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With the water taken care of, they headed out once more.

It wasn\'t long before they were outside and striding through the grassy hills. A faint breeze at their backs accompanied them on their journey, carrying with it the smells of the town — smoke, sweat, and trepidation — until several minutes after they\'d left.

The grass outside the town was slick with moisture from what he presumed to have been rain that had passed through at some point in the night, and the last traces of the town were soon replaced by the smell of dew and gentle crisp chill of the fading night.

Alex trailed the dim line of blue smokey light across the hills, turning the ability on for just a few seconds at a time to save his energy. The line was straight, so it wasn\'t like they were going to get too far away from it while they were walking from memory.

They continued for just under fifteen minutes before the energy finally changed. As Alex drew on his power once more while they crested the top of a hill, he caught his first glimpse at where the line led.

Several large boulders sat in a moss-covered formation, making a small mound in the small valley before them. Dim blue-ish silver light glistened upon them from the moon as it fought to avoid dipping below the horizon and making way for the sun.

The line ran all the way down to the boulders and formed a dull haze around it. Alex released the ability to get a natural look at the stones. Faint purple cracks glistened amidst them, flitting in and out like a small nest of hornets. They were so dull that he could barely even make them out from where he stood.

"I think that\'s our portal," Claire said. "A bit less impressive than the last one we went through."

"Given where the last one led, that might be a good thing," Alex said as they made their way down the grass, taking care to avoid slipping on the sodden ground. "I want a challenge. Not to get killed without even getting a chance to fight."

"I trust you\'ve got a way to open this?"

"I should. I\'ve got limited control of the portals. At least, hypothetically. I\'m not sure if abilities just magically grant you the power to do something perfectly, or if they just pave the way to doing it."

"The latter," Claire said. "Not that I had that much time to test, but the System doesn\'t exactly just… give you stuff. You earn everything. Skills are just new muscles. Magic ones, I guess. Just because you know how to run doesn\'t mean you\'re great at it."

"That lines up with everything else we know about it, so I can\'t say that I\'m surprised." Alex and Claire came to a stop before the rocks and stood silently for a few seconds as they watched the tiny motes of purple light dance within them.

This is definitely the same stuff that Teddy shoved me through when I first fell into the Mirrorlands. A lot weaker and not actually a proper portal, but I\'d recognize this energy anywhere.

Alex drew on the reserves of magical energy within himself. He thought back to when he\'d passed through the portal the last time. The stretching forces that had ripped at his body and the immense pressure that had borne down on him from every direction.

He drew in a deep breath and reached out for the lines of the portal, his brow creasing in concentration as he felt magic course through his body and gather at his fingertips. A faint blue glow lit within them as if he\'d pressed a flashlight to his palms to illuminate their insides.

His fingers brushed across the magical energy and a jolt of electricity arced through him. He stiffened and drew in a surprised breath. When he\'d been twelve, he\'d accidentally shorted a chain of live Christmas lights and given himself a sharp zap — this felt remarkably similar. It wasn\'t exactly painful, but it was far from comfortable.

"You okay?" Claire asked.

"Yeah. Get ready," Alex replied as he shook his hands off and reached out once again. He grabbed onto the purple cracks. The jolt came once more, but this time, he was ready for it. Alex clenched his jaw to keep his teeth from chattering as electricity poured through his body.

His hands tightened on the purple light. An invisible force pressed against them, but it slowly gave way as he strengthened his grip and poured more magic into it. He slowly started to pull his hands apart.

A dim purple line formed in the air before him, lengthening rapidly as he continued to pull. The flow of energy rushing through him intensified the wider the portal grew, but he was too far along to stop now.

With a final snarl, Alex shoved his arms apart as hard as he could. A loud rip split the air and the purple line yawned open to form into a circular disk. Iridescent purple light swirled in a vortex trapped within it, and a faint force pulled at Alex, trying to draw him into the portal.

He took a step back and shook his hands off to make sure he didn\'t somehow stumble in before he was prepared. Claire studied the churning disk beside him, her eyes narrowed.

"Is it safe?"

"Probably?"

"That\'s not very reassuring," Claire observed. She put her hand on the hilt of her sword and ran her thumb over its pommel as she chewed her lower lip. "Eh. Nothing is changing while we stand around. You ready for this?"

"Ready as I\'ll ever be. No point losing any time," Alex replied. He held his left out to Claire and she took it, keeping her other on the hilt of her sword. The disk had already shrunk slightly since they\'d started speaking. It didn\'t look like it would last more than a minute at most.

