Nightmare Realm Summoner

Alex wasn’t sure how long he spent staring at the cube. He couldn’t take his eyes off it. Perhaps they, too, had been swallowed by the immense gravitational pull that it seemed to put out.

But he couldn’t just sit around forever. Eventually, he had to act. Alex had no idea how long he had to finalize his Visualization before his time ran out. If he was left with nothing after all the Credits he spent on buying scrolls and tools from Finley, he was going to be pissed.

”But what do I do?” Alex murmured.

The cube didn’t offer up a response. It seemed that this decision was going to fall entirely on his shoulders. Not that he even knew what the decision was. If he could just press a button and accept the Visualization, he would.

Like, what, am I just going to turn around and go, ’nah. I’m actually good. Don’t want the Visualization anymore. It was too scary.’ Obviously I’m going to say yes. But how? Or do I already have the Visualization? Shit. Maybe I should have asked Finley how to finish getting the Visualization after I used his scroll.

Alex stood silently for another moment. The cube didn’t seem like it was in any rush to make him do anything. It just floated there before him, waiting. Or perhaps it was just floating. There was a good chance it wasn’t waiting at all. It may have simply been.

”Oh, screw it,” Alex said. He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. There were no hints. The cube wasn’t going to give him any answers.

In situations like this, there was only one course of action that one could ever take.

When in doubt… full send it.

Alex strode forward. He half expected to find himself collapsing in as the authority emanating from the cube crushed him into a pancake — but nothing happened. It did nothing to slow his advance, and so Alex made no move to stop.

He passed right through the warped light surrounding the cube and stuck a hand out.

Then he poked the cube.

The world collapsed.

With not so much as a whoosh of air, the air rent and crumpled like paper; mossy brick folded in on itself. Every scrap of the room around Alex shredded apart and swirled into the center of the cube in a flash.

Then there was nothing but space.

It was space without color. Not dark nor light, not bright nor shadowed. It was simply empty nothingness, a world devoid of anything but Alex and the pitch black cube. The two of them floated in that seemingly endless void, frozen in place.

Then Alex’s heartbeat thumped in his ears like the crash of falling thunder. It pounded against his skull and passed through his whole body, raising the hair on his skin with electric energy.

He was hot. Then cold. Then —

The world was whole once more. It had happened so fast that it actually took Alex a moment to realize what had happened. The empty void had been replaced by dark, rippling water. It surface of a lake, but not just any lake.

One he knew well.

Alex was back in his Mindspace. White marble pillars loomed overhead and his basin sat in the very center, its huge sloping walls rising over him. The gate to his domain remained exactly where it had been — but not all was the same.

Holy shit. What the fuck?

Alex stared up, his neck craned back and lips parting in disbelief.

The sky had changed.

A sea of stars shone overhead in a beautiful, purple-red sky. The vast majority of the stars were dim and dark, but even from a glance, it was apparent that they were no random scattering.

There was an order to their position — or perhaps there were multiple. Alex couldn’t quite tell which one it was. He could only make out enough to tell that there was something… and his attention was more focused on a single star situated at the very center of his soul, staring down at him like the eye of some dead god.

Unlike all the other stars, this one bore no light. It wasn’t even dim. As a matter of fact, it was the exact opposite. There was absolutely nothing around it. The glow from the faint stars around it was stolen and twisted into the star’s center wherein it vanished into a point of pitch black.

And, even though the star was so far in the sky that it was impossible to tell what had taken residence at its very core, there wasn’t so much as a question in Alex’s mind as to what it was. He already knew.

The pitch-black void in the very center of the sky above his soul was the cube that he had seen in his vision.

Alex swallowed. He couldn’t pull his eyes away from the beautiful scene painted overhead. The purple haze in the sky was reminiscent of the smoke that churned through the sky of the Mirrorlands, but at the same time, it couldn’t have been more different.

The Mirrorlands sky was angry and thick and hazy, like the smog from some magical factory. Everything cast in its light was angry and harsh. In sharp contrast, the sky of his soul was more like a gentle and welcoming glow.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

He’d never really been someone who had stood around in museums to appreciate art. The idea had always sounded a little boring to him. Alex had simply preferred actually doing things. He might not have been a particularly intellectual man. Then again, he’d never claimed to be. He much preferred the simple things in life.

But this… looking at the sky above him, at the countless shapes that seemed to fade away from view the moment he tried to focus on any of them, it was different. He’d never seen anything like it.

It was a thousand different paintings in one. And more than that — he could tell from just a glance that the shape they made in the sky would be different depending on where he stood. The sheer variations that the view before him promised, even before showing a single one, were incredible.

A scene like this felt like it shouldn’t have even been possible.

If a museum had somehow managed to capture it and condense it into a single painting, he had no doubt that he would have spent hours upon hours simply standing and staring in awe in an attempt to imprint every last bit of it into his mind.

It’s… beautiful. How can something like this exist in life? Honestly, if heaven had a sky, something tells me that this is what it would look like. It almost feels like I went and stole this from the house of a—

”You,” Berith said, the demon’s voice carving through the stunned silence gripping Alex in a tight hand, ”are a wily little thief. There have been a great many things I have witnessed in my time. But never — never — has someone been so bold as to waste my time with a porno.”

