Nightmare Realm Summoner

“Rhyss, is there anything else you can tell us about this?” Alex asked as he took a few steps closer to the tower, squinting into the darkness beyond the entryway. He still couldn’t make out the faintest detail within the shadows. The only thing awaiting him was pitch black.

“It is not a building that falls under common knowledge. I have no information about the Forsaken Grounds beyond its status as Mythic. All I can provide is conjecture,” the Advisor said. “Most Mythic buildings tend to be rather unique. Especially ones that you receive from Ancestries or other locations containing potentially ancient knowledge or power. However, given that the Forsaken Grounds consumed the Cultivation Array, it is likely this is a training area.”

Even I was able to gather that much.

“Are there any records about a building trying to kill the guy whose town it belongs to?” Alex asked. “Should I be expecting a axe to swing at my head the moment I step into that thing?”

“It would not be beyond the realm of reason,” Rhyss said.

That was far from the most comforting answer. The ominous, miasmic aura that continued to radiate out from the looming tower certainly didn’t help in that regard. Goosebumps still prickled across Alex’s back. Even the eyes covering the massive wall ringing Mirrorwane seemed to be trying to avoid looking directly at the tower Mite had built.

“You do realize there’s a borderline 100% chance it tries to kill you, right?” Claire asked. “Because I’ve never seen a more murderous-looking building in my entire life. There would be a blood-splattered sign hanging from the door if it had one.”

“Oh, yeah.” Alex nodded. “No doubt about it. You coming in with me?”

“Obviously,” Claire replied, drawing her black thorn whip free from its tattoo form.

The two of them drew up to the entryway of the tall, bone tower and came to a stop just a foot outside it. There was still nothing visible within the Forsaken Grounds. Even at this range, its darkness was absolute. There may as well have been an empty void waiting for them.

“Before I do this, quick question,” Alex said. “Rhyss, what are the chances this thing is just broken or otherwise banishes me to some alternate dimension in which I get trapped and am unable to escape because it’s a one-way trip?”

“That is a very specific scenario,” Rhyss observed. “A highly improbable one.”

“I’m noticing you didn’t answer the question.”

“It is a building,” Rhyss said. “I do not know exactly what it does. As mentioned, all I can do is guess. But there does not appear to be any destabilization within its presence. If you were entering the version within the Mirrorlands, then I would be concerned. But this one… it is just a building. An ominous one. It does not appear to have been damaged or improperly created. As to its purpose — perhaps you should consider where you acquired it.”

“What do you mean by that?” Wess asked curiously. “Who cares where they got it. It’s just a building, no? A rare one.”

“I would be remiss to say that all town buildings are unequivocally beneficial,” Rhyss replied, his lone eye unblinking. “There are certainly some that can be considered detrimental for a town even in the best of cases. And there are those under the System who take great joy in cruelty. People who, even in death, seek to harm. If you were to have acquired a powerful blueprint from the grave of such a being… it would not be impossible for the structure to be malicious.”

Shawn didn’t seem like that kind of guy. He was a cool dude. I don’t think he’d intentionally sell us a trap for no reason at all. He even helped us out a few times when he didn’t have to. I’m not sure I’d go so far as to say I trust him… but I don’t think he’d screw us over for no reason.

“Good enough for me,” Alex said with a nod. He looked to Claire. “Shall we?”

“As one,” Claire said with a nod.

Alex drew on his magic. Glint was still dead, but he still had two other monsters as well as the rest of the tools at his disposal. He didn’t bother summoning his anchor yet — the white weapon was far too large and heavy to lug into a building.

His heart started to beat faster. Anticipation and excitement mingled within his chest as his veins pumped adrenaline through his body.

Then the two of them stepped into the darkness.

Utter silence swallowed him whole. For a moment, Alex could have sworn he was falling forward. Then his foot hit solid ground once again, a single footstep ringing out as all the darkness that had swallowed his vision abruptly vanished as if it had never been there.

What?

You could be reading stolen content. Head to NovelFire for the genuine story.

He stood in a plain stone room. There were no windows in the square walls rising around him, and the only entrance was a closed wooden door about a hundred paces away from him. And that was rather odd in itself. The tower had been nowhere near that large. It, rather notably, also hadn’t been square.

Stranger still was the complete lack of a light source. Even though the darkness had vanished and he could see again, there wasn’t a single explanation as to how he was doing that. It shouldn’t have been possible. No torches hung on the walls, nor was there a single crack or hole for light to filter through.

It was an artist who knew that humans were capable of sight but had no clue as to how their eyes actually worked had tried to paint a world into being. Everything looked real enough, but it was also very noticeably wrong.

