Nightmare Realm Summoner

Grass and blue skies spun around Alex like a green whirlpool. It took him a moment to realize that it wasn't the world that was spinning — it was him. He hit the ground before a large pile of mossy boulders with a grunt and the world jerked to a halt. A purple vortex spinning in the air above him vanished. The sun burned overhead, halfway through the sky above. Alex squeezed his eyes shut to keep his retinas from getting burned out.

The air was rudely knocked from his lungs an instant later when Claire landed directly on top of his stomach. He let out a pained grunt and bolted upright, spilling her onto the grass at his side.

She let out a slew of pained curses, and Alex heard the word blood muttered at least half a dozen times in rapid succession. He couldn't make out quite what she was saying, but it wasn't difficult to take a guess.

He held his hand out. Claire latched onto it. Two sharp pinpricks of hot pain burned as her fangs pierced into his wrist. She gulped blood down greedily for several seconds before visibly forcing herself to pull back.

"Thanks," Claire said, licking her lips clean and letting out a relieved sigh. "Again."

"It's fine. I wasn't using the blood anyway," Alex said. He glanced down at the black clothes from the Band of Shadowed Shroud covering his body. They vanished at a thought, leaving only his tattered rags behind. Alex wiped his hand off on the rags, then re-activated the bracelet. He glanced over at Claire. "What? Out of sight, out of mind."

"No comment," Claire replied. She rose to her feet and held a hand out to Alex. "I don't think I can say much other than I really want to get one of those for myself."

"I'm sure we'll get a chance soon enough." Alex accepted Claire's hand and she pulled him up to his feet. They'd — quite fortunately — returned to the exact location of the portal that they'd taken into the Mirrorlands. The city they'd come from was only a fifteen minute walk away and they weren't gaining anything from waiting around.

Alex looked back at the sealed rift. Thin, purple lines of energy buzzed in the air behind them, just waiting to be split open once more.

Soon.

He nodded to Claire and the two of them started off toward town.

***

Alex had been hoping to make it back to their room without running into anyone, but it turned out that the universe had other plans. He and Claire made it all the way back into the run-down apartment before running into Ben, who stood in a small group of survivors.

He caught sight of them as they tried to slip over to the stairwell that led toward their rooms and raised a hand in greeting, breaking away from them and heading in their direction. Alex glanced above his head, noting that Ben's level had improved since the last time they'd met.

Ben - Cleaver (Novice 5)

"Nice fit," Ben said with an easygoing grin, nodding to Alex. "Little edgy, but it fits."

Alex's eyes narrowed. "Was that a pun?"

Ben laughed and shook his head, his features growing serious. "Glad you both made it back — though I think Claire might need to grab some new clothes herself. I think we might have some spares lying around."

"That would be much appreciated." Claire picked at her tattered shirt and grimaced. "This isn't long for the world."

"I'll see what I can dig up for you," Ben promised. He heaved a sigh and glanced over his shoulder at the group of survivors behind him before looking back to Alex and lowering his voice. "We've been losing people left and right. That bastard you were fighting with before — Diego — you remember him?"

"I don't think I could forget him." Alex's lips thinned. "Don't tell me that madman is in the town."

"In the town?" Ben's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "What do you think we are? Insane? No, he's not in the town, but he's been killing people. We haven't been able to catch him. He attacks groups doing the dungeon near the town and survivors traveling alone. Last I heard, he was already Novice 9. I was worried he got you both."

"Shit. That fast?" Alex asked. He hadn't forgotten how his fight with Diego had gone. He wasn't sure how a rematch would turn out — but he couldn't help but want to find out — just as long as Diego wasn't getting the jump on him when he was trying to do something else. "How many people has he killed?"

"We think he's at 8," Ben replied with a grimace. He bit the insides of his cheeks and blew out a short breath. "The world's gone insane, man. I just want to fucking live. That's it. I can't believe we've got to fight against people as well as monsters."

"Has anything really changed?" Alex asked with a dry smile. "The monsters are just more obvious now. At least we know who we have to fight and have a chance to win against them."

