Karla transversed through the rift to Ethereal, and everyone followed her. Her
body was numb. She began to dread the seconds that passed within the minute.
Mandy had walked up to the dreaming Celestines and slowly one by one woke them
up. Everyone was sleeping, and they smiled. One by one they woke up, and they
paled. They sensed trouble was nearing as well. Karla never felt this before.
Fear? It was not only that, it was much worse. Things went according to her
plan, and that was good. But she sensed... She wasn't sure what, but slowly,
reassuringly Mandy woke them, and whispered soothing words, and slowly she too
began to pale. Karla felt her face pale as well, as if an invisible parasite
had made it's way to the Prime Plane from the wild Astral Plane. She was
suddenly afraid to go forward with her plan, whatever it was, it was going to
affect her the most. She cleared her throat and all the Celestines turned to
face her, to listen.
Karla shook her head. She stopped herself from saying "We're going to cancel
it. I don't think today is the right day, perhaps another month." instead, she
smiled and slowly felt the numbness fade. "After planning for so long, we're
ready to go. You can still back out now if you all want, of course." A part of
Karla hoped, even begged they would want to wait another month.
"No. We've waited so long, we are ready." Randol spoke up, looking around.
Everyone whispered something to their friend next to them. Karla nearly jumped
in joy, believing they would tell him otherwise. Do it, say not yet, say another
month! Karla practically screamed. What was happening to her, she wondered.
"Jos, when you finish come with the group." Karla said on the guild aether,
her voice sounded so distant.
"Lets go." she was going to force them to do this. She needed to do this, and
get the Nil out of Celest. It was having a bad affect on her.
"Okay." everyone nodded and began to follow her to the Earth rift.

"The rift is in site, just a bit further." Karla announced for those whom
didn't know where they were going.
As she walked closer to the rift, she sensed the death of a new fighter of the
Aquamancers, to a black rat and had to force the laughter to a hard cough. It
was always too funny to picture a novice attempting to clean the city of the
rats, and die unsuccessful.
"Are you okay?" Mandy caught up, to check about Karla's cough. "Sounds bad."
Wow. Karla thought, and stopped from smirking. "I'm fine, just..choked on some
air. Too much excitement, I guess."
"Oh, heh, yea. I can't wait to go." she said, smiling broadly.
"Mhm." Karla nodded slowly.
"Done with the Ethereal to Earth." Jos announced, sprinting in from the
northwest.
"Wonderful. Who were you weaving the gate with?"
"Eyan." she responded, panting from her sprint.
"Eyan, protect Amy while she finishes the weave with Strat on Nil. Guys, be
careful, if needed break the weave and run back down." Karla ordered on the
guild aether.
"It's Ailee!" the squeaky voiced girl once again corrected. "And we finished
the weave, we're heading down."
"No don't bother, gather at Earth, we're right at the entrance." Karla ignored
the correction.
"Okay...So, we're going?" Mandy said, her voice wavered with her nervousness.
"Let's go." I can't bother to think about it, we just need to go. Karla
convinced herself, shaking off the odd feelings.
Karla reached out to the planar gate to find the link to the Ethereal plane,
pulsating energy flared throughout her field of vision, and she found herself
tumbling through the aether pathways. The Celestines followed her, upon arrival
they all began to choke on the tainted air that greeted them.
Karla breathed in, looked around and added, "Oh, right. Takes time to get used
to." she looked away, unable to hide her smirk.
"Karla...I know you don't anymore, but, you used to live here, how could you
breathe?" Mandy questioned and coughed.
"Takes time to get used to." she said, her voice emotionless. "Lets go guys."
she continued walking.
The Megalith was a few feet ahead now, Ailee stood right next to it. She began
to walk to Karla and the group.
"Ailee, fall in line, and once again everyone be careful." Karla ordered. "If
you don't think you can keep up and are losing too much blood, then leave. I'm
not responsible if you do something stupid, and don't run off instead of dying.
And I say dying because yes, look around some of your friends may not be here
tomorrow." she watched everyone start to look around and begin to back up to
the direction of the archway once more. "Here we go, follow up." she said,
reaching for the Megalith, giving them no time to decide whether they should
turn back.
Mandy didn't think she could continue on this tainted land. She coughed so
much she couldn't help wondering, how could anyone live here? She looked
around, as they walked on Nil. She shivered, not because she was cold, but for
fear. This is it...We're going to fight now...Mandy thought, sucking in her
breath. She slowly let it out, and looked at the little imp running around.
