Nightmare Realm Summoner

Alex’s group let themselves rest for around two hours. That was enough for their bodies to repair themselves and magic to regenerate. Derek and Alyssa both woke up toward the end of their break, and Claire wasted no time in filling them in on what had happened during the fight with Absolution.

“You’re telling me we actually won?” Alyssa asked in disbelief. “Absolution ran? Like, not because something else happened, but because we actually hurt him badly enough that he couldn’t keep fighting?”

“It was close,” Claire said. “But yes. He realized he would die if we kept fighting. Probably could have taken one of us with him, but that wasn’t a trade he’s willing to make. He had to run with his tail between his legs.”

“Damn,” Alyssa breathed. “I wish I could have been awake to see that. But I’ll settle for being alive. I was convinced we were done for.”

Derek let out a long yawn. He grabbed one of his fallen swords from the ground and drove it back into his body with a wet thunk, not even blinking as its tip sliced out from his back. “It’s too bad he got away. I wanted to take his scythe. It looked like a good weapon and he broke a bunch of mine. I’m going to need to find some replacements.”

“I don’t think you’ll have much trouble there,” Alex said. “I’m sure you’ll be able to pick a few up on the way. But if everyone is in proper shape, I want to get moving again. I don’t want to let the Great Families get too far ahead of us.”

“What’s the plan?” Alyssa asked. “Claire said it sounded like some big monster died nearby, right? The Inner Ancestry might not be all that big. That means the coins we got are going to be a lot more relevant. Any fights we get into with another family has a very good chance of drawing reinforcements… and I don’t know if we can actually beat the bosses at this stage. They’re getting pretty damn powerful.”

“Alone? It would definitely be tough,” Wess said with a thoughtful frown. “I reckon we might have a chance if we knew that nobody could come up on us mid-fight. But that isn’t an assumption we can make. We have to assume that some of the families might be nearby for any fight. Stealing a kill would definitely be the easiest way ahead, but…”

“The same trick won’t work twice,” Alyssa said with a shake of her head. “Crimson and whatever other family it was we stole from likely would have reported back to their other teams. They’ll be prepared. Not that many families entered the Ancestry in the first place, so the chances of running into one prepared for us to try and sneak a kill would be too high. We’d just get slaughtered.”

“Which is why we won’t be using the same trick again,” Alex said. “We’ll use a different one.”

He rose to his feet and brushed the dust and debris off his tuxedo. Even though he’d gotten stabbed and cut apart multiple times during the fight with Absolution, the magical cloth was still perfectly intact. It hadn’t stopped anything — the blows had just gone right through it.

“What do you mean? You have something in mind?” Wess asked.

Derek blinked. His eyes flicked to Alex. “Wait. Are you going to…”

“Yeah.” Alex grinned. “I’ve got an alternative way to travel through areas. It’s not exactly safe, but I know for certain that none of the Great Families will be there. We can use it to try and get the drop on them.”

“Don’t forget that this isn’t a System-created dungeon,” Claire warned as she rose to stand beside Alex. “Any monsters we kill there aren’t going to count toward the Trials that Shawn is carrying out. He won’t even know that we’re fighting them.”

Alex nodded. “Yeah. We’re not going to be looking for too many fights there. But the Ancestry definitely has a high magical presence. That means it should be reflected over, so we should be able to navigate it. Then all we have to do is find an area that’s clearly a boss room, wait until a family shows up, and then drop in to liberate them of their hard work.”

“I think I’m a bit lost here,” Alyssa said. “What exactly is it that you’re talking about?”

“I’m with her,” Wess said. “I feel like the kid that got left out when team captains were picking groups for dodgeball back in middle school.”

“I’ve got—” Alex started.

“Always hated physical education class,” Wess said, rambling on completely oblivious to Alex’s attempt to answer his question. “Just because I was a little chunky didn’t mean I couldn’t throw a ball, you know? I’ve got a killer arm. Killer aim, too. I’m damn good at dodgeball. The extra hitbox was just me getting nerfed to avoid making my character unbalanced.”

Alex stared at Wess for a moment. “Err…”

“Sorry,” Wess said. “Past trauma. You know how it is.”

Who gets trauma from getting picked last for dodgeball?

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“Right,” Alex said. He cleared his throat. “As I was saying, I have another way we can traverse the Ancestry. Probably.”

“You do?” Alyssa’s eyes widened. “How? Some kind of secret item?”

“Not exactly,” Alex replied. “To be honest, there’s a good chance it’ll be even more dangerous than the normal Ancestry.”

“How is that even possible?” Alyssa asked. Her brow furrowed in confusion. “And what did Claire mean by fights not being counted by Shawn?”

“He can jump into a different dimension,” Derek said, nodding to Alex. “We did it one time. I saved a princess.”

“You can do what, now?” Wess asked. “That doesn’t seem particularly balanced at all. Why does the System let you just swap between dimensions? And if you could do that in the first place, why are we walking around this place like chumps?”

