Chapter Five
Chapter Five
Jecca realized that she could no longer put off contacting the voice that had connected with her earlier. Closing her eyes, she reached out through that familiar bond and immediately felt the other female’s relief when they connected. Thankfully, the pain she felt in her head wasn’t as intense this time, but it still hurt a little to form the telepathic link between them.
“Are you there?”
“Aye, here I am! I have been very worried about you, Jecca. And that is not normal. Usually, I am the one doing things to cause you concern, not the other way around. Do not make this a habit.”
Jecca felt deep affection for the female she was speaking to, and she experienced an extreme sense of sadness when she couldn’t put a name or a face to the voice.
“Look in a mirror,” the voice said dryly. “I am your twin, Jaya. I look exactly like you, only with better hair.”
“I highly doubt that.”
Damn it, her memory loss was extremely inconvenient. How could she have forgotten she had a twin? The very thought of that seemed totally preposterous.
“I agree. I cannot believe you forgot about me,” Jaya complained. “When I find whoever did this to you, I am going to skin them alive, then feed them to Roko and Aki. And after they are done feasting, I will turn the leftover carcass to bloody dust.”
That sounded sort of severe, but she couldn’t really complain about that since she’d had similar thoughts. If someone had caused her injuries, she would be seeking her own retribution.
“I do not know what happened. In order to figure that out, I need access to my memories. I believe my head injury must be causing my memory loss and a disruption of my magic.” She paused, then asked, “Who or what are Roko and Aki?”
Jaya groaned. “You forgot them, too? They are our argos. Or yours. You claim I have a difficult enough time keeping myself alive, so I am not to be trusted with the care of anything breathing without supervision.”
Jecca laughed at that. She repeated the argos’ names in her head and instinctively reached out to them through their blood bond. The two large beasts instantly responded with purrs of greeting, then felt their whines of confusion when they couldn’t immediately teleport down to join her.
Something was blocking them from reaching her.
She sent back a request for them to remain where they were, unsure how to explain everything that was happening to them. Before she could say anything else to them, Jaya spoke again.
“We are on a planetoid called Evo, and we have been exploring an island where a simulated city has been created as the base for an advanced game that is a mixture of virtual, holo, and reality. You started on the north end of the island, while I explored the south. We were supposed to meet up in the middle of the city, but something happened when one of the power cells that run this island exploded.”
Jecca’s head throbbed with pain as she tried to remember. “We are not on Earth right now?”
“Nay, we are on an island in a city that has been created to look like it is from Earth in the early 21st century. The damaged power cell is close to your location, and when it exploded, that section of the city was put into some sort of magical lockdown. That is why I cannot teleport directly to you. I am outside that barrier.”
That also explained why Roko and Aki couldn’t reach her.
“The power cells were created with a blend of Dragon Warrior and Ilius magic. The damaged one is leaking and creating a powerful chain reaction with the other cells around the city. That leak is causing…magical complications.”
“That sounds very bad,” Jecca said and was surprised by her sister’s snort of derision.
“Eh, it might seem that way, but out of all the strange situations we have found ourselves in during all our years of traveling the universe, this does not even make the list of the top five most bizarre.”
“Seriously?” What exactly had they been doing together?
“I could remind you of some incidents that would truly seem fantastical, but…well, we do not have time for that right now. Hellfire, hold on a moment. I have to go kill something.”
That startled Jecca into opening her eyes.
“Are you okay?” Zack asked, sounding extremely concerned.
“Aye, I am just speaking to my sister,” she explained with a smile. “She had to go…take care of something.”
“Is this a real sister or an imaginary one?” He held his hands up in defense when she glared at him. “I had to ask. You did say you have a head injury.”
“My sister Jaya is very real. We are speaking telepathically.”
“Who are you talking to?” Jaya demanded. “Is someone bothering you?”
Rather than be annoyed by her sister’s petulant tone, Jecca was amused. “It is someone who thinks you are a figment of my imagination.”
