A river of electric energy raced down Alex’s scalp the instant the crown touched it. The sound of an echoing gong strike echoed in his ears. Every single hair on his body stood on end. And then, with a dozen piercingly loud cracks, the crown shattered.
The pieces of the magical item rained down all around him. They evaporated into motes of shimmering white light before they could hit the ground, floating suspended in the air all around him. Then those faded as well. There was a moment of complete silence. Everyone stared at him in anticipation.
Uh…
Alex glanced around.
He’d been expecting something a little bit more—
A deafening trumpet tore through the air and slammed into him with near-physical force. Alex cursed and clapped his hands over his ears. Nobody else seemed to have heard it. But, before he could say anything, his eyes caught on the sky overhead.
“Holy shit,” Alex breathed.
Huge golden letters carved themselves into being far overhead. They were bright enough to light the town up like a second sun. And, this time around, he wasn’t the only one who could see them. Everyone looked up in awe. They raised their hands, squinting through their fingers as the System’s message finished taking form.
[Trial Assigned: Heavy is the Crown]
Objective: Variable. The next wave arrives in [00:01:59]
As Alex watched, the 59 ticked down to a 58.
Then a 57.
“Shit!” Alex tore his eyes away from the massive, glowing words. “What the fuck is up with that? Why is the message so big? Is the System trying to broadcast our location to the entire world?”
“It is limited to members of Mirrorwane. Nobody else will be able to see it,” Rhyss said. “Someone else noticing your Trial is the least of our worries.”
“What does variable even mean?” Alex asked. “Shouldn’t the objective be to defeat the wave?”
“It means that there are various ways to defeat this wave,” Rhyss replied. For once, the Advisor himself seemed slightly confused. “But I have not heard of one being used in this manner. We should be prepared for anything.”
“Alright! Get moving!” Orchid barked. “Get to your defensive positions! Ranged fighters, on the walls! Melee combatants, outside! Anything you’ve been storing, get it ready! We don’t know what we’ll be up against! We’ve got two minutes to get into position. For anyone uncomfortable with fighting, man the Warp Relay and get ready to pull people in and out of the fight as needed.”
The whole town exploded into motion.
People raced to their positions, drawing their weapons and readying their magic. Alex and Claire weren’t exempt from that. They, along with much of the town, raced the timer ticking down overhead and hurried outside the town.
Alex skidded to a halt several feet outside the Veil of Stolen Confessions, just at the edge of the forest. Derek loped up alongside them, ripping an axe and a sword free from his body and looking up into the sky with an excited grin. The timer had dropped down to just over a minute.
“This is going to be awesome!” Derek said with a laugh. “What do you think the Trial is going to reward us with? You think it might drop a whole new building in our town or something?”
“I doubt it would be that overt,” Alex replied, looking out into the forest to see if he could spot anything materializing in the darkness. The attempt was futile. There was nothing but trees. Either the monsters materializing were incredibly stealthy or they simply hadn’t arrived yet. “But I think we’ll find out soon enough. Just do me a favor, yeah? You’re the one who’s the hardest to kill out of all of us.”
“I think I’m probably the one that’s technically died the most,” Derek replied. “But I get your point. What do you want?”
“Keep an eye on everyone,” Alex said. “I don’t want to lose anyone in these. I know it might be inevitable… but I don’t care. Protect the town wherever you can. That matters more to me than a few extra kills or something.”
Derek’s typical easygoing smile fell away. He looked up into the sky for a moment. Then his gaze dropped back down to Alex. He gave him a serious nod.
“I’ll protect them,” Derek said. “I promise.”
Then he gave Alex a salute, swinging the sword in his hand around and embedding its blade in his forehead with a heavy thunk.
Alex and Claire stared at him for a second.
Then a laugh burst from Alex’s lips. He couldn’t help it.
“Sorry,” he said, still chuckling. “I didn’t mean to—”
“No, no,” Derek said. He pulled the sword free and cleared his throat. “I might swing these things around a bit too easily. Don’t worry. I’ve got your back up here. You can count on me.”
And, somehow, Alex completely believed him.
“Thanks,” Alex said. “I know I can.”
