49 Carry the Weight

Jenira watched as Jayce climbed the stairs to their room. He looked like he was dragging a 500-pound weight on his shoulders. She helped him to the top and then closed the door behind them as they entered the room. Jayce sat down on the bed and fell back letting his back rest on the bed. Jenira plopped down next to him and had one leg crossed in front of her while one hung loosely off the bed. "Jayce what's wrong?"

Even if she wasn't romantically interested in him she would have been easily able to tell he had something serious on his mind after knowing him for so many years. He sighed and played with his hair as he watched the fan turn lazily above them. "I don't think I'm ready to have a religion following after me." Jenira laughed and patted his exposed stomach. "I don't think you have much of a choice at this point." He groaned and started moving his head in rhythm with the fan blades. "How exactly did this happen to me?"

Jenira readjusted herself so her head lay next to him and watched his eyes follow the fan. "Well, you were born with the abilities of a god and then that god had a lover who also gave you her abilities and all they wanted of you was to kill three other gods and then resurrect the two dead gods. It's pretty simple if you think about it." Jayce looked at her out of the corner of his eyes. "Now that you explain it like that it all makes sense." Jenira laughed and lay an arm across his chest. "Don't worry I'll protect you." Jayce smiled and returned to watching the fan above them. "I feel so safe already. I could fall asleep right now."

Jenira leaned up to pat herself on the back, "I knew you would. I'm very good at being protective." Jayce chuckled and then scooted himself back onto the pillows of the bed. "So sleeping together..." Jenira raised an eyebrow, "yeah?" Jayce blushed slightly before answering, "I usually like to sleep in just my boxers. Last night I just fell asleep without really thinking about it." Jenira considered this and shrugged, "I don't mind." Jayce rolled his eyes, "of course you don't." He stood and hesitated before he took his shirt off. "What do you sleep in?" Jenira pointed to her suitcase. "I have a couple pairs of pajamas. Why?" Jayce shrugged, "just curious..." He winked at her and then went to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

When he returned she was in a pair of red and pink pj's that had little skulls and spiders stitched into the sleeves and was reading something on her watch with a worried look on her face. He slipped off his pants quickly and dove under the covers before she looked up at him. Noticing she was still reading he leaned in close, "what is it?" She expanded her projected screen so the two of them could watch together. The headline of the article was, "Mutiny in team Pure" below that the story had a video of dozens of former Pure members lounging around the Royal Coliseum. "I was kind of teasing you about the religion thing but they interviewed some people. They all said that they're waiting for you." Jayce gave her a shocked expression. "You mean already? I thought I would have a few more days before the cult started to form."

Jenira pointed out one of the people pictured in the video. "That's Anna and Arik is sitting next to her." Jayce squinted at the blurry face. "How can you tell? The quality of this video is terrible." Jenira quickly scrolled down the article and came to a link to a video "because they interview her right here." Jayce sucked in his breath and pressed play on the interview. The camera bot hovered next to a reporter who was speaking with a conflicted looking Anna. "So why have so many members of team Pure gathered here so early in the day?" He asked her while Anna tried her best to smile into the camera. "Jayce Good demonstrated the powers of a previously assumed dead Overwatcher. We learned a lot about the history of the War in Heaven and assumed that Tohil was dead because of his betrayal of his fellow Overwatchers. We have to find out the truth from Jayce. This could erase the teachings of the church completely."

The reporter nodded, "and what do you expect to happen when you meet Jayce?" Anna seemed to ponder this a moment before answering. "If he is truly the chosen of Tohil then we are all hoping he is a messiah sent to save us from this simulation. It was the one thing all church scholars agree that Tohil wanted to accomplish before he died due to being corrupted by us lower races." Jayce reached up and paused the video. "Do they not know? Jenira rolled her eyes before smiling at him. "You don't remember them telling us that during our interview there?" Jayce dug through his memories before nodding slowly. "Kind of? I wasn't really listening when they started rambling about the whole War in Heaven thing." Jenira laughed. "They don't know the truth. I doubt they know even half as much as you and I do now."

Jayce nodded and resumed the video. "So you see, if we can talk to the living embodiment of Tohil we can find out how he was corrupted and how to stop it." Anna was beginning to grow back into the tone of a preacher as she spoke. The reporter nodded again and continued, "so what happens next? Of those gathered here today are all of you going to leave team Pure?" Anna nodded seriously. "If Jayce can shed light on the War of Heaven and the forgotten era then we are inclined to follow his vision for the good of the entire simulation. We would form a new team founded around ensuring Jayce succeeds."

Jayce rewound the clip and listened to it again his mind blown to bits. Jenira waited for his face to settle before she spoke. "They are going to follow you Jayce. We're going to have a team all of our own." Jayce's face flashed between fear and anticipation in equal measure. "They do know I'm a sixteen, almost seventeen, year-old kid right?" Jenira snuggled into him, "I guess you're going to have to mature faster than you thought then." Jayce's mind was instantly distracted by her touch and he grinned. "I'm going to need a queen if I'm going to be a king. Any ideas?" Jenira kissed his cheek and said sleepily, "I've got a few ideas you might want to consider."

...

Zakzakiel was fuming as he silently practiced in their shooting range. Every target exploded in a shower of splinters as he blasted his staff at them. He heard heavy footsteps approaching but paid them no mind and continued to destroy target after target with barely constrained rage. "Brother. We must begin preparations." Oriphael's blue shining wings colored the whole room. Zakzakiel set down his staff and turned to face his fellow high priest. "We've lost more than half of our disciples. We can barely support the Overwatchers in this state. We've failed brother." He picked up the staff and returned to firing.

