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

built it by being honorable in victory, patient, and kind…and by using any means necessary when someone fucked with him.

He’d made sure nobody fucked with the Empire twice; they either lived nice lives, safe and good, or demons would weep in terror over the shit he pulled. Now I had him riding along on my shoulder. He’d grown to like Oracle; she was sweet and kind… exactly the kind of creature he’d done all the shit that he had to protect. He’d stained his soul black with blood again and again, so that creatures like her could sleep safe at night, and he’d been worshipped as a single step below a God for it. A damn small step, one that even the Gods had recognized by giving him their gifts, and loving him, until that fuckhead Nimon conspired with the Baron and the others to overthrow him.

I knew instinctively that the Baron and his siblings hadn’t been alive when the vast majority of Amon’s work was done; they’d not believed the tales, or they’d never have dared to cross that line.

Now I had him guiding me. Advising me.

I saw the figure before me differently in an eyeblink. It wasn’t a man, or a woman, a parent, or a child. It was a monster, one that had harmed my friend.

Amon showed me things about my target, how thin the skin really was, how little pain it could withstand, and how to make it scream in agony and terror that it had never known existed, while keeping it alive.

I stabbed my dagger down into its right hand, pinning it to the soil, and reached out casually, flipping the latches on the armor it wore, tugging it off and slipping it into my bag, then its shirt and the weapons it had been wearing.

“This is nice gear...” I whispered, the light of madness shining bright as I looked into its terrified eye. “Don’t want to get it all covered in blood, now do we?”

“Please…” It whispered back, and I reached out with my left hand, putting my finger to its lips.

“Shhhh…” I responded, then yanked my dagger free of its hand, making it whimper. “Speaking… unless it’s to answer my questions… is not a good idea, now is it?” I asked, and lifted the dagger back to its cheek, idly carving a smiley face into its creamy, soft grey skin.

“I’ll tell you…I will…” it whispered; eyes screwed shut against the pain.

“Oh, I know you will…I don’t doubt that…” I whispered back, finishing the arc of the mouth.

“Now… you took my friend, and I want to know where she is, where she’s being taken to, and who’s there… and I really, really don’t recommend lying to me… but that’s a choice a man has to make for himself, isn’t it?” I smiled at it, my rictus snarl stretching wide into a grin, as I let Amon direct me, the loss of my friend making me forget that lines existed, let alone that they were being crossed.

I could feel Oracle still, drawing further away from me, headed downwards; her fear and her rage fed my own. I could see my mana bar glowing, constantly ticking down, as whatever fusion I’d managed to make of flesh and magic that had sped my reactions and strength up to match theirs consumed it.

I could hear the others crashing through the undergrowth, coming closer and closer, and I knew they didn’t need to see this. I’d do what needed to be done, so that they could sleep and enjoy sweet dreams at night, safe.

Oh, yes.

The Drow began speaking, eyes screwed tightly shut against the pain as tears leaked out, sobs interspersed with gritted teeth and cries of agony, as I pressed for clarification, pressing with my dagger, deep and slow…

Chapter Twenty-One

The others had arrived while we talked, Bane, having led the way, had seen what I was doing and told the others to hold back.

He’d moved up, making sure I knew he was there, then had checked the bodies and spread the team out, searching the area and giving them something to do besides listen in too closely.

When it was all done and I stood up, wiping the blood from my dagger before I sheathed it, Bane stepped in close and faced me, the rapidly cooling meat on the ground laid between us.

“Are you okay?” he asked me and I nodded slowly, the fury that filled me making me feel like I might burst if I moved too quickly, but also demanding I move, react, hurt something…

“Jax, I need you to do something for me; can you do that?” he said, and I nodded slowly, feeling the tension in my neck, the tendons standing out like steel wires.

“I need you to close your eyes and breathe… don’t do anything else. Use the meditation techniques we discussed; put all emotion in the box. Hate, fear, love, all of it. Visualize the box in your mind and pour your emotions inside.”

I frowned. I needed to be off; I knew where Oracle was headed, where they were going to take her, and…

“Jax!” Bane snapped, and I jerked, glaring at him, my left eye twitching, blood thundering through my veins. I could hear my heartbeat; it was so loud…

“Listen to me… you know me… and you trust me, right?” Bane asked, and I stared at him for a long time before nodding jerkily, once.

“Then you know that I’ll always do what you need me to do, right?” I nodded again. “Not what you want, but what you need…”

That sounded right. He was good like that, a good friend.

“Now, come with me, just over here…” He led me to the side, guiding me to sit down, and handed me a drink. “Just rest. We’ll take care of it all in a minute; you just fill that box for me…”

I sat there, eyes closed, and slowly pushed down all my emotions, feeding them into the box he’d taught me to