"Uhm, Karla? What are we doing?" she asked, still following Karla as she moved
to the unknown area.
"Looking for a good place to strike, so we'll have enough time to get ready
for them coming." she answered, looking about herself and rubbing her chin
thoughtfully.
"Oh..." she suddenly felt so stupid asking that question.
Karla shrugged. "Looking for Lady Nifilhema's Pit."
Mandy searched her brain for what she had learned on Lady Nifilhema. She could
only think of one thing: she focused on teaching about pain.
"Why are we looking for a pit?" she asked, peering at herself.
"That pit is where the gateweave took place." Karla grin mischievously as she
pointed to a rift that now stood near us.
A little imp ran around, and stared at the group. Mandy watched Karla nod
toward the group and backed away, giving room for those who were to attack it.
She looked away from the imp, and away from the group. Mandy wanted to ask what
was wrong, but she knew. Karla spent years defending this place, she felt pain
in her chest, knowing it was the sorrow she felt for Karla, that everything she
grew up doing, she now knew was wrong. She couldn't even imagine what it would
have done to her.
Karla turned to where she felt the eyes, Mandy's eyes watching her. Mandy
quickly looked away, and focused on the imp. Karla held back her sigh, and spun
around. She had heard a noise. It wasn't the normal musical tone of the cries of
pain either, nor the imps scuttling about. Her eyes turned to slits, staring
unnervingly out at the darkness, the taint. Nothing, it must have been nothing.
Karla, you're letting things get out of control, you're losing your touch. What
would Lord Luciphage say? She scolded herself and wanted to kick herself, but
she saw movement. Her head snapped to the right. She saw someone move out of
her sight. She couldn't sense who they were though! She paled at the thought.
If it wasn't the Emperor, then there was only one more person who it could
be... Meaning that--
"Guys, guys be quiet. I think that--" she was correct. She sensed about 40
Magnagorans on Nil all of the sudden. And they were just a few rooms from them.
"We're leaving. Check who's on the plane, they have about 40 of them!"
"Let's fight! If we need to--we'll back out."
"Lets not, lets go to earth and fight there instead." she reached for the
rift.
"Karla!" Mandy cried out.
Karla spun to see sticky strands of webbing spray out from a former
acquaintance to cover her. She muttered a few curse words and began to writhe.
"Get going. I'll catch up." she said to the guild on the aetherwave.
They all reached for the rift, and left to the earth plane.
Karla writhed free of her entanglement, and looked around.
"Where's the Emperor?" she asked, then muttered a few words, she traced a
cobalt blue pentagram in the air, and it hovered before her, protecting her
from any assualt.
"What do you care, traitoress?" spat Bran. He was the second Magnagoran with a
gem, that hid where he was. He was the one she couldn't sense.
"That's for me to know." she glared at him.
He lifted his rapiers of darkened steel, and swung down, razing both her aura
of weapon rebounding and her pentagram. Taking the hint, she fled to the Earth
plane. The Celestines didn't have time to question her though.
"Guys...Lets--" this had gone all wrong..
There were 15 more Magnagorans here, fighting with the Celestines. We're
outnumbering them. She smirked at the thought, but, these were just the
Geomancers... The Emperor hadn't been there. She could have screamed. He was
supposed to let her come back! She needed to, before it was too late... She
spun around, and came face to face with the Emperor.
"Where is she?" he asked, his face hooded with a red robe's hood.
Only the Iron Council has ever seen his face, I wonder what he looks like. She
mused, and nearly kicked herself. He asked a question!
"She..uhrm..She's over..." Karla stammered. She wanted to cry out "What's
gotten into me?!" but she already knew.
Karla looked around for Mandy, and saw her. She was shielding, multiple times
against a Geomancer who was growing more and more frustrated at breaking her
pentagram. Karla let out a laugh.
"Karla. Do not make me wait. Where is the girl? Go. Show me who." and with
that, he was gone. Off to watch from the shadows as she would approach Mandy.
"Oh Lord Hajamin, help me..." she whispered, unable to stop herself, as she
walked to Mandy. She paled. "What has gotten into me, since when did I ask for
His help instead of Lord Luciphage!" then she shut her mouth. She didn't mean
to tell the world what she thought of.
She was angry. She was too fond of Celest. She shook her head and sprinted.
