“What? That’s absurd!” Karma rolls her eyes as the man she’ll now refer to as Hunts nods his head animatedly. “There’s no way!”

But he continues to nod. “No, it’s true! It was the size of a two-level home with teeth as large as spears and claws wider than a man’s entire body!” It had been two days since the pair had begun to travel together. During that time, Karma found out that the man was indeed a hunter. He’s currently being employed by the Mahdengen Association of Guards to track down a few deserters.

If he does return them, it’s likely that Karma will be the one to prosecute them upon her own return. He usually hunts mythical game, but for whatever reason, he’s in need of a larger sum of money than what that kind of hunt will give him. Along the way, he told tales of some of his most awe-inspiring catches, the most current one being a chimera. He claims it was a combination of bear and lion, but Karma is having a hard time believing him with the current description.

“So how did you, a man smaller than a single level home, take down a creature of this magnitude?” She slides around a fallen tree, her eyes darting around her environment. They had run into no more trouble after that pixie business, and that put her on edge.

So far, things were going too smoothly.

“Like most creatures, its weak spot was its eyes. I have incredible aim if I do say so.” That was one thing they can both agree on. Hunts has admirable aim and strength. From what she can tell, he also has great stamina. She can’t help but wonder where and how he trained to become what he is today.

Karma nods. The story of how he took down the creature makes sense, but she still doesn’t believe it was as he described. People tend to embellish the tales of their achievements. “I think it’s about time we stop for the night.” Hunts suddenly calls out. Karma’s brows wrinkle.

It’s still daylight and they had just come from a break. She looks around and sees nothing significant about the area they’ve just entered. Karma’s eyes narrow as she watches Hunts out of the corner of her eye. He’s waiting for something. She fingers the knife at her leg, wondering if she’ll have to kill him before he guides her to Onq.

That would be a waste.

“Are you waiting for anyone in particular?” She asks, taking a few steps away from him. His eyes jump up to meet hers.

“Wha-”

“Run Qu!” Someone breaks through the surrounding foliage, sending dead leaves and dirt flying. Hair as bright as the summer sun streams behind a stumbling body as two people rush towards Hunts and Karma.

Before she can question anything, her guide is grabbing her elbow and rushing in the opposite direction. Karma snatches her arm back but follows the group as they speed through the forest. Not knowing what’s chasing after them, Karma’s first instinct is to trip one of the people running in her group.

She needs to know who pursues them in order to think of a plan of action.

Karma resists the urge, figuring it will cause her more grief than anything. Their new companions breath heavily, one of them in a shirt soaked through with blood. “Who are we running from?” Karma asks as they all skid to take a sharp turn. She has no idea where they are or how far they’re being displaced from her final destination.

Perhaps she made the wrong choice in allowing the huntsman to guide her. The girl, who can’t be older than eighteen summers, huffs out a little, “Guards,” after regarding her briefly. Guards? Karma takes a closer look at her companions.

The one with the long blond hair pumps his arm, arms that have bruising around the wrists. He wears no shoes, plain brown pants with no drawstring or buttons, and a brown shirt that’s been stained with blood.

Whether it’s his blood or not remains to be seen.

It doesn’t take long for her to piece together what has just happened. They’ve just broken a convict out of prison. Karma sighs internally. “We need to get to water.” They’ve been running for about ten minutes, and she’s getting tired of it. Of course, Karma will have to deal with this prisoner breaking out eventually, but as of right now, she would rather spend her time traveling to where she needs to be instead of evading guards that will find them regardless of how far they run.

Hunts looks to her as if he’s just now remembering what she claimed to be. “We need to get to water.” Karma repeats, her lip curling with irritation. It’s only been a few days and she’s already dirtied herself and stooped to running from her own prison guards. If she must stoop to begging, she might very well just give up on keeping her identity a secret.

Her fury can only remain leashed for so long. “Now! They’re tracking him.” She nudges her head in the direction of the stumbling blond. He might as well be yelling their exact coordinates.

Reluctantly, Hunts nods, and their course changes.

The group has to be a good fifteen minutes ahead of their pursuers, so if Karma can do what she needs to do quickly enough, she can be rid of this situation.

The blond man stumbles just as they make it to the bank of a rapidly flowing river. “Quick, take his clothes off. Is any of the blood on his pants his own?” The young girl shakes her head as Hunts rips his friend’s shirt off.

Karma unsheathes her knife and pokes her guide in the arm hard enough to puncture his skin. He hisses. “Are you related to him, girl?” She repeats the process on the convict. He stumbles, his eyes glazing over. It seems he’s sustained some kind of trauma.

Serves him right.

“Y-yes, I’m his sister.”

“Hurry, give me your hand, all of you into the river.” She pushes the bleeding arms of the blond siblings into the water before cupping the blood dripping from Hunts. “When you’re imprisoned, they take a sample of your blood so that if you were to ever escape, they can track you with casting stones. Drink, quickly. If they see us this will all be for naught.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Heat builds in her fingertips and her lips as she begins to do one of the things she’s good at. She casts. Karma’s eyes roll back as that undecipherable language rolls across her tongue, pulling chi from her center and forcing it down her palms.

Her magic flows from her into the blood coating her hands and eventually into the body of the siblings. A small pain shoots through her chest, and she has no other choice but to breathe into it.

Over the shoulder of his companions, Hunts watches, his eyes widening at the sight. He knows that she’s transferring his blood into them. What he doesn’t know, is how.

Once she finishes, she rinses her hands in the water and stands. “Time to run again,” She orders, and they do.

They stop when Hunts is sure no one follows them. Breath, heavy and ragged, fills the air with something tense. Karma watches the others as she cracks her knuckles. “How-” Breath. “Are-” Another breath. “You not-” And another one. “Out of breath?” She turns her attention to the only other girl in their small party.

