(It is the moment we have been waiting for. A new chapter. Funny thing, I have already written this chapter before the hiatus but was unhappy with how it ended up and decided not to post it yet. That is when I took a ... momentary vacation. I actually rewrote this chapter, with some elements of the old chapter still in it. And now that I actually edit my stories (I'll go back and edit my previous chapters) it should be an improvement.
I am actually really excited for this arc. I have been waiting to write it, and with my newfound fanfiction powers, I can write it the way I want to. I think you guys will also like this arc ;)
With that in mind please enjoy chapter 22, Lone Wolf)
Lone Wolf
Karma POV:
Previously:
Karma didn't have any specific goals right now, unlike when he left Willow's Valley. 'I guess I'll just explore until I find something interesting. Knowing my luck, I'll find some planet in danger of being destroyed on my first try' Karma thought jokingly. He started to run toward a large water source he knew a few miles away.
As Karma ran off, he didn't notice a hooded figure watching him from the shadows of the trees. The figure smiled, before walking off, and raising his hand. A portal formed in front of him, and the man walked into it, leaving the forest, with a large grin on his face.
Present:
Soft grass. Cool wind. The melody of different chirps and squeaks filled the forest.
'What a relaxing place' Karma thought to himself as he slowly walked through the trees of the planet he had arrived on. Contrary to Earth's forest, the tree's leaves were a deep blue color, with lilac trunks. The grass, or what he assumed to be grass, was a similar color to the leaves. The trees were littered with spherical fruit that had all sorts of colors splattered on their surface. Karma created a platform of condensed water vapor to reach up, and pick off the fruits.
Moving the fruit around in his hand, the demigod didn't notice anything strange about it and decided to pocket it for later.
'Never know when I might need a weirdly colored berry,' Karma thought to himself, slightly chuckling while distant memories of him and Aubree on her farm flooded into his mind. Putting it in a safe place Karma continued to look around.
A few more minutes of wandering awarded him with an encounter with a weird dog-like creature running around. He smiled as he got to pet the furry beast before it scampered off into the bushes.
'Definitely in my top 5 planets' the demigod thought to himself, smiling. The atmosphere was so relaxing, and the serene environment was starting to make him feel drowsy. It was starting to get late, and he hadn't gone to sleep yet thanks to the Abyssal Command's attack. It was still bright out, but Karma could tell that it wasn't going to be the case soon.
His eyes fluttering close, Karma found a nice tree branch to sleep on and was about to enter the realm of dreams when an ear-splitting howl shot through the area. He quickly covered his ears, falling off of his branch in the process. The demigod looked toward the direction of the noise and sighed.
"I did say I wanted an adventure," Karma said to himself shrugging, before rushing to the noise. He leaped from tree to tree, readying his blades on his sides. He spread out his senses, using the water vapor to feel his surroundings. In a field, right outside the forest, he could feel the presence of a group of people. Four… no five humanoids had varying weapons, each of which was being aimed at the other people in the field.
Well if you could call them people. A large creature had its teeth bared at the attackers. Karma could feel the injuries on the beast, and inside its tail was a small person.
Karma leaped from the branch and landed in the middle of the two parties. He looked around, now being able to really get a look at them. The group of people was five purple men. They had horns protruding from their forehead, and their arms had diamond-shaped splotches of a darker shade of purple.
The creature turned out to be a stark white wolf, with glowing blue eyes. Its tail was glowing a similar blue color. The wolf was at least two times the size of Ms. O Leary. He couldn't see who was in the fluffy tail of the beast, but that wasn't of concern right now.
"Uh hi….. Is there something wrong here?" Karma asked, sheathing his Impurity blade. If he had to fight, he most likely wouldn't have to go all out, so he only held his Purity blade. The men looked at each other before starting to talk in a language Karma had never heard before. Granted, as large as the universe was there was no way he could know every language, but he had learned a few. On the plus side, lots of planets shared a language.
