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

It was beautiful, and now, with the sun slowly sinking in the west, the red-tinged sky made it even more so. Flux and I sat down on the banks of the small pool, carefully stacking the books well back from the edge, and relaxed for a moment. I watched, bemused, as Flux shifted forward, slipping down into the pool, and dipped under, sinking all the way to the bottom, where an explosion of fish and sediment marked his impact.

I watched as he slowly rose back up, stretching himself out and doing a quick lap of the pool before he returned to the side closest to me. He half lifted himself out, leaning on the grass and faced me fully.

“I’ve given you the time you asked for, Jax, and I enjoyed the feel of cool water again, but I must know…were you being truthful about your access to the Goddess?” Flux asked me, his tendrils raised and fixated on me.

“I really wish I understood your body language better, mate…” I muttered, before shaking myself and going on. “Yes; I’m the Chosen of Jenae, and if you’d like, I could arrange an introduction.”

Flux considered me silently before slowly pulling himself out of the water and facing me.

“You are an enigma at times, Jax. I hear the words you speak, but it’s as though the meaning of them escapes you. We are talking about one of the Greater Gods, one of the creators of the Infinite Realms, and yet you talk about introducing me as though She is a particularly attractive cousin. I ask again, and I need you to understand how important this is: do you really have the ear of a Goddess?”

I frowned, looking at him, as I thought through what he’d said. I’d found the altar and just as I always did, I had taken a gamble. Somehow, I had contacted a being that apparently helped to create reality as I knew it. I dug my nails into the grass I sat on and felt the soil beneath it. The thought of the countless billions of sentients that had lived across what little I understood of the Realms spun through my mind’s eye, and I stiffened, unconsciously pulling some of the grass free with a jerk that brought me back to reality.

Yes, she was a Goddess, no she was not all powerful, and I had to wake her up. She was weak at present, and it was thanks to me that she was getting stronger. She was my ally, and maybe my friend? Either way, she was just another being, as far as I was concerned; a powerful one, even, but I was from Newcastle, and we didn’t back down for anyone.

I’d had our people compared to the Nac Mac Feegles of Sir Terry Pratchett’s creation by a friend, and fuck if that weren’t accurate. We loved to fight, drink, and shag anything we could.

I’d be respectful to Jenae, but that was all she was getting, and fuck it if she couldn’t take a joke. I straightened up and grinned at Flux.

“Yeah, good point; means she’s almost as important as the Queen. I’ll be polite when I introduce you, mate,” I said, and I shifted around, going to one knee, and looking at Flux. I closed my eyes and concentrated, drawing in the mana and focusing on Jenae, building up until I felt I had enough ready before I opened my eyes, facing Flux across the glowing ball of mana I’d called into being between us. I gave him a wink and called out in the silence of my mind, the mana infusing the call as the glowing ball burst into a thousand motes of light that slowly settled to the ground, winking out.

“Jenae!” I called, and I felt a shift as she connected to me, like the opening of a door into a vastly larger room. I stood on my side of the doorway, but I could feel the space beyond, and the presence that lived there, the heat of the fire, and the far hotter desire to know that defined her.

“Hello, Eternal,” she said into the silence of my mind, and I smiled involuntarily.

“You always call me that,” I said to her. “Why?”

“You are blessed by Amon, the first Emperor; as such, some of him is within you. He is Eternal, and so are you. You’ll know more when the time is right; don’t worry.”

“Okay, mysterious much? Anyway, that’s not why I reached out to you; I have a friend here who’d like to meet you…”

“Really? You called out across the immeasurable distances of space and time to say ‘Hi, want to meet my friend?’?”

“Okay, when you say it like that, maybe it’s a little weird, but hey, you’re here now. Want to meet Flux?”

“We really need to talk about realities and the gulfs between them at some point, Jax, but at this stage, yes. I’d like to meet any prospective follower; thank you.” Jenae sighed in my mind, and I opened my eyes to check on Flux, seeing him suddenly jerk and drop to his knees, all four hands pressed to the ground as he let out an unconscious subsonic ‘thrum’ of awe.

I straightened up and grinned at my prostrate friend, knowing that Jenae was talking to him. A thought I’d had at the back of my mind since this conversation with Flux had started gave a wiggle, and I spoke to Jenae without thinking about it.

“So, wasn’t one of your siblings all about water?” I asked, flinching when I felt the displeasure in Jenae’s mental voice.

“Yes.”

“Okay; clearly this isn’t going to be a fun part of the conversation, but didn’t you say you wanted me to help bring the other Gods and Goddesses back?” There was a long silence, during which the others began to filter in, looking embarrassed as they found Flux on his knees with