(Hey, it's me again. Looking back on my last chapter, there are a few things I forgot to say in my author's note, so I'm going to do it in this chapter. I'll say some at the top, and some at the bottom so make sure to read what I have to say at the end of this chapter.
So we got our first question in the reviews on the 17th of Feb. or five days ago. Sorry for taking a while to answer. So the question was by "Someone you know" and the question was "How do you come up with this" which is a good question.
The way I think of ideas is pretty simple. The main reason I started writing this fanfiction was that I had some cool ideas I thought of when reading other fanfictions, so wala your reading what popped out of my head. Really what I do is just daydream about cool scenarios Percy/Karma would have to go through (usually when I am supposed to be focusing on something) and make it into story materials.
It also helps to have someone to share ideas with, like one of my friends, who has given me some pretty cool ideas for this story. I hope that answers your question "Someone you know" and I hope you like chapter 15 of A New Light, Plagued with Grief.)
Plagued with Grief
Karma POV:
Previously:
"Nice doing business with you," Karma said, holding out his hand. Endis took it, and the two shook his head. Karma stood back, and vapor traveled out of the room. 'Time to get the other sword' Karma thought to himself.
Present:
Karma used his Planetary Vapor Travel to travel to the location Endis had given him. He appeared in the wilderness of the planet, which seemed to be a murky swamp. 'Great' thought Karma. He willed the murky water to not touch him, as to stay dry. Karma had changed into his 18-year-old form while he walked, just because he preferred it. He walked through the trees, and suddenly heard a weird noise.
Karma looked around, trying to locate where the voice came from. He spotted a small rabbit-like creature, whimpering behind a tree.
"Aww," Karma said, walking toward the creature. As he got closer he held his hand out, ready to pet the creature, until his gut feeling started to go haywire. Karma leaped back in surprise, right before the foliage surrounding the beast suddenly jerked forward and teeth sprang forward. It snapped down on where Karma had recently stood.
In the absence of a body, the teeth opened slowly, revealing a small green stub. Once the teeth were hidden again, the green stub began to shift, until it took the form of a rabbit. The color suddenly painted itself into the rabbit model, and the creature Karma was walking toward was shown.
'Wow, that was close' Karma thought to himself. He started to walk away from the monster he had just encountered, shaking his head. Karma was hoping that retrieving this sword would be easier than the sword of Purity, but it wasn't looking up so far.
Karma eventually walked into a clearing, and as he looked out he could recognize the roofs of houses. 'Finally, civilization' Karma thought to himself. He walked over to the village and was surprised to not see a lot of people.
The few people he did see looked at him like they had seen an alien, which they technically had. Karma looked around and also noticed that the village wasn't in the best condition. It paled in comparison to the streets of Aquelios, and even Widow's Valley. Though Karma considered that he didn't know the condition of most villages on other planets, seeing as he lived with royalty for a while.
Karma walked up to an older-looking woman.
"Excuse me, do you know why there aren't a lot of people around?" Karma asked. The lady looked at him confused.
"You're not from around here?" she asked, confused. Karma opened his mouth to reply but wasn't able to as a shrill scream cut him off.
Karma quickly turned around and ran toward the direction of the noise. Everyone that was outside, and some people that were previously inside, rushed to the noise as well. When Karma got there, he gasped. A girl that looked about 16, who seemed to be the source of the scream, was standing over an older man.
The older man was lying on the ground unconscious, with a big claw mark on his chest, that was oozing with a green substance. The girl had tears in her eyes, and the villagers looked down in sorrow. 'Why is no one going to help him?' Karma thought to himself. The wound was definitely infected and would cause substantial damage if not cleaned.
'He could die' Karma thought frantically. With no one moving in the crowd, Karma dashed forward, holding his hand near his hilt. Inside the sheath, his sword started to glow a bright green, and pure water started to form around Karma's hand. All eyes were on him, as Karma purified the man's wound, moving quickly as he removed a claw fragment.
Gathering the pure water, Karma cleaned the wound, and as he finished, he disposed of the poisoned water. Karma looked up at the crowd of villagers that were looking at him with awe.
"I have disinfected his wound, but we need to patch the scar up to stop the bleeding. Someone get a bed for this man. Are there any doctors in this village?" Karma asked. An older woman stepped out of the crowd and raised her hand.
"Good, you should know how to do this stuff better than I can, please save this man," Karma asked. The woman nodded and left the crowd.
Karma got up, and stepped away from the man, and put his hand on the crying girl.
"Don't worry, he'll make it through this," Karma said, before walking away. He didn't know what caused that wound, but he didn't want to meet it. That poison was seriously lethal, and Karma couldn't even fully remove it. He started to tap his foot. This sword seemed like it was going to be a real pain.
