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

NOT BE. WE AGREED TO AID YOU. DESPITE ALL THAT HAPPENED, OUR BOND HOLDS. WE WILL INTERCEDE…” The huge presence behind me moved forward, and I felt an enormous claw-tipped foot, longer than I was tall, crush the earth beside me, as a fathomless voice echoed through my mind.

“HEAR ME, ETERNAL. THIS MUST NOT BE. AMON MUST BE PROTECTED. HE CANNOT BE LOST, WASTED LIKE THIS. PULL BACK HIS RAGE, BURY HIS MADNESS, AND LET HIM SLEEP ONCE AGAIN. I, INSTEAD SHALL AID YOU.”

I glared up, looking into an eye that I could comfortably stand inside, which regarded me from a scaly head the size of a truck. It was a dragon, one that I recognized dimly from Amon’s memories. I struggled for a second, and a name sprang to mind…

“Amon’Tuthic?” I whispered, and He nodded slowly, the memory I’d seen him in flaring to life and dying as he rumbled acknowledgement.

“THAT MEMORY SHOULD NOT BE KNOWN TO YOUR KIND. I ACKNOWLEDGE THE DEBT AND THE OATH, REGARDLESS. STAND DOWN, AND PULL BACK WHAT REMAINS OF AMON. I WILL AID YOU IN THIS FIGHT.”

I scowled at him for a moment longer, then turned my furious glare onto Jenae.

“You see what you’ve done… you see what you’ve started!” I growled at her, even as I tried to control the anger flooding me. 

“Please, Eternal! Jenae begged. She looked down at the sword in her hands and cast it aside, the blade vanishing as soon as it left her fingers. “Please, let me try to fix this!”

“JENAE? MISTRESS, YOU HAVE DONE THIS? YOU ATTACKED THE ETERNAL?” Amon’Tuthic asked in confusion, each syllable echoing like lead blocks dropped in a cave.

“I lashed out in anger, and now I cannot fix this. Please, Tuthic, aid me!” She cried, and the ground shook below us, the mountains in the distance seeming to shift. “We must get him out of here. He cannot be found, we cannot be found! If Nimon senses us…”

The enormous dragon looked upward, as though his eyes could pierce the skies, and he growled in anger, before ducking his head down to be level with me.

“ETERNAL, THIS CANNOT BE. SEARCH YOUR FEELINGS; EVEN IN YOUR RAGE, YOU KNOW ME. TRUST IN WHAT I SAY; YOU CANNOT BE HERE, AND NEITHER CAN I. YOU ENDANGER US ALL FOR YOUR RAGE, AND MY CHILDREN MOST OF ALL. I TASTE YOUR ANCESTOR’S OATH UPON YOU. WILL YOU HONOR IT, AND STEP BACK? I WILL GUARD YOUR MIND FROM ALL. JENAE WILL NOT HARM YOU AGAIN; I WILL SWEAR IT ON MY SOUL IF NEED BE, BUT YOU MUST STEP BACK!”  

I glared at him, then at Jenae, but I remembered the oath we (HE) had sworn, and I took a single step backwards. My mind remained filled with anger, even as my body shook with the need to fight.

***

I blinked, back in the world. The vision I’d seen had gone, and seemingly not a second had passed. I glanced down at my hand and saw a glimmer of ghostly armor that vanished like fog in the heat of sun even as I looked closer.

I could feel him in my mind; I could feel them all. Amon, the Eternal Emperor, Amon’Tuthic, the enormous silver dragon that had been Amon’s bondmate’s mate, and Jenae. The relief from the last two was palpable, even as I felt the confusion in what was left of Amon’s mind.

The anger was still there, bouncing around in my head, but now it was only my own, and Oracle’s rage as she arrived by my side and observed the blood that covered my face. I trembled slightly, and Oracle landed on my shoulder.

Pressing her hand to my temple, she caught up on everything in my mind. I could feel her anger reinforcing my own, each feeding off each other, but as before, I contained it, compressing it down, forcing it into submission.

The rage that the pair of us felt was a candle beside the sun compared to Amon’s rage, and I knew that I had done the right thing in stepping back. I needed Jenae, but damn, I wanted to gut her right now.

“THAT IS UNDERSTANDABLE, ETERNAL.” The voice that echoed in my mind made me wince, and Oracle curled her tiny hands into fists as she whimpered at the ancient dragon’s mind touching ours. “I apologize. I have not spoken to one of your kind in long ages,” Tuthic said, clearly trying to modulate his tone. “I have spoken with Jenae, and while I think there is a need to explain this… it is best to come from her. Will you speak with her?” I drew a deep breath and nodded, replying to him.

“I will, Amon’Tuthic. I…thank you. It is an honor to speak with you.” I said, the knowledge that I was speaking mind to mind with a dragon that flew through the skies when my own people were still exploring our world’s oceans in tiny wooden ships was helping me to be respectful.

“And yet you brave the lion in his den in facing Mistress Jenae? How strange. Still, I appreciate the honor you show me, Eternal. Your ancestor was different to most of your race; I liked him, even though our final words to one another were said in anger.”

“Jax… I am sorry.” Jenae’s voice came through. “I lashed out when I felt your seeming dismissal of me. I regretted it as soon as I did it, but still, my shame is my own.”

“Yeah, you’re good at that,” I said to her, my anger ticking over once more.

“She is a Goddess, Jax the Eternal. She deserves your respect.” Tuthic admonished, and I shrugged, feeling like a petulant child.

“This was my fault, though, and I accept that. Jax was attempting to help me, to carry out an earlier request, and I let my fear and greed feed my anger. I lashed out. I should not have. Will you let me explain, Jax?” Janae asked, and I drew in a