The Forgotten Faithful: A LitRPG Adventure (UnderVerse Book 2) by Cajiao, Jez (little red riding hood ebook TXT) 📕

spoke again. “I will be your trainer, and I will organize with Barrett to teach the fighters, the hunters, and the scouts, as you need them badly. However, you will attend these lessons in addition to your own, you will owe me a favor, and…” He broke off, as though unsure how to proceed.

“And…?” I prompted him, and he replied quickly.

“And you’ll take me out of the Tower with you to the city, before Ame can stop us! She’s got some harebrained plan that we were meant to be together. She’s insane, and I have to get out of here before she can do anything about it!”

He was so agitated, and spoke in such a desperate rush, he nearly dropped the books. Then the realization of the value of his armload struck him, and he nearly dropped them all over again. “Jax, she…”

“I thought you liked Ame?” I said, confused.

“Of course I like her!” he snapped, settling the books properly and shaking his head. His tendrils raised as he checked the area for anyone else close enough to hear us. “I…I’ve loved her for most of my life, Jax, but that’s not the point! She’s a Runecrafter, and now she’s going to learn the magic of healing. Do you have any idea how rare the talent for magic is amongst my kind? We had two in the last four generations, that I know of. Her apprentice came to us from hundreds of miles away because it was known that Ame was willing to teach. The girl was the only other known to us that had been born with the gift of magic. Ame is…Ame! She’s the rarest flower of our kind, and she’s determined that I will be her mate, but it’s a mistake. She deserves better!”

“Why is it a mistake? And what do you mean about magic? We have Spellbooks, and as far as I can tell, they work for anyone. Sure, they sometimes fail, but that’s a really rare occurrence, right? And if you need to, you can always improve your Intelligence and Wisdom score?”

“You ask questions like beavers chews trees: randomly, and irritatingly! And no, not all can learn magic, because Spellbooks are horrifically expensive. Yes, all beings have some capacity for magic, but unless one is born with the ability, or finds such a book, they will never learn to harness it.”

“But, using their mana, by somehow, say…granting it to a deity a couple of times a day, that would unlock the ability to use magic much more easily, right?” I asked, another link forming in my mind.

“Yes, if we were willing to travel to the Dark God’s temple in Himnel. We are not. We will not follow a being that helped to destroy the realm!”

“What about the other Gods, though?” I asked cautiously, a hope building as we spoke.

“There were altars to all the Gods across the land long ago; now, there are none. They were all lost or destroyed. None but the worshippers of the Dark One can grow that way now. That has nothing to do with Ame, though; she…”

“And if you could pray to…oh, say…a Goddess of Fire and Hidden Knowledge, and devote your mana to her, you’d have a better chance of unlocking your ability to do magic, right? And so would your people?”

“Well, yes… why?” he asked me suspiciously, and I grinned at him.

“Because I’m the Chosen of Jenae, and this whole building is dedicated to her. My people pray to her and gift her a portion of their mana most days. It’s helping both her and me, and it’s certainly helping them as well, by the sound of it,” I said, bragging slightly.

“How?” Flux asked me, coming to a dead stop. “How did you do this?”

“When I explored the Great Tower, I found the Altars. There is one for each of the Gods up there. I felt… no, I chose to follow and ally myself with Jenae, as her outlook matches my own. I guess I was just lucky, really.”

“And you are sure that she still exists, that the strength you send to her is helping her?” he asked intently.

“Yes. Look, we’re only a few minutes from the garden now. When we get there, I’ll show you something, okay?” We headed off, circling the tower through the final stairwell and out onto the grimy fortieth floor.

I looked around and nodded; it was as I’d remembered, silent and abandoned. The main floor was made up of dozens of rooms, almost all sealed, and the gardens were nearly invisible behind the crap-covered glass and stone piled up around the doors. I led him over, finding the opening where I’d struggled through previously. I carefully set the books down, pulling and heaving at the rocks until I’d cleared enough of a space to walk out easily.

Now that a way had been cleared, the gentle light of evening fell inside the Tower, and I realized how dark the last few floors had been.

I had my Darkvision ability, and clearly Flux, coming from a species that lived deep underwater and had no eyes, had no need of light either. I fumbled out one of the magelights and set it down by the top of the stairs, determined that I’d make lighting a priority for everyone… as soon as the Tower was unlikely to collapse, anyway.

I picked up the stack of books again and led Flux out into the small balcony garden. I felt him stop in surprise.

The air here was full of life, even this close to the SporeMother’s lair.

The balcony was only a few hundred feet square, but it was covered in lush trees and grass, and there, at the center, as I led Flux through the low-hanging branches laden with fruit, was the pool.

I didn’t know why it had originally been stocked with fish, but over hundreds of years of storms and buildup and breakdown of the plants and general growth, there was now a small secluded grove. The ground was carpeted