Flesh fileted, limbs rent asunder, cavernous stomachs opened. The four mimics before us were mutilated in the search of treasure. Although their heads appeared as the container for bountiful riches, the loot was lodged deep within their multiple stomachs. Abyssal black with the charred trim of an ember-smoldering orange, the mimic’s bodies held glittering silver and steel.
The party stood behind me as they watched me pull the plunder from its guts. While they gazed longingly at the strings of silver coins, my arm was stained black and my nostrils filled with the heinous stench that smelled of a mixture consisting of methane and gasoline. I threw the loot to the side, letting my party clean the stinking loot themselves.
Ethan was the first to take hold of it, wiping the mimic’s blood off the coin with spit and his tunic. “So what is it?” he asked,
“You don’t have currency where you’re from, half-orc?” Gadaan mocked. He took it into his hand and tilted it toward the lantern light. The coin shimmered a silver shine with a subtle iridescent coating. From under my bloodstained brow, it looked to have a hole drilled into the center that allowed a string to be put through and tied as a necklace. What surprised all of us with an amusing ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ was when the fur-beast took pieces off the coin. Eight curved triangle pieces were taken apart from the coin and placed in his palm. Each of the individual pieces had a missing section and a part that jutted out so that it could all be put back together like a jigsaw puzzle and form a round coin once again.
“Because the pieces are a pain in the ass and have a tendency to break apart in one’s pocket, we like to set the coins in a frame called a ‘skeleton.’ They’re cheap as shit and made of iron. No value besides the convenience of holding all your pieces together.” He placed the small silver triangles back together in the skeleton and flicked it to Ethan. “A quarter of the coin will get you a loaf of bread. An eighth will get you a fallfruit. It’s common courtesy to give a whole one for a day's labor, but some people may not have the manners to do such a generous thing.”
“These little triangles remind me of chips,” the orc chortled.
An apt name, I thought to myself. Between the four mimics, I pilfered about 72 intact silver coins from the monster’s stomachs. We split it evenly amongst the six of us and any loose chips that I found were given to our dungeoneering guide.
While we rested, Ethan decided he saw something glistening in the body of a mimic that I didn’t butcher fully. He stuck his entire head into the mimic’s mouth, swimming in its throat and fishing for treasure in its belly. With a gasping breath and covered head to toe in black ichor, he raised his hand to reveal a simple gold banded ring.
“You’re goddamn nasty,” Mell said.
“And you’re ring-less!” he exclaimed.
Besides the odd gem or powdered jewels, I didn’t find much in the mimics that drew my eye until I noticed an amulet tangled deep in the recesses of the monster’s mouth: an old chain centered with a cracked diamond and corroded copper shell. I checked the description with my [Inventory] and it told me nothing different than my personal observations… except for the ominous line at the bottom.
Swears fealty to protect the wearer until its obliteration.
So you promise to be loyal and be my shield, little amulet, is that it? Can you talk? “Hello,” I whispered. I couldn’t tell if I wasn’t loud enough and the artifact didn’t hear me so I repeated my greetings again.
Gadaan flicked his ears and turned to me with a squinted look, “You talking to jewelry, boy?”
I felt flushed with embarrassment. “Oh,” I wryly laughed, “It's just hybrid sorcery.”
He huffed and turned back to Briar who looked even more doubtful at my excuses than he.
I turned away and put the amulet to my lips, “Don’t make me look like a fool, you hunk of junk,” but no response from the jewelry was given. I clipped the stubborn chain around my neck and continued to rest for the day. The other hybrids took the respite to overlook their [System] menus and levels.
I noticed Mell’s and Ethan’s [Health] and [Stamina] maximum rose to 40 points while Taro’s rose to 20. Although neither of their injuries healed because of the level-up, it was valuable to know that they’d be able to take more hits on the next adventure once they recovered. My stomach wouldn’t be able to handle seeing anymore familiar faces pooling blood in the cracks of stone.
Gadaan, wrapped in ragged bandages, whistled his light snores while Briar examined the silver coins given to them.
“You level any?” I asked.
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Briar perked up, their tail brushed against the stone with every wag. “My [Strength] increased!”
“Oh, nice! What’s the level?”
“Two! What’s yours at? Probably more than the other orcs, huh? They told me theirs is only at four, but yours is probably six or seven! You slain two monsters after all!”
Thoughts of my initial spawn rang through my head again, it stung each time I thought about it. Oh, yeah, about that… I was kinda cursed by the literal Creator of this planet because he just wanted to fuck with me, so actually my [Strength] and all my stats starts at fucking ZERO! But I let those thoughts evaporate with a small laugh and a smile to the small half-beast.
