Nightmare Realm Summoner

Lying on the ground as he was, Alex knew he wasn’t going to be fast enough to fully avoid the sword crashing down for his head. Vaxon was just too fast. Instinct took over. His arms shot up in a futile effort to cover his face, as if mere limbs could do anything to stop the path of the plummeting wall of metal.

He instinctively reached for any scrap of magic that remained within his body, but it was like trying to squeeze water from a dry sponge. Aside from some Qi, there was absolutely no magic left to draw from.

As powerful as Princess’ healing abilities were, they drew energy at an enormous rate. Such was the cost of cheating all forms of injury. It was a cost that he could no longer afford to pay. He had no magic left to call on.

And so, something else responded in its stead.

His shadow exploded up from the ground in a black streak. It crashed into Vaxon’s sword arm with a resounding clang. Metal scraped on metal as the huge man’s body was jerked to the side.

The sword slammed into the trunk beside Alex’s head, pelting him with wooden fragments and splinters.

Alex rolled to the side and thrust himself to his feet, flinging himself away from Vaxon before even daring to turn and look back to see what had saved him.

Vaxon’s right arm and sword were covered with spiked metal armor — but it wasn’t his. Inky plates clung to him like they’d been magnetized. They overlapped over each other like a segmented coffin, shadows dripping from them like honey.

Droplets of purple beaded up between the thin gaps in the black armor, rolling down their surface in rivulets. It took Alex a moment to realize that the plates weren’t just clinging to Vaxon from their own volition.

The underside of the armor that had just saved his life was spiked like the interior of an iron maiden. Spines dug into Vaxon’s arm and held it in a vice grip. Even though many hadn’t managed to pierce through his heavy gauntlets, enough of them had found purchase that they showed no signs of falling away.

”What is this?” Vaxon ground out, gritting his teeth as he heaved his sword arm — extra plates of armor and all — into the air with a grunt of effort. His arm tottered, clearly unstable. The shadowy metal clearly weighed a fair bit more than it appeared to.

Alex was midway through asking the very same question that Vaxon had when he realized that he did know what the plates were. The corners of his lips pulled up into a smug, weary grin.

So that’s the piece of equipment I get from Spark when I use Armament Elegy, huh? It’s literally the Knight Wraith armor. Didn’t realize the inside was spikey. That’s… gruesome. I could probably actually encase someone normal-sized with it if I wanted to. But, against someone like Vaxon, I can only get his arm and sword. But if it slows him down, I’ll take it.

”I’d love to sit down over a cup of tea and discuss it,” Alex offered.

To his complete surprise, a laugh slipped free from Vaxon’s lips. Purple liquid followed after it, dribbling down his chin like mushy food along a toddler’s face. The large man brought his sword down to the ground with a resounding crash.

Cracks exploded through the wood at his feet. Several of the plates of armor cracked and fell away, but the rest managed to hold firm. That didn’t fool Alex into any complacency. It was only a matter of time — and a very short amount of time at that — before Vaxon managed to free himself.

”You will not be the one,” Vaxon said, lifting his sword once more.

”The one what?” Alex asked in hope of buying a few more seconds. ”The chosen one? Me?”

Claire hadn’t gotten the power source yet… but Vaxon hadn’t used his domain either. The moment he did, it was over. There was no way he could go up against an Adept 5 using a domain to try and kill him.

I do have to wonder why he hasn’t used it yet, but I’m not going to complain about good fortune.

”Chosen?” Vaxon’s lips twitched again as he brought the sword crashing back down into the white trunk. Loud cracks split the air and a tremor ran through the bark beneath Alex’s feet. More plates of armor rained down from Vaxon’s arm amidst a rain of purple droplets. ”No.”

”No, what? You could at least answer the question!”

Vaxon grabbed onto one of the loose hanging plates and ripped it free. It transformed into shadows as he discarded it and grabbed onto another, prying the weights off himself one after the other. ”You will not be the one to end my penitence. You are weak.”

The tone of Vaxon’s words was wrong. He didn’t sound like he was trying to insult Alex. If anything, it sounded more like he was disappointed. Like he had wished the answer could have been anything else.

He wants to die. Something tells me the whole metal-human fusion thing he’s got going on here wasn’t exactly voluntary. I really shouldn’t be surprised, it’s some Warhammer 40k bullshit.

”I could if you just hold still for approximately as long as it takes me to saw through that tree trunk of a neck,” Alex offered hopefully.

Vaxon tore another plate away from his arm, then slammed his sword into the ground. The last pieces of the shadowed armor holding him down crumbled away. Rivers of purple acid poured down his right arm, but the man barely even seemed to notice them. He just raised his sword once more.

