Nightmare Realm Summoner

“Thank you all for gathering so quickly,” Claire said, her voice ringing through the silent crowd.

Just about every single member of Mirrorwane that wasn’t currently working on something too important to drop had gathered around her and Alex. Rhyss floated at their side, watching silently as the two addressed the town.

“We know it’s short notice,” Alex picked up where Claire had left off. “But I think we’ve all gotten pretty familiar with the way things go now. And Rhyss should have already let you know roughly what’s coming up. During the auction we attended, I was able to get my hands on an item called the Bleeding Crown. It will summon waves of monsters to attack Mirrorwane, growing in number indefinitely. That obviously doesn’t sound particularly appealing. But—”

“It’s a Trial, right?” May called from the crowd. “So we’ll get stronger! We know how it works!”

A few chuckles rolled through the bystanders at her interruption. Alex shook his head with a grin.

“Yes. It is. And as long as we can withstand it, we’ll be able to use these waves of attacks to grow faster than other towns. It’ll give us yet another way to stay ahead of the Outworlders. They have to seek out dungeons and other special events to get the energy they need to advance. We’ll be able to have it right at our doors. But… well, we’ll have it right at our doors.”

“That sounds good to me,” Derek said, stretching his arms over his head. The movement made the weapons lodged in his body screech against each other in a rather unpleasant symphony. “All we have to do is kill the extra monsters, right?”

The people in the crowd around him nodded, as if that was the most logical conclusion one could have made from the warning. Alex couldn’t tell if he wanted to laugh or cry. This was definitely better than the alternative of everyone being scared deathless of constant waves of monster attacks. Still, it was a bit too insane to just ignore the threat entirely.

“To be clear, the monsters will keep getting stronger,” Alex said. “I called everyone because I want to make sure we’re all okay and ready. I’m not just going to plunge the town into an endless war without warning people first. This isn’t going to be easy. It’ll be a huge risk. People will get hurt. Some might die.”

“Not if we just get stronger,” Derek said. His brow furrowed. “Who cares if the monsters get stronger? We will too.”

That earned him more nods.

“I should also mention the crown can’t come off,” Alex said, desperately trying to remain as serious as possible. “Once its on, the monster waves will keep coming. Forever. That’s not a small commitment—”

“If we just get stronger faster than the monsters, it eventually won’t matter,” Derek said. He gave Alex a thumbs up. “Don’t worry. All of your fears are assuaged by simply killing them.”

Alex couldn’t help himself. He burst out laughing.

“Okay,” he said, raising his hands. “I guess that’s what I get for treating you like scared children, huh? Fair enough. I just wanted to make sure everyone understood exactly what was coming. This is something that’s going to take all of us to pull off.”

“Not at all times, though,” Rhyss put in. “The System will warn you about the intervals of the attacks. I am familiar with items like this. Even if it isn’t specific about the exact timing, they will not be constant surprises.”

“Perfect,” Alex said. “That improves the prospects a good bit. To be honest, it seems like everyone has already voiced their agreement. But just in case… while this obviously comes with some risks, that’s paired with some pretty significant rewards. Not just from the System, but also from Mirrorwane.”

“We’ll be putting together a better bounty system for all of you,” Claire said. She nodded to Rhyss. “Bringing parts of monsters you have defeated to Rhyss will earn you points that he will record and put together a Town Leaderboard with. Anyone on that leaderboard will be able to exchange points for rewards from our treasury or Mite.”

“I have taken the liberty of preparing some special items for the initial members of the leaderboard that are sure to be in want of something new,” Rhyss added. His lone eye blinked lazily. “The top items will be available for viewing in the Town Hall. They include weapons and armor forged by Mite and a number of the River King’s possessions. We will continue to expand the reward pool as we gain possession over interesting items. Barbara has also offered a custom reward. For one point, you may take her on a date.”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Alex, who had been nodding along, paused. His brow furrowed.

The nice old lady that made my bone mask?

“Right,” Alex said. He cleared his throat. “Anyway. I have an Aspect Gem that I’ll be putting into the rewards. I’ll be trying to stock the rewards with some more good items in the near future as well. If anyone wants to offer up some kind of special service that they may have as a reward, we’ll ensure you’re properly compensated with Credits or whatever else you might want.”