The men seemed to have come to an agreement on something, and one of the men charged. Karma, surprised, barely dodged the swing of the ax he was carrying.
"Hey hey, hold on a sec! We don't have to fight!" Karma yelled, dodging attack after attack. It seemed that the demigod's attempt at peace wasn't working, so instead, he raised his sword, quickly smacking the man on the head with the dull side of the blade. The man fell instantly, crumpling onto the ground.
The other four men looked shocked, seemingly surprised at how little effort it took to incapacitate one of their own. The action seemed to anger them, as all four of the men were charging at the demigod with their respective weapons. Karma blocked a pitchfork to the stomach and kicked the man in the chest. While he stumbled back Karma threw a fist at the same man's stomach, enhancing the punch, knocking him out. The demigod ducked, dodging a shovel. He swept the attacker's feet before he hit him with his sword's dull side.
With three men down and two to go Karma beckoned the others forward. Though he could not understand what they were saying, he could recognize that one of the men was trying to convince the other that they should retreat. The man he was trying to convince yelled it off and charged at Karma with his pitchfork. Karma sighed, before blocking another attack. The man was definitely better at fighting than the other three Karma had taken care of, but his skill was still nothing close to his own.
In one fluid motion, Karma stuck his sword between the tines (A/N for those of you who don't know, a tine is the stabby part of the fork) of his weapon and twisted, knocking the pitchfork out of the man's hand. Now weaponless, Karma smashed the hilt into the man's gut, and headbutted him, making him fall to the ground unconscious.
Karma looked up gently rubbing his head and was surprised to see the last attacker was nowhere to be seen. Karma extended his senses, and still couldn't feel any trace of him.
`Guess he got away,' Karma thought to himself. The demigod turned around to face the remaining party. The large wolf started to unfurl its tail, revealing a small child with four puncture wounds on her shoulder.
'The pitchfork' Karma realizes.
The girl herself looked about eight or nine, and from what he could see it seems she passed out from shock. He rushed over to the girl, momentarily forgetting about the wolf bigger than a minivan. He held out the purity sword and called upon its healing properties. The wolf bared its fangs at the weapon, before noticing the floating orbs of purity floating out of the sword. The orbs floated to the wounds and started to swirl around them. The injury started to clean up.
'What kind of psychos try to harm a little girl' Karma thought furiously, as he continued to heal the wounds. The color started to return to the girl's face, and Karma took this time to observe her.
The girl had faint green skin, and brown hair, and looked vaguely like a nymph, without the pointy ears. Karma also noticed antlers coming from the girl's head, and the demigod had half the mind to try to tug on them, and see if they were real or not. Of course, he didn't, he was busy trying to make sure she was going to be ok, and even if he wasn't there was a very large wolf that was very protective of the child.
Karma finished cleaning up the wounds and speeding up the healing process when the girl's eyes began to open.
"Je-Jenfir?" the girl asked weakly. Karma reached into his pocket and handed her the multicolored fruit.
"Here, eat this and relax," the demigod said softly. The girl nodded, taking a couple of bites into the fruit before shutting her eyes once again.
Karma turned to the wolf.
"Is there somewhere I can take her?" Karma asked. The wolf looked at him with its blue eyes for a second, before gently grabbing the little girl in its jaws, turning around, and starting to leave.
'I guess that means follow me' Karma thought to himself as he started to follow the large wolf.
As they walked Karma turned to admire the scenery once again.
With how long the fight took, and what time he had arrived, the sun was beginning to set. As the natural light started to disperse, the demigod's eyes widened. The blue leaves on the trees started to glow, and the grass started to light up as well. Small spheres glowing turquoise lights hovered around the ground.
Karma's mouth opened wide as he stared at the beautiful scenery. Of all the planets he had seen so far, this one was by far the most beautiful. The demigod hesitantly reached out to one of the floating spheres and felt a tickling warmth rub his body.