And just like that, Alex’s mind snapped back to the present.

Whoops.

”It was not a porno,” Alex said defensively. ”It was a love story.”

”You can’t call it a love story if they never admit the fact that they’re in love!” Berith exclaimed. A rumbling crash rolled through Alex’s soul as the demon’s white chains slammed taut. Berith’s features narrowed. ”But the two of us have more important topics to discuss than the poor choices of both you and the idiot who couldn’t make the easiest choice in the world.”

”Yeah. That was kind of — wait. Who’s the idiot?”

Berith stared at Alex.

Alex blinked. ”You… you mean the main character of the romcom? You actually watched it?”

”Are you unaware of the purpose of a Memory Crystal? Or are you a bigger idiot than she was?”

Holy shit. I can’t believe he actually watched it. Surely a demon as strong as he was could have shut his eyes or forcibly ended the effect of the Memory Crystal, right? I refuse to believe it actually permanently traps you like that. If it did, Finley would have been charging way more for them. They’d be the strongest weapon in the world.

Then again… maybe using them inside your own mind is stronger? That could be possible. If that’s the case, this could be really good. Doesn’t it mean I’ve got a way to functionally fight back against Berith? He’s currently stuck in here, after all.

”Can you blame me?” Alex asked, shrugging at the demon. ”You weren’t going to give me your Visualization the normal way, and I need every advantage I can get against the Region Boss. I took things into my own hands.”

”If nothing else, I respect your sheer idiotic boldness,” Berith said. His eyes glistened like two molten coals within his skull. ”You stole from me. And worse than that. You wasted my time with brainrotting garbage.”

”Now that’s just rude. A lot of people love that kind of stuff.” Alex scratched at his chin and found his eyes drifting up to the sky once more. ”Say, you don’t mind talking out loud about how you use your Visualization, do you? I’m still not really sure how this thing works.”

”You think I would willingly help you after this?” Berith let out a snort. ”No. Bargain with me. Then I will give you what you ask.”

”Someone’s a sore loser.”

”You are asking me to put effort into being your teacher. Me. Your teacher. I would ask if you understood how ridiculous such a request is, but I am certain you would not,” Berith said dryly. ”I will give you nothing for free, boy. Do not forget what we are. The day I spill your lifeblood will be nothing more than a mild amusement. I caution you against making me look forward to it too much.”

”I’m hardly asking for that much,” Alex said. ”It would be a bummer if I got myself killed before we got around to the whole fighting bit in the first place anyway, wouldn’t it? And I’m not really asking for much. I’m just sure even someone like you still has to use their Visualization. It’s not like there’s a limit to power, right? Or is there some max level you hit and then just can’t progress past?”

Berith’s lips curled into a smile. ”There is no limit to anything so long as you have the power to take it. The usage of a Visualization is unique. It is not so easy for me to tell you how to use it — especially when the only one who can see the exact details of your Visualization is you. Even though you stole it from me, it would take a great deal of effort for me to comprehend it.”

Alex opened his mouth, but Berith wasn’t done talking. The demon spoke right over him before he could say another word.

”And you almost certainly will get yourself killed before we fight,” Berith said, his chains rattling as he leaned back against them. ”This is nothing more than a flicker of passing fancy to me. My faith in you is something akin to what it would be for a rat with a blade strapped to its back.”

”Is the rat at least from New York?”

”Humor will do nothing to change my mind. And besides, it hardly matters. My words will fall on deaf ears.”

Yeah, yeah. Got it. He’s not helping. Really, he already helped all I needed him to. This Visualization is definitely strong. So even if Berith won’t say how the Visualization works, I’m sure Finley will be happy to with enough convincing. And, if not him, then Orchid.

And more importantly, Alex was pretty sure of one more thing.

Berith hadn’t looked up at the stars once. Perhaps it was merely because the demon didn’t care… but he’d been stuck in the same spot in the Mirrorlands for who-knew how long. By Berith’s own admission, he was bored.

A change of scenery should have been welcome. Especially one as beautiful as the one in the sky above. Berith hadn’t so much as reacted to it.

He can’t see my Visualization at all, can he? Does he not want to admit it? Just what the hell does a Visualization really do?

Questions bounced around in Alex’s skull like rubber balls… but Berith had made it more than clear that he wasn’t getting any answers here.

Alex let his gaze drift back up to the beautiful sky above him. The urge to sit down and stare until the secrets written within the stars revealed themselves to him was nearly overwhelming.

In fact, it was overwhelming.

The world seemed to flutter in and out of existence around Alex. There was something in the stars. He could just barely see it, hiding at the corners of his vision and in the darkness behind the light.

Alex’s conversation with Berith faded into the back of his mind as the world fell away. His gaze bore into the beautiful sky above and his attention tunneled in on it entirely.

Distant laughter rumbled up from Berith’s chest.

”Visualizations have a way of testing those who dare behold them. They do not lend their power to just any fool. Of course, it should be a simple matter to bend that power to your will,” Berith said. His smile grew wider. ”That is, of course, so long as you haven’t bitten off more than you can chew.”

Alex didn’t hear him. His ears had gone deaf; his eyes saw nothing but the infinite sea of stars above him. Something hid within those distant lights… and Alex was determined to find out what it was.