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

his kneeling position by my side, the empty mana potion tossed aside as he switched between looking at me and the surrounding deck. Opposite Bane stood Lydia, and in a tight circle around us were her squad, all dressed to one degree or another, but their weapons out and ready.

I forced myself up, Bane and Hanau helping me as I coughed and cleared my throat of blood and potion one last time, before calling out, even as Oracle swept me with another run of healing.

“It’s okay!” I said, waving to them. Now that I was upright, I could see the entire ship was at battle stations. Its two small cannons had been rolled out and armed, mana flickering over the runes that covered them. The crew that weren’t needed at battle stations, and even little Isabelle, all had weapons in hand and formed a protective ring around me.

“It’s okay…” I said again, a feeling of warmth filling me as I realized the way they’d all come together, determined to protect me. “Thank you, all of you, but it’s not an attack. You can stand down.”

I gingerly made my way to the railing and leaned against it, reaching up to feel the ridged faint scars on my neck from the claws, and I grinned at Oracle self-consciously as she landed before me, her beautiful, perfect face marred by a frightened scowl.

“What the hell just happened, Jax!” She cried out, lunging forward and wrapping her arms around my neck, hugging me tight.

“It’s all right, honestly…” I whispered to her, hugging her gently, before raising my voice to the others, figuring the truth couldn’t make things much worse than whatever people would come up with on their own.

“Okay…looks like it’s time to let you all in on another little detail…you all know I’m different,” I began. “What you don’t know is just how different. This is a little complicated, but basically…”

I spent the next hour telling the history of the Empire, and the Emperor Amon, as I understood it, and explaining that he was my ancestor, that he created special places with bodies that could call to me and others like me, such as my brother. That we were called to protect and to defend people until the legions could arrive, and that now that the legions were no more, I was all that was left, besides Tommy.

I answered a few questions, but mostly I talked, and they listened. By the end of it, I was feeling weak as a kitten, having had my body pushed to breaking point before I’d gone to sleep, and instead of the restful nap I’d needed, I’d instead fought for my life and died in a sunken city. The mental strain and blood loss combined to leave me exhausted again, despite the healing.

Decin had shouldered his way through people and sat nearby, holding Hanau’s hand, the blood covering his partners clothes showing just how bad it’d been as I spoke.

“So laddie, whut yer tellin’ us, is tha’ yer a prince o’ th’ old Empire? A hero? Do tha’ be right?” He asked, and I paused.

“Yes, and no, I suppose.” I said, rubbing my chin in thought. “Yes, I’m of the Emperor’s bloodline, but my father, the shit biscuit that he is, is a Baron, or was, and he’s been on Nimon’s side this whole time. I don’t really know where I fall in the whole nobility thing. And I’m no hero, I just…I just kinda do what has to be done.”

“You’ll be a prince when you conquer the continent.” Oracle said, and I swore I could have heard a pin drop after that statement.

“Yer gonna conquer th’ entire continent?” Decin asked after a minute, and I drew in a breath, thinking fast. Did I want to do that?

Hell, I didn’t particularly like being in charge of the people back at the Tower; it was far more hassle than I liked, and I really wasn’t very good at it…but if the alternative was assholes like my father, or Barabarattas, being in charge…

“I don’t know,” I said eventually. “I hadn’t planned that far ahead, I’m not interested in being in charge, but equally, I’m not going to leave ‘Lord Fucktard’ ruling Himnel, so it might come to that, yet.”

“And if you’re going to conquer the continent…where do we go after that?” asked Barrett quietly, watching me carefully.

“We’ll see. For now, let’s just get a society that is more interested in helping each other get built. Once we’re safe and strong, we can look at the Empire again.”

“What happened in the dream?” A voice called from the back, and I leaned back, taking a drink from the coffee I’d been passed by a sailor. I told them a sanitized version of the dream, having discussed the past and what happened generally to them before. By the time I finished, I saw Hanau, Decin, and Bane looking at each other intently.

“What is it?” I asked them, and Bane shook his head.

“Perhaps it’s something better discussed in private, my lord,” he said, and I took the hint. Decin nodded and turned to the crew, getting people moving with a few shouts and good-natured light kicks that made people laugh. In short order, Lydia’s squad was sent back down below to get fully dressed, now that the sun was beginning to rise in the east, and I called her over to join us as Decin began to speak.

“Well, laddie, it be like this…there were a load of old cities tha’ were lost, wiped off th’ face o’ th’ realm in th’ cataclysm. Some o’ them be normal, and some no; some did be floatin’, or even flyin’ cities. The stonework ye described, and th’ pool, it be makin’ a case fer it bein’ a floatin’ city tha’ be lost to time. There be one a good week’s flight to the south; th’ bits ye can reach all be long plundered now. Th’ rest be sunk to th’ bottom o’ th’ ocean. The