The Fourth Secret: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Divine Apostasy Book 4) by A. Kay (best short books to read .TXT) 📕

he been wrong. The entrance in Fractal had been underwater, and he wondered if maybe it was the same here.

Ruwen dropped to his knees, thankful for his Elder Viper helmet, which protected his eyes and nose and allowed him to breathe. The water was only two feet deep and he walked forward on his knees, hands outstretched.

This time Ruwen’s right hand kept going, and he angled himself in that direction. As he moved forward, the water suddenly stopped.

Ruwen kneeled in the darkness, dripping, a slight breeze striking his face and chest, making him shiver.

Sift had been right.

Chapter 33

Ruwen pulled one of his five red sorrow fruits from his left sleeve and ate it. He shivered again as his senses sharpened, and the cold become more intense. A small cavern came into focus, and just like Sift had said, there was treasure.

Vines covered the walls, and Ruwen stood as he studied the area. A tunnel continued off the back of the cavern, which is where the airflow came from. He walked to the nearest vine and collected the fruit, methodically working his way around the walls. When he finished, he had a small mound of fruit.

Ruwen added his four red and two black fruit to the pile, removed his Elder Viper helmet, and took off his shirt. He knotted the end of each sleeve and the bottom of his shirt, making three areas to store fruit. In the left sleeve he added thirteen green sorrow fruit, and in the right, six black. The main part of his shirt he filled with seventy-three red sorrow fruit.

Placing the Elder Viper helmet back on, Ruwen ate one of each fruit that he’d set aside bringing him to sixty-three minutes. Not eating everything right now was a risk. He could lose this shirt and the almost six hours of time it contained. But the fruit had more value than just minutes, and if he needed to be invisible later, eating all the black fruit now would be foolish.

Another thought struck him, and he removed one of each fruit, placing them under his helmet. He had no idea how he’d gotten here, or where here was, but if there was a chance on bringing anything back when he left, he wanted to try.

Ruwen took a handful of red berries to keep his increased senses active, otherwise seeing would be difficult, and strode up the tunnel at the back of the cavern. He reluctantly admitted he owed Sift again for his unlikely wisdom.

The green sorrow fruit had increased Ruwen’s physical abilities and it made pulling the invisible weight a little easier. But as the tunnel climbed higher, the weight increased, and he worried if it continued, he might stop moving completely.

Six green fruit later, Ruwen exited the tunnel to find daylight had returned. His body trembled from the effort of walking up the tunnel, and he leaned against the boulders that hid the tunnel. He ate a black fruit just in case there were others up here, and a red one to help him sense any enemies.

Two things became apparent almost immediately. Ruwen had almost reached the summit, and he wasn’t alone. This close to the top, only clumps of boulders broke up the short brown grass that covered the glade, and no bamboo grew. Six hundred feet to his left sat a small mud-covered boy, surrounded by six Elder Vipers, and three creatures that looked like five-foot clouds.

Ten feet in front of the boy, the grass turned from brown to green. Against all odds, the boy had almost made it to the summit before being forced to meditate. Ruwen looked the other direction to find some distant Elder Vipers and cloud creatures. The grass turned from brown to green just fifty feet in front of him, and there was nothing in his way.

But Ruwen didn’t move. Instead, he stared at the distant boy who had covered himself in mud. Ruwen had used water to lower his temperature, but using mud was even smarter. He pictured Pine sitting in his home, watching his grandson’s empty body, and being powerless to help. Had the boy found the Journeyman’s Glade? If he failed here would he still be allowed to continue? Ruwen didn’t know.

And worse, Ruwen would never know. He would spend his life wondering about this boy and his grandfather. Helping him made no sense. And with this invisible weight that made every movement difficult, he couldn’t even fight. At least not well enough to handle six Elder Vipers. He assumed those clouds were floating attacks of depression and doubt. The mist had hidden them down below.

Ruwen looked down at his shirt. It contained about four hours worth of minutes, and it gave him an idea. Not his best plan, but better than his usual ones. He could almost hear Sift’s groan.

Opening the shirt, Ruwen removed a fifteen-minute green fruit, and set it to the side. Then he ate every berry left in the shirt. His stomach hurt, but his palm read three hundred forty-one minutes. That should be enough.

Placing a few rocks in the shirt, Ruwen stuck his Elder Viper tail in his mouth, and picked up the last green fruit. Carefully, he made his way toward the summit. When the summit was only ten feet away, he moved toward the boy instead. It took him almost two minutes to near the boy, and Ruwen pushed his doubts aside. Now only fifteen feet away, he could see the scar on the boy’s temple and the white hair near his ear.

The creatures seemed intent on the boy, but Ruwen prepared himself to move quickly if necessary. Well, as quickly as his burden allowed him. He swung his rock filled shirt in a circle until it had gained a decent amount of momentum and then let it fly down the mountain.

It struck a mound of boulders with a satisfying boom. A mist creature and two Elder Vipers quickly moved to investigate. Ruwen took the blade from his