Nightmare Realm Summoner

Going camping with an Outworlder — particularly this one — was every bit as awkward as Alex had expected. Technically speaking, this wasn’t the first Outworlder he’d camped with. Half the residents of Mirrorwane were Outworlders. And if he got really technical, then Claire was an Outworlder as well.

But the residents of Mirrorwane were Outworlders against their will, and Claire was Claire.

This was Absolution.

And something about Absolution cooking a sausage over a crackling flame was very wrong.

It had been just about twelve hours since they’d arrived at the tall, blue-grassed plain. The three of them had cleared out a wide area to set up camp, and Absolution had cut up one of the massive flowers to build into a campfire on his side of the campground.

Absolution had procured a sausage from within a Spatial Ring and speared it upon a large flower stem, which he was now roasting.

He’d also pulled out an item from his ring that had transformed into a small stone hut that now loomed behind him. It was really only about as large as a one-person tent, but there was definitely something funny about the fact that Absolution was functionally a glamper.

Alex couldn’t help but notice that he and Claire had not been offered any sausages. It seemed the Outworlder hadn’t been taught to share much of anything in his life. He didn’t even seem to want to share his campfire. It had been set up solidly on his side of the clearing.

You know, someone never teaching Absolution how to share would actually explain quite a bit about his personality.

Alex and Claire had set up their own campfire on their side, and the two of them had made sure to make it ever so slightly larger than Absolution’s. Alex had also built a small dirt wall around their campfire and was in the process of building watchtowers for it — and with plans to get started on a small palace afterward.

Claire had twisted a few blades of grass into flags, which she’d populated the top of his wall with.

It wasn’t like they had anything better to do at the moment, and their campfire was now objectively cooler than Absolution’s.

“Is this really how you spend your time?” Absolution asked, staring at them in distaste. “The System must really be piling in the rewards for Nativeworlders for the two of you to have gotten anywhere near as far as this.”

“I still don’t trust you enough to turn my back and focus on something else,” Alex said with a shrug. “And there aren’t any monsters here to fight. I’m not going to go wandering off in search of one right now. And I don’t see you doing anything all that much more interesting.”

“I am preparing food,” Absolution said.

“I don’t need to prepare anything,” Alex said with a shrug. “I’m not so spoiled that I need my rations cooked.”

Claire sent him a look that said she didn’t have anything packed because her meal was currently in the process of digging a tiny moat for his fire-castle.

“Cooked food is a luxury,” Absolution said. “And a good meal will help you fight and recover more effectively. But I wouldn’t expect someone like you to know anything about proper preparation and Foundations. Do as you will. I do not know why I asked.”

“Probably because you’re bored,” Alex said. “And because your campfire is lamer than ours.”

“What?” Absolution stared at him. “What are you talking about?”

“Never mind,” Alex said, shaking his head. “Forget it. It would be lost on someone like you.”

“I have seen a hundred more lifetimes than you,” Absolution said. “I have watched planets crumble to ash. Some of them have fallen in part due to my hand. Do you really believe there is anything you can comprehend that I cannot?”

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Alex stared at Alex for a second. Then he nodded.

“Yeah. Pretty easily, in fact.”

Absolution snorted. “Highly improbable. But I must admit… your existence vexes me. I do not understand how you have grown so powerful. Why is it that the Mirrorlands favor you?”

“Favor?” Alex asked. His eyebrows crept up his forehead. “There are a lot of words I could comfortably use to describe my relationship with the Mirrorlands. Favor sure as hell isn’t one of them. They hate me just as much as everything else.”

“But you traverse them,” Absolution said. He pointed his sausage-stick at them. “You expect me to believe you are capable to do such a thing without the favor of the Mirrorlands?”

“Yup,” Alex said. “I do. That’s like me asking if the world favors you because you can teleport around in it.”

Absolution’s head tilted to the side. “You are capable of creating passageways to the Mirrorlands? You can do more than just traverse them?”

