1st of Roarkian , 200 years after the Coming of Estarra.

She ignored the pain and kept walking. Years ago, she would have sat and let
her feet rest, and probably cried at the thought of the kind of life she had
taken up. But this was not those years ago, and she continued walking on
blistered feet, to the nearest shop.
After some time of walking on the path of the teacher, she reached The Last
Chance Trading Post. Bob, the owner watched her walk in.
"Ah, Karla, what will it be this time?" he said, recognizing her.
"Fishcakes, two. Thats all. Ever consider changing your prices? They taste
horrible." She grumbled, giving him the gold for two fishcakes.
"With how far everything else is out there, I make good business." He pocketed
his gold and wave his hand, ignoring her grumbles.
"Then you should get better food. Carrion would be better." She grinned
looking at him.
"Out of my shop, shoo." He said, taking in what she meant.
"Oh, old man, you're too little meat, and too much fat to eat anyways." She
smirked and turned away, the sarcasm in her voice lifted his worry.
Karla walked out and bit into the fishcake, and managed to force herself not
to gag. Like all the other times though, she finished the fishcakes outside
the shop. As she turned to walk to Magnagora, someone ran into her, and sent
them both flying on the ground. She growled and jumped up.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! You see, I'm trying to find--"
"I don't care, next time, I'll kill you if you do it again. Don't get in my
way." Karla hissed, and spat close to the merian that was still on the ground.
Karla threw a card, with the image of a hermit, onto the ground, blinding
light shot from the ground to envelop her and she was gone.

"Karla, I have something to ask of you." The Emperor of Magnagora asked.
Karla nodded her head, tilting it curiously. "Yes, Emperor?"
"Something is going on in Celest, and we need information."
Karla took time to think, turning the words around in her mind. "You want a
spy?" She grinned evily.
"Something of the sort, and we know you can pull it off." He said nodding his
head in agreement.
"Okay, I'll do it." She frowned. "Just make sure you guys are on me
constantly. I may have to raid and things of the sort," She looked around
before adding "but don't successfully kill me."
"Thank you. Now, about how to get in touch with us..."

"So she threatened you? Who was she?" Cael asked Mandy. Anger glowed from
him like a powerstone's glow.
"Uhm..I'm not sure, she looked familiar though..." Mandy frowned. "She's
Mugwump, Cael. Don't even bother, she isn't worth the trouble. She'd just
stick her Archdemon on you."
"And we're Merian Celestines. We could take her." Cael murmured. "You don't
seem to give our race much credit." He looked away.
"It's not that...I think..Maybe it wasn't just coincidence that I ran into
her. Maybe Fate decided she could help me somehow."
"How?" He tensed, and looked up.
"She could help me find my sister.." Mandy looked away. "Oh, she did look
familiar Cael. I don't know what it was, I'd say her eyes reminded me of my
sister somehow. But, my sister was human, and at the time so was I." Her voice
was low, so only Cael could hear her. "I don't want to talk here, Cael, the Pool
of Stars has too many strangers walking by."
He nodded and beckoned to her. "Let's go to my manse."
Mandy followed Cael up to the upper deck of the Pool of Stars, and in, to the
portals of New Celest. Once in his manse, she settled in a rocking chair,
hoping to clear her mind.
"Well..I just know she'll help somehow. I can feel it." Her eyes filled with
hope.
"I don't get it, you were human once?"
"Yes, and my father wanted us to change to Merian. My sister refused, she
enjoyed being human. There are so little now-a-days... Well my father never
gave her a choice, because she didn't want to join Celest either, she said she
wanted to just wander. She didn't like always being pushed around and forced
to believe in what she didn't want to believe."
"What did she want to join?" Cael asked, tilting his head curiously.
"Uhm..I think Serenwilde. I hope... She wasn't bad at all... She just
doesn't believe in what the Church teaches."
Cael narrowed his eyes. "She wanted to join Magnagora then? Or perhaps
Glomdoring?"
"She doesn't..or didn't like Churches, I doubt it. She's not bad. She hardly
spent time in the cities. I would always follow her around, she'd walk to the
forests. But my father didn't want to give her a choice, and so, he cast her
out of the family. And he did it when I was in Celest with my mother. So..We
didn't know where she went, but he said she went gladly. She didn't even tell
him to tell me goodbye." She looked away, not wanting Cael to see her blinking
the tears away from her eyes. "We always got along great..So, see why I can't
let you touch her? Maybe she knows my sister.."
"Or maybe your seeing this due to memories. Because she reminds you of
her..." He said eyeing her suspiciously.

