A ringing toll reverberated through the air like the solemn call of an enormous church bell. It seemed to wind right into Alex's flesh to rattle the bones within him. His teeth clacked together as the vibration passed through his body in an invisible wave.

An instant of stillness hung over the Mirrorlands. Even the Forsaken Revenant froze, its piercing blue eyes locking onto Claire as her domain activated. Her hair whipped in a wind felt only by her as translucent blue power rose up from Claire's body in coiling flames.

The air above her warped. A translucent sheet of flat gray bloomed within it like a spreading oil spill. The sheet folded as if something had pressed into it from behind, melting around the form of a towering woman. The ghostly woman's features were sharp and angry, eyes splotches of hateful red.

Robes of withered flowers hung from the apparition's shoulders. They trailed behind the regal specter like the trampled cloak of some long-forgotten noblewoman, any beauty they once held now reduced to nothing but death and a memory.

The ghost cupped her hands before herself as if she were holding water within them. She drew in a deep breath, her molten red eyes affixing upon the Forsaken Revenant, then blew across her hands.

Crimson flower petals flew out from her palms in droves. They twisted and bounced as a gentle wind sent them dancing through the air toward the Revenant in a flowing wave. It was nothing short of beautiful.

It seemed the Revenant had other thoughts. The monster blurred as it shifted out of the way, momentarily vanishing as Alex lost track of its position. It reformed directly behind Claire, a hand lifted to swipe at her back—

And, in an instant, anything that ever could have been called gentle about the petals evaporated. Their flow accelerated to thunderous cascade with a shrill scream. The petals cut through the air, changing directions in an instant and slamming into the Revenant in a wall of crimson so thick that it was completely opaque.

For a moment, Alex couldn't even hear anything over the roar of the flowers cutting through the air. But then, as quickly as they had arrived, the petals vanished. The huge stream flowed back into the specter floating above Claire's shoulders, vanishing into the woman's ghostly form.

Behind Claire stood the Forsaken Revenant — completely and utterly uninjured. The towering monster had a few patches of bunched up petals that had caught on several spots along its body. They'd gathered on one side of its neck and several spots along its chest and arms. And that was it. It didn't even look like it had taken a single cut from the beautiful attack.

Alex blinked.

That was… anticlimactic. Is that really all her domain can do?

Claire leapt away from the Forsaken Revenant, spinning to keep her eyes on it as she brought her whip to bear. But the monster didn't even attack her. If Alex hadn't known better, he might have wondered if the terrifying thing was somehow just as surprised as he felt.

But the towering monster didn't stay still for long. It blurred into motion, slender fingers streaking toward Claire in a flash as a wordless scream tore out from somewhere within it.

The monster's fingers flashed through the air where Claire had been a moment before as she vaulted backward. Her whip cracked like a gunshot as she snapped her wrist mid-air, sending it whistling toward the Revenant.

Her attack caught nothing but air. By the time it had arrived at the Revenant, the monster had already moved. It loomed behind Claire, razor-sharp fingers already extending toward her body. Visit My Virtual Library Empire (M_VLEMPYR) for more.

Alex activated his domain with a thought. The world warped around him as he teleported, appearing directly in the path of the Revenant's claws and swinging his chainsword with a snarl. A ringing shriek tore through the air as his weapon slammed into the monster's fingers.

There was an instant of resistance.

Then the chainsword split into pieces, passing clean through the Revenant's hand as it was sliced into a dozen pieces. The weapon hadn't even had a chance to activate. Alex's eyes widened in surprise, but his blow had done its job.

He hadn't managed to stop the Revenant, but he'd stalled it for an instant. Claire landed on the ground and spun, sending her whip snapping through the air once more.

Alex wasn't one to be outdone. He activated his domain once more, gritting his teeth as power poured out from him even as he threw himself out of the way of the Revenant's attack. The air around them shuddered as Riftwarped Energy poured from it.

