"Once upon a time, a little girl with no interest or love for anything lived in the remote country side of a meaningless country..." Nilrem almost rolled his eyes as the very first words were was as cliche as it could get.
"Her grandfather was her only family, her father had never been anywhere to be seen and her mother had died whilst giving birth to her, the girl felt no sadness about it, not even indifference it seemed"
"She lived her life without ever showing interest in anything, the grandfather had done everything he could to try and get her to find meaning in any activity but it was for naught, for a long while, he thought her to be frail, for she had stopped growing way sooner than any other children, only her face seemed to grow older while everything else remained as it was"
At least with that, Nilrem was certain that it was Gluttony that he had been talking about since the start and that the old man hadn't just been rambling about random stuff.
"She was seemingly cursed to remain a child with an adult's visage but as everything else, she didn't seem to pay it any mind" the old man took a long pause as he put his hands on his face before heaving a long sigh.
Whether it was a coincidence, luck or something else, Nilrem did not know but the supposedly blind old man looked straight at him as he kept on telling the story.
"The house they lived in... There was something else inside, hidden in the basement..." he looked down at the floor with a complicated expression on his face.
"Even the grandfather had never even heard of it, it must have been locked there for centuries, it might have been there before the house was even built, not that it matters..." the old man seemed to get progressively grimmier and gloomier as the story went on.
"For the first time ever, she seemed interested in something, so as suspicious and strange that chest appeared to the grandfather, he let it go, it was a grave mistake, a horrible mistake..." the old man stopped speaking for a second before looking up at the ceiling.
"The chest... Wasn't a chest, it was a mimic, you know what a mimic is, do you?" the man asked but Nilrem still didn't respond, the old man didn't look at him this time, the first time must have been fluke.
"Monsters of deceit, they most usually take the form of chests, just like this one, it had been there for gods knows how long, it was starved for years and yet, it wasn't dead, it wasn't a normal mimic..."
"I thought for sure that it had eaten her, I saw it happen, do you understand? I saw it happen, the massive maw of this chest, chomping down on her, I am certain of it but just a few moments after I had cowardly ran to not see the carnage, she just walked out, seemingly unharmed, looking the same as ever..." the old man dropped the fairy tale storytelling, revealing that he had been the grandfather, as Nilrem had already guessed, for it was fairly obvious.
"She walked outside, things went dark for a moment and then, I have been here, in this place reeking of blood, with distant cries of monsters and bones snapping, I can't help but think that she is still there, you know? I just can't believe that a monster wouldn't have torn me to pieces..." the old man mustered all of his strength and managed to push himself to his feet.
"Normally, she would be the one to help me stand up, I was too stupid to notice that she did care about me, I don't care how many people she devoured and killed, if that is what she wants, I'll encourage her!" the old man reached for something hidden behind the armchair, Nilrem prepared to cast a spell at him but was cut short.
The grandfather had grabbed an axe and despite his trouble at the simple action of standing up, he threw the axe straight at the young mage's head, the blade embedded itself in the wall as Nilrem dodged to the side.
'Not so blind...' he remarked to himself, he stepped back in his original spot, his dodge had gotten him outside of the room and without a clear view on the old man, once he came back, he was gone.
'Swift as well, seems like getting up his is only weakness' it wasn't like the old man had anywhere to go, the house was incredibly small, he could only have gone though one other door.
The door leading to the basement.
Nilrem debated what he should do but considering that following someone into a dark and narrow place wasn't great and also the fact that as much of an axe thrower he was, his enemy was just an old man.
He closed the door to the basement and used the built-in lock to make sure he wouldn't be getting out so soon.
'Gluttony... A mimic? I guess that makes sense but how? A basic, chest-like mimic and a girl fusing into one as the mimic tries to eat the latter? That makes no sense...' thought the young mage he looked out one of the windows, only to be met with a worrying sight.
The monsters, the craving ones, were all heading toward the house, as if the fact that they had been avoiding it had been nothing but an act.
And they weren't walking there, they were full on sprinting through the sea of blood, intense waves formed as things moved under the blood as well, this house would soon be under siege.
Nilrem pulled the axe out of the wall and barricaded every entrance and windows possible except for one, which he left somewhat opened and only narrowed down.
The craving ones had basic intelligence, they should be going toward the opening but they wouldn't be smart enough to notice the fact that it was a trap.
A long night or whatever time it was, was currently ahead of him.