“Because everything in the other dimension desperately wants to kill us,” Alex replied. “And as Claire said, we won’t get any rewards for killing the monsters there. The Ancestry was made by the Rotkeeper, so we’re only getting rewards for clearing the trials that Shawn is managing.”

“Is there a way we can see the original dimension while we’re in this alternate one?” Alyssa asked.

Alex waggled his hand in the air. “Somewhat, yes. It’s a bit screwy. Anything really powerful would probably make itself known. Good chance we’d miss smaller enemies or opportunities, though.”

“So we’d technically be putting ourselves behind and removing the chances of stumbling into a trial in exchange for being able to sneak right up on someone who might be fighting something powerful,” Alyssa said. She chewed her lower lip for a second. “And everything in this alternate dimension is strong?”

“Stronger than the monsters here,” Alex said.

“So increased risk and decreased normal rewards… but if it works, the payoff is huge. There’s no way we’d be able to defeat some of the stronger monsters in the Ancestry if we aren’t stealing the kill from the nobles. But something about letting them do all the hard work for me is tantalizing,” Alyssa mused. She was silent for a moment. Then she shrugged. “I’m in. I don’t think we’re getting anywhere by playing things safe, and we can’t compete with the nobles in a head on conflict.”

“Count me in as well,” Wess said. He cracked his neck and adjusted his hat. “If the Outworlders can’t get to us in this other dimension, it means we can fight to our heart’s content up until we steal their lunch… and I’ve got a mean throwin’ arm.”

Is he still on the dodgeball bit?

“Works for me too,” Derek said. “Seems like the best way to stay ahead. It seems like it’ll be fun.”

Claire nodded to Alex. They were all in agreement. There was no need to waste any more time.

“Then let’s go,” Alex said. He drew on his magic and pulled a thread of Riftwarped Qi from his core. Power crackled around his fingers as he raised his hands up in preparation to open a portal in the air before him. “Oh. One thing. When we arrive, there’s a chance a very powerful monster will attack us. Be prepared to defend yourselves after we step into the portal. Especially if the way back turns black.”

“What kind of monster?” Alyssa asked.

“Dunno. Hard to say. Just be ready. There’s a chance that it doesn’t even show up, but I wouldn’t count on it.” Alex dug his hands into the air. Crackles of purplish red energy arced around his fingertips in a hissing pop.

Alex’s muscles strained as he pulled. Arcs of electric energy flashed through the air around him, and the portal reluctantly yawned open at his behest. He shoved it fully open with a grunt.

“What exactly is your class?” Wess asked, squinting at Alex from beneath the brim of his hat.

Alex just grinned in response. “Come on. Into the portal. And remember, be on your guards.”

With that, he stepped into the Mirrorlands.

The world shifted.

Alex felt as if he were falling for a brief moment. Then his foot slammed down on solid stone. A grin crossed his lips as he looked around.

They’d been right.

The Ancestry had been reflected into the Mirrorlands.

He stood in a large stone room reminiscent of the one they’d just been in. Hazy arcs of Riftwarped energy coiled through the stones and a quarter of the ceiling was missing, broken open like a can to look up at the skies of the Mirrorlands above.

The others all piled in behind him.

“Whoa,” Alyssa breathed, her eyes going wide as she stared through the hole in the ceiling and up into the sky above. “It’s so… beautiful. What is this place?”

Something in Alex’s stomach shifted. The back of his neck prickled. His eyes narrowed instantly and he lowered his stance. Almost as if on cue, a black sheen flashed across the portal at his back.

Something was coming.

“Get ready!” Alex barked. “Gawk later! Prepare for a fight!”

Two hours had passed, which meant all of his monsters were alive again. And here, in the Mirrorlands, there was absolutely no reason he couldn’t use them. Alex called for all of them with a thought.

The prickle on the back of his neck grew stronger. Unease pulled goosebumps up all along his skin as his stomach turned over.

A portal snapped open above the hole in the ceiling, hissing strands of pink power slithering all around it.

From within it burst a tattered hand. A gaunt, zombie-like creature dropped from the portal, landing on the edge of the ceiling above them with a hissing laugh. Two huge ram horns curled from its skull and random plates of bone jutted out from its body in an organic armor.

Words sliced through the air above its head as the System begun to identify it.

They never got a chance to finish forming. A shadowy hand sliced through the air above them. Alex only had an instant to catch a glimpse of long, slender claws as they bisected the zombie into six pieces, sending it tumbling to the ground before them with a series of wet splatters. His stomach twisted into a cold knot as a wave of primordial terror rolled over him. He knew those claws.

A towering shadow passed before the hole in the ceiling, blocking out the skies of the Mirrorlands. Two ice-blue eyes full of hatred and hunger burned within the darkness and the System’s words, somewhat unhelpfully, cut through the air above the enormous monster.

Forsaken Revenant (???)

The Revenant had found them.