Nightmare Realm Summoner Chapter 394: It just is

Aaron was quite enjoying the sun.

Even with the many eyes of the Veil of Stolen Confessions wiggling and squelching along the edges of Mirrorwane and ruining a bit of the view, he was actually feeling pretty good about things in general.

Not only had he perford pretty well during the excursion into the Mirrorlands, but he’d also done a pretty damn good job of dealing with things at the auction house. It would have been lying of he didn’t admit that he was a bit proud of how he’d been doing.

I think I’m actually starting to figure this shit out. Maybe it isn’t so bad after all. Compared to a life of just running the store… well, it’s definitely exciting. And there are so pretty sweet upsides. I should try to get my hands on so cooler things to play gas with. Maybe I could increase the rewards I can earn if the gas get harder.

That was a pretty interesting thought. Aaron had no idea if his class would care about sothing like that. But then again, that was one of the benefits of the System. There didn’t really seem to be limits on anything beyond what one could actually pull off. The only constraints were how skilled soone was and how much risk they were willing to take to get more powerful.

Maybe I could really defeat soone using a full ga of Monopoly — or Risk. Would it count as cheating if I just start eating the pieces in front of them?

Aaron snickered to himself. He could actually see this class getting pretty fun. Tagging along with Alex and Claire had definitely been the right move. If they could thrive in the apocalypse, then he could too.

I need to check out the Forsaken Grounds. Pay that a visit so that my body gets a lot stronger. Then I can go looking for so gas. Fight so monsters in the Mirrorlands, get a bit stronger and see how much stronger I can beco.

Aaron nodded to himself. A spark of eagerness buzzed within his stomach as he made his way through the town. He was actually sowhat excited for what was to co. Not nearly as much as Alex might have been — he didn’t have a screw loose in his head — but enough for a faint grin to linger on his lips.

Alex and Claire were going to get a lot stronger after whatever they did in the Empty Court. He was certain of that. And that ant he’d have to work doubly as hard if he wanted to stay anywhere near close to their level, much less catch up.

Aaron knew all about first mover’s advantage. He was more than aware that catching up would beco harder and harder the more ti went by — and even the weeks that had already passed were enough for the gap to grow a lot. That wasn’t the kind of thing that could be easily surmounted.

But he was a cheater.

That was the point of his class. It was what the System was more than happy to encourage him to do, and Aaron was more than willing and pleased to acquiesce.

I’m going to do more than survive. I’m going to get strong. And I think I might just have a pretty dang good ti doing it.

The grin was still there on Aaron’s lips when he reached Orchid’s cabin. Even though he was about to head back to the Mirrorlands, there was a good chance that she and May were around here sowhere. He couldn’t head out without saying hi to May and letting her know how well the auction had gone… as well as bragging about his role in it.

He heard a hint of Orchid’s voice from within the cabin, though he didn’t quite pick up what she said. She certainly didn’t sound particularly pleased. It seed like she was talking to herself more than anything. His nose wrinkled.

The scent of iron was lingering in the air quite heavily.

What is she doing in there? Well, I guess it’s none of my concern. I won’t take up too much of her ti. I just need to know where May is.

Aaron pushed the door open and stepped inside.

And then he froze.

The smile lted away from his lips in an instant.

There was blood all across the ground. Dozens of bandages scattered across the floor in wet piles were completely soaked through with it. Orchid, who had been standing with her back turned to Aaron, spun toward him.

“I told everyone to stay out while I worked!” Orchid snapped, angrily thrusting a bloodsoaked finger toward the door. “Get—”

The words died on her lips as she spotted Aaron.

But he barely even noticed her.

His gaze was completely focused on May. She sat on the table before Orchid, her clothes stained a brownish-red. Her shirt had gotten the worst of it by far, but not even her pants had been spared. It looked like she’d taken a dive into a literal pool of blood.

But there had been no pool. He could see the source of all the blood as clear as day. A massive gash, running from sowhere at the top of May’s head diagonally all the way down across her right eye and down to the bottom of her chin.

May’s eye was gone. It was little wonder. The massive wound was deep enough to see bone, and it was still weeping blood.

It barely even seed like May was aware of it. Her other eye stared past him, glassy and distant.

“May?” Aaron whispered in horror.

