Nightmare Realm Summoner

Claire ground her teeth. Her nails bit into the beds of her palms, fingers shaking as blood traced down their length to drip from her knuckles and plink against the stone floor beneath her. Every breath she took felt like squeezing the final scrap of life out of a drowning rat.

But pressure wasn’t the only thing holding her back. Her mind trembled under a relentless assault of magical energy. Unease and fear beat against her thoughts. Dread clung to her limbs and dragged them toward the ground, begging her to collapse. Begging her to give up.

The fear was like a band that grew tighter around her throat with every passing second she spent within the room. It didn’t matter if she was moving or not. Time itself was her enemy.

Sweat coated her forehead and soaked into the back of her shirt. Weight drove down into her from every direction, trying to grind her body into paste and force her to give up. And at the far end of the room, the door onward swayed mockingly.

Her eyes refused to remain focused on it. The room bucked and shifted around her as her balance waned. The idea of forcing herself to take another step was becoming increasingly improbable. It was all she could do to stand there, her eyes squinted, trying to keep from collapsing to the ground and falling unconscious.

“Is that all?” Blade asked, his head tilting to the side as his eyes bore into Claire. “Is this all your strength can amount to? After that strong initial showing, was all your might simply granted to you by the System? Is your true body truly so weak that you give up here?”

If Claire’s jaw could have clenched tighter, it would have. Bitter amusement tickled the back of her mind. She was more than aware that Blade was actively trying to incite her into getting angry. He was trying to force her to push forward a few more steps out of sheer defiance.

Unfortunately, that tactic was considerably less effective if one knew what was going on. Blade’s words didn’t have any true anger in them. He was actively trying to help. But, unfortunately, he wasn’t nearly a good enough liar to trick her.

“Come on,” Blade snarled. “Push farther, you useless wretch. There is no sin greater than wasting potential. If you stop now, you’ll be nothing. Worthless. Less than trash. There are no second chances, girl. This is your opportunity. Your future. If you fail to push far enough now, your body will forever be nothing more than a shadow of what it could have been.”

Claire’s foot inched forward.

The pressure intensified. She could have sworn that her chest was about to crumple under its weight. The fear beat against her mind stronger still. Her back felt cold and wet, the pain in her palms barely even registering anymore. There was no distraction great enough to keep her attention.

She let out a wheeze, desperately fighting back a cough that would have doomed her. The following breath barely even managed to fill her lungs a small portion of the way. Out of the corners of her eyes, she saw Blade’s expression shift. The manufactured anger in his features faded. Disappointment took its place.

Damn it. I will not stop here. I am not done.

A pained hiss squeezed from her lips. Claire’s hand shook. Then, slowly, it started inch upwards through the air.

“If you have energy to move, then move,” Blade snapped. “But you hand is not the thing that needs to be moving. Your feet, woman. Walk! Take a step! One more step! Damn it, move! What the hell do you think your hands are going to do? There’s no System here. No magic. Just your body. What do you think you’re doing?”

Claire ignored him. Blade had good intentions, but he didn’t have the faintest damn idea what he was talking about. Not this time.

Her arm grew weaker and weaker the higher she tried to force it. Darkness flashed at the corners of her eyes as she fought against the room. Her palm trembled. The weakness beat against her harder still. Her legs buckled.

Claire dropped. She fell to one knee, driven down into the ground with a loud crack. Pain flashed through her, but she forced it back, narrowly catching herself before she collapsed to the ground. There would be no coming back from that. The pressure was just too strong.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

It was all she could do to remain on that one knee, her palm tauntingly close and yet impossibly far.

Come on! Move!

Just a little more!

***

Blade’s lips thinned.

The girl was at her limit. She’d already dropped to one knee. Her eyes were fluttering and she shook like a juvenile tree in a storm. It wouldn’t be long before she was flattened against the ground. And that was quite the shame.