As they continued to walk Karma enjoyed the feeling of warmth that surrounded him, and subsequently failed to notice that they had arrived at their location. The wolf made a small noise snapping the demigod out of his stupor.
"We're here?" Karma asked, looking around. In front of him stood a cave, deep enough that the natural lights around them weren't enough to illuminate the inside. He looked to the wolf to confirm one more time but noticed that the beast was already trudging towards the entrance.
Karma reluctantly followed, trying not to trip on the hidden rocks, with only the wolf's glowing blue eyes to light up the path. He created some glowing orbs of water to make it easier to see and found that the path through the cave led to a room of sorts. There was a rug made of some sort of furry creature, and supplies littered the ground.
He found a makeshift bed in one of the corners, and a large open space right next to it.
'Has she been living here?' Karma wondered. He really hoped it wasn't the case. The wolf gently laid the little girl on the bed and walked up to the large open space. It dropped to the ground with a thud and curled up.
"Where am I going to sleep though?" Karma asked hesitantly. Either the wolf ignored him, or had already fallen asleep, as he got no response.
Karma sighed and began to position himself. He wasn't going to get a good night's sleep, but he could at least try not to have a bad one. Luckily with the hectic events of the day, it wasn't that hard to fall asleep. As his eyes began to close, everything faded to black.
'Good luck future me' Karma thought to himself.
As Karma awoke he could hear his back popping.
'Not a good idea to sleep on a pile of rocks' Karma thought to himself as he began to stretch. As his eyes fully opened he came face to face with slightly glowing golden eyes. The demigod closed his eyes and opened them again wondering….
'Nope they are still there' he thought to himself.
"Hi," Karma said softly, trying not to scare the owner of the golden eyes. Their face quickly zoomed out of Karma's and began to rapidly fire words. Words the demigod couldn't understand. As he began to try to think of a way to convey to the girl that he couldn't understand her, the wolf began to wake up.
As the girl noticed the wolf, she began to adamantly talk to it. As Karma's eyes turned to the wolf, he found it staring at him. Its eyes flashing blue for a second before it looked away. Karma's head started to feel heavy before the feeling disappeared.
'Wonder what that was about' Karma wondered to himself.
"-haven't seen another person in a while and I really hope that he's good because he has pretty eyes and he hasn't even tried to hurt me so I hope he could be my friend because playing would be a lot more fun with another person and did you know that-" the girl continued to talk, and Karma's eyes snapped to her as he began to understand what she was saying. She seemed to notice the eyes on her and the flood of words coming from her mouth stopped.
"Hello?" the girl asked, waving her hands in front of Karma's face.
"Hi," Karma replied. The girl's eyes widened, and she quickly ran behind the large wolf.
'But she was just waving her hand over my face,' Karma thought to himself. The wolf used its large tail to push the girl towards Karma. She sent a betrayed look to the wolf, before looking at Karma nervously. With the girl being several feet shorter than him, he bent down and held out his hand.
"Hey, I am Karma, who might you be?" Karma asked. The girl eyed his hand suspiciously before taking it.
"M-My name is E-Esme," the girl said, taking his hand. Karma smiled gently.
"Nice to meet you, Esme," he greeted, shaking her hand. This seemed to please the girl because her face soon twisted into a smile.
"Are you a nice person, because you haven't tried to hurt me and Marshmallow usually beats up the bad guys?" she asked. Karma looked at her questioningly.
"Marshmallow?" he asked, confused. The girl smiled and pointed to the large wolf.
"That's Marshmallow. Say hi Marshmallow," she said. The wolf looked from Esme to Karma and snorted.
'A large wolf with an attitude, that has the name of a sugary treat. Why not?'
"Well Esme I'd like to say that I will in no way hurt you," the demigod told her. Esme nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer.
"Can you tell me why these people want to hurt you?"
Esme looked away, before looking back at our hero.
"T-they say I'm b-bad and that I will br-bring a cat-o-phee," Esme said stuttering through her sentence.
