Aeshma had big plans for us, assuming we made it out of this cellar. Dangerous-sounding plans, at that. It would’ve been nice if she told me earlier that she was putting me in opposition to some all-powerful Monster Queen. “Not to sound selfish or anything, Aeshma, but won’t this plan put me in the crosshairs? You know, as your vulnerable, Level Zero accomplice.”

  “Don’t worry, I totally thought of that already!” she said, spreading her arms enthusiastically “We’re gonna keep our heads down, avoid making waves, right up until it's time to sock ‘Her Majesty’ a good one. She won’t even see it coming. And by then you’ll have so much gear, you’ll practically be unkillable!”

  I wasn’t totally satisfied, but at least she had put some modicum of thought towards my safety. “So we’ll just –”

  HALT!

  General Bimbool shouted, outstretching her fluffy hand in warning. A hush swept over the platoon. “I heard something. Peeble, you said this quadrant was swept recently?”

  “Sure did, boss. Everything’s been nice an’ peaceful since this morni–”

  CRUNCH

  In a fraction of a second, the enormous stone tile beneath poor Peeble revealed its true nature, opening down the middle and swallowing the Gremlin whole, along with a hefty portion of the rest of the platoon. Before we could react, it had extruded enough thick, muscular tendrils to lift itself up to about eye level with Aeshma. Then it let out a deep, gurgling roar that left the air thick with the smell of rotting meat.

  “Aeshma?” I mumbled.

  “Uhh,” she groaned, “That’s, uh… a pretty big one…”

  The remaining Gremlins drew their daggers and faced down the lumbering mass of stone. Bimbool raised her weapon high in the air and waited for the right opportunity to start the charge. She seemed to be waiting for Aeshma or me to take the lead.

  “Roland, I think we’d better run, it’s too– HRK!”

  Aeshma gasped as one of the Mimic’s tendrils whipped forward and lashed around her ankle. I grabbed Aeshma’s shoulder and tried to hold her steady, but I wasn’t nearly strong enough. The Mimic tugged her easily into the air and dangled her upside-down right over its flat, gaping maw.

  “Roland, get away!” Aeshma screamed as the creature thrashed her about.

  I would have loved to do that – except, alleged tails notwithstanding, I had no way to tell what part of the floor was gonna be a safe escape route, and what part was gonna try to eat me. But I figured this wasn’t a good time to argue with her over Mimic identification.

  “Soldiers, ATTACK! The Messengers must survive!” Bimbool shouted. A warcry rang out from the rest of the platoon as they charged the enormous beast with daggers entirely too large for their small frames.

  Meanwhile, Aeshma had grabbed hold of the tendril that was wrapped around her ankle and was trying to peel it off. It looked like she was having a hard time of it, nevermind the fact that the Mimic was whipping her from side to side like a ragdoll.

  I stood there frozen. I had no idea how to help.

  “Argh! Okay, Mimic, last chance to let me down!” said Aeshma. She had gotten both hands wrapped around the Mimic’s purple tendril. As though in response, the Mimic whipped her hard to the side, slamming her body into a stone pillar. “Screw you too, then!” Aeshma screamed. She twisted her hands, tearing the tendril apart with a meaty squelch.

  SCREEEL!

  The Mimic screeched and wheeled around violently. Now free from the creature’s grasp, Aeshma fell a good ten feet. Her head bounced off the stone floor with a chilling thunk.

  I didn’t see her moving, couldn’t tell if she was still conscious – but the Mimic was still focused on her, ambling towards her with its stone mouth wide open.

  A few of the Gremlins made it to the Mimic’s grotesque purplish legs and started stabbing. They didn’t seem to be doing much damage, but their efforts were enough to catch the Mimic’s attention, if only briefly.

  I saw Aeshma roll over, her eyes open but her expression still a bit dazed. I opened my mouth to call out to her, but–

  THUMP

  I was hit square in the chest by a Gremlin which the Mimic had sent flying my way with an easy flick of one of its tendrils. I stayed on my feet, somehow, even though all the wind was knocked out of me.

  “Blerg!” the Gremlin announced, before going limp in my arms.

