Nightmare Realm Summoner

A few minutes later, Alex walked out of Bridget's quarters, the Spatial Ring on his finger burdened by an extra 98 Credits and a battery for Mite. Finley had managed to bargain the other merchant all the way up to 130 Credits for the Riftwarped Core, which was a hell of a lot higher than Alex had ever thought they'd manage to get for it.

But, with that, their discussions for the day were over. Bridget certainly wasn't in the mood to make any further deals. Alex was pretty certain a fair part of her anger was just play to make them feel like they'd gotten a better deal out of her than they actually had — but he'd seen the displeasure in her eyes more than once. No matter how much Bridget tried to frame things, Finley had definitely managed to wrangle them a pretty damn good deal.

He, along with Claire, Finley, and Alyssa, made their way along the sloping streets of Blackreach as they headed back toward the Teleporter.

"That was impressive," Alyssa said, shifting the huge brush resting against her shoulder out of the way to send a glance back at Finley. "I didn't think you had that in you."

"Thank you," Finley said. "But it really wasn't anything that out of the ordinary. Bridget knows what she's doing. She is nowhere near as displeased with that deal as she let out. I'd imagine we could have gotten even better if we'd spent more time."

"But it's good we didn't," Claire said. "Bargaining is great, but I have no desire to sit around and waste an hour just listing to the two of you haggle. Next time, we're just sending you alone."

"Not all of us have to appreciate the finer aspects of life," Finley said. He adjusted the hem of his sleeve. "One is more than sufficient. Too many merchants in a closed area tends to end… poorly."

Alyssa shook her head. "That sounds like a nightmare and a half. Dealing with River King is already too much for me sometimes. I don't have a mind for the haggling. It feels like such a waste of effort to go through all that wasted time only to get a single Credit discount — but I digress. I'm just here for the benefits. And, speaking of which, how are we meant to contact you once the families start moving for the Ancestry?"

"Do we have an estimate of when that'll happen?" Claire asked. "We don't have any interest in opening the Teleporter in our town to the public yet."

"Probably a few days at the minimum," Alyssa said. "Everyone's gearing up and gathering supplies before the Ancestry. That and figuring out who else is coming and what they're capable of."

"A few days should be fine," Alex said. They still had some preparations to finish handling in Mirrorwane, anyway. Now that he'd gotten his hands on a battery for Mite, they could finish the wall and make sure nobody was going to show up out of the blue to come knocking on their door. That only left the problem of stabilizing the town to deal with… and Alex already knew how to solve that. He just had to find a way to pull it off.

"Shall we return to Blackreach in three days' time, then?" Claire suggested. "We can stick around for a little while as we wait. Unless you're leaving from a different town?"

"Blackreach should work." Alyssa nodded, and the four of them drew to a stop as they came up to the teleporter building. She paused for a moment, looking at the door that Absolution had nearly cut her down in front of just a short while ago. Then she let out a sharp breath. "Good luck. This is an important opportunity. A grave-dungeon the size of a city… it must be beautiful. Oh, and I'm sure there's going to be good rewards as well. I've heard very promising things."

Something tells me she's a hell of a lot more interested in getting inspiration for her paintings than she is about getting rewards. I guess that's just what you have to do to survive this world.

You've got to be at least a little bit insane if you want to thrive. If you aren't excited for something, then there's really nothing to push you through all the bullshit the System throws up.

"Three days, then," Alex said as they stepped into the building. "Do try and make sure Absolution doesn't kill you before we get back. That would be awkward."

Alyssa's features paled a shade. "Do you think he'll try again?"

Alex shrugged. "No clue. But I didn't get the idea he has some magic way to track you. Seemed more like someone tipped him off about your presence. Maybe just be a little more discreet with where you are. Might be a wise choice."

Alyssa threw a glance over her shoulder, as if Absolution was going to pop up right behind her the moment she checked, then grimaced. "Yeah. That might be a good idea. I'll do that. Good luck with preparations. And I've already let Blackreach know what happened today. You won't have to deal with any questions about the incident."

"Thank you," Claire replied. "I hate paperwork."

Alyssa just nodded in response.

She stood back while Alex and the others headed into the Teleporter building. There was nothing more to be said. The door swung behind them and slammed shut with a resounding thud, blocking out any daylight that had dared spill into the room and leaving them in relative darkness.

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Several seconds dragged by. Then Alex awkwardly scratched at the back of his neck.

"So, uh, how long do we have to wait?"

"A bit." Claire coughed into her fist. "Maybe we should have taken a bit more time before coming back in here. There isn't really much to do in the darkness… but we can't exactly walk back out either. You might want to make yourself comfortable."

***

Just about fifteen minutes later — though Alex wasn't sure exactly how long it had been, as he got bored counting seconds after the first few minutes — the path back to Mirrorwane re-connected.

The three of them activated it without missing a second, allowing the Astral Map to yank them off their feet and into the twisting ether. It ferried them back to Mirrorwane through whatever method teleportation actually worked by.

And then solid ground found Alex's soles once more. He caught himself before he could stumble, the domed ivory bone walls of his town's Teleporter rising up all around him. The door to the building hung open.

