World Of War (Arula: Three)

Chapter 1

A knock at the door aroused Karma from her work once more. She took the note from the servant boy, slammed the door in his face, crumbled the parchment and threw it away. Normally she would have apologized for slamming the door on the servant boy, but that was the tenth time this month the Council had been sending her these "invites" to their room to discuss a new king or queen for Arula. Karma was already head over heels at the moment, and she was in no mood to berated by Head-Council Marcus right at the moment, or ever for that matter.

The note the mysterious stranger had given her a month ago had still had her on her toes. Every time she even thought about the stranger, her neck hairs stood on edge and gave her a shiver down the spine. Who was he? What did he what? What did he mean that she couldn't stop it? And more importantly, stop what? All these questions hurt her head, so much, that she sat at her desk in her room and drew in her book. She traced and retraced the cat she's been drawing for months. Every detail mattered. Without it, her creations wouldn't turn out so well.

Her thoughts then turned to baccra, the dog-bear-like creature she drew for the ogres when they took the sprites as slaves and made them work in the mines. The creature she had made for them wasn't perfect, she knew that, and it killed her. She would've loved to put more detail into the thing, but time had limited her. If only the ogres had come to her first, she would've been more than happy to create them a creature that would help them in the mines. But instead they took a different route. Karma sighed and rubbed her hands up and over her face. She let her hands rest on top of red hair. She stared at the blank wall ahead of her. The wall, she noticed, was not as smooth as you would see at first glance, but rather it was rough with a few, small cracks.

Letting her hands drop to her lap, Karma leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. She needed to rest. She needed to get her mind off everything. To let, for once, her mind wander to unknown places where she would never be bothered again. It was peaceful for that very moment until the someone knocked on her door, again. Karma growled to herself. She got from her chair and swung the door open. Thinking it was the servant boy, she was about to yell at him to go away, but only found out that is as only Omar. Her elven friend who had been with her through thick and thin. His long white hair was braided down and over his shoulder, he wore his traditional tunic, leggings, and a leather belt wrapped around his waist. His hazel eyes stared down into Karma's green ones with worry.

"What do you want?" Karma said, gruffly.

"What do you mean, 'what do I want?' Can't I come and see my dear friend?" Omar asked in usual smooth, sarcastic tone. Karma rolled her eyes. "Oh, come now, Karma. Not all things are bad." Omar knew about the letter the stranger sent to Karma about a month ago, and since then, she's barely left her room. Afraid that a bad omen would occur. "You shouldn't let things like that get you down," he continued. "You're strong, and better than that man. You can't let him get a hold of you. Arula needs its Creator, and so does its people." Karma cast her eyes down. No longer wanting to look her elven friend in the eyes. She knew he was right, but how could she let this go? How? She had no clue.

Karma wanted to be strong, to be strong for the land she had created, for her people and creatures that live in it. She felt ashamed, but not of Omar's words, but of herself and everything she had done. She could've saved Queen Luska, the late Queen of the sprites, who was killed during a terrible fire that was set on the palace. She didn't have to go and follow the strange shadow she saw and end up being knocked out by some weird version of chloroform. Ever since then, she hated herself. Hated herself for being so blind, so stupid for not sensing it before it happened. But you can't change the past, once the past is made, there is no going back.

"Karma," Omar said more softly. "We're having Hope's birthday party this afternoon and she would love it if you were to come. She's becoming more comfortable around you and can't stop talking about how much she loves Angel. Which reminds me, you should bring her too." Angel was a long-tailed fox that Karma had created about a year ago. "So," Omar said. "What you do say?" Karma sighed; she knew she couldn't disappoint the little elf. Nodding, Karma said she will be there. "Great! Meet us down by the gardens. Hope wanted it to be down there." And just as Omar was about to turn and leave, he said over his shoulder, "and Karma, don't blame yourself for what happen then. It wasn't your fault."