Chapter 4: 1.3

If one were to ask Jade how it felt to fall into a crack between realities, she would say like a bad trip.

The infinite amount of colors, ones she didn't even have a name for — How could pink glow blue? Red have a green outline? — the sensation of being pushed and pulled in every direction, the agonizing realization that she was being stretched in directions she never thought possible. She feared that by the end, she wouldn't be a person anymore, but an amalgamation of flesh and bones and whatever else was left of her. It lasted for an eternity, but it was also over in the blink of an eye.

At one point, the colors had faded into black. Lying on her back, Jade did not know how much time she spent there.

The sensation of touch was the first to return, and with it, the pain. She wiggled her toes and fingers, then tried to move her arms and legs. The spike of agony made her stop. Something heavy, soft, and warm, was pressing her to the ground. The air around was hot and humid, cloying and uncomfortable. A far cry from the constant artificial temperature of the city. That presented another issue. She could feel the sun’s light on her face and an annoying rock pressing against her back. That should not have been possible. What had happened to her fancy bodysuit? The blasted thing was supposed to be indestructible. What a scam.

Sound and smell were second, the unfamiliar cry of animals and insects, the freshness of the air. The scent of wet soil and later she would realize, the normal smells of a tropical forest.

Jade was also thirsty, and a bit hungry.

She waited, then waited a bit more for her vision to return, but after a while of darkness, she realized her eyes were just closed shut. Her face also felt hot, bloated, and uncomfortable. Whenever she tried to open her mouth, the pain was agonizing and her lips felt heavy and strange.

Had Wonder Light done something else? Jade might not be the best example for a super with a strong body recovery, but it was a fact that the spark was a multiplier in all aspects, even if minor ones. Jade’s gimmick, power, or specialty was dimensional related, but even then, she was three times as strong as a normal person and the healing factor should have taken care of any swollen lips or eyes, as well as already started working on her broken bones.

Holding her breath, she tried to open a portal… and nothing. The constant well of energy in her chest ever since she had gotten her spark was gone. The spark remained, but for the first time, it felt empty.

Strangely enough, Jade felt calm-ish. Her situation was totally screwed, the pain was horrible, and she was doing her best not to break down and cry in pain, but there was no urging sensation screaming for her attention. No more feeling like time running out. The paranoia and dread, in the recent years muted by her spark, were also gone.

She tried to move again despite the pain, forcing her arms and legs to move the thing pressing her down. Said thing — heavy, soft, and warm — groaned as Jade moved. A horrifying realization hit her. The sorceress had dragged the heroine into the rift. Out of spite, since she thought her death was certain.

‘Motherless shiting… huh?’ The difference was stark. For once, Jade had no urge to cuss and curse whenever thinking of the other woman. Even her indignation at the recent beat down felt muted. Yeah, Jade hated she had lost and would yell foul play for eternity, the heroine was a lot stronger than she should have been, but that was it. No more seething hate and obsession.

“Ow, my head.” Wonder Light groaned louder, and moved again pressing harder against the sorceress. This time Jade whimpered in pain, the sound hoarse and guttural.

Jade felt the other woman freeze, then slowly and deliberately, disentangle from the mess of limbs. A few moments later, a hand grabbed Jade’s arm and moved it around. Jade whimpered and sobbed a bit this time. Slowly and gently, her arm was put back down. A few more moments later, a hiss of pain from the other woman followed by muttering. “Ouch, that hurt.”

“Humm… Void?” A soft, disbelieving voice asked, but before Jade could answer it continued. “Oh shit, shit, shit. Oh man, what did I do?” There was some frenetic movement, moving away and then closer. All around them, the sound of birds and insects continued unabated. “Why are you naked? No, forget that, why aren’t you healing? Shit, that bruise on your neck. Yeah, shit, sorry, you might not be able to talk. Shit, shit.”

The sound of the other woman turned frantic for a moment, and her breathing faster and faster. Jade had the distinct impression the other woman was panicking. Which was funny. She was the one hurt beyond the ability to walk. Could not see, and it seemed, was also naked. She would have laughed, but the thought of moving… Yeah. Nope.

Eventually, the heroine calmed down and talked once more.

“Where in hell are we? Seems like a forest or something. There’s like, some ruins.” Wonder Light said before taking a deep breath. “We… remember those squiggly lines the mage type sometimes uses in their fights?”

For a so-called sorceress, it took Jade a long time to understand what the other woman was referring to. Runes or magic circles. Not that Jade used rituals, she was not a sorceress despite her alias.

“Ritual circles, yes, that’s it. Some ritual circle… in some sort of overgrown ruins… in the middle of a forest. Definitely not Megacity Thirteen.”

The heroine was silent for a moment, before moving away. Jade heard some grunting and the noise she now recognized as stepping on leaves.

“There’s a lot of stuff here, but I… Oh, you had technocrat stuff. Expanded space?” The steps moved closer. “There’s some black goop on you. I’m assuming that’s your costume? Nanotech? Yeah, fried. The other stuff… Well, bad news, whatever happened to us destabilized the expanded space, there’s a lot of shredded stuff there. Huge amounts of shredded plastic, paper, metal, fabric, and glass. You name it. Yeah, whatever you had there, it is toast as well.”

