Horror
..........
As the amber-haired fairy offered her spirited retort, Kari's face remained a portrait of stoicism; her golden eyes betrayed not a flicker of emotion. If it was not her hand that silenced the spirited one's fervor, then fate would surely step in—to snuff out the flame that burned so brightly within her. Despite Kari’s stoicism, a small, quiet voice arose, a wisp of emotion that floated on the surface of her mind. Respect. It was a word seldom associated with Kari's thoughts, a feeling rarely nurtured within her battle-hardened heart. But in the face of the fairy’s response, that elusive emotion began to take root.
With a deliberate, measured movement, she removed her hand from her face, her golden eyes locking onto the individual before her. "I am not my mother," she declared, her voice a rich, resonant timbre. "Luckily for you." She continued with an air of nonchalance. "I can don the mantle of her shadow, should you provide me with cause."
A sudden shiver raced down Kari's spine, a prickling sensation that raised the fine hairs on her skin. Goosebumps blossomed across her flesh, a familiar harbinger that had announced itself many times before, on the eve of battle. Why, she wondered, had this premonition of conflict arisen now, when no battle loomed on the horizon … when the threat of violence seemed little more than a distant memory?
Boom! The sudden, thunderous roar of cannon fire cracked the air. Kari's heart leaped into her throat, her warrior's instincts seizing control. Her body tensed in anticipation of the conflict that now seemed all but inevitable. Splinters of wood flew through the air, as the once-sturdy beams of the ship's deck groaned and protested beneath the onslaught. As Kari's eyes widened in alarm, her keen senses attuned to the chaos that had erupted around her and her mind raced to assess the situation and formulate a plan of action.
Her gaze swept across the vast expanse of the sea and she found the spectral menace that had roused itself from the watery depths: a ghost ship, its tattered sails billowing like the ragged shrouds of the damned. With the agility of a seasoned warrior, Kari scrambled to the ship's cannons. Her glare landed on one of the ship's crew members, who was visibly struggling to load a cannonball into the mouth of a cannon.
"Step aside," she commanded. The unwavering determination in her eyes left no room for doubt—Kari was ready to take control.
Abandoning the conventional method, Kari reached out and touched the iron sphere, infusing it with a brilliant, yellow radiance that pulsated with power. The cannonball, now enveloped in the mystical luminescence, rose from the deck under Kari's guidance. Her eyes narrowed in focus, she aimed the levitating projectile at the ghostly ship. With a swift, resolute motion, she aimed her finger at the target, unleashing the full might of her magic and sending the illuminated cannonball soaring through the air like a fiery comet.
The cannonball found its target, crashing into the ghost ship with a thunderous impact that reverberated across the boundless ocean. Kari readied herself for another strike, her fingers shimmering with the same golden aura that had enveloped the first cannonball.
-->