"A catastrophe?" Karma asked. Esme nodded.
"It seems you don't need my supervision, seeing that Marshmallow" Karma shook his head when he said that "is with you, but I promise you I will be back ok, I need to find some things". Esme nodded, and walked over to Marshmallow, snuggling into his fur.
"See you later Esme," Karma said waving.
"See you later Mr. Karma," Esme said, her voice muffled by the wolf's fur. Karma smiled and walked out of the cave to the entrance. He didn't know where those men came from, but from the look of their weapons and clothes, they lived somewhere populated. He had efficiant tracking abilities thanks to the vapor in the air, but it was tiring, and he didn't know how far he would be looking. Instead, he decided that he would go back to the spot he had fought the men, and try to retrace their steps. They couldn't have gone that far, right?
Karma was pissed off. The men were gone, which was fine, but they didn't leave any tracks. He could see where they laid unconscious, and when they got up, they walked around a little bit near the area, but then the trails just stopped. Could they fly? He hadn't seen any wings on them.
He sighed and closed his eyes.
'Tiring option it is then' Karma thought to himself, as he started to spread out his senses. He could feel trees, and more trees, and another tree, and then oh! Nope, just another tree. He was starting to get irritated at the lack of progress he was making. Did the men really travel that far for this one girl? Multiple structures and people suddenly flooded his senses.
'Bingo' he thought to himself, as he mentally pinpointed the direction he would need to head to get there.
Karma grinned, as he stretched his body. He started to run to the village, jumping on top of the trees to jump from tree to tree. He didn't want to waste any time, but it was extremely difficult to vapor travel to a spot he had never been before or didn't really know what it looked like, and what was the harm and having a good run/jump.
Mindless activities such as running leave time to think, and think Karma did. He knew there were some messed up things in the universe, but what could cause people to want to kill a little kid. One that seemed extremely kind too.
They said she would bring a catastrophe, but what kind. Was it speculation, a prophecy? Karma frowned a little at the thought of prophecies. He would hate for Esme to be caught up in one of those.
The demigod decided that the friendly attempt would most likely not be very effective if last time was anything to go by.
Karma knew exactly what he needed, and reached into his vapor. The cloak that Hades had gifted him before he left was floating around there. Karma had forgotten all about the cloak when he left earth and had carried it around with him, but had never used it. While at Willow's Valley during his vacation, he had given it to Aubree, hoping she could change the design. She had exceptional sewing skills, but he guessed that was because she had to live by herself for a lot of her childhood.
The fabric allowed him to blend into the dark, and it could be used to hide his identity, so it could be very useful during missions that he needed to stay hidden, or moments where he just didn't want people to know who he was.
Karma applied the clothes onto himself and smiled. He had changed to robe into assassin-like clothes. There was a mask that came from the suit and covered his nose and mouth. The rest of his body was also covered in pitch dark clothes, with fingerless gloves. His steam bullet worked better on his unclothed finger. He also had black pads of thin armor for protection.
With his black hair and black clothes, he could easily slip into the shadows and remain unseen. He had practiced his stealth skills while on vacation as well, and he thought he could do decently. Paired with his ability to vapor travel, Karma thought he could make a formidable spy.
Karma leaped from shadow to shadow, making sure to stay out of the villagers' line of sight. The village was a lively one, with people of all ages moving around. Little children ran around playing, while parents watched from a distance. Trades were being made, and businesses were selling their products. The villagers themselves have similar features. Purple skin and horns on their foreheads. Some of the villagers had different horns, and different hair colors, but most of them looked about the same.
'Looks peaceful' Karma thought to himself as he continued to move. Nothing there screamed 'I want to murder children' but you never know what is hiding under the surface. Karma continued to study the villagers when their demeanor suddenly changed. Coming out of a large building was a robed figure, with two large figures flanking them. Everyone turned to look at them. Karma's eyes followed.
