Titan: A LitRPG Adventure (UnderVerse Book 4) by Jez Cajiao (beach books .txt) 📗

“There is a boon I’d ask, if it’s permitted?” she said slowly and I nodded. “Then I ask that you consider releasing Augustus to leave the Legion, and instead join…”

“WHAT?!” Augustus interrupted, stepping forward and lifting his hand to forestall her. “I’m not leaving the Legion! Lord Jax, please understand, I’m certainly not looking to leave. My term still has another eight years to go, and then I fully intend to accept a second term!” Hellenica glared at him, then me, before speaking up.

“A clan needs a father, as much as a mother! You say that you aren’t interested, Jax, and your wisp made it clear again yesterday when I came to check on you that I was not to offer myself to you, but if I cannot choose a mate, then my clan will weaken! For years, we have been enslaved, and now you would force us to…”

“I told you that…” Augustus started to interject, clearly fuming, before I cut them both off.

“Enough!” I snapped, clapping my hands together sharply. “Hellenica, I don’t care if you want to mate with Augustus.” I noted the way his cheeks were reddening, filing the information away for shit-talking at a later date. “Provided, of course, he wants to mate with you,” I clarified hastily. “But he’s my right hand in the Legion. I’m not releasing him from his Oath, especially not with everything that’s coming!”

“And I don’t want to be released from it, Jax!” Augustus insisted, his words laced with mild panic.

“But I want to mate with him!” Hellenica snapped at me, grabbing the big Legionnaire by his right arm, and tugging him closer to her.

“Then go have fun!” I snapped back, then paused, realizing we were virtually shouting at each other about Augustus getting some loving.

“What?” she asked, freezing.

“I said: go have fun!” I repeated. “Try not to leave him too worn out to do his job, but yeah, go for it. As long as you both want to, feel free to try to break his back. I don’t care; as long as he’s happy and able to do his job, that’s all that matters.”

“But… I would have more children…” Hellenica said slowly, as though testing me for a response.

“Right?” I said slowly. “That’s kinda a risk you take when boinking… as long as that’s understood, go for it.”

“You would permit me to breed? I must be absolutely clear on this, Jax. You would permit me to take Augustus as Clan Father, mate with him, and bear his children? They would be permitted to live?” she asked carefully, searching my face.

“What? I’m not a monster, Hellenica. Why would I kill your kids?” I asked, shocked.

“Because they would be loyal first to me, and then second to him. They would be beholden to you, as part of my Clan, but…”

“Seriously, they’d be your kids. That’s kinda normal. Family first, and all that,” I said, frowning at Augustus. “Look, mate, I’m not seeing the issue here. Am I missing something obvious?”

“Djinn are born magic users, Jax,” he said slowly. “And they tend to be… problematic… as newborns. Their natural affinity for magic outstrips their ability to control it. When the Djinn first started turning up in the city, they were maybe four or five in age, and it was chaos for a while. Many were killed outright, some as a consequence for their pranks, while others were hunted to make… alchemical concoctions.” He grimaced, gently taking Hellenica’s hand in his. “More and more turned up, and eventually, they simply became part of life in the city. The youngest ones were hunted down, though, so I’d guess there have been many hundreds born?”

“There were,” Hellenica said softly, looking away. “They were taken from me and raised by the Prometheans as slaves. Few survived that upbringing to reach the streets, and far fewer lived to reach teenage years.”

“Fuckers,” I growled, suddenly glad we’d killed every last one of them. “Look, I don’t know much about Djinn life cycles. How often do you have kids, how many at a time, and how long to gestate?” I asked indelicately.

“I can birth up to a hundred at a time, and gestation is four months. I can have another litter in just under a year.” Hellenica said bravely, straightening up and knowing that we were all working out how many children she had lost.

“That’s insane,” I said, shaking my head. “With their immediate talent as magic users, how aren’t Djinn everywhere? You’re powerful; are they the same when they’re fully grown?”

“Not as strong as me, but on par with a weak human mage, on average,” Hellenica admitted slowly.

“Seriously, you should be ruling an empire…” I started to say, then stopped as a memory came to me, a stray one from Amon.

I was seated atop Shustic’Amon, diving through the clouds, surrounded by Legionnaires with wings, and I saw Prometheans and Alkyon amongst them, as well as other races I didn’t know.

As the clouds cleared before me, we broke through to discover a huge island below us, large enough that I could just make out the outer edges on the horizon.

It had clearly been green and verdant once, but now, it was torn and burning. Great swaths of forest smoldered, and huge scars marred the land where the ground had been scoured free of life.

I saw them rising, like seagulls, in a wave: hundreds, then thousands, of tiny forms, led by bigger, fully grown Djinn. The clouds around us began to darken as the juvenile mages worked in concert to create a storm front of epic proportions.

“Fisit!” I heard Amon cry out, my mouth opening to shape his words. “Shield the advance!”

“Yes, my Emperor!” A voice rang in my ears, carried by magic.

A shield grew slowly, spreading out from me and flowing across the sky to rest between the strike force and the clouds. It would not last long, but neither would the Djinn… I swore under my breath.

Shustic drew