Chapter 448: Golden Invitation

Orchid stood on the top of the Veil of Confessions and looked down over the defenses that her teams had erected beyond the moat surrounding the town. Sharpened logs jutted up at angles pointing toward the forest surrounding Mirrorwane. Barricades ran between them, giving defenders a spot to set up and take cover in between volleys of ranged attacks.

People rushed along the battlefield as they hurried to get the last of the defenses put into position even as the golden numbers in the air overhead steadily ticked down toward zero. Orchid let out a slow breath.

Then a smile crossed her lips.

Their defenses looked good. Aside from Alex and Claire, everyone had returned from their trips and training. All of their combatants were prepared. Mite and Vil were hard at work trying to finish the Endbringer Culverin — though Orchid herself had no idea if they’d actually manage it in time. She’d given them all the motivation that she could manage. All that remained now was for everyone to do their best to ensure that the building wouldn’t become necessary.

The waiting is the worst part, now.

There were just about two hours left before the countdown hit zero. And, unfortunately, Orchid had done just about all that she could think of to prepare. Everyone was in position. Their defenses were just about as strong as they were going to get.

All she could do was stand around and wait for the timer to hit zero. She supposed that was definitely better than the alternative of having far too much to do without enough time to accomplish it. Still — Orchid could feel the weight settling on her shoulders.

I’ve been left in charge. I have to make sure this place is still standing when Alex and Claire return. Because if it isn’t… well, most of us have nowhere to run to. We’ve made enemies of pretty much ever Outworlder family. Myself especially so. Absolution is probably waiting for an opportunity to remove me.

Failure isn’t an option.

“You seem stressed.” A woman’s voice came from behind Orchid.

She turned as Alyssa walked to join her on the ramparts. The other woman had her massive paintbrush slung over her shoulder as if it weighed nothing at all.

“I am,” Orchid said honestly. “Responsibility comes with stress. You cannot have one and not the other. I will ensure that this town stays standing.”

“Not just you,” Alyssa said. She looked out over the prepared battlefield beneath them. “Everyone here is thinking the same thing, you know? It’s a bit shit, but this is home.”

“It’s not shit,” Orchid said. “It’s… just a bit of a work in progress.”

Alyssa arched an eyebrow. Then she let out a snort. “Well, I can see where it’s going. And I think it’s gonna turn out pretty sweet. I’m really digging the evil overlord vibes. But we’re more like an evil gremlin at the moment. But one of my friends once told me that you can’t climb to the mountaintop of success without walking the roads of cringe.”

Orchid’s brow furrowed. “…what?”

Alyssa’s cheeks reddened. “You know what? Never mind. Too much time on art websites drawing… uh, questionable things. An artist’s got to make a living somehow.”

“I get the feeling you’re trying to be supportive, but I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Orchid said. Her brow furrowed. “Is this about the battle? The System is unable to decipher some of your words.”

“It’s just some stuff from the past.” Alyssa shook her head. Then she coughed into her fist. “Look. I just came up here to say we can all tell you’ve taken responsibility for the town onto your shoulders. And I think everyone appreciates that. Just don’t forget you aren’t the only one fighting.”

Orchid was silent for a moment. Then a small smile crossed her lips. “I won’t. Thank you. Do you think you’d be able to do me one extra favor?”

“I can try,” Alyssa said. “What is it?”

“I’m going to be supporting from up here, so I can keep an eye on the entire battlefield,” Orchid said, tapping her foot on the ground. An eye swiveled around to look at her. She ignored it. “But I believe you were assigned to the Mirrorlands defense, correct?”

“Yeah,” Alyssa said. “Why?”

“May and Aaron will be there too,” Orchid said. She let out a small sigh. “Keep an eye on them for me. If we tried to keep May out of the fight, she’d just sneak out to join it. That girl has a great deal of potential, but I don’t want it burning her away.”

“May is definitely something,” Alyssa said. She gave Orchid a firm nod. “I’ll protect her, though a part of me wonders if May is stronger than I am. She’s a menace. I don’t think you have to worry about her.”

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“May isn’t the only one I’m worried about,” Orchid said. “Keep an eye on Aaron as well.”

“I guess his powers aren’t exactly the most suited for combat, huh?” Alyssa asked.

It was a long moment before Orchid replied. “It is not Aaron’s safety that I am concerned about. If he’s ever pushed to the brink… I have seen a great deal of Soul Manifestations in my years. And the ones that were the most dangerous to anyone around them were never the ones meant for combat.”

***

“Whewh,” Alex said, flopping down on top of the crumbling remains of the tripodal golem that had been their latest fight. It had been one of the toughest opponents they’d gone up against on the Cracked Steps, and it had done quite the number on them.

Amelia and Glint were both dead — or at least, they would be for the next 2 hours. The two of them had put up a great fight, but they’d both ultimately fallen to the laser beams that the golem had been able to emit from the now-shattered ruby that had been at the top of its bulky form.

Claire laid a few feet away from him, surrounded by rubble, as her chest rose and fell with heavy gasps. Both of them had expended the majority of their energy in the fight and the ones before it.

