The Second Betrayal: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Divine Apostasy Book 2)

by A F Kay

  With the five runes hovering in his vision, Ruwen traced them on the blank door with his Portal Chalk. Since it was the first time he’d ever drawn them, he went over each rune five times.

  Sift had grabbed a handful of Blood Moss and was waving it around as he spoke. “…millions died. If it –”

  Ruwen interrupted Sift. “I’m ready. Storytime is over.”

  Hamma looked sick as she walked over to Ruwen. Sift dropped the moss and joined them.

  “Where do all these portals go?” Hamma asked.

  “A few are to other cities, but most lead to unpleasant places,” Ruwen said, not wanting to overwhelm her with the details.

  “How do you have the power to do this?” Hamma asked.

  Hamma always asked great questions, but the answers all seemed to fall into two categories for Ruwen: a secret or no clear idea.

  “Blapy gave him magic chalk,” Sift said.

  “Yes, thank you, Sift. Magic chalk,” Ruwen said with relief.

  “I’ll go first,” Sift said as he walked through the door. A moment later, he reappeared. “It exits in the room you fought the Bendies.” In a blink, he’d disappeared again.

  “He means Rod Spiders,” Ruwen said.

  Hamma shook her head a little. “I hate spiders.”

  “Me too. But they’re all dead.”

  Hamma nodded, took a couple deep breaths, and then strode through. Ruwen followed.

  Ruwen exited from the wall near the altar. His body tensed as memories flooded his mind. This had been where it all started. He’d been standing a few feet from here when he’d been attacked. He remembered thinking he would die. The thoughts of the Rod Spiders digging into his flesh made him shudder. He really didn’t like this room.

  Sift must have activated the lights when he’d entered since the walls all glowed.

  “It’s a chapel,” Hamma said. “What happened to it?”

  Hamma bent down and picked up one of the shattered pieces from the statue of Uru. “We can’t leave it like this.”

  “I thought you weren’t that religious,” Ruwen said, remembering how she’d talked after his revivals.

  “I’m not, but I’m spiritual,” Hamma whispered as she looked around.

  “What’s the difference?” Sift asked.

  Hamma focused on Sift. “I don’t like all the stupid rules and control and arrogance I see in religion. But the core of what all that nonsense surrounds is beautiful and profound and pure.”

  Ruwen felt similar about knowledge. Despite what people did to obscure it or obtain it or twist it, the knowledge itself was a pure thing. Suddenly Ruwen realized how he felt about the library is how she probably felt about this chapel. Warmth spread in his chest.

  “I can help you pick up if you want. I’m cleaning up the library next door, and Blapy actually helped me–”

  “Helped how?” Blapy asked.

  Hamma yelped, and Ruwen jerked in surprise at the sudden appearance. Sift wasn’t fazed, like he’d expected her to appear.

  “Oh, I forgot,” Blapy said.

  A loud gong sounded right behind Ruwen, and he jumped again.

  Blapy looked identical to how Ruwen had last seen her: a seven-year-old girl with blonde pigtails tied in black ribbon and wearing a white dress. She sat in a pew in the front of the chapel, and she swung her legs back and forth as she stared at Ruwen. She still held the stuffed centipede to her chest.

  “Helped how?” Blapy asked again.

  “Hi, Blapy. Well, the library shelves and furniture were repaired and the lights,” Ruwen thought about how they sometimes turned off, “mostly work since I started picking up in there.”

  Blapy rubbed the top of her centipede’s head. “Oh, that isn’t helping you, that’s within the rules. As long as people are living here or making an effort to sustain it, I’m allowed to keep level one clear of monsters and aid in its upkeep. It’s important to be clear. For the record, you understand.”

  Ruwen didn’t know what record Blapy meant, but he didn’t want to argue.

  “Uru’s blessings, Blapy. I’m Hamma. I’d appreciate any assistance you’re allowed to provide.”

  “Hello, child of Uru. I’m sorry to see you in the company of these two. Uru must be punishing you. I will do what I can.”

  Hamma’s eyes glazed over, and Ruwen realized she’d just gotten a quest.