She’d had potential. Serious potential. He’d seen it in her eyes. She’d managed 8 steps as well — and without even cheating. Her willpower and determination were incredible. That had earned her an attempt at a difficult but effective body tempering…

And she’d failed.

It happened. Such things were part of the universe. Not everybody could win. Some people simply… failed. Not because of fate or destiny or some other tripe. There were a whole host of reasons as to why. Weakness. Lack of preparation. A lack of sleep. A misplaced pebble. A bad day.

But at the end of the day, it hardly mattered. Victory cared little for excuses. Potential was nothing but the smoke that drifted up from the flames of reality. If someone one was unable to float up with it, then they would be pulled back into the fire beneath.

What a shame. Perhaps she’ll still amount to something in some other manner. Body tempering isn’t the end of the road. It’s only a single path. But her route through the tower will be forever hindered.

Blade watched on quietly. There was no reason for him to speak anymore. He doubted Claire could even still hear him. She was fading fast. Her eyes had thinned to slits, locked onto her palm. Whatever she’d been trying to pull off had failed. Her hand trembled desperately an inch away from her mouth, where it had been for the past minute. She had no power left to draw on.

It was a miracle that she hadn’t passed out yet. Even now, her determination was impressive. To survive the mental and physical assault this long, knowing that even if she managed to get her hand to her mouth, she would still have to rise back to her feet and continue… it was impressive.

Seconds dragged by.

They changed nothing. Claire’s hand remained tantalizingly close to her mouth, just out of reach. She’d pulled it ever so slightly closer. But it wasn’t enough. She was fading. Even the immense willpower she bore couldn’t last forever.

What was she even trying to do? She should believe that she’s cut off from the System. Even though it’s omnipresent, the barrier between herself and her powers is far too powerful for someone at her stage to break through. Did she just forget that her powers won’t work here?

Blade hesitated for a moment. Then he walked over to Claire and crouched at her side. She didn’t even acknowledge his presence.

To his surprise, her eyes hadn’t yet closed. Weak and flighty, her gaze was still focused on the blood coating her palm. And then her hand started to lower. It wasn’t fast. Even as her body failed her, Claire fought. Her hand trembled, trying to regain lost ground, but it was pointless.

She was out of strength.

Blade studied her for a moment. The pain. The determination. The relentless desperation to keep pushing forward, even though everything she had just hadn’t been enough.

He pushed a finger into the back of Claire’s hand and stopped it in its path back to the ground.

What was it you were hoping for?

Blade paused for a moment more. Then his lips thinned. He gently raised his finger, adding the faintest amount of upward pressure to Claire’s wrist.

Her hand raised up to her mouth.

Then Blade released her.

Claire’s hand fell, leaving a small smear of blood across her lips. She swayed. Her eyes fluttered.

Blade watched her for a moment longer. Then he rose to his feet.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have done that. But I suppose it doesn’t matter.

It would only be a few more moments until she collapsed. Then he would bring her out of the room, and that would be the end of it. All things considered, it wasn’t like she’d done poorly. Getting this far was still respectable. It just wasn’t anywhere near as much as he had hoped.

I suppose not everybody can—

Claire’s lips twitched.

She whispered something, so faint that the sound didn’t even reach Blade’s ears.

She can still move?

Claire swayed. Then she started to pitch forward. The tension in Blade’s shoulders evaporated — and then Claire’s hand snapped out. She caught herself on the ground, a moment before she could fall flat.

Then, as he watched in disbelief, she slowly pushed herself upright.

What?

And then the back of Blade’s neck prickled. His eyes widened. He stared in disbelief as Claire slowly rose to her feet. Her movements were stiff and unnatural, as if someone were puppeting her from outside. And that was because someone was.

There was magic passing through the room. It shouldn’t have been possible for her to pull off at this stage, but there was no denying it. Blade’s senses were far too keen for that. Somehow, Claire had penetrated the barrier. She was using her abilities.

“Walk,” Claire hissed in a sharp whisper.

And, as Blade stared in stunned awe, Claire walked.