Alex’s elation came to an abrupt halt as Claire shoved herself to her feet, gasping, her breath ragged. Her skin was even paler than it had been and her eyes had taken on a wild, hungry look that looked more in place on a rabid animal than a human.

She was looking at him like a starving dog looked at a piece of meat.

“Claire?” Alex asked. He took a step back and lowered his stance. “Glint, come out. Now.”

Tinkling glass rang out as the Shardwalker emerged from a void in the air beside him. Claire took a stumbling step toward him, then jerkily ground to a stop. Her arms twitched and she flexed her fingers, her jaw working.

“Blood,” she managed, forcing the word through stiff lips. “Please. The portal.”

Alex hesitated. This didn’t seem like the same person he’d been traveling with — but they’d gotten through the Mirrorlands together. He wasn’t about to abandon her for no reason.

“Glint, if she tries to kill me, kill her immediately,” Alex said. Claire had managed to restrain herself from attacking for long enough to ask for permission, which was probably a good sign. He stepped forward and held his hand out warily. “Go ahead. Just leave me enough to—”

Claire blurred forward, slamming into him with enough force to drive the air from his lungs. She bit down on the side of his neck, clutching his shoulders in a vice grip as she greedily drank.

Alex stiffened with a hiss. Getting drank from was no more comfortable the second time than it had been the first. Glint took a step forward, the glistening mirror claws that made up his fingers raising as the Shardwalker stood in wait.

Claire didn’t seem to show any signs of stopping soon. A wave of dizziness started to build at the back of his mind and he adjusted his stance, grinding his teeth as his temples thumped. “That’s enough, Claire. I won’t give a second warning.”

To his relief, she lifted her head, letting out short, heavy gasps. She supported herself against his shoulders for a few seconds before pushing away and taking a step back. When her head raised once more, her expression had returned to normal.

“Thank you,” Claire said through gasps for air. She bent over and braced her hands against her knees, groaning. “I’m sorry. I had no idea.”

“No idea about what?” Alex asked, gesturing to Glint. The monster moved over to him and stood by his side. Alex found a small patch on his back without any shards and leaned against it as he weathered the last of the dizzy spell. “What happened?”

“That purple energy. It felt like it drained the life out of me,” Claire said. She let out a coughing groan and forced herself to straighten again. She wiped her mouth with the back of a hand, spotted a fleck of blood on it, and licked it clean. Dull pink tinged her cheeks as she realized what she’d done. She cleared her throat and blew out a relieved breath. “I thought I was going to starve to death. It felt like I hadn’t eaten in weeks.”

“You’re okay now, though?” Alex confirmed. “That isn’t going to happen again?”

“I don’t think so.” A flicker of uncertainty and worry shaded her face. “I hope not. Are you okay? I didn’t mean to drain so much from you.”

He lifted his hand off Glint’s back and shifted his weight from foot to foot. The worst of the dizziness had already passed. “Yeah. I’m fine, but I’m going to need to drink and eat something soon. Half-frozen pizza isn’t really enough to sustain two people.”

“Right. We’ll get you some food right away,” Claire said with a firm nod. She turned, another sentence starting to form but dying before it could leave her mouth. Her lips parted in awe. “Whoa. Where are we?”

“Earth,” Alex replied, voice dry. And, as if it had been waiting for him to finally say it out loud, the System swirled forth.

[Trial: The Mirrorlands]

Objective Completed. Rewards Earned.

Alex stared at the glowing words until they faded away.

Where are my rewards? Actually — I think know the answer to that. They’re waiting for when I meditate.

He coughed into a fist. Their brief conversation about sustenance had been enough to remind him about just how badly he needed to get something to drink. “Have you never seen grass before?”

“No, I’ve seen it.” Claire knelt and plucked a blade of grass from the ground. She rolled it between her fingers. “But not this much. It looks like it goes on forever. Can you eat this?”

Alex snorted. “No.”

“I thought humans eat plants.”

“Some plants,” Alex said. “Not this one.”

“Seems like a bleeding waste,” Claire said. She dropped the grass and straightened back up. A small frown crossed her features. “I… I can’t get back to my own world, can I?”

