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

visualize. It seemed to take forever and yet be over in only a handful of seconds …before I felt tears tracking down my cheeks.

I slowly opened my eyes again, looking at the mess of trees before me.

The sunlight that filtered down through the gently swaying branches high overhead gave the glade a gentle light, the green and red leaves fluttering and the smell of wild garlic and lavender growing somewhere nearby filled the air, as did the scent…of blood, and death…

I looked down, flexing my fingers, and feeling the drying blood cracking. I slowly turned my hand over, distantly observing the patterns it made. A tiny voice in the back of my mind was moaning in fear at what we’d done, but…I couldn’t remember all of it, not exactly…just bits, and…

I looked over my shoulder, searching for the body, and saw that it and the others had been dragged away into the bushes, a foot sticking out at the end of a smear of blood marking the location. Bane was walking towards me, a small pouch in one hand and a collection of swords and daggers hanging from belts held in his other hands.

“Bane…” I whispered, looking at him.

“Are you okay, Jax?” he asked me quietly, tossing them aside and crouching next to me as he held out a waterskin and poured it over my hands…and my arms, and wiped at one of my cheeks with a scaled finger.

I saw the bloody mess he cleaned away, and I remembered…I blinked, my brain having seen something, a memory of screaming and blood spraying, and then it was gone.

“I…no. No, I’m not sure I am…” I whispered to him, slowly shaking my head.

My mana had started to refill after I’d released it, and I conjured a pair of fountains for Bane and I with barely a thought, splitting the magic for the first time, but too dazed to realize what I’d done.

Bane ignored his fountain until he saw me start to scrub at the blood, then he dipped his head in gratefully, opening his gills to the lifegiving water.

When I finished washing, and I was sure Bane had finished, I cut the mana to the spells and let them fade away, wringing the water from my top and shaking my head when it still came away bloody.

I’d stripped off my armor and scrubbed it, then rinsed my top, assuming it’d be okay, but man, it was drenched, and inside, that voice was still screaming that we’d done something terrible.

I muted it, feeling like my emotions were wrapped in cotton wool as I spoke to Bane.

“She’s gone, mate; the Drow said that he’d sent his fastest runner with her down into the tunnels. She’s being taken to their leader, some Drow-spider thing; he said that they have a way to move faster underground, that there’s no way I can catch her, and…and I believe him…I questioned him, and he…”

“No.” Bane gripped my chin and made me look at him. “No, Jax, don’t concentrate on what happened. You were angry and hurt, and you did what you had to do. Don’t think about how you asked the questions; just answer this, do you think the Drow lied?”

“No,” I said adamantly.

“Do you want to do that again to another sentient being?”

“Definitely not,” I said, but then I paused, considering it.

“No Jax, I know you could do it; I’m asking if you want to.” Bane repeated, and I shook my head.

“No, I really don’t.”

“Then that’s all you need to remember about this. They caused it and would have done the same to you if they’d won, and they would have enjoyed it. In the future, if you need me to, I’ll do your questioning, but for now, all that’s important is that you got the information. Do you know where the entrance to the smuggler’s path is? I take it they’re why no smugglers have made it through in a while?”

“Yeah, they moved in a few months back. They’ve got a city on the other side of the mountains and found a way through the caves to here. This is scouting force; they’re here to check it out and to steal what they can, then send back reports, and their queen will decide if they’re to come and take the city.”

“And the path itself; we can’t catch a Drow underground, not when they’ve got a head start, but we can track them, if the path is clear?”

“It’s filled with concealed traps, but only in a few places, and I know where.” I muttered; my mind drawn inexorably back to the whimpers from the Drow.

“You have to stop, Jax; you can’t concentrate on that now. only one thing matters. They have Oracle, and we have to get her back.” Bane said, “Do you want to wallow here, or save her?”

I glared at him, and he nodded. “In that case, pull yourself together. We need to leave. I suggest you change your top before you put your armor back on…”

I looked down at the soaked fabric and give it an experimental squeeze, getting a red tinged stream of water for my effort. I grimaced and stood up, stripping it off and throwing it aside, it was one of my few tops from earth, but I really didn’t want it anymore.

I looked in my bag, finding only one top left, the one I’d taken from the Drow in my maddened state. I swallowed my bile at another mental image of what I’d done to him, and I pulled the shirt out, examining it.

Gloom Spidersilk Tunic

Further Description Yes/No

Details:

This Spidersilk tunic is woven from the strands of the Gloom Spider, a species bred by the Drow to create these specialized outfits. This tunic grants a +5 to armor, is resistant to cuts and tearing, and has additional padding sewn into the shoulders and chest.

Rarity

Magical

Durability

Charge:

Very Rare

No

98/100

N/A

I shook it out and looked it over, the subtle grey and black shimmer of the material making me swallow as