Chapter 17

Jia gasped as the copy sent a flurry of power orbs flying towards her. She only had a second to react and cartwheeled to her left. Her clothes then shimmered away and on came her uniform.

"What is your damage?!" she growled as thunder boomed.

She turned and sent a lightning bolt towards her attacker. The copy flew backwards as Jia flew up high and launched several bolted of lighting before unleashing her Zeus Attack. A harsh combination of 1.2 million bolts of electricity.

When she was sure that had hit her mark, she stopped and activated her Lightning whip as she waited for the dust to settle. Suddenly, a red lasso caught her by her feet and pulled her down before slamming her into the ground.

She gasped and coughed as her breathing stopped for a moment. She yelped as the lasso yanked her up again. While she was up, she had a split second to change her whip to a dagger and she quickly cut the lasso before somersaulting and landing on the ground. The dagger changed to a spear as she faced her copy.

"So you can fight," the copy mused. "No matter, you must not exist if the Emperor's plans are to come into the fruition."

"The Emperor?!" Jia said as she charged towards the copy. "What are you talking about?!"

She moved to strike it`s head but the copy moved and she changed her attack to swiping out her legs when the copy flew up high.

"Jia!"

The other girls had just broken into the clearing but stopped when they saw their friend in mid battle with her copy.

"I was not prepared for this," the copy said as Jia`s whole body started to glow a faint silver.

Jia growled. Without hesitation, she flew up and spun her spear," This ends now!"

She then threw her spear at the copy`s chest with 1 million bolts of lightning attached to it. When it struck home, the copy screamed and a blinding light engulfed it. Jia gasped and tried to cover her eyes when the copy exploded, the force knocked her back and then Jia saw nothing but darkness.

She had no idea what had happened but she could hear her voice.

The voice that she loved growing up. Her mother. Her mother was calling for her. She wanted to cry and run towards her mother's voice but something made her stop. Her mother had been dead for a long time; why would she be calling out for her?

When she came to, she could make out someone leaning over her and calling her name. She blinked and the worried face of her cousin came into full view.

"Roy?" Jia croaked. She was pretty sure that she was still unconscious.

Roy looked like he was close to bursting into tears. Another head popped in her line of vision. It looked like a concerned Fiona.

"She`s awake! Guys, she`s awake!" Roy yelled and Jia wonder who he was yelling at.

She frowned and winced slightly.

"Thank the Goddess, you`re awake!" Fiona said as Jia moved to sit up. Roy quickly moved to assist her and the white haired teenager looked quite surprised to see her friends alongside Roy`s friends.

Cole and Zoey stood next to each other to the end of her bed with Mike, who was near Kyra. Dylan, Chase and Tristan stood next to Cole and Roy near her left side. On the right side of her bed, Fiona stood with Rose and Clary.

"How are you feeling?" Roy asked.

"Sore, can I have some water?"

Roy nodded and quickly picked up the glass near her table before handing it over to her. Once, Jia was sure her throat wasn`t dry anymore, Roy took the cup back.

She scanned her friends for any injuries and saw that they were all okay save for a few scratches on their faces.

"How- "

"We weren`t severely injured since we managed to avoid the monsters. You, on the other hand, needed to be hospitalized," Rose answered." You`ve been out for a day."

Jia blanched. "A whole day?"

"Yeah, the Knights had to called in to assist the Sanctuary workers with the monsters," Clary added before she jerked her chin at Squad Five, "Your cousin and two other Squads were activated. They brought you to the Infirmary at Saton Knights since their Headmaster was the only one who could save you."

"Save me?"

" When that thing exploded," Clary explained as Jia had a sudden flashback of the copy exploding," Some of its magic was absorbed by your body and it was killing you. Headmaster Eldon was the only one who could perform Soul Magic Healing to save you."

"That`s…actually sounds disturbing," Jia remarked.

"What was that thing? It looked exactly like you," Rose asked.

"I don`t know. It said it wanted to get rid of me. And something about the last of the Honor Guard, I don`t know," Jia said she reached up to rub her forehead but stopped when she felt the bandage wrapped around her head.

"Honor Guard, what do you mean?" Rose asked.

Jia winced, "I- "

"I think that`s enough for now, "Roy said as he gave everyone a stern look, "She just woke up. Let`s let her relax and heal."

Fiona nodded, "Roy's right. Come on girls, let's go, "she then put a reassuring arm on her friend's shoulder and gently squeezed it, "We'll be back to take you back to school at noon okay?"

"Okay."

After they had all left, Roy stayed behind and held his cousin`s hand," I`m sorry."

Jia frowned at her cousin, "Don't be. You weren`t there. There was nothing you could have-"

"No, I don`t mean the attack. Of course, I`m upset about that too but what I meant was, our fight from earlier and questioning you about Thomas."

Jia paused and pursed her lips," Oh…It`s okay... You were just trying to protect me and I was…I was being a spoilt brat about it."

"I want to protect you Jia because your mother made me promise when we were little. I was supposed to look out for you the way my dad looked out for your mother." Roy reasoned," If anything happened to you, I wouldn`t be able to forgive myself. After we lost aunt Marina, your dad nearly took you away from the family."

Jia vividly remembered her family having a fight about a month after her mother`s funeral, her papa felt that she would be safe in another kingdom under the protection of the Elites in a safe house. Her grandparents fought tooth and nail to at least have her near in Azazeal where they could visit her. It went on until they reached a compromise. She would live in Castle Paravel and never leave unless in the company of her father. Anyone who wanted to see her would come through the Elites check point and see her but she would never be allowed to leave. Her leaving was what led to her mother demise.

She wasn`t allowed to go to social gatherings unless her father was there and no one was allowed to speak with her. Her family all agreed with one thing, she had to be hidden and cut off from the world so the less people knew about her and had access to her, the better.

"I`m sorry, Roy…. I understand why you did it but …I want you understand something," she said as she squeezed her cousin`s hands," I am not stupid. I know who to let in and who to cut off. I`ve lived with soldiers my whole life and I can defend myself with or without my powers. You have to trust me."

"I do," Roy insisted," But that doesn`t mean I can`t stop looking out for you."

"And I wouldn`t ask you to."

Roy gave her a relieved smile before Jia frowned, "I guess I have to apologize to Tristan and Dylan for not coming this past week to teach them."

The knight snorted," Don`t worry about that. I took over after they explained what type of technique you showed them. You sure they can pull it off?"

Jia shrugged, "We did and we were just ten. I think you should have a little faith in your friends."

"Okay."

"By the way, who told you about my date with Thomas?"

"Oh… Juliet."

Jia`s face turned sour, "Tristan's ex? What are you? Friend`s with her?"

"Well. …Not friends. More like acquaintance. You see, I sort of dated her friend Lana..."

Jia groaned and waved her hands to silence him, "Stop, stop. I don`t need to know all the morbid details of your relationship."

"It`s not a relationship, it was a mutual acquaintanceship."

"Sure it was."

"Also, not to throw you off cousin dearest, but I think Chase might be crushing on your friend Rose."

"What?!"