night_creature_07//mimic

With a visible sense of pride, they showed me their mask collection. For a second I felt I had walked into space, leaving earth and creatures outside the room, discovering myself face to face with the naked universe and its unexplored fauna and flora. I confessed, slightly embarrassed, that I had never seen a Mimic. They laughed and, patting my back, said: Oh, you probably did. Creatures of the forest and its glades, Mimics learned the art of camouflage from constellations. By the trained eyes, young Mimics can be spotted atop trees by their blinking limbs, trying to emulate the patterns of the stars, rehearsing the many faces which they will later in life use to discourage predators and trick their prey. Just as mimics borrow their faces from the sky, so do artisans borrow from mimics to carve the ceremonial masks for the Carnival of Souls. They say Mimic patterns hold ancient knowledge yet to be deciphered and it is possible that one pattern exists only once, and it will never be repeated.