//------------------------------// // Karma Strikes // Story: Karma // by Chemtest //------------------------------// He picks up the large, black bag, throwing it over his shoulder. With little effort, yet visible strain, he puts the bag completely on, and begins to walk to the door. His brother walks down the stairs, flicking on the lights in the morning’s darkness. He nods at his brother, and his brother nods back, “Hey, could you not be on the computer later today? I saw a video on a new game and I wanna try it out.” He shrugs, “Depends on how I feel. After all, you could just use the TV.” His brother sighs, “Or you could just try not being a cunt and actually be nice for once. You know, I don’t have a tablet, you do, just do your shit on there!” He shakes his head, “Sorry, gonna have to say no to that. I only get on that computer because I arrive home early. You got on it when you were on Elementary, you didn’t listen when I asked.” His brother shoves past him, and into the kitchen, “Whatever, that’s in the past.” He looks back to the door, “I have to get going.” His brother scoffs from within the kitchen, “Ah yes, it’s always that with you, isn’t it? You never can stick around when you get uncomfortable, you never have time to speak. Speak a lot of shit, never listen when I try and speak back. You never have time for me, you never do anything around the house, you never do shit that isn’t school!” He steps into the kitchen, “Come on-“ His brother looks at him, “Always have to aim for gold, don’t you? Never aimed below, never tried to be like the rest of us. You always have to be above us.” His brother moves up to him, and shoves him out of the kitchen, “Go on and leave. Perhaps you can put that brain power to your brother. Perhaps you’ll learn what it is to be a silver next to a gold. Perhaps you won’t change at all, just like every time.” He steps closer to his brother, “Please-“ His brother shoves him back out, “What, you want that door opened for your majesty? Go ahead and leave. I hope you never come back.” He tires to speak, only to be completely ignored by his brother. He sighs, clenches his fist in anger, and throws open the door. ——— He leans against a pillar, AP World History book in his hands, and other students brushing past him. He highlights important details and dates, ready for the test later that day. Somebody walks up to him, smiling and getting near, “Hey, what’s poppin, g?” He looks up at his friend, and shakes his head, “I feel like that introduction has a negative correlation with brain cells. What is it you wish to blather about before school begins today?” He laughs a bit, and leans on the wall right next to him, “Ah, cutting straight to the chase? Where’s your sense of fun, Kenny?” He glares at his friend a bit, “It is not ‘Kenny’ and I have requested many times you say it properly. Kendrick, that ‘drick’ is very important. I do the same courtesy for you, Benjamin, so perhaps you could do it for me.” Benjamin shakes his head, “I have told you time and time again to just say ‘Ben’. It saves so much time, and sounds so much better.” Kendrick looks back at his book, “Yes, yes, whatever. You look like you have something to ask me.” Ben nods, “Yeah, that’s what I was trying to do. So, me and a few other friends set up a DND campaign, all new players, slightly new DM. You want to join in? I think you could probably create a pretty min-maxed character.” Kendrick absorbs the question for a second, “Dungeons and Dragons? Can’t say I’ve played before... how lore focused is this Dungeon Master?” Ben opens his mouth to speak again, only to interrupted. He rubs the side of his head as something collides with it. He looks down, and sees a shiny piece of metal. He leans down to pick it up, “What is this? Some type of silver?” Kendrick observes the metal, and nods, “Some sort of crest, it would appear. An odd symbol, one I can’t remember ever seeing before. Look, it’s scratched as well... looks like swords, or claws. Where did this come from?” But neither of them are able to continue, as a sound interrupts them. A loud bang comes from down the school’s courtyard, and people instantly begin screaming and running. Ben grabs hold of Kendrick’s arm, slipping the piece of silver into his pocket, “Come on, we gotta get to Bach’s room!” Kendrick looks, and can see the source of the noise. He pushes towards it, “I’m going in!” Ben drags Kendrick back, “No, Kendrick, you’ll die! Just let the police take care of it!” Kendrick pushes Ben to the ground, and throws his backpack beside him. He loosens his muscles, “Then make sure that backpack gets to my brother. He’ll carry the torch without me!” Ben doesn’t get a chance to respond, as Kendrick is rushing towards the shooter. Kendrick shoves through the crowd of running students, shoving down any who don’t get out of his way. He stomps over those unfortunate enough to have fallen, intent on his target only. He shoves through the final group of people, and emerges a few feet from the shooter. The shooter wears a long hoodie, with dark jeans, and carries a pistol in one hand. He instantly spots Kendrick, “You, Kendrick!” Kendrick narrows his eyes, “I recognize you. You never returned my pencil!” The shooter cocks an eyebrow, “That’s how you remember me? Of course, I shouldn’t be surprised, who’d remember me anyway? Not like you, Kendrick, the absolute top of the top! The popular kid, the valedictorian, loved by everyone! I will enjoy kill-“ The shooter is so wrapped up in his monologue that he doesn’t notice Kendrick charging. His monologue is stopped as a fist impacts his face, sending him straight to the ground. Kendrick tries to jump onto him, only to find himself hitting nothing but concrete. The shooter scrambles back up, keeping his gun on Kendrick as he gets back up. Then, another loud bang sounds out. The shooter barely even notices as he begins to leak blood, he only notices when Kendrick looks directly at it, “You’ve been shot. I won.” The school deputy stands behind the shooter, nerves making his hands shake the gun all around. The shooter shrugs, “Okay then.” The shooter then spins around, beginning to pull the trigger. However, Kendrick just barely manages to jump in the way, stopping the deputy from getting