"Be ready to give me some blood, yeah?" Claire asked. "I didn\'t need it the last time I fell into the Mirrorlands, but you never know. I don\'t want to lose myself."

"Don\'t worry. I will," Alex promised. He hesitated for a moment as they looked at the receding portal. "And be ready. There\'s a good chance something\'s waiting for us on the other side."

"When you say good chance, how good are we talking?" Claire asked. Alex just arched an eyebrow in response. Claire heaved a sigh and shook her head. "Never mind. Let\'s go kill some shit."

"Couldn\'t have said it better myself," Alex said. Then, as one, they plunged into the portal.

Pressure bore down on Alex from every direction. His chest constricted as electricity tore down his arms and through his chest. It crackled between him and Claire and formed miniature explosions, fireworks going off just inches away from his face. The world stretched and squished, warped and pulsed.

Shapes and colors blended together in an indecipherable soup. Alex could hear the hammer of his own heartbeat mixed with Claire\'s, and he was just barely aware of her hand still locked in a death grip around his.

Then the world fell back into place. Colors rushed into their proper locations and shapes snapped back to clarity. Alex drew in a gasping breath as his eyes refocused. His chest had been so tight that he\'d completely forgotten to breathe.

Alex was laying on the grass. For an instant, he thought that the portal had somehow failed. Then he realized the grass was bright blue. He pushed himself upright with a jolt, scanning to see if there were any threats nearby.

All he found were sloping hills of blue grass. The only other living being he saw was Claire, who was laid on the hill beside him, her hair splayed out around her head. It didn\'t look like they had any company, but Alex wasn\'t going to bet on that lasting.

"Claire?" Alex asked as he rolled to the side just in case she\'d lost control of herself again.

"I\'m fine." Claire\'s voice was muffled by the dirt. She sat up with a grimace, spitting onto the ground before wiping her mouth. "Bleh. I took a bite out of the grass somehow. I definitely felt myself lose a lot of energy from using the portal, but it wasn\'t that bad this time around. I guess it helps that I\'ve got more to work with this time around."

"Does that mean you don\'t need to drink?"

Claire stood up and cleared her throat pointedly. "I wouldn\'t say no if you\'re offering."

Alex wordlessly held his arm out. He didn\'t need Claire weakened when they were in the Mirrorlands. Especially not when they didn\'t know what they were up against. Claire gave him an appreciative nod as she grabbed onto his wrist like a juicy steak and bit into it.

He repressed a wince and took the opportunity to continue scanning their surroundings. A city of crooked, broken buildings poked into the purple-red sky in the near distance, roughly a five or ten minute walk away.

It wasn\'t the same one that they\'d been in the last time Alex had fallen into the Mirrorlands — that much was certain. There was no mountain nearby, nor were there any City-Eater Centipedes.

Is that because Berith had to modify the portal that sent us to Earth before? I suppose we\'ll find out when I open the portal back.

Alex glanced over his shoulder at that thought. Purple cracks glistened in the air behind them. The way back to Earth was still there. He breathed out a small sigh of relief. He\'d been mostly certain it would be, but there had only been one way to know for sure.

"Thanks for the meal," Claire said as she released his wrist and let it lower.

"Don\'t say that. It sounds like I\'m a walking buffet."

"You are." Claire sent him a smug grin.

Alex rolled his eyes. Then he froze. Energy prickled at the back of his spine and a low buzz filled his ears. He took a step back and the smile on Claire\'s face vanished as she drew her sword, instantly picking up on his body language.

Before Alex could even say anything, what sounded like a zipper split through the air. A pink portal tore open and what seemed to be a ten foot wide bundle of chitinous legs tumbled out, landing on the hill beside them with a crash.

Loud clicks filled the air as the odd form rapidly righted itself, unfurling like a piece of origami and more than doubling in height as it rose to reveal its full, imposing figure. The monster would have resembled a crab if a crab had been blasted by radiation by about four hundred years and allowed to grow without any mortal restrictions. Two long eyes swayed on stalks, locked onto Alex and Claire like they were a pair of fish that had swam into its lair.

It had five legs on each side and four pincers — two of which were nearly ten feet long and stuck out of the top of its shell. Every one of its limbs was uncomfortably long and thin, elongated to the point where they were practically sticks. Small spines lined the monster\'s entire shell, bottom and top.

Dozens of tiny mandibles in the creature\'s mouth worked as it let out a chittering hiss. Alex and Claire both took a step back as they stared up at the enormous creature with a mixture of awe and horror as its purple name burned in the air above it.

Riftwarped Crawler (Initiate 1)