Opening her eyes, Rio was confused. Her head ached as if a million horses had galloped on top of it last night. Her mouth as dry as the desert and no memories whatsoever of how she had come to her bed, stretching her legs, she felt all the pain in her body hit her.
Reprimanding a scream, Rio felt droplets of water accumulate on her tear ducts.
Slowly opening an eye, she noticed, her surroundings were not what she was used to. The white walls, carefully drawn with gold details, the expensive artwork decorating the room, the handmade carpets, the big chandelier, the big bed, the jade vases. Although Rio had a large fortune accumulated from her work, it was still not enough to be able to afford all of that.
"What the?" She said, her voice still the same, a bit groggy from the sleep. Looking around she tried to locate her phone. Just whose house was this? Thinking that she immediately took out the duvet, only to discover herself wearing a large camisole. What was that? Well, at least she must have not done something improper.
Was this a hotel? Thinking about the previous night, it wasn't impossible that Cristen convinced her to swipe her card and spend the night bathing in luxury. But if that was so, where would she be, it was not possible to have a hotel in the city large enough to host two large rooms such as this one. Unless they were out of the city.
With that in mind, Rio quickly got up, going straight to the window and opening the curtains to check for her location. As the sunshine quickly lit the room, sudden blindness hit her eyes, only to be overpowered by the view. This was no hotel, this was a house. A mansion at that. There was no road nearby, no cars, nothing. The blue sky was a baby blue, partially covered with a few subtle clouds, the ground, a big garden, full of yellow roses.
Putting her hand on her forehead, Rio had trouble breathing, she couldn't believe her eyes, a part of her wanted to cry, a part of her wanted to kill. She couldn't tell which one was more potent. She knew exactly what had happened, she had seen movies about it and books. She never thought it could also happen to her. As she slowly fell on her knees, Rio didn't know what to think.
"I... This..." She said, her mouth out of words to say due to the shock. "I can't believe, Cristen made me rent a mansion. That's it, I'm broke now. Jobless and broke. I might as well become a bum on the street."
As she placed her hands onto her face, she felt a strand of hair reach her palm, the glossy golden locks, caressing her skin. Perfectly combed, shined holding a perfect curl, as if it had just been made at a salon. With a light scream Rio panicked.
"Oh god, she made me dye my hair too. Please don't tell me I have a tattoo." She said, lifting her camisole, only to find a thinly traced crown inked on the side of her left breast small enough to be confused with a mole, big enough to be identified if standing close. "Oh God, what the hell."
Tapping her body she tried to sense a piercing everywhere, with no remarks of it, she exhaled. If she had done one, her mother would have definitely killed her.
"Did I at least take off my makeup?" She wondered, Cristen was very strict with that sort of thing, however, judging by the fact that the woman was not there, Rio could only go have a look at the damage last night had caused her.
Entering the big bathroom, Rio was surprised, to find someone already in there.
"Who are you?" She screamed in a panic to the gorgeous young woman. Staring at her silk white skin, her golden almost mystical hair, her hypnotizing fierce golden eyes she felt weird.
As they simultaneously approached each other, Rio extended her hand only to feel the cold temperature on her fingertips. Opening her eyes wide, she retreated, her back reaching the limits of the bathroom as she fell on the floor, looking at her hand in despair, and then looking at the woman once again, perplexed. What was going on? Touching her face, she noticed, she was alone in the bathroom, the image reflecting in the mirror was her.
After a moment frozen on the ground, Rio suddenly got up. A big smile on her face, brushing her fingers through her hair, she just walked off of the bathroom.
"Okay. " Was all she could say, before heading to the big bed, putting on her mattress, she closed her eyes. "Everything is gonna be just fine. It's not happening."
With a loud noise, Rio quickly got out of bed and in a flash, she was standing outside the room. Looking around she couldn't understand how she had gotten there, and why her body moved on it's on.
"What was that?" She asked herself, her voice coming out with ease. She could feel herself controlling the body, however, she could also feel its muscle memory and instinct possessing her at times.
Seeing a girl leaving the room opposite to hers, she had a weird feeling of comfort. And as if the body knew it, immediately her shoulders relaxed and a smile popped on her face. However, who was she? A petite skinny girl, In her early twenties, perhaps a couple of years younger than Rio herself. Although she had never seen the girl in her life, she knew that this body did.
"Sorry, another accident with my alarm. Go back to sleep, today is your day off remember?" The girl said, entering her room once again. Only now, Rio noticing the lack of clothes in her body. Yet why didn't it feel weird, to see a stranger almost naked? "I mean it, go to sleep Karma. It's an order."
And as if the name had provoked something inside her, her head started aching all over again, the pain so strong she couldn't even bear to scream, as if something pushed her out of the hallway, her body slammed its back on the wall of her room. She couldn't bear it.
As if her body was heating up, the pain in her head kept increasing, her back didn't even feel the pain of the hit, instead, a rapid cold came upon her body, freezing enough to make all her joints burn. Still, her mouth couldn't move and no sound was made. Squeezing her eyes, she could see tiny stars as the shut them tight trying to suppress something. As a whole life worth of memories entered her brain, Rio felt almost as if she wouldn't make it. The pain was excruciating and she couldn't tell how long she could keep up with it.
