Mantle of the Gods [LitRPG / Slow Burn / FTB Harem]

Jenne brought Justia and Aelin out.

"Did you find them?" Aelin yawned as she stretched.

"No." I looked at Justia. The green woman looked concerned.

"Trent and Astrid?" The Healer sounded hopeful.

"I think it worked, but they were both still out when we left." Kara's door opened, and the snowy woman stepped into the hallway.

She was wearing a red shirt with jeans and a pair of combat boots. Her cheeks were less flushed as she looked at the Healer while making a point to avoid me. "Are you ready?"

"Almost." Justia guided Aelin towards the wall so the older woman could walk by.

"I'll be at the lift." Kara hurried down the hall without looking back.

"Jenne said you had an idea about where to look?" Justia turned to me.

"Well, I have a feeling that the area around where they went missing is going to be thoroughly gone over." A thought crossed my mind. "Miel." I turned to the older woman on my left. "When we were in Wurn and the Cultists used the Dungeon Seeds to make a portal, it connected to the sixty-ninth floor. There's…"

"On it." Kara's mother walked down the hall the other direction as she typed on her CB, then started talking to whoever she called.

"I hope they're not down there." Justia shook her head. "At least she's with Rix. I don't think any of us…" The brunette sighed. "Positive thoughts."

"It'll be fine." Aelin hugged Justia from behind. The short brown woman had to stand on her toes to put her chin on her girlfriend's shoulder. "If you're not going into the Dungeon, where do you think they went?"

"If it was a portal from a Dungeon Seed, then I'm sure they're in the Dungeon." I looked over at Gesai to my right. "But I'm not strong enough to start combing it."

"Then what are you wanting to do?" The silver teacher raised an eyebrow.

"There were Cultists at the mall the other day, and Rix thought she saw someone that she was friends with while she was with the Bronze Cobras." I didn't want to say Bandits, but I had a feeling both Kara and Miel were already aware of Rix's past. "That can't be a coincidence, but if I tell Klix, then I have a feeling there won't be much of the mall left."

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"You're going to the mall!" Aelin's brown eyes focused on her friend. "You didn't tell me that you were snooping around the mall!"

Jenne shrugged. "I didn't know."

"We need to wake Ether up so we can go!" Aelin turned and grabbed the handle to the door.

"Wait!" I stepped forward and caught the door handle before she could open it. Thankfully all Aelin's stats were in Aura, Magic, and Speed, so I didn't have a problem holding the door closed.

"What?" The blonde tried to push the door.

"Ether can't go."

Aelin stopped pushing and backed up. She looked at the other four women close to us in the hall before looking at me. "When did you guys start fighting again?"

"That's not…" I shook my head. It had been one time, and it wasn't so much of a fight as Ether had trust issues and didn't like how I'd blurred the truth when I'd first told her what I was. I didn't blame her for being upset, and the whole thing had blown over when we figured out that she was Godkin of some kind. Still, it hadn't been fun to watch her in pain because of what I'd had to tell her at the time to try to keep her safe. "It's not like that."

I glanced at Shelly and Jenne. Both of them were supposed to keep team stuff secret due to the magical pact that we were under, but that wouldn't stop someone from brute forcing the information out of their minds. Jenne was probably coerced with whatever it was that was keeping her from being charmed by me, but Shelly didn't have any of that protection. Considering that we hadn't told them about her connection to Klix yet, that wasn't something that I wanted to go over in front of them.

"Since Rix and Pixie are missing, if something happens while we're out looking for them, the Goddess doesn't want both Atlas and Ether to be lost too." Jenne walked over to her friend and gently pulled her hand off the doorknob. "That's why we're leaving Ether here."

"So it's because..." Aelin's eyes widened. "Wait, do you know?"

Jenne pursed her lips and looked at me. There was guilt on her face as she realized that she'd just slipped up.

Though we weren't exactly being subtle right now. I should have pulled them into another room and not been having this conversation in front of Jenne and Shelly, but that was an oversight and one that I couldn't keep having. The more people that knew our secret, the higher the chance of it getting out and the Primus coming after us.

"We'll have to talk about this later." I doubted that Jenne could speak to anyone about it while we were out that she couldn't speak to here. Though I had a feeling that we were going to have to have a very long discussion with Trent once we had a chance to breathe.

The golden Caster nodded. "Let's get changed." She pulled Aelin down the hall to her room on the left.

"I'm driving!" Aelin hollered before going into the room.

"Right." I looked at Shelly. "Are you good?"

The other man nodded. "I told you, I'm not going to do anything to rock the boat. Your stuff is…" He tried to think of the right word. "Whatever it is. I'm part of the team."

"Thanks." I looked at Justia. "Astrid should be waking up soon."

Justia glanced down the hall where Kara and Shelly were waiting for them, then looked back at me. "Be careful."

I grinned. "When aren't I?"

The green woman shook her head as she walked away.

I glanced at the two women beside me. "How long do you think it's going to take Aelin to get changed?"