Nightmare Realm Summoner

Alex gathered the survivors in front of Rin's lodge. He'd never really found out just how many of them there had been, but the group before him stung of loss. A smattering of Earth natives and Outworlders stood in a tight group, no true distinction between them. There were no more than twenty of them. They all stared on with dirty, solemn faces.

He didn't know most of their names. If Alex was honest with himself, he wasn't sure he wanted to. Names meant someone to mourn. He had no problems with facing his own mortality. He enjoyed it. But other people — that was an entirely different thing.

Getting close to people that are probably going to die is just asking to get hurt. Maybe someone with a stronger will than mine wouldn't care. They'd have some noble speech about living on in each other's hearts or some shit.

Fuck that. If you're dead, you're dead. I don't know what happens next. I like the fun bits of the apocalypse. Watching your friends get killed by a massive monster isn't fun.

I'm not egotistical enough to think I can save everyone here. Some of the faces in the crowd before me right now aren't going to be here tomorrow. But the more chances I give them… the more likely that a few less will be six feet under by this time tomorrow.

"Alex?" Claire whispered, nudging him in the side. "They're waiting."

"Are we ready?" one of the Nativeworlders that had attended their training in the Mirrorlands asked. Alex had forgotten the man's name already. He'd reached Novice 8. The man wasn't incompetent… but he wasn't the best either.

"No," Alex said honestly. "What comes for us is something that even my group will struggle to survive, much less defeat. As things are, you aren't ready. Many of the people here will probably die, even if we do win. I am included in that number."

"Then what's the point?" someone else asked — this time, an elderly man that hadn't attended the training because of his reliance on a cane. "All that work was meaningless!"

"Struggling against the inevitable is human nature," Alex replied, raising his voice. "And that in itself holds meaning. The System exists to challenge. Everything I have seen makes me believe that it is cold, but not cruel. I refuse to believe there is anything that is completely impossible."

"What does victory matter if most of us are dead?" A woman that had been too severely injured to attend the training in the Mirrorlands asked. She leaned heavily on a makeshift crutch, her level so low that her body still hadn't managed to fully heal from the severe wounds she'd sustained.

"It means your friends live on," Alex replied simply. "I'm not here to bullshit you. I'm not a politician. The fact of the matter is an immensely powerful monster will arrive here soon. Factions of people far more powerful than us would normally work together to defeat something like this, and even they would face losses. We are attempting to do the same with a ruined campsite, a few deserters, and a bunch of people who fought their first battle a few days ago. Look around you."

People tore their gazes away from Alex. The campsite was in ruins around them. Only a few of the cabins still stood. Deep gouges and scars covered the once grassy ground. Shattered trees littered the ground and the smell of burnt wood and thick smoke lingered with such intensity in the air that Alex could still taste it.

"If this is meant to be motivating, it's not working very well," Jake, one of the Nativeworlders that had attended the training, said.

A small grin pulled at one corner of Alex's lips. "I never said I was a good leader. There's only so much I can do — but I can do some. I've tried to give you the advantages that I've gotten, but I can't stretch time. I was just making sure that everyone knew the magnitude of what comes for us."

"Why?" Aaron asked from the crowd. "What's the point?"

"To give you one last chance to run," Alex replied. "There won't be another one. I can sense the Region Boss. It's getting stronger. By tomorrow, I strongly suspect it will awake. And when it comes, there will only be two paths that remain before us. Victory or complete annihilation."

"You said that we'd probably die anyway if we run now," the elderly man that had spoken before called out. "Just against something else."

"The rest of the world has been advancing while you remained here," Alex said with a shrug. "Perhaps you could hide in a city. If you're content to remain weak and unable to defend yourself, then there is a chance."

There were several long seconds of silence.

Then the old man let out a bark of gravelly laughter.

"I've been rattling the knocker on death's door for years. I don't give a rat's ass how I die, but if only from sheer spite, I'm sticking my wrinkly ass here and not moving an inch. I won't die with a blade in my back."

Everyone else exchanged glances. The people that had trained in the Mirrorlands. The ones who had remained behind. Natives and Outworlders alike — and not one of them moved. Even the ones that had been complaining made no motions to leave.

"I think that means everyone is staying," Alex said, glancing at Claire and lowering his voice. "What now?"

"You're the one trying to give a rallying speech," Claire replied with a small grin. "Don't look at me."

"I wasn't lying. I don't know what the fuck I'm doing. Shouldn't you be doing this?"

