Nightmare Realm Summoner

Alex froze.

Orchid’s words echoed in his ears, but it took his brain several seconds longer to actually try to process their meaning. It failed. Some part of him was convinced that he’d completely misheard whatever she’d just said.

Claire caught onto his unease instantly. Her eyes narrowed and her head tilted slightly to the side as her gaze flicked from Alex to Orchid.

“Alex?” Claire asked.

“Who?” Alex asked. “Who did you say sent the letter?”

“Someone called Teddy,” Orchid replied. She blinked, also picking up on Alex’s surprise. “Do you know him?”

Alex’s ears rang. Memories flickered through his mind. Late nights studying. Conversations that felt like they’d happened years ago. An idiot that hadn’t packed anything for the apocalypse but a bunch of shampoo.

A friend that had shoved him into hell.

Do I know him?

“I don’t know,” Alex said, finally finding his words.

Everyone was staring at him.

“You don’t know?” Wess asked. “How do you not know if you know someone or not? It sure looks like you know him. What, is he a jealous ex or something?”

A choked laugh forced its way out from Alex. Teddy had never dated anyone. The man was such a meticulous wierdo that Alex doubted anyone would have been able to put up with him. The absurdity of anyone dating Teddywas enough to tear him free of his stunned disbelief.

“No,” Alex said. “He’s… someone I used to know. From the old world.”

“That sounds like an ex,” Alyssa observed.

“He was my roommate,” Alex said.

Wess snorted and waggled an eyebrow. “And they were—”

“He tried to kill me by shoving me into hell about five seconds after the Apocalypse started.”

The mercenary paused. Then he scratched the back of his neck. “Oh. Well. Uh. That’s unfortunate.”

“And now he’s sending you letters?” Claire asked. “And he knows the System well enough to do that? There was no tutorial about letters. That doesn’t seem like the kind of thing you stumble across on accident. Do you think he’s linked up with an Outworlder family?”

“You’re sure there’s no way to track the letters, right?” Alyssa asked nervously.

“Certain,” Orchid confirmed with a nod. “It’s a message delivered directly by the System. You can’t stick a tracker or anything in it because the item that arrives isn’t the one that got sent. It’s a re-creation of it.”

“What could he want with you? And why would he even think you’re alive if he pushed you into hell?” Wess asked. “You think he wants to apologize or something?”

Alex’s hand clenched. He hadn’t forgotten the first promise he’d made after the start of the apocalypse. If he ever saw Teddy again, he was going to punch him in the face.

“I don’t know,” he said. “But I’m going to find out. You said Finley has the letter, Orchid?”

“He should. I didn’t realize this was so important. If I had—”

“It’s fine,” Alex said. “There was no way you could have known. It’s not like I went around broadcasting it. I trust there’s nothing else incredibly pressing at the moment?”

“Nothing that can’t wait a little longer.”

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“Then please continue as you were,” Alex said stiffly. “I’m going to go figure out what the hell that bastard wants from me.”

***

Claire followed Alex back through the portal to 274-50. She didn’t say anything, which Alex appreciated. He was a little bit too caught up in his own thoughts to answer questions right now.

This made no sense. A pretty large part of him had never expected to hear from Teddy again. The chances of him surviving the Mirrorlands — and of Teddy surviving the normal apocalypse — had to have been astronomically low.

But here they were.

Who knew where Teddy even was. Alex certainly wasn’t still in Texas anymore. The world was far bigger than it had once been. There was a good chance they weren’t even in the same Subsector.

What does he want with me? And why now, of all times? Did he only just figure out how to send a letter? Does he want something? To apologize? And damn, why the hell did he shove me into the Mirrorlands in the first place? Couldn’t he have had the decency to show up in the flesh so I could throttle him?

The only answer to any of his thoughts was sitting in Teddy’s letter. Fortunately, Alex didn’t have to look too hard to find Finley. Claire took his wrist and wordlessly directed him across town, locating the merchant in short order.

