500th Time Reborn, A World Only Known By Women: The Karma System

The room was quiet as we stepped out of the elevator, save for the guards who gasped for breath on the floor. There was a large procession of people in the large throne room, but I didn't think I was coming up to talk to them.

"Galio, Cat God, and Traitor to Bramma. What is the meaning of what you have done to my guards?" The woman in the center of the room asked me to stand before everyone.

The Queen wore a royal purple dress with a ring of blue flowers around her neck and what looked to be clouds painted on her cheeks under her eyes. She wore a gold headband with an intricate filigree design on it, holding her purple hair that flowed in tiny ting purple ringlets.

"You know, I am getting really tired of this whole traitor thing. Do you want to tell me exactly what it is that I did? As for your guards? I passed some gas, a natural process that my body does, and yours apparently doesn't. They were just some of the first women to get a taste of my beef," I smirked while trying not to get upset.

"You are a traitor to the crown because we know that you are here to usurp the throne from me! Chicalla told me! She questioned the Lady Katarina! Found out what you had been planning!" Melrose snapped at me, and I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, then, can I meet this Chicalla? How well do you know this person? Is this a person that has been with you since you got on the crown, or is this someone that is more recent?" I asked.

"When Chicalla joined my court, be none of yer business, and it is rude to ask such a question!" Melrose declared, but then I smelled it, and my senses dialed up. Xena.

"This one will try to trick you, Melrose. I told you that the creature would come here after we sent her back! We should have kept her here like I said!" A hooded figure that I knew to be Xena hissed as she walked from somewhere behind the throne.

Xena must have entered through a portal behind the throne, or I would have smelt her as sooner. My mind started to boil, and I wanted nothing more than to throw Xena out the window, but I remained calm.

Something about this whole situation felt wrong in more than just the way it presented itself. One Xena was here, but if she really wanted to do something, she would have already done it. What was her angle in all of this?

"I am not here to trick you. I actually came to talk to you about starting to build a massive boat, but then I found out that no one would talk to me. I also found out that you branded me a criminal, but all on this one person's words. So, yes, I came here to see what the problem was and why Easterners were living outside Northwall. Do you have an answer for me?" I asked, and the Queen narrowed her eyes at me.

"And for what reason do you think that I would tell you that?" Melrose demanded, and I could feel Xena's smile even if I couldn't see it.

"Because I asked. Do you really want to make an enemy out of me? Do you not know what is going on outside your own walls?" I asked, holding back from shouting at this woman.

"Don't listen to this creature! The talk of monsters is nothing but more lies!" Xena hissed, and Melrose got a wicked smile on her face.

,m "Yes, lies spread by the little Countess just like she spreads her legs!"

Something snapped inside of me. Her words hit me, and my mind seemed to go blank; then, I was holding Melrose by the neck out a broken window.

"Don't drop me!" Melrose cried as she tried to hold on to my arm.

Then the anger snapped back into place, and I knew that there were people lying on the ground behind us.

"You think just because you stand up higher than others, it gives you the right to look down on them? CALL THEM NAMES?" I roared, feeling strange but familiar energy swirling into me.

"I… Can't… Speak!" Melrose tried to say as I stared at her struggling body.

It would be so much easier just to drop her. The next person that would take her place should understand better and might not make such a stupid choice.

Was it really my job to put up with these people? The same ones that looked at me as nothing more than a creature?

"Galio! Don't do this!" A woman called from behind me, and I turned back to see another older-looking woman that looked very similar to Mishal.

"Why not? Do you enjoy being treated differently just because of the way you were born? That is what this woman is doing, right? Or is it just easier to stand because you are not an Easterner? If one of them were here now, would they say the same thing?" I asked, and the woman stepped back from me, but Mishal rushed over to her side from a woman she was helping up.

"Galio! This is not going to solve anything! Killing Melrose will just make the people hate you! Don't do this!" Mishal pleaded, and I turned back to Melrose.

"Count yourself lucky," I said and then tossed her back into the room on the fool. Then I looked around and spotted the creature in the back of the room.

Instantly, my hand was on her throat, and we both went through the wall into a hallway. People screamed as I drove my fist into the creature's face and then threw her down the hall. I caught her in the air flashing forward, and then dragged her face off the ground before tossing her into a solid door. Before she could fall, I drove my fist into her and through the door, sending Xena to smash into furniture.