Nightmare Realm Summoner

”How are you here?” Alex asked. He didn’t let his eyes drift from Berith as he carefully made his way down the basin staircase. The demon may have helped him when they were in the Mirrorlands, but he had absolutely no delusions about what their relationship was.

Berith saw him as a curiosity at best… and a tool at worst. From what Alex had understood, it should have been impossible for Berith to be here right now. His soul was nowhere near strong enough.

”What an odd question.” Berith examined the beds of his nails. ”You brought me into your soul, Alex. What did you think would happen?”

”Not that. You know as well as I do what I’m asking,” Alex said as he reached the base of the stairs. He stared at Berith, waiting to see if the white chains would drag him back beneath the water, but it didn’t seem like the demon was going anywhere. ”You’re supposed to be bound. I most certainly haven’t forgotten our deal, but I also know I’ve seen your chains beneath the water. They weren’t anywhere near close enough to let you out yet.”

”You sound displeased.” Berith let his hand lower to rest against the water. Ripples passed through it, rolling throughout Alex’s soul before fading into the darkness. ”Could it be you did not plan on carrying out our arrangement?”

”Are you kidding? Of course I am. But I’m not an idiot. Even if I was capable of breaking those chains right now — which I am not — fighting you would be about as clever as flinging myself off a cliff. I want a fight, not to kill myself.”

Berith nodded amiably. ”Good, good. You are correct on both counts. A fight right now would hardly be worth my time, and you would have more luck lifting a mountain than you would breaking a single link of these chains.”

”Right.” Alex crossed his arms in front of his chest. ”So why are you here?”

”Would you enjoy sitting around in the cramped confines of someone else’s pathetic little soul? There isn’t much to do there, deep in the darkness. I have sat for eons longer than you can even comprehend, Alex. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. It has been far too long since I have witnessed anything worthy of my attention. Would you not seek new sights were you in the same situation?”

That was a convincing argument. If Alex had so much as a flicker of trust for Berith, he might have believed it.

”You can’t see much more here than you could down there,” Alex pointed out. ”In fact, given all the stuff I keep dredging up from the lake, I’d imagine there’s actually less here than there is inside the lake.”

A soft laugh slipped from Berith’s lips. His chains jerked taut as he shifted. For a flicker of a second, anger passed through his eyes. Then his normal demeanor returned as quickly as it had vanished.

”It is not so much about quantity as it is about quality. You will find that to become increasingly true as you grow stronger. A thousand pathetic stars are nothing in the face of a single sun.”

”A sun is a—”

Berith levied a withering glare at Alex that killed his sentence before it could finish leaving his lips. Antagonizing an ancient demon that lived inside his soul was not on the top of Alex’s priority list. He didn’t know how much damage Berith could do if suitably motivated and he didn’t want to find out.

”So you’re here to… sit around?” Alex asked.

”I am here to observe. Your soul grew enough that a sliver of the sliver could solidify its presence,” Berith said. ”I am patient… but I must admit that after all these years, that patience wears thin when an opportunity to do anything else arises.”

A sliver of a sliver… so that’s what’s going on. My deal with Berith let him put a tiny piece of himself into me in exchange for giving me the Riftwalk ability. The majority of that fragment is still hidden away, deep in my soul. This is just a small piece of the already small piece…

And I can’t tell the difference.

Alex swallowed. Of all the emotions that he’d felt since the beginning of the apocalypse, fear had rarely been one of them. But only a fool didn’t know fear — and he had met no being more worthy of fear than the chained demon.

There was a chance that Berith was lying, but Alex doubted it. Lies served a purpose. An ant could not tell the difference between a mountain and the stars above it. They were both impossibly large, and Berith was no different.

And from that fear came a burning wick of excitement. The very same emotion that had propelled Alex through the apocalypse up until this point. He’d only seen the tiniest piece of the universe.

There was so much more out there. So much power to be claimed. And if there was anything that he’d learned from the world before it had all gone to shit, it was that power compounded. Those who gathered strength would see it come in increasing amounts.

I may not be able to fight you yet, Berith, but I will. And I will win. You can count on that.

”Well then,” Alex said. ”I’d say you could make yourself at home, but I’d really prefer you didn’t. Just… stay over there.”

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Berith chuckled. ”It seems you are largely unchanged from our previous meeting. Are you not going to ask for my help? I can see you have made a mess of your soul.”

A mess might be a bit of an understatement.

There were piles of building materials everywhere. It was like someone had blown up an ancient civilization’s construction site. Some help would have been very, very appreciated — which was exactly why Alex’s hair stood on end the moment Berith offered it.

”Hell no,” Alex said. ”Do I look like an idiot to you?”

”Are you certain you want me to answer that question?”

”I’m not asking you for help,” Alex said.

”How arrogant.” Berith leaned back. His chains went taut and he draped an arm over one of them, using his bindings like a lounge chair. ”Do you really think you are in a position to refuse help? Or are you so bold that you believe yourself to know better than me?”

”Nope. I just don’t think you’d do shit for free. There are some strings attached, and I’m not turning myself into a puppet.”

