Page 13 of 3013: SAVIOR
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.