Spark and Glint both materialized on either side of the towering monster, only inches away from it. They struck as one. Glint's claws raked across the Revenant's side and Spark drove his spiked gauntlets into the monster's stomach in a powerful blow. Claire's whip scored across the shadowy armor covering the Revenant's chest at the same time—

The Revenant didn't even flinch. It barely even seemed to notice their strikes. The monster's icy eyes shifted to Alex as it lurched, blurring to arrive directly before him in an instant.

He cursed and activated his domain, teleporting to re-appear beside Claire just in time to see the Revenant bisect the ground where he'd been. The monster spun back toward them, its form rippling and shifting like a candle in the wind.

Then it lurched — and it was right in front of them once again. The Revenant moved so quickly that Alex couldn't even track the monster's position. Some distant part of his brain noted that, unless it could only attack while it was standing still, the monster had to be toying with them.

"Distract it for a bit more!" Claire yelled, sending her whip whistling toward the monster as both she and Alex jumped back. "I can't land a good hit on it!"

"I'm not sure how much I can do, but I'll try."

The Revenant moved for Alex — and he teleported Glint right in the monster's face. The Glasmir's claws were already slicing down through the air by the time he arrived. They scored across the Revenant's body — and passed right through it like nothing was there.

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A shadowy hand flashed through the air. There was a wet crunch. Glint's midsection vanished. His upper body and legs fell, already transforming into a stream of energy before they could even connect with the ground. The sheer force of the monster's hand had ripped Glint into pieces.

The back of Alex's neck prickled. He teleported again, all too aware of his reserves rapidly dwindling as the Revenant slashed at him with its other hand. Glint and Princess were dead. The only monster he still had left was Spark.

His heart pounded in his chest as adrenaline tore through his veins like a school of racing horses.

Holy shit. This thing is way beyond our level.

The Revenant lurched once again. It arrived before Alex, hands reaching out toward him — and a whip snapped through the air past his ear with a deafening crack. It passed so close that he felt his hair rustle. The tip of the whip connected with one of the bunches of rose petals gathered on the towering shadow's chest.

An explosion tore through the air. Pressure slammed into Alex's chest and sent him skidding a foot back as flower petals flew everywhere, smoking and curling in on themselves like a bomb had gone off at their center.

The Revenant staggered back, a small web of crimson lines pulsating along its body where Claire's whip had connected with it.

She'd actually managed to injure the terrifying monster.

"Holy shit!" Alex exclaimed, flicking a petal away from his face as he spun to Claire in surprise. "What was that?"

"My domain," Claire replied tersely. "The Withered Lady lets me create weak points on enemies."

"I thought your domain was called—"

The Revenant let out a scream of fury. The shadows stretching up from the ground to connect with its hands rippled and bubbled. Distant screams prickled against Alex's ears, growing into a deafening cacophony within a second. The Revenant dropped to all fours, its hands sinking into the bubbling darkness.

And then they started to lengthen. The monster rose as its arms grew, bending at the elbow like the legs of a spider. A shadow passed over Alex and Claire as the huge monster loomed over them, mandibles pushing free from its face and hissing frosty breath pouring out from its expanding maw.

"Shit," Claire whispered. "I think I just made it mad."

Ripples of something passed within the monster's body. For an instant, Alex could have sworn he saw an agonized face pressed up against the shadows within it. He didn't have the liberty to sit around and stare any longer.

The Revenant blurred. Spark lurched into motion.

Alex grabbed Claire and activated his domain.

A crunch tore through the air as they both reformed at the farthest edge of Alex's domain. He didn't need to turn to see what had happened. Spark was already dead. He hadn't even had an instant to swap spots with his shadow.

The Forsaken Revenant was on an entirely different level than anything else they'd fought.

"Run!" Alex yelled, grabbing Claire by the arm and sprinting as fast as his legs would carry him.

She didn't say a word of protest. The two of them ran as fast as their bodies would let them, their legs pumping and feet slamming against the ground. Alex yanked on his magic and cast Encore as quickly as he could, pouring every last scrap of Qi he had into the magic.

