Trials and Tribulation
Karma POV:
Previously:
"Interesting," Analele said to herself. He really was a good guy. 'I can't wait to see how the future unfolds' Analele thought to herself.
Present:
Karma and Blake continued to walk down the long corridors, filled with pictures of the royal family, and fancy golden artifacts. Karma looked around. In a month he would have to prove himself to attempt to have the sword of purity. He was in a mix of nervousness and excitement. Blake seemed to be in a similar feeling, as he rubbed his hands together.
The duo made their way to their rooms, and Karma jumped face-first into his bed. He sighed. Blake walked over and sat on his bed.
"Hey," Karma started, "we never did get to explain our powers. Our match was cut short". Blake nodded thoughtfully.
"I can go first," Blake offered. Karma gave Blake a thumbs up.
Blake held out his hand, which began to glow red. The string he used for earlier fights started to appear, and wrap around his hands.
"My ability is called the Red String of Fate. I can manipulate the string I create, and it can suck the energy out of my enemies if I pierce them with it". Blake paused to let Karma take in the information that he already had. "If I have enough energy, usually borrowed from my enemy, I can create beings with my string. During our fight, I got really pumped and used a special tactic. I can see enemies you have faced in the past, and create models of them. The stronger the enemy, the harder it is to create them. That is about it," Blake told him.
Karma nodded thoughtfully. That is how he created those monsters. 'That is a really cool idea' thought Karma.
"By the looks of what I summoned, you have faced some weird creatures," Blake concluded. Karma rubbed the back of his neck.
"Yeah," he mumbled.
"Your turn," reminded Blake.
"My main ability is hydrokinesis. I can manipulate water, as well as water vapor, and am able to condense it into water. I can also change the temperature of my body. My steam bullet move is a sphere of water that compacts steam inside, allowing for an explosive impact. I am also a pretty good swordsman," Karma concluded. Blake gave him a look, telling him he knew he wasn't just "a pretty good swordsman".
"Welp let's go to sleep," Karma said. The duo got ready for bed, and dozed off, entering the realm of dreams
Dream:
Karma really needed to give whoever thought demigod dreams were a good thing a fist in their face. As Karma floated around endlessly, he began to one of the worst possible dreams he could have had.
'Tartarus' thought Karma. He watched the worst times in the pit. As he and Annabeth trudged in a literal hell, he watched as he shielded her from as much of the horror as he possibly could. He watched as he tried his hardest to get her out of the pit. 'If only I knew where I would end up because of that' Karma thought to himself. He watched as he got cursed, and how Bob sacrificed himself to help them out.
Tears started to stream his face, and though he was in a dream, he could feel his actual body doing the same. 'Where did it all go wrong' thought Karma. 'How did my one brother turn the entire camp against me. It makes no sense. My fatal flaw is loyalty, but they said they saw me do all those terrible things. Why?'
As those thoughts circulated his mind, the visions of Tartarus changed and moved onto a different scene. Camp Half-Blood. 'My own personal hell' thought Karma. He looked around and saw something strange. It was himself but in some sort of a misty form. The image seemed weird, almost holographic, and a white mist seemed to protrude from the body. The fake Karma snuck around the camp and seemed to be doing an ok job. He arrived at the Demeter cabin and looked around. The fake Karma, or as he would now like to refer to it, Fakarma, raised up his hand. A small cloud of rain started to form and ruined the Demeter cabin's crops. After the deed was done, Fakarma stepped into the muddy mess, and kicked around a little, making a bit of noise.
'Why would he do that' thought Karma. 'If he keeps doing that, he is going to get caught-' Karma stopped mid-sentence. The perpetrator looked like him, so if anyone saw the culprit… 'I would be blamed' thought Karma. He saw a Demeter kid get up, rub her eyes, and look forward, seeing Fakarma right in the middle of the ruined crops. Fakarma ran away, as the Demeter kid started to yell, waking up the rest of the Demeter kids.
Karma saw Katie get up, and ask the camper who yelled what happened. Karma saw Katie looked confused, and a little angered. She seemed like she was about to reason with her fellow cabin mate when a white light started to glow from her eyes, ears, and mouth, similar to what was happening to Jameson in his previous dream. The same thing happened to all the cabin mates. When the light died down, the cabin mates became angered but seemed that they decided they would deal with their anger in the morning.
I guess that morning was the morning I got wrapped in poison ivy, Karma thought scratching himself at the thought.