Lost in thought, Karma didn't realize a woman that seemed to be in her early twenties trying to call for his attention. She had chocolate-brown hair, with hazel eyes. Her hair was made in a bun.
"Hello!" the woman yelled. Karma snapped out of his thoughts and looked toward the woman.
"I'm sorry, yes?" Karma asked.
"You need to come with me," she said determinedly. Karma looked at her confused.
"I don't need to," he said, not liking the attitude of this lady. The woman had a pleading look in her eyes.
"Please," she said. Karma sighed.
"Let's go," he replied. The woman smiled, and Karma began to follow her.
"So who are you?" she asked while they walked.
"Karma, and you?" Karma replied.
"Dara names Dara Chisl- I mean Stal. I'm Dara Stal," she stuttered out, blushing a bright red.
"Ok then. So Ms. Stal, where are we going, because I certainly don't know?" Karma asked looking around. All of the villagers were staring at him, and to say it was making him uncomfortable was an understatement.
"Well Karma, we are heading to the medical ward, I don't know what you did, but it's something that could help us tremendously," Dara said, continuing to walk. Karma did not say anything. 'Maybe this will help me with the sword' he thought to himself.
After an awkward amount of silence, Karma and Dara arrived at the medical ward. Dara entered, with Karma behind her. Karma's eyes widened as he looked at the crowded medical ward. The medical beds were filled, with a variety of different patients. All of them had an oozing wound, and their health was rapidly decreasing.
Dara opened her mouth to speak but stopped when Karma held out a finger. Karma raised his hands out to the ward and closed his eyes. His sword began to glow light green, and when Karma opened his eyes, his eyes were glowing. The pure water started to form around him. The water began to move around the room, going up to a patient and surrounding their wound.
Karma continued to concentrate, as he healed the patients, clearing out the poison from the wound. As soon as he finished, he got rid of the water he used.
"Patch those wounds up!" Karma yelled, shocking the doctors to get back to work. Karma looked at Dara.
"Can you lead me to the person in charge?" Karma asked. Dara nodded, and she led him into a new building, one several times bigger.
Karma walked inside and was greeted by a young man, with blonde hair. His eyes were a golden color, and he was wearing a dazzling smile. Dara turned 10 shades more red at the sight of them.
"You must be the man who healed the villagers, A pleasure to meet you, my name is Finn Chislo," the man said, holding out his hand. 'Chislo huh, the last name Dara was about to give herself' Karma thought to himself chuckling.
"Karma, pleasure to meet you," he replied, shaking Finn's hand.
"I assume you are here to talk to the chief?" Finn asked, pointing to a door. "He's in there".
Karma gave him a smile and opened the door. Dara followed him. Finn gave her a little wave, and Dara shyly returned it. Karma walked inside and was greeted by an older man in a chair. The man smiled.
"Greetings, I am the chief of Venus Village, my name is Echer," the man said, holding out his hand. Karma took it.
"My name's Karma," he said, shaking the chief's hands. "If I may be straightforward, it seems your village has a problem," Karma said letting go of the chief's hand.
Echer let out a sigh.
"Yes, the swamp terrain surrounding the village is being poisoned, and terrible creatures are being bred there. Our water source is poisoned, so we barely have any clean water, and the monsters are highly poisonous, and have been attacking the hunters, so our food supply is lacking. I'm afraid that soon, our village will collapse," he said.
Karma out his hand to his chin and thought for a second.
"I think I can help," Karma decided. Everyone in the room, Echer, Dara, and Finn looked at Karma surprised.
"How?" Echer said surprised. Karma reached for his hilt and pulled out the sword of purity.
"What is that?" Dara asked. Finn's eyes widened.
"The sword of purity," he whispered. Karma nodded.
"And from what I can gather, the sword of impurity is the cause of your issues," he concluded. "I can use the sword I have to remove it from your planet, then I will have my sword, and your village should be fine
Echer nodded.
"That should be fine, we really are grateful for your assistance," he said. Karma shook his head.
"It's no problem, I will do what I can," Karma said, before sheathing his blade. Karma was about to walk out before the chief stopped him.
"Wait, you should bring along some of the villagers. They know the terrain, and creatures, and could be of great assistance. Karma was about to object before he remembered the creature he ran into before he got there. 'I would be missing an arm if I had jumped a second later he thought to himself.
"Fine, but only three, and I'm picking them," Karma said, before leaving the room. 'Seems like I will be on a makeshift quest' he thought to himself. 'At least this was something I decided to do, and was not forced to do by some prophecy'.
As soon as Karma left the room, he vapor traveled out of the house, and out into the swamp near the village. 'Let's do a little scouting before we go to get the sword' Karma thought to himself.