"Greetings all," a feminine voice called out. Everyone in the vicinity bowed, and Karma watched as the hooded figure took off the hood to show an elderly woman. As she walked away from the entrance, more people left the building. The woman walked into the central plaza, and the people filing out of the building followed.
"The Council has just had a meeting regarding Othreas, and our representative has come to give out the information from the discussed topics". The elderly woman pointed to a young man and beckoned her hand. The man walked up to the center, the crowd watching expectantly.
"Thank you mother," the young man said politely before turning to the crowd.
"As you all know Othreas, or the end of all worlds, has fallen upon our humble planet, threatening to destroy it". At those words, the crowd gasped, and the young man held up his hand to silence them.
"Othreas is a curse. One that falls upon a child of fate. One such child is this planet. She seems to be about eight or nine and has green skin and antlers. Our groups are trying to track her down, and exterminate her, which is the only way to end the curse, and to save our planet".
The crowd began to talk, and the young man made a signal to silence them once again.
"You have my word that we will save this planet, and in case our endeavors shall fail we have called upon some help, so rest assured that we will live through this". At the end of his speech, the crowd erupted in cheers. The man smiled and waved as the crowd slowly dispersed. Everyone was talking loudly, but Karma could barely hear them.
Esme. Esme was that child of fate. Destined to bring upon the end of this planet, and the lifeforms on it.
'This isn't good' Karma thought to himself and vapor traveled to a different shadow closer away from people and started to head away from the village. He was used to the normal world-ending threat, but for the enemy to be an ally. Not an old one, but a current one. He wasn't sure what to do.
Karma ran to the cave in a daze and didn't really notice he had arrived until he was face to face with a big furry tail.
"Hey Marshmallow," Karma greeted, and the wolf grunted in response.
"Hey, Mr. Karma!" Esme yelled, popping out from Marshmallow's fur.
"Hey Esme," Karma said softly, rubbing the spot on the girl's head that was between her antlers.
"Are you ok?" Esme asked. The demigod looked at her softly.
"I'm…..I'm not sure," Karma said. Esme stared into Karma's eyes for a second, before squeezing him into a hug.
"Fmmll Mm," Esme said into his shirt.
"What?" Karma asked, giggling.
"Follow me," Esme repeated before walking away from the demigod. Karma began to follow, and Marshmallow joined him.
After about a minute Esme suddenly stopped and pointed. Karma looked in the direction of her finger, and his eyes widened as he took in the sigh. A waterfall stood before them, surrounding a flat rock that was just above the crystal clear water below it.
"This is my happy spot," Esme told Karma, motioning toward the rock. Karma walked over to the rock and gently sat down, closing his eyes. The sound of rushing water flooded his senses, and the cool water brushed against his skin.
"You were nice to me, so you can borrow my happy spot though I use it a lot so you have to share I don't know-," as Esme continued to speak Karma opened his eyes and stared at her.
A large number of lives were at stake, and an entire planet could face destruction, and he isn't sure what he can do to stop it. But people are trying to kill a little girl. One that has barely even lived her life yet. One so full of joy and kindness that she would offer up her sacred space to a stranger just because they seemed down.
Karma wasn't sure what he could do, but he knew one thing. That he wasn't going to let this girl die. That he was going to do everything in his power to make sure that no lives would be taken. That everyone can walk away from this happy and free.
'I'll save you Esme' Karma vowed to himself, before closing his eyes once again and enjoying the sounds.
(The first chapter for the newest arc. A lot of promise is in this chapter. The writing of this arc is taking longer than anticipated, and my summer has been a lot busier than I thought it would be, so I decided to post the first chapter now. There s nothing I need to change in it, so I hope you enjoy it. Also, I won't be able to post another chapter, my days are getting busier.
I was supposed to post this yesterday but then forgot so... yeah. I don't know if there will be a chapter next Monday, but I'll work to try to make it happen. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and stay tuned for chapter 23, Day by Day, Play by Play.
Reviews are appreciated.)