Karla sat there waiting, biting on her lower lip. She had to look nervous.
"You want to join our ranks?" The man sat rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"Yes, sir." Karla shuffled her feet uneasily.
"Well, this is a tough decision, you have done many things against us in the
past. You're well known for it," He peered down at her. She knew he meant the
assassination she had fufilled just the day before.
She managed to open her mouth, before closing it again. Her mind was blank,
it didn't occur to her she needed a reason for the assassination, and she
couldn't say "I was just fufilling what Magnagora told me to."
"But," He intervened in her thoughts. "We are always willing to forgive and
forget."
Big mistake, Buster. She thought to herself. "Oh, thank you!" She quickly
said in excitement.
"First off.. It may take from a day, up to a month to do. And you must
understand, you will be questioned multiple times by many people. Now, do you
need anything else?"
A story filled her mind, and pieces were put together. "I do...About the
other day, uhm.." She looked into his eyes, looking as nervous as she could.
"They wanted me to kill the boy. They gave me no choice, or they would have
thrown me out. And, I didn't want to, but I was afraid of them, thought there
was no where else to go, and so I did it...And while I walked back, I overheard
people talking, and they were talking about Celest's ways, and how Celest was
kind and they would never force someone to kill such a young child. It was
just awful..." The way he died so quickly, that was. He screamed and begged
for his life. But she enjoyed watching him. He wouldn't become a fighter for
Celest. She made sure of that.
She looked at the man, and saw the sympathy in his eyes. Typical. At least
she knew the story made its mark. She waited a moment to let the words sink
in. "I felt so sick afterwards, I nearly killed myself in turn. When Magnagora
learnt of my sympathy, they wanted to kill me for 'being weak' but..." She lied.
"I see..It is not weak to know when you have wronged someone. You will always
live with the guilt of having taken such an innocent life, but we can see to it
that it won't happen again. I need to leave, follow me, I'll bring you to the
Pool of Stars."

Mandy looked west of the Pool of Stars. Shock, fear, and excitement filled
her as she saw the stranger from the day before. She looked around for Cael,
but he had wandered off somewhere. The stranger was walking with Strat. What
was she doing here?
"Hi Strat!" Mandy said, smiling at him.
"Hello Mandy." He smiled back and nodded to the girl next to him, the
stranger.
"Okay, and remember you'll need your sponsor to send me a letter stating they
will sponsor you."
"Oooh." Mandy's eyes grew wide with wonder. "You're joining Celest? So what's
your name?"
Strat blinked at Mandy. "Mandy, this is the famous Karla."
Mandy froze where she stood and paled. "Oh..Really? Cool, so, I'll ask you a
few questions and maybe I can sponsor you?" She asked.
Karla was her sisters name. Even though Karla was a name famous in Magnagora
for raiding and assassinating whoever made her angry, or random people who
Magnagora asked her to take out...She never thought anything of it. But what
if the Karla could have been her sister? But now she knew Karla wasn't her
sister. Karla would have stayed human, or died trying. But there was still a
feeling she had that said stay with her, that made her ask.
"Okay, I'd like that." She smiled at Mandy. It was so unlike her behavior the
day before...
"Okay, follow me!"

