Between Heaven and Earth

Chapter 1: 17th Century Mongolia

Five. More. Minutes.

With every grunt and tear she shed, Karma Li would come closer to fulfill the Mongolian Emperor's task he had set out for her. Her dirt-stained arms hugged a ceramic pot that cradled a palm tree towering a foot over her head. The goal: rearrange the Emperor's pottery.

Once this last pot was placed along the row of similar shrubs, she could leave this horrid place to satisfy her grumbling stomach. Karma's pale face swelled red. Unfortunately for her, these foot-tall pots spilled dense dirt over the sides and the shrubs inside towered over her head. If she couldn't finish within the next five minutes, the master of the gardens would remove her privileges, and Karma had no backup plan.

As she tugged the pot out of the dented resting spot, a snicker from behind caught her attention. "Not bad, Karma Li," a forty-something year old mocked as he leaned against a pillar in the temple. "You've got less than five minutes before his Majesty inspects the gardens. I shall not have your sloppy work ruin our display."

"I'll have it done before then, Master Batu." Embarrassed that her voice came out as scratchy as the powdery dirt beneath her woven slippers, she turned to lift the potted plant between her arms.

Instead of assisting, her Master swiveled on his heel and walked off to meet an ironclad figure stood beneath the archways. Though her first thought was to spy on the one who had been eyeing them first, she knew she needed to hurry.

What if that's the Emperor's guard? She thought, peering at the soldier from behind the pot. If they've come early and seen I'm the reason the gardens aren't prepared... Karma sighed. Today of all days. It was her eighteenth birthday, and her own father, the garden master, had threatened to remove her should the temple not be as the Emperor requested. It was a real issue if Karma was more afraid of her family than the king.

"Karma Li!" A call erupted from the archways.

Karma yanked her attention to the misty pillars, but her father and the guard had disappeared. The voice echoed in her mind, and she realized it was of a man she had never heard before. Not the Emperor's, nor his son's. Could it be that unrecognizable soldier? The blue on his iron helmet meant that he was a general with authority, but why couldn't she see from where he called her?

A sudden wind seemed to lift her off her feet, and she left her gardening work undone to sneak after the voice. "Karma..."

As she stood on the tiles in the middle of the temple pathway, the wind gathered the mist in front of her. The golden sunrise behind it added a depth, almost forming the figure of a man. But it couldn't be. The light and her fatigue must've been playing tricks on her eyes.

Karma glanced behind her shoulder to where her father had stood. Still, she was alone with this ghost. "Karma," it said, the voice gradually increasing its tone of urgency. When she stared ahead, the sun's golden hue that riveted off tiny droplets of mist made this figure appear less of a ghost, and more like an angel.

"How is this happening?" Karma whispered to herself, taking a stride backwards towards a pillar where a sharpened staff rested. What's the best way to  defeat a ghost? She wondered, knowing weapons would be useless.

"What is this?" She questioned. "Show yourself, or I'll..."

"You'll what?" The ghostly figure growled.

Not expecting an instant reply, Karma frightened herself and grabbed the staff. "What are you?"

"The ancient Mongolian prophecy has it that one has been selected to lead, while another will perish," the voice said, smooth like a river as he ignored her question.