The afternoon sunlight filtered through the weathered eaves of the ancient barn in lazy cascades, highlighting the clouds of dust floating slowly through the still air. The intricate stall doors depicted chipped and battered scenes of horses through daily life. The sound of horses calling out to each other rang through the space at inconsistent intervals.
Lucy marveled at the rows of well-groomed horses seeming to gleam and shimmer every time the iridescent rays of sun hit their flanks. She could barely restrain herself from dashing from stall to stall to see the horses closer up, she remembered the thrill, when Faolin had told her that she, Lucy Heartfilia, was the soon to be owner of her very own horse.
Lucy glanced down the aisle and caught a flash of deep chestnut, eyes trained on the spot where she had last seen the horse. She picked up the pace of her slow walk and ran to the stall. The door was plain with a beaten up plaque of burnished copper, she bent to read the old writing,
Karma
Lucy hesitantly looked over the stall door and gasped. The animal in front of her was simply stunning. It was defiantly shorter than Razz but still good sized. Large almond shaped eyes peered up at her from a pile of loose hay, one eye was blue while the other was uniform brown. The horse had a long thin irregular white line that ran from between its ears to the tip of its cotton soft nose, making it look like its face was split in two uneven halves. Its ears twitched back and forth picking up the faintest of sounds. The horse shivered and swished its tail, trying to dislodge the flies on its back.
Slowly Lucy reached out a tentative hand, lightly brushing the horse's ears. Everything froze, as time seemed to slow down. As soon as she touched the horse, its ears flew back, pinned to the back of its head. Its head shot up, nostrils flared, and lip pulled back to show a solid row of square teeth, mouth slightly agape. The horse visibly shifted its weight to its hind end and reared, hooves striking out to hit Lucy beneath her collarbone. Her eyes flew open in shock as she felt herself start to fall backwards. She saw the horse drop back on all four legs just before she her-self hit the ground. Time went back to normal as she hit the stall door on the other side of the walkway and blacked out.
Faolin had been talking to the owner of the barn, Jhon, when he glanced over to see Lucy reach out her hand into the stall. He turned back to continue his conversation when, out of the corner of his eye he saw a hoof strike out at the girl and hit her, sending Lucy flying into the stall across form them. He didn't even think, sprinting over and sliding to his knees
"Lucy!" He started to feel her collarbone area, trying to feel for a break or any damage the horse may have caused, all the while saying her name over and over again, like a broken record. Fear rose in his throat when she didn't immediately open her eyes. Satisfied that there was no serious damage, he began to lightly shake her, brain going to auto pilot as he started to think of all the worst things that could have happened to her. She was still breathing which put to rest his ultimate concern. Lucy started to twitch and he let go of her arm.
Lucy halfway opened one of her eyes and became acutely aware of the throbbing sharp pain at the base of her neck. She automatically raised a hand to touch the swelling bruise and winced. Lucy fully opened both of her warm brown eyes and suddenly became very aware of Faolin's face mere inches from her own. She started, he was staring intently at her, his face was scrunched up in evident distress. She cleared her throat and flinched at the burning the slight action had caused. Fai rocked back on his heels and stood, all emotion washing off of his face and extended one of his hands.
"Lucy are you ok, would you like help standing?" He said in his normal board sounding voice. Silently, Lucy took his hand and he pulled her up. She was instantly met with the frantic owner, Jhon,
"Miss Lucy IAMSOOSORRYPLEASEDON'TSUEUS!" he cried, valiantly trying not to stutter, but instead he ran all his words together into an ineligible mess. Lucy took a moment to decode the sentence and smiled apologetically at the trembling man,
"Its ok, it was my fault anyways. Please don't worry about it."
"Thank you Miss Lucy," the man seemed to clam down for a second before launching into another panic attack,
"BUTMISSLUCYIDONTKNOWWHYKARMADIDTHAT, SHESNEVERDONEANYTHINGLIKETHATBEFORE!" Lucy walked up to the balling man and put a tentative hand on his shaking shoulder.
Jhon looked at her in confusion before calming down, She looked at Fai who had found a post to lean on, he raised an eyebrow at her, giving her the 'Wtf are you doing,' look. She shrugged and looked back at Jhon. She couldn't help but wonder why the horse, Karma, and reacted like that, Jhon had said she had never done that before, so why now?
