Nightmare Realm Summoner

A tremor ran through Mirrorwane. Alex stumbled as the ground beneath his feet bucked. It wasn’t enough to make him lose contact with the town orb, but it had certainly been far more than just a small earthquake. Several faint yells from the distance rose up just moments later.

Alex jerked back, already turned halfway toward the exit of the Town Hall.

“Was that—”

“It’s fine,” Rhyss said with a placating gesture. “Do not fear. That was just the moat coming into being. Such a significant building does not appear without some disruption. A great deal of land had to be removed. The System would have waited until nobody was present within the immediate territory that was to be removed. It is not cruel.”

Yeah, but it’s hardly kind.

“You’re sure?” Alex asked warily.

“No, it makes sense,” Claire said. “I doubt the System would love the idea of being used to drop a building on someone’s head. It’s not out of any sense of kindness. That kind of thing could be weaponized very easily. Imagine if we could just build a thousand tons of brick directly above an enemy’s head when they’re inside a town.”

Alex paused for a moment. Then he snorted. “Okay. Yeah. That’s fair. It would be a bit bullshit. So the moat is done?”

“It is,” Rhyss said.

Alex grinned. “Then let’s go take a look, shall we?”

Nobody was about to argue with that. The three of them strode out of the Town Hall and joined the small crowd of people hurrying over to the edges of the town to get a look at the new structure. They all gathered at the gate, before a brand new drawbridge made of black wood, and peered past the Veil of Stolen Confessions down at the moat now encircling it.

The moat was considerably deeper than Alex had expected it to be. It was at least sixty feet down and just as wide. Sleek black stone ran all the way down into the bottom of the pit, lining the walls and leaving no trace of the dirt that had once been there.

There was also a new lever on the inner portion of the Veil of Stolen Confessions that hadn’t been there before. It was made of the same black wood and quite large, sized so that one would need both hands if they wanted to pull it. Alex didn’t have too much trouble guessing what the lever was for.

He looked past it and over the edge of the drawbridge into the moat itself. Thick rivers of hissing Mirrorlands Qi slithered through the depths of the pit, sliding off the stone like water. They didn’t make it more than halfway up the pit. But, despite that, the power emanating from the energy was enough for Alex’s hair to stand on end from his position above the moat.

“I don’t think anything is going to have a good time if it falls down there,” Alex said. “Can anyone else feel it?”

A round of nods met his question.

Claire headed across the drawbridge and to the other side of the moat. She reached and picked

She picked up a rock and tossed it into the pit. The stone sailed down into the angry power to clink several times off the ground, unharmed. Everyone in the crowd fell silent as they watched the stone come to a rest.

Then they all turned to Claire.

“Huh,” Alex said. “A bit anticlimactic, don’t you think?.”

“It might not do anything to inanimate objects,” Claire said. “Anyone have a living monster or something similar they captured?”

“I think Barb has a rat,” someone offered.

“We’re not tossing someone’s pet into the pit of death,” Alex said flatly. “Even I have to draw a line somewhere. Maybe we just need organic matter. I assume somebody’s got a bit of a monster in their Spatial Ring somewhere. Toss it—”

Before he’d even managed to finished, a rain of bones and other assorted bits of flesh sailed over his head and into the swirling mist below.

There was a series of loud, hissing pops. What sounded like a firecracker went off in the depths of a pit. A dozen arcs of angry purple lightning leapt through the mist, rising well up into the upper half of the moat. People lurched back as a few tongues leapt straight into the sky with a crackle.

Then there was silence.

Alex peered back into the moat, his heart beating considerably faster than it had been a moment ago. There was no sign at all of the assorted organic materials that had been hurled into the moat. Nobody said anything for several more seconds. They were all too busy staring into the swirling red mist.

“Well,” Alex said. “I guess we figured out what it does.”

“Impressive,” Claire said. “That was a lot more intense than I thought. I wonder if we can make it bigger in the future. Could we surround the entire city with a lake of Mirrorlands Qi?”

“That seems slightly evil,” Alex said.

“But badass,” Claire said.

“Point conceded,” Alex said with a grin. “Let’s keep an eye out for that. Maybe we can upgrade the Boon in the future. I’m sure there’s a way.”

“And until then, we’ve got an organic garbage disposal,” Aaron said from behind Alex. “Nice.”

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“Yeah. Just don’t fall in,” Alex said, glancing over his shoulder before returning his attention to the depths of the pit before him. He couldn’t even see dust where the body parts had been. The moat was definitely proving why it had cost 6 Legendary Boons. Anything that fell into it was going to have much worse than a bad time.

It didn’t look like they’d be having much of any time at all.

“We could fence it off,” May offered, peeking out from behind Aaron’s back.

“I think fencing off the moat would somewhat defeat the purpose of having a moat in the first place,” Alex said. He scratched his chin. “Just don’t go near it. Stay on the drawbridge. It’ll be pretty useful if anyone decides they want to siege us. What I want to know is what this thing looks like in the Mirrorlands. You think it’s just a stream of normal-world energy?”

“What would that do?” Aaron asked through a smirk. “Give anyone who touches it a 9 to 5?”

Alex burst into laughter. “If it did and I had to choose between jumping into one of them, I think I’d chose to jump into this one.”

***

Amelia of the Foresworn Sun Family, 4th in line to the Pearl Throne and by far her father’s favorite daughter, sat upon her expensive plush chair and pouted. She was in a terrible mood.