Wisps of her short blond hair are plastered to her wet forehead, her pale cheeks reddened from exhaustion. Karma blinks at her, barely able to keep her nose from scrunching at the undignified sight. “We have endurance training in the military. Those that fail training are punished. That was a good enough motivator to train outside of basics.” It isn’t a lie.

All the Rinafi children are forced into the military on their twentieth year. They’re required to spend two years training as soldiers along with undergoing night training with commanders. Karmic says it builds character. Karma thinks it’s just an excuse to get his children out of his face for a couple of years.

It was hell, but it was still better than her childhood teachings. At least there, she only had to endure physical pain. Karma could run twelve miles at full speed before showing signs of exhaustion. That was still nothing compared to those born with amplifier abilities, like Finious.

Her eyes flit to Hunts. “Care to explain what just went down?” Her brows raise, triggering the male sibling to whistle.

“Someone’s in trouble…” He sings, stopping when Karma’s red eyes fall upon him. He performs a locking motion on his lips, signifying that he was going to keep his mouth shut. The sentiment is much appreciated.

“Well, you weren’t exactly a planned addition to our excursion. I wasn’t sure how long you were going to stick to my side, or how trustworthy you were for that matter. Can you blame me for keeping my business to myself? I mean, you’re a royal guard for crying out loud!” Obviously, from his perspective he was right in his decision.

That doesn’t make Karma any less irritated by the situation. “Are these… people going to be here for the entirety of the trip?” Karma is many things. Patience is among one of her many virtues, but even she has a limit. She can tell just based off the dumbfounded look on his face, that the male sibling is going to annoy her half to death.

Her eyes roll as she watches him scratch his back. Hunts crosses his arms, his stance solidifying. “Will that be a problem? If so, we can just go our separate ways.” Karma’s brow raises as her spine straightens. He thinks he can just accept her help and offer her nothing in return?

They would have been running for the rest of their lives if it wasn’t for her magic. She opens her mouth to tell him just that when she’s interrupted. “Uh, I don’t know where you were planning on taking her, but we assure you that we don’t intend to get in your way Qu. She really helped us out tonight, it seems messed up to threaten to leave her.”

Karma points to the short haired girl, as if to say listen to your friend. He will not like the outcome of this situation if he doesn’t heed her advice. Karma doesn’t take well to people that can’t uphold their word. She finds they are no better than the beasts to the east.

The tension leaves Hunts, his brows softening. She watches as the man brings one of his hands up to his neck. “You’re right. I apologize for being so hasty. But yes, my friends will be with us the entirety of the trip. I’ll do my best to mitigate the time wasted running for our lives.” Karma’s lips purse as he smiles at her.

He has a nice smile. One that’s far too nice to be on such a grisly hunter. Karma waves her hand. “We have a couple of hours of daylight left. We should make camp and plan our travel route.” If he is expecting her to apologize for the implied insult of his companions, he has another thing coming.

Karma waves him forward, urging him to take the lead, and his smile grows in response. She falls to the back of the group as they travel, her eyes darting this way and that way.

All beings have chi in them. The amount varies, of course, but the most basic skill of a sourcer is being able to sense the amount of chi within an animal or person. Because of the nature of Karma’s abilities, she is well versed in sensing the energy in the creatures around her.

Leisurely, she allows her aura to expand, a little more effort going into concealing the wisps of her energy from her travel companions. She is careful as she lets her chi seep from her, and she is slow to let it fall over those that walk in front of her.

At first, she just wants to know how powerful the small group is. But then she allows a little bit of her curiosity to take over. She wants to know just what they can do. Karma starts with the sister. She shudders as a small tendril of her chi flicks along the emitting energy barrier of the small woman.

She smiles.

Sourcers were first categorized over five hundred years ago. A philosopher by the name of Theon Willabe conducted a study on the fundamental differences between humans and sourcers. While his outlandish and brutish methods are considered a disgrace in this day and age, most people could agree that what he discovered was information that greatly changed and improved the education system of all sourcers.

During his study, he realized that sourcers could use their chi in very specific ways. There were those that effected the earth, the naturalists. Those that could manifest through pure will, conjurers. Sourcers that could manipulate their bodies for enhanced physical abilities, amplifiers. The empaths were sourcers that had an innate understanding of their fellow man. And finally, the casters that could manipulate the space around them with a few simple words.

The lowest cast didn’t even have a name.

They were simply there.

Not fully sourcer, as they have no ability to manipulate chi, but not quite human. They were the no-ones. The servants. The laborers. They were the forgotten ones.

The woman’s chi tastes of something smoky. Of something foreign. Conjurer. While casters can be particularly tricky to deal with, as any word that comes out of their mouth can be the trigger for a spell, conjurers are also quite formidable. They’re quick on their toes, though not as agile as amplifiers. They also typically use mystical weapons of their own creation.

Karma once spared against a great mage that had conjurer capabilities. He had managed to slash at her with his whip, and before she knew it, every breath she took resulted in her losing a few ounces of her blood. It was as if something in the weapon made her heart pound faster. She was seeing doubles within seconds. The young woman had never looked down on a conjurer again.

She redirects her chi to the lumbering brother, though she already knows what she will find when she tastes his energy. Karma is hit with the taste of citrus, fresh and delightfully sour. This, she did not expect. Naturalist. Just like Hunts. That is quite odd. She was expecting the oaf to be an amplifier, as they’re known for being quite simple minded.

Her eyes narrow as she catches him looking over his shoulder. He winks at her. It would seem that there might be more to him than she originally thought. Karma withdraws her chi, her hands clasping in front of her. Very odd indeed.