Nightmare Realm Summoner

There was a building in Mirrorwane that hadn’t been there when Alex and Claire had left. And it wasn’t the kind of building that one could easily miss. The two of them only made it about a foot out of the Warped Embassy before they ground to a halt in unison.

Poking out into the sky was a tall, winding spire of bone. It was at least ten stories high and had more resemblance than Alex would have liked to a wedding cake assembled by an overzealous six year old than he would have liked. Every single floor was ever so slightly askew in one direction or another.

Calling the tower unstable might have been bordering on rude. It didn’t look like it was about to fall over — which, Alex supposed, was probably a compliment given its disturbingly jenga-like appearance — but the tower was far from welcoming.

While the tower itself was plain, the bones that made it up seemed to have been worked into some manner of pattern. He couldn’t quite place what that pattern was, but it set his hair on end in an instant. Just looking at the looming building invoked a very distinct sense of unease. Never before had Alex witnessed a building that so perfectly encapsulated the feeling of, ‘You really shouldn’t be here’.

“Bleed me. What the shit is that?” Claire whispered, craning her neck back to look up toward the peak of the tower. “That’s the Forsaken Grounds? What about that entire construction is ground? It’s doing its damn best to get away from the ground!”

Alex just stared in mute awe. The tower wasn’t exactly thin, either. It was probably the largest building in overall circumference within the entire town. They could have quite easily fit two log cabins side by side within the tower and not have filled up a floor.

The hell does that kind of building even do other than make Mirrorwane look like it’s home to some ancient Lich?

“Damn,” Alex breathed, starting toward the tower. “You gotta admit, though. That thing is kinda badass.”

Claire sent him a sidelong look as she matched his pace. “That’s one way to put it. Not the one I would have chosen. It’s hideous.”

“Quite,” Alex agreed. “But don’t you wonder what it does? Something this big has to be pretty fantastic. It’s a Mythic building, after all.”

“Maybe it’s called the Forsaken Grounds because the guy that came up with the blueprints immediately forsook them into the trashcan,” Claire grumbled. “It’s ugly. Just a giant pile of fancy bones stacked up far too tall. Buildings should ordain themselves with a certain sense of decorum. A king is only as good as the throne he sits on.”

“Is that really true?” Alex asked, pausing as the two of them drew up to the base of the looming tower. Unsurprisingly, There was a small crowd already gathered around it. Mite must have finished his work quite recently. Alex glanced over to Claire. “I mean, isn’t that basically the opposite of what most people say? Isn’t the most important part of a king what he does, not what he sits on?”

“It’s about creating the right image,” Claire said with a scrunched nose. It looked like she’d smelled a sulfur pool. “I might have been exaggerating a bit. But most people won’t follow someone that looks like a beggar that got dragged off the side of the road. The image we project can be the most powerful lie we tell. There’s a reason first impressions are important.”

“Hm,” Alex said. He looked back to the tower of bones looming far above them. He couldn’t even make out the top from here. There were no windows to peer into the building either. The only thing other than curved bone walls was a single entryway at its front. No door blocked the path in, but the only thing beyond the entrance was complete and utter darkness.

“Hm,” Claire said.

“Well, it certainly makes an impression,” Alex said. Then he paused. He tilted his head to the side. Then a small frown crossed over his features. It struck him that the tower was — for some reason — not in the spot where Mite had been building the Forsaken Grounds.

He turned around.

Sure enough, there was an empty plot of land where the Forsaken Grounds should have been. Alex turned back to the tower. His eyes narrowed further still. There should have been a very different building situated directly before him.

Hold on.

“Wait. Isn’t this where my Cultivation Array was?”

“What?” Claire tore her eyes away from the tower and actually took a proper look around them. Then her eyes widened slightly. “Oh, shit. You’re right. What happened?”

Alex shook his head mutely. He scanned the crowd. Wess and Orchid were within it, but Mite wasn’t. That was odd in itself. Mite wasn’t exactly the most humble of individuals. And given how recently the building had been put up… he definitely would have been sitting around and soaking up awe if he’d had the choice.

Unless, of course, he knew he’d screwed up.

“Mite!” Alex yelled. “Where are you? I know you’re watching from somewhere!”

There was a moment of silence. Then, out from behind a cabin a short distance off to their side, Mite stepped out. He pulled at his collar with a finger and cleared his throat as he nervously ambled over to them.

“No need to shout,” Mite said. “No need at all. I’m right here.”

“Glad to know,” Alex said. He clapped Mite on the shoulder. “I would also have been glad to have my Cultivation Array right here as well. But I’m confident enough in you that I know you wouldn’t have intentionally smashed one of our buildings. So what exactly happened?”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Mite winced. “Err… the Forsaken Grounds building kind of… relocated itself.”

“Another one of your buildings came to life?” Claire asked.

“No! I was prepared for that this time around. I had everyone ready to attack if it woke up.” Mite shook his head hurriedly. “It didn’t come alive!”

“Then how in the world did it relocate itself directly on top of our Cultivation Array?” Alex asked in befuddlement. “Somehow, the building growing legs and just walking to a new spot is the explanation I was actually expecting. If it isn’t that, then what?”

“It, uh, reassembled,” Mite said. He scratched the back of his neck. Then he pulled at his collar again. “On top of the Cultivation Array.”

“Reassembled,” Alex repeated, glancing back over to the tower. “Without being alive?”

“As far as I can tell, yes.” Mite nodded. “It was insane. I’ve never seen anything like it. I animated all the components. Put it together and fed power into the building. Everything was going exactly how it should have. And then it just… didn’t. The pieces took flew over here instead of building where I wanted them to.”

“Is that why it looks so weird?” Claire asked.

