Sovereign of the Karmic System

The little girl, albeit scared, followed the woman through the darkness for a few minutes, after which the tight alley opened into a larger one with a run-down green van parked to the side, and a smoking man leaning on the wall opposite to it. "Where is my mom?.." She asked while constantly looking back at the still visible square where thousands of people were continuing to party and cheer at the top of their lungs.

Hearing the little girl's concerns, the woman suddenly stopped. She then kneeled in front of her, and while fixing her scruffy hair to appear more reassuring, she asked, "What did your mommy tell you to do when you get lost?"

"To call the police.." the little girl muttered shily while tightening her hold on the cat, which almost immediately began to struggle in an attempt to break free from and run away.

The woman smiled. "Your mom is very smart, and so are you! We are going to the police. They'll find your mom and take you to her." she said as the cat jumped off the little girl's constricting embrace and ran back into the dark alley, where it disappeared moments after. "Let's go," She then added. This time, however, it did not seem that the woman was only talking to the little girl, but to the man as well, who took one last drag out of his cigarette before throwing the rest on the ground.

Clothed in a worn out leather jacket and faded jeans, the man stepped onto the still lit butt of the cigarette, slicked his greasy hair back, and while scratching his unkempt beard, walked to the side of the van, where there was a sliding door which he opened with no concern for the little girl's existence.

The woman carried the little girl towards the van, then helped her into it before closing the sliding door, and entering the vehicle from the passenger's side. The two acted in complete ignorance to the presence of the man that was standing on top of the closest building-place from which he observed the now moving van with watchful golden eyes.

-----

"You were supposed to snatch wallets, not people." Whispered the man while driving through the crowded streets.

Immediately the woman turned to look at her companion with scolding eyes before checking on the little girl, and making sure that his words hadn't made her upset. "Isn't your friend Vitali a.. Policeman?" She asked while emphasizing the word 'policeman' in an attempt to deliver a hidden meaning which, unfortunately, her companion did not seem to understand.

"You mean Arseny? No, he peddles heroin for the Russians. Why?" The man answered while showing a confused expression.

Clearly fed up by her companions' stupidity, the woman once again turned to check on the little girl, who was now finding comfort in a small rabbit-shaped plastic toy she had kept in her pocket all along, then inquired in a low tone, "And what do the Russians do..?"

After hearing the woman's exasperated tone, the man in the leather jacket realized that there was a connection his companion wanted him to realize, and finally, after a full minute, it dawned upon him. He quickly adjusted his posture, sitting in a more proper manner, and grabbed the wheel with both hands. He then turned towards the woman, and said, "If you're thinking what I'm thinking, I would have to ask Arseny.. If we approach the Bratva, and tell them we know that they traffic in bodies, the cops will find our tongueless heads in a ditch early in the morning."

"Then ask him. We will sell her to him if we must. Call him, and tell him to meet us at the same spot." The woman responded.

Following the woman's instructions, the man sent a text, then spent the following two hours driving through the busy streets, and to the outskirts of the city, where much less people could be seen. They stopped once they reached the parking lot of a building with festive decoration and neon lights that flickered rhythmically. These lights spelled the word 'Motel'.

Once parked, the two stepped out of the van, but instead of taking the little girl and going towards one of the many doors of the building, the two waited. A few minutes later, a black sedan car entered the parking lot, and parked a few spots away.

As the car came to a full stop, and the engine was turned off, the door on the driver's side opened, and from it, a tall and bald man dressed in black clothes walked out. This man looked at his surroundings, then, while rubbing his hands together in an attempt to warm them up, he approached the couple. "How much do you want this time? It's new year's eve, so it will cost more." The man said without even bothering to greet the woman and her companion.

"We are not here to buy.." Said the man in faded jeans before looking around nervously. Then, after making sure that no one was around, he motioned with his head towards the van parked right behind them.

The bald man, whom the man with slicked back hair knew as Arseny the russian drug dealer, approached the van while taking a pack of cigarettes out of his back pocket, and slamming it against the palm of his hand. For a moment the man became suspicious of the couple, as he only knew them as a couple of desperate junkies that would sell their relatives for a hit, yet, since he had nothing on him that could get him arrested, he decided to first see what the two wanted.

As Arseny moved the cigarette that jumped out of the pack to his mouth, the woman opened the side door of the van, revealing the little girl. "We heard that.. You might be able to help her find her mother."

Seeing the little girl, Arseny's worries disappeared instantly.

For how cautious he was about cops and desperate drug addicts, even he knew that no cop in his right mind would ever use a young girl as bait in an operation that could lead to his arrest.. And since he wasn't as stupid as the guy in front of him, whom he was used to takeing money from in exchange for cheap drugs, he caught on immediately.

The Bratva, also known as the Russian Mafia, was known to traffic in people. Most of the time these people were young girls who wanted to leave their poor country in hope to find a better life in the land of opportunity, only to be sold to brothels and be forced into prostitution. But, at times, they also moved indebted women to their own country, where they would be sold to the highest, and most morally corrupt bidder. This information was fairly known, to a point where many news articles and networks had talked about it, yet, due to the Bratva's organization, there hadn't been any significant arrest.

Despite this information being public, Arseny was not surprised that the two had come to him instead of asking for a meeting with his bosses, since he was sure that, had his bosses had been there, he would have likely been tasked with killing them both and taking the girl, as he knew that his bosses would not risk their operation for two junkies.

