Ethan’s immense hunger for loot was insatiable. Same as the mimic’s hunger for adventurers despite swallowing the orc’s hands. The bipedal chest stood upright, revealing its scarred form. It was the same mimic we escaped from not an hour before. How did it beat us here!?
The orc fell limp, gazing at his arms. His severed hands lay in pools of blood inside the monster’s mouth as it loomed over him. Ethan’s chest pumped rapidly until he collapsed. His [Health] dropped to -23 before his sister could utter a single scream.
Mell, equipped only with her fists, charged at the mimic in a deafening fury. The femur of the mimic resounded off the marble walls with a crack from the orc’s brawny fist. She escaped the clutches of the vengeful beast and reached for Taro’s sword that her brother had unknowingly donned. I saw the sliver of steel refract Briar’s light before it fell to the marble in a clang, and the female orc with it.
The three of us had no time to react to the speed of the monstrosity that lay before us. Mell was pinned to the ground by the mimic’s claws that dug deep inside her. Blood bubbled from her lips as her [HP] dropped to nothing. It twisted, turned, and skewered its claws repeatedly. Her last vision of this life was of her brother bleeding beside her.
Blue particles from their hybrid souls hovered in the air as the twins returned to the Arena.
[PARTY MEMBER DISBANDED]
[PARTY MEMBER DISBANDED]
I wished that the beauty that rose from their deaths—beauty that reflected off the marble and glass—was not ruined by a creature born of such hatred. This mimic was none like the rest. It chose not to devour the bodies, knowing they would not satiate its hunger when they were transported away. In our frozen fear, I could tell Gadaan and I had the same thought: It had gained the taste for hybrids long ago.
Gadaan held his sword in front while Briar mirrored the same with trembling paws. I held my sickle in a death-grip and circled the creature with one ginger step after another. The beasts followed suit and we flanked it on both sides. The mimic stood silent, releasing no noise except the dripping of its ichor onto the floor. And within a blink, it sliced at the young fur-beast.
A metallic screech echoed through the room. Gadaan stood in front of his young fledgling, heaving heavily. His blade had a thick scratch from where the claws of the mimic had met. The monster stumbled back from the parry, landing amidst the eight pillars of marble as if we were in an arena of our own. The floors were clean of the sibling’s blood and bodies, but the mimic lightly kicked the bolt that was shot from the previous hall.
I knew I had to do something, to find a way to rid ourselves of this demon of rotten timber. My [Strength] was meager and running was not an option. Although intelligence nor wisdom were attributes of this realm, the [System] never said I couldn’t use my wits to my advantage.
“Gadaan, parry it once more and I can end this! Briar, roll toward its legs and toss me the bolt!”
“Are you mad!?” Gadaan exclaimed.
“Do it!” I ordered.
I had no reason to believe that they would follow my commands, but it was our only shot before it was our turn for a gruesome death. The mimic stood lingering and waiting before the old coyote taunted the creature. A low growling murmur resonated from its salivating mouth. And soon enough, another slash came.
Gadaan’s sword flew across the room but the mimic stunned itself once again. Briar froze in place and had to be shoved by the party leader to break out of it. They rolled along the marble and gripped the crossbow bolt beneath the monster’s feet and tossed it into the air. The throw was off but I had to catch it. The mimic caught the pup by their tunic and opened their treasure-chest-maw wide. I had to catch it. Black strings of saliva and blood stretched and snapped to devour the adventurer before a thin bead of sand fell upon them. I had to catch it.
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With a straight hand, my fingers interlocked around the bolt and launched it to the sky. I wished for it to fly to the blue azure and pierce the heavens, but the glass ceiling displaying the crimson dunes of the desert was enough.
“I did it,” I muttered. With my meager [DEX], the crackling and shattering formed up high while the sands weighed down upon it.
The mimic let go of Briar when a mountain of red sand broke through and poured into its mouth. It hacked and coughed up the dust from its gullet. And so did we. The sands breached the room and sent the entire dungeon in a red dust-ridden storm. The blinding darkness turned to dazzling lightness as I saw the sun for the first time in what seemed like ages. The grains burned my feet with each step I took leaving the drowning chamber.
I left the observatory and headed down passages previously explored. The beasts were gone. The mimic bellowed a maddening howl. The roaring falls of the sand drowned even my own voice. I could not see in the red haze, nor could I breathe. My nose was clogged and my tongue tasted the crushed particles of the ancient earth. I cried out but heard no response except the scraping claws of the thrashing mimic before me.
In the haze, my foe and I stood in front of one another. I could feel its evil through its eyeless gaze. Its slender body built for efficient destruction of mortals towered me. I knew I could not kill this creature. This monster would tear me in half and end my life, but at this moment, I realized it was all meaningless. The realm of Carrion differed from Earth. Much like its namesake, survival was not the goal, but whether we could rend the flesh from our enemies. For we hybrids had a multitude of chances to live and die, as long as we slay the enemy before us, whether in the Arena or the monsters before us.
In the light of the red dust, the mimic snarled at me with its lashing tongue and crooked teeth. Black ooze painted the stone it stood on while it waited for me to make the first move. I obliged the beast and swung heavy with my sickle, aiming for its bowed legs. But in the red mist, it caught my arm.
Tough was its grip like calloused leather forged from the sun. Its nails dug deep into my skin while it lifted me off my feet. I dangled in the air and grimaced at the beast, ready for my turn in Death’s realm. My time was nigh, yet it never ended.
I heard the shout of the young beast echo through the stone passages and call my name. And so did the mimic. It snarled at me and flashed its jagged teeth in a smirk fit for a menacing demon, dropping me on the ground. I saw it slink away into the shadows of sand, following Briar’s voice.
I cried with all my might and pleaded that the mimic return to me to finish what it started. However, a blinding blue notification from my [System] interrupted me.
[MESSAGE RECEIVED: Briar Montrove]
[“Karnyn, where are you?”]
[“Are you okay?”]
I tried responding but I knew my replies would never deliver.
[INSUFFICIENT MANA]
“Dammit! Briar, please! Run!”
[INSUFFICIENT MANA]
[INSUFFICIENT MANA]
My tears dried in an instant against the haze. Dust clung to my eyes and face while I lurched my way forward with stumbling steps, following the mimic’s trail left behind in the sand. My feet gave way and stumbled in a forming dune inside the dungeon. My [Stamina] lowered and I was running on fumes. The dark was settling again while I heard the crushing of bones and the piercing of skin.
I turned the corner and fell again, ahead of me were two bodies of fur and flesh. Gadaan laid still in a pool of blood while Briar gazed at me with their somber eyes in the devastating clutches of the mimic.
“I’m sorry,” they said.
I witnessed their transporting soul illuminate the falling sands around me like the sunset atop water. But the darkness of the demon that destroyed them enshrouded the rest of the light. It bore its teeth in a flashing grin, the leg of Gadaan still stuck in its maw. With a deep swallow I witnessed it fall down its gullet and rest in its stomach.
[PARTY MEMBER DISBANDED]
My heart sank. My belly burned. My eyes were blind to my surroundings but I could feel the lingering figure inch toward me. Its narrow limbs of muscle and bone scraped against the settled sands. Its hinges creaked. Its teeth clacked together. Its charred and rotten flesh oozed and dripped.
I closed my eyes and breathed the stench that engulfed me. I repeated to myself that my life was meaningless. Doomed from the start by the Creator. The deity blessed me with a ‘swift death’ but I proved them wrong. I survived the first nights. I rose to my first levels. I promised the monster and all the gods that imprisoned me on this planet that even if the Arena awaits me, I will return and face them once again. Even if it took me 100 attempts!