I then went over to Taro. The battered hybrid took slow breaths underneath his pierced breastplate. His helmet was off and I could tell by the heavy bags under his eyes and his disheveled hair that he just wished to rest. His [MP] steadily rose but his [HP] stayed at a meager 4 points. I gave him back his longsword that fell to the stone earlier and left him with a respectful nod, but his reply was the cold distant glare of a man who wished not to be here. I can’t blame you. But I’m afraid this dungeon has more to give once Gadaan wakes up.
* * *
With a yawn and a stretch that made his claws extend outward, Gadaan winced when he stood upon his hind legs. “Alright hybrids, rest is over. If we’re forced to coexist, we might as well seek all the answers we can.”
“Answers to what?” I asked with a cotton-mouthed yawn.
“Why the hell the gods sent you here,” the beast smirked.
We gathered what little we had and followed him. If it wasn’t for the intrigue that all of us had, Taro and Ethan would’ve led the charge to take Gadaan’s wagon and ride straight to Hubloc. I would’ve felt bad doing so, but I’d rather not be left to rot underneath the red dunes that washed away all history that came before.
In the dark passages, Mell held a flickering lantern. All torches were used and no wood was here to burn. Up ahead, I could see Gadaan nudge Briar’s shoulder.
“Show me that one bit of sorcery when I first picked you up, pup.”
Briar looked nervous or embarrassed but a small arcane orb grew from their paw and trailed in the air above them. A dim blue light enshrouded the party, casting great shadows on the ground beneath us.
Ethan huffed, “Well, it’s no arcane bolt, but it’s something.”
In the top left of my vision I saw Briar’s [Mana] decrease to 17/20 points and slowly tick down every few minutes. “I appreciate it, Briar,” I said. “Felt like I was walking in the pitch black without your light.”
“Really?” Briar asked.
Gadaan let loose a small snicker, “I always heard that plainskins have a hard time seeing in the dark… s’pose it’s true for you hybrids too.”
“Are you making fun of us!?” Mell exclaimed.
Stagnant air stirred from the stone we walked upon. Dirt, dust, and debris filled the rectangular chamber we entered. Pillars that once held the ceiling were collapsed. Doors torn from hinges. And sand piled within. It was hard to tell what the room was before its decay; whether it was living quarters or a storeroom, it was unrecognizable now.
Gadaan tried a path to the east at first but debris rose to the tall ceilings. He puffed dirt from his snout and continued to the north. Bones and tarnished pieces of silver coins littered the ground. Is all this puked up from the mimics? I thought.
Ethan was on his hands and knees scrambling for the loose chips while the rest of us watched Gadaan admire a filthy wall. He rubbed his paw over it and ordered Briar to stand next to him. The arcane orb graced the wall with a twinkling blue light as it uncovered a hallway full of murals.
From floor to ceiling, chipped, cracked, and full of color; we stood breathless and bewildered. 10 symbols over 10 figures. An axe above an orc, an arrow over an elf, a shield over a beast, a staff above a cloaked figure, and a hammer above a dwarf.
“They’re the gods,” I muttered aloud.
“Aye. I’ve heard tell that you have all been graced by their presence.”
“Yeah, that’s right!” Mell shouted. “They trapped us in that damn desert until they teleported us back!”
“But I haven’t seen these other five before,” I said.
A symbol of fangs and claws loomed above a monstrous figure unrecognizable as any bloodline of this planet. The seventh god’s portrait was too damaged to discern an appearance. But from what I could tell, he held a compass and caliper in their hands. A god of navigation or… math?
I pondered over the three other murals; one of them looked like a generic grim reaper with a symbol of a skull and a black billowing robe—the God of Death, I assumed. The ninth god drew my eye like none of the others could. It was a beautiful figure of a woman in a black and red dress wearing a white blindfold. She seemed like a standard human but I had a feeling that her blindfold had pinned back her pointed-ears. I would’ve assumed she was some sort of off-brand Lady Justice if she were not holding out two dice in each hand.
The final god, however, I was far too familiar with. One who has been haunting my mind ever since I came to Carrion. Their large silhouette stood behind all the other gods and loomed above the landscapes beneath them. No face was given to the deity, but with the gold gilding, it was obvious that it represented the Creator.
I couldn’t help but shake my head and gaze at the rest of the murals with a smirking tusk. These godly figures looked down at me and my blood boiled. I was going to walk off and clear the rest of the dungeon myself before Briar tugged on my sleeve and pointed out the landscapes.
Although strangers to this world, it felt eerily familiar: grand civilizations created from dense jungles, ancient cities built along the sea banks, a white mountain of ash and magma rising from an island nation, and a desert dotted with grand pyramids… protected by a stone sphinx.