All three of his monsters tore back into reality behind them. Alex didn't even bother looking back. The skittering hiss of the Forsaken Revenant was so close that it felt like it was already practically breathing down their necks.

Pausing to look at the fight would just guarantee they didn't have a chance to escape.

His monsters all raced to buy him and Claire as much time as possible. They were pumped to the absolute limits of their potential from the Riftwarped Qi he'd injected Encore with — but something told Alex that really wasn't going to matter much at all.

It only took a second for Spark to die. He felt the monster's power returning to him as they reached the nearest building and raced down the alleyway beside it. Glint and Princess were all that remained.

They would have to be enough.

Alex and Claire didn't dare let up on their dead sprint. The exit of the city wasn't too far — and this was probably the only chance they'd get to throw the Forsaken Revenant off their trail for even a short while.

"We can't fight that thing," Claire hissed as they ran. "It's so much stronger than I thought! Why the hell is it following us?"

"I wish I knew," Alex hissed back. Princess and Glint had both joined the ranks of the dead — but the two monsters had bought them at least a few more seconds. "I don't think we have time to make it back to the portal near Mirrorwane. We'll have to use the nearest one!"

"What, near Valley Ford? What if there are people from Great Tide still around waiting for us?"

"Your choice," Alex snarled as he grabbed for his magic and activated Riftsense, searching for the line leading to the nearest portal. "Great Tide or that thing!"

A scream tore through Valley Ford's warped streets behind them. It wasn't far at all. The Forsaken Revenant was still hot on their tail. For some reason or another, the monster had one hell of a grudge.

"I changed my mind!" Claire yelled. "Portal! Get us out of here!"

Alex dragged her down a side street and toward the portal they'd used to get to the area near Valley Ford from 274-50. He couldn't just use a random portal — there was a chance they'd end up on some other planet that was somehow even more screwed up than the Mirrorlands.

They weren't far. It was only a minute or so away at their current speed… but that minute felt like an hour.

Their feet pounded against the ground as they both pushed themselves to their absolute limits. Wind screamed past Alex's face and bit at his eyes. He'd never moved this fast in his life. It was equal parts exhilarating and terrifying.

They may as well have been flying. A single misstep would turn him into a meat crayon on the ground — and a well-ground snack for the monstrosity rapidly gaining on them. A booming crash tore through the air.

Alex couldn't keep himself from sending a glance over his shoulder. He was just in time to see a building just a short distance away from them pitch to the side, plummeting to crash down to the streets below.

The Forsaken Revenant wasn't even bothering tracing their exact steps. It was cutting a path right through the city toward them.

But the portal wasn't far. Alex and Claire burst out from the gate of Valley Ford and into the grasslands surrounding it. He could already see the thin rift in reality — but he could also hear the approaching crash from the buildings that dared stand in the Revenant's way.

"I still need to open it!" Alex yelled as they raced toward the portal.

"I don't think I can hold that thing off!" Claire yelled back. "It's pissed!"

Alex didn't waste time on an answer. They were nearly upon the portal. He sent power racing into his hands before they'd even reached it, filling them with magic. Tingles raced down his fingers as he practically dove for the portal, slamming his hands into the rift in reality and yanking as hard as he could. He didn't even have the time to acknowledge the scream of protest his muscles put up.

With a roar of defiance, Alex tore the portal open. It snapped into a buzzing disk — and a scream split the air right behind them. A shadow flashed over Alex's head and the hair on the back of his neck leapt straight upright.

He threw himself forward, dragging himself and Claire into the portal even as he spun to raise his other hand protectively before his face.

For a flicker of an instant, he saw the Forsaken Revenant's massive mandibles as they snapped down in the air where they'd been — slicing through the portal and shattering it like sugar glass behind them.

Alex's blood went cold.

It can interact with portals?

And then they were gone, the buzzing roar of Riftwarped Energy swallowing their senses as it yanked them away from the Mirrorlands.