His brain ground to a halt. Disbelief slamd into him like a truck, joined by a thousand questions all screaming for attention all at once.

But he wasn’t going to freeze up. Not again.

Aaron crushed the voices, practically lunging forward — and a wall of plant matter burst up from the walls to slam into his chest, shoving him backward and knocking the air from his lungs. Aaron didn’t even see where the plants had co from.

He didn’t care.

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“No!” Orchid barked. “Stay back, you idiot. Don’t distract . You’ll only endanger her more. Stay the fuck out of my way until I’m done.”

Aaron found his hands halfway up to tear the vines away from himself before he forced himself to stop.

“What the fuck happened to my sister, Orchid?” Aaron scread. “You were supposed to be watching over her!”

“The System happened,” Orchid snarled. “Now shut your damned mouth and stay out of my way. I’m trying to minimize the damage, but I can’t do that if I have you screeching in my ear.”

Aaron’s blood pounded in his ears. His hands clenched into fists. He swallowed down all the furious words that were desperately trying to slip free from his lips and forced himself to step to the side. His thoughts didn’t matter. There was absolutely nothing he could do to save May.

He had to let Orchid work.

“Go,” he said, unable to push so much as one more word out from his tightening throat.

Orchid spun back to May. Thin vines wove around her fingertips as she raised her hand up to May’s face.

And then there was silence, broken only by the faint snip of sothing cutting and punching through flesh. Bile built in Aaron’s throat. He couldn’t take his gaze away from May’s blank, distant features. He almost could have believed that she was asleep.

Minutes dragged by. They felt like hours. Aaron’s throat felt like soone had wound a band of tal around it. May barely even budged. If it weren’t for Orchid’s frantic movents and the faintest rise and fall of her chest, he wouldn’t have even known if she were alive.

He couldn’t see most of what Orchid was doing. Her body blocked her work off, and Aaron didn’t dare move and distract her. Whatever she was doing would help May. It had to.

Aaron wasn’t sure how much ti had passed when Orchid finally stepped back, flicking the blood from her fingertips. Her breathing seed to becoming heavier than normal, but that may well have been Aaron’s. Despite his best attempts to control it, his heart was slamming so hard in his chest that it felt like he’d just run a marathon.

As Orchid moved, Aaron caught a glimpse at the results of her work. The massive wound covering May’s face had been stitched shut, and her missing eye had been covered with wet, dark green leaves. There was still blood everywhere. More than anyone May’s size had any right to have produced.

Aaron’s mouth felt dry. But, even still, he didn’t dare utter a word.

“Okay,” Orchid said finally, taking a step back. She wiped her bloodstained hand off on her clothes, her back still to Aaron. “You can speak.”

Nearly ten different questions all tried to force themselves out from between Aaron’s lips all at once. They all caught on each other, fighting for a second before he managed to force one through.

“Is she fine?” Alex asked. “Is May okay?”

“She’ll live,” Orchid said. “That’s all I can promise. I’ve treated her wounds and drugged her for the pain.”

Relief rolled across Aaron a mont before fury slamd back into him in an enormous wave.

“What the hell is this, Orchid?” His words were clipped and furious. “You were supposed to be watching over her!”

“I did,” Orchid snarled. “That is why she sits here now, alive, rather than in the belly of so beast in the Mirrorlands.”

“She’s missing an eye!” Aaron yelled. “There’s a scar the size of my forearm on her face! How the fuck is that protecting—”

“Where do you think we are?” Orchid hissed. She spun to face him, her hands clenched tightly at her sides. “Who do you think I am? This is the Apocalypse, you fool. Nobody’s life is guaranteed. Especially not those of the ones who go out to fight and grow strong. May made a small mistake whilst fighting a Rotbird.”

“A small mistake,” Aaron repeated in disbelief. “Look at her, Orchid! How is anything about that small?”

“If it was a big mistake, she would be dead,” Orchid said flatly. “She managed to salvage the mistake and make enough space enough for to rescue her. May did well.”

“Well?” Aaron’s voice cracked. “My sister is half-dead on the table behind you, Orchid! You said you would protect her!”

“I did what I could!” Orchid said through clenched teeth. “There is only so much I can do. I am not a god. There is danger in growth. May knew the risks.”

