"It might be best to try and take cover for the night, or at least for a few hours," Alex said. "We could try to search a house for food."
"I tried doing that before we ran into each other. There isn't a single edible thing in this town, but I wouldn't oppose to sitting down for a bit," Claire said.
They peered into the window of the nearest house. Its door had been somehow plastered into the wall, leaving behind an open walkway into a tiny room of what had probably once been a dingy bar.
It was dark, but it looked empty. Alex sent Glint in just in case. The Shardwalker walked a circuit around the room before returning to him.
"I think it's relatively safe," Alex said. He and Claire slipped inside and headed over to the far corner, putting as much distance between themselves and the entrance as possible. They did a quick check through the room, but Claire had been right — there wasn't anything edible.
"You really need to refine all the energy you've gathered," Claire whispered. "Just sit down and meditate over here. It's way more effective than getting a night of sleep, and it'll make you stronger as well. I'll keep watch."
"Don't you need to rest too?"
"I need a lot of things," Claire said with a weak grin. "I don't think I can get any of them here. Getting you a bit stronger is the best thing we can do."
Alex sat down against the wall, then looked back up at her as a thought struck him. "Wait. What kind of thing can you draw energy out of? You're a vampire, aren't you?"
"Dhampir," Claire corrected automatically. "And yes, but my class made it so I can only drink from monsters a lower level than me."
"Oh, that's it? I fought something called a Shaded Hauntling that was Novice 2. You—"
"The problem is, they still need blood," Claire finished with a sigh. She rubbed her forehead with the back of a hand and slumped down beside him. Her eyes looked distant and glassy. "I can't drink normal blood unless it's got energy in it, but nothing in this bleeding place actually has blood."
Alex glanced over to Glint. She was right. Even the Shardwalker was bloodless. "What about me?"
Claire swallowed. "It probably wouldn't work. The System imposed limits on what I can consume and I'm currently limited to monsters due to how low of a level I am."
"Well, how much longer can you go without food?"
"Not much," Claire admitted. "You'd let me try to drink from you?"
"Depends on if that means you're going to literally drain my life."
"Nothing like that," she said hurriedly. "It would definitely make you tired, though."
She looks an inch from passing out. I'd rather be tired than lose an ally.
"Then go ahead. Just… don't take too much."
Claire swallowed again. Hunger swirled in her eyes and she moved toward him, then caught herself and clenched her jaw. "Not yet. You should meditate first. If you don't refine your energy, I'll end up taking a lot of it from you. I draw out unrefined energy, but I can't remove the stuff that's permanently part of your soul."
"Wouldn't that leave you with nothing to eat?"
"There's never going to be perfect conversion. There should be at least a little bit left over, and that'll be enough," Claire said. She ran her tongue over her lips, then realized what she was doing and turned away, her gray skin reddening. "Sorry. That was rude. I can wait. Just meditate already."
"Watch over us," Alex told Glint. He was starting to trust Claire, but he wasn't about to leave himself defenseless. Besides, having backup with her if something went wrong couldn't hurt.
He then put his hands on his lap and let out a slow breath. The System definitely wasn't giving him any guidance as to how he was meant to meditate, but he knew the gist of things from a class he'd attended in college for a kinesiology credit.
Alex closed his eyes and steadied his breathing, trying to focus on every breath and sink into himself. The world stilled around him and he dove into his mind, searching for the power that would let him advance to Novice 2 and hopefully give him a better way to survive the Mirrorlands.
And, deep within the reaches of his own mind, he found it.
Color traced through the nothingness and a ripple passed out from beneath Alex's feet. He stood on the surface of a dark lake. It stretched out in every direction, just barely visible. An old stone basin rested just before him, covered with dust and cracks. It rose up to his chest in height and was about three times as wide as it was tall. Above it was a huge ball of glittering blue mist. It spun like a globe, sending shimmers of light dancing as they reflected off the surface of the dark water.
Alex stared up in mute awe. Despite everything he'd already seen today, his mouth fell agape.
"Where am I?" he breathed.
It was a supremely strange feeling. Cold stone pressed into his back from where he sat back in the Mirrorlands, and yet all his other senses told him he was standing in a lake. Alex knelt and touched the chilly water.
He rubbed his fingers together. There was no doubt that it was wet. His mind was completely convinced that this place was real. As far as he could tell, it was. He was just simultaneously existing in a spot in his own mind as well as the Mirrorlands.
Given everything that had happened today, it really wasn't that much of a stretch.
"I'm meant to condense this swirly blue stuff somehow?" Alex asked himself, looking up at the churning orb of cyan energy. A faint pressure roiled off it like a gentle sea breeze. He reached up and brushed a hand through the wispy smoke.
/Author's Note///
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