Oriphael grasped his brother's shoulder pauldron. "Then the high priests themselves will lead the charge. The grand prize must be acquired at all costs." Zakzakiel paused and a target hung loosely from its rope. He turned to his brother, "we will spill the blood ourselves?" Oriphael nodded sagely. "We can not ascend to godhood if we fail, this is the only way." A heavy pause hung in the air as their blank masks stared at each other. "I will lead the way brother, it is time to reacquaint myself with the art of war." Zakzakiel proudly stomped towards their war council chamber with a relieved Oriphael following a few steps behind.

...

Micu awoke with a start as he heard something in his room. Quickly flicking on the lamp next to his bed he was surprised to see his dad standing in his room. "Dad?" Ionas put a finger to his lips and then moved to kneel next to Micu.

"Micu I need you to listen to me closely." Ionas grasped Micu's hand and placed a small black square in his palm. "I need you to attach this to Jayce's person somehow. Something that he usually carries around." Micu looked at the black square and back to his dad. "This is a tracking device?" Ionas nodded, "You figured it out faster than I could explain it." A proud smile appeared on his tired features. "We need to protect Jayce and this ensures we can arrive quickly if something were to happen. I recommend his watch if you can manage it." Micu watched his dad with sleep blurring his thoughts but he nodded anyway.

Ionas placed a hand on his head and ruffled his hair. "You be careful too. I promise I won't be far away if you ever need me." He stood and quickly exited the door. Micu rubbed his eyes and gently placed the tracking device on his night table. He turned the lamp off and tried to go back to sleep but his thoughts were racing and he barely slept the rest of the night.

Jayce yawned and did his best to stretch without disturbing Jenira. He slowly climbed out of bed and headed for the shower after grabbing his bag of clothes from the room Ralnas now resided in. Jayce quickly hopped in and started mentally preparing himself for the exam today. A simple 4v4 challenge with a double elimination bracket were the rules for today's challenge and he was feeling good about their chances.

As he sat on the shower floor and let the water drip from his head to his feet Jayce heard the door crack open. "Hello?" he called out. Micu's calm voice answered him. "Sorry Jay just had to grab my glasses, I left them in here." "Oh, no problem. Could you lock the door on your way out though?" He heard Micu laugh before he answered, "sure buddy no problem." Jayce thought he had locked the door when he entered but brushed it off as just being distracted and forgetting to do so. He heard the door close and returned to his peaceful meditation in the shower.

Micu was sweating from the guilt of lying to his friend and felt his stomach turn as he closed the door behind him. "It's for his own good," he reminded himself before descending the stairs to program the chef-bot to prepare their usual exam day breakfast.

A few minutes later he heard a banging sound on the door. "Jayce! I've got to use the bathroom!" Ralnas' pained voice was muffled by the door. Jayce groaned, "one second!" He quickly soaped himself up and washed off before wrapping a towel around his waist and unlocking the door. Ralnas burst into the room and pushed Jayce out forcefully. "Why not just use the other one?" Complained Jayce as he was pushed out of the room and the door locked behind him. He glanced at the door to Jenira's bathroom and it was wide open. "Idiot," he muttered under his breath as he carried his now wet change of clothes to his new room.

He opened the door slowly to see if Jenira was awake. She was rolled on her side watching something on her watch's projected screen. "Don't look," he called out as he entered the room. As soon as he said don't look Jenira immediately had the overwhelming urge to look at him and couldn't help her eyes from wandering over to where he stood. "Why didn't you change in the shower?" She said as she quickly averted her eyes from his still wet torso. "Your brother kicked me out..." Jayce complained as he quickly dried his lower body and slipped on his underwear and usual black sweats.

Jenira couldn't stop herself and let her eyes again roam up and down his exposed back. "You know you're kind of sexy without a shirt on." Jayce didn't turn around but she could hear the smile in his voice as he replied to her. "If you had thrown the covers off last night you would have seen it earlier you know?" "But what's the fun in seeing you in the dark. I like it better this way." Jayce laughed softly and pulled his ratty sleeveless hoodie on. As he turned to face her he was smiling broadly. "I don't mind the ego boost before an exam." Jenira blew him a kiss and then returned to watching her video as Jayce finished getting dressed.

"I'll see you downstairs," Jayce exited the room quickly. He wouldn't admit it but he was still self-conscious about her seeing him without clothes on. The only reason he had risked the boxers last night was that he thought it was bad luck to change a routine before big events. Thus he had forced himself to sleep in his usual attire for today's match. He had also made a mental note to purchase some pjs at some point in the near future.

He saw Micu sitting by himself watching last years competition with a notebook and pen to his right side. "Goodmorning for the second time buddy." Micu jumped involuntarily and Jayce laughed, assuming he had scared him. In Micu's mind, it was the guilt weighing down on his shoulders that made him react like that to Jayce's normal greeting. Straightening his glasses Micu looked up from the video. "Hey, ready for today?" Jayce nodded and pulled up the competition schedule. "They always place us last now." Micu nodded, "all the interesting teams get moved to the later time slot so that more people will tune in. You know that." Jayce groaned, "but I hate waiting so much."

Micu laughed and then scrolled down the schedule, "then you'll love that our first round match-up has already forfeited their fight against us." Jayce pretended to be shot and slumped heavily into the couch. "The anticipation is going to kill me." The two friends laughed and sat next to each other watching last year's highlights looking for any advantages that could propel them to surviving the second elimination round.