“May is a child,” Aaron snapped, his tone rising in fury. “She’s fourteen! You were supposed to keep her safe from fights like that!”

“And then I would have kept her safe right up until sothing too powerful crushed her underfoot! Would you prefer to be having this conversation over her mangled corpse?” Orchid demanded. “Do you think I do not know what it takes? I have endured the System for far longer than you. I am painfully familiar with its costs. This is not what I wanted for May. But she lives. That is more than most who have been in her situation. Even the Families cannot save all of their children.”

Aaron stared at her for a second, his breath still coming out in short, angry puffs. Then his eyes flicked back to May. He swallowed, painfully.

“I—”

“I did everything I could,” Orchid said. Her hands trembled at her sides. “I don’t want her to die. Not now. Not tomorrow. She is my student! But what else can I do? Shelter is death. Weakness is death. The only way forward is power, no matter how painfully it is bought. If it were soone stronger than I training May, then perhaps they could have interfered in ti. Perhaps they could have predicted her mistake.”

Aaron swallowed again. As hard as it was, he pulled his gaze away from May to actually look properly at Orchid.

The powerful Outworlder was trembling. Her nails had dug so deep into her palms that new blood was trickling down her knuckles to fall to the floor. It looked like she was an inch from breaking down herself.

Orchid had done everything she could. The blood covering her front made that abundantly clear. She’d probably carried May back from the Mirrorlands in her arms.

“I — I’m sorry,” Aaron said. “I’m sorry, Orchid.”

“I just wasn’t enough,” Orchid muttered. Her shoulders slumped. “I thought she could handle it. She was doing well. She’s fought Rotbirds before. I thought—”

“You did everything you could,” Aaron said, his voice stiff. “At least you were there. I wasn’t.”

“It was not your responsibility to train her,” Orchid said. “You could not have, even if you wanted to. You are too weak.”

“I know,” Aaron said. His hands tightened into fists. “I know that.”

The two of them fell silent.

“She… I gave her a potion to increase blood generation in the body,” Orchid said, her voice little more than a whisper. “And one to purify the damaged flesh. The wound was festering. There will be a scar. It will heal. But her eye…”

“Can it be regrown?” Alex asked. “So kind of potion?”

“Eventually,” Orchid said. She hesitated for a mont, looking back at the still-distant May. “Maybe. There is no impossibility within this world. There are certainly replacents that can be bought or made. She will still be able to fight.”

Aaron forced his hands to unclench.

There was no more room for him to be a child. There was no more room for him to force others to make up for his shortcomings. There was no more room for the old Aaron.

“I’m sorry,” Aaron said again. “You saved my sister. I should not have yelled at you.”

“It’s entirely understandable,” Orchid said. She averted her gaze. “Nobody could bla you for such a thing. I… I thought I was better. I did not think she would be injured like this.”

“No,” Aaron said. He let out a slow breath. Then he set his jaw. “She’ll live. She’ll recover. That’s what matters. And you were right. I — I can’t protect May. You can’t either. She needs to be able to defend herself. This isn’t your fault. It’s the System that did this.”

“The System doesn’t think,” Orchid said. “It just is.”

“Then it was the monster’s fault,” Aaron said. “You did nothing but what you were ant to. I won’t bla you for that. May made her choice. I won’t disrespect her by trying to claim she was too young to comprehend what she was doing. This is what she wanted. And you made sure she got back to try again. That’s all I can ask. But I — I need to speak with her. When will she wake up?”

Orchid looked back at May. “A day, at the earliest. I got the strongest that Finley was able to procure at very short notice.”

Aaron nodded stiffly. “You’ll watch over her?”

“I don’t know if—”

“There’s nobody better to do it,” Aaron said flatly. “And I’ll never forgive you if you back out from your role now. May loves you. That much is clear. And without our parents… she needs a role model. And I sure as hell aren't anywhere near one. If you think this is going to stop her, then you’re dead wrong. She’ll wake up swinging. You’re the only one that’ll be able to convince her to get enough rest to avoid getting injured again.”

Orchid stared at Aaron for a long second. Then her head lowered in a slight nod. “And you?”

Aaron’s jaw clenched. He wasn’t strong enough to protect May.

Not yet.

But he would be.

“I’m going to the Mirrorlands.”