Alex’s feet pounded against the warped stone of the Mirrorlands and his breath came in short, poorly repressed gasps. He nearly tripped over a random root jutting out from the sidewalk, barely managing to hop over it in time to avoid coming into contact.

Claire ran just ahead of him. He was pretty sure she probably could have left him behind with the enhanced abilities her remaining blood could give her, but she hadn’t pulled too far ahead. A fair portion of that was probably because, if Alex died, the way out of the Mirrorlands evaporated with him.

Alex couldn’t risk throwing a glance over his shoulder. A moment of distraction would be enough to let him stumble into something littering the street, whether it was a random floating stone, a root, or a hole straight into super-hell.

He and Claire just ran. They kept to the edges of the buildings, trying to stick to the paths they’d already traveled through before, and praying that none of the City-Eater Centipedes saw them.

The memory of the Forsaken Revenant clung to Alex’s mind like the wet sludge that made up a Blacktongue Drudge’s body. Even though he couldn’t see or hear it, the mere thought of the monster squeezed his heart in his chest with a hand of frost.

It was nearly five minutes before they dared slow. Alex and Claire drew to a stop in the shadow of a huge tree emerging from the side of an office building and doubled over, bracing their hands against their knees and scanning everything in sight for any traces of the Forsaken Revenant.

“What the fuck was that?” Claire rasped between gasps for air, wiping her brow with the back of a hand.

“I have no damn idea,” Alex replied. He swallowed, glanced back in the direction they’d come, and shuddered. There was a difference between enjoying a good fight and… whatever that thing had been.

He had absolutely no desire to fight it. No desire to even see it again. Something about the creature was deeply twisted. A minute passed. He and Claire didn’t budge. They remained in their hiding spot, but the Forsaken Revenant didn’t make itself known again.

A slow frown worked its way across Alex’s lips as his heartbeat started to return to normal and his mind pulled itself from the grip of the terror that had been gripping it.

I’ve seen some scary shit before. Why was that thing so bad? It actually had a name, unlike the Riftwarped monster that Berith killed. I wasn’t nearly as scared of that thing — or Berith, for that matter — as I am of this.

His frown deepened. Now that he actually had a moment to think, he realized he couldn’t remember what the Forsaken Revenant’s face looked like, or if it had even had one at all.

“Bloody creepy,” Claire muttered, pushing her hair out of her face and shaking her head. “Too creepy. Literally. Are you—”

“Yeah. Confused,” Alex said. “I… do you think it had some sort of ability that made us want to run?”

“More like it just flipped a switch in our brains. Prey know a predator when they see it,” Claire said with a shudder. “I don’t know about you, but I think I’d like to head back just about now. I don’t know if I want to be wandering around the Mirrorlands so soon after that… thing saw us.”

Alex knew exactly what she meant. Even though the monster was nowhere to be seen, an edge of uneasiness still pressed against his spine. The only reason they were alive was because the Forsaken Revenant had gone after the higher Stage monsters before them.

If they met it again as they were now, they would die. There was no question or doubt about it. Even if Alex had been able to bring the absolute brunt of his strength to bear against the Revenant, it would have killed them.

“I think I’m with you on that,” Alex said with an uneasy laugh.

“Decided you don’t want to die fighting anymore?” The corners of Claire’s lips twitched in amusement.

“I decided I don’t want to get slaughtered. There’s a difference between a fight that might kill me and one that definitely will. Anything with an unreadable level is definitely beyond what we can handle right now.”

“Agreed,” Claire said. “And getting back earlier rather than later is probably smart anyway. I don’t want to miss the third Initialization Event.”

Alex nodded. He glanced down at the deck at his side, slipping the topmost card free and turning it face-up.

Spatial Mirror

Stored Energy:

High Grade Novice (Corpse Burrower) - 4

Low Grade Novice (Corpse Poker) - 3

Low-Mid Grade Initiate (Riftwarped Block-Eater Centipede) - 1

High Grade Novice (Root Fiend) - 2

Mid Grade Initiate - (Blacktongue Dredge) - 1

Bonded Creature: None

Even though each mirror only held a single monster, they shared the pool of souls. And sitting at the bottom of the list of potential monsters was the one Alex had just killed before they’d gotten the attention of the Forsaken Revenant.

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The Blacktongue Dredge.

It had been one of the most annoying monsters to kill that Alex had ever fought. He’d been looking for something that could keep monsters off him and act as a tank for the party… and Alex was sure he’d just found it. He grinned to himself.

Between the Dredge’s ridiculous strength and defense, it’s perfect for my needs. Sometimes — on very specific occasions — I love the Mirrorlands. I’d have hated to be a summoner back on Earth. The monsters in the Mirrorlands are just cooler in every way. Then again, I don’t think people are running into Forsaken Revenants back on Earth.

“You going to summon a monster before we try to get out of here?” Claire guessed, looking from Alex to the mirror in his hands.

Alex nodded.

“We could end up calling a strong monster when I open the portal back to Towntown. Intentionally holding ourselves back on Earth is fine when we’re up against weaker monsters, but the Mirrorlands is insane. It’s best to have every trick we can, even if we don’t end up needing to use them.”

“I’m not the one that has to be told that not everything we do has to be borderline suicidal,” Claire said dryly. “I’ll keep an eye out while you get ready.”

“Thanks. I’m going to do it in my Mind Palace to avoid making a ridiculous amount of light and sound. We don’t need more attention than we’ve already got.”

