MTLNOVEL Chapter 10: chapter 10: imiter
A sharp cackling echoed from behind Theo, a sound that scraped against his raw nerves. Any remaining sliver of hope, fragile as a butterfly's wing, died with the old man. He stood uneasily, his body trembling, every muscle tense. "You're so stupid!" a voice mocked from the shadows behind him. "Ooh, a dead body, oh, more? Let me continue down this obviously evil path," it continued, the voice dripping with cruel amusement. "I had hope for you, Theo."
"You're him, aren't you," Theo said, his voice low and dangerous. "You made this place, or at least you killed them?" He stated it as a question, but it felt like a certainty.
"Guilty as charged," the voice purred. "I am this place!" The voice shifted, swirling around Theo, coming from all directions at once. He turned, trying to pinpoint its source, and a humanoid blob materialized in front of him. Its form was fluid, constantly shifting, its face morphing between the faces of the deceased party members, to others he didn't recognize. Then it settled, briefly, on a distorted, almost comical version of Theo's own face, then the Emperor's, then Shun's. The last three were messy, like a child's drawing, not nearly as well-recreated as the first.
"Why?" Theo whispered, his composure cracking, his carefully constructed wall of indifference crumbling under the weight of the horror he'd witnessed. He was beyond enraged, beyond grief. He felt…empty.
"Oh, Theo," the voice sighed dramatically. "I need power. Souls, I need identity. For now…call me the Imiter." The Imiter cackled wildly, a harsh, grating sound that echoed through the chamber. "It was glorious. You should have seen it. I took the shape of a wall, then crushed the big guy. Suffocated one in treasure! I tricked one into thinking acid was a hot spring. Another I shredded with spikes. Then, well…took that raisin's life energies."
"Tell me," Theo said softly, his voice dangerously quiet, each word laced with barely suppressed fury. "What does a life mean to you?"
"Me?" The Imiter scoffed. "A life means nothing. It is made and destroyed every moment. Why should I grieve one if I can't grieve them all-" The Imiter was cut off by Theo's sudden movement.
"You're wrong." Theo untied the chain of the meteor hammer, the cold metal a small comfort in his trembling hands, and swung it at the Imiter with all his might. But the Imiter was too quick, sidestepping the blow with ease. The pear-shaped head of the hammer slammed into Theo's side, just below his ribs, and he doubled over with a gasp, the air rushing from his lungs. "A life," he said, his voice strained with pain, "can only be as valuable as one. It is like a binary. Only 1 and 0. 1, a person with life. A person who has potential, whether that be good or bad. And we have 0, those are objects. Objects have no soul. They mean less than even the scummiest of people. That is the moral I stand by. Yet I'm standing here," he pushed himself back to his feet, ignoring the throbbing pain in his side, "thinking your value is in the negatives!" He stood and tried to swing the hammer again, but his movements were clumsy, his coordination shot, and he only managed to hit his own leg. He crashed to the floor, his vision blurring. The Imiter's form shifted, taking on Orion's familiar face, the sight of it twisting the knife in Theo's heart.
"You're a fool," the Imiter sneered, Orion's voice a cruel mimicry. "But…you're entertaining. I was originally going to lure you here to…take something from you." The Imiter's eyes glittered with malicious intent. "But now that I see just how incompetent you are, I'll let you live, for now. Just make sure your use doesn't run out, Theodore~" And with that, the Imiter's form dissolved into the stone, sinking into the floor as if it were water. A staircase, previously hidden, opened up behind the drained old man's body, leading to the light of the surface .