“Some of the magical plants I’ve been cultivating will also be available in the rewards,” Orchid added in. “I’ve got a few that I am quite certain will be helpful to anyone stuck advancing. I’m still testing them, so give me a few days.”

“So, between the Town Leaderboard points as well as the rewards from the Trial and killing the monsters themselves… this should be pretty damn beneficial,” Alex concluded. “And I want to get it started soon. I think Mite is in need of some materials to finish the Endbringer Culverin, which should be a huge boon in defending the town… and we don’t really have the liberty to sit around and wait until he gets them normally. The Starfallen have their hands on an item called an Armageddon Call.”

“We don’t know exactly what it is, but it’s going to cause serious upheaval,” Claire said. “Which makes it even more important for us to be prepared for anything as soon as possible. Using the Bleeding Crown now will give us an immense advantage if we survive enough waves before the Armageddon Call goes off. But if they both happen at roughly the same time…”

“We could have a second apocalypse or some shit going down all while we’re getting swarmed by monsters. In short — we’d be fucked,” Alex finished in a somber tone. The two of them were silent for a moment as their words sank in. Then a grin split across his lips. “So, who’s down to roll the dice?”

“I say do it,” Aaron said from within the crowd. His voice was determined, tempered by traces of fear, but there was no doubt within it. “You and Claire are right. The way we get ahead is by taking the risks that the Outworlders don’t need to or want to chance. I’m sure the Starfallen are going to be perfectly prepared for when they bring on this Awakening stuff. At least some of the other Great Families will be too. But the System doesn’t reward dealing with a challenge that you’ve perfectly prepared for and practically defeated before the fight even starts. It wants us to struggle.”

“Because it’s a sadistic sadist,” May put in cheerfully.

“Who taught you that word?” Aaron asked.

A few chuckles rolled through the crowd.

Wess coughed into his fist. “You know, I agree with our gambler friend. The best rewards are all ripe for the picking. If we can get ahead of the curve as largely Nativeworlder town, the rewards we’ll get are only going to compound. The rich get richer. Pull the trigger. Playing things safe and going for an average result will never let us compete with the Starfallen or any of the other powerful Great Families.”

Murmurs of agreement rolled through the crowd. Everyone had been training against Mirrorlands monsters, forging their souls and bodies with the Forsaken Grounds, and generally clawing every scrap of power they could ever since the town had been established.

There wasn’t a single person in Mirrorwane that had taken an easy route — and from the looks of things, nobody planned on starting now.

Alex smiled.

“Good. I just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page. Rhyss, is anyone currently in the Forsaken Grounds?”

“No,” Rhyss replied. “I ensured everyone would be in proper fighting condition. The town is prepared.”

“Mite,” Alex said, turning to scan for the short bioengineer in the crowd. He spotted him perched on the shoulders of his puppet after a moment. “Any last modifications or preparations you need to do before we get started? Now’s probably your last chance to do it before you’ll be working in the middle of a giant fight.”

“Nothing I can do yet,” Mite said with a shake of his head. “The Culverin is my main focus, and the damn thing needs so many powerful resources that I can’t even properly get it started. The biggest problem is, as usual, energy. I’ll need the parts of some really strong monsters to even start making it.”

“Can’t imagine where we’ll find those,” Alex said dryly. He looked to Orchid. “And you? Anything?”

“No,” Orchid said. “Nothing worth waiting for. There’s always room to prepare more… but real learning is only done through combat. Everyone is as ready as they’re going to get.”

Alex nodded slowly. He was out of questions — and there were none left in the eyes of his townspeople, either. Every single one of them watched him with the very same mixture of anticipation and determination that had been in Aaron’s voice.

They were ready.

He glanced to Claire.

“Okay. Final question. Do we do this here… or in the Mirrorlands?”

“Here, to start,” Claire replied. “The crown will remain active until it gets broken, right? So we should definitely start by using it here. We should get a measure of how strong it’ll be before we bring it to the Mirrorlands. We can always bring it to the Mirrorlands later.”

“Good point,” Alex said. He could feel his heart start to beat faster as he extended his hands before himself and activated his Spatial Ring. The Bleeding Crown materialized in Alex’s hands. He lifted it into the air. “Then get ready to fight like hell, everyone.”

Then Alex set the crown onto his head.