The princess couldn’t have cared less that the impossibly soft and comfortable material supporting her had easily cost as much as a decently sized town could produce in a month. She didn’t care that the meal waiting for her just outside her door was composed of the finest ingredients in the Infinium that had probably cost the lives of a few good people.

She knew that Father would probably send a dozen dresses tied with expensive jewelry and beautiful magical items that most could only dream of getting if she so much as mentioned her day to him. He hated when she had bad days.

And she did appreciate that. It was good to know that someone else didn’t like when she had bad days. But she was the one currently experiencing the bad day. And, as such, there was at least an hour of pouting that she planned to indulge herself with before she capitulated and informed her father that she wanted something new.

Amelia hadn’t decided on exactly what it was that she wanted yet. If she was entirely honest with herself, there really wasn’t anything at all that she wanted. But getting something was better than getting nothing. It certainly beat the boredom away for a few seconds.

Her eye twitched slightly.

Amelia sank lower in her chair. She stared out the large window at the foot of her bed. The window was her favorite place in the room because it let her see the farthest away from it. She spent the majority of her time looking out that window.

It was the farthest she’d been in the past ten years.

Ever since Evander, formerly 4th in line to the throne, had been assassinated, he’d gotten rather overprotective.

Ten years. It’s been ten years since I’ve left this estate.

Somebody kill me. Please. At least let me leave a pretty corpse.

Amelia ran her hands through her hair. She sank even deeper into her chair, until her legs completely stuck out past it and the only things remaining on the cushion were her head and upper back. Then she groaned. She flopped down to the ground.

A wave of desperate annoyance rolled over her. She resisted the urge to start kicking her feet at the air. Tantrums didn’t do anything other than make her eyes puffy and ruin her mascara. She’d already spent a few hours doing her makeup today. Ruining it now would waste the effort entirely.

Just because she was locked up didn’t mean she had to stop taking care of herself.

Sure, spending a few hours on makeup couldn’t have possibly been normal. But it wasn’t like she had much better to do while passing the time. At least she could look good for herself. Even if nobody else would ever see it.

“Gods above, below, and in any other direction,” Amelia said into the palms of her hands. “Somebody kill me. Please. I’m so bored. Why couldn’t I have been born as a rodent? I want to be a rodent. A fat, stinky little rodent. I’m sure Father would still somehow find me. But he probably wouldn’t guess that I’m in the sewers immediately. At least I’d be able to explore for longer than if I were an adventurer.”

No answer came.

That was expected. Father didn’t like when people came in her room. There was too great a chance that one of them could be an assassin, after all. And the line to the throne had to be protected… even if it meant the poor saps waiting went insane.

A flicker of anger swirled deep down within Amelia. It threatened to ignite the thick bundle of dry kindling that were the emotions she’d shoved into the depths of her soul. She quickly snuffed it out. Having a tantrum now would definitely ruin her morning’s work.

Still, more than anything, she wished she could do something. The last time she’d spoken to someone face to face had been her grandpa nearly… 5 years ago. That had been before Father had decided that in-person visits were far too dangerous to permit.

That had been before Father had decided Grandpa was a threat to the crown and had him executed.

A shudder ran down Amelia’s spine.

“Five years,” she whispered to herself. “I haven’t seen another person in five years.”

She wanted to throw up.

That definitely would have ruined her makeup, though.

She rolled over and sat up.

Then she threw a glance over her shoulder. Nobody was there. Nobody ever was. But it felt nice to pretend. Amelia rolled herself over to the dresser beside her bed and stuck her hand into the thin crack between the wood and the floor, shoving it deeper until her fingers found cold metal.

She latched onto it and pulled free a small black card roughly the size of her palm.

Grandpa hadn’t said what it did. She presumed he’d known they were being watched. But in all the years she’d been here, Amelia had never managed to figure out what this little card was for. All she could do was hope that it did something.

The hope was one of the few things that kept her from going completely insane.

She ran a finger along its surface, a faint smile crossing her features as she let herself imagine. Perhaps the card was a portal. Maybe it was a magical call for help to some knight from a faraway land who would come to save her, get defeated, and join her in the room.

At least she’d have some company.

“That would be nice, wouldn’t it?” Amelia asked.

She idly turned the card over.

Then she froze.

“What?” Amelia whispered.

There was something shimmering upon its surface. Words that she’d never seen before, but ones that were unmistakably from the System.

Potential Contractor Found. Would you like to establish contact? [Y/N]

Amelia stared at the shimmering words. Her lips parted slightly.

Contact? I can speak with someone?

She snapped from her fugue and darted to her feet, scrambling over to her chair and flinging herself into the soft cushions. Amelia took on the most regal position she could. And then, her heart pounding a thousand times a second in her chest, she jabbed her finger into the affirmative option upon the card.

***

Alex slowed to a stop on his way to the Warped Embassy.

“Is something wrong?” Claire asked.

“Yeah,” he said, a frown splitting his features as he reached down to his deck. “My cards feel heavy.”

“Heavy?” Claire asked. “What do you mean?”

Alex shook his head unknowingly as he stuck his hand into the deck at his hip. One of the cards was warm to the touch. Far warmer than it should have been. He pulled it free.

Then his eyes widened as he saw the shimmering golden letters of the System crawling across the Spatial Mirror’s surface.

A connection to a potential master for this reflection has been offered.

Accept?

[Y/N]