That was bad, Jade realized. If her paranoia was good for anything, it was the fact she always overthought stuff. Losing her carefully curated survival supplies hurt pretty bad.

“I’m sorry, but we cannot stay here. I reckon it is in the afternoon, at least it feels like it is in the afternoon. We need to find shelter, and you are in no condition to walk.” The heroine whispered.

Indignation bubbled into Jade’s thoughts. ‘Whose fault is that?’ She wanted to yell.

“Argh. Yeah, right. My fault that. I don’t know what happened.” That felt like a lie, even for Jade who was not that much of a people person. The heroine continued unabated. “I mean, I, well, forget it.” Wonder Light sighed. “I’m going to pick you up. It is going to hurt, I’m pretty sure. But it is that, or leaving you here and well, antisocial and uncaring bitch you might be, I don’t want your death on my mind.”

There was so much wrong with that statement that Jade bristled inside. Antisocial she might be, but Jade was pretty sure that uncaring… well, yeah, maybe uncaring too, but did the other woman need to stick it in her face? And again, whose fault was it that she was hurt? Wonder Light tried to kill her. Why? Jade had no clue, but it happened. That now Jade depended on the other woman stung her pride a bit, but not as much as she expected.

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It was only fair the heroine now carried her around. It was Wonder Light's fault after all.

“Chloe. That is my name.” Chloe said with a sigh of resignation. “I guess it doesn’t really matter now.”

---

When asked later, Jade told the story of how she had stood and endured the pain while being carried and jostled through unfamiliar terrain. Chloe would tell a different version of the same story, but Jade couldn’t remember much of it. From the moment Chloe picked her up, Jade’s world was a haze of pain.

She sobbed and cried. In her mind, she begged Chloe to stop, to leave her behind. The other woman never stopped. Chloe kept speaking in a soothing voice.

A part of Jade’s mind pondered on how bizarre this all was.

Morbidly, the pain in her face, neck, and head made sense. Chloe had beaten the shit out of her, mostly by punches to the face. And then tried to break her neck, by squeezing with her super strength. It made no sense why every slight movement hurt so much.

There were some moments of lucidity. Jade remembered Chloe insisting she drank water or pushing sweet mashed fruit in her mouth. She also remembered that at some point the heroine hummed a mournful lullaby. Then she slept.

When next Jade woke up, it was cold. She moved a bit to get a sensation of where she was. She was half-sitting, half-lying. There was a soft and constant up-and-down movement, and the sound of exhalation and the warm air caressing her face answered enough about sleeping accommodations. A piece of fabric covering parts of her body.

Her face felt less bloated and heavy, and the pain was just pain, not spikes of agony. Softly, she moved her arms and legs and was proud there were no sobs or whimpering of pain.

Eventually Jade fell asleep again.

The routine continued for some time. She would awake in the dark, sometimes cold, others hot. Usually, when cold, she slept on top of Chloe, in the same half-sitting half-lying position. Other times, she guessed, on leaves from the forest.

---

Jade blinked her bleary eye open. Then blinked some more, as she realized that she could blink again. It was only her right eye, but the simple fact she could, made her do a small congratulatory dance. She also noticed then her body did not hurt as much anymore, which of course required a second round of victory dancing.

“Hehe.” A giggle made her stop, and she remembered where she was. “Well, look who’s awake and happy.”

Taking care to not push too much, Jade moved a bit to face the direction of the voice, she knew acutely that she was probably in the other woman’s lap. “Ohw oong?”

“It’s been five days, I think. This place is weird.” Chloe answered, not missing a beat.

“Eeirdh ohw?” Undaunted, the sorceress inquired again.

“Some days last forever, others I’ve barely seen the sun. And the fact there are two suns and three moons. Yeah weird.”

“Wuy?” Jade asked again, looking from the other woman’s face to the ground, and then finally herself on her lap couch.

“Haha. Is that what you’re curious about? Not the two suns and three moons and this obviously alien planet we are on?” Chloe giggled again, this time louder. “Well, you’re naked, and my sash barely covers you. And whoever thought that making clothes out of wild plants was a thing is clearly out of their mind.” She huffed annoyed. “The first night, I made a bed of leaves and tried to cover you with the sash. It didn’t help. I was cold and I could see you also trembling from the cold. This was a better way. It is still chilly, but not unbearable.”

“Oh.” It was all Jade said for a moment. Then she snuggled closer because she noticed that yes, it was freezing.

“Pfft.” Chloe snorted but said nothing.

Jade let her mind wander.

Her spark still felt empty. This new unknown world posed an immense problem, but also, it was exciting. They could breathe, and aside from the suns and moons, seemed a lot like Earth from what little she noticed. She betted on aliens. Hot sexy aliens. There was also her not needing to pay her debts anymore. Jade doubted the loan company could track her to this place.

Chloe sang a lullaby. It was nice, if sad, but the more Jade listened, the creepier the lullaby became.

“Sleep. Tomorrow we might need to find another place to bunker. I’ve heard some strange sounds outside, and strange marks around the cave. Better move on before anything finds us here.”

Jade nodded and slept still thinking of the lullaby, and crows and shoes and ropes made of entrails.

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