Cedric couldn’t help but feel all warm inside. Not only he had finished cleaning up the garden outside, making it ready for whatever exotic plants Umbravor planned on cultivating, but he also scrubbed the throne room real good. Nothing like a good old job well done, just like his Papa would say.

With Umbravor gone to pick up the seeds, he had some free time to himself. And so, he thought it would be good to explore the castle. They would need to clean up everything anyway, so knowing the size of the effort would lead to better planning.

That’s when he found a room filled with decrepit furniture and cobwebs. An office of some official, perhaps. What caught his eyes, however, was the ornate chest just to one corner, who seemed to be in a pristine condition compared to everything else. Maybe it’s enchanted.

Thinking on the valuables he could find, he approached it without a care, opening it up to see what wonder waited inside.

Tentacles. That’s what waited for him inside.

Caught by surprise, he didn’t put much resistance when pulled in, half of his body already inside. One of the horrid limbs even managed to get inside his mouth. Recovering his senses, he then started to put up a resistance. “SHMITHE!”

With his fist, he had gone through the creature with one blow, making the disgusting appendices go limp. Coughing up whatever slime they had been covered with, he crawled away from the now splintered chest. “Fuck me… a mimic…”

He didn’t let that shake his good mood. After all, he managed to kill a potential danger to them both (alright, maybe not to Umbravor). Continuing his scouting, he entered another room where, just like before, everything inside looked rotten and aged.

Learning from his previous experience, he used a long stick to poke and hit any container before opening it. As the Hero, he wouldn’t fall for the same trick twice, no sir!

Deciding to rest for a bit, he sat down at an old armchair. Before the thing also grew tentacles. And a mouth.

“SMITE!” Breathing heavy, he used his celestial magic to heal the bite marks at his behind, looking with blood in his eyes at the now flaccid décor. “Is everything in this fucking castle a mimic?”

No one answered, of course. Speaking to yourself is a sure sign of mental deterioration in many clinical cases, might I remind our readers.

“Oh, screw ya.”

By the third room, only a single chair remained. Wooden one, made by rustic hands, very close to the ones he grew up with. Circling around the fixture, Cedric took a deep breath, before raising his fist. “SMITE!”

Pieces of splinter flew all over, as the chair got reduced to dust. Turns out it was only a chair, nothing more.

“I better get back before I start getting even more paranoid.”

And just as he turned the door knob to leave, the door grew teeth and tentacles.

“Motherfu…”

Some time later, Umbravor gets inside the throne room. “I’m back. You wouldn’t believe what… Wow, what happened to your face?”

Cedric became unrecognizable, such was the swelling all over his face, neck and arms. “Learned you oughta not mess with mimics without armor.”

“…"

"..."

"Want to talk about it?”

“No.”