Nightmare Realm Summoner

With the death of the Nagagaga, the remaining monsters attacking the camp quickly fell or ran. An uneasy silence hung over the clearing, broken only by crackle of dying flame at the edges of the area that the Field Boss had scorched to a crisp.

There was so much ash and soot in the air that Alex couldn't even smell it anymore. His nose was completely clogged. He fought to catch his breath through his mouth, his heart slowly coming down from its adrenaline rush.

They'd taken out an Adept ranked monster. A Field Boss, no less. The amount of power he'd gotten from defeating the Nagagaga was incredible. He could tell by the stunned expressions of everyone that had participated in the fight that they felt similarly.

Even if the campers hadn't done all that much, they'd still been instrumental in defeating a very powerful enemy. For someone at the Novice rank, that was going to be a hell of a lot of magical energy to cash in all at once.

The System can be a real fucking bastard, but damn if it doesn't pay out well when you pull off some crazy bullshit.

"Holy shit," Aaron whispered, dropping to his knees as his legs gave out beneath him. He stared at the huge corpse on the ground. "Holy shit. What the fuck was that?"

"A Field Boss," Alex said. He approached the dead monster. A Soul Flame flickered above its chest, visible only to him. Alex wasted no time in scooping the large flame up and tossing it into a Spatial Mirror. He went to reach for his Harvester, only to remember it still had a Mirrorlands monster in it. "Does anybody have a spare Harvester?"

There were several moments of silence. The rest of the camp — Native and Outworlder alike — stared on in silence. Then, slowly, Abby pulled a small orb free from a bag on her belt. She tossed it to Alex, who used it on the dead Field Boss.

"How are you so… calm about this?" Aaron asked between heavy breaths. His fingers dug through the blackened dirt. "People are dead! I saw a man get fucking cooked! Literally!"

"Because I've already had a chance to get used to it," Alex said. "And you get used to it. Not because you want to, but because you have to. It helped that the first person I saw dead tried to kill me first. After that… well, that's how life is now. He was a fucking badass."

"A badass," Aaron repeated mutely. "That's what you're going to call it?"

"Yes," Alex said. "Because that's what it was."

"A man is dead."

"And a lot more would have been if you crazy idiots hadn't charged an Adept ranked field boss. I was going to have to start trading my monsters to get an opening, and I can now see that would have gone pretty poorly. We might have lost half the people here. Maybe more. I don't even know for certain if I would have won."

"You were the one that led the charge, Aaron," Abby said, walking up beside them. Her somber expression was marred by more than a little awe. "Didn't you know you could die?"

"Of course I did," Aaron snapped. "But I wasn't really thinking about that! He said we had to do something, and I'm fed up being weak. So I did something. But… I didn't die! He did! And I don't even remember his name!"

"Jozen," Abby said. "His name was Jozen. He knew what was at risk. All of us did. Alex is right, Aaron. This is life. You can't let yourself get so hung up on what was lost that you ignore what was gained."

"So I'm just supposed to celebrate because a man is dead?"

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"You're supposed to be thankful for what his sacrifice earned us. What use is crying over the dead? It will change nothing. Live the life they paid for." Abby extended a hand to him.

Aaron stared at it for a long second. Then he reached out and took it, letting her pull him to his feet. He wiped the sweat from his brow and took a steadying breath. His eyes flicked across the camp until he spotted May and let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm a terrible person."

"For being happy that your sister lived when someone else didn't?"

"Yes."

"That's just the nature of life. You'll get used to it."

"And if you don't want to, then you'll get stronger," Claire said. "That's how things are. Adapt or break."

"That's… cold," Aaron said.

"It is," Claire agreed. "And that doesn't change the reality of our life. Your choice. Nobody will make it for you. Just don't expect to make it much longer if you dwell too long on what could have been. Look to the future."

The survivors of the campsite made their way to gather around the scorched clearing. Many of them were Outworlders, but there were a fair number that seemed to be from earth as well. They all stared at the fallen Field Boss, a mixture of emotions on their features.

Alex could practically tell who was an Outworlder and who wasn't by their expressions. The Outworlders had far more trepidation than relief in their expressions. Some of them definitely knew just how screwed they were. Their group had barely managed to defeat a Field Boss, and the Region Boss would be leagues more powerful.

The Nativeworlders just looked either shellshocked and relieved to be alive. None of them had any true context as to just how much the world had changed if they hadn't left this forest since early in the Apocalypse.

That would be changing soon.

"Where's Rin?" Abby asked, breaking the somber silence that had been working its way back into the air alongside the settling ash. "Has anyone seen her?"

That broke everyone out of their moods instantly.

"Look for her!" an Outworlder man with blue hair and what seemed to be gills on his neck ordered. "She might be injured! The other fallen as well! Check to see if anyone can be saved!"

"Just don't go too far from camp," Abby warned. "There may still be monsters in the area. Stay in groups and call out if you run into anything!"

People burst into motion, latching onto the order and hurrying to obey. They worked their way through the damaged campsite in search of the elderly Dhampir. Alex and Claire didn't hesitate to join them.

There were a number of questions that Alex had for Rin, and he suspected Claire had a hundredfold more. And if the old woman had managed to get energy for defeating the Field Boss, then there was a good chance that she could stave off or even completely defeat the eminent collapse that hung over all ancient Dhampirs.