  “I’d appreciate any assistance you’re allowed to provide,” Ruwen said immediately.

  Blapy stared at Ruwen. “Not wise enough to discover it on your own, but smart enough to recognize the mistake.”

  Ting!

  You have received the quest…

  Don’t Judge a Job by Its Cover (Part 1 – Overdue)

  The Black Pyramid has lost its Ink Lord, and its book collection has suffered. Reshelve at least ten percent of the library’s collection and check out a book.

  Reward: Private quarters adjoining the library.

  Reward: Title of Ink Archivist.

  Reward: 1,000 experience

  Accept or Decline

  Ruwen chose Accept, and a notification immediately appeared.

  Ting!

  You have completed the Quest –

  Don’t Judge a Job by Its Cover (Part 1 – Overdue)

  You have received 1,000 experience.

  You have received the title Ink Archivist.

  See the Black Pyramid for your reward.

  Another quest appeared.

  Ting!

  You have received the quest…

  Don’t Judge a Job by Its Cover (Part 2 – A Fine Mess)

  The Black Pyramid has lost its Ink Lord, and its book collection has suffered. Find three creatures who owe the library fines. Collect the overdue books from their dead bodies as an example to future borrowers. Reshelve at least forty percent of the library’s collection (any level).

  Reward: Ink talisman appropriate for your branch (Black Pyramid).

  Reward: Title of Ink Warden.

  Reward: 3,000 experience

  Accept or Decline

  Ruwen accepted the quest and locked eyes with Blapy. “Did the armor I cleaned for Fluffy belong to your last librarian?”

  “That’s the problem with all librarians. Their quest for knowledge gets them killed, or worse, kills those around them. It always ends the same.”

  Blapy turned to Sift. “Why so quiet?”

  Sift looked angry. “Are you telling me I have been clearing this level every few weeks for years, and I could have just picked up some trash instead?”

  “Basically,” Blapy said. “That would’ve been enough to trigger the rule. Assuming you were wise enough to ask.”

  “Ahhhhhh!” Sift screamed.

  Blapy sighed and smiled. “Self-inflicted is the worst type of pain.”

  Chapter 25

  Ruwen hid his smile, not wanting to upset Sift any more. “What does everyone want to do now? We have until around 11 PM tomorrow night.”

  “What time will that be back at camp?” Hamma asked.

  “About 6 AM,” Ruwen said.

  Hamma shook her head. “That is hard to get used to.”

  “It’s 3:30 PM now,” Sift said. “I’m too angry to go to sleep. We should practice some Steps.”

  Ruwen looked at Hamma.

  “Is it safe here?” Hamma asked.

  “Yes,” Blapy said. “This is now a staging level, just like the old days.”

  “Then I’d like to start picking up in here,” Hamma said. “When you guys are done, come back.”

  “I’m going to stay and keep Hamma company,” Blapy said.

  Ruwen nodded and gave a small wave to Hamma. He and Sift left the chapel.

  “Do you know how hard Bendie blood is to get off your skin?” Sift mumbled as they entered the main room.

  Ruwen did, actually. He’d needed to cut off a bunch of his hair because of it.

  “Years. Years!” Sift said.

  “That really sucks.”

  “Do y
ou think we are doing other things the hard way?”

  “Maybe,” Ruwen said. Then he thought about it another second. “Probably.”

  “There should be a rule book or something,” Sift muttered.

  Ruwen stopped.

  “What?” Sift asked.

  Ruwen shook his head. “You and I are both idiots.”

  “Speak for yourself.”

  “Blapy, is there a rule book?” Ruwen asked.

  A book appeared in Ruwen’s hand.

  Sift’s eyes widened. “Are you kidding me?”

  The book looked ancient. The cover had a black pyramid, but it didn’t look like Ruwen’s tattoo. This pyramid had a black dragon coiled on itself with its wings creating the walls of the pyramid.

  Tring!

  The Black Pyramid has loaned you…

  Name: The Black Pyramid: Rules, Guidelines, and Procedures

  Quality: Rare

  Durability: 6 of 10

  Weight: 0.2 lbs.