This golem marked their tenth coin on the Cracked Steps. The coin in question still rested on the ground between them. Neither of them had quite mustered up the energy to pick it up yet.

“Pretty good run,” Claire said as she caught her breath. “I’d say that’s a good spot to end it. I’ve got so much magical energy.”

“Same,” Alex said. He let out a groan and pushed himself up, shaking his aching body off. He’d taken a few heavy blows during the fight. Even though Princess’ magic was fixing him up, he was low enough on reserves that it hadn’t managed to fully repair everything quite yet. “We should definitely get out of here before something else shows up.”

He scooped up the golem’s Soul Flame and slid it into his Spatial Mirror. Alex had quite a few of them now. He wasn’t the only one with an upgrade waiting for him during the next meditation. It was definitely about time for his monsters to get a boost as well.

Alex snagged the Cracked Coin from the ground. He tossed it to Claire. She snagged the coin out of the air. And, the moment she did, a shimmer of golden energy danced through the air before her. A seam the size of Alex’s forearm cut through reality.

From within it fell a small gray disk. It hit the ground with a distinct metallic clink, rolling once before coming to a stop at Claire’s feet.

Then the golden line vanished.

“The hell?” Alex asked, squinting at the plain metal disk warily.

“Ten coins,” Claire observed. “So there was something.”

“The System isn’t identifying it,” Alex observed. He crouched beside the disk. There wasn’t anything carved upon its surface. It was completely plain. He’d have thought it to be a random scrap if it hadn’t just popped out of a portal.

Alex picked the disk up. He held it up, then turned it around. The other side was equally plain.

“Weird,” Claire said. “We might need to ask Finley to identify it.”

“Hold on,” Alex said. He frowned. The disk was getting warmer. He hurriedly set it back on the ground and took a step back. “Get ready.”

“For what?” Claire asked, lowering into a fighting stance. “Did you sense something?”

“It’s warming up,” Alex replied.

The disk started to rattle. Pinpricks of light ignited across its surface. A hum filled the air as power gathered around the circle. A single mote of gold light shimmered to life in the air above it. A second followed, and then another one after it.

More and more of them appeared in rapid succession. They drew together as if magnetized, twisting as a swirling portal took form before the two of them. It was easily large enough for a human, but made up of the gold magical energy that only the System used.

Letters suddenly exploded through the air above the portal.

Cracked Treasure Realm Entryway

And that was all. The System didn’t offer up any more information. Alex and Claire exchanged a wary glance.

“Hell yeah,” Alex said. A grin crawled across his lips. “That looks promising. Looks like we figured out what happens when you get 10 coins. I like the sounds of this. A treasure realm, huh? I wonder what kind of cool shit could be in there.”

Claire nodded, matching his smile. “Let’s find out. No point standing around until something else shows up and tries to take our portal.”

The two of them linked hands. Then, as one, they stepped forward.

Alex’s face hit the portal with a very solid-sounding thunk. A shot of mild pain danced through his nose. He cursed, stumbling backward along with Claire.

It felt like they’d tried to walk right into a wall.

“The hell?” Alex asked, baffled. “We got rejected?”

The portal buzzed before them innocently. A shimmer of golden lettering crawled through the air in the space beside it.

Entry Possession requirement: 10 Cracked Coins

“What? But we have…” Alex trailed off, realization washing over him. “It’s per person.”

“No way,” Claire said, staring at the portal in disbelief. “You’re right. That’s ridiculous. That means only one of us can enter?”

“Fucking System,” Alex said. He grimaced, then glanced around. There weren’t any other pathways heading toward their platform yet, but who knew how long that would last. “What do we do? If only one of us can go in…”

“You need to be the one to go,” Claire said after a moment of thought. “You’re much better optimized to enter some kind of pocket dimension in the Mirrorlands. I don’t have any way to tear a path back to 274-50 and I can’t get any blood here that isn’t yours.”

“You sure?” Alex said. “What if the portal remains open? You’ll have to stay and defend it, won’t you?”

“It won’t,” Claire replied with a shake of her head. “You need 10 coins to enter it and it activates immediately. “I’ll wait outside the Cracked Steps for a few hours. Then, if you don’t return, I’ll head back to Mirrorwane.”

She held her hands out. Her Spatial Ring shimmered. All the Cracked Coins she’d been carrying materialized between her palms.

Alex didn’t waste time arguing. Claire was right, and things would go south pretty quickly if they got attacked while standing around and discussing the portal and whatever rewards may have laid beyond it.

He held his hands out.

Claire dumped the coins into his hands.

“Thanks,” he said with a confident grin. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Make sure that you do,” Claire said. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. Alex’s eyes widened, but she’d pulled back before he could even fully process it. “Thanks for the flower, Alex.”

Then she gave him a small push into the portal at his back.

All of the coins in his hands evaporated the instant he hit the glowing gold disk. This time, the portal offered up no resistance at all. It swallowed swallowed him whole.

The last thing he saw was Claire smiling, her hand raised in temporary farewell.

Then the world was nothing but gold.