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

I barely slept.

I was too worried about the others and what might be happening to them. Too worried about Ether and that she might not forgive me for keeping that I was a Godling from her. Too worried about Trent and that he might not wake up.

It also didn't help that I was trying to sleep on the cold concrete of the warehouse floor. I'd slept in what I'd thought had been some very uncomfortable places, but apparently there was still room at the bottom. It probably didn't help that this was the first time I'd slept by myself in a while. I knew that Gesai would have come out with me, but I'd insisted that she sleep in the passenger seat instead. Whisper was the only one who was outside with me, unless you counted Rix on top of the RV.

When it was finally time to wake up, I didn't see Whisper or Rix. Not that I was surprised. I had a feeling that Whisper kept the same hours as Trent and Rix.

Sydney walked in before I made it to the RV, so I waited for her to go in. Though most of my hesitation was worry about what I was going to say to Ether.

"Did you find anything?' I looked at the green woman.

"I found them." Sydney nodded at me as she crossed in front of me to enter the building.

"Where are they?" I looked around the RV and noticed everyone was up. Ether looked down at her breakfast as my eyes looked at her. I felt like my heart was about to get ripped out. But I noticed that Oz grabbed her hand, and that she was still wearing the slime ring I'd given her. She hadn't taken that off, so at least there was hope she'd forgive me.

I looked over at Trent, who looked like he was dead, except I could see the slight chest movements of him breathing. Rix was wiping his forehead with a cloth.

"How is he?"

"About the same." Rix left the cloth over his forehead. "At least he's not getting worse."

I nodded and looked at the others. Gesai and Fray were sitting at the booth across from Ether and Oz. It looked like they were all almost finished with breakfast. Whisper looked very annoyed from his seat in the passenger's chair, and his silence was probably an order from Rix.

I nodded at Sydney. "She found them."

Gesai half turned around. "Where?"

"The Hex." The white-haired woman shook her head. "I have no idea how you're going to get them out though." She nodded at Whisper. "Not even you could brute force your way in the front door."

The bandit looked insulted, but he held his tongue.

"What if we don't go in through the front door?" I nodded at Ether. It was like she'd told us last night. Sometimes people worry so much about reinforcing the door, they don't worry about what's next to it.

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"What do you mean?" Sydney looked confused.

"The pit looked like they were built out of old sewer tunnels." I was taking a longshot, but I had a feeling I was right. "Could there be tunnels under the Hex?"

"I'm sure there are, but the minute you broke through, you'd set off alarms and security would come running from everywhere." Sydney shook her head. "There's no way you'd be able to fight your way through all of them."

"What if we weren't trying to fight our way through them, but that person was just a distraction?" I looked at Whisper.

The bandit started shaking his head furiously.

"He'd love to be the bait." Rix grinned. "Because he's the only one who would have a reasonable chance of surviving."

He made a rude gesture.

"Can you..?" I saw the answer to my question on her face, so I pivoted. "Get us a map of where they are?"

The older woman nodded. "I've got it right here."

"Good." I looked at the women in the booth. "Then the plan is; Whisper goes with Rix and causes a big distraction in the basement. The rest of us sneak in and grab our friends and get out." I took a nervous breath before I added the last part. "There's a chance we'll have to carry them out, and since Gesai needs to keep her hands free to fight, I could use all of your help, but if you don't want to go, I won't make you."

"I want to go." Oz joined immediately.

"I-I'll help." Fray straightened. "You'll need my strength."

There was a very long uncomfortable pause as we waited on Ether.

"Ether, it's okay. You don't have to…"

"I'll go." The ivory woman cut me off. "I'm going to help our friends."

"Thank you." I looked at Sydney, "Do you have anything else to add?"

She shook her head. "I talked to Whisper's contact this morning. I think we can get you out of the city, but we'll have to make sure you're in the clear first."

"We'll figure that out when we get to that part then…" I remembered something and looked down at my CB, but there weren't any missed messages. "Did someone talk to Mavery?"

"I talked to him this morning." Gesai looked down at her hands. "He hasn't received any messages from the Six, so he told me to tell you to stay put until he works something out."

I shook my head. "I don't want to sit on my hands and do nothing." I looked at Sydney. "Do you think it will work?"

"In theory, but there are too many things that could go wrong." She looked down at Trent. "I think you should wait."

"Could you wait if they were your kids?'

The look on her face told me I was right. It might not be the best plan, but I doubted Whisper would have a problem holding off the guards until we got out. And Gesai would be fine unless… "Does Mive have a personal guard?"

Sydney shook her head. "He did, but they all vanished along with his high priest ten years ago when he stopped making appearances."

At least there was that.

"Okay, then we're going to need two vehicles." I looked at Whisper. "Can you get that?"

The bandit nodded slowly. I could tell he didn't like the plan, but he was bound to help for some reason.

"Do you have a better idea on how to rescue them?"

The blonde shook his head.

"Alright. Then as soon as Whisper gets the vehicles, we'll head out." I looked at Sydney, "Can you watch him while we're going?"

The spy nodded and walked over to my teacher. I could see a level of genuine concern on her face. At least, I hoped that's what it was.