Apollos Thorne

Underworld - Book 4 - Chapter 2 - Part 1

Added 2019-09-21 15:59:47 +0000 UTC

Arching her back with the flexibility of an elite gymnast, Aeris stirred from her sleep. A high pitched squeak escaped her lips. Her movements were slow and fluid as she extended her legs and pointed her toes as if reaching for the floor. The only problem was that she was upside down. Her lashes fluttered as she opened her eyes. Noticing her predicament, she corrected herself in the air and gently touched down on the stone floor of the Master’s Chamber.

“I fell asleep?” She rolled her neck.

I couldn’t imagine her being stiff. “About two hours ago.” I stood, placing my arm around her.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to drift off.”

Leaning over to kiss her on the top of the head, I felt resistance from the air that naturally swirled around her like an aura. It was the same as I pulled her close. All pressure suddenly stopped as she allowed me inside her bubble.

The only buff I had active was my passive In The Buff that had become a part of me when I ascended after surpassing 1,000 in every stat. During Aeris’s rest, I’d kept Mana Sight at full power, extending my perception of time so that I could think as long as possible. I saw no way around leaving Sanctuary, at least for a time. I’d gone through a few of the books I’d brought from the Head Mistress’s dungeon and would spend some more time with them before I left.

“Did you want some more magic bacon?” I squeezed her tight.

She gave me a lazy smile and nodded her head against my chest.

It was the first night I could remember where nearly everyone had actually gone to bed. Other than Aeris, only Russ and Kylie had asked me to heal their exhaustion. Russ was working in the smithy and Kylie was staying close by the hall we had closed Travis up in. There was little of the armor and weapons the minotaur’s had been carrying that we could use because of its size so Russ couldn’t stop himself from getting started on the break down process. As for Kylie, she had seen Travis on the brink of death and only his forced transformation to werewolf had saved him. She didn’t want to leave his side even if there was nothing else she could do.

As Khun had offered, I let him take over the watch for a while as Aeris and I scavenged for some more bacon in the kitchen. It was chilled, but I didn’t care, and Aeris didn’t seem to mind either. Cold bacon is maxed level jerky after all.

We didn’t see Russ, but we could hear the clanging from the smithy all the way in the dining area. Kylie had stopped pacing and was leaned up against the wall next to Travis’s self-imposed prison on the other side of the Living Quarters by our rooms in a separate hall that was still run down and that we weren’t using for anything else. It was one of the rare times since our kidnapping that I could genuinely say it was peaceful here.

Sitting down at a round table, we sat beside one another and snacked on our well-earned breakfast—or was it a late night snack?

It was interesting to see that the buffs that the bacon gave didn’t just reset, but the time in which they’d be active went from 48 hours to 72. The possibilities of further cultivating our food supply were only continuing to expand. A large part of me didn’t want to leave.

Things were quiet between us as we ate. I wanted her to be able to enjoy the peace while we had it and the quickest way for me to disrupt that was for me to breach the topic about leaving. Before I could say a word, she surprised me, as she so often did. “When are you planning on going?”

“Soon,” I said. It was my turn to surprise her. “Will you come with me?”

She twisted her head to the side with the quickness of a hummingbird. “Another date?”

“Into the depths of darkness and unknown terrors of the Underworld? Of course.”

“What of the others?”

“I think I have that part figured out as well.” I began to explain what I had in mind for preparation for our departure. There was a lot to do, but it shouldn’t take more than a day or two to get everything done.

After she’d finished listening to my explanation from the beginning to the end, I saw her eyes light up with a silver glow. Wind magic emphasized her every expression. “I think that will work. We should take another person with us. Not Olivia and not Skyler… They’ll be in charge while we are gone.”

“We can’t take Travis either—in his current condition. It’s going to be hard without his tracking ability.”

“I’m thinking a tank. I know Russ won’t want to go and we need more people that can take a hit.”

“Someone like Waldemar?”

Her eyes fell to the floor. Wind Magic began to whip around her in strong micro-currents.

“Are you okay?” I reached over to put my hand on her shoulder, but the Wind was too strong to do so gently, so I pulled back.

“I dropped a literal tornado on his head, Elorion—and it did nothing. I feel so helpless. I don’t want to feel this way anymore. I’m 39 levels from 1,000 Intelligence, but even that won’t be enough. Not with Mistress Nava…”

I knew what she was feeling far too well. Waldemar had been beyond powerful for his level. Even after his mana was spent it took everything we had to take him down. It was only good fortune that he’d ran out of mana when he did, for if he hadn’t, none of us we be here. “What level are you now?”

“561.”

I gave a long whistle. “That’s incredible. Congrats.”

“It’s getting there. What is yours now?”

I pulled up my character sheet to show her.