"Karma," said a voice. Karma looked around. "Karma," the voice said again. There was still no sign of anybody, and the fact that this was a dream of the past meant his name wasn't that then. "Karma!" a different voice screamed, and Karma felt himself fall onto the floor, waking up.
Indigo POV:
Indigo was walking down the castle corridors alone, humming along the way. Castle life would definitely be more interesting now that they had some unusual guests. She started to hum to herself when she ran into Blake, who had an animalistic look on his face.
Blake looked at Indigo and smiled.
"Hey your name is Indigo correct?" asked Blake. Indigo nodded. "Can you wake up Karma for me? I would have, but I smelt something delicious and I just can't help myself," Blake asked. Indigo thought for a second. She had no reason not to wake him up. Plus, she would be able to personally thank him for saving her life. That thought hardened her resolve.
"I can do it," Indigo replied. Blake smirked and chuckled to himself. Indigo shot him a questioning look, but Blake just shook it off.
"I'll see you in the dining room," he said running off to follow his nose.
Indigo headed to Karma's bedroom and knocked on the door. No answer. She opened the door slightly and peered inside. She saw a form under a blanket, not facing her. 'That must be Karma' Indigo thought to herself. She gently opened the rest of the door and made her way to the sleeping figure. As she moved to face Karma she was surprised at what she saw.
As much as Indigo would not like to admit, Karma, as Crystal would say, is smoking hot. He had black tousled hair that seemed untameable, beautiful sea-green eyes, and a fit body. She had no idea what species he was. When Indigo saw his sleeping form she was surprised at how peaceful his sleeping form was. As she continued to let her eyes roam his face, she noticed dry tears.
'Was he crying?' Indigo wondered. She decided to ask him about it later. She shook Karma lightly.
"Karma," she said softly. He didn't budge. She started to shake him harder. "Karma," she said a little louder, but no such luck. Just as she was about to try again Analele barged into the room screaming.
"Karma!" she screamed and pushed him off the bed with a loud thud. Indigo heard a small yelp, and saw Karma stand up, with his bed head evident.
Karma scratched his head a little bit, seeming to be half asleep. As he readjusted his eyes, Analele left his room. "Hurry up, the food's ready," she said halfway out of the door.
At the sound of food, Karma seemed to perk up and become more awake. He started to head out of the door before Indigo started to talk.
"Karma?" she started. Karma stopped and looked at her confused. "I wanted to thank you, you saved my life," Indigo said heartfeltly. Karma smiled.
"It's no big deal," Karma said. "Just doing what I can". And with that, he left the room. Indigo was awestruck. She had never met a man that was so humble, kind, and heroic. She nodded her head. She was definitely happy he would be staying in their castle for a while.
2-week Timeskip:
Karma POV:
Life in the castle had become normal. Everyday Karma and Blake would eat a delicious breakfast before training that was prepared by the chefs. Who knew royalty got some massive perks. Then the duo would train, separately and together. Karma worked on honing his hydrokinesis, and his swordsmanship. He practiced more with dual weapons, seeing as he would need to get better to wield both the sword of purity and impurity.
Karma had a growing bond with Blake. He learned that Blake had a little sister that was a guard on his home planet, who he seemed really proud of. As he heard more and more tales from this sister-loving freak, his mind started to wander. He thought of his baby sister. How was she? Was she doing well? It had been 2 years since he had last been to earth, 4 years since he talked to any of his friends or family. 'Ex-friends' he thought bitterly. The last time he had seen them they were doing just fine without him so that probably hadn't changed.
He remembered his dreams from the previous nights. He had no idea what happened during his betrayal, but it was evident that a third party was involved. If he had stayed, maybe he and his mother could have worked their problems out. Maybe he would have been able to be a part of his sister's life. Karma was snapped out of his thoughts by Blake's hand waving in front of his face.
"Are you still listening?" Blake questioned. Karma waved his hand.
"Yeah yeah, your sister's a goddess and we should all praise her," Karma said mockingly. Blake pouted, before laughing a little bit. The two sat in comfortable silence while looking out from the window. They watched the people fill the streets, buying and selling items.
"Are you ready for the trials?" Blake asked earnestly. Karma paused.
"I've faced worse," Karma replied. Blake continued to look out the window. "I think…" Karma started. "I think I can tell you about my past. We are about to go into a life or death situation, so the least I can do is tell you about myself, right? Can I trust you to keep it a secret?" Kara asked. Blake nodded, taking a sip from his drink.