Orchid made her way over to them along with May. They, along with Anna, joined Alex and Claire's group in the search. Alex wasn't bothered — of everyone in the camp, nearly everyone he was the most interested was gathered here.

I didn't see anything particularly impressive, but the attitude was the most important thing. That charge was fucking stupid. There were so many better ways to try and distract or take the Nagagaga off guard… but charging ahead like that is something that only someone willing to risk it all would do.

Well, that or an idiot. I'll work with either. I'm pretty sure I'm having intimate relations with that line myself.

"Goodness, girl. Were you waiting on a signed invitation to seek me out?"

Alex was pulled from his thoughts as Rin's voice emerged from behind them. They all spun to find the old woman standing behind them, leaning heavily against a blackened tree. Her body had returned to its normal appearance, but her features were as pale as death.

"Rin!" Abby exclaimed, relief blooming in her features. "You need to sit down and rest! Why didn't you say—"

"I'm not some little wallflower that needs to sit down and hug her knees to meet the end," Rin said with a dry laugh. "I've just been waiting for a moment to speak. Didn't want an audience."

"What?" Abby asked, taken aback. "Meet the end? What are you talking about? You're not injured, are you? Hurry and meditate! You might be able to—"

Rin lifted a hand. Or, at least, she lifted part of one. Four of her fingers had completely crumbled away and the fifth was well on her way. Her flesh looked like it was made out of packed sand rather than skin.

"You're wasting my time," Rin said in a polite but stern voice. "And I don't have much of that left. Meditation takes hours, and I don't have that. Claire. We must speak."

"You're spent," Claire whispered, but there was no surprise in her tone. She'd known this was coming.

"So I am," Rin said. "Good riddance. What a hassle. The Nightmarch promised they'd find a way to juice us up. Feed us pathetic kills until we became useful to them. They can rot. I am not so pathetic that—"

Rin coughed, and Alex could have sworn that a cloud of dust burst up from her lungs. The old woman cackled and shook her head, wiping her mouth with the back of a hand.

Claire took a step toward her. "Maybe you should—"

"Stand rank, Broodguard," Rin barked, her eyes flashing.

Claire's arms snapped to her sides and her back straightened. "I'm not a Broodguard."

"No? Would have been, I'd say," Rin said. Her lips twitched in a smile before she shook her head. "I imagine you'd have made it far. What a shame. I would have loved nothing more than to try my hand against yours, but that opportunity is passed. This is the era of the young."

"It's the era of nobody," Claire said grimly. "Our race is nearly gone."

"Which is why you must be even more vicious than any that came before you. You must take no quarter. Spare no effort. We always play the long game, Claire. When the circumstances change, we adapt. Do you understand?"

"I had no plans of giving in," Claire said.

"Good. You will watch over my Brood. Protect them. The boy has already agreed to it."

"I don't know if anyone can guarantee safety anymore, and I do not know where the future will take me. I will not swear to something that I cannot accomplish."

"Your best efforts will suffice," Rin said. She let out a rattling breath and let her eyes drift to Abby before pulling them back to Claire. "I will accept nothing less. This is an order."

"I will help those who I can," Claire said firmly. "That is all I will promise. Anything that stands in the way of my purposes will not remain."

Rin's smile grew. "Unfaltering… and yet, entirely unlike our kind. Why not simply agree? You know what is coming. This could risk it."

"I suspect it," Claire said slowly. "But that changes nothing. I stand by what I've said."

"Interesting. That is not the path of a Dhampir. But perhaps…" Rin's eyes drifted to Alex. He didn't have the slightest idea as to what they were talking about, but there was something deep within Rin that sent him on edge. The old woman was a predator. She nodded slowly. "This one?"

"He is worthy of respect."

"So I can see," Rin said. Her lips pulled up in a thin, flat smile. "Perhaps it was time for a change. Our old ways cannot bear us any further. Very well, Claire. Ready yourself."

"It is my duty to be prepared."

"Then I pass unto you what little I still have," Rin said. She leaned forward, pulling the collar of her shirt down just enough to expose the side of her neck. The remains of her hand crumbled to dust and her sleeve went slack. Rin's back straightened and her eyes sharpened, shimmering like two silver moons on a clear night. Pride and confidence etched themselves into her very being. With her remaining hand, she reached into a pocket and pressed something into Claire's palm. "Unto you I pass the soul of my line. Drink, Dhampir. Reap a pound of flesh for every drop of blood."

Claire leaned forward. Her fangs sank into Rin's neck.

She drank.

Abby raised a hand, nearly taking a step forward before she caught herself. She swallowed heavily. Her fists balled at her sides and she bit her lip.

Rin's body crumbled. What little strength she'd had left in her fell away as her limbs turned to sand, but not once did the old woman's posture falter. She remained steadfast until she was nothing but ash in the wind. Her clothes fluttered down, devoid of any support, and draped over Claire's arms.

There was a long second of silence.

"What just happened?" Aaron asked, his mouth hanging open.

Claire turned back to them. There was power in her eyes that hadn't been there before; a lurking shadow that slipped away the moment Alex noticed its presence. She had grown stronger — and not from the System.

She opened her hand, where a familiar looking gem rested within it.

Aspect Gem [Matriarch Aspect]

"Rin made me her successor."