”That,” Vaxon said, lowering his stance and pressing his other hand to the flat of the blade, ”is not an option. You should not have come here. Fear not. I will ensure there is not enough of you left for them to work with.”

”Your tone implies that I’m supposed to find that comforting, but I can assure you, it’s not working.”

Vaxon’s lips twitched.

Then he vanished.

A loud crack split the air as the wood that had been beneath Vaxon abruptly shattered, a large crater forming in the thick branch that was now suddenly devoid of a mountain of a man.

And then a wall of warped flesh-metal armor was directly before Alex. Wind slammed into him, sending him stumbling back, as surprise grabbed him in a vice grip. Vaxon was directly in front of him, but he hadn’t even seen the other man move.

Alex only managed to raise his gaze as a shadow passed over him, blocking out the twisting skies of the Mirrorlands. It was Vaxon’s sword. The weapon was already beginning its descent toward him — and this time around he was completely out of tricks.

Ah, damn. Good fight, though. Could have been worse.

A clang split the air, followed by the loud crunch of Vaxon’s sword ripping into wood. A flicker of surprise passed through Alex’s mind. He was pretty sure that a clang wasn’t the noise a body made when it got cut in half.

Then Vaxon took a single step back to catch his balance.

Claire dropped to the ground beside Alex, two leathery wings jutting from her back. Deep cuts covered her body and her breath came in sharp, controlled gasps as she fought to recover it — and tucked under one of her arms was a silvery egg about the size of a small child.

”Shit,” Claire wheezed, leaning heavily on one foot. ”Why is he so bleeding heavy? That felt like kicking a fucking boulder!”

Vaxon’s eyes locked onto her. Then they widened. He spun, looking to the Disruptor behind him. Alex couldn’t keep himself from doing the same.

Behind them was the Disruptor — but the purple flesh within its silvery casing no longer pulsed. The ship sat dead and still. All the weaponry that had popped up to keep Claire back had fallen slack and hung like strands of dead seaweed.

”Took me longer than I’d hoped,” Claire said apologetically. ”But I found the power source.”

”No!” Vaxon spun back to them. His eyes burned with fury as the wood cracked beneath him. He started accelerating into motion before he was even fully facing them.

”I hope those wings can hold two people!” Alex yelled. He knew all too well just how fast the other man could be. Claire had managed to get a sneak attack on him once, but something told him that Vaxon wasn’t about to let that happen a second time.

Alex looped an arm around Claire’s waist and leapt off the branch.

Wind howled past Alex’s face as they plummeted through the air above the warped reflection of Valley Ford. He clung onto Claire with all the strength he had. For a brief moment, he saw Vaxon’s face peering down at them over the edge of the branch.

Then Claire’s wings snapped out. His stomach jerked into his throat as the wind caught under them, but he managed to keep his grip as their fall slipped into a glide. The Disruptor and Vaxon quickly receded as they angled down toward the city floor.

The ground approached quickly — too quickly. Alex only had a moment to suppress a curse before they hit it in a tumble of limbs, rolling for several feet before thudding to a halt against a cracked wall.

They both let out pained grunts. Alex couldn’t even muster up the energy to push himself upright. He just let his head rest on the rubble as he stared up into the twisting skies of the Mirrorlands above.

Damn. What a fight. I wish I’d been stronger. If I had access to a Partial Domain, I bet I could have given Vaxon a real run for his money. Maybe I would have been able to save him.

”Ow,” Claire groaned. She pushed herself up and rolled off Alex. ”My leg. My wings. My ass. My back. My everything, actually. Are you okay?”

”I’m fine,” Alex said through a grimace. ”Better than Vaxon is.”

”I think roadkill is in better shape than he is,” Claire muttered.

”Not wrong about that. These families are seriously fucked up.”

She pushed herself upright. Alex did the same.

They exchanged a look, then both turned their gazes down. Nestled under one of Claire’s arms was the silvered egg. Now that Alex had a moment to get a proper look at it, he realized it was more than just smooth metal.

Faint lines of purple energy pulsed deep within the egg like veins and the air around the egg had a faint staticky buzz to it. Alex reached out to the egg. The closer his hand got, the stiffer the air seemed to feel.

There was power within the inconspicuous looking object, and a lot of it.

A grin pulled at Claire’s lips as they studied their prize.

”Well, it didn’t do the families much good in the end. We got it.”

”How’d you even figure out what bit was the power source?” Alex asked.

”I kept pulling things out until something broke the Disruptor. Process of elimination.”

He let out a bark of laughter. ”Should have thought of that.”

The two of them slowly clambered back to their feet. Claire tucked the orb under her arm, then grinned. ”Well, then. There should be a bit of chaos going down in Valley Ford right now. And if there isn’t, there will be soon enough after they figure out the Disruptor is screwed. So… shall we go find our engineer?”