He drew on his magic and looked out into the forest once again, a thrill of anticipation racing through him and growing with every second that ticked down in the sky overhead. Only the System knew what was coming. It could have been anything. But after everything he’d seen in the Mirrorlands, Alex wasn’t too concerned. They’d already seen some of the most vile, wretched creatures that the System had to offer. Nothing up here was going to hold a candle to the Forsaken Revenant or any of the other messed up things he’d run into.
And then a horrifying thought struck him.
“Wait,” Alex said. “There’s no chance the crown somehow activates both here and the Mirrorlands, right? Because the town is reflected—”
“It’s fine,” Claire said, raising her hand to forestall Alex. “I already asked. Rhyss had no idea if the crown would create two whole waves because of how Mirrorwane is basically two towns. But we’re ready for it. Orchid has lookouts there. If they see anything, they’ll report back. Then they’ll use the Warp Relay to grab us. We’ll be able to run right into the Warped Embassy and get to the reflected version of the town within seconds. Until then, we’ll have the majority of our forces in the location that’s guaranteed to get attacked.”
“Oh,” Alex said with a relieved breath. “Perfect. I probably should have brought that up before we got this whole thing started, huh?”
“Well, technically, you did,” Derek said. He glanced up at the sky. “You even had a whole twenty seconds to spare.”
Claire just snorted.
“Good point,” Alex said with a grin. Then he called on his magic. Darkness bubbled before him as his shadow extended. A ringing crack echoed through the forest as Glint’s claws carved through reality and he stepped out alongside him. Princess and Spark were only seconds behind the first monster.
Glint looked upward. A grin spread across his gaunt features.
“A Town Trial,” Ein’Zahl said. “Fantastic. This should be entertaining. Why did you summon me without the Riftwarped abilities? I proved myself more than capable of using them during previous fights.”
“I don’t want to waste magical energy. We don’t know how long this will go,” Alex replied. “I’ll re-summon you if we need to.”
“Acceptable,” Ein’Zahl said. “Let us tear our opponents to shreds. And seek out powerful ones. This body is good… but it could be better.”
Alex grunted. “You think I just materialize them out of nowhere or something? I’m working on it.”
“Get ready,” Claire said, drawing her whip and lowering her stance. “It’s almost time.”
Alex and Glint both looked into the forest. Overhead, the timer ticked down into the single digits.
Mirrorwane’s other defenders spread out in the the evening to their sides. A stillness heavy with anticipation hung in the air as everyone waited the final moments down in complete silence. The forest itself seemed to know something was coming. It was completely still. Not so much as a breeze rustled the leaves of the trees surrounding the town.
Alex swallowed. His heart was already racing in his chest. The anticipation of a fight sometimes felt worse than the fight itself. He squinted into the shadows, watching the timer overhead from the corner of his eye. There were three seconds left.
Then there were two.
One.
And then there were none.
The golden words shimmered.
Objective: Variable. The wave has begun.
Then there was a flash of brilliant blue light from somewhere deep within the forest. It was followed an instant later by a staticky, booming blast. Pressure exploded out from within the forest, driving into Alex and the other defenders with a howl. Several people skidded a step back.
Howls filled the air. It was followed by the thunderous pound of feet against the ground somewhere within the darkness of the trees. Hundreds of them, all racing toward Mirrorwane. Everyone tensed.
And then the first monster burst free from the forest — hunched but humanoid, with bright red skin and spines sprouting from its body in all directions. It wore scraps vaguely resembling bronze armor and bore a short blade in both of its hands.
Reaper Vanguard (Adept 1)
A challenging scream ripped from the monster’s lips. It sprinted toward them at a deceptively fast speed for its wretched form.
There was a streak of brilliant orange. Molten magma carved through the dim light, originating from the top of Mirrorwane’s walls, and slammed into the monster’s face with a thunk.
The Reaper’s head exploded. It dropped to the ground in a flail of limbs, skidding. But before it had even slid to a stop, the forest behind it came alive. Monsters poured out with a cacophony of hissing shrieks. Cries of defiance rose up from Mirrorwane’s defenders. Magic carved through the air, bombarding the attacking horde in deafening crashes.
“Come on!” Alex roared. “Give them hell!”
And he, along with the rest of Mirrorwane’s defenders, raced into the encroaching night to meet the monsters foolish enough to challenge their town.