  “Oh shit,” I muttered. Should I drop the little fella, or take the time to set him down gently, or throw him back at the Mimic, or…. wait, what was that? My hand brushed up against something metallic on the Gremlin’s fuzzy chest, tucked away under the burlap sash it was wearing. I groped around under the fabric until I felt it – a metal disk, smooth and burning hot to the touch.

  A jolt of power shot through my arm. I couldn’t be sure, but I’d wager that this object, whatever it was, was imbued with magic.

  “Sorry fella,” I whispered to the dead Gremlin as I tugged the disk free. It took a bit of effort, as the object had apparently been sewn into an inner pocket of the burlap sash, but after a moment I was able to tear it loose. The object’s metal surface was criss-crossed with a winding, spirographic pattern, and its center was affixed with a chipped red gemstone. Even though it was scorching hot to the touch, it didn’t seem to burn me. It was like the heat was inside the disk, present yet separate from the outside world.

  I felt a twinge of guilt as I dumped the disk’s former owner back on the floor – but the emotion quickly subsided. It wasn’t like I was doing the fella any harm… and maybe I could use this thing to save some of his friends.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  My eyes snapped back up to Aeshma, who was dazedly getting back on her feet. “Hey! HEY! What is this?” I shouted, waving the disk at her. Just in case it was a relevant piece of information, I added, “It's hot!”

  “Ugh… why… why are you still here, man?” she sputtered out. It seemed like she was still recovering from her fall.

  “Where am I gonna go? This whole place could be Mimics!” I said, continuing to shake the disk at her insistently. “Tell me what this thing does, Aeshma! It’s got, uh, a red gem in the middle… and swirly patterns on the sides!”

  “Uh, it’s – ARGH! Hey, you! Over HERE!” she screamed, trying to draw the Mimic’s attention away from the dwindling Gremlin platoon. It worked; the creature turned its flat body to face her. “It’s probably a Flare Disk! I saw some up in the shop! You just gotta – HEY! Get offa me!” She kicked at the severed bit of tendril still grasping her ankle. “Flare Disk! It shoots fire! To use it, you just gotta, like, think real hard about using it!” she added, less helpfully.

  I looked at the disk again, with the uneasy sensation that I was staring down the barrel of a loaded gun. I ran my thumb over the chipped gemstone set in its face and I could’ve sworn I felt the thing thrum with power. “Okay, no problem. Just a magic weapon. I can handle this,” I whispered to myself.

  I held the disk towards the Mimic, ruby-affixed side facing out. Then I tried to focus on… the concept of fire? Flames shooting out?

  “Aeshma!” I yelled. “I don’t know how to make it g-”

  FWOOOOOSH

  The blistering heat that had laid dormant inside the disk erupted in a sudden gout of fire. Flames spewed from the central gemstone and slammed into the Mimic’s flank.

  The creature shrieked and convulsed as the acrid smell of burning flesh spilled into the room. A sound like exploding river rocks echoed through the atrium as chunks of Mimic-tile exploded off the thing’s back.

  Gruesome, black-irised eyes bubbled to the now tile-less surface of its back – and all of them were locked on me. The Mimic was still up. And it was apparently very angry about getting hit by my Flare Disk.

  “Soldiers, fall back!” General Bimbool screamed. I could tell from a cursory glance that she was in bad shape, as was the rest of the platoon. One more good hit from the Mimic would’ve done for the lot of them. Bimbool glanced up at me. “I’m sorry, Messenger, but we’ve done all we can! Meet us at the entrance to the Grand Vault – we’ll await you there,” she said, her voice trailing off as she scurried away with the rest of her troops.

  That wasn’t so great. Even if the Gremlins weren’t strong enough to properly hurt the Mimic, I would’ve preferred to have them around, if only to serve as a distraction.

  “Hold on a sec, Roland, I got this!” Aeshma screamed, as she hurled a jagged piece of stone straight at the Mimic.

  It let out an enraged roar, then took a step back. “Aeshma! It’s getting ready to charge!”

  Aeshma planted her back against one of the room’s pillars. “Good!” She jumped to the side just in time to avoid getting flattened by the stampeding Mimic, which instead collided head-on with the stone pillar. There was a loud creak – and while the Mimic stood there dazed, recovering from the impact, the pillar collapsed on top of it.