She looked at the Geomancer who was attacking Mandy. Mandy continued to
pentagram. Karla's eyes sparkled with amusement, and she grasped a handful of
cosmic threads and willed them into existence, then released them onto the
attacker as a mass of sticky webs. Removing an aeon card from her deck, she
looked back at the attacker. He writhed free of her entanglement, and pointed
his staff at her. She turned away to glance at Mandy.
"The point is to HIT the people, not shield the whole time." she said before
she was bombarded by rocks and poison.
She sipped her health potion and turned around. Another two of those would do
her in.. It was time to move. She looked around and saw twenty more people join
them. The Magnagorans who met them on Nil. This certainly wasn't going as
planned. To her right, a Geomancer fell, lifeless. She swore and grabbed
Mandy's arm and retreated.
"It's time to go. About 40 Magnagorans versus 20 of us isn't what we need.
They were expecting us.." she said as she pushed Mandy away from the fighting.
"Oh my...I didn't expect this." she said, nervously.
"None of us did. Let's gather the rest." she said looking about. "Guys, pull
back. Let's get out. They are swarming us. Someone was gemmed and saw us." she
heard her own voice, yet once again further, on the guild aether.
Then she looked around, to take in all the action that was truly taking place.
Two more dead Geomancers lay slain on the ground, their staffs broken in pieces
beside their broken corpses, no doubt their souls already praying for
salvation. But... They were not the only dead. There were about seven
Celestines left. Karla and Mandy included. Karla swore multipled times.
"By the Nine!" she spat, and put her hand out to pull Mandy with her.
She took Mandy by the shoulders and pushed her in the direction of the rift.
Turning to the others, she made sure they were all following behind, or at
least aware that they would be left behind. With a nod, she turned and ran for
the rift. But to no avail. She was already too late. Mandy was out, and no
doubt, they would be after her. They were already breaking the gateweave, and
it was surrounded with others. A Nihilist was breaking the gateweave. Her
ex-protege. Two Geomancers, three ur'Guard, and yet another Nihilist stood,
guarding the gateway. A gray horse stomped the ground, looking for some grass
to chew, unsuccessfully. What grass would grow on Nil, that wouldn't come alive
and attempt to kill people?
She shuddered and thought of stories she heard, of when one of the Seals
broke. It ended in one of the Divine sacrificing herself. It was the Divines
choice, but she didn't think she ever was that grateful of an untaint Divine
before hearing that story. Even Magnagorans were greatful.
She smirked. Ah, Nil, what's a little pain? She sprinted toward the group.

"Wow! That was...something!" Mandy said, relieved to be out of Nil. The air
was much cleaner on Ethereal.
Others exclaimed greetings beside her, and they hugged the others. Mandy
sipped mana, and automatically her mind felt stronger and more alert. She
continued to sip from the vial, so the headache would go away. She nearly was
out of it. A bit more, and she wouldn't have been able to shield.
The rift opened once more, and she turned to greet Karla. But instead, she was
greeted by a Geomancer, two ur'Guard, and a horse.
"What's with the horse?" Randol smirked, paled and recognized who he spoke to.
"Karla, where are you? We have the Emperor on Ethereal!" Randol exclaimed on
the guild aether.
Mandy flinched.
"Shall we show them what is 'with the horse'?" the Emperor (The Geomancer..)
said, his raspy voice echoing in the forest.
She blinked, she recognized the voice from somewhere...
Almost instantaneously, he whipped the horse, sending it into a fury, bucking
and racing dangerously in a circle, trampling the ground in a frenzy. It
crushed Randol's arms and legs. Mandy screamed, and jumped back. Fear gripped
her, stopping her from moving any further than the small jump she managed. She
watched in horror as one of the ur'Guard began to chant in a deep and baleful
voice, and an iron cross rose up from the ground before Randol. Vicious spikes
slammed into his flesh and nailed him to the cross. He screamed in pain and
agony as blood splattered in all directions. The sight reminded her of a stuck
pig upon an iron cross. She felt nauseous. There was so much blood...The second
ur'Guard loomed over him and plunged his hands into Randol's chest, ripping out
his heart. As the last drops of his life trickled away, Mandy and Randol both
watched helplessly as he offered up the bloody organ to the Demon Lords of Nil,
and then laughed ecstatically as monstrous dark shadows slowly wrapped around
him.
Mandy looked around, the others had ran... She turned back, only to noticed
the Emperor staring directly at her. His expression hid behind a hood, but she
slowly heard the words come from the dark circle that hid his face.
"Kill her as well."
She only paled more.
Karla sat talking with the Geomancers, protecting the still-intact gateweave.
