World Of War (Arula: Three)

Chapter 21

A small festival was put together to celebrate the peace between the dwarves and goblins. They danced, watched reenactments, talked, told jokes and stories, and most of all, drank. Karma only watched. She wasn't in the mood to dance, drink, nor talk. She wasn't even in the mood to watch the reenactments. Her headache was getting worse. It pounded at her like a rabid wolf. It sucked out any fun that she had thought about having. Finally, when the pounding didn't seem to crease, she called it a night.

Omar watched her get up and leave. He, himself, knew of her situation. He didn't bother asking her where she was going because he knew. Back to her room where she'll draw in that book of hers and take a half mint leaf to hopefully stop the aching pounding in her head. He would have to consult Mika about this when they get back to Shurli. But for now, he would stay here and watched the reenactments.

Just as Omar had thought, Karma went straight to her room. She opened her satchel and took out the book. Its dark red cover with a dragon etched into it was staring at her, welcoming, begging her to open it. She pulled out the key from out from under her tunic shirt. When the key and lock touched, it was like a grand reunion. The dragon, that rested on the key, almost seemed to be smiling. Karma turned the key, and with a click, the book popped opened. Karma turned to the next blank page and began to draw.

Her fingers moved effortlessly as she went back and forth with her pencil. The sound of led touching paper was like music to her ears. She had always loved the sound of a pencil writing, or drawing, on paper. Karma drew and erased, drew, and erased, drew, and erased. The pattern never seemed to end. When at last Karma couldn't keep her eyes open and her fingers ached, she set the pencil down. Karma sighed. She opened her jar of mint leaves. There were only few left in the jar. I would have to ask Mika for more, she came to a conclusion. Karma took the half mint leaf, closed her book, and locked it, then retired to bed. Outside she could hear the festival.

Just when she about to fall asleep, a soft thump on her bed aroused her. Looking up Karma could see it was only Shari. The saber-tooth ferret sat on its hunches staring at Karma with a tilted head. Karma sighed. She lifted her blanket half up and the ferret scurried over crawling under the covers. He curled up in a ball and was fast asleep before Karma knew it. She gently placed the blanket back down. After a moment of staring at the wooden door by her bed, Karma's eyes closed and fell into a restless asleep.

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The night air was cool and crisp, like on a Halloween night. But this was no Halloween night. There were no trick or treaters, no haunted houses, or even candy. The same eerie forest surrounded Karma like water breaking from a dam. The wind howled its nightly song. "Your time is up!" They howled. "Your time as the Creator has ended!" Karma's heart was pounding her chest. What did it mean, her time is up? What time? The howls of a strange creature interrupted her thoughts. The creature was nothing like Karma had that. It came in thousands. The howling. Echoing and getting louder, and louder, and louder.

With only one thing on her mind, Karma ran. Ran as fast as she could. But she couldn't escape it. The howls followed her. Not paying attention where she was going, Karma tripped over a tree root and went tumbling down a hill. She landed in a river. Spluttering the water out from her mouth, Karma looked down at the running river and saw red. Blood. The river was full of it. She stood and saw every creature she made and every Clan and every human. Dead. Their blood ran into the river and joined it on its endless journey. The howls came closer. And as they came closer, they turned into growls.

Out from the borders of the trees, the owner of the howls and growls emerged. It was big and vicious looking. It looked like a ghostly shadow in the form of a wolf. Its sharp teeth was surrounded in a pool of foaming saliva. Its eyes glowing red. A whole pack of them emerged from the trees and surrounded Karma. Each monster was a different species. There were wolves, foxes, bears, leopards, and every other mammal in the animal kingdom. Karma shook. Mainly out fear and the coldness she felt from the freezing river. The creatures clucked, growled, mewed, and hissed their foreign language only they would understand. When they were five feet from Karma, they talked in their strange words once more before they crouch and jumped...

Karma woke up screaming. Sweat drenched her hair, face, and the front of her nightgown. She was breathing hard, so hard in fact, that she could've sworn it shook her whole bed. When she finally came to the conclusion that it was just a dream, she settled back down her bed. When she did settle back down, she couldn't help the tears and sobs that spilled out. Karma cried until her pillow was soaked in her salty tears. She sniffed and let out a shaky breath. When her senses came back, she realized that the saber-tooth ferret, Shari was gone. She didn't care, not in the least... but it would be nice to have some type of company right now.

She didn't fall back asleep that night. Instead she got up, unlocked her book, opened it to the page she had worked on earlier, and began to get to back work.