Alex only had a moment to register that before it struck him that his hair was still standing on end. An odd, almost electric energy hung in the air all around him. The back of his neck prickled, and he could have sworn that something was constantly shifting at the corner of his eyes.

He glanced over his shoulder.

A pitch-black doorway rose behind him, identical to the one he’d just stepped through. It looked like the way back to Mirrorwane was still there. But while the door was where it should have been… Claire was not.

He was alone.

Well, shit.

“Hello?” Alex called.

There was no response. His voice didn’t even echo. It was swallowed by the dim gray stone surrounding him, vanishing so fast that it barely even had time to make it out from his mouth.

The uneasy feeling bearing down on his shoulders intensified. Every breath felt thick and heavy, as if he were trying to inhale heavy gas. A faint haze gathered around his mind to mug up his thoughts. Even his hearing seemed muted and distant — not there was much at all to hear.

Alex looked around again. He scanned the corners of the room and squinted at the ceiling. There was nothing but dim, gray stone. Not a single sign of anything else, Claire or otherwise, was there.

Something shifted at the far left corner of his vision. His head snapped toward it and he raised his hands as he dropped into a defensive stance and reached for his magic —

Nothing was there.

And then it struck Alex that nothing was a step truer than he’d thought.

The room wasn’t just devoid of sound or people.

His magic was missing. There was an empty gap in his soul where the power should have been. His deck box was nowhere to be found, and he couldn’t feel so much as a scrap of any of his other powers. He held his hand out, trying to summon forth a shard of glass to no avail. Alex reached for the gate within his soul, but it was similarly responsive. Not even his Soul Manifestation remained.

The room was well and truly empty.

What the hell?

His heart started to beat faster. Waves of terror beat against the edges of his mind like a growing scream. An overwhelming urge to turn on his heel and sprint out of the room nearly overwhelmed Alex. It came up so suddenly that he found himself turning halfway toward the exit before he even realized what was happening.

Alex drove his foot down into the ground. His teeth ground. And, somewhere in the back of his mind, there was a faint pop. The oppressive aura of the room cracked. The fog that had been pouring to smog up his mind blew away like morning frost exposed to the sun’s angry glare.

Something had been trying to screw with his mind — and Sovereign Cataclysm had put an end to it.

He turned back to face the other side of the room, hands clenching into fists as he bared his teeth.

“You think I’m going to run from literally nothing?” Alex snarled. “You want me gone? Come do it yourself. But I’m not running until you make me. And get the hell out of my head.”

The silence swallowed his words whole. That took a considerable amount of the satisfaction of saying them away. But Alex had meant what he’d said. There was no way he was turning back until he figured out what the point of the Forsaken Grounds was.

A second passed. Then another.

He received no response. But Alex didn’t believe for even a second that he was truly alone here. There was something else in this room with him. It was hiding, but it was there.

Alex took a step toward the door at the far end of the room.

The instant his foot hit the ground, a wall of terror slammed into his stomach like a gut punch. His eyes bulged as the breath exploded from his lungs in a surprised wheeze. This was no mere mental manipulation. Real, physical pressure bore down on Alex, trying to shove him back toward the exit.

Something really didn’t want him heading deeper into the room.

But, as powerful as the repelling force was, it was nothing at all compared to the primal fear that the Forsaken Revenant had attacked him with. It wasn’t even worthy of being called the same thing. Compared to the Revenant, this was nothing at all.

Though, now that I think about it, they’ve both got Forsaken in the name. Is there a connection?

Alex’s hands balled into fists. His nails bit into his palms. There was only one way to find the answer to that, and it sure as hell wasn’t by turning around and leaving.

He took another step forward.

The pressure driving into him doubled. A ringing boom tore through the insides of his skull and he staggered, sliding a half-inch back across the ground. Alex’s breathing stiffened as his chest constricted. His eyes and ears ached. It felt like a vice was trying to squeeze every part of his body into paste.

He stood frozen in place for a moment, but Sovereign Cataclysm wasn’t helping him any more. This wasn’t just some mental attack. Whatever was trying to stop him was using sheer magic force… and it got stronger with every step he took.

Alex squinted across the room. He wasn’t even close to the door across from him. If the pressure actually doubled with every step he took, he couldn’t even begin to imagine how bad it would be in ten steps, much less the full length of the room.

He could feel his heart pounding violently in his chest, straining to keep the blood pumping properly in his veins. His body wasn’t having a great time of things. But he’d be damned if he gave up now. There was no room in his head for any further thoughts. Retreat wasn’t even an option — and neither was standing still.

How many more steps can I manage before I pop like a grape?

He wasn’t sure. But he did know one thing. He wasn’t leaving without some answers. And that really only left one option before him.

Alex took another step forward.