"Probably, but it's a lot more fun watching you do it. Go on."

"It's somewhat remarkable how you've managed to make the most depressing speech possible somehow inspirational," Orchid muttered from beside them. "You have a talent."

"Thank you," Alex muttered before raising his voice again. "I'll be honest. I wanted to make sure that anyone who wasn't willing to stand and die by each other's sides would leave before I got to this next part. There's one last thing I can do for us."

"Magical artifacts?" Abby asked hopefully. "Armor and weapons that can boost us up to the power of a Great Family?"

Hah. Not that lucky, I'm afraid.

"Nothing that significant. We don't have any more time for training — but as we are now, we have nowhere to hide and recuperate during the fight. We have no way to get supplies or any tools to push the tide of battle in our favor. I can change that."

"How?" Abby asked, her head tilting to the side. "If we only have a day before the Region Boss wakes up, then there's no time to erect defenses significant enough to hold it off."

Alex smiled.

"There's one way, actually."

He reached into his pocket. And, before he could even pull the Town Token free, a flicker of realization lit behind her eyes. She drew in a sharp breath.

"You can't be serious."

"I," Alex declared, pulling the token free and hoisting it into the air before everyone. "Have this."

"Fuck," Abby breathed, taking a step back as her eyes went as wide as saucers. "What is that thing?"

"It's a Town Token," one of the other Outworlders murmured in awe.

"I've never seen one, but that can't be normal. It's… warped," Abby muttered. She swallowed heavily. More understanding lit behind her features. "Like the Mirrorlands. Who are you? How did you get something like that?"

"It was a huge pain in the ass," Alex replied honestly. "And this is the last thing I can do for everyone here. I can't — and won't — promise to save everyone. I won't say that we're all going to make it through this together. But I can give us a damn good fucking chance, and at the bare minimum, a badass burial ground."

"What will that do?" the old man asked.

"It will form a Town. A position that we can try to hold and use for recovery during the fight, not to mention establish supply chains and defenses that could aid us in the battle." Orchid spoke up. "I would like to impress upon all of you the significance of this. There have been wars fought over Town Tokens. When the System made 274-50, it took everything from you but yourselves. Control is power, and a Town is a way to claw some of that control back. It can grow everyone within it beyond belief."

"Then why would you waste it here? If the item is that strong, couldn't you go somewhere else and use it in a safer area to make sure you can get all those benefits?" Aaron asked.

"Because you don't have a town without people," Claire said, taking a step forward and crossing her hands behind her back. "And what better purpose for a town than for this? You are all putting everything you have on the line. We will do the same. And for those of us that survive this fight — we will take back everything that the System took from us."

"If we win this, then I have no plans of abandoning everyone here," Alex said. "The System has made the world a warzone. We all need a home base, and I can't think of anyone I'd rather have at my back than those who had to claw their way to earn every victory."

"This is about more than today," Claire added. "Those who only look to the present will be unprepared for the future. Alex is offering you more than survival. He is offering you a future."

"I was already in before the town thing," Aaron said, clenching his fists at his sides. "If I make it through this, you can bet your ass I'm sticking around if you let me."

"My walker wouldn't last a mile," the old man added with a cackle. "If your town thing gets my bones spry enough to beat the shit out of a few ugly bastards, then you can count on me as well."

"Only an idiot would turn down an invitation to enter a Town," Abby said. She sent one more glance at the Token in Alex's hand and shook her head. "Especially one like that. I can speak for all of us when I say that we accept your offer. You've already been far fairer to us than the Outworlder families we abandoned. Rin put her trust in you, and so will we. If we survive this fight… we will be your army."

"Then let's focus on that first bit," Alex said with a smile.

It struck him in that moment that he didn't actually know how to activate the Token. But the second that thought passed through his head, he felt the metal grow brittle between his fingers.

The Town Token snapped.

Its crack echoed through the silent campsite.

Then, with a thunderous roar, crackling purple and black power exploded from his hand. Arcs of savage electricity tore out from around Alex and slammed into the ground, shaking it beneath his feet. The gravity bearing down on his back seemed to magnify a hundredfold. He staggered.

And in the air before him, a System Message shimmered to life.

[Trial Assigned: The First Town]

Objective: Augment your town by achieving the highest possible completion rate in the trial before your death.

Alex blinked. Stay updated with empire

Before my death?

Then the world collapsed, leaving behind nothing but Alex and an endless sea of darkness around him.