness.

And then the visions came.

He saw Mimic’s Requiem, the game he had once known, but it was different. The world flickered and fractured, its landscapes twisting into jagged, impossible shapes. Cities crumbled into dust, and dungeons unraveled like threads pulled from a tapestry. Adventurers and monsters alike disintegrated, their forms reduced to motes of light that scattered into the void.

At the center of it all was the dungeon the Dungeon of Sorrow. Its walls pulsed like a living heart, and Erik could feel its presence as if it were watching him. But this time, he wasn’t an outsider. He was connected to it. The dungeon’s essence coursed through him, its power tangled with his own.

“You see now, don’t you?” the Arbiter’s voice echoed in the void, hollow and distant.

Erik turned or tried to. In this place, movement didn’t work the way it should. He felt his form shifting, warping.

“What’s happening to me?” Erik demanded. His voice echoed strangely, as though it belonged to someone else.

“You are neither man nor mimic,” the Arbiter said. Its cloaked form appeared in the void, its edges flickering like a poorly rendered image. “You are a fracture, an anomaly born of this realm’s decay. Mimic’s Requiem is dying, and you are both the symptom and the cure.”

“The cure?” Erik asked, his thoughts spinning. “What are you talking about? I didn’t ask for any of this!”

“No,” the Arbiter said. “But the realm chose you regardless.”

Before Erik could respond, the void began to ripple, and new images formed around him visions of the adventurers he had met. Edrin, Kaelith, and Davin, their forms blurred but unmistakable, standing in a circle. Their voices echoed faintly, distorted by the strange space.

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“What did he do?” Kaelith’s voice was sharp, filled with fury. “I knew we couldn’t trust him!”

“Calm down,” Edrin said, his tone measured but strained. “We don’t know what happened yet.”

“He touched the orb!” Kaelith snapped. “That’s what happened! He’s probably unleashed some cursed monstrosity on us!”

“I... I think he’s still alive,” Davin’s hesitant voice cut through. “Or... whatever passes for alive in his case. I can still feel his presence, like he’s... somewhere else.”

Their voices faded as the void began to collapse, the swirling colors folding in on themselves. Erik felt himself being pulled back, his mimic form reassembling piece by piece as the dungeon walls returned.

When he opened his eyes, he was back in the chamber. The pedestal was empty the orb gone. The Arbiter had vanished, leaving only the faint glow of the glyphs on the walls.

Edrin stood at the ready, his sword drawn. Kaelith’s daggers gleamed in her hands, her stance tense and aggressive. Davin hovered near the back, his spellbook clutched to his chest, his expression a mix of worry and confusion.

“You’ve got about five seconds to explain yourself,” Kaelith said, her voice low and dangerous.

Erik took a shuddering breath, his mimic body still trembling from the experience. “I... I don’t know what just happened,” he admitted. “The orb it showed me things. Visions of the realm. It’s... falling apart.”

Kaelith’s eyes narrowed. “And we’re supposed to believe that?”

“It’s the truth,” Erik said, his voice rising in desperation. “The dungeon, the monsters, even me it’s all connected. This world is unraveling, and somehow, I’m tied to it.”

“That doesn’t mean we can trust you,” Kaelith shot back. “For all we know, you’re part of the problem. You’ve been lying to us this whole time about what you are, about what you’re capable of.”

“I didn’t lie!” Erik said, his frustration boiling over. “I don’t know why I’m like this any more than you do! I’m just trying to survive!”

“That’s enough.” Edrin’s voice cut through the argument, silencing them both. He stepped forward, his expression hard but not unkind. “If what Erik says is true, then we don’t have time for this. We need to figure out what’s happening to the realm and how to stop it.”

Kaelith looked like she wanted to argue but held her tongue, though her glare at Erik was sharp enough to cut stone.

Davin hesitated, then spoke up. “The glyphs on the walls they’re different now. I think they’re pointing us toward something.”

The group turned to examine the glowing symbols, which had rearranged themselves into a new pattern. Lines of light stretched out from the glyphs, converging on an archway at the far end of the chamber.

“Another level of the dungeon,” Edrin said grimly.

“Or a trap,” Kaelith muttered.

“Either way, it’s our only lead,” Erik said.

Edrin nodded. “Then we move forward. Together.”

Kaelith snorted but didn’t argue. Davin gave Erik a wary glance, then followed Edrin toward the archway.

Erik lingered for a moment, his mimic body quivering as the hunger stirred once more. The visions of the orb still lingered in his mind, and the Arbiter’s words echoed like a haunting refrain.

“A fracture,” he muttered to himself. “A cure.”

With a shuddering sigh, he pushed the thoughts aside and followed the others into the unknown depths of the dungeon.