Karata (ARK Fanfic) ✔ DRAFT

Chapter 10 | The Light of Obelisks

"Would you like to live?"

"You are The One. Your time is not over."

I want to live.

"I want to live!"

Light burned in her eyes. Sand clung to her skin, crusting her hair.

Karata sat up.

She was on the beach. She was alive.

The obelisks had granted her another life.

Fast footsteps startled her.

Charcoal broke the cover of forest, spraying sand in his wake.

"Charcoal!" Karata leapt up and hugged him. He "purred" deep in his throat and nuzzled her.

She looked down on herself. She was completely naked.

A phrase came into her mind.

She whispered it and felt the crackle of energy. Then she yelled it.

Ascendant flak gear appeared in her arms.

"C'mon Charcoal!" She quickly donned the armor and leapt upon her mount.

It was time for battle.

They darted between the trees. Before long, they were looking upon the field.

Karata's gaze found Jan immediately. He was screaming, kneeling on the blood-soaked earth and screaming.

She ran toward him.

He whirled on her with a snarl and then dropped his weapon. His jaw fell open.

And then she didn't care that there were weapons glinting all around them. He had to know.

Karata did what she had wanted to do for a very long time.

She grabbed the sides of his cheeks and pulled his mouth down on hers. He gasped against her lips, and then the kiss was deepening. The world was sliding away, there was nothing but her and Jan's lips -- He pulled away.

"Karata -- how -- we need to fight -- but, you -- and me --" His words seemed to pour from his mouth in no order.

"We don't need to fight," Karata told him. Her heart was racing and they might die here, but she had kissed him. "At least, not for long."

She thrust her arms up into the air. The obelisks flashed, blinding.

The light was twisting around her, lifting her up, her hair floating like a halo.

"This battle is no more! This was a ploy! Him," here she pointed at Slettin, who's eyes were widening. "He has acted as a trusted adviser to the leader of Dancing Lightning and Jagged Flame.

"He manipulated you. He is a dirty double-crosser and he's insane! This was all a ploy! He wanted revenge on the dragon that destroyed his people, so he brought all of you here under the guise of a battle, but in reality, he would summon the dragon and try to defeat it!"

The crowd gasped beneath her.

Karata pointed a commanding finger at Slettin. 

"Slettin, the light of the obelisks flows in my veins. Slettin, the obelisks smite you."

A bolt of blinding light struck Slettin.

Slettin was dead. Vaporized.

The tribes began cheering. Clearly they didn't like war any more than she did.

"We will form one tribe! It will be called Jagged Lightning, so each tribe relies on the other."

Then the world shook.

Karata felt her light tremble and flicker before dying. Barely a shriek had escaped her lips before Fishwing caught her.

"CONGRATULATIONS. NOW PROGRESSING TO SCORCHED EARTH."

The obelisk-light pulsed, slowly getting faster and faster.

A massive boom sounded in her ears. Then a wave of navy blue passed over everything.

Then everything went black.