City of Fallen Souls: A LitRPG Adventure (UnderVerse Book 3) by Jez Cajiao (fb2 epub reader .txt) 📕

“Hey!” came the second voice, “Wese’s think there’s something in there…” It came from a small creature, maybe two feet tall, bright blue, with tribal tattoos covering his skin. He drew a small knife from his belt, his bat-like wings beating quickly to keep him in the air as he grinned malevolently at the window. His left hand came up, and a flicker of flame flashed to life in his palm. “Come out, come out… whatever you are…” he crooned into the darkness, throwing the tiny Firebolt forwards to shatter the glass. It impacted into Tang’s shield and burst, barely rocking the enormous elf, who just looked over the shield at the Imp and grinned evilly.

“Attack!” I roared, slamming my naginata through the brickwork next to me and sinking it into the figure skulking there.

I felt the blade punch through something that was noticeably softer than the bricks, resulting in a scream that cut off abruptly, and I yanked my weapon back. The sounds of battle erupted all around me. Bane had jerked the door open and grabbed an imp that was on the other side, yanking it forward and punching it into unconsciousness. Stephanos and Miren had both released arrows through the window into the second imp, one taking him in the face and terminally ruining his chances.

Amaat had blasted through the trapdoor and out into the empty air, diving down at tremendous speed towards the Alkyon, who’d jumped back when the door opened, and who was now frantically trying to reach the open air over the alleyway.

I moved across to the window closest to me and looked out into the alley, finding another small blue imp trying to drag itself away as it bled out, my naginata having punched straight through it.

The battle was over for the rest of us before it began, the only one still in the fight being the Alkyon, and judging from the screams and the falling feathers, that wasn’t going well for it.

A few seconds later, it slammed into the cobblestoned alleyway with a crunch of breaking bones and a squawk of pain that cut off abruptly.

I walked out, looking around to make sure nobody else was coming as Tang retrieved the bodies of the imps, including the bleeding crawler, tossing them through the broken window. Bane and Barrett grabbed the Alkyon and dragged it inside, dumping it alongside the pile of imps.

We closed up quickly, shutting the door and dragging some planks across the shattered windows, and I asked Oracle to go keep watch through a cracked window that had a view of the length of the alleyway.

Amaat landed with a thump through the still-open trapdoor, his clawed talons gripping the wooden floor as he lifted his arms and threw back his head… and Tang grabbed his beak, shutting it before his triumphant screech could get out.

Tang growled something at him, and he seemed to recover himself. The massive elf gestured to the trapdoor and growled at him again.

Amaat took off, looking a bit sheepish, while Tang crossed the room to speak quietly to me.

“Sorry about that. Alkyon are great aerial scouts, but their instincts…”

“Got it,” I said, shaking my head, and Tang nodded, muttering low enough that I’d hear it but nobody else would.

“Damn bird brains.”

I snorted and walked over to the two live Harpies, noting the pool of blood that was spreading out from beneath the Alkyon. It was in bad shape. It had landed on a wing, shattering the bones and ripping them through skin and membranes alike, and it was bleeding out. Added to that, great gashes in its wings from where Amaat had torn it from the sky, made it obvious that unless we stepped in, it wasn’t going to live long.

I stared at it for long seconds as its lifeblood pumped out, considering. It had attacked us, and I was low on mana now, thanks to healing the injuries on Amaat that this dickhead and its friends had inflicted. Plus, we already had a prisoner… and it wasn’t like it was going to be let go once it told us what we needed to know.

A dark part of my soul had been set free when Oracle had been taken from me, and it had taken root after all that had happened in the Drow tunnels. I looked at these creatures, and I found that I didn’t care if they lived or died. They were only alive because it was convenient to me; they could give me answers, or one could, at least…

I started to turn away from the Alkyon, and she was there.

Oracle had abandoned her post, hovering before me and staring into my eyes as I froze. I gritted my teeth and held firm, staring back at her, expecting condemnation. Instead, I found… sadness.

She looked into my eyes, and for what seemed like the first time in forever, she and I felt different things. I’d expected her to be furious that I wasn’t going to save it, but instead, I found sadness and regret.

“I’m sorry, Jax… this is my fault. If I hadn’t been taken…” she started, and I cut her off gruffly, swallowing the lump in my throat.

“No!” I said, then tried again, a little calmer. “No, it wasn’t your fault. It was those fucking Drow…”

“No,” she said, cutting me off in turn. Shaking her perfect head, she set her hair swaying. “It was my fault, because I was overconfident. I thought nothing could touch me, and I got taken, and then this part of you got free.”

I froze at the mention of the darkness inside myself, my heart seeming to stop as a sudden fear filled me. Did she want to break our bond? Was I too much, too broken…was she going to leave me like the others…? I searched her eyes frantically, my heart starting to hammer in my chest as she held my gaze.

“It’s okay,” she said, moving closer and reaching out, her tiny hands on my cheeks holding me