  Restriction: User must bear a mark (Member, Adventurer, Custodian, etc.) of the Black Pyramid

  Description: Rules are the barriers that stem the flood of chaos.

  Sift stepped closer and looked at the cover. “I’ve seen that symbol before.”

  “Where?”

  “Some of the artwork and graffiti after level ten.”

  “Graffiti?”

  Sift shrugged. “The deeper you go, the more Artists and Craftsmen you find. They like to create. Usually, with their victims’ blood.”

  Ruwen shuddered. The book covered his hand and was thinner than his pinky. He opened it and scanned the table of contents. One of the first chapters, Staging Level, outlined the eight rooms of level one and the requirements for the level to remain monster free.

  Ruwen pointed with the book. “This says the room across from the chapel was for Step and Unarmed Combat practice. The next room for –”

  “Let’s go practice in the Step room then,” Sift said.

  Ruwen nodded. As he closed the book, he noticed the fourth room on the wall in front of them was marked for Harvesting. He placed the book in his Void Band and followed Sift.

  Sift pushed the double doors open as wide as they would go. The room stretched for a hundred feet, and other than splintered wood and debris looked mostly empty. They cleaned an area near the door until a ten-foot circle had been cleared.

  Without being told, Ruwen put all his clothes in his Inventory and put on the black pants from the Pyramid. Glancing at his palms, he saw the falcon had a staff in its claws. He gritted his teeth and pulled the Falcon Gloves of Training from his Inventory. Pressing the disk between his palms, he chose Unarmed Combat as quickly as he could. He knew it was his imagination, but it felt more painful every time. Probably because he knew what to expect, which made it worse.

  “Every time you touch that disk you start crying,” Sift said.

  “I’m not crying. Switching skills burns. It hurts.”

  “Burns like being engulfed in flames?”

  “Unfair. You aren’t normal.”

  “Maybe I’m normal and you’re a baby.”

  “It’s a psychological pain,” Ruwen said tapping his temple. “You’d need a brain before it could hurt. So you’re safe.”

  “But it hurts your baby brain?”

  Ruwen shook his head, put the disk away, and sank into the first Step. He wouldn’t win this argument, and he didn’t want to waste any more time now that he’d suffered the skill change.

  Sift mirrored him, and the two mediated like this for a few minutes. Ruwen closed his eyes and fell into the Spirit that surrounded him like a fog. His heart rate doubled, and he took deeper breaths to calm himself. This shouldn’t be something that scared him. He just needed information on what to do with it and how to control it.

  It looked identical to the terium gas he’d seen in the mine. What if they really were the same thing? Ruwen had seen enough now to know anything could be possible.

  “Your meditation is garbage. What happened?” Sift asked.

  Ruwen opened his eyes and met the gaze from Sift’s light yellow eyes.

  “I’ve changed, and I’m trying to figure out what to do. To get back to before,” Ruwen said.

  “Fair enough. Let’s do some wheel.”

  Sift crab stepped forward until his knees almost touched Ruwen’s. They started the punch-block cycle, but Sift sped it up from their previous practice.

  “Stop thinking,” Sift said.

  “Why does everyone tell me that?”

  “You hesitate before every move as you think about what comes next. Let your muscle memory control your movements.”

  They practiced for another minute, until Sift suddenly stopped.

  “We are going to try again, but this time with our eyes closed,” Sift said.

  “Is that a joke?”

  “I don’t expect you to feel the air ripples a punch causes or the vibration in the ground as your opponent moves or hear the cloth as a kick is delivered, but you move like you’re reading a recipe instead of just eating the meal.”

  “Wait, do you sense all those things?”

  Sift ignored him. “Begin, Sijun.”

  “Yes, Sisen,” Ruwen said, hearing the seriousness in Sift’s voice.

  Ruwen punched, and Sift blocked him. Sift threw a punch, and Ruwen blocked it. Over and over, they repeated this simple wheel.

  “Change nothing and close your eyes,” Sift said.

  Ruwen closed his eyes, and a moment later, Sift’s fist struck him on the chin. It didn’t hurt, but between the surprise of being hit and not being able to see, Ruwen lost his balance and fell on his butt.

