Nightmare Realm Summoner

Alex grabbed the bracelet and yanked it off the monster. At nearly the exact same time, a loud roar ripped through the warped city. He jerked upright and exchanged a glance with Claire.

"I think something's pissed off," Claire whispered.

Alex gave her a jerky nod and shoved the bracelet into his pocket. There would be time to investigate it shortly, when they weren't in imminent danger of getting snacked on by a pissed off tentacle monster. "And I think we might be overstaying our welcome. You got any energy left?"

"Not a scrap. Damn near got myself killed fighting this thing." Claire kicked the dead Corpse Burrower.

"Then let's get somewhere relatively safe to hide for a bit," Alex said, starting down the alley. "We can't head straight back to the portal yet."

"Why not?" Claire whispered as she followed after him.

"Because opening it might summon another Riftwarped monster, and I don't have anywhere near the strength to deal with it as I am right now," Alex replied. "I need to find somewhere to try and rest for a little while and figure out how to summon my new monster."

"Of course it will," Claire muttered. "Why wouldn't it? I should have guessed."

Another roar carved through the smokey air of the Mirrorlands and they both snapped their mouths shut and pressed themselves to the side of they alley to avoid notice. For several minutes, they made their way through the streets in search of something that could provide them relative shelter.

Alex wasn't so sure such a thing as a truly safe space existed in the Mirrorlands. He was more than willing to settle for an area that would only give a half-assed attempt at killing them. Their search didn't last long. After a few minutes of trawling through the streets, Claire nodded to a one-story building near the edge of an alley in the shadow of an apartment building suspended in the air by long, extruded street poles that wound down from it and into the street like frozen bolts of lightning.

A few floating fragments of wood that had once been a door floated within the doorframe within whorls of soupy purple energy, and the room beyond it was partially lit by rays of dim light from holes in the ceiling.

They walked up to the building and Alex pushed the fragments to the side to peer inside. The building only had a single room in it. A door on the side that might have once led elsewhere was walled off by a jutting slab of stone.

"This looks good," Claire whispered.

Alex nodded and slipped inside. Claire followed after him and the floating fragments of the door drifted back into their former places. Alex watched them for a moment. It seemed like the fragments knew where they 'belonged'.

Interesting. I wonder how things determine their base state of being in the Mirrorlands. My best guess is that things get destroyed when they fall down here and then get frozen in that state.

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He took one more look around the room, scouring both the ceiling and the floor to make sure that there wasn't anything lurking out of sight, then sat down in a shadowed patch in the corner of the room out of direct line of sight of the street.

Claire sat down beside him as he pulled out the water bottle and unscrewed the cap, taking a long swing from it. He held it out to Claire once he'd drained just about half of it. She eyed the bottle, then accepted it and took a sip.

Her nose scrunched and she handed it back. "It tastes weird. Like… nothing. But funky nothing."

"Ah. Those would be the chemicals in the plastic. They add flavor." Alex drained the rest of the bottle, then crumpled it up and shoved it into his pocket.

"I think I prefer blood," Claire said.

Alex pulled out the bracelet that he'd taken off the dead Echo Wraith. Its black faceted surface glistened in the dim light in the room. If it had been brighter, he was pretty sure he could have made his own reflection out in it.

"What do you have there?" Claire asked, leaning over to get a better look at it. "You pulled it off the monster, yeah? Is it an item?"

"No idea. Is there a way to figure out what it does?" Alex asked as he turned the bracelet over. It was completely devoid of any design or pattern.

"You've got to try to touch it with your mind while you're holding it. It took a while before anyone figured it out back home. I don't really know how else to describe it. Just imagine poking it, but don't actually poke it. You know what I mean?"

"Poke it but don't poke it," Alex repeated dryly. Despite his sarcasm, he did his best to follow Claire's words. He imagined a tendril of thought extending from his mind and brushing across the bracelet's surface. A faint tingle prickled against the back of his skull.

Pinpricks of gold light appeared in the air before his eyes. Lines wormed out between the dots and connected them, forming into words.

Band of Shadowed Shroud (Rare)

Bonded Effect: At will, the Shadowed Shroud takes a form over its wearer's body that conceals their features and information from inquisitive gazes and abilities alike. Sufficiently powerful effects can penetrate the protection bestowed by the Band of Shadowed Shroud.

"Huh. So that's what the Echo Wraith was wearing. I was kind of wondering where a monster got clothes," Alex said. "It's a magic cloak that protects stats. Kind of like your bracelet."

"I told you they were pretty common, but mine doesn't give me a cloak. Try it on," Claire said. She sent a pointed glance at Alex's wrist. "And give me my bracelet back. You don't need it anymore."

Alex pulled the plain band off and returned it to Claire. "What's a Bonded Effect?"

"Do the brain-pokey thing again when you put the bracelet on. I think you can only have a few items bonded at a time, but I heard you can break your connection with them just as easily. I knew someone with three items, and he said he was pretty sure he could get more."