"I… suppose that's one way to look at it," Ben said, tilting his head to the side and scratching at the thin layer of stubble that had started to take root in his chin. He shook his head. "You know, I'm a godawful leader. I've met a few people that like fighting monsters, but I'm not one of them. I just want to survive. But you — you like it, don't you?"

"Was it that obvious?"

"It's in your eyes," Ben replied, tapping the side of his head and giving Alex a small smile. "And I'll be honest. I'm glad for it. The more people like you there are, the less I've got to do myself. The more I can just sit back here and try to keep everyone from each other's throats while looking out for my girlfriend. Are you planning to stick around for the horde?"

I don't see any reason to lie.

"You wouldn't catch me dead missing it."

"Figured," Ben said with a chuckle. "Good. I don't suppose you'd be willing to tell me how strong you've gotten? I get not wanting to share it, but I'm doing my best to determine where everyone in Towntown stands so we can figure out how to distribute our forces during the horde."

"I'd prefer not to — hold on. Towntown?" Alex stared at Ben. "You're kidding."

Ben sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "We held a poll."

Claire snickered. "Good name if you ask me."

"Honestly, could be worse," Alex agreed. "I'd still prefer to keep my stage to myself, though. Sorry."

"No, it's fine." Ben waved a hand and shook his head. "I've gotten the same answer from everyone with one of those level-hiding items, and I don't blame any of you. Never know when the thing that kills you is some mad fucker at your back instead of one of the monsters in front of you. I wish things were more ideal, but that just isn't the case. I've got half a mind to think that the damn leaderboard is going to kill more people than the monsters will."

I suppose I can't be surprised that other people have figured out that there are definitely going to be some good rewards for topping the leaderboard. People aren't stupid. Not all of them, at least.

"Well, I won't make promises about much, but I fully plan on killing every single monster I can. I don't have my sights set on fighting any humans that don't come after me first," Alex said honestly.

His honesty was equal parts because he had absolutely no desire to kill random people who were just trying to survive and that nobody he'd seen inside the camp so far had actually been strong enough to actually want to try and fight.

I'm not trying to become some bloodthirsty monster, but it could be fun to have a sparring match with someone as strong or stronger than me. I wonder if the System would reward a challenge if you don't actually win a fight. Should try to test that out at some point.

"That's a relief to hear. I trust you," Ben said, clapping Alex on the shoulder and giving him another charismatic grin. He let his hand slip off and ran it through his hair with a sigh. For a moment, exhaustion shone through his features as clear as day. Then it was gone, his face a smiling mask once more. "Well, I won't eat up any more of your time. You and Claire look exhausted. Don't forget the monster horde is slated to start… soon, I guess. It's still the last day, but I don't really trust the System, nor do I know what it considers a whole day. It could pop out at any time. Just be ready, yeah?"

"We will," Alex promised.

"Great. Then get on with you. And Claire, I'll have someone hunt around for some extra clothes and have them sent up to your room," Ben said, stepping back to let them pass by him.

"Thanks. That's kind of you," Claire said with an appreciative nod.

"Bah. It's nothing. Extra clothes aren't doing anyone any good. I just hope you don't mind a different style. Really, I should be thanking you. If you've gotten stronger than the last time you were around, we're really going to need you two on the battlefield. Especially if Diego shows up."

Alex and Claire bid farewell to Ben and headed up the stairs to Room 221. Alex flopped down on the bed as soon as they returned, letting out a relieved groan as he finally gave his strained muscles a chance to rest.

Claire sat down beside him. She let the breath out of her lungs with an explosive huff. Her head thunked against the wall as she leaned back and she cursed under her breath. "Bleed me."

"You okay?"

"I'm fine," Claire grumbled. "Just exhausted. And vibrating with anticipation. You want to meditate first? I've got to wait for the clothes delivery, and one of us needs to keep watch anyway."

"Not saying no to that," Alex said. He remained still for another few seconds before mustering the energy to push himself back upright and into a seated position. He scooted up against the wall and let out a slow breath, gathering himself before reaching deep within his mind and sinking into his Mind Palace.

It was time to cash in the rewards he'd earned in the Mirrorlands.