Nightmare Realm Summoner

Alex’s eyes fluttered.

He was suspended in a sea of clouds. Very soft, squishy clouds. Warm ones. His vision focused, a blurry ceiling shifting into view. An engine tried to sputter to life somewhere in the back of his brain. It was at least a few seconds longer before his thoughts actually spun up.

What? Where am I?

His memory was hazy. Fragments of the past slipped past his fingertips like grains of sand. The last thing he remembered was sitting down in the Forsaken Grounds. Blade had said something. Then there was… nothing. A blur. It wasn’t that the memory was completely gone.

It was just so badly obscured that it took him nearly ten seconds of just laying there and staring up at the ceiling before he finally managed to pull the pieces into place. He didn’t remember how long he’d managed to sit within Blade’s training room.

Alex certainly hadn’t made any attempts to leave it. That much, he was certain of. Blade must have kicked him out once it got too much to bear. And after that… there wasn’t much. There was a hazy, distant memory of Mirrorwane’s streets as he stumbled down them. A tiny part of him recalled meeting Rhyss, then showing up at the Vibrant Garden in search of Claire.

Then there was nothing.

He laid there quietly for several long seconds. Despite the deluge of thoughts beating against the walls of his mind as they tried to sort themselves back into the proper order, he felt strangely at peace. It almost felt like he’d just gotten a fantastic massage.

Alex turned his head. The pillow beneath him squished, contorting perfectly to accommodate him. It was far more comfortable than anything he could ever remember sleeping on, even prior to the apocalypse. That really wasn’t that much of a comparison. His college dorm had been stocked entirely through Ikea. But still, he definitely didn’t remember Mirrorwane having anything like this.

He pushed himself upright with a groan. Then he stretched his arms above his head and swung his legs out of bed, rising to his feet. Everything felt good. There was none of the weariness that had come the last time he’d tempered his body. As a matter of fact, he felt great.

Damn. Did I fully adapt to body tempering or something? There’s no way it’s that easy, right? I can’t remember the last time I felt this rested.

Alex flexed his fingers. He couldn’t really tell if he was stronger or not. When his entire body adapted, it was difficult to tell where he’d once been without anything to compare against. He’d have to go look for something to fight soon enough. First, he had to tell Claire about this.

He glanced around the room. A small frown tugged at the corners of his lips.

Where… am I? Is this really one of our cabins? When did we get chairs and tables?

Mirrorwane’s residents must have gotten really busy while they were out hunting for a Region Boss in the Mirrorlands. Alex shook his head and headed out the door to step out into the town — where he nearly strode face-first into Claire. She stood just a few feet from him and had been clearly about to reach for the handle.

“Oh. Hey,” Alex said with a grin. “Good timing.”

“Good timing?” Claire asked through a disbelieving scoff. “Timing has nothing to do with it. I told Rhyss to tell me when you woke up.”

“Really?” Alex blinked. “You missed me that bad? I’m touched.”

“You’re an idiot,” Claire said, but a small laugh slipped free from her lips. “I hope your power nap was worth it.”

“Worth it? A night of sleep isn’t going to kill anyone,” Alex said. “I’m not that insane. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of rest and recovery every once in a while. I’m not saying I want to do it every day when meditation does the trick, but it’s still perfectly fine. I… why are you looking at me like that?”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Claire arched an eyebrow. She didn’t even say anything.

“Oh,” Alex said. As it turned out, Claire didn’t need to say anything. “Oh, shit. How long has it been?”

“A year.”

Alex choked. “What? Are you kidding me? A whole— oh, blow off. You’re screwing with me.”

Claire sent him an unabashed smirk. “It’s been three days. At least you aren’t shiny anymore. I thought you were going to give our location away when the sun reflected off your head and blinded a poor bird flying overhead.”

“Three days?” Alex exclaimed, his eyes going wide. “Seriously?”

“This time? Yes.” Claire flicked him in the shoulder. Then she winced and shook her hand off. “Though I’m wondering if the benefits might have been worth it.”

“Did I miss anything important?” Alex asked urgently. “Did we get attacked? Any new threats?”