shot. Kendrick instantly feels a pain in his stomach, but pushes through it. Likewise, he pushes the shooter away, and prepares to continue. The shooter stops stumbling back, and sees Kendrick charging forward again. He smirks, and flips the pistol around his finger. With quick succession, he unleashes five shots into Kendrick, his aim accurate. Kendrick knocks the shooter to the ground before he can even feel the pain. But then, he does, and he struggles to breathe. Both of his lungs have been shot, his heart has been shot, his dick had been shot, and his stomach has ruptured after it got shot. He groans in pain, and barely takes notice of the pistol now laying beside him. However, after a second, his mind is filled with rage and thoughts of vengeance. He grabs the pistol, and crawls over to where the shooter lays. The shooter’s breath had been knocked out of him, and he still struggles to get a breath. Kendrick puts the pistol right to the shooter’s chest, and pulls the trigger wildly. He puts three new holes into the shooter, and moves the gun up to his head. He pulls the trigger. The shooter laughs as nothing but a click comes from the gun, “Ten shots, asshole... used them all.” Kendrick coughs up some blood, and summons the rest of his strength as he flips the pistol around. With that last bit of strength, he whips the pistol onto the shooter’s throat, crushing it instantly. Kendrick then drops the pistol, and lays down next to the shooter. He coughs some more, fading away, and slightly smiles, “I hope this... gets... gold...” ——— Yet he begins to fade back in, a nearly blinding purple light filling his vision as he gains awareness. He blinks against the harsh light, and it slowly dims to barely light up the room he is in. He looks down, and sees that he seems to be in a chair of some sort. He looks back up as he hears a quill scribbling. He sees a tall figure sitting across from him, wearing purple robes that blow in a nonexistent wind. He writes in a purple book, and seems to transcribe something from it to another sheet of paper. He writes on that other paper without once looking away from his book, yet still writes perfectly. Kendrick looks at the man, until the man takes notice of him. The man doesn’t look up from his book, but merely continues to write as he talks, “You are lucky right now, did you know that?” Kendrick looks at the man, “Who are you? Where am I?” The man pauses for a second, and looks up, “Ah yes, there’s the curiosity of Kendrick. You are currently dead, although your spirit is here in the Aether. I am Edis, God of Endings. Your savior.” Edis looks back to the book, “Word of warning to you, Kendrick. You have already messed up badly by dying, and by being rude to Survivor. So let me stress it to you that I am at the end of the line with forgiveness. If you do something I do not wish for you to do, then I will send you back into that dying husk of a body.” Kendrick smiles, “And what do you wish for me to do? As long as it doesn’t clash with my goals, it should be fine.” Edis taps the book, “You are going to choose the right path in here. There are two paths, one you shouldn’t take, and one you should. If you choose the wrong path, say goodbye to your status. You aren’t necessary, not unique either, but I am doing you this kindness because of who your brother is. He would be devastated to learn you fully died, so take my advice, and don’t make him devastated again. Because someone else can always take your place.” Kendrick watches as Edis hands him the contract he wrote up. It says upon it that Kendrick shall become the Champion of Karma, or he will be returned to his dying body. Kendrick tries to see if there is any fine print, until he finally gives up and signs after five minutes. Edis nods, “Very well then. Karma shall be seeing you.” Within an instant, the dark purple changes to a bright blue. He adapts to the light quicker, and looks up. Standing there is a female figure, one that glows that same bright blue, one made out of crystal, and one absolutely beautiful. She also seems to wear a long dress, one that reflects the light back to it’s source. Kendrick’s jaw drops a little bit, but he recovers quickly. She smiles at him, a smile full of kindness, “Hello, Kendrick. I am Karma. I was impressed by your bravery against that shooter, such that you would throw yourself in front of his weapon to protect another. You, among all, seem worthy of being the Second Champion of Karma.” Kendrick bows a tiny bit, “I’m honored, but if I might make a query, who was the first?” Karma picks him up from his bowing position, “Please, none of that here. Do not bow to me, please.” She then takes a step back, “The First Champion was a man by the name of Siddhartha Gautama. You may know him by his popular title of Buddha, the Enlightened One. He meditated for so long that he ended up dying of starvation, and I knew I had to give mercy to him. So he came back in a different form, Jesus of Nazareth. Then a peace advocate known as Ghandi, and then a painter known as Ross. I think his current incarnation has the name Reeves.” Kendrick nods, “So you plan to have two Champions on Earth?” Karma shakes her head, “No, Earth is well covered by Siddhartha, they need peace more than violence. You will be sent to a world called Equestria, a fantasy landscape populated by monsters and equines. I’ll leave fixing it up to you, and you’ll have enough power to get started.” Kendrick raises an eyebrow, “Power?” Karma nods, “Yes. As you preform good acts, I am able to grant you more power. For now, your one act of good that I’ve seen has helped you. I chose a power that is familiar as well. You play a game quite often, by the name of Dark Souls, and it’s sequel. For your first power, I have merged the powers and equipment of your characters and put them into you. A katana welding, dexterous fighter. A greatsword carrying, very strong tank. A sorcerer who learned few miracles. And a thief who stabs quick, and can sneak. I assume you are fine with this?” Kendrick nods, “Yes, very, thank you.” Karma smiles, and opens a portal. She points to the middle of a forest, “This is the Everfree Forest. You will wake up somewhere around here. Just remember, Champion Kendrick, more good means more power.”