“Breaker, got it,” I replied. Weird name for a mimic. Then again I had been under the impression that mimics only disguised themselves as treasure or doorways to jump out and eat unsuspecting adventurers. It’s what the stories my mother would tell me said. The ones she read me when she was trying desperately to get me to sleep. A faint smile swept across my face thinking back to those nights and the warmth of the fire filling the room. The smell of herbs drying overhead. The stories said mimics were always hidden in plain sight. They had been right about that part at least. I never would have dreamed that they could talk or have forms like this. My eyes trailed up and down Breaker as he used his shirt to finish cleaning off the crumbs from his face. His skin was purple-gray and stretched over lean muscle. He had dark hair that fell in straight strands only slightly past his shoulders. Breaker’s eyes were an unearthly green. The closest thing I could compare it to was the color inside of an emerald when caught in the light. There were no pupils. A feeling rushed through me that if I kept looking I might get lost under their surface, trapped in verdant crystal balls. This was the closest I had been to him where there was any decent lighting. Well, aside from when he had nearly pulled me under him with his tongue. However, my focus was elsewhere during that. My eyes fell to his lips and the sharp teeth that peaked out. I caught myself biting my lip. What the Under? Get a hold of yourself. That’s a mimic! I straightened myself and snapped out of it before he could catch my stare. I hoped.

“Well, I just wanted to give you that. I’ll hop back over here now.”

I began backing up slowly and crawled into my bedroll. Embarrassment stung my cheeks as I pulled myself further into the roll. Today had been a day. I rolled over facing the direction of the doorway. Breaker had gone back to guarding it. While I didn’t have much reason to trust him, I got the sense that I could. He reminded me a bit of a scared stray that used to come around the outskirts of the village. Regardless, I didn’t have much of a choice if I wanted to make it out of the dungeon. As it stands, he was my best chance.

Breaker wasn’t wrong when he said that I had thrown my life away for nothing even if he had the reason mixed up. Everything had been happening so fast that I barely had time to process the events of the last two days. Under, I was barely over my hangover from the festival. My mind drifted back to that night.

I was face first in a barrel expelling my guts when I heard my name being called. At first, I thought I misheard due to the sound of organs being hacked up or that my mother was calling for me from somewhere. So, I ignored it. Next thing I knew the strong hands of the village guards were wrapping around my arms and pulling me from the barrel.

“Hey, what in the Under? Get off me!”

They said nothing. I flailed and I kicked trying to squirm my way out of their grasp. They dragged me through the street of the village, everyone looking at me in horror. It wasn’t until I noticed them whispering among themselves and heard my mother screaming that it clicked what was happening.

Everything went a bit blurry from there, whether it was from shock or the mass amounts of mead I had consumed was anyone’s guess. But, the faces of the elders lit up by the flames of the bonfire were crystal clear in my memory. The flames twisted their features. Thinking back to the curl of their lips as they sentenced me to my fate made my stomach turn. Heavy heart my ass.

They threw me into a small cell right after that to keep me from running away. They barely let my mother say anything to me besides goodbye. She had to fight to even give me my pack. They only let her after she reminded them who had saved their children during the bad winter.

The following evening the elders led the village in a silent procession to the dungeon gate. Children threw dried leaves like confetti to mark the way. The only sound was my rage as I beat against the iron bars of the cage they transported me in.

I held out my hand to the torchlight. They were still sore from banging on the cage. I could see the dark blue that was building under the skin of my knuckles. I hadn’t fought hard enough. I should have fought until they were bloody and broken.

Sighing I rolled onto my back looking up at the stone ceiling. It’s amazing how many regrets you can gain in a few days.