Alex winced. He flicked his hand, dismissing Glint. He didn’t need the monster strolling around beside them and giving away what could be an element of surprise. “Not yet. The demon implied I’d eventually be able to travel to locations other than here and the Mirrorlands, but…”

He turned and looked over his shoulder. There was no sign of the rift they’d passed through. Claire followed his gaze, then steeled her features and shook her head.

“Maybe one day. Anywhere is better than the Mirrorlands. We can deal with the other shit later. Let’s get you some food and water. Er… you’ll have to show me what you can consume, though.”

“Yeah. Food sounds great. But… I’m still stuck on something. You haven’t seen this much grass before?” Alex’s curiosity was too much to push down.

Claire shook her head. “No. Why?”

“What was your world actually like?” Alex asked. “You’ve got matches. You recognize pizza. Was it—”

“I’ve got no idea what pizza is,” Claire interjected. “I just assumed it was food.”

“Ah. It is. But was your world like this one?”

Claire looked around. “This is what all of your world is like? Grass?”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Alex cleared his throat in embarrassment. “No. Sorry. That was a dumb question. We have — had — cities. Giant places where hundreds of thousands of people live. Sometimes millions. They’re made from stone and metal. Some stretched on for miles.”

Claire’s eyes grew progressively wider as Alex spoke. Something told him that the earlier similarities in their worlds were starting to evaporate.

“Miles?” Claire asked. “That big?”

“And there — you recognized miles. That’s the measurement we use in the United States, but pretty much nobody else uses it. Why do you know that?”

“We use it too,” Claire said with a shake of her head. “It’s based off a smaller unit of measurement, feet. It was made when an old king measured out the length of one of his hands.”

Alex stared at Claire. “I — what? His hands? But it’s called feet.”

Claire nodded. “Hands. Yes. It makes sense.”

A frown crossed Alex’s lips. Claire mirrored his expression.

“The System is translating,” Alex muttered. “That’s what happening, isn’t it? It’s finding the closest words to each other and swapping them so I understand and vice versa.”

“That would explain a lot,” Claire said. Her head tilted to the side. “Does that mean the size of your cities was a mistranslation? How big is a mile?”

“Huge,” Alex replied. “I think base numbers are safe. Some of them had millions of people. Was that not the case in your world?”

“No,” Claire muttered. “Not at all. That’s so many people. How could you even get around with that many people?”

“Cars, mostly. Metal vehicles powered… by explosions, I guess. I don’t actually know how they work that well.”

Claire stared at him. “Explosion-powered vehicles? Incredible. We used horses. Carriages.”

Medieval level technology? No, she’s got matches. When did matches come into being? Shit. I can’t remember.

“Did you have electricity? Energy that you could power lights with?”

“We had lamps,” Claire replied with a shake of her head. “And used Lingerwax. It comes from Lingertrees and burns for hours. Exactly one hour per gram, actually. Smelled great, too.”

Lamps and vampires… somewhere in the Renaissance era, then? I should have paid more attention in history.

“Did you wear big poofy dresses?”

“I mean… occasionally? Usually for fancier events. Oh! And for Courts. Those were fun. I miss them.”

That does seem vaguely around the Victorian or Renaissance timeframe. But they’ve got vampires… and who knows what else.

Before Alex could press with more questions, a strange sensation passed over him. A wave of prickling goosebumps rolled across his skin and gripped the back of his neck. For a moment, he thought that Claire had drank too much blood and he was about to pass out, but the feeling wasn’t one of weakness.

It was unease.

Claire caught his expression and followed his gaze to a nearby hill. “What is it? Did you see something?”

“No. I just got a really odd sensation,” Alex replied. He glanced over his shoulder to see if someone was watching them, but the grassy hills seemed empty. “As if someone was watching us.”

“Where?”

Alex turned in a circle, taking in their surroundings. “I have no idea, but standing here won’t fix shit. Let’s get to higher ground and see if we can spot a river or something.”

He started off toward the tallest hill in the area. The strange sensation remained, though it receded to the back of his mind. That didn’t make him pay any less attention to it. He continued to search the grass for any sign of… well, anything.

I remember reading that when people get creeped out, it’s often because they’ve subconsciously picked up on something. Another shadow monster, maybe? Claire hasn’t noticed it.

The answers didn’t make themselves known. They drew up to the top of the hill a few minutes later. Alex crested it, then nearly forgot about the strange feeling completely. Before them was a city.

