World Of Light (Arula: Two)

Chapter 1

The peaceful sounds of the Shurli Woods fill Karma with a sense of calmness as she and Angel, her long-tailed fox companion, walked through. Her ever so wavy red hair played with the wind as it blew by. Karma looked behind her to see that the Shurli palace was way behind them. Perfect, she thought, as she knelt down on the soft earth. Rummaging through her satchel, Karma took out her book, the very book that made Arula possible. She flipped through the pages until she landed on the page with the drawing of a long-tailed fox on it. Breathing out, then in, Karma looked at Angel. "You ready for this, girl?" Angel responded by letting her long blue hang from her mouth, it was so long that is nearly touched the ground. Karma scratched behind the fox's ear with a smile. "Yeah, me too."

Placing her hand on the picture, she recited the ancient words that were inscribed on the very first page of her book. The book glowed a wondrous bright light, so bright, that most of the nearby animals squealed and ran off. Angel stay remained by her master, hiding behind her back as the book continued to glow. As Karma finished inciting her words, the bright light slowly faded. Karma felt extremely lightheaded when she removed her hand from the book, a small side-effect for bringing creatures to life. Angel nudged her head under her master's arms for support, for Karma could hardly sit up. The sudden sound of growling made both Karma and Angel look up. Two long-tailed foxes stood in front of them, one was white with red markings, and the other one was white with purple markings. It worked.

The two long-tailed foxes curiously circled Karma and Angel, yipping and barking. When the two foxes lost interest in the two strangers in front of them, they both ran off into the woods, never to be seen again. "Well, girl," Karma said, tiredly. "It looks like everything will settle in nicely." Chuckling to herself, Karma sat there and waited for her lightheadedness to pass.

----

Back at Shurli castle, Omar, along with his daughter, Hope, and his wife Mika, were at the courtyard. Omar was teaching the small three-year old elf girl how to shoot a bow. Mika watched from underneath a small oak tree with Shari, a saber-tooth ferret, who apparently hates every human being, including Karma, laid in her lap, asleep. Mika's light purple eyes watched her husband teaching their girl how use a bow. "Are you sure that she's not too young to learn how to use a bow?" Mika called from across the courtyard. Omar rolled his eyes.

"She's perfectly fine, Mika." Omar reinsured her. "I was six when I learned how to use a bow."

"And I was eight," Mika commented. "I still say she's too young." Omar just brushed her off and continued to teach his daughter. The bow was small, made especially for little Hope. She held it in an awkward angle and Omar repositioned her. He took a stick, because a real arrow would be too dangerous for Hope to practice with, and he showed how to load the bow. When the small elf loaded her bow, she pulled back and let the stick fly in the air. The stick though, did not fly in the air, it flew for half a second before crashing two feet in front of her.

"Oh, darn!" The little elf said, stomping her small feet. Omar smiled though at his daughter's attempt of using a bow.

"It's okay, la mia piccolo stella,"*1 he said, getting down to her level. "No elf ever gets it right at his or hers first try. You just got to keep practicing you might just get as good as your mother."

"Might!" Called Mika and Omar gave her a wink. Hope's attention flickered elsewhere. She suddenly gasped and ran in the direction toward the courtyard doors. She ran toward Karma and Angel, who had just come back from the Shurli Woods. Hope hugged Karma, then all the elf's attention went to Angel. Rolling her eyes, Karma went up to join Omar and Mika.

"So," Omar said, swinging Hope's bow over his shoulder. "Did you do it?" Karma nodded.

"Yup, there are now two long-tailed foxes running around Shurli Woods." Karma said, watching Angel play with Hope. "You teaching her how to use a bow? She seems a bit young, don't you think?"