Lucy wished she could read the horses mind, find out what the horse was thinking. Lucy felt something at the very back of her mind stir to life, she tried to feel it, but it slipped out of her mental grasp. She glanced at the horse and both of them froze, the foreign feeling in Lucy's mind bloomed to life once again poking into her consciousness. She felt confusion and fear from the thing, and without thinking she sent warm comforting feelings to the thing. As soon as she did that she saw Karma relax, her head drooped and her ears flicked forward. This time Lucy felt curiosity from the thing in her mind as Karma took a tentative step forward at the same time Lucy did the same, Lucy could faintly hear Faolin shouting at her to stop, but she couldn't. it was as if Lucy and the horse across from her where in some sort of linked trance. They both stepped forward again, staring deeply into each other's blank eyes. Lucy took another joint step forward and reached out her hand at the same time Karma extended her soft nose.
Lucy's hand rested on the horses nose for a only split second before the whole area erupted in blinding golden light, Lucy could hear Jhon and Fai yelling but she didn't care. Her magic leaked out of her body, adding to the blinding light around them. The feeling in her mind receded again before the light faded.
Lucy stared at Karma, the horse had changed drastically, it was now a pure creamy white with black specks around her now split hooves, nose, and tail. Two gigantic wings lay folded at her sides covered in light gray feathers that turned to deep black at the tips. Karma whinnied, a joyful high-pitched sound and shook herself from tip to tail as everyone watched on in aw. Lucy felt a surge from the thing in her mind, and a single short sentence was pushed into her conscious thoughts.
"Greetings friend Lucy." Stunned, Lucy stared at the horse, it became appetent that some how, she, Lucy had done the improbable. She had established a telepathic connection with a mythical, extinct Pegasus who had transformed from a perfectly normal horse. Lucy tentatively reached out with her mind through the mental connection she now shared with the animal, scrunching her eyes shut in concentration.
Lucy ran aground against a thin barrier of resistance, she poked the barrier and it dissolved, plunging Lucy through what felt like an ice-cold pool before landing in the lush green glen of the pegasus's mind. Foreign haunting melodies drifted through the sunlit trees on a dead breeze. Lucy heard a rustling in the sparse foliage and spun on her heels to see Karma step out of the ring of tall oak and maple trees that surrounded the small glen.
"I welcome you, Lucy descendant to my last master, Lucas Heartfilia." Lucy opened her mouth as if to voice a question but was cut off. "Please save your questions to the end Lucy. I have many things I must tell you and little time to do it. I am Karma or more commonly referred to as the Winged Horse, Pegasus, 8th of the original golden Zodiac key's." Lucy looked like she already had questions but held her peace. " My last master lived 350 years ago and was in a similar situation to what you are currently in ,as he was the contractor to 10 of the original zodiac keys and the bearer of great magical power. I have wandered Earthland lying in wait for one of his descendants to be worthy of my contract. You have proven yourself worthy over the past 3 years and I would grant you my power willingly. But. There are conditions and things you must understand before that can happen. One, I have no physical key and therefore I am forced to stay in Earthland in the physical form of the chestnut horse I first appeared to you as. My contract can only be broken if you die or lose the capacity to generate the magical power it takes to summon my true form. My zodiac form can be summoned much the same way you awakened it in the stable. We must establish a mental connection to serve as a replacement of the connection the celestial key would provide, then some part of your body must be in physical contact." Karma was cut off as her body began to shimmer and she started to disappear, Karma snorted muttering something as the forest and glen started to waver as Lucy was dropped through the transparent ground once again
"Good bye Lucy, see you in the real world!" Karma called out as Lucy fell out of Karma's mind and back into her own…
With a jolt, Lucy fell back into her own body. She was suddenly aware of Faolin shaking her and calling her name. She opened her eyes and took in the utterly panicked males in front of her. Jhon, the poor man, had fainted and was slumped against a pillar, white faced and tight lipped. Fai was sitting across from her, looking casual. He glanced at her and, seeing as she was finally awake, got up from his oh-soo comfortable seat on the cold cement. He walked over to Lucy and bent, picking her up bridal style, lifting her from the ground where she must have collapsed during her conversation with Karma.
"Fai, put me down!" she protested weakly as she was carried away from Karma. Lucy tried to stuggle but was to weak to move, soon, against her will, she was lulled to sleep by the gentle rocking of Faolin's slow walk.
Hey minna, how are we all doing? I am terrible of keeping track of update times So sorry for that. Well this is the next chapter, interesting plot twist huh? I don't know how it will turn out but I hope it will satisfy all of you!
PLEASE review! (even if you don't like it lol) tell me what you think of this chapter and how I could improve.