More accurately, there was parts of a city. A mixture of stone and brick buildings were scattered throughout an area a little bit larger than two football fields put together, their walls overgrown with thick vines.

Some of the houses were tall towers — literal chunks of skyscrapers, Alex realized — while others were more normal family houses and stores. They were scattered haphazardly, much of their recognizability taken by the vines covering their walls.

A few people milled about in the city, mostly gathered at its center. A line of tension that Alex hadn’t even been aware of relaxed. There were other people, and with any luck, they’d know more about what was going on.

More importantly —

“People!” Claire exclaimed. “They’ll have food! And water!”

Assuming they’re willing to part with it. Most people aren’t well known for being generous when everything goes to hell.

The sensation prickling at the back of Alex’s mind grew stronger. He squinted down at the town, trying to figure out where it was coming from. Something was wrong. He was certain of that. He just didn’t know what it was.

“You aren’t feeling anything off, are you?” Alex asked.

“Off? What do you mean? Like the feeling you mentioned?” Claire’s brow furrowed. “No. Nothing. Just a little bit hungry.”

“Seriously?” Alex paled. “How much blood do you need? I’m not made of the stuff, you know.”

“I mean… you are,” Claire said. She gave him a sheepish grin. “But I won’t take any more from you. I’m fine now. I’ll find something else to drain soon enough. There are things with blood now that we’re outside of the Mirrorlands. That can come after you get something to drink.”

Alex nodded, but his mind wasn’t fully present.

What is causing this feeling? Is it possible my body got so used to the Mirrorlands that this is just some form of reaction to being in a normal place again? But if that was the case, Claire would also —

“Ho there!”

Alex and Claire spun. A blonde-haired man was striding up the hill from behind them, an easygoing grin on his face and his hand raised to the air in greeting.

Jackson - Human (Novice 4)

“Are you guys new? I didn’t see you with the other survivors,” Jackson said. His eyes flicked to Claire and his eyebrows rose. “And how did you hide your stats?”

Alex didn’t let his expression shift but shifted his weight to the tips of his toes in case he had to move suddenly. Sure, they were close to an area with other people, but Jackson’s timing wasn’t doing him any favors.

“We’re passing through,” Claire said noncommittally. “And that’s just something that came with my class.”

“Nice.” Jackson drew to a stop a few feet away from them. “I dig the makeup, by the way. Did you really put that on just before the world went to shit? I mean, I respect it, but cool.”

Claire’s brow furrowed and she sent Alex a glance. Something told him she didn’t know what makeup was.

“She figured if we were going to die, there was no point not doing it while looking badass,” Alex said. He matched Jackson’s casual tone and gave the other man a grin. “How have things been out here? And would you happen to have anything to drink? I’m fucking thirsty.”

“For real? There’s a river just down that way,” Jackson said. He dug through the old backpack slung over his shoulder and took out a plastic water bottle. Jackson took a swig from it, then tossed it to Alex. “Here.”

“Thanks.” Alex lifted the bottle to his lips and greedily drank the rest of the water within it. He highly doubted that Jackson had gone around poisoning his own water supply just in case he ran into random people.

“So where’d you lot come from?” Jackson asked as Alex guzzled down the water. “I’ve been wandering around but I haven’t seen any other villages in the immediate area. You must have been walking ever since the Initialization.”

“Over there,” Claire said, nodding in the direction they’d come. It technically wasn’t a lie.

“For real? Guess we’ll have to make our way in that direction if we want to contact anyone else.” Jackson scratched at his chin. “Was it a big town?”

“Big enough,” Alex said. He lowered the bottle and gave Jackson an appreciative nod. “How have things been over here?”

“Monsters, mostly. The night was real bad. Lost a lot of people.” Jackson’s lips thinned and his features darkened. “I’ve never smelled that much blood before. It was… I don’t even know how to describe it. Hell, I guess.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Claire said. “It was a rough night for us as well. We got lucky to make it this far.”

“I’m glad you did. We could use all the help we can get.” Jackson extended his hand to Alex, gesturing for the bottle. He returned it, and for a brief instant, their hands touched. A spike of ice shot down Alex’s arm. Judging by the look on Jackson’s face, he felt it too.

The smile on the man’s face vanished. He dropped the bottle and his hand clamped down on Alex’s wrist. A silver blade materialized in his other palm in a split second and he lunged, driving it straight for Alex’s heart.