Week 9 Storytelling: Karna

"My love, I have heard terrible rumors," Surya said. "My eyes and ears have informed me that someone means to trick our son. They are going to use some sort of ritual to strip him of his invulnerability!"

Kunti gasped. While Karna was not her only son, nor her favorite for she had not even raised him, he was still her son. How could someone steal Karna's invulnerability which his father had bestowed upon him as an infant. It was as much a part of him as his head or his heart. She knew of spells that could perhaps achieve this, but it would require consent from the other party. They would need to repeat a phrase that would trigger the event, so the magic knew to whom it should attach itself.

She voiced her concerns, asking, "But, Surya, would not Karna have to consent to such a ritual? He could never knowingly allow someone to strip him of such an integral part of him!"

Surya shook his head. "That's what I believed as well, but my contacts say whoever is doing this has found a spell that only requires eye contact with the person. They must be very powerful to control magic in such a way!"

Upon hearing this, Kunti began formulating a plan. If her son was to survive, she had to make a difficult decision. She could do nothing about the assassin's vision, but she could prevent eye contact between the two.

****

"Karna, it is your mother," Kunti said through the doorway. "I must ask something of you and you are not to question me."

Karna came around the corner, smiling at his mother. Although he only just learned that she was his mother, he already felt very close to her. She obviously cared for him and only sent him away to give him a better life than the one she could provide at the time.

"Of course, mother," he said. "Whatever you need."

Kunti pulled the phial from behind her back, purple liquid sloshing, threatening to spill over. It almost seemed to smoke. "I need you to momentarily remove your invulnerability." She took a deep breath before continuing, "And I need you to drink this."

He blinked, momentarily confused, but he removed his invulnerability and drank without question. All of a sudden, his vision began to blur, streaks of black blocking out the light of the room. Slowly his vision disappeared completely and he was unable to see. 

****

Karna approached the sound of the battle. He heard the clash of steel on steel, felt the vibrations in the air, felt the heat of battle. But he could not see. And it was all his mothers fault. Over the ringing of swords striking armor, he heard the voices of his brothers, the Pandavas, his mother's prizes. 

He would strike them down one by one. There was nothing stopping him. One by one, he slew his brothers on the field of battle until only Arjuna was left. He could hear his mother's voