Mimic

[WP] A mimic, seeking to improve its hunting ability, starts hiding among humans studying them to the point where it can pull off a perfect human disguise, however it soon finds that life as a human is much better than life as a mimic pretending to be furniture

*****

It's been so long since I split from my Mother. New to the world, nothing but primal hunger and flickering memories of the feast that gave me life. My Mother fed well, so much life and noise followed by blood and silence. Flashes and crashes subside to screams and crunches. My first memory of my own is the gaping maw of my Mother closing, blood dripping to they cave floor as her form shrank against the wall. A tongue flicks from left to right as she formed edges. Angles and corners protrude, her skin turns brown. I approach, feeling out in the dark. Mother does not respond as I move around her edge, in my very being I know this shape is significant, that I must be this shape. And so I became the shape, gradually I copied my Mother.

I grew larger and stronger, with time I learnt of adventurers. My favourite food, greedy and easily startled. My mother and I feasted regularly, but with time I grew more hungry. The adventurers came, but every time they did the food left for me by my mother became less sustaining. I started to fight her for a larger portion. That was a mistake, I learnt 2 things that day that I did not forget. 1st I learnt the pain of the bite I had subjected many unwilling arms to before. 2nd that I was not strong, not yet. Not like Mother. I ran, as far as I could. Down, through the dark twisting caverns. Through cracks, up walls and down ravines. I do not know how long I ran through the depths of the earth but eventually I came to a stop.

Quiet and alone, I changed my shape. I had practice this angular shape and colour many times, it was second nature to me. Hungry and alone, I sat in the darkness. I waited for my for my next meal. Anything would do, an adventurer would have been nice but a goblin or even a bat is all I need to keep alive.

Tired and alone, I wait. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Too long, I wait. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Alone in the dark, wait for food. Drip. Drip. Drip.

The cold stone beneath my form. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Water trickling through the cavern. I start to count the droplets. Drip. Drip. Drip.

It's been so long without food. Drip. Drip. Drip.

A small creature flits through the air, a bat. I pounce and devour the small being without hesitation. Swiftly, too swift. I barely taste the blood before it is gone. Drip. Drip. Drip.

I return to my hiding spot. Drip. Drip. Drip.

I do not know anything else, apart from waiting and eating. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

A dim light appears across the cavern floor from a large opening. Drip. Drip. Drip.

At last, food. I hear clinking, footsteps. The tones chimes of a meal enter the. It's a tall adventurer, light coloured hair and dark eyes. In one hand blazes a torch, in the other a short sword. He looks around the room, gaze sweeping over me. Drip. Drip. Drip.

This is my favourite part, where their greed is tested against mine. Drip. Drip. Drip.

The adventurer, backs out of the room. Drip. Drip. Drip.

I grow tired and my senses fade. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Rage sweeps over me, giving me renewed vigor. This does not happen. The adventurer arrives and I feast. I waited, for so long I waited. I followed the rules, I did what Mother did to become strong. But I am hungry. I am angry and very hungry. Drip. Drip. Drip.

I must find a new shape. I only know one shape though, this angular immobile one that has brought me nothing but hunger. Then I realise, I know another shape. The shape of my food. Of an adventurer. In the dark I push my form in to new directions, ones I had never tried before. My angular form became taller, I formed the top round bit, the middle large section was next, then the long thin bit at the bottom. I fell forward, laying against the cold stone. I concentrate on the shape of my food, they have long parts on the side and 2 long bits at the bottom. This shape works better, I push myself so I'm the same way up as the many adventurers I've digested and stagger towards the cavern exit. To find my meal myself.

From then I learnt to control my form easier, I learnt new colours. I stayed underground for years after then, I'm unsure how many. I never found the adventurer who left me alone and hungry. They're lucky I didn't. I hunted adventurers, as much as I enjoyed waiting and seeing their surprise as Mother and I devoured them, it's so much more satisfying following them instead. Waiting for them to rest or sleep, finding the weakest or waiting for someone to stray behind. Magic users were my least favourite, they did not need strength or cunning to escape my grasp.

These adventurers all had something in common, they were not just shapes. They carried things with them. So since I copied them, I started to carry things too. I watched them, before I ate them. I learned and followed in their footsteps. It's been so long since the early days it's hard to pinpoint when I became this. I drank many strange potions while mimicking adventurers and picked up so many strange objects but at some point I understood most of their speech. Eventually I could read their books. After enjoying a meal I would often lean back against the cave reading journals. I must say a story can be interesting even if you know how it will end.

One day, after considering it for a long time, I decided to leave my cave. Leave my home, to see the world these adventurers come from. Their journals described life that seemed so different from stone walls and stale air. So I changed my shape again, using a mirror I had found in a small abandoned camp underground. I formed robes, and gloves. I kept forming myself until I made myself hungry. The sight of myself in the mirror was pure adventurer, only one problem. I had no face. I pondered this for some time and formed a hood. I spent a lot of time around adventurers, even if they didn't know it. They are not as observant as they think.

And so I went forth from my cave, inspired to learn the magic that had so easily beaten me before, to eat easily and to become stronger than my Mother ever was. Eventually I mastered some basic spells and enlisted in an army. Some altercation with some gods. It didn't matter to me, I just wanted to use my magic. To kill, to feed. As time went on the battles grew less, the feasts fewer. So I left, to wander the lands looking for conflict to join. Always looking for a chance to eat again.

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THE END.