Nightmare Realm Summoner

“The Mirrorlands,” Glint hiss-whispered, his head swaying from side to side. He sounded considerably more surprised than Alex had expected him to. “I can hardly believe it. You did actually have a pathway here. And to think it was a permanent one, anchored in the center of your town… the System must smile on you.”

Alex and Claire exchanged a glance. Giving the System much credit for anything that had happened here felt a little rude. They’d both fought tooth and nail to get every single boon and benefit that Mirrorwane had. It was no coincidence that it had access to the Mirrorlands. The only thing that could really be attributed to anyone else was the initial connection to the trash bin of the universe that Teddy had given Alex by shoving him into it at the start of the Apocalypse.

“That’s one way to put it,” Alex said. He glanced into the twisted forest. The sounds of fighting twisted through the distant roar of the storms overhead. They weren’t the only ones from the town that had come here to train. That wasn’t necessarily a large issue. It wasn’t like he had to hide his abilities from his own townspeople — but it probably didn’t hurt to keep Glint’s newfound intelligence slightly under wraps. “Come on. Let’s go find something for you to kill.”

Claire started off in a seemingly random direction. It seemed as good as any other, so Alex and Glint followed after her. The three of them set a brisk pace, and it wasn’t long before they made their way out of the protective walls of Mirrorwane and plunged into the warped forest surrounding the city.

“Is this truly the extent of what this body is capable of?” Glint asked as they walked, looking down at his razor-sharp fingers. “It feels so… limiting.”

“You haven’t even tested it yet,” Alex said. “Can’t you at least wait until you get into a proper fight to complain? But for your information — no. That’s far from his limit. That’s just the base form that Glint takes on right now. I can enhance him during battle.”

“Oh?” Glint tilted his head to the side. “Show me.”

“No,” Alex replied. “Wouldn’t it be better to figure out how to control him in his normal state before you start playing around with the fancier bits? You don’t figure out the controls to something by learning every single one at once. Besides, you need something to look forward to.”

“He’s right,” Claire said, her eyes scanning the trees rising around them as the three continued deeper into the Mirrorlands. “Unless you mean to imply that you’ve already perfected your control of Glint’s body, I find it highly unlikely that giving you more powers right now will result in improving your actual capabilities. It’ll just provide a crutch for a lack of skill.”

“Or I could fight a stronger monster with all the skills at my disposal. I am your greatest weapon. Why would you not allow me to act at my full potential?”

“Because you won’t always be at your full potential,” Alex replied simply. “You’re not my only weapon. I have other monsters. Other abilities. And you aren’t going to be able to claim victory in every single situation.”

“Have you forgotten who you contracted?” Glint asked.

“Someone who lost,” Alex replied. “You were in a prison cell when we met.”

“Still is, actually,” Claire corrected. “Silver isn’t actually here, after all. He’s just controlling Glint.”

Glint’s lips thinned. Then he let out a thin, raspy bark of laughter.

“Perhaps I must concede that point. But even still, I am by far the most experienced combatant you have in your arsenal. I dealt with enemies far more powerful than I. Holding me back is a foolish decision.”

“You’ll get your chance to go all out once you can prove you’ve got complete control of Glint in his normal form,” Alex countered. “I have no desire to hold you back. But you need to understand that I’m a summoner. A summoner with more than one monster. Permanently putting every single resource I have into you alone is just squandering all the other options I have. My versatility is one of my biggest advantages. There’s just no way for me to guarantee that you’ll always be summoned at Glint’s maximum potential strength — which means I need you to be able to fight optimally in every form he has.”

Claire slowed to a stop as they came to a small clearing in the forest. Both Glint and Alex did the same. The three of them were silent for a moment. Then Glint inclined his head slightly.

“That is a reasonable argument. I will accept it… for the time being. It will not be long before you recognize that there is simply no need for any of your other monsters. I will be more than capable of handling everything myself.”

Ein’Zahl is certainly arrogant. But it doesn’t even seem like he’s considered for a moment that I might contract someone other than him. Why is that? Is he really just that confident that he’ll be so amazing that I won’t need to bother with anyone else? Or has he just somehow not considered the possibility?

Before Alex could even consider voicing any of his thoughts, a rustle from the mangled trees surrounding them caught his attention. A cold breeze laden with faint coils of reddish-purple energy coiled past their shoulders. Somewhere off to their left, the ground crunched beneath the weight of a footstep.

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“Took long enough,” Claire said, her stance lowering as her eyes narrowed. “We’d have drawn half a city down on top of us at this point if we were anywhere more populated. Guard up.”

“This is all you,” Alex told Glint. “You’ve been talking big. So let’s see what you’ve got. Kill whatever this thing is.”

“With pleasure,” Glint hissed, turning toward the sound of the noise.

That didn’t stop Alex from drawing on his magic anyway. There was always the chance that Ein’Zahl had absolutely no idea how to properly puppet Glint around at the speeds needed for a fight. He wasn’t about to let himself get killed because some Outworlder was a cocky idiot.