Karla swore under her breath. How in the name of Nil did she manage to run
into this fruit? Not that she wasn't doing her fair share of bull. She
figured her story with the boy would have failed, seeing as she has done worse
things than torture novice boys to death. But, if they fell for it, then all
was well on her end. She could have modified the ending a bit if necessary.
But if this girl, Mandy, was going to follow her back and forth, she would have
to let some of the old her come out and show her where her place was.
So there they were, Mandy was sitting in a rocking chair while she sat across
from her at a desk, and neither of them spoke. Mandy... That once had been
her sisters name, but her sister wanted her gone. Her father favoured her, and
said so himself. On her request, he told her to leave the family or change race
to Merian... Because that was the only race her sister wanted. And her sister
had always acted as if her not wanting to go Merian was okay... She decided to
grow up, and kill her family for their actions. Dear ol' Daddy said her mother
didn't even care with the decision. Fine. That would be taken care of, too.
"So, tell me a bit about yourself. Why did you come to Celest instead of
staying in Magnagora? Tell me about your past."
Shoot. She wanted to kick herself. She never thought of what to say about
her past, and she wouldn't let anyone find out her real past. Not even
Magnagora. They never asked about her past.
"Well... I don't know, when Magnagora had me ordered to assassinate the boy
last month... And, something in me told me it was wrong, when I had been
ordered to make sure he was tortured first," Which wasn't true, she did that
bit on her own. She would need to send the Emperor a long letter explaining
what the reason she left was. "It made me sick to my stomach. It was all just
wrong, and it was like I just noticed it was wrong. It never occurred to me
that it was bad...It just did." She shook her head, as if she was unable to
believe what she had finished.
"After you killed the boy was when you noticed it was wrong?" She raised an
eyebrow questioningly.
"I can't explain it.. But yes, it was. I don't really notice what's around
me 'til after I do my job... When I looked down..." She choked down a sob.
This was getting better by the moment. Though, every Magnagora knew she'd
never cry. Ever. After her family threw her out as if she was just a dead
bloody timberwolf, she taught herself not to cry. "I looked around me, and
finally my eyes opened up to what I really was doing..."
"It's okay!" Mandy bounced off the chair and into a comforting embrace in a
second. She tensed. Maybe she was overreacting. She didn't want to be
TOUCHED by these people... And yet, if it worked...
She held her breath and hugged her back. It actually felt good... She'd have
to make sure she never hugged someone again.

Karla grumbled as she walked to the post office. There was too much to write,
and so little time. She couldn't allow a Celestian see her mail her letter.
She looked around. Glomdoring wasn't exactly Magnagora, but it would have to
do for her letters. She pulled out a letter, and began to write. So far, it
was going as planned. The fact that it was all going as planned so easily
irked her.

Emperor,

It's going all as planned. My joining is going smoothly, though it may
take days or months to do. What I'm going to do during those days mainly is
befriend one who seems very important so far. Cael Shaunthin. He seems a hard
one to befriend. He was eyeing me all day while I was in his manse with his
woman Mandy, whom seems to have taken a liking to me. I've been acting as
Celestian as I possibly could. I'll never get used to it, and dislike it very
much. But, with all the acting, it seems to work most of the time, except
around Cael. I believe I will need to watch myself carefully around him. I
have yet to find anything suspicious, but it may be that they are hiding it
well from me. At least they are smart in one way. Good day.

In your service,
Karla Melero

Karla sealed the letter and let the woman attach it to the crow. She nodded
to the woman and walked out.
"Well, well, well. What the Nil are you doing in this forest?" Karla
recognized the voice and spun northward to take a good look at her friend.
"Same with you." Karla responded and pointed southward. "El, lets go to my
manse, I'll explain." This was the one person she would allow to know her
business. "
'I'll follow you." Ellyona said nodding in agreement. "You better not be in
trouble."
"Me? Trouble?" Karla laughed harshly. "I haven't seen you in months, where
have you been?"
"Around. Y'know, doing rouge huntress business." She whistled, and sniffing
around here and there, came her timberwolf.
"Ah."
"To your manse!" She urged Karla. "I'm curious as to how many deaths have
been caused this time."