Alex pulled Princess’ Soul Mirror out and summoned her with a thought. Sludge bubbled at his feet as she rose up in a mound, the centipede legs expending from her back clawing at the air as her white mask quietly turned to Alex in wait of a command.

”You imply I am not trustworthy?” Berith asked. He paid Princess absolutely no attention.

”Yes,” Alex replied.

Berith let out a bark of laughter. ”Then you are not a complete fool. Good.”

Alex scrunched his nose. He pulled a Soul Flame free from the Spatial Mirror and fed it to Princess. There was no reason to waste time. He had a fair bit of energy to feed Princess. The stronger she was before this fight, the better. Princess was his best tank. Alex didn’t have enough energy to evolve her quite yet, but he got the feeling that winning the fight against the Region Boss would change that.

It was a chance to catapult himself and his town even farther ahead of their competition. Nobody had managed to defeat a Region Boss yet on 274-50, which meant the System would reward them well for it. Evolving Princess was only one of the smaller things he could potentially wrest from a victory.

A chuckle rolled through Alex’s soul as Berith inclined his head — though the demon’s gaze never once went lower than Alex’s. The demon made absolutely no attempts to hide his thoughts. In Berith’s eyes, they were not equals.

”I see the desire burning in your eyes. So greedy. Good. Power is torn from existence by those with the will and hunger to wield it,” Berith said. The demon flicked a lazy finger. ”Though leaving the foundations of your soul so… unkept… is mildly distressing.”

Alex’s eyebrow twitched. He wasn’t sure if Berith was joking or not. It was impossible to tell.

Is an ancient demon implying that he’s genuinely bothered by the fact that my soul is a giant mess? I mean, I’m not exactly thrilled about it either, but I’m not screwing with shit until I know what I’m doing.

”I’ll mess with things once I get a Visualization,” Alex said, continuing to feed Princess all the normal souls he had within his mirror. ”Speaking of which — and I’m only talking in hypotheticals, mind you, but I wonder if not having a Visualization right now is going to cause me any problems.”

Berith stared at him. ”Who do you think you’re fooling? Are you trying to pretend as if that isn’t a question directed at me?”

”Just pure hypotheticals. No questions here,” Alex said with a firm shake of his head. ”Just wondering. You know. A Visualization seems really important. I know I need one, but I don’t know if delaying in getting it will be an issue.”

”Do you think this is some schoolyard playground?”

Alex was more than aware he was being petty — but Berith was humoring him. The demon wouldn’t have been doing that if he didn’t find some level of amusement in his actions… which very likely meant Alex was skirting closer to danger than he was aware.

If I ask him directly for help, he’s definitely going to hold it over my head somehow. I can’t be stupid here. Whether Berith answers my question or not, nothing changes in the short term. No point putting myself into debt over something like that.”

”I’m just thinking aloud, here. I’m not trying to destroy my soul before I get a chance to make sure I know what I’m doing.”

”That,” Berith said, leaning forward until the chains binding him grew completely taut, ”may be the smartest thing you’ve ever said. While we’re in the habit of thinking aloud, I would mention that I found my Visualization’s rewards only made themselves known at the brink between Stages.”

Alex nodded as if that made perfect sense — which, in all honesty, it did. Everything to do with the Mind Palace seemed to be most important right before advancements in Stage… which meant he had time to work with.

”I see. Pondering really lightens the chest, doesn’t it?”

Berith snorted. ”Perhaps you’ll be something of a fight after all. Just don’t keep me waiting longer than a few thousand years.”

”I — wait. A few thousand years?”

”I am keeping my expectations in check.”

”That’s keeping them in check?” Alex asked, aghast. He paused for a moment, then fed another soul to Princess. He’d never really considered how long he could live… but with the upgrades the System was giving his body, increased longevity hardly seemed like a surprise now that he actually thought about it.

With every flame Princess ate, her body grew larger. Thin engravings carved themselves into the mask, almost like the opening strokes of some immense tapestry. The centipede legs that composed the arms on her back lengthened, barbs forming along their length as their shape grew more defined.

You can take anything you want from this world. That’s what the truth of the System. Life, power, happiness, all of it. You just have to be strong enough to claim what you desire.

Alex fed the last of the monster souls to Princess, his thoughts still drifting. Her body bubbled was she absorbed the final scraps, and Alex took a surprised step back.

Princess had grown nearly three feet in size. The massive mouth on her stomach had grown as well. A purple, barbed tongue lolled from the within it. Dark lips that stretched in a wide leer were ringed by wide, flat yellowed teeth.

”Sickening,” Berith said. ”You have managed to take the filth that reside within the Mirrorlands and somehow make it viler. Well done.”

Alex grinned. His preparations were done. The only thing left to do was head back to the real world and finalize their preparations.

”Thank you. Now sit tight and watch me kill a Region Boss, yeah?”

Berith roared with laughter. ”I shall. Succeed or perish. It matters not. You will amuse me either way.”

Alex let his Mind Palace drift away.

But, even as his eyes opened in 274-50, Berith’s fading laughter continued to ring in his ears.