  CRUNCH

  A fragment as big as my head fell from forty feet in the air and hit the Mimic right in the back. The creature let out one final, shrieking squeal as it shattered, showering Aeshma and me in foul smelling ichor and stoney splinters.

  “WOOOOO!” Aeshma shouted, punching the air from atop the Mimic’s ruined corpse. “Did you see that? That was one for the history books!”

  I couldn’t believe I’d been in this world for what, five hours now? And already I’d almost been killed by two separate Mimics. Wasn’t Zone One supposed to be the safest place here? I brushed a Mimic giblet from my shoulder and tried to wipe my face clean. “Do I have to worry about this stuff getting in my eyes?” I asked.

  “Huh? No, I don’t think so. Maybe. Anyway, don’t worry about it.” said Aeshma. “That was pretty cool back there, what you did with the Flare Disk! Where’d you even find it?”

  “A Gremlin had it,” I said, indicating the body I had pulled the disk off of. “It was sewn into his clothes… maybe the fella was using it as a little portable heater?”

  The disk was cold to the touch now, having spent its magic. Hopefully it would recharge on its own; it would be a shame for such an intricate thing to be single-use. I wiped a glob of purple ichor off its surface. As I considered pocketing it, an image flashed into my mind: the incinerated skeleton we saw earlier, the would-be vault thief.

  I slipped it into my pocket anyway. The Gremlins probably stole the Flare Disk out of the shopkeeper’s storeroom in the first place. It’s not wrong to take something that someone else already stole.

  Aeshma saw the variety of emotions flashing across my face and raised an eyebrow.

  “Just feels weird to take something from a dead guy, you know?” I said.

  “Oh. You’ll get used to that. Anyway, I think the dangerous part’s basically over. Between my skills and that new Disk of yours, the rest of this is gonna be smooth sailing.” She jumped down from the Mimic’s corpse. “We’ll finish up here, get our reward, and head right back to my place. I have a reservation for a very nice room at the Rusty Mug. Dinner included!”

  Dinner sounded good. I hadn’t eaten anything today, except the few crumbs of rations I shared with the Gremlin King. And now that the excitement of battle was wearing off, I was starting to realize how hungry I was from a day of adventure. Hopefully it wouldn’t take long to finish off this Quest.

  “That sounds perfect,” I said. “Bimbool said the platoon would meet us at the Grand Vault.”

  “Yeah dude, I have no idea where that is,” said Aeshma. “We could always try chasing after ‘em, though. They’ve got tiny legs, they couldn’t have made it far.”

  “Through Mimic-infested territory?” I asked nervously. I wasn’t looking forward to another rumble anytime soon. “Which might go on for miles and miles in every direction?”

  Aeshma frowned. “That’s a fair point. Did you see which way they went? Maybe we can narrow down our options.”

  I gestured towards the side of the atrium I saw the platoon scurry towards. Unfortunately there were at least a dozen exits in that direction, so it wasn’t very helpful. Aeshma let out a string of curses.

  “We could go back and ask the Gremlin King for directions?” I suggested.

  “I wouldn’t follow a Gremlin’s directions for tying my shoes,” replied Aeshma.

  We stood there stumped. “We could always go back to the surface,” I said, “See if the shopkeeper can loan us a map, or a compass, or something else to help us find them? Or maybe he knows what and where the Grand Vault is? It might take some extra time for us to backtrack, but I don’t think there’s a real risk that the Gremlins would abandon their mission with ‘the Messengers’, do you?”

  Aeshma furrowed her eyebrows, then clenched her eyes shut as though she were trying to think through other options. Apparently she didn’t find any. She kicked angrily at the floor. “Ugh! We should’ve just killed the little buggers from the start!” she yelled. “Fine, let’s go ask the shopkeeper for help. Do you know the way back?”

  If there was one thing I wasn’t especially bad at, it was navigating. I nodded confidently.

  “Then lead the way.”

  Flare Disk (lesser)

  --------------------------

  Item Level 2

  Usage tags: Held, Focus

  Damage type: Fire

  Shape: Line

  Charge time: 1 hour

  Current remaining charge time: 56 minutes