Nightmare Realm Summoner

Orchid would have said that she was well acquainted with evading death. The Everbloom family had been perfecting the Midnight Bloom Soul Manifestation for centuries. It was the namesake of her family.

She had been trained personally by the Matriarch in the path of Midnight Bloom. Though her own strength had not yet advanced to the point where she could utilize her domain to activate the full strength of Midnight Bloom, she had gotten very good at using Domain Qi.

Qi allowed her to activate the Epic rarity bracelet that hung around her wrist and bridged the gap in power — at least, temporarily. Of the 3 chances the bracelet gave her to activate the true power of Midnight Bloom, only 2 remained.

But even Midnight Bloom could not do what she had just witnessed. It had taken her a whole day to come back to life after Absolution had killed her. The Matriarch herself took an entire minute to return after being struck down, though she had not died in hundreds of years.

But the Outworlder standing before her had healed from a mortal wound in seconds.

This man… he didn’t even flinch from getting run through. Even now, he’s barely so much as moved a muscle. He’s so unconcerned with getting stabbed that acting on his own would have been more effort than doing nothing.

Orchid bit back the urge to swallow. She could show no weakness. The man’s pale-skinned companion had looked terrified for a moment when he’d been stabbed. Orchid had believed that fear to have been for him, but now it was apparent that it was anything but.

She feared what his reaction would be. What family is this monster from?

I may have made a mistake in choosing him, but I can’t back out. I just invited them to speak. It would be an insult to change my mind now.

What is wrong with this Subsector? First Absolution, then some insane Native using the Mirrorlands, and now this monstrosity.

A horrifying thought struck Orchid.

They couldn’t possibly think I ordered this attack, could they? That fool was clearly a thief waiting near the Ocean’s Tide and hoping to get lucky robbing all of us right after we left. He clearly thought his invisibility made him invincible. Amateur.

”I apologize for this,” Orchid said stiffly. ”I had no association with this attack, but I should have expected more attention would be on us after leaving from the second floor of the Ocean’s Tide.”

The dark-clothed man’s gaze bore into Orchid’s skull like a blade. He had still yet to budge from his spot. He wasn’t even looking at her. His attention went straight through Orchid as if she were nothing but air.

”What was this idiot thinking?” the man’s pale-skinned companion asked as she nimbly checked the attacker’s pockets in rapid succession. Everything the would-be assassin had other than his clothes was stripped away in practiced motions.

This wasn’t the first time the woman had looted a body. She knew what she was doing.

They couldn’t be from the Starfallen family, could they?

No. That’s not possible. They promised me that they weren’t entering my Subsector.

”I’ve seen it many times before,” Orchid said, not letting any of the panic she felt show through in her words. ”Invisibility makes fools think they are gods. We should leave. The commotion may have been overheard, and I do not wish to deal with the Great Tide family right now. They won’t hold us responsible for defending ourselves, but we’ll waste precious time.”

Orchid tapped her staff against the ground and sent her magic coursing free. The cobbled stone split apart and swallowed the dead man’s body, sealing back over it with a crunch and leaving no trace of his passing.

She started down the alley. Orchid didn’t glance back to see if the other two were following her, but she was relieved to hear two sets of footsteps in her wake. It seemed that they weren’t going to try to hold her accountable and were still interested in working together.

Though it may have been safer if they had remained behind. That no longer matters. What is, is. I will not fail my family. Even if victory comes at the cost of making a deal with an ancient monster like this, we must succeed.

No matter how powerful their family may be, this is a fresh Tier 1 world. Momentum is everything.

I will not fail.

***

Every single step Alex took felt like it sent shockwaves rolling through his entire body. He had no idea how he managed to keep himself upright as he and Claire followed after Orchid — but he couldn’t let himself show any form of weakness.

This was an opportunity to get more information. To learn more about the Outworlders and figure out what the hell was going on with the apocalypse.

Alex was fairly certain that Orchid actually wanted to work together with them for something. She’d been too surprised at the attack for it to have been intentional, and she’d been the first out of all of them to react to it.

There’s a chance that she was just putting on an act to win us over, but I’ll reserve judgement for until she tells us what it is she wants.

Orchid led Alex and Claire down the alleyway and into a one-story house a few streets away from the market. While the exterior of the house was beautiful, it was considerably less impressive on the inside. The building only had a single room inside it. Layers of flowers had been laid upon each other in the corner of the room to make a bed. The centerpiece of the room was a large, circular wooden table surrounded by chairs.

”So, what is it that you want to ask us for?” Claire asked, saving Alex from having to figure out how to speak through lips as stiff as cardboard.

Some power was returning to his body, but it seemed it would be at least a few more minutes until he felt anywhere close to normal again. He lumbered over to the table and pulled a chair out, lowering himself into it without a word.

”A dungeon.” Orchid walked over to the far side of the table and sat down, interlacing her fingers and resting her forearms on its wooden surface. ”As you heard from Mako, I have acquired the location of a Town Token.”

The Outworlder let her words linger in the air. They probably would have been a lot more potent if Alex had any idea what a Town Token actually did or why it was important.

”You want our help getting it?” Claire asked. ”Why?”

”My class is not one that performs well on its own for extended fights,” Orchid replied. ”And the Town Token is not going to be easy to take. Being able to create or upgrade a town is far too great of a boon for the System to release it easily. I would like to hire you to help me get to the Token.”