“No,” Mite said. “Get this. The construction is exactly what I wanted it to be. It’s just in the wrong spot. Can you believe that?”

“You wanted it to look like this?” Claire asked. “It’s a giant pile of fused bones.”

“Right?” Mite asked. “It’s awesome.”

“It looks like a gnarly shit,” Wess said, stepping out from the crowd.

“Hey,” Mite said. “It does not. It looks like a natural formation of fused bone. A mixture between man and nature. It’s called brutalism. I think. I’m pretty sure I saw something about that in a textbook, but I might have mixed it up with — oh, forget it. It’s cool.”

Wess grunted. “I’ll go with my description. But Mite is right about the rest of what happened. It was pretty neat. The building just plopped itself down over here. It was quite interesting.”

More than a little annoyance passed through Alex. Not toward Mite specifically, of course. The System was the System. One could never predict exactly what it would do. But it was more than a little infuriating to come back and find out that one of his very expensive buildings had randomly gotten flattened because a bunch of bones hadn’t liked their building site wasn’t his idea of a good time.

All that said… something felt a bit off. The System was cruel, but this was just ridiculous. Having a building randomly smash another one for no reason at all didn’t even make sense. It was just a dick move through and through. There was no challenge or opportunity to come out ahead.

And that didn’t seem right at all.

They were missing something.

It would be one thing if making the building somehow summoned a powerful monster that then ruined the town. I could accept that. But if everyone thinks the building did it on its own, without any purpose… hmm. I wonder.

“Rhyss?” Alex called. “You around?”

The Advisor appeared beside him with a pop.

“Eternally,” Rhyss said without so much as a flicker of amusement in his voice.

“Is my Cultivation Array still linked to the town?” Alex asked, nodding to the looming, circular bone structure before them.

“It is,” Rhyss replied. “Though it is not currently accessible.”

“What?” Claire asked. “What does that mean? Something is concealing it? Is the building still physically present? Or can we rebuild it somewhere?”

“It is still physically present here,” Rhyss said, waving a hand in the direction of the tower. “But it is not accessible. The building is completely gone.”

Well, shit. That goddamn sucks. Like, it seriously sucks. The Cultivation Array was making us so much stronger. Damn. Bloody System.

“Why would the Forsaken Grounds randomly flatten it?” Alex asked. “And what does it mean if the building is still linked? Is there no way to get it back?”

“It still exists,” Rhyss replied. “Just not physically. It has been consumed.”

Alex paused. “What?”

Rhyss turned to look toward the pitch-black entrance of the bone tower. “The Forsaken Grounds must have shared a very similar purpose to your Cultivation Array, but was a more powerful structure. One with enough magic to intentionally drive it to consume the other building and absorb its effects to improve itself.”

“Wait, what?” Mite asked. His eyes snapped over to Rhyss. “You mean the Cultivation Array didn’t get ruined? It got used to make the Forsaken Grounds even more powerful?”

“That would be an apt guess,” Rhyss said. “It is likely that the Forsaken Grounds are a specialized training grounds. One that improved significantly on the Cultivation Array.”

“Hold on!” Mite exclaimed. He thrust a finger at Rhyss. “You let me think I fucked it up! I thought I ruined the building! You’re telling me I just made it better?”

“I said no such thing,” Rhyss replied, his lone eye unblinking and tone perfectly straight. “I didn’t say anything at all. I simply observed that the Cultivation Array was gone.”

“You rat bastard,” Mite groaned, burying his face in his hands. “I was shitting myself! What the hell, man? You hung me out on purpose!”

Alex grinned out of equal parts amusement and relief. Rhyss didn’t look like he had a sense of humor, but the Advisor had a dry streak that would have given the Sahara a run for its money. He blew out a small breath.

Thank God. So we didn’t lose access to the body refinement stuff. It just got absorbed and built into the Forsaken Grounds, huh? Now that’s interesting. Really interesting.

“The Cultivation Array was already pretty strong,” Claire said slowly. “You think this building his even more powerful?”

“In terms of power? Yes. I am certain of it,” Rhyss said. “Can you not feel the presence emanating from it? That magical energy far eclipses the Cultivation Array.”

“Wow,” Wess said. “Good job, kid. What’s in the tower?”

“How would I know?” Mite asked. “All I did was make it.”

“That is precisely why you should know,” Wess said. “Do you know how building something works?”

“It’s a house,” Mite said crossly. “A cage for power. I provided the guidelines. But I’m not exactly an expert here. I started my job like a few weeks ago. I’d say I’m pretty damn good, all things considered. It’s not like I’m going around complaining that you only started shooting stuff right after the apocalypse.”

“That would be because I didn’t,” Wess said. “I’ve been at this for years. You don’t get aim like this in a few weeks, kid.”

Mite blinked. “Wait. Really? What were you in the military or something?”

“The military?” Wess let out an amused snort. “Hell no. Say — you wanna go poke your head into the suspicious dark doorway and let me know what’s in there? I’m curious. I’ll give you a Credit.”

“It’s for fighters,” Mite replied. “It clearly works similar to the Cultivation Array. So why don’t you go do it yourself? And do you really think I can be bribed with a single Credit?”

“Mm.” Wess scratched his chin. “Good point. Why would I spend a Credit when Alex will just investigate the thing for free in a moment when the curiosity gets the better of him?”

Claire and Alex exchanged a glance. Then they both squinted into the darkness behind the empty doorway. Alex couldn’t make out anything at all. But, if anything, that only called to him even harder. They both knew all too well just how effective the Cultivation Array had been — and every single person in the crowd was more than aware of the intense miasmic presence rolling out from the ominous bone tower.

Just what is this thing capable of?

Alex’s fingers twitched. The corner of his lip started to pull upward.

The Cracked Steps might have to wait for just a bit longer.