And in a breeze, it all stopped. As her body fell on the floor, slowly she opened her eyes, no pain or fear in them. The sweat in her body quickly vanished, and her wounds healed. A refreshing feeling came upon her, getting up. Rio extended her arms stretching. Walking out into her office, she quickly, recomposed herself and sat down. Analyzing some pieces of paper, she quickly tore them apart, throwing them away.
As her pen started writing the documents all over again, in the garbage bin, a pile of documents started burning in a wild yellow fire, in it's cover the words quickly vanishing, erasing the once written: Peace Agreement, Humans and Witches, As Decreed by King Juliard The III.
"Just wait for me Karma. I will make things right again." Rio said, her husky voice coming out of the smirk on her face.
"Rio, Rio wake up. I saw you open your eyes. I know you are up." A male voice said, it's pitch unfamiliar, and yet comforting. Feeling her body ache all over, Karma felt a strong pain as if all her bones had once again broken. Still, it wasn't the worst she had felt, actually, it was even a little pleasant. It assured her, she was still alive.
Feeling a warm touch on her arm, as the male voice called her once again, Karma opened her eyes in a swift moment, accumulating all of her power on her hands she felt nothing. No power, no energy, no magic, nothing. What was going on?
"Who are you?" She asked the male human, who stared at her with his eyebrows lifted in worry. "Answer me, who are you." She screamed, looking around and trying to find the first thing to defend herself with, she had no energy to fight for herself. However, she couldn't recognize most things, she had a weird metal thing stuck to her arm, with a liquid going inside her veins, the room had a strong white light, the bed was uncomfortable and a machine kept making weird beep noises.
In a quick movement, Karma quickly reached for the man's neck. She hated that kind the most. Seeing the surprising movement from his sister, Philip retreated a few steps. Although those murder attempts were common upon waking the girl up, this time, her eyes held no emotion to it, almost as if the woman really wanted him dead.
"Rio, are you okay?"
As the name echoed in her head, Karma kept her blank expression. After so many things had gone through her mind, in and out, the pain she was feeling was nothing, however, what were these things she was seeing.
Although outside Karma seemed normal, inside her system was a mess. The information was too much, her body wanted to shut down, however, with such a host, it was harsh to do so. Still, with a monitor, carefully reporting her vitals, soon the room was bombarded with people.
"Rio, calm down, Rio, stay with me. Doctor, please save my sister." The man said to another.
Karma, however, stood there, calm and collected, as she processed something.
"Ma'am I'm going to need you to stay calm, we are going to help you." A woman said, a name is written on her white coat, however, Karma was having quite a difficulty reading it, in reality, Karma was having trouble reading anything, seeing, hearing.
In a quick second, Karma closed her eyes, and rested in bed.
"Doctor, will she be fine? She was too calm, she didn't even know who I was." The man said, the voice vanishing as Karma's conscience did the same.
Opening her eyes, Karma noticed, it was already late. The sun had already set and the night had already arrived. Looking to the side, she noticed the same man resting on the chair.
"Philip?" Karma called, her body adjusting to its new circumstances.
Hearing the faint calling, the man got up and went next to her, his eyes shutting down from tiredness.
"How are you feeling?"
"Like shit."She laughed a bit, his expression unchanging.
Taking his hand and shoving her a bit to the side of the bed, Phillip laid beside his sister, his eyes closed. The hospital bed, because of the presidential status was large enough for the two of them to sleep comfortably, still. It bothered her a bit.
"Serves you right." He said. "What kind of person throws herself in front of a cab? Only a really big idiot." He said, plopping his arm on top of her belly. "Someone should really research your brain and see just what the hell is wrong with you."
Hearing the treacherous words coming out of the man's mouth, Karma kept her guard up. However, something inside of her was glad to hear those words.
"Sorry." Was all she could say.
"Were those series so important to you? I could get you some pretty good deals you know? I mean, yesterday after you called telling me you were fired I made some calls and got some auditions for you to perform. Why did you have to go to that stupid bar? You sure lack some brain cells don't you?" He asked.
As Karma heard those words, she was speechless, the man was insulting her to her chore, yet she felt like crying because she felt sorry. She wanted to embrace him and tell him she was okay now, however her original self could not allow it. Letting the man leave even though he had approached her was a given, hug a man was just way too much for her.
"Please, don't ever do those things again. If you die, I will kill you. I swear."
Karma never had a brother, Karma barely knew any man. She was repulsed by them actually, still, this body made her not despise them, it was interesting, to say the least. Trying to do a search in her brain about his background it was her time to take questions.
"Did you spend the whole day in here? Didn't you have a big shoot today?" She asked. In Rio's memories, it was made clear that Philip was a successful young man, he was a famous model, an A list celebrity and notorious with the young crowd. His schedule was filled with things and yet he could always make time for his sister.
"It doesn't matter. Go to sleep, I haven't slept because of a certain someone and if I break out, I will sue you. Good night."
A bit annoyed, Karma wanted to protest, yet at every attempt to say something the man would pretend to snore loudly. Giving up, she threw her pillow in his face.
Tomorrow she had things to do, and business to set up with. Because you know they say, Karma is a bitch and she spares no one.