Both he and Claire watched warily as they scanned the area for the source of the sounds. The monster had still yet to show itself. Glint wasn’t charging out blindly into the fight either. Despite his words, he was standing stock still in the center of the clearing, waiting patiently for his moment to strike.

The seconds dragged into a minute.

And then, with no more than the faintest crunch of fallen leaves being ground underfoot, a greenish-gray form blurred out of the forest and hurtled straight toward Claire.

Glint blurred.

Silver metal sliced through the air with a shrill thrum as Glint’s cloak whipped out like a slender blade. He flashed past the blur headed straight toward Claire, landing on the ground a few feet behind it with the grace of a dancer.

Claire leapt back as the blur skidded across the packed dirt where she’d been a moment before. A chunk of greenish-gray spun through the air to land on the ground several feet to the side with a heavy thud a moment later.

It was the better portion of a long, sycthe-like blade.

A chittering hiss of anger rolled through the clearing as they all got their first proper look at the monster. It was an insectoid strongly resembling a praying mantis — not too dissimilar from the ones that roamed the forest around the normal version of Mirrorwane — but a dozen times uglier.

The beast stood nearly twice Alex’s height, its body made up of interlocking segments of chitinous armor. Tiny strands of what seemed to be graying fungus sprouted up from its body to sway in the air around it like antennae. Sickly gray matter dripped from its right arm, which now laid on the ground at its feet.

Fraying Mantis (Initiate 9)

It wasn’t the most dangerous monster Alex had ever seen, but this would probably be a pretty good test for Glint. The monster seemed fast enough to at least have a chance of keeping up with Glint for a short while. Then again, he was already a bit impressed. Ein’Zhal didn’t seem to have much trouble controlling Glint’s abilities thus far.

“That was a good shot,” Alex said, but he didn’t let his guard fall. One giant scythe-arm was still more than enough to do a hell of a lot of damage. “Finish it.”

The Fraying Mantis hissed in response.

Then it leapt toward them, wings snapping out from behind its back with an angry buzz as it dove toward Glint, bringing its one remaining hand slashing down toward the Glasmir.

Glint slipped to the side, shimmering like mercury as he easily evaded the attack. His bladed cloak sliced out once again. But, this time around, the mantis was ready for it. It leapt back, its wings buzzing to life once more as it made to flit to safety.

It slipped past Glint’s attack and accelerated, lunging for his throat —

The crack of chitinous armor filled the air, joined with a heavy, wet thunk. The mantis jerked to a stop, its limbs snapping forward around Glint like those of a ragdoll. Its surprised hiss took on what could almost be a doppler effect as the monster abruptly accelerated downward.

Glint drove it into the ground at his fee. Multiple sickly crunches cut through the air, followed just moments after by the clear, ringing slice of his cloak carving through armored flesh.

The Fraying Mantis’ remaining arm split away from its body. But, before it could even finish falling to the ground, several other parts of its body started to slide away as well. It pitched back to the ground, only for Glint’s hand to dart out with a wretched grating shriek of glass against glass.

A tremor shook the mantis’ body as Glint’s fingers tightened around its skull. The monster’s mandibles twitched as it let out a hiss.

Then there was a final crunch. Chunks of gray matter and chitin splattered to the ground as Glint crushed the monster’s skull within his hand. What remained of the creature splattered to the ground at his feet. A faint trickle of magical energy wound into Alex as a Soul Flame flickered into being above the pile of gore that had been a monster.

The clearing was silent for several moments.

“Huh,” Claire said. “Didn’t know Glint was that physically strong. I thought he was the faster sort.”

“Me too,” Alex said. “But what was that awful noise?”

Glint tilted his head to the side. Then he looked down at his arm. He shifted it slightly, and the shriek that Alex had heard a moment ago rang out once more. Both he and Claire winced.

Did he shatter his arm when he stopped its charge?

Shards of mirrored glass were protruding out from Glint’s arm in ways that Alex was pretty sure they weren’t meant to. It looked like someone had taken a hammer to a bunch of glass and pushed them up from beneath his skin.

“This body is fragile,” Glint observed, flexing his fingers. “It has the potential to generate a decent amount of force, but it shatters under its own strength if too much is used. How odd. His speed is quite fun to use. It is better than I would have expected it to be.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Glint break his own arm before,” Alex said. “But I’ve never seen him hit like that either. That was fucking sick.”

“Quite,” Glint said. He grabbed his own arm and jerked it straight. Loud shrieks split the air once again as he tore his own arm right off.

Alex and Claire stared at Glint.

Glint stared down at his now-removed arm.

“What was that?” Claire asked.

“Ah,” Glint said. “I was used to setting bones by — oh, bother. This body might take a little more time than I had expected to get used to.”

“You don’t say,” Alex said.

Glint dropped his ruined arm to the ground, and it disintegrated into a stream of silvery energy.

The three of them were silent for another moment.

Then Glint tilted his head to the side.

“Well? What are we waiting for? Let’s go find the next of our targets, shall we? I still have one arm left. I must determine what other limits this form has. There is more killing to be done. Besides, having only a single arm should make the next fight more interesting.”

Claire sent Alex a sidelong look. A grin had already pulled across his lips.

I think we’re going to get on just fine.