Assured that the couple hadn't done something as stupid as working with the cops,

Arseny picked a receipt and a pen from within his pocket, and wrote a few words on it. He then handed it over to the woman, whom he thought looked more competent than her companion. "Go to this address, park the van in the back. I will follow you in my car. If I see a single car following us, you two are both dead."

As soon as he finished speaking, the three went back to their respective vehicles and drove off.. Unaware of the invisible passenger in Arseny's car.

-----

After following the man's instructions for about an hour, the two vehicles arrived at an old industrial area, where dozens of large warehouses had been long abandoned by bankrupted companies that owned them. They then entered a pathway that led them to the back of one of the warehouses, which they followed until they arrived at a large parking lot filled with black cars, as well as a dozen men in black clothes who patrolled the area while carrying heavy-duty guns.

On the wall that was facing this parking lot was a large opened garage, and inside it was a large red-colored semi-trailer truck. Next to it, three men were standing in wait in front of a shorter bald man, who was talking on the phone with what sounded like either his daughter, or his wife.

As Arseny and the couple arrived, all these men stopped talking and immediately directed their attention towards their vehicles, only calming down once they realized that one of them was one of their members. After seeing Arseny, the bald man put an end to his conversation, left the garage, and approached him. Then, together, they walked towards the van, next to which stood the nervous figures of the couple.

Without bothering with the couple's presence, the bald man approached the side of the van alongside a slightly nervous Arseny, who opened the sliding door for him to look inside.

As the door opened, the bald man noticed a scared little girl hidden in a dark corner of the vehicle. Her arms were hugging her knees, as her clear big eyes moved onto the figures of the two men.

It was at this point, after confirming the purpose of the couple's visit, that the woman nudged her companion. However, as he turned towards her, he hinted for her to remain quiet and wait for the bald man to initiate the negotiations.

Unwilling to wait any longer, the woman approached the side of the door, and said, "As you can see, she is an adorable kid.. She will fetch a good price. If we can.."

Once again, the bald man ignored the couple. Instead, he approached the little girl with a fatherly expression. The girl, unimpressed by the man's friendly demeanor began to tremble, but did not struggle as the bald man put both hands on her ears, covering them completely. Then, two flashes of light came from behind him.

The bodies of the couple fell to the ground even faster than their own blood, as in front of them, Arseny stood with a still smoking pistol.

"Open the truck." The bald man said after grabbing the little girl by the shoulders, and pulling her out of the van. The two then walked towards the truck parked in the garage, whose back door one of the bald man's men unlocked and opened, revealing over thirty young girls of different ages, with the oldest not reaching twenty-five years of age.

Seeing the sorry state of these women, the little girl felt terrified, yet, right as the man was about to lift her, and push her into the back of the truck, her surroundings became blurry. The color and light around the young girl slowly changed, turning from facets of grey, to a spectrum of colors that would put a painter's canvas to shame.

When her surroundings of the little girl regained focus, she immediately realized that she wasn't standing in a parking lot filled with strangers anymore.. But on an immense flower field. By her feet, began a short path which led to what the little girl immediately recognized as her mother.

With long steps the little girl ran through the field, until finally, as she came just a few steps away from her crying mother, her surroundings changed once again, and she found herself back in the middle of the crowd. The mother, relieved to finally find her daughter, gave her a big hug, with no intention of stopping any time soon.

To witness this reunion were Daniel, the couple, Arseny, the bald man, and each of the latter's men, who were all standing on top of a small patch of grass constructed in the sky.

While most of these people had maintained their physical bodies, however, the bodies of the couple were now transparent, and formed entirely out of their spirits and consciousnesses which Daniel had prevented from respectively heading towards the spiritual world and underworld the very moment they died.

Aside from Daniel, these people looked at their surroundings with shock. A moment earlier they were either facing dead, or standing on cement.. but now, they were standing on soft grass, floating in mid air with a young man who was too busy staring into the void to even pay attention to them.

"I get it now.." Daniel muttered to himself. His body, now surrounded by a golden luster identical to that of his eyes, gave off an otherworldly feeling to anyone who laid their eyes on it. That Daniel could possibly be a human, nobody would have been able to claim that.

To Daniel, this event, more than any other he had observed in the two thousand years he had spent on this planet, had brought him to realize the true purpose of Karma. Throughout it, Daniel had seen the true kindness of a little girl, who had decided to share what little she had with someone she thought needed it most.. But also true evil, as he witnessed that person repay the kindness with a fate worse than death.

As Daniel witnessed these events, what he couldn't stand was the thought that these two beings were destined to share the same faith. To have their spirit end up in the spiritual world, awaiting rebirth, and to have their consciousness reach the underworld, where they would sleep in peace for all eternity.

This thought made Daniel's blood boil with anger to a point where the entire universe's space began to tremble, causing the people behind him to realize that they were wide awake, and that they were witnessing an otherworldly event.

The bald man, whom everyone recognized as the person in charge, walked up to Daniel and asked, "Where are we?.. Are we dead? And who are you?"

As if awakened from his anger, Daniel's state of mind went back to a completely peaceful state. If anyone could see him now, they would have sworn that Daniel was either incapable of feeling emotions, or that he had turned into a statue.

While these people's concerns were of no importance to him, Daniel still decided to respond. With a voice that seemed capable of breaching through space and time, he said, "Consequences.. Punishment.. I am Karma."