World Of War (Arula: Three)

Chapter 17

Pure darkness surrounded Karma. It was pleasantly warm for that short moment that she was there. At first, she thought that she was falling, but there wasn't the feeling of a fall. No wind brushed up against her, this was really a "nothing." Then, there it was, a white light. Karma fell right into it. She landed harshly on her feet, she rolled over on her back and faced what looked like to be an endless roof. Karma felt dazed and confused. She slowly sat up and looked at her surroundings. All around her was every missing dwarf in the Clan. They stared at her in awe and what looked like to be sympathy. The dwarves looked hungry and tired.

Squirrels ran passed, chattering in confusion. So, animals found their way into here as well, Karma thought. Interesting. "Oh, thank God!" Karma heard a very familiar voice. Jason came rushing over to where Karma sat. He looked scared out of his wits. "Where the heck am I?!" He asked her. Karma held out her hand; Jason grabbed it and pulled Karma to her feet.

"Well," she said. "From what the dwarven people had been telling, it's called the "nothing." What exactly it is, I have no clue."

"What's that?" Jason asked pointing to the rope that was tied to Karma's waist.

"Hopefully a way out." Karma said. As she said that, the dwarves around them muttered among themselves.

"Well, not to sound to like a buzz kill, but I think that plan didn't go as plan." Karma looked at the rope and saw what Jason meant. She began to pull the rope until she reached the very end of it. The rope looked like it was cut off by a sword. Her eyes widened. "So, what's plan B?" Jason asked.

----

When Karma had jumped through the "nothing", the rope raced after her. Omar, Dagner, Yuza, and the other dwarves watched in high hopes that their plan would work. The rope suddenly jerked as it reached its end. The tree that held the other end of the rope groaned and moaned in protest as the rope pulled on it. Omar and Dagner released their breath that they didn't know they held. But their worries weren't over yet. They heard cracking and snapping. Part of the rope was beginning to break. "Hold the rope together!" Omar demanded and jumped into action. He, Dagner, Yuza, and the other dwarves grabbed the rope and tired with all their might to hold it together. "Grab more rope!"

One of the dwarves released his grip and ran to get more rope. But his attempts were futile. The rope snapped and flew from the others' grip, leaving an ugly rope burn in each of their hands. "No!" Omar said and jumped for the rope, but it was too late. The rope slithered into the "nothing" and was gone forever. "We have to help her!" Omar ran for the "nothing." Dagner ran after the elf and grabbed his arm before Omar had the chance to jump through.

"There's nothing we can do now." The dwarf said. "All we can do is pray and hope that she'll pull through." Omar looked at the "nothing" with a somber expression on his face. He slowly nodded but didn't take his eyes off where he had witnessed his friend's doom.

----

"All right!" Karma said untying the rope around her waist. She gestured to the dwarves in the area to come and join her. "I am Karma!" She told them. "I was sent here by your King to find and rescue you! But as it turns out, my first plan isn't going how I would expect it to be. So! What we're going to do next is explore this place and see if we can find a way out. Because right now, I'm out of options. Those of you who wish to join me can follow me and my comrade out of here if there is a way out. Or, you can stay here if you wish. The choose is yours!"

Karma nudge Jason and they both decided on a way to go. Once they decided, they began to walk. A good dozen or so dwarves decided to follow Karma and Jason thinking anything is better than standing around praying for another miracle. The others who thought they could find their own way out, were never seen again. After a few miles or so, Jason asked, "I'm your comrade?" It wasn't a question that Karma would have thought he would asked.

"For the time being." She said. "Plus, if I didn't say what I said, they probably wouldn't have followed us."

"Oh," Jason said. He looked around as they walked on. The ground they were walking on was as smooth and hard as stone. There seemed to be no walls, or a roof to be exact. It was a big empty space that could on for infinity. No end, and no beginning. "Do actually think this going to work?"

"I don't know." Karma admitted. "But I sure hope so." A thought came to Jason.

"How come you told them your name? You told me to never say it! Why didn't you tell them that you were the-"

"Shush!" Karma hissed. "It's best that they didn't know that part. As far as Arula's concerned, they don't know what the Creator looks like. If everyone knew what I looked like, I would be exposed, I wouldn't be able to into any village or Clan without getting swarmed by its people. The only people who know of my identity are very few. Those who are my close friends and those who I can trust. Even those of higher power. So, please, keep your mouth shut."

Jason nodded and perched his lips together. He felt bad Karma, even though he just met her. To have to keep something as being the Creator, whatever that was, must be very heavy to put on one's shoulders. Jason sighed, but didn't say another word. Many hours had past, or so they all thought. Time didn't seem to have a place in this big empty world. They walked and walked until they couldn't feel their feet. They rested for as long as they could and kept going.

Every dwarf was complaining and some even suggested on going back. But there was no going back. Some were beginning to think that they were walking in circles and that this was a big waste of time. It wasn't long before everyone was getting hungry and thirsty, but there was no food or water to be seen.

When Karma suggested that everyone was to take a break, she too, started to lose hope. She told Jason just that. "I'm sure there's an end. There's just got to be!" Jason said, trying to bring Karma's hopes back up. But he only saw hopelessness in her green eyes. To try to get her mind on other things, he asked, "so what this Creator business anyhow?" Karma looked at Jason for a long moment and decided to tell him about her story and as far as she knew about being a Creator. Jason listened with as much interest as he could muster. It was hard when to pay attention when you were tired, hungry, and thirsty.

When Karma's story ended, so did their break. They trudged onward. It had seemed liked there wasn't ever going to be end. Most of the dwarves started to get impatient and started to get into fights with one another. And when the time came when everyone was getting restless and hopeless, there was a bright white light ahead of them. "A way out!" Someone shouted. "Hooray!!" Most of them said. Karma looked at Jason as he looked at her. Hope risen in both of their eyes. Karma smiled and Jason smiled back.

As they got closer to the white light, it got dimmer and dimmer. It turned into a small rectangle. A double door stood in the way of the light and it looked as if someone had turned on the light on the other end and closed their doors. Karma went to turn the knob but found there was none. "How do we open it?" Jason asked. Karma didn't answer. She looked up and found words carved above the door. It read:

Only the ones who have the true power can open this door:

Clavem è il turas

The strange words reminded Karma of her book. At instinct, Karma reached up and played with her key necklace. She rubbed the dragon that sat upon its top. Karma read the words aloud. Silence followed her as she finished. Her heart was pounding so loudly that she thought everyone could hear it. After was seemed like forever and Karma had thought that she wasn't the one with the "true power." Karma shut her eyes tightly ready to give up all hope.

"Karma." She heard Jason say and opened her eyes. "Look." He said again and Karma did. The door. It started to glow brighter than usual. The light flood out from the door and engulfed everyone in a two-mile radius. Dwarves screamed as did Karma and Jason. Once the light engulfed them, it blinked away in a millisecond and everyone had disappeared with the light.