He walked through the swamp for a while, before hearing a quiet noise. Karma turned around to see the small bunny he had seen earlier. Karma laughed.
"If you think I am going to fall for the same trick twice, you have another thing com-" but he wasn't able to finish that sentence, when he heard another noise, and saw another bunny. Then another, and then another. Soon, five of the bunnies surrounded Karma. 'Uh oh,' he thought to himself before the ground began to shake.
Five heads, each having mouths filled with razor-sharp teeth, raised from the ground under the bunnies. The bunnies lost their color, and changed into a bub, inside the head's mouth. The heads were made of a vine-like material, and had no features other than its mouth. The heads were easily the size of a lion each and were connected by long tendrils of vines, that all connected to one body. The body was rooted down into the ground and was a bulb that seemed pretty solid. 'Great, so it's a hydra but worse,' Karma thought, reaching for his sword.
He unsheathed his weapon and got into position. 'Five heads, one body, and I don't know if those heads regrow' Karma thought pessimistically. He shook his head. He had dealt with the unknown before. This time wouldn't be any different. The first head in front of him opened his jaw wide and lunged at him. Karma leaped away. While midair, another head bit at him, which Karma promptly dodged by hopping on the vapor in the air. The heads continued to barrage him, and Karma was having a harder time keeping up.
One of the heads knocked the sword of purity out of his hand before he could strike, and another swallowed it. 'I'm so screwed' Karma thought frantically. Another head noticed his lack of weapon and lunged at him. Karma pointed his finger at the beast and shot a steam bullet, which halted its movements. Another head opened its jaws to bite Karma in its place, and Karma didn't have any time to form a bullet, so he put his arms up in defense.
Right before the collision, the head stopped. Karma used the vapor to stand up midair and looked at the monster confused. Karma looked down and saw an unknown figure stabbing the bulb of the monster with a long pole. The monster began to wilt, and quickly turned into the waist, falling onto the swamp floor. Karma hopped down and reached the ground.
Karma walked toward the figure, and recognized a man in his early twenties, with long black hair, and murky green eyes. He pulled his spear out of the bulb and wiped the 'blood' of the beast off of his pole.
"What was that?" Karma asked.
"A polytrapus," the man said
"Thanks for the help," Karma said thanking the man.
"Y-yeah," the man said, avoiding eye contact. 'Guess he isn't the best with people' Karma thought to himself.
"My name is Karma. What is yours?" Karma asked.
"My name is Gonen," the man said.
"Ok Gonen, nice to meet you," Karma said holding out his hand. Gonen reluctantly took it.
"So what are you doing out here, you do know it's dangerous?" Gonen asked. Karma chuckled while rubbing the back of his neck.
"I know, I just needed to do some scouting," Karma said. Gonen looked at him with a confused expression.
"Scouting?" he asked. Karma thought for a moment.
"Hey, I haven't seen you around the village, where do you live?" Karma asked. Gonen's face darkened.
"I… don't live in the village," Gonen said looking away. Karma was confused. Why didn't he live in the village? It seemed like a touchy subject for Gonen, so Karma decided not to ask.
"Well then, can I come with you to your home?" Karma asked, walking over and picking up his sword, and putting it back into his sheath on the back of his waist.
"I guess," Gonen said, putting the pole on his back, and walking away. Karma started to follow him.
"So what are you doing out here? It doesn't look like you are from around here," Gonen asked, looking down at Karma's feet that were negating the murky water around them.
"I came here from a different planet. I was scouting around because I am about to help the village with their problem," Karma said.
Gonen looked at Karma surprised.
"You know the cause of the poisoning and strange creatures?" Gonen asked. Karma nodded.
"And I'm going to take care of it, though I'm going to bring some people along with me, seeing as you guys know the creatures and terrain better than I do," Karma said.
"Hmm," Gonen said.
"Do you want to come with me? You got me out of a real pickle a little while ago, I bet you would be a great help," Karma said, looking at Gonen pleadingly.
"You said more than one person? I can't, the villagers don't like me very well," Gonen said. Karma shook his head.
"Who cares about what the villagers think, I think you could be a big help," Karma said, trying to convince Gonen. The man hadn't hesitated to help Karma, and he could tell that Gonen was a good person. It would be good to at least have one person he could trust on his team. He couldn't read Fin, and Dara didn't make the best first impression.
"I will think about it," Gonen replied, ending the conversation. The rest of the walk was silent, until Karma and Gonen reached a small hut in the swamp, with wooden spikes surrounding it. Gonen opened the spiked fence and motioned for Karma to walk inside. Karma looked around in the small hut. It was of good condition, and Gonen had many weapons lining the walls.