Ah, shit. I wasn’t trying to give that away. I suppose it doesn’t really matter… but I really shouldn’t be giving Absolution any more information about us than absolutely necessary.

“I can do a lot more than people keep seeming to think I can,” Alex replied. “But if we’re going to be talking about shit like that, then I’d much rather hear how one man has somehow managed to become an enemy of the entire Starfallen family.”

Absolution’s lips curled. “It is a long story.”

“Seems like one you’re quite proud of,” Claire observed.

“Proud is… not the correct word,” Absolution said. He pulled his sausage free from the fire and pulled it off the stick — still smoking hot — and snapped it in half with a small spray of juice. Then he threw the whole thing into his mouth, eating it in one bite.

Alex suppressed a grimace.

That is, without a doubt, the worst way I have ever seen someone down a glizzy. The fuck is wrong with this guy? I mean, more than what we already know?

“What is, then?” Claire asked.

“I simply did what I had to,” Absolution said. His eyes darkened. “What I have always done. I fought. The Starfallen’s empire is… immense. They are bigger than you could believe. Branches upon branches of sub-families, each of which a thousand times more powerful than many of the other Great Families. I am not an enemy of all the Starfallen. Most of them do not even know who I am. There are those among their number who could stamp me out with little more than a thought. But of those who call this portion of the expanding Infinium their home… I am their foe.”

“How?” Alex asked. “How does one guy stand against even one small branch of a family like that?”

“Power,” Absolution replied simply. “And there is a great deal of that to be claimed upon new and old worlds alike. Perhaps, should you live and grow strong enough to see them, you will understand what I mean.”

“I take it that means you aren’t just going to tell me?” Alex asked. “Because that sounds a lot easier.”

“I could say, but you will not understand.”

“Try us,” Claire said. “Or do you have something better to be doing? We aren’t allies, but the Starfallen are just as much our enemy as they are yours. At the bare minimum, knowing a bit more about them will help us fight them better. And I don’t think you’re going to have any issues with another thorn in their side.”

Absolution studied them silently for a few seconds.

Then he procured another sausage.

He pierced it with his stick, then held it out over the flame. It was several seconds more before he spoke.

“Young worlds, like this one, are ripe with new resources. Especially ones as powerful as Tier 1s. It is where families go to recruit new warriors and to fight over newly discovered legacies. The System binds Outworlder’s strengths to ensure those native to the world have a fair chance at those powers. But all the power you can garner here is only a lever. It will mean nothing if you cannot use it when the time comes.”

“Well, that’s ominous,” Alex said. “And what exactly is the time you’re talking about?”

“When you yourself leave this planet,” Absolution required. Then he smirked. “If you leave. New worlds are where power can be gathered, but old ones are where it is forged. And those who have not spilt blood upon those ancient battlefields will forever be at disadvantage to those who have.”

“I think we’re well aware of how useful experience is,” Alex said. “But I’ve fought a lot of Outworlders. Most of them haven’t really been anything that impressive. If the only advantage you’re talking about is just having had more time to get strong…”

“It is not,” Absolution said. “Most of those whom you have killed are little more than fodder. The real old monsters have not yet emerged. The System will not let them. Their mere presence would crush too many of you.”

What, people like Meiderly?

“And yet, here you are,” Alex pointed out. He scratched the side of his neck. “Doesn’t that mean you aren’t really all that different from us?”

Absolution’s lips curled in amusement. “I could not be farther from you. But I will agree, I am not an ancient being. That, I am aware of. But I have seen the heavens, and you are still a frog trapped in a well. Only after you have witnessed true power will you be able to properly comprehend your own weakness. And only after you have understood your weakness can you become truly strong.”

Then Absolution pulled his sausage from the flames, snapped it in half, and downed it in one bite.

Alex and Claire exchanged a glance.

Then Alex sighed.

Oh, boy. This is going to be a long night.

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