Nightmare Realm Summoner

Orchid took the spot at the front of the group and led them through the Mirrorlands in search of the Town Token. Even though their current position didn't perfectly match up with where they would have stood in 274-50, Valley Ford and the mountain ranges served as a reference for where they were.

At least, Orchid seemed to think so. She walked with purpose, parallel to the mountain range looming in the distance, her gaze only drifting when she went to check their position. They left the sandy plains around Valley Ford and continued onto rolling clay hills, keeping low to the ground to avoid accidentally drawing the attention of anything that might have been looking for a snack.

There were fortunately few monsters that roamed the plains of the Mirrorlands. The farther away from a city they got, the less monsters there seemed to be. A massive creature occasionally flew overhead or a tremor shook the ground as something passed below, but their ragtag team was left unbothered on their walk.

Alex was surprised to find that the Mirrorlands were strangely serene when they weren't trying to kill him. The twisting clouds of energy far above made the ground look like a multi-colored seabed reflecting a prism's range of light. It was like he'd gotten trapped in the middle of a surreal painting.

Something about this place was just… comfortable. The sky was beautiful. The temperature was just right. A gentle wind cooled his skin and bore the scents of foliage that had never existed and a thousand different homes, ripped apart and reassembled.

Even the smattering of twisting trees, their bark bulging with faces whose silent features twisted in eternal agony, seemed right at home. This was just how things were.

I don't remember liking the Mirrorlands this much the first time I showed up here.

That was a disturbing thought. It pulled Alex right back into the present mid-step. He could still remember his heart pounding when Teddy had shoved him through the black obelisk. The warped buildings that had once been his college town.

And yet, as fresh as those memories were, something about them felt distant. Almost as if they'd happened to someone else. A small frown tugged at the corners of Alex's lips.

When did I start getting comfortable in the Mirrorlands? I've known they were a fantastic place to train and grow stronger for a while, but this is different. For some reason, this place almost feels like…

Home.

"Ma'am?" Derek asked, his voice cutting through Alex's thoughts and pulling his attention over to the large weapon-ridden man.

"Who?" Orchid asked, glancing back at him when nobody responded after a second. She pointed at herself. "Me?"

"Yes," Derek said. "Princess had a few too many syllables, and I was getting tired saying it every time. I hope you don't mind."

Orchid's cheeks reddened and she quickly turned away. "We are allies for the time being. Orchid is fine."

Alex and Claire exchanged a glance. The Dhampir raised an eyebrow and Alex barely managed to keep himself from laughing.

Damn. Derek has game.

"Orchid, then," Derek said. He didn't seem to have noticed Orchid's reaction. "While I was fighting the rude guy, you said something about me. That I was an Incarnation."

Orchid nodded, though she didn't stop walking. Her gaze was affixed on a group of hills in the distance.

"What about it?"

"I've never heard that word before, and the System hasn't mentioned anything about it either," Derek said. "What is an Incarnation?"

Alex's eyes widened. He nearly threw his arms around Derek, even in spite of the fact that touching him would probably have resulted in getting cut to ribbons by all the weapons sticking out of his body.

Yes! He asked Orchid about Incarnations without me even asking him to! Derek, you're a genius!

Orchid glanced over to Alex. He kept his face impassive and gave her a slight shrug, as if to say he didn't care what she did. If she was looking at him, she was probably checking for approval to reveal information to a Nativeworlder.

Please. You've got my permission to reveal every single Outworlder secret that you've got. I can promise that I, your favorite Starfallen family member, will never get mad at you for being so generous. Can't speak for the rest of the family, though. I fear we've gotten just a bit estranged.

They may have no idea who I am.

Alex's lack of an answer seemed to be enough for Orchid.

"An Incarnation is an aberration," Orchid said. "A person whose soul is incorrectly formed, or one who has developed an abnormality."

"You think my soul is messed up?" A note of hurt entered Derek's voice.

"It's not an insult, but I wouldn't expect a Nativeworlder to know that." Orchid spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. There wasn't any insult harbored in her voice. She just didn't expect people who were native to 274-50 to understand anything. And, to Alex's mild annoyance, she was entirely justified in the thought. Orchid continued, entirely unaware that there were 3 people learning from her rather than just one. "Souls are incredibly adaptable. When they get more power, they adapt and grow. That's how we get stronger."

