Nightmare Realm Summoner

Alex and Claire sought Rhyss out to let the Advisor know that they’d be leaving for a few days — and to keep an extra eye on Vil while they were gone — before setting off through the Mirrorlands toward the Cracked Steps.

It was with a small amount of surprise that Alex realized he wasn’t actually too worried about Mirrorwane. Even though he’d been the one to bring up the potential risk of leaving it behind… the town was far from what it had been just a few short weeks ago.

Everyone had been training against Mirrorlands monsters from the moment that the town had been established. They had a number of different powerhouses — Derek, Orchid, Wess, just to name a few of them. Aaron had been coming into his own as well, and May was turning into quite the menace.

That wasn’t counting any of the Town’s cloaking measures, the tower Mite was building, their new moat, and the two powerful town abilities that they hadn’t had to use since the fight against the first Region Boss.

The Labyrinth that existed beneath the town had almost certainly filled up with quite a few monsters by now. If anyone did try to attack Mirrorwane, even if Alex and Claire were gone… well, it was going to go very poorly for them.

Alex and Claire made the trip to the Cracked Steps in just over a day. Given that it had taken them around two the previous times they’d gone, that was a pretty considerable decrease in time. The vast majority of it came from the fact that they weren’t moving nearly as slowly or carefully through the Mirrorlands as normal.

They still had to avoid the largest monsters, of course. A single City-Eater Centipede was still definitely strong enough to wipe them out with little to no effort. Alex still couldn’t see what their levels were.

But there weren’t many of those anywhere outside of their namesakes. And as for the other incredibly powerful monsters that roamed the Mirrorlands — as dangerous as they were, they were few and far in between.

Those monsters also tended to be enormous and fairly hard to miss. It wasn’t like you could just accidentally stumble into a monster the size of a small mountain. Not unless you were looking for a fight, at least.

So long as they avoided any of the oddities that filled the Mirrorlands and kept to the least suspicious-looking ground, the two of them could basically race across the flowing plains of the Mirrorlands at full speed… and that speed had gotten quite considerable.

Alex was only slightly winded when he and Claire drew up to Valley Ford and made their way into the ruined city. They slowed as they slipped through the warped streets. Even as strong as they’d gotten, there were still too many places for something powerful to hide within the city.

Not to mention that I never did figure out what the hell sent the Forsaken Revenant after us. It was a puppet of some sort, after all. That means its controller is still out here somewhere. I don’t think it’s an unsafe bet to presume that he’s not too happy with me for stealing his toy.

Fortunately, they didn’t run into anything on the way over to the green portal swirling in the hollowed out white trunk of the tree. The path to the Cracked Steps was clear. The two of them paused in the shadows of a building just before the entrance and exchanged a glance.

Neither said so much as a word. They both knew what the other one was thinking.

The last time they’d entered the Cracked Steps, Vaxon had been waiting for them when they’d emerged. It struck Alex that he still had the man’s body in his spatial ring.

Ah, shit. I still need to give him to Mite. I’m sure all that horrible armor they covered him with is probably something he can get a lot of use out of.

But that didn’t solve their current situation. Even if there wasn’t anything here right now… it was a very good spot to set up an ambush from.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t like there was much they could do about that. Claire gave Alex a small shrug. He returned it. They waited for a few more seconds, seeing if anything would emerge or come sniffing around.

Nothing did.

The city was as seemingly empty as ever.

So, with a shared shrug, the two of them slipped out of their hiding spot and plunged into the portal.

The world shifted. Valley Ford fell away as the Cracked Steps replaced it, the massive dungeon’s name blazing in the air above Alex’s head as the odd, scrap-infused platform appeared beneath his feet, suspended in a sea of crackling Mirrorlands energy.

His gaze followed the gnarled white branches connecting their platform to the nearest one. A trill of excitement ran through his body and he flexed his fingers, shifting from foot to foot in anticipation.

“Ready?” Claire asked.

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“Yeah,” Alex said. “I’m going to summon—”

“Your princess?” Claire asked.

Alex paused. His eyes narrowed. “Hey.”

“What?” Claire asked innocently. “That’s what she is, isn’t she?”

“I think you’re being a bit obtuse on purpose here,” Alex said, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “And you’re definitely implying something.”

“Am I?” Claire asked. She cocked an eyebrow. “Are you going to do something about it?”

Alex chocked on his own saliva. “Here? You realize we could get jumped at any moment, right?”

“And I thought you liked challenge,” Claire said, rolling her eyes. “Come on, then. Get a move on.”

She slipped past him and headed for the gnarled path leading toward the next platform. Alex coughed, feeling his ears redden slightly before he shook his head.

“Hold on! You can’t just go over there without me. It’s dangerous. We need my monsters first.”

Claire drew to a stop by the edge of the gnarled roots and threw a glance over her shoulder. Then she let out a sigh. “I was kind of hoping you’d just summon your monsters and follow after me. You’ve ruined my cool exit.”

Alex grinned. He walked over to stand alongside her. “So we’re stuck here until I summon my monsters, then?”

Claire’s eyes narrowed and she planted a finger on his chest. “Too late. You missed your shot for the next hour or two. Should have taken it when you had the chance. Now I know that your desire for challenge doesn’t go far enough to risk kissing me. Never knew I was with a coward.”