"Well, I am a demigod," Karma said. Blake spits out his drink, weaving a couple of times before looking back at Karma.
"Excuse me?" Blake asked.
"I am a demigod," Karma responded, shaking his head as if it was the simplest concept ever.
"You're actually half god? And I thought being an Archexile was cool," Blake confessed. Karma stifled his laughter. He began to tell Blake about his past, and about his quests, and about those who wronged him. Blake sat quietly throughout the entire story.
"Amazing," Blake said. He stopped for a moment. "My mom," he started. "She died from a fatal illness a few years ago. I want my sister to be able to live a great, and carefree life, so I have been hunting for treasure, to give her a luxurious life," Blake confessed.
Karma listened to Blake and nodded his head in sympathy.
"I'm going to take a nap," said Karma getting up from his chair. He headed to his room and fell asleep.
The Day of the First Trail:
Karma POV:
Karma and Blake stood before an ancient building, with many different symbols lining the walls. Karma reached out and rubbed his hands against the architecture.
"The Aquelions work fast," Karma said out loud. Blake nodded in agreement.
"You ready," Blake asked with a grin.
"As ready as I could be," Karma answered. The two looked at each other once more, before turning back to the door of the structure.
"Greetings Aquelions!" said the booming voice of the king. Karma and Blake looked up to see the audience, made of mostly ectoplasmic people. A few tourists also lined the stands.
"Today, these brave warriors will test their might in our trials, in hope of ridding our city of our greatest threat, The Pure. "The crowd erupted, and Karma and Blake waved their hands politely.
"Well then, let's begin" the king stated. The doors slowly opened, showing a room that was completely dark.
"That isn't ominous at all," Blake stated sarcastically. Karma just shook his head, as the two ventured into the unknown.
As the duo entered the room, the doors slammed shut, trapping them in the room.
"Didn't they say we could die?" Blake asked. Karma chuckled.
"Don't worry, I have a habit of not dying," he said. Blake looked at Karma curiously. Suddenly a dripping sound could be heard. The noise started to change into a rushing sound, and soon water started to form at their feet.
"You can help me breathe underwater, right?" Blake asked unsurely. Karma just grinned. The water started to rise faster, and faster, and soon it was up to their necks. Karma looked at Blake.
"On the count of three, put your head into the water," he told him. Blake nodded.
"One…..two…..three!" The two put their heads in the water, and Karma formed an air bubble around Blake's head. Blake opened his eyes in shock, and let out a breath of relief.
"Guess you won't be drowning today," Karma said. Blake playfully punched Karma. The biological son of the sea could see a little better underwater, but not well enough. Before he could talk to Blake about solving the problem, a flow, a faint glow appeared. It was a light blue light that seemed to be drifting in the water. Karma looked at his companion, unsure of what to do.
"I say we go to that light, not like we got any other ideas on what we are doing," Blake reasoned. Karma nodded his head, but he couldn't ignore the nervous feeling he was getting. What was there to be nervous about, he is in his home element. It is just a light. Karma propelled them towards the light, and the closer they got, the brighter it began. It became almost blinding. As they finally reached the glowing sphere, Karma's gut feeling started to go haywire. What could it be that had him so scared. He didn't see anything.
Karma held out his hand to try to reach for the sphere but stopped when he saw his friend's terrified face.
"What's wrong?" Karma asked. Blake just pointed, which led Karma to turn around, and instantly adopted the same face Blake was wearing. Right in front of the pair was a large fish-like monster, with rows of razor-sharp teeth, and to beady black eyes. The light highlighted some of its grotesque features, and only then did Karma realize the light was attached to the monster on an antenna. Blake stuttered, seemingly unable to come up with the right words.
"Just my luck," Karma choked out.
(Hello Readers, please don't skip over this part. I'd like to apologize for not updating for a while. I didn't have any inspiration for the current chapter, and my friend started introducing a lot of good novels to read, and I fell short on my story. I will be getting back to updating more often and will try to put out more chapters to make up for the lost time. If anything, you should blame my friend. Also, previously I was just going with the flow with my story, but I started planning what I was going to do, which should hopefully make the story feel more organized. Thank you for reading chapter 9 of A New Light, and I hope you will read chapter 10, The Trials Continue.)