Rhyss floated beyond it alongside Abby, whose armor sported several new deep scars. But neither of them were paying the Teleporter any mind. They were both staring intently at something just out of view.

Alex took one look at the scene. Then his eyes narrowed. The look on Abby's face told him everything he needed to know.

"Mite's doing something," Alex said, striding out of the room without hesitating for an instant longer. Claire and Finley were right on his heels. The three of them shot out into the day, where the shadow of a looming corpse-pile greeted them.

No. Corpses isn't the word I'd use.

They were eyes. Hundreds — no. Thousands of eyes, stacked into a gooey mountain in the very center of Alex's town. They were held in place by a mixture of rope, wooden barricades, and the walls of any buildings unfortunate enough to have dared put themselves in the pile's vicinity.

"Oh," Finley said intelligently. "That's… unfortunate."

Some miracle prevented the giant desecration from smelling like death warmed over. That, unfortunately, did little to stop an escaped eye from popping beneath Alex's heel as he skidded to a stop. He looked down, then back up to the huge affront to his senses rising before him.

"It's okay!" Mite's voice came from the other side of the pile, growing louder as he moved in their direction. "Everyone's accounted for! The collapse didn't crush anyone and it's all back up! We just have to make sure Alex and Claire don't find…"

Mite emerged from around the pile in a light jog, a sheen of sweat covering his forehead. He ground to a halt as he spotted Alex and Claire staring right at him, his shoulders drooping like a dying flower.

"…out."

"Collapse?" Claire asked.

"What are you doing to my beautiful town?" Alex asked. "And why did Rhyss okay this?"

"It was for the improvement of the town," Rhyss replied. "And I do not possess the senses to be displeased by this creation."

There wasn't a hint of amusement within the Administrator's words. He was dead serious. At least, he sounded serious. A good part of Alex wasn't sure just how much emotion Rhyss had… but he was pretty sure the one-eyed being held a fair bit more of it than he let on.

Is he messing with me?

"He's right," Mite said hurriedly. "This is for the wall! It's important, I swear. I thought of a few improvements. Okay, more than a few. I had a genius idea, actually. Not that my other ideas aren't genius. Everything I come up with is genius, but that's because I'm a genius. Not to pat myself on the—"

"Would you just get it out already?" Alex exclaimed, trying to wipe the remains of the eyeball from the bottom of his shoe. "What are you thinking?"

"Right," Mite said. He cleared his throat. "It's for the destabilization issue. I was thinking — why not solve two problems with one wall?"

Alex paused. If there was one thing Mite could have said to get his attention, it was that. "Keep going."

"You need to open a portal to destabilize the town," Mite said. "But having a constant portal open is a pretty big source of energy. It'll need power to remain open, after all. That doesn't happen normally. So why not connect the portal to the wall? Of course, to do that, we need more energy than normal, so I had to modify the plans a bit. To add more power gathering sources."

Claire tilted her head to the side. "That makes sense, but what do all these eyeballs have to do with gathering power?"

"It's a long explanation. Suffice to say they'll be useful. They're part of a theory I'm working on. It might be a little untested, but I'm confident it works. I'd happily prove it to you if you've got that battery module I asked for," Mite said, rubbing his hands together. He paused. "Unless you want me to put the eyes back where I got them. But I warn you, that might be pretty messy."

Alex suppressed the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose.

Well, I haven't exactly set out searching for sane companions. Can't really complain when I end up with the nutters.

"Here." Alex extended his senses to one of the Spatial Rings he wore on his fingers as he held his hands out. With a thought, he summoned the battery Bridget had sold them.

A large, crystalline prism about the size of a small child materialized before Alex. It was largely translucent, with a solid black-purple cylinder suspended in the center of the shimmering crystal.

Mite's eyes lit up and he hurried over to grab it. His short stature made the battery look remarkably large as he heaved it into the air with a grunt. Mite studied it for a moment. Then a huge grin split his lips.

"This is perfect! This is why I let you employ me!" Mite spun on the spot and lugged the battery back over to the base of his eyeball pile, plopping it down with a heavy thud.

"You're certain this is safe?" Claire asked as she sent a sidelong glance at Rhyss.

The Administrator didn't respond for a moment. Then his lone eye blinked lazily. "So long as he carries out the procedure properly."

"Don't worry. I've got this handled," Mite said, rubbing his hands together and taking several steps back. He craned his neck back to look up at the towering pile of eyes, then let out a sharp breath before looking back at them. "I'm starting. This won't take long at all. Just… don't move. Things are going to start moving around, and you're right at the epicenter."

"Right," Alex said, equal parts suspicious and curious. "Good luck. Don't break my town."

"Relax," Mite said. He turned back to the pile and held his hands out before him like — well, a necromancer. Then, with a sharp gesture, he yanked both of his hands into the air. "Arise, my Veil of Stolen Confessions! I command you into being!"

There was a long, drawn-out moment of silence.

Then, as one, every single eye in the disgusting pile swiveled to look straight at Mite.