“Alex! Claire!” Finley exclaimed with a huge grin as he spotted them. “You’ll never believe the profits we’ve been making. I’ve been making fantastic progress on digging myself out of debt. If we continue at this rate…”

The merchant trailed off as he spotted Alex’s expression.

“You got a message,” Claire said. “From someone called Teddy.”

“Yes,” Finley said, his brow furrowing. “I did. I’ve been holding onto it. Do you know them?”

“Yes,” Alex said. “Show me the letter. I need to see what it says.”

Finley blinked. Then he nodded. “Of course. Ah… it’ll be 1 Credit. System-enforced. I can’t pay it myself.”

Alex held his hand out. “Fine. I don’t care. Just show me the message. Wait. It’s just a message, right? There’s definitely no way you can stick something like a bomb or the like in there?”

“Absolutely none,” Finley said. Then his brow furrowed. “Who is this person if you think they’re going to try to send you a bomb?”

Alex just shook his head. “I’ll explain later. Right now, I just want to see whatever the hell that dick sent. I need to see it.”

Finley clearly didn’t miss the look on Alex’s face, because he didn’t say another word. The merchant simply reached out and took Alex’s hand. Their rings both shimmered for an instant as 1 Credit left Alex’s stores and entered Finley’s.

“It’s delivered in the style of a Memory Crystal,” Finley warned. “Brace yourself. The recording isn’t particularly long — and it’s much less immersive than normal. Your mind will remain here. You’ll just see an apparition. We won’t be able to see or hear it, so make sure you listen closely. You can’t wind these back. The moment the message is done, it’s gone.”

Alex nodded.

Finley released his hand. A small gray crystal shimmered into being above the merchant’s palm. He crushed it between two fingers. There was a faint puff of dull magical energy. A second passed.

Then a shimmer of light split the air between Alex and Finley. Motes of energy twisted together, forming into the hazy shape of a man. It was impossible to make anything out about the figure at all.

Alex’s brow furrowed. He squinted, stepping to the side to see if he could get a better angle. It didn’t do anything at all. It was like trying to make a details out through a thick desert haze.

“The hell?” Alex asked. “I can’t see any—”

The magic snapped. All the motes of energy collapsed back in on themselves. A shape rapidly unfolded within the mist. Alex’s words died on his lips as the final smokey traces of unreadable energy vanished into a very familiar form.

Standing before him was Teddy.

He looked exactly like he had before the apocalypse. Long blonde hair hung over one shoulder in a glossy ponytail. His glasses sat crooked on the bridge of his nose and that insufferable chunky watch was still on his wrist.

Emotion twisted Alex’s stomach. For a long second, he could do nothing but stare. He wasn’t even sure what it was he felt.

A part of him was furious. They’d been meant to survive the apocalypse together. Alex had literally saved Teddy from falling into the Mirrorlands, only for the bastard to turn around and shove him into hell for absolutely no reason at all. It made no sense.

Another part of Alex was, strangely enough, relieved. Despite what Teddy had done… this was proof that someone else had survived the apocalypse. Teddy had been his friend. There was something oddly comforting to Alex about knowing that he wasn’t the only survivor from his former life.

The two of them stood there for several seconds.

“Say something, you son of a bitch,” Alex said. Even though Finley had made it clear Teddy wouldn’t be able to respond and that this message was pre-recorded, that did nothing to stop him. “Why are you just standing there? Didn’t you have a message? An explanation? Something? Or did you just send me a message to sit around and do nothing? Somehow, I wouldn’t put that past you.”

A shrill, electronic note cut through the air as Teddy’s watch alarm went off. A grin split across Teddy’s lips as he turned his head slightly to look straight at Alex with a lot more accuracy than any inanimate hologram ever should have been able of.

“There we go. That’s enough, I’d say.” Teddy adjusted his shirt. Then he winked. “Hello, Alex. It’s been a long few weeks, hasn’t it?”