"But there's something wrong with mine?" Derek asked. "I don't feel like there's anything wrong with me."

There are enough things wrong with you to fill a psychology textbook twice over.

"You're too hung up on something being wrong. As I said, souls are adaptable. When one is malformed, it evolves to thrive in its new form. That's an Incarnation. Their souls are different. Some things work better. Others work worse. The extent to which that holds true depends on the Incarnation."

"I'm not sure I understand," Derek said through a frown. "What does that actually mean?"

"It means you're dangerous," Orchid said. "Incarnations are unique. Their souls don't work in the same way that everyone else's do. Their physiques or abilities can change and evolve. Think of it like this. Incarnations' souls can change their class instead of the other way around. Instead of the System stating what powers you can get, your soul twists what the System gives you into what it wants. It means you can gain abilities and powers outside the standard boundaries of the System."

"Doesn't everyone get to choose what powers they get, though? Are a bunch of people walking around with the same abilities?" Derek asked.

Orchid shook her head. "No. Classes tend to get quite unique the more powerful the people get. The more powerful a normal person gets, the more their class becomes theirs rather than something the system assigned to them. But Incarnations are completely unique. A lot of people believe that ancient Incarnations were somehow responsible for the genesis of the System as a whole, but that was so long ago that any information about it is lost to the ages."

"So… why were you scared of me?" Derek asked. "You're saying I'm just unique now, but you spoke like I was a monster before."

"Because when I say Incarnations are unique, I meant it. The more in tune they are with their soul, the more dangerous they become. Your class is berserker adjacent, right?"

Derek nodded.

"I've seen an Incarnation berserker kill an entire horde of monsters with nothing but his bare hands in seconds, only to turn around and rip his own team to shreds a moment later because his soul drove him mad with hunger. He ripped his own wife apart," Orchid said in a grim tone. "Having a powerful soul is not always a blessing. The aberration that makes you unique can warp your personality and mind, driving you insane — and when the rest of us are weakened by System restrictions, there was a very real chance you killed everyone here."

"Oh." Derek was silent for several long seconds. "I don't feel insane."

"Not every Incarnation is insane. You seem to be mostly in control of your mental faculties, but I had no way to know that. I just felt your soul ignite with power and realized what you were. You'll be highly sought after by the families when they realize what you are. Incarnations are always in high demand. It doesn't matter how insane or dangerous you are when you're paid well and pointed in the direction of an enemy."

"I'm not so much a fan of that. I don't like working for people."

"That's what everyone says until someone gives you an offer you can't refuse. You've only seen a tiny glimpse of what the universe really holds," Orchid said. She trailed off and shook her head. "I still remember when the System arrived on my planet… and when I left it. Everything you know just crumbles to dust."

Derek grunted. Neither he nor Orchid spoke again, and they all continued their walk through the Mirrorlands in silence. Minutes turned to hours, and still they all remained silent.

Alex mulled over Orchid's words. The explanation had been enlightening in ways that he hadn't expected. He still didn't have a perfect understanding of what an Incarnation was, but his thoughts were largely caught over one line.

Orchid had said Incarnations had souls that modified the class they got.

When I first got my class, something called a Singularity Core changed the ability I got. It happened again to give me Encore when I leveled up Requiem to the King. That definitely counts as changing my class.

Could I be an Incarnation as well?

But she didn't say anything about me being an Incarnation, and she could sense Derek. What does that mean?

Orchid abruptly came to a halt at the top of a hill.

"Gods above and below," she breathed.

Alex followed her gaze — and his eyes went wide.

The hill below them dropped off at a steep angle, leading down to a large cave. Twisting streams of red and purple energy crawled across the surface of the cave like sluggish electricity, twisting and warping as they circled around a green portal.

"A dungeon!" Derek exclaimed.

"Not just a dungeon," Orchid said, disbelief dripping from her words. "There should have been dozens of them around here, all formed around the excess energy seeping out of the Town Token. I've been wondering where they were — but I just figured it out."

"Figured what out?" Alex asked.

"The other dungeons weren't magically weighted enough to get re-created in the Mirrorlands. Their influence over the planes overlaid in their area wasn't enough. All but this one… which means we've found what we're looking for. This is the dungeon that the Town Token is in."