World Of Beauty (Arula: Four)

Chapter 1

The once great oak tree stood in its stump form. Once bearing the symbol of life and greatest, was now a symbol of strength and healing. On the Orina field, stood a white horse with black freckles, its rider was a redhaired woman. For the past two years, she had always wondered what she was doing, what her purpose was as the Creator of such a magical world. The winter wind whipped passed, tugging, and pulling on her cloak. The young woman sighed deeply. Never had she wished, more than ever, that she could rewind time and take back that moment when she entered that tent as ten-year old girl and bought a notebook from an old woman who quoted Spider-Man to her. She patted her horse, Pepper, on her large neck.

Karma took in a deep breath, allowing the cold to enter her lungs and leave her body. It always calmed her when she did this. The sound of a horse trotting its way over, caught Karma's attention. She shifted her gaze over and saw a dark brown horse. Its rider was Jason Owens, a young man who accidently entered Arula. He had a great deal of trouble trying to control the beast, but with no luck. The horse made its way over and stopped beside Karma and Pepper. Jason shivered and wrapped his cloak tighter around his body. "Your world doesn't happen to have heavier winter coats, does it?" He asked with a shivering grin. Karma shook her head.

"My world takes place in the medieval times, there were no 'heavier winter coats' back then. Only thick woolen cloaks and if you're lucky, long sleeved shirts and leggings." Karma said without cracking a smile. "This world is tough, so must be the people who live in it." Jason could tell that she was thinking of a past time. She turned to him. "I'm sorry I had to drag you in it. It was never my wish to drag those I love, and those who I don't even know, into something that they don't understand." Karma returned her gaze back to the tree stump.

"You said, when we first met, that you had to have two of those portals. One to get here and another to return back to Earth. And when I asked if you had an extra, you said you didn't." Jason said thinking back. "What happened to it? Did you give it up for someone else?" Karma sighed and nodded.

"My little brother, Dennis, wanted to know what happened to me when I disappeared to here. He and my older sister, Alice, and her friend Star, found my treehouse, found the portals, and got sent here. When the battle between Termis and I was over, I sacrificed my portal to them. Like you, they didn't think to take another one with them... before they left, I asked my sister if she could hide those portals, so that nobody else came into here and were never able to return home." As Karma spoke, she didn't look at Jason, not at all. She kept her eyes fixed on the field before her. "But I guess she didn't notice the one portal that led you to this fate." Jason thought hard.

"That's why you were upset." It wasn't a question. Karma nodded.

"That was why I was a bit annoyed with, it was at Alice, not you. But I can't stay mad at her though. I knew I should've just taken the chest full of those with me, but I didn't wish for them to fall into the wrong hands." Karma breathed in the cold air again. "Tell me. You said you were going to college, what for?" Jason was taken back by the question, but her answered nonetheless.

"A lawyer." He answered. Karma shook her head.

"I'm sorry I took that away from you. I bet you would've made a great one." Jason shook his head.

"Don't worry about it. It was my mom's idea to be a lawyer. I never wanted to do it, but I couldn't come up with anything else to do with my life, so I chose that." This time, Karma did look at him. Her green eyes blazing into his brown ones. After a moment, she broke away. She looked up at the sun, which was partly hidden by the winter clouds.

"We better start heading back." She said. "I was told it was supposed to storm pretty badly tonight." Karma clucked her tongue and pulled on the Pepper's reins. Jason followed closely behind, having more trouble trying to control his mare. It snorted and neighed in protest. Seeing Jason's struggles, Karma turned Pepper around and grabbed the reins out of Jason's hands. "Don't control her." She said. "Let her take you. All you have to do is give her directions. Haven't you ever been horseback riding?" Jason snorted.