“How dare you enter my lair, human filth.”

I stood in the stone archway at the end of the dungeon’s corridor, staring into the chamber. It was a large space with high arched cornice ceilings. The stonework was better quality here, more intricate, patterns laid out in flame formations using the natural color variations in the stone.

A chimera paced in the center of a wide circle carved into the floor, the groove denoting the space sizzling from the heat of the lava that ran through it. The whole place was swelteringly hot. My back was cool from the dungeon air behind me while my face and the front of my body dripped sweat. My clothes were soaked almost immediately.

“You dare…” the chimera growled, its huge lion’s body rippling with muscle. “You dare desecrate this sacred place with your presence?”

Oops.

“Leave this place, undeserving scum. Drop your wand and turn and run as the unworthy coward you are. I will grant you this one mercy, for you have not yet defiled my sanctuary fully with your presence.”

So. This thing was nice. Chatty, too.

Behind the chimera’s circle was a stone altar, piled high with gold and gems and weapons. This was a tactic the chimera used a lot, I guess. Or maybe it just ate its victims and that was where it chucked the spoils. I shrugged internally. Tomato, Potato.

I turned my head a little, glancing behind me. The mimic waited patiently about eight feet back, bouncing silently from side to side as it idled. I wasn’t totally happy about having my back to it, but I really didn’t want to take my eyes off the chimera, either.

Movement snapped my head forward again. The chimera reared, roaring.

“Insolent WRETCH!!” It —  she screamed, goat’s face contorted in fury. Her nostrils smoked. “YOU WILL DIE FOR THIS DISRESPECT!”

I dove forward and to the side as she charged out of her circle, narrowly avoiding another orange channel of lava that ran along the floor. My shoulder steamed and smoked, the suede charring where it had come close to the hot stone. Ow. Ow, owOwOW.

I hoped I had some burn paste left in my bag; I was gonna need it later when the adrenaline and terror wore off.

I flung an acid glob from my wand, but it went wide and sizzled uselessly against the stone. The pain from the burn was already affecting me enough that my aim was off. Dammit.

I tuned my head as I scrambled up and away from the lava, trying to put weight mostly on my right side. The chimera skidded as she turned near the archway, snake-tail hissing and thrashing, waving for balance.

Thumps echoed from the corridor as the chimera stalked towards me.

She crouched down, back legs tensing to leap, when the mimic came flying out of the archway and sunk its teeth around her snake-tail and hindquarters. She screamed, turning and raking it with her front paws. Deep gashes appeared in the bronze of its sides. The pale shining straps were unaffected.

I scooted backwards and crabwalked on hands and feet as she thrashed and threw the mimic off of her. It flipped and landed on its heavily muscled feet, tottering a little as it found its balance. Thick talons grew out of each of its toes as I watched, gleaming pale metal that looked sharp enough to slice steel.

Two arms burst out of its bronze front. They weren’t the cutsey hands it had used several times earlier — these were heavily muscled appendages that ended in sharpened metal, nightmarish knives a foot long each. It opened its lid and roared a challenge, carnivorous teeth gleaming, red tongue lolling and licking thick, ropy spittle.

Holy fuck. I’d been letting that thing walk behind me! Like a fucking pet!

The chimera leapt, blood streaking her fur. She cleared what had to be at least twenty-five feet and landed back in her circle. The wounds on her flank began to close immediately.

“WHAT IS THIS!!?” She roared. Her goat-head turned towards me while her snake-tail’s eyes tracked the mimic as it began to stalk towards her lava circle in a slow arc. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, FOOLISH HUMAN WRETCH!?”

The mimic leapt, slamming down just inside her circle and lifting its lid to bare its teeth.

She opened her mouth and spewed fire. The already-intense heat in the chamber increased to dangerous levels. I felt the skin on my face and hands starting to burn from the intensity.

“I WILL NOT STAND THIS ABOMINATION!” She screamed when the fire cleared. The mimic stood where it was. It looked completely unfazed and a little pissed.

Her head turned towards me again. This time, I noted fear in her voice. “HUMAN!!” She spat. “You know NOT what stalks you! You must kill it! This atrocity should NEVE — ”

The mimic had moved so fast I hadn’t seen it. Both arm-blades ran through the chimera now, one through her chest and another through her stomach. She choked weakly, spitting blood that hissed and extolled unbearable heat. The mimic’s arms sizzled, the muscled appendages popping and burning. It drew back and ran her through again. And again. And again.

She collapsed, heaving weakly. Her gaze never left mine, holding terrible knowledge and an ocean of fear. “… Abomination…” she spat as she shuddered and went still. The light left her eyes.

The mimic pulled its arms back into its body, then turned to look at me. We stared at one another, face to bronze titanium-strapped chest, for a long moment.

It turned away, shuffled towards her corpse, and started towards her snake-tail. The serpent hissed weakly as the lid unhinged and its jaws came down on the snake’s head.

I stared as it took great gulping bites. The snake was gone in just two, then the mimic started in on the chimera’s haunches.

I heaved a sigh and let my head fall back against the wall. My wand clattered to the ground beside me. I needed to get my burn paste out — my shoulder was screaming and I was pretty sure the suede had melted to my skin in a few places.

But all I could do is watch in dull fascination as the mimic ate, the chimera’s last word rolling around my mind:

‘Abomination.’