“Hey!” Alex exclaimed. “That’s not fair! I — wait. Just an hour?”

“I don’t hold grudges long,” Claire said. She smirked. “You can shorten the time if you get me those flowers you promised. I haven’t forgotten.”

Alex winced. “Ah. Yeah. Right. I’ll do that.”

“You better,” Claire said. She leaned forward, her breath tickling the nape of his neck and her head pressing against the side of his cheek. One of her hands snaked around his waist — and then she bit down on the side of his neck.

“Ow!” Alex exclaimed. “Seriously? You could have asked!”

Claire took several gulps, then extracted her fangs and took a step back, snickering. “I know. Now summon your monsters. I’m getting impatient.”

Alex let out a huff and sent out a mental command to Princess and Glint. The ground beside him bubbled, and the sound of shattering glass cut through the air. Both monsters emerged, stepping into being on the platform alongside them.

He didn’t bother summoning Spark yet. The Derelict Luminary really wasn’t the moving-type. It would be better to just wait until they were on the next platform to summon him.

Glint glanced around. He spotted Claire and Princess. Only then did he turned to Alex.

“Finally,” Glint said. “You’ve kept me waiting for far too long. Do you have any idea how little there is to do in my room? I am a prisoner! Don’t you bear even an ounce of sympathy? Have you forgotten that the extent of my activity is waiting for you to summon me?”

It struck Alex in that moment that, for some reason, he generally thought of Ein’Zahl as Glint, while Princess had almost been replaced by Amelia in his mind.

Maybe it’s because Amelia simultaneously seems so in and out of place with Princess’ body that her own name makes more sense? Huh. I don’t know.

“Err,” Alex said, coughing into his fist. “We have company.”

“What?” Glint asked. “Who? The woman? She already knows of my presence. Have you been struck on the head?”

“Women,” Amelia corrected.

Glint froze.

He turned toward Princess, craning his neck back to stare up at her heads.

“You contracted another?” Glint exclaimed. He spun to Alex. “Fool! And you didn’t think to tell me before—”

“Are you also stuck in your room?” Amelia asked eagerly, leaning down to get a better look at Glint. “I am too! Waiting around is seriously boring. I thought I’d gotten used to it. I spent years sitting around and doing nothing. But the moment Alex let me come out here, I think all my patience evaporated! I’ve been twitching for the past few days!”

“What?” Glint’s confusion was so palpable that Alex nearly bust out laughing.

“We should be pen-pals!” Amelia continued, entirely unperturbed. “Not that Father would let me have one of those. But it would be nice!”

“What’s wrong with her?” Glint asked, looking to Alex. “Why did you choose… this?”

“I think she just said,” Alex replied. “Meet Amelia. She’s… well, pretty similar to you, actually.”

“We could talk about the insides of our rooms,” Amelia said. “I’m sure yours is really different to mine. I’ll start by introducing myself!”

Glint let out a grating sigh. “I could not care less about—”

“My name is Amelia. I’m 26 years old. My house is in the northwest section of Midnight, where all of the nobility are, and I’m not married. I don’t have a job and I really never get to leave my room because my father won’t let me out—”

“Stop!” Glint exclaimed, throwing his hands up. Then, finally, he squinted at Amelia. “Wait. Your own father imprisoned you?”

Amelia was quiet for a moment.

“Yes.”

“What a miserable man,” Glint growled. “To condemn one of your own kin to this suffering. Wretched.”

Amelia let out an uneasy laugh. For a moment, Alex could have sworn there was a crack in her cheery demeanor. Then it was gone.

“That’s just life,” Amelia said. “You can’t choose your circumstances! Just how you meet them. That’s what grandpa would say, back when I was allowed to speak with him. So, what’s your name?”

“I — you may call me Glint. Or Silver.”

“That isn’t your name,” Amelia observed.

“No. It is not,” Glint replied. “But it is all I am willing to share.”

“Okay. Glint Orsilver. A bit of a weird name, but that’s okay,” Amelia said. “I don’t really use my last name, so I’ll just call you Glint.”

“That was not—” Glint caught himself, then sighed. “Yes. Glint is good.”

“Are we friends now?” Amelia asked. She looked at Alex. “Are your monsters automatically friends?”

“Yes,” Alex replied. “Congratulations.”

Glint definitely would have glared at him if the monster had eyes to glare with. Unfortunately, the sleek silver plate covering the upper half of Glint’s face made it impossible for him to do anything other than make it clear that he was looking in his direction.

“How long have you been imprisoned?” Ein’Zahl asked, shaking his head and looking to Amelia.

“About ten years.”

“And you’re only 26?” Anger cut through Glint’s voice. “You’re a child! Your father stole the years of your childhood? When I escape from my cell, I will slaughter him.”

“That might be a bit difficult,” Amelia said. “He does get me very nice dresses. And other things.”

“A gilded cage is still a cage,” Glint growled. He looked to Alex. “I am done here. I wish to kill something.”

“That’s new,” Alex said dryly, but he couldn’t help but agree with Glint. “Everyone ready?”

“Yep,” Amelia said with three big nods. “This is so exciting! My first fight! I hope I’m not too rusty.”

“I suppose we’ll see in a moment,” Claire said.

Then, without any further delay, the four of them stepped onto the gnarled white branches and started up toward their first fight on the Cracked Steps.