“Nothing,” Claire said with a shake of her head. “Everything is moving smoothly. There’s nothing to worry about. Everything is pretty much exactly the same as you left it. But there’s no guarantee that’s how it’ll work out next time.”

“Right,” Alex said, his shoulders slumping in relief as he blew out a small breath. “In my defense, I wasn’t planning on passing out for so long. Shit. I didn’t even realize. I thought I’d just had a great nap. No wonder my body feels so… normal.”

“Normal is one way to put it,” Claire said. She squinted at Alex. “But it might not be the way I’d choose. All you told us before you threw up in Orchid’s garden and passed out was that we had to sit down. But before you passed out, you grabbed my arm. I thought you were about to rip it out of its socket. You’ve gotten stronger. A lot stronger.”

“Seriously? That much?” Alex blinked, then glanced down at his hand as if expecting to find a strength stat tattooed on the back of it. “Even though you’re also tempered?”

“Yes,” Claire said. “You’re way stronger than you have any right to be. At least, from my understanding of strength. It really begs the question of how powerful someone with a Class that was actually meant for close range combat would become. I can barely even begin to imagine how dangerous Derek could become if his body was tempered to this degree. What in the world happened to you in the Forsaken Grounds?”

“I figured out how the room works,” Alex replied, his thoughts drifting for a moment. He supposed this definitely confirmed his theory. A jump like this wasn’t going to be possible if he’d been using the room wrong.

“And?” Claire asked. “What is it? Or am I meant to be figuring it out myself? Is it one of those things where true power is only discovered by seeking it with your own hands or something like that?”

“Nah, that’s stupid,” Alex replied. “You have to sit down at the farthest point you can get to in the room. It’s not actually about making it to the door as quickly as possible. It’s about withstanding the pressure within the room and letting it forge you for as long as possible. The door is just a target to advance toward. The real goal is the room itself.”

“You’re telling me the whole thing is a parable for ‘enjoy the journey, not the destination’ saying?” Claire asked, staring at Alex in disbelief.

“Yeah. Pretty much.” Alex paused for a moment. “Hold on. Ayrin had those as well? Did you guys also have the Live, Laugh, Love signs above your doors?”

“The what?” Claire asked. “The hell is that?”

“You know what? Never mind,” Alex said with a shake of his head. That was a rabbit hole he had no desire to go down. “It boils down to just making sure you actually get the benefits of the room. At least, as far as I can tell, rushing to get to the door as quickly as possible was only a trial to see how much potential we had. There’s no need to do that anymore.”

“Noted,” Claire said with a nod. “That’s pretty big. And there doesn’t seem to be a time limit on anything this time around?”

“Not that Blade would tell me.”

“Then anyone who’s already endured body tempering to any degree should be basically abusing the room whenever they have an opportunity to,” Claire said. Her eyes glinted in excitement. “There’s no way every single Outworlder has access to this. I’m sure the really strong families do… but most of them aren’t actually that powerful in the grand scheme of things. We were already catching up without this. And with it…”

“Yeah,” Alex said, his grin growing to match Claire’s. “I’m thinking the same thing. You thinking of heading in? I should probably lay off the repeated return trips, at least for a little while longer. So if you want to go…”

“Yeah. I think I will,” Claire said. She paused for a moment. “But you should probably check the Auction Ticket first. I want to make sure I’m around for that. If it gets called tomorrow, things will be awkward if I’m passed out.”

Alex’s eyes widened.

Oh, crap! I nearly forgot. I didn’t sleep through it, did I?

He activated his spatial ring and summoned the golden ticket from within it with a thought.

Bleak Night Golden Pass (Legendary) — Consumable

Upon Destruction: Transports the activating entity and anyone in contact with them (up to 5 individuals) to the Bleak Night Auction Hall for (1) auction.

Time until Auction: 97:31

As Alex watched, the 31 ticked down to a 30.

His eyes widened.

“Shit,” he said.

“Don’t tell me we missed it,” Claire said. “I can’t see anything. Show me.”

“Four days,” Alex replied, turning the ticket around so she could see it as a spark of excitement coiled within him. “The auction starts in four days.”

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