  “Again,” Sift said.

  Ruwen got back into the first Step, and they started the wheel again. He tried to feel the rhythm of the wheel. He closed his eyes and managed to block two punches before he was struck again.

  Sift nodded. “Better. But your mind kept making adjustments it was sure were needed, even though it had nothing to base them on. Your muscles know better than your brain. Trust them.”

  Ruwen squatted down in front of Sift, and they began the wheel again. This time when Ruwen closed his eyes, he kept his mind empty. He blocked and punched with no thought. The rhythm of the wheel consumed him, and it felt almost like a trance.

  “Wow, you guys are fast,” Hamma said.

  Ruwen’s concentration faltered, and a moment later, Sift’s punch struck Ruwen’s chin. Much harder than before. A Dazed debuff flashed for a few seconds under his resource bars.

  “Sorry,” Sift said.

  Ruwen had landed on his back. He sat up and rubbed his chin.

  “Good job, Sijun. That’s the first time you’ve walked the Steps.”

  Ruwen’s chest was slick with sweat, and his legs trembled.

  “I didn’t want to interrupt, but every time I checked on you guys, you were doing the same thing. For hours,” Hamma said.

  “What?” Ruwen asked and looked at his clock. It read 6:22 PM. He had been in a trance for almost three hours.

  “I’m tired, and I wanted to show you the chapel before I went to sleep,” Hamma said with a broad smile.

  Where would Hamma sleep? He hadn’t even thought about that. She wasn’t allowed above this floor.

  “We’ll go get some blankets and sleep in the library. It’s clean,” Ruwen said.

  “No, need. That’s what I’ve been dying to show you,” Hamma said.

  “Okay, we’ll be right behind you,” Ruwen said.

  Hamma clapped her hands and strode back to the chapel.

  “That’s the happiest I’ve ever seen her,” Ruwen said.

  “You can’t stand, can you?” Sift asked.

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  Sift knelt down and jabbed his index finger into the middle of Ruwen’s thigh. Then quickly did it another twelve times all over Ruwen’s legs and arms. Wherever Sift struck, an intense burning sensation fanned out from the spot and seeped into Ruwen
’s limbs.

  “Ow, that hurts,” Ruwen said.

  “Acid builds up in the muscles. I just released most of it into your bloodstream. It will help your limbs, but you better start moving now. If you don’t process it out of your blood, it might stop your heart.”

  Ruwen rolled to the side and tried to push himself up. With Sift’s help, he stood. He leaned on Sift for a few seconds until he was confident he wouldn’t fall over.

  “Are you being serious?” Ruwen asked.

  “Mostly.”

  Ruwen hobbled forward on weak legs. When he reached the doors, he let go of Sift and balanced on his own. He felt a little better.

  “Thanks,” Ruwen said.

  Sift nodded and walked toward the chapel, and Ruwen stiffly followed.

  The chapel looked like a different room. The benches were whole and lined the room in neat rows. The blood-stained altar looked clean, and a smiling statue of Uru stood at the back of the room entirely intact.

  “What do you think?” Hamma asked, spreading her hands.

  “How did this only take three hours?” Sift asked.

  “I said some prayers to Uru and cleaned. That was sufficient to consider this chapel in use. Blapy returned it to its original state. Isn’t it beautiful?”

  Before they could respond, Hamma continued. “Blapy is so interesting and fun to talk with, the time just flew by.”

  Ruwen didn’t know how to respond to that. His experience had been a little different.

  Hamma kept talking. “And then I completed a quest, and I got a room! Can you believe it? Come on, let me show you.”

  Hamma strode to the back of the room, and Ruwen slowly followed. Sift patiently walked at Ruwen’s glacial pace.

  A door had appeared behind the statue of Uru. Hamma waited for them there and then dashed inside as soon as they came into view. Sift and Ruwen entered Hamma’s quarters and looked around in surprise.

  “There’s a kitchen and a bathroom with a shower and a bedroom and this sitting room,” Hamma said all in one breath. “Isn’t it wonderful?”