"Looks like you are prepared," Karma said aloud.
"Have been living out here for a while, I have to be prepared," Gonen said, closing the hut doors. Karma decided not to comment on that statement. The two chatted for a while, drinking some tea that Gonen had prepared. After a while, Karma noticed that it was becoming late.
"I should probably get going now. It was nice talking to you. I hope you consider what I said," Karma said, getting up. Gonen smiled.
"Yeah, it was nice talking to you, I hope we can do it again," he said, opening the door for Karma.
"I'll come by your hut tomorrow," Karma said, stepping outside. Gonen nodded.
"See you then," Gonen said.
"See you soon".
Early the next morning, Karma got up from his makeshift bed on top of a hill overlooking the village. Karma jumped toward the village and looked around for chief Echer. Karma found him on top of a stepping stool, with a crowd gathered around him.
"...and so this brave soul will travel through the murky swamp to retrieve the legendary sword of impurity, and save our village," the chief said, sending the crowd into an uproar. Echer looked around and noticed Karma.
"Now, this man will pick his companions to go on this dangerous quest with him," he said, pointing to Karma. Everyone looked at him expectantly. 'Way to put me on the spot' Karma thought to himself.
"I already have one member in mind, I just need two more," Karma announced. The villagers started all speaking at once. Karma spotted Dara in the crowd.
"Dara would you be fine coming along on this quest with me?" Karma asked. Dara nodded.
"It would be my honor," she announced. Dara walked up to Karma. 'At least she is a familiar face' Karma thought.
"You should pick Finn!" a villager in the crowd yelled. The villagers around him started to agree.
"Yeah, Finn is good with this type of stuff!" another yelled. All at once, people started to recommend Fin, adding on a word of praise with it. 'I guess he is popular' Karma thought to himself.
"Oh no, I'm not as good as you guys say," Finn said waving his hands.
"Finn would you be fine coming with me?" Karma asked. Finn looked around at the expectant gazes of his peers.
"I guess so," he said, sighing. The crowd erupted in cheers, and Finn walked up to stand next to Karma.
"Who is your last member?" Echer asked. Karma was about to reply when he recalled Gonen saying that he wasn't well-liked by the villagers. 'I'll have to figure that out later' Karma thought to himself.
"It's ok, I know where to find him, I will handle it," Karma said. The chief looked like he wanted to say more, but decided against it.
"Dara and Finn, can you guys start gathering supplies, and meet me near the entrance of the swamp. I'll go grab our last member," Karma said. The two nodded and headed off. Karma vapor traveled to Gonen's hut.
He knocked on the door, and Gonen opened it.
"You coming?" Karma asked. Gonen looked like he was having an internal conflict.
"I'm not sure, I can't decide," Gonen said, shaking his head.
"Well I'll decide for you, let's go," Karma said pointing away from the hut.
"Fine then," Gonen answered, sighing. Karma smiled, and the two walked to the meet location.
When the two there, they were greeted by Finn and Dara.
"Gonen!" Dara said surprised. She didn't sound very happy. Finn didn't say anything but was looking at Gonen intently.
"He's our third member, and if you have anything against it, talk to me," Karma said, grabbing one of the bags of supplies. Dara huffed but didn't make any further complaints. Everyone grabbed some supplies, and Karma grabbed his sword and set it into the water.
"I'm going to be using my sword to see the impurity levels of the water. The more impure it is, the closer we are to the sword," Karma explained, while the water around the sword started to glow a light green.
"Well then, let's go!"
(Hey it is me again. You are probably sick and tired of what I have to say, and this isn't necessarily important so you could skip but... I thought I would list down all of Karma's current abilities just so you can look at it. This is of course up to chapter 15, and this won't stay the same forever, because that would be boring, so of course, he is gonna get some more new abilities. Well, here they are. His abilities, and what he can do with them.
Hydrokinesis:
Quick-Step - he can quickly leap on a board of condensed water vapor to freely move around mid-air
Water Manipulation - just the basic willing water to do what he wants, as for attack or defense
Steam Bullet - a move he created while in Widow's Valley, Karma can launch a steam-filled water bullet that explodes on contact
Enhancement - can use water, or water vapor to enhance his strength, speed, agility, and stamina, as well as heal wounds
Sword of Purity:
Healing - can use the pure water to heal normal, and poisoned wounds
Sword Fighting - Karma can use his sword to fight, obviously
Infusion - Karma can infuse any of his Hydrokenisis attacks with pure water, though he hasn't done much with that yet
Tremor:
Quakes - Karma hasn't done much with this ability yet, but he can cause the ground around him to shake, though he can't control it yet.
Well, that's all folks, I hope you stay tuned for chapter 16, Glue.)