"Noted. Thanks." Alex slipped his new bracelet on and extended his mind to it. A faint chill prickled against his skin and the hair on his arm stood on end. The bracelet tightened itself until it fit him perfectly and the strange sensation faded.

A strange sensation prodded at his mind like someone had attached a string to the base of his neck. It was so faint that he could barely feel it, but it was definitely there. The moment he turned his attention to it, a race of energy traveled out of the metal and into his wrist.

Thin strands burst free of the bracelet. They twisted up his body and enveloped him in an instant. It stretched up past his neck and crawled across his face like a tiny swarm of ants. By the time Alex had finished letting out a surprised curse, the energy had already faded and he had already been covered in a thin layer of smooth black cloth.

Alex looked down at himself. The clothing was just loose enough to avoid restricting his movements while still being close enough to his body that it wouldn't catch on the handle of every single door he ever walked past. The material around his hands and legs was baggier to give him more range of movement, and it ended in what felt like cuffs just before his wrists and ankles. A hardened section of cloth covered the lower half of his face and a hood rose over his head, stopping just before it got in the way of his sight.

"Whoa," Claire said. "You kind of look like you're going to hold me up in an alley. Can you even speak properly in that?"

Alex opened his mouth and the cloth pulled away from his face to give him room to talk, though it didn't lower to reveal him. "Let's find out."

"Huh. Convenient," Claire said.

The cloth reformed to cover Alex's face once again. He sent a mental command down the line connecting him to the bracelet and the entire thing shrank back into his bracelet before taking form back over his body once again.

"That is convenient," Alex said with a grin. "So you can't see my stats when I've got this on?"

"Not at all," Claire confirmed. "But you're not exactly inconspicuous either. You're going to have to walk around like that for as long as you want to keep the item's effects active."

"Eh. I'll take it. It looks pretty cool," Alex said with a chuckle. "And I'm not going to object to something covering up a little more skin. My clothes are already basically just rags. I was going to need a replacement pretty soon. I just hope this doesn't get destroyed the first time a monster stabs me."

"Magical items aren't that easy to break. The clothes are made out of energy, so it'll probably just regenerate. I'd be more worried about getting stabbed than your clothes getting messed up."

"Hey, that's only true until you run out of clothes. I know I heal as long as I don't get stabbed too hard. The same does not hold for my normal clothes, and I really don't want to go fighting monsters naked. No need to give them something to aim at."

"Fighting naked does not sound like it would be fun," Claire said with a grimace. She glanced down at her own clothes, which really weren't in much better shape than Alex's. "I might need to look into getting some replacements. These aren't long for the world."

A distant rumble echoed through the Mirrorlands and silenced their conversation. A crackle of energy announced a portal opening somewhere in the sky above them. Pink energy danced through the cracks in the roof and a shadow enveloped the building as a City-Eater Centipede swam overhead. Alex's ears popped as the enormous monster slipped into another portal and vanished.

"I think I'm going to go ahead and get that monster summoned already," Alex said.

Claire rose back to her feet and put a hand on the hilt of her sword as she crept over to the door and peered into the street.

"You do that," she agreed in a whisper. "I'll keep watch. I think we might be overstaying our welcome. I need to meditate to get some use out of the energy we've gotten already. There's only so much risk I think we can afford to take in the Mirrorlands, and we're already dancing on the line."

Alex reached down to the silver box at his side. Two cards rested within it. One was Glint's. The other was empty, but it wouldn't be for long. Alex slipped the mirror out and held it up before him.

Spatial Mirror

Stored Energy:

High-Mid Grade Novice (Floraking) - 1

Low Grade Initiate (Riftwarped Crawler) - 1

High Grade Novice (Corpse Burrower) - 1

Low Grade Novice (Corpse Poker) - 1

Low Grade Initiate(Echo Wraith) - 1

Bonded Creature: None

Alex ran his finger down the card. Energy prickled as he passed over each of the names. Flickers of the monster's soul lurked at the edges of his mind, just as they had when he'd picked up the Soul Flames. He paused on the Riftwarped Crawler, but it was just as walled off to him as it had been before. The energy was there and it seemed to be a potential summon, but something was preventing him from connecting with it.

That has to be the Riftwarped aspect, then. Maybe I'll be able to take control of them when I get stronger. That would be pretty useful, but I really didn't want the Crawler in the first place. It'll be more useful as energy to feed my monsters. For now, I've already got something far more functional lined up.

Alex's eyes landed on the final stored Soul Flame. When he'd summoned Glint, all he'd had to do was pull the stored energy free of an empty Spatial Mirror.

It worked once. Can't imagine it won't work again.

He pressed his hand against the mirror, its surface a viscous layer of quicksilver. A faint pressure pushed back against him before it gave way and his hand slipped into the mirror. His arm sank into its depths. A freezing cold bit into his palm and licked around his fingers as he found the flame he was searching for. The soul flame bucked and tried to slip free, but he didn't let it. His grip tightened.

Come to me, Echo Wraith.

Alex ripped the energy free of the Spatial Mirror and summoned his second monster.