Alex sat down, crossing his legs beneath him, and focused his attention inward. It was a little difficult to slip into meditation when his heart was beating so fast with the mixture of excitement, adrenaline, and nervousness pumping through his veins like a slurry of drugs, but he eventually felt the world fall away around him.

Darkness rose up to take its place. A black lake stretched out around Alex and a huge basin rose from its center, backed by a mantle and before a set of plain white stairs. Three pillars emerged from the lake at the edges of the lake, looming far above.

The gemstone that he’d set aside previously still rested at the top of the stairs. Beside it, blue mist swirled in a large orb.

Alex didn’t let himself get distracted. He didn’t have time to do a proper meditation right now, nor had he killed enough monsters to have a pressing need for it. Instead, he pulled the empty Spatial Mirror from his deck and placed a hand upon its surface.

Energy pressed into his palm as the glass rippled at his touch. Alex located the Blacktongue Dredge’s Soul Flame. He drove his palm forward, pushing past the resistance, and it sank into the mirror’s depths. Chilly energy prickled at his skin and raced down his arm as it worked into his body.

Alex’s teeth clenched at the uncomfortable sensation. His fingers found the Blacktongue Dredge’s Soul Flame. The chill became a biting frost, so cold that it almost burned. Alex’s hand tightened around the energy. It twisted and leapt in attempt to escape him, but his hold on it didn’t falter.

He yanked his hand back.

The Soul Flame burst free from the Spatial Mirror. It slipped from Alex’s fingers and lifted into the air, condensing down into a tiny marble.

Thin lines of molten blue energy twisted around the marble as it started to spin, forming a miniature vortex within the air. Pressure blew Alex’s hair back and sent small waves rolling out across the surface of the black lake.

Alex raised a hand before his face and squinted as the power coming off the marble grew stronger. The ripples turned to waves, lapping against the sides of his legs and the basin. Wind whipped past his head and gathered around the marble, spinning with such intensity that it turned a translucent white.

A dull hum filled the room. It grated on Alex’s ears and made his jaw throb. The pressure changed; his ears popped. Alex’s stomach clenched and he slid back across the surface of the water.

The light pouring out from the marble grew brighter until it was a deep ocean blue. It forced him to squint and peer past his fingers. His mindspace felt like it had been caught in a storm.

Waves crashed against his legs and the sound of rushing wind and water mixed into a cacophony. His hair whipped furiously around his face and the world almost seemed to tremble as more power gathered within his Mind Palace.

Alex squeezed his eyes shut just in time to avoid a brilliant flash of light and a loud whump.

A final wall of pressure slammed into him with such force that it lifted him off his feet and knocked him to his backside. He skidded across the surface of the lake — still largely unsure as to how he was sliding on top of water — before he managed to get his feet out under him.

Alex blinked furiously to rid his eyes of the dots floating before them and jerked his head to look in the direction of the Soul Flame.

Oh, hell yeah.

Standing in the center of Alex’s Mind Palace was a Blacktongue Dredge. The monster stood two heads taller than Alex and was made of familiar black sludge packed into a muscular, vaguely humanoid form.

A bleached white mask with two horizontal crescents for eyes and an inverted one for a mouth covered the monster’s face.

Deep blue veins ran just beneath the monster’s skin, pulsing with dull light. Those were definitely new. None of the other Drudges had anything but sludge in their bodies.

Alex clambered to his feet, swaying unsteadily for a moment but not letting his gaze break from the newly summoned monster.

“Hello there,” Alex said, a smile stretching over his face as he approached the Dredge. The monster watched him silently, waiting for a command. Its presence was intimidating, just like nearly every monster from the Mirrorlands.

This thing is great… but what if it was even better? I’ve got one new ability that I haven’t had a chance to test out yet and a few extra souls to work with. The normal Blacktongue Dredge was already ridiculously strong.

Alex glanced back over the souls in his mirror, and his eyes locked on one as another thought struck him. He fought to keep his excitement from running amok. It would be a huge let-down if the idea didn’t work, but it was too late to stop his racing mind.

How powerful would my Blacktongue Dredge become if I combine it with another monster?

There was only one way to find out if this would work.

Alex drew on his magic and activated Harmonious Evolution.

Crackling energy raced through his veins and gathered in his palms. The world shifted around him, falling into grayscale in an instant.

The Blacktongue Dredge lifted into the air, its body twisting in and collapsing on itself until it was a black and blue ball of rippling flame floating in the air before him — the only source of color that wasn’t a pure shade of gray.

Alex blinked in surprise, then glanced down at the Spatial Mirror in his hand. The flames within it each still bore their color. He reached into the mirror and plucked a Root Fiend’s flame free.

It was a blackish green, like the color of rotting moss. A faint hum filled his ears as he held the flame up before him, and it started to tremble in unison with the Blacktongue Dredge’s flame.

He quickly returned the Root Fiend’s flame to his Spatial Mirror. Swallowing back his excitement, Alex grabbed a different flame. This one was also black but had streaks of angry purple and red magic arcing through it.

The Riftwarped Block-Eater Centipede’s flame.

It started to tremble. He couldn’t summon a Riftwarped monster… but perhaps there was a different way he could harness their power.

My Dredge might get stronger if I combine it with another monster… but how powerful would it become if I combined it with the Riftwarped Block-Eater Centipede?

His excited grin grew wider.

I’m going to find out.