The Nihilist, surprisingly, was the Emperor. She had been shocked, the robe he
wore with this group was different. He had switched sometime when she walked
away. But why? She wondered. She felt the death of Randol, and her heart nearly
stopped. She thought they would be out of Faethorn by then. Everyone stopped
talking and stared at her. The Emperor had shocked her by saying her work was
done. She didn't think he'd say it just yet...She had hoped.
"Karla, you've paled. What is wrong?" A Geomancer stepped forward.
"Stay here. I need to check something." Karla said, and ran toward the archway
to Faethorn. No use using one that was half down. Who knew the dangers of that?
She reached out for the archway, and hurried off to Faethorn. Disoriented, she
let her eyes focus, from the change of lighting. She started whistling, and
began to walk forward, only to stop before she ran into the Emperor.
"Hail." she said cheerfully.
"Ah, on second thought.. Karla may do it." he said, turning around.
The others she saw go with him before cleared the way. In front of her stood
Mandy, pale as a ghost. She swayed back and forth a bit and looked to the
Emperor.
"What am I doing, Sir?" she asked, raising her eyebrow questionably.
"Kill her." Zakria, one of the ur'Guard answered.
"Ah." she answered, taking a step forward.
"K-Karla?" Mandy asked, wide-eyed. "Have you betrayed us?"
Karla whistled a little tune that ran through her head. She raised a palm
which glowed with tiny pinpoints of light. The light turned into a sparkling
current of energy that slammed into Mandy, dissolving her flesh. Her heart
tugged at her, begging her not to do it as she watched Mandy sip from a vial.
She swore.
"Well then...Keep her here. I will return." Karla said, smirking.
She grasped a handful of cosmic threads and willed them into existence as she
released them onto Mandy as a mass of sticky webs. Mandy began to writhe out of
her entanglement. When she recovered her balance, she flung a hermit at the
ground. With a blinding flash of light, she was gone.
"Sir?" the ur'Guard questioned.
"We wait and keep her webbed. I ordered Karla to kill her. She will not
disobey." the Emperor answered.
Mandy finally writhed, only to have more webbing thrown at her. Why has Karla
betrayed us? I thought she was happy! She thought, holding back tears.
"Cael! Help me!" she cried on the guild aether.
"Cael stay away." Karla responded.
How dare she order the guild what to do after betraying us! Mandy silently
scolded, writhing once more. This time, the second ur'Guard moved forward. She
only flinched, but instead, he rubbed his bracelet and pointed it forward,
sending more webbing flying at her. She sighed. It was hopeless, yet she
writhed once more. What was Karla doing?
Almost as sudden as the question formed in her head, a large, rectangular
gateway opened near her, and she felt herself irresistibly drawn inside. Karla
was on the other side, grinning.
"Lets get out of here." Karla said, swaying.
"Oh. Right, so you can kill me another time?" Mandy responded, bitterly.
She raised an eyebrow. "I had to get us out somehow, didn't I? Without dying."
"Oh, so all the sudden you buddy up with the Emperor after joining Celest for
a while. I see. He just takes in any excuse."
"The ur'Guard are coming closer, are you coming or not?" Karla snapped, and
turned to leave towards the rift to Celest.
"They won't come to Ethereal Serenwilde. There's lots of guards!" she argued,
following Karla.
"Oh? They could ghost, y'know. The guards won't see them that way."
"Oh..."
"I'll explain the rest later. It's obvious I need to explain a little bit of
things that went on..." Karla sighed.
"Yes. It seems you do."
"Karla, I declare you an enemy of Magnagora, for treason to your City." the
raspy voice of the Emperor boomed across the lands.
Mandy stared implacably at Karla, as she heard a Serenwilder shout out "You
just figured out she's left your ranks? And you people called Celest slow..."
Karla flinched under the stare. "ooohhkayy...so I have a lot to tell you...."
Karla headed for the Celest portals, leading Mandy to her manse. She would
face the guild later, for now, she just planned on telling Mandy everything.
Whatever happens afterwards....I'll just go rouge if need be... She convinced
herself.
"God I'm such a mess. I sound like a complete nitwit." she murmured to
herself.
"What?" Mandy asked, leaning forward to hear better.
"Noth--"
*OH MY GOD--NO HELP!!* cried Butch Duncan over the city aether, followed by
three more cries of help.
*Who is it?*
*Where is that?* asked a recently graduated Paladin.
*I'm on my way.* Cael answered.
