Nightmare Realm Summoner

Claire stabbed the Riftwarped Granite Soldier in the fist before it could finish freeing itself from the portal. It was only fair. Nobody had ever said they had to wait for the monster to be ready before they started the fight. Monsters weren't exactly going to give them the same courtesy. And, while Alex generally would have preferred to go for challenge over a victory, a monster this strong was perhaps a bit more than they could chew under normal circumstances.

Alex would have been more than pleased to follow in Claire's footsteps if a roar of fury hadn't ripped out of the portal with such intensity that a wave of pressure slammed into his face like a physical blow.

His ears popped. He skidded across the grass, heels digging into the dirt, and nearly tripped over his own feet before he caught his balance, arms pinwheeling.

Claire and his monsters were forced back alongside him. Glint's claws dug furrows through the dirt as he fought to keep his balance, while Spark just floated back until arriving beside Alex like an astray kite.

Huge stone fingers tightened around the edges of the portal. The arms connected to the hands behind them rippled as muscle flexed beneath their stone surface. The portal bubbled and crackled, a pot of boiling water with an electric eel dropped into it.

"Glint! Go!" Alex yelled.

The Shardwalker didn't need to be told twice. Glint burst into motion, bounding forward and leaping into the air. His blades drove into the craggy stone, screeching against its surface, failing to find purchase. His efforts left thin gouges in their wake.

"Spark, you too. Hit that thing," Alex ordered. He had no idea what the extent of the Echo Wraith's abilities were — but this was a great time to find out. Anything they could do to hurt the Granite Soldier before it could push its way out of the portal was going to make the fight more manageable in the long run.

As Spark left, Alex extended his power toward the monster and formed a connection, activating Rift Flood.

Electricity roared out of Spark's body. It raked across the ground as he flew, blackening the grass and curling out from his back to form into a hissing cape.

The plates of chitinous armor covering the monster's body shattered as his nebulous body grew. Strands of blue magic arced between the plates and affixed them in place. Magic gathered around Spark's gauntlets, two miniature storms.

The Echo Wraith darted through the air, arriving beside Glint and sending a rain of blows into the straining stone hands. Every one sent a rumbling crack echoing through the Mirrorlands.

In terms of physical strength, Spark's was far greater than Glint's. The Shardwalker was scrawny and relied on the sharpness of its blades to do damage. Spark didn't have that. In fact, he didn't even have muscles, which made the strength of his blows even more impressive.

Unfortunately, while the blows had cracked the stone, they were nowhere near strong enough to stop the monster from pulling its way into the Mirrorlands.

The portal snapped fully open. A wave of hissing purple energy rolled out from it, releasing ripples like a stone dropped in a pond. Glint and Spark were thrown back for a second time.

Alex raised his hands before his face as the energy slammed into him. His stomach knotted and twisted, jolts of pain driving into it. It felt as if he'd stepped into a portal himself for a moment.

Then the sensation vanished as if it had never been there. Alex didn't get long to celebrate. A shadow passed over him. He craned his neck back and the blood ran from his face. For a brief instant, a second dragged like a stretching rubber band.

The Riftwarped Granite Soldier hung, held in place only by its hands gripping the edges of the portal. It was even larger than he'd originally imagined and stood more than thirty feet tall. The towering monster lived up to its name rather well. If it had been standing still and situated on the ground where it belonged, it would have been a perfect statue of a roman stone soldier. But the monster was not standing still. It was in the air above Alex, eyes full of pulsating purple energy.

The rubber band snapped. Time slammed back into motion. The statue dropped, plummeted straight down. Alex and Claire turned as one, sprinting in opposite directions.

"Spark!" Alex yelled as his feet pounded against the ground. The shadow stretched farther. The Soldier was too close. He was too slow. His feet couldn't get him out from under it in time.

A pair of cold hands slammed into Alex's back and threw him forward. He tucked into a roll, hitting the ground with a painful grunt. A massive crash bucked the earth. It launched him a foot back into the air before dropping him back down with a disorienting, painful landing.

Alex rolled over. Spark floated at his side, wavering as the world spun around him. His eyes focused on a huge, gray leg, then followed it up to the Granite Soldier looming above him. The monster held a sword twice Alex's height in its hands, and its molten eyes were fixed solely on him.

It lifted its sword, stone limbs grinding against each other. The blade cast a long shadow over the hill behind Alex. Then the sword fell.

Alex shoved himself to his feet and broke into a run, head still spinning from the tumble he'd just taken. The monster wasn't fast, but it didn't have to be. It was so big that it could just swing its massive weapon around until it hit something it was aiming for.

A quake ripped through the ground beneath him and tried to drive his feet up into his knees. Dirt and stone sprayed past Alex and he half-stumbled, half-spun to find the blade of the sword embedded just a few feet away from him. The sword lifted into the air once more.

The screech of glass on stone carved through the Mirrorlands. Glint tore into the monster's leg, but the gouges he left behind were nothing more than minor wounds to the towering statue.