That caught Alex’s attention.

Finley mentioned a Town Token as well. He said we wouldn’t be able to get one for months, but why would having a town be important to an Outworlder? I feel like it can’t just be because she wants a vacation home.

”And what do we get out of this, presuming we’re interested?” Claire asked. ”Are you going to sell the token?”

”I am open to options.” Orchid was clearly choosing her words carefully. ”What I need is Credits. A lot of them. I’m not strong enough to defend a Town myself, but a lot of families would pay very well for the opportunity to try.”

Why? What the hell does a Town Token do that just building some houses somewhere doesn’t? It would be way too oblivious to just straight up ask. That would give us away.

”Why us?” Claire asked.

”You were here first,” Orchid replied without a second of hesitation. ”Speed of utmost importance. There hasn’t been a single town formed on 274-50 yet. Every single family is going to be racing to form theirs first, and the selling price we can get for the Token will be astronomical if we can do it before anyone else.”

”That’s an… optimistic take,” Claire said slowly. Alex could tell she was thinking on what question to ask that would give them the most information without revealing just how clueless they actually were.

”I know it’s a long shot, but it’s not like clearing the dungeon won’t have other rewards. This isn’t some short task, and we’re ahead of the curve,” Orchid insisted. She splayed her fingers out on the table and rose from her chair, leaning forward. ”It’ll take weeks to get through the outer layers, and days for the final dungeon. The Town Token is the ultimate reward, but it’s the main one I care about. Help me get to the token and I’ll give you proportionate cuts of the sale as well as all the Credits we earn leading up to it. If we fail to get the Token, we split everything we earned three ways evenly.”

Whoa. That’s a really damn good deal for us, especially if we manage to get this Token. Orchid is desperate. Is she also in debt?

Huh. Maybe that’s one of the restrictions the System puts on Outworlders. They all have to pay a crazy amount of Credits to stay on the planet.

A little more of Alex’s strength returned. Working with Orchid was tempting. Very tempting. She’d dropped even more information in the short conversation they’d had with her. The longer they spent in her presence, the more she’d inadvertently reveal.

But the more time they spent near her, the higher the chance was that Alex or Claire would slip up and she’d realize they weren’t Outworlders.

I don’t know how strong Orchid is. At the very least, she’s got a lead on us with regard to understanding the system. Fighting her would probably be suicide, but if we don’t get caught...

This could be another a massive opportunity. The Outworlders all think they’re coming here to play us, but we have a chance to play them instead.

Alex would have struggled to avoid smiling if he wasn’t so tired.

”So you want us to basically spend weeks looking for this dungeon?” Claire said asked doubtfully. ”That’s quite a while.”

Oh, shoot. I almost missed that. Spending weeks grinding dungeons with her would be bad news. We’d definitely get caught at some point.

Alex started to frown.

”Forget the outer dungeons,” Orchid said, sensing she was about to lose them. ”I’ll hire some natives to deal with those. What I really need help with is the final network. The Great Tide family will be able to get me the general location of the Town Token based on its energy signature. The signal is muted because of all the noise from the dungeons that spring up around it, but even a weak one gives us the right direction to look. I’ll need your help once I locate that dungeon.”

”So you want a few days of our time to help you get the Town Token,” Alex said, speaking up for the for the first time since they’d arrived Orchid’s house. He wanted to learn anything he could get from Orchid, but he had to be smart about it.

I can’t afford to spend too much time next to her or she’ll definitely figure out that we aren’t Outworlders. Weeks would be impossible, but days… we might be able to pull that off.

”Correct,” Orchid said.

”Then I believe we might be able to help each other,” Alex said with a smile.

”Exactly the words I wanted to hear,” Orchid said. She straightened her back and extended a hand, a small glint in her eye warning Alex that he might have missed something. ”Then, as per custom, I am Orchid of the Everbloom Family. Which of the 14 are you from?”

Ah, shit. That’s bad. Do I just make one up?

No, that’s not going to work. She said 14. That must be how many families are on Earth. She knows their names, so I can’t just bullshit something.

Alex was running out of time. He couldn’t just sit there staring at Orchid forever. A smile pulled across her lips as she watched him.

”That’s right,” Orchid said. ”I know how many families made it onto 274-50. I have strong connections, Alex. You aren’t the only one with some leverage.”

The number of families here clearly has some importance, but I have no idea why. It doesn’t matter right now. Who the hell do I say I’m with? She seems confident that there are only 14, so she won’t buy it if I make something up.

Finley mentioned a group called the Nightmarch family, but he clearly hated them. Pretending to be some massive asshole might go poorly.

Maybe I could take Finley’s family name?

No, shit. That won’t work either. He said his family was completely broke and couldn’t afford to send an Outworlder that could do anything other than sell shit. I’m obviously not part of the Great Tide family either. What else could I —

A thought struck Alex. It was an old one, from back when he’d first been in the Mirrorlands. There was one other family that he’d seen the name of, though he hadn’t realized what it was at the time when it had been shimmering above a giant squid-vessel.

I haven’t heard anyone use their name yet. I can’t just not answer Orchid. It would be too suspicious at this point. I’ve just got to take a gamble.

”My name is Alex,” he replied, reaching out to take Orchid’s hand. ”Of the Starfallen family.”