Karla stop so abruptly, Mandy walked into her.
"Lets go." was all Karla said, as she took a Catacombs card from her tarot
deck.
Good. A way to slow down 'The Talk' thank you Magnagora. But at the same time,
no thanks. I need to tell her on my own. Karla swore, making some new words up
by the moment.
*Guys, to Stewartsville. Magnagorans are attacking in three different areas.*
Karla informed.
Mandy eyed her suspiciously. Karla looked up to the sky. Thank Hajamin she's
nice and not a fighter like I wanted her to be when we were younger...
Karla shuffled her feet and threw the card to the ground. The card stretched
out into a map of the Basin.
"Follow me." Karla spoke, without looking directly at her, and touched
Stewartsville.

"Aww, Nil..." was all that she managed to say when she noticed they were
surrounded by a group of ten Magnagorans. Half ur'Guard, the other Nihilist.
The Geomancers are in Stewartsville...she thought before an ur'Guard greeted
her by chanting in a deep, baleful voice, and an iron cross rose up from the
ground before her. Vicious spikes slammed into her flesh and nailed her to the
cross. She gasped at first, thinking of how the pain was what she once enjoyed,
then screamed as the spikes dug further. Blood splattered in all directions.
Mandy screamed and jumped back. She saw the Emperor ready to slap his horse.
Determined not to let the same thing happen to Karla that happened to Randol,
she grasped a handful of cosmic threads and willed them into existence, she
release them forward, onto the Emperor as a mass of sticky webs.
"Ah, Mandy." he said as he began to writhe. "Let's tell her the truth, shall
we Karla?"
Karla blinked, her face paling from the loss of blood and slowly answered
dryly, "What truth, Sir?"
"Mandy dear, say hello and goodbye to your sister."
Mandy blinked. "Excuse me?"
Karla began to writhe, while the group faced the Emperor and her sibling. As
she sipped her health and ate sparkleberry, her color began to return to her
face, and her wounds closed. One of the Nihilist, a mugwump, noticed and sent
webs at her. She growled and began to writhe.
The Emperor turned to face her, and let out a rumbling laugh. "Karla, you look
pathetic."
"How...did..you..KNOW?" she screamed.
"Know?" he peered about, then sighed. "Ahh, right. Well, you see, when you
send someone to spy on a City..." he stopped, and looked in Mandy's direction
at her gasp. "You see, you need someone to keep in touch and see how well the
spy is holding, or whether they...decide they like the city. Or in your case,
find a lost sibling." amusement held in his voice.
"I didn't tell any--" she began to say.
"Sister..?" Mandy interrupted . She looked at Karla, shocked. "You...You
knew?" she asked angry, or hurt..she was still unsure.
"Who knew?" Karla turned her attention back to the Emperor.
Mandy watched as the ur'Guard and Nihilist cleared the way, and walking toward
Karla was a beautiful Loboshigaru, with a timberwolf by her side. Her face
showed no emotion whatsoever. Behind her, she could see Geomancers working
together to taint and meld the village. Villagers ran in panic, or screamed at
them to leave. She turned back to the Loboshigaru.
"Ellyona..." Karla said, pain filled her voice.
"Someone had to do it, Karla. Someone had to make sure there was no
treason..." Ellyona said, an attempt to justify her actions, perhaps?
"You aren't even Magnagoran..?" Karla responded, suddenly sounding unsure.
"Ah but you see, I am. I just did things a tad bit different than you, Karla,
you see, while you spied on the cesspool, I watched you to make sure you would
stay loyal to Magnagora." she answered, bitterly.
"You aren't even a citizen!" Karla argued, coughing and sipping more health.
"All the better for you to have told me and not suspected things." Ellyona
responded, sounding bored.
"Kill them." the Emperor said, annoyed at the wait.
The same ur'Guard who crucified her earlier stepped forward and nodded.
"Karla! Move!" Mandy heard herself exclaim and reached for a handful of cosmic
threads to web the assaulter.
The ur'Guard began to writhe, and the Emperor whipped the horse, sending it
into a fury, bucking and racing dangerously in a circle, trampling the ground
in a frenzy. Karla blinked as she watched the horse break Mandy's legs.
*Empress Mandy, NOW!* Mandy heard Karla yell over the city aether.
Before she could respond, a large, rectangular gateway opened near her, and
she felt herself, once again, irresistibly drawn inside. The only difference
was this time she knew Karla wouldn't be on the other side, and this time,
Karla wasn't safe.