Alex's mind spun as he searched for a way to defeat the enormous monster before them. The difference between the Novice and Initiate tiers was already significant— he had no idea just how much stronger the Granite Soldier was than they were, but there was no doubt that they were out matched.

"Go for its eyes! They're the weak spot!" Claire yelled from the other side of the monster.

"How do you know?" Alex yelled back. "Have you fought something like this before?"

The Granite Soldier lifted its sword into the air. Alex's eyes darted across its body in search for anything that he could take advantage of. He didn't care what it was — he'd settle for anything. A well-positioned crack just above its heart. A blind spot. A crippling addiction to methamphetamines.

"No! But they're big and glowing, and they aren't made of stone!"

Fair point.

The statue's blade plummeted down once more. Alex was already running. He hurled himself forward as the sword's shadow accelerated toward him. A crash echoed out and he hit the ground in a roll, staggering back to his feet. The fact that he hadn't been turned into a wet spot on the ground was enough to show he'd avoided the attack. This wasn't a fight where any of them could afford to get hit. One blow would spell the end.

"Spark! Do something! Help Glint distract it!" Alex ordered.

His Echo Wraith flitted for the statue. It drove blow after blow into the monster's chest. Each strike cracked the stone, but the damage was superficial at best. His monster resembled an irate toddler throwing a temper tantrum at its father's side.

It wouldn't have made a difference if Spark was ten times as strong. Even Glint wasn't capable of doing anything to hurt the enormous living statue. There was no way to win this fight through sheer strength alone — but he wasn't sure if there was anything else actually capable of injuring the Granite Soldier.

Purple energy buzzed in the monster's eyes and it took a lumbering step forward. The ground shuddered beneath it and its sword lifted into the air, sweeping down and forcing Alex to run once again.

His muscles burned as he pushed himself to his limits. The sword slammed home; the ground shuddered. He stumbled, narrowly avoiding another strike. Alex spun back to the soldier before the shaking had stopped. His eyes widened.

Claire was halfway up the monster's side. She was scaling it like a giant, humanoid mountain. The soldier had yet to pay her any attention. It completely ignored both her and the other monsters — its attention was completely focused on Alex.

It lifted the sword again, but it didn't rise the full way up this time around. The monster swung the massive hunk of stone when it was only a few feet into the air, sending it crashing straight down in a surprise attack.

Alex launched himself to the side. The sword slammed down inches away from his feet. He hit the ground with a grunt. Stones pelted his arms and back and he shoved himself back up to his feet.

Claire had made it all the way up to the monster's shoulders. She balanced against its neck, her fingers dug into cracks along its skin, and flipped her sword around in a reverse grip.

With a cry, she drove the blade home. It slammed into the monster's huge, purple eye. A low, creaking groan slipped from between its stone lips. She'd hurt it — but she'd gotten nowhere near killing it. Her sword was the size of a toothpick in comparison with the monster, but that understanding had come too late.

The Soldier released its sword and reached up for Claire with both hands. The expression of victory on her face transformed into realization that she'd fucked up almost instantly. There was nowhere to dodge when she was on top of the monster.

"Jump!" Alex screamed.

There was no way she'd survive a fall from that height, but Claire launched herself into the air without hesitation at his call.

"Spark! Catch her!"

Spark peeled away from his ineffective attempts to punch the statue. He shot up toward the plummeting Dhampir. The Echo Wraith slammed into her seconds before she hit the ground. Its misty form blew apart, but it managed to slow her fall enough to let her hit the ground in a roll instead of splattering against it.

"Bleed me, that fucking hurt," Claire groaned from beside Alex's feet. "I really thought that would work."

There's absolutely no way we can kill something like this with our current strength. It's just too tough. It might not be fast, but I'll be damned if it isn't strong. We just need something bigger. Something stronger.

Alex's eyes flicked from the huge sword lifting from the ground, then over to Spark. The lumbering statue took another step toward them, a furious, creaking groan echoing out from within it. Its eyes locked onto Claire, burning with fury.

"You had the right idea," Alex said, grabbing Claire's arm and pulling her up to her feet. "But I think you pissed it off."

"You think?" Claire asked, staring up at the massive statue. "This might be a good time to run."

"Run, yes. Just not too far." An idea took form in Alex's mind. "Can you keep this thing distracted for me?"

The shadow of the monster's sword lifted over them.

"I can certainly try," Claire said, her voice taut. "But what are you going to do? Stabbing it with one of your mirrors isn't going to do that much better than my sword."

"Probably not, but I've got a better idea," Alex replied. The sword swept down and they both dashed to the side, throwing themselves forward at the last moment before the stone weapon crashed down behind them.

"What is it?" Claire asked as they shot back up.

"I'm not going to use my mirrors or your sword," Alex said with a grin. He looked to the huge weapon buried in the dirt before them. "I'm going to use this one."