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

“Now that I am here, I feel the world again. I have been granted a second chance. A chance to learn, to grow beyond my dreams. I will swear to you, but I will need support, information, and most of all, access to magic to make sure the darkness never returns!”

You have been offered a quest!

‘Teach the teacher’:

Ame was the greatest Runecrafter in a dozen generations of her people, but the encroaching darkness has changed her. She demands training to become all she can be. She is determined to learn and will not accept no for an answer.

Accept? Yes/Yes

I blinked at the notification before dismissing it and frowning at Ame.

“I have the materials to teach you just about anything, Ame, but I’ll not waste the strongest healing spells and memories on you. I’m sorry, but you’re already skilled in something that could be insanely useful. I’ll give you some, and you can teach yourself from there, though…”

“Who else will be as dedicated or driven as I am?” she replied flatly. “I need to know. My people gradually suffer from this deterioration as they age. I began suffering far earlier than I should. What if others have begun to decline? No, I will not accept this. You want assurances? Give me the basic tools, teach me, and I will prove myself! You need a healer? For your brain?” she asked, and I growled, moving forward until we were inches apart.

“What do you know of that?” I asked her, my voice a low rumble, Oracle gripping my shoulder tightly in warning as she felt my anger rising.

“I can sense damage in your brain, child,” she replied, equally quietly. “What made me an excellent Runecrafter was my attention to details, my manapool, and most of all, my Worldsense. I sensed your injuries when I reached out, glorying in no longer being trapped inside the decaying husk of my head. Teach me, and I will do all I can for you, I swear it!” Ame said fervently.

I looked at her for a long time, well aware that we were being watched by the crew and the rest of the Mer, my anger and fear over the damage to my brain warring for dominance all the while.

“Fine. I’ll give you access to healing spells, the basic ones… but you prove to me you’re worth more than that before you get anything else!” I snapped, then took a deep breath and softened my tone.

“I’m sorry, Ame. I don’t like even considering the damage done to my brain, let alone discussing it aloud where all can hear.” She paused for a long moment, then stepped back and knelt smoothly.

“No, Lord Jax, I am sorry. my fear and excitement drove me to demands when I should be thanking you and swearing forever to serve. I will earn your trust, and your forgiveness.” She stood slowly, nodded respectfully to me, and then her right upper arm shot out and she grabbed Flux by one tendril, making him grunt in surprise. “Now, with your leave, Lord, I will take care of something else that’s been left for far too long.” I grinned at Flux and Ame and stepped back myself.

“Fine by me, Ame. I’ll go make preparations for our return to the Waystation, and then home. Have fun!” I turned and started walking down the deck, leaving Ame and Flux to their conversation. Oracle gently kissed my cheek before she took off, darting up into the rigging of the mast, ready for the flight. She’d spent hours up there on the way over, glorying in the sight of the world flying by.

I walked up onto the raised deck and stood with Oren, nodding to Jory as I propped myself against the railing.

“How long?” I asked Oren, and he shrugged.

“Iff’n yer ready now, we can be back at th’ Waystation in a few minutes, then soon as th’ Golems be sent on their way, we can be off. We do no be as fast as Decin’s ship; she be built fer speed, a courier an’ scout, an’ we have damaged engines to boot, but they be better than they were. Mebbe another five hours to get back to the Tower, wind willin’.” I nodded to him, gesturing upwards, and he grinned, shouting orders.

It took less than a minute before we lifted from the sand where he’d landed, the ship creaking as the engines took the strain. Sails slowly extended and boomed as they caught the wind coming off the lake. We picked up speed, the ship tilting gently as we lifted higher and higher, more engines coming online, driving us into the air.

Oren took us up slowly, circling around and heading to where the ruined Waystation Four stood. We weren’t even halfway before Decin overtook us, his smaller ship built, as Oren said, for speed.

I’d hardly had the chance to see Decin’s ship before, but as it passed us, I watched it. It had four engines on the sides, two front and two back that lifted and directed it, one large engine at the back for thrust, and then three sails, one on either side and one above like a traditional ships mast. She was almost entirely wooden, a deep golden oak color with a blue line painted diagonally across the hull halfway up her side. The name that stood out proud on her rear was ‘Libertas’ and I frowned, trying to remember the meaning. Liberty? Liberate…no, Freedom, I translated.

I’d never been taught Latin at school, but Xiao had battered enough of it into my thick skull that I remembered that, at least.

“So laddie, yer got yersel’ a new hanger-on, eh?” Oren asked, and I looked at him quizzically. He gestured behind me and I turned, my eyes almost skipping over him, until he moved.

“Bane?” I asked, and he straightened up, no longer seeming hard to see. Instead, he was a heavily muscled four-armed warrior