World Of Fire (Arula: Five)

Chapter 18

The tunnel that Termis led them through was about two miles long that felt longer. It led the group out of the Shurli Palace and into Shurli Woods where the exit took them from the mouth of a small cave. Karma squinted as the sun shined down on them through the treetops. To be honest, Karma didn't think she would see the sun again. Looking over at Termis, she could see him taking in the fresh air and enjoying his freedom. Walking over to him, she asked, "how did you know that was there?" He looked over at her and smiled.

"Oh, Creator, do you not remember that I was king of this Clan before you dethrone me?" He said. "I had that silly passageway installed years ago. Not many people knew about it."

"Until now." Karma said looking over at the cave entrance. "We shouldn't stay here. By now the cloak man, or Lester is his name?" She looked over at Omar who stood there barely able to meet Karma's eyes. "He would know about our escape and will no doubt have his shadow demons come after us."

"Aye." Dagner said hobbling towards the group. He stilled looked in pain from his encounter with one of those shadow demons. Karma could see the makeshift bandage he made wrapped around his wound. It was Mika who went over to the dwarf.

"Let me see it." She said trying to take off the bandage to get a better look, but Dagner swatted her away.

"Unsinn!" He said. "I can handle my own wound. It was just a small scratch like I said before. I do not need your help." Mika was surprised by the dwarf's outburst, but she didn't press. Dwarves were prideful creatures, and showing weakness was not in their vocabulary. She backed down and joined Omar. Speaking of Omar, Karma looked at her friend and felt very betrayed. She couldn't believe that her oldest friend knew all along who the cloaked man was, and he didn't say a word about it, not one. It made her wonder what else Omar knew.

"How long." Karma said to him and Omar took a step towards her but paused when Karma took a step away from him.

"Since the beginning of us elves." He answered. "We were here during Lester's reign of this world... you were not the first creator to have thought of elves..."

"But you were the first to make us taller and more fearsome..." Mika cut in remembering the days when they were no taller than a gnome. Karma looked at Mika with a hurt expression.

"You knew too?" Mika nodded shamefully. Karma looked at Dagner.

"Aye, lass." He said. "I knew. But like Mika has said, you were the first to modify us into these forms you see before you." Karma shook her head.

"I-I don't care if I was the first to do this or that, the fact is that you all knew... and you didn't tell me." Karma was extremely upset. Every one of her friends knew the truth and decided to hide it from her instead of telling her, saving her from this confusing situation. Looking at Termis, she asked, "what about you?" He shrugged.

"I found out when the Lester character showed up and told me everything." He told her. Mika took a step forward and faced Karma.

"Look," she said. "We wanted to tell you, Karma... but there are forces that forbid us to so, forces that we are not allowed to expose to you yet. Trust me. It killed Omar not to tell you, it killed all of us."

"Then why don't you tell me now." Karma said and Mika smiled sweetly at her.

"It is hard for us to explain, but there only one person who can help you out with that."

"And who would that be?"

"The woman who gave you the book."

----

Jason was all sorts of confused. All of the information that he heard made his head spin and hurt if he was being honest. And if it made his head spin and hurt, no doubt Karma was feeling a similar sensation. The whole Creator business was confusing enough for Jason, but this takes the cake. Which made him think that he'll never fully understand anything in this crazy world. Looking over at Karma, he wondered how she was dealing with anything right now. At this moment, they were in the middle of the forest, with no weapons or plans of what to do next. Jason walked over to Karma who was sitting on a tree root in deep thought. He sat down beside her.