“Ha. Speaking of imaginary, the magic leaking out of the power cells is bringing the various holo images to life all over the island,” Jaya explained. “Right now, I am fighting a bunch of undead things that can continuously reanimate if not destroyed properly.”
Jecca winced. That sounded like nightmare fuel.
“Is your head hurting from the telepathy?” Zack asked, reaching up to touch her head. He lightly touched her temple, then stroked his hand down her hair.
“A little, but I am fine,” she assured him, patting his leg. Trying to have two conversations at once was more difficult than it seemed. “My sister just informed me that we are not on Earth, but on a game world where some kind of magical power surge is bringing holo images to life.”
He blinked at her. “That’s fucking crazy.”
Not bothering to deny it, she nodded. “Aye, it is…but it also seems true.”
“The magical surge is also causing random quakes, tornados, and floods from the incessant rain, so we have been rescuing people as well as killing things,” Jaya said. “Since most of the people around here were also holo images, they are not actual sentient beings. They simply move around like puppets that have been programmed with designated tasks. The term they use for them is NPCs, which are non-player characters in a game that are not being controlled by a real person.”
“So, what happens to the holo people when they die?”
“They just sort of turn to dust and blink out of existence.”
“But you cannot tell who is holo until they die?”
“Aye, unfortunately. It is taking precious time to sort out who is real and who is not worth saving. I learned that the hard way when dealing with the alien creatures that look like giant bugs earlier. They can spit an acid-like substance that burns a little, but I thought they were melting the holo people.”
What kind of hellscape was this?
“Actually, it is kind of awesome,” Jaya praised in direct contradiction. “I cannot wait to meet the creative minds that thought up this place. They must be quite brilliant.” There was a long pause, then she chuckled. “Xian took exception to that statement. He does not like me complimenting other males.”
“Xian?” That name didn’t sound familiar to her. “Who is he?”
“Xian Renn is a Krytos-D’Aire hybrid I ran into shortly before everything went to shit.” Jaya’s voice filled with wonder as she added, “He also happens to be my mate.”
Her mate.
Jecca glanced back over at Zack, who was staring at her expectantly. “I might have met mine as well.”
“What? Really? Who is he?” Jaya demanded excitedly.
“A human named Zack Keller. His friends called him ZK. I think he is my mate since I have felt a strong connection to him since the moment I first saw him. But I will not be able to confirm that until I get my magic sorted out.”
“Well, you need to get on that. Or better yet, get on him,” Jaya said slyly.
Jecca almost choked on a laugh. “What in all the worlds does that mean?”
“You need to jumpstart your magic somehow, and bonding with your mate seems like the perfect way to reset your powers,” Jaya explained. “We cannot delay much longer. While most of the beings on this island are animated holos, there are also a number of real people stuck here as well. There are also others waiting outside of the protection shield around the island ready to aid us, but they cannot get in, and it is causing some of them to panic.”
“So, we are essentially trapped here for the time being.”
“You will need to be careful since Xian told me the section of the city you are in is home to individuals with superpowers, fanatical government operatives, and killer robots.”
Ah, now the super term made sense.
Jecca sighed. “I saw the robots myself a little while ago.”
“Confirm he is your mate and get your magic back,” Jaya ordered. “And stay safe until we can figure out how to break through the barrier and fix the damaged power cell.”
Her sister was right. Bonding with her mate would be the perfect way to reset her powers, but she would require Zack’s assistance to do it. She just had to make sure he was willing first. It wouldn’t be a hardship on her part, and she was almost certain that he was the one male fate had chosen for her. It already felt like he belonged to her, so she might as well enjoy him.
“I will be in contact again soon.”
“Have fun, sister,” Jaya said saucily before their connection ended.
“Well?” Zack asked when she turned toward him. “Did you figure out what happened to you?”
“Nay, not yet. I know how we can get the answers we seek, though. But I will need your help to do it.”
“Okay. What do you need me to do?”
She wasn’t quite sure how to broach the subject. Then again, there wasn’t time to prevaricate, so she might as well just go with the direct approach.
“It is simple, really,” she said with a smile. “We just need to have sex.”