She stepped out of the gateway, and Cael was automatically by her side. She
looked around. They were on the Old Imperial Road. Her stomach lurched and she
collapsed, in pain.
"Mandy! What's wrong?" Cael knelt down by her to help her back up.
"My stomach...oww..." she said, wondering why that happened. They only broke
her arms..
*Karla, are you okay?* she asked, panicking at the thought of her alone.
"Karla, empress her!" she said, urging him, while she applied mending to her
legs and arms.
Painfully, her bones moved back into place. She watched as Cael removed an
empress card from his deck, and flung it at the ground. Nothing happened...
"She rejected..." he said, looking up at Mandy confused.
She felt a soul take its step from the living to the dead. She held her
breathe, as she felt the soul of the person was Ellyona... She blinked. Karla
killed her. She cried out in pain, as her hands felt as if something had been
beat through them.
"Mandy..." Cael said, uncertain.
"Cael...Get her!" she exclaimed, but a second too late.
One more soul stepped past the line of living, to the dead... Karla had left
them.
Karla cried out, even though she was no longer in pain. Her hands no longer
hurt from the spikes, nor did her stomach from being sliced open by Ellyona,
but she still cried out. Her emotions were void. She felt nothing, except for
the pull on her link with the living and the dead. She shimmered, as her link
with the living pulled closer to an end. She began to walk silently to her
destination. After a few moments she saw two people in view, one bent on the
floor, holding her hands. Mandy.
After her death, she watched the Nihilists, ur'Guard, and Geomancers continued
into the village to finish off the guards there, then she decided what to do
before leaving for good. She had no intention to go back to being who she was,
or put up with what was done. And anyways, being dead was better. Dying hurt
too much.
"Oh Gods, Cael, what do I do?" Karla snapped back to attention, and heard
Mandy.
"You go on living, Mandy. Like when you didn't know me. You just go on. I'm
not saying forget me. Nil, I'll come back and kick you hard till you remember
if you do. But, you go on. You marry Cael and make sure he takes good care of
you." Karla said matter-of-factly. She stopped momentarily, as she shimmered
away, nearly losing her link to the living. "Don't have much time, but I need
to explain--"
"But--" Mandy began.
"No, don't cut me off. Listen. I don't care how you feel about it afterwards.
I came to Celest originally to spy. Yes Cael, spy.," she repeated, watching
Cael's shocked expression. "I then met you, and suspected something strange
about you. Eh, well, I spoke to Ellyona my at-the-time only, and very close
friend." she frowned, thinking back to the fight. The Emperor ordered Ellyona
to do duel...or more like, kill me. And, she actually tried, I'm shocked.
Ellyona, no matter how good, couldn't really fight me. "She told me to question
you about your family, which, when I did... Well, it was good timing that Cael
called out to you, I was shaking bad. I ran back to Ellyona. She consoled me,
and said I could actually stop spying. But by then it was too late, I was
planning the raid. The raid was perfect, I could set it up and do something
specifically for you." she shimmered once more, fighting to stay linked with
the living.
"But..how?" Mandy asked, not understanding.
"Easily. The Emperor was to see me place my hand on your shoulder." she rubbed
her chin, thoughtfully.
"But you didn't." Mandy argued.
"I did. When you were shielding, I grabbed you by the shoulders and pushed you
in the direction of where to run. That's when I ran into the Emperor with the
ur'Guard and Nihilist at the rift. He informed them I was only spying for them,
and they suspiciously began talking to me, when he and others left to catch you
guys. Which I thought you all would have been long gone. But, oh well. I saw
Randol's death and knew you would be by him, so I freaked and ran to Ethereal.
I figured having a...sister whom I hadn't known during half my childhood beats
having no family at all." shimmering once more, she frowned. "Mandy take care I
need to leave."
"Karla no..." she cried out. "Don't leave me, I've been looking for you for a
while. I--"
"I need to go, Mandy, and I don't think I'll have--nor will I want another
chance--at life. I've done too much and Nil you won't BELIEVE how much it
hurts." she shimmered, and after a few moments reappeared. "Goodbye, Mandy."
Karla knelt, and began to pray to the Gods. A prayer of salvation.
The perception of time momentarily slowed to a fraction as Atropos snipped
stray strands and frayed threads upon the Tapestry of Fate, each cut brought a
distant scream. Karla's form shimmered one last time, she came back with a
final scream as Atropos cut her thread, her form dissapated, her thread
finished. Time rushed forward as the memory faded.