"Look, we can't allow her to stay in Celest. It's all bad news!" Cael argued.
"Cael..." Mandy struggled to find the right words.
"Blarg, she will destroy us." Cael swore under his breath.
"There is more troubling you than you are giving on." Mandy said defensively.
"I've had dreams, lots of bloodshed. A week after my dreams, she storms
here--"
"She did not storm here, she walked here and asked nicely. You don't give her
very much credit. And, those are just dreams. I dream of jumping off cliffs
sometimes and you don't see me doing it."
"Stop that. You know what I mean, theres some dreams you feel as if they are
meant to give you a meaning. This is one of those dreams."
"You've been studying too much astrology." She said teasingly.
"Blarg, I changed my mind. She won't destroy us...You'll be the one
destroying me." He grumbled.
Her eyes twinkled as she laughed. He leaned forward to nuzzle her, and
smiled.

"So, this Mandy..." Ellyona said slowly.
"She's not her. I'd have recognized her, and killed her." Karla said quickly.
"Have you asked her what her last name was?"
"No..."
"Your afraid to." She said slowly.
"I am not." Karla snapped. "But, that's what I have been doing. As for you,
I've seen very little of you.
"Touuuchy. And okay, I've been on the Astral plane lately. But really,
Karla, fine at least get to know her more and then ask her what her family was
like, who was in her famil--I'm not saying ask what her last name is. I'm
saying ask her what type of a family she had. You do have emotions too, Karla.
You can't hide them forever. Especially from me, your like a little sister to
me."
"Well, then, what do you need to find my family for." Karla grumbled. "She's
going to be the person I kill before leaving to return to Magnagora." Karla
nodded her head at herself.
"Stop talking to yourself--Or at least lying to yourself." Ellyona said
peering at her friend. "Now shoo before they wonder what happened to their
little star." Her eyes sparkled with amusement as she stood from the chair.
Karla let out a flying kick in Ellyona's direction. Ellyona dodged the blow.
A cone of sparkling light encircled her, before she left the manse.

Three months later...

Dear Emperor,

I've yet found anything suspicious in Celest itself, except that everyone
circles around Cael's woman as if she's the daughter of the Prince or
something. The raids have gone successful, but if Celest keeps getting raided,
they will think it is because I joined and probably boot me or something.
Careful with that, I'm now in the clan of The Armies of Light. The fighters
are poor, and it is obvious why we always defeat them, I'll be showing them
little this-and-thats on how to fight. Cael seems to know what he's talking
about, though. He's the only fighter it seems. They are all relaxed. It
seems though, we have a gathering of 10-20 Celestines asking me if I would like
to set a raid on Nil. I believe I will. I need to end this here. I will send
you the information about it soon. I believe I am being seeked.

Karla Melero

Karla peered at herself as the letter was sent. She looked around at the
Glomdoring shops a bit as she felt Cael and Mandy's seeking eyes. Nosy
Celestines. She sighed to herself as she readied herself with an excuse. She
felt for an invisable rope and pulled on it. She snickered softly and broke
the link. Mandy would wonder who it was.
*Did anyone summon me?* She recognized Mandy's voice on the city aether.
She laughed softly to herself and teleported to her nexus.

Mandy peered over at Karla, as Karla attempted to look innocent. Cael
chuckled softly and inclined his head toward Karla.
"Hail." Karla greeted Cael back and smiled briefly. "Mandy, let's go for a
walk." She pointed west.
"Where to?" Mandy asked, tilting her head.
"Let's walk in the Valley."
"Okay." Mandy hugged Cael and turned to follow Karla out of the city.
She had spent as much time with Karla as she spent with Cael these past few
months. She still hadn't brought up her last name or family matters. During
this walk would be the best time though.
The two walked silently forward to the Valley, stopping here and there to let
the cows pass without going crazed and attacking them. Karla hadn't turned to
look at her since they left the Pool of Stars. She would have to be the one to
break the silence.
"Karla..?" Mandy looked away.
"One moment." She stopped so abrubtly that Mandy walked into her.
"Oww. Okay." She looked around and smiled. The Valley was so quiet, she
wanted to just stand watching it forever.
"Mandy, tell me about your family. What is your last name?" Karla said,
turning to face her.
Mandy's heart jumped a beat. Finally they would get somewhere! "Okay.
Well--" She felt as if Karla's eyes were piercing her skull, seeking the
answers to her questions. "Oh dear..."
"What?" Karla peered around them. Her eyes were back to normal.
"Oh..Nothing. I wasn't expecting the questions. Okay, my full name is Mandy
Shaunthin. Cael's my brother--
"WHAT??" Karla jumped back, shocked.
Mandy burst into laughter. Karla scratched her head in confusion as she tried
to put pieces together.
"I was kidding...Oh Karla, you should have seen your face!" Mandy managed to
choke the words out, as she laughed harder, and tears filled her eyes.
The shock slowly replaced a grin on her face. "Hrm, that wasn't nice." Karla
eyed Mandy. "It was a serious question."
"Oh I know Karla, but you looked SO serious, I had to break it." Mandy said,
her laughter changing to a cough between giggles. "Okay, okay.. My family
consists of four parents, and two sisters. My parents split apart when we lost
my first sister, my blood sister... My father...Gave her away." Mandy frowned
and shook her head. "I've been trying to look for her."
"How unfortunate." Karla said...But did she look relieved?
"My second sister is my half sister. But, she hates me."
"Why did your parents go on their own paths?"
"Divorce? Oh, well...Because my father wanted us to do something, and argued
with my sister about it... When my mother went to go shopping, my father gave
her away." Tears filled her eyes.
"Oh, hun, don't cry." Karla hugged Mandy close. "Why did he give her away?"
"She wouldn't change races to Merian instead of human. She didn't want to
join Celest, and I argued with my father...and I never rose my voice to my
father 'til he threatened my sister... I was never disobedient either... But
then he threatened my sister, and she taught me how to step up to him and I
did..."
Karla went pale, and bit her tongue to stop herself from shaking. "What's
your last name?"
Before Mandy could respond, they heard a yell.
"Mandy!" The voice was no other than Cael.
Karla lifted her head, and looked around.
"Cael?" Mandy looked in the direction of Celest.
"What's wrong?" Cael looked confused.
"Nothing." Karla snapped and walked away.
"What...was that about?" Cael asked.
"Cael! We were finally getting somewhere!" Mandy shoved at him rudely, angered
at the disruption.
"Geeze, sorry..."

"So...Cael disrupted your talk?" Ellyona paced within the bedroom chambers.
"Thank Luciphage... I couldn't move... I was shaking--Oh god El.... What
the Nil am I going to do?" Silent tears market Karla's misery. Tears that
would not fall for years, fell freely now. "I finally found her--AND SHE ACTS
AS IF SHE WAS INNOCENT!" Karla jumped up, roaring out the last words.
"Karla!" Ellyona exclaimed. "Calm down, calm down... She doesn't know that
your her sister Karla. She could be telling the truth."
"I have a... I have a stepsister. I want my father dead." She said, grinding
her teeth and snarling.
"Karla, okay. Kill your father, but we're not speaking of your father. Your
sister Karla, focus."
"She needs to die, Elly....She needs to die. I need to kill her, she's
Celestian. I can't allow her to ruin my plans. She'd try to get me to join
Celest. She protects little boys, I kill them. She cries when a bird dies,
I'm the one killing it. She's going to be my downfall, El, I need her dead.
Do it, please?"
Ellyona blinked rapidly. "Oh my god, Karla. Your sister? I won't be the one
to do it. Ask the Emperor of Magnagora to do it during a raid. Or something.
I won't do it. I understand you need to kill her, but I can't. Because she's
YOUR sister."
"Okay, I'll send the Emperor to do it..." Karla sucked in her breath, and let
the last tear fall before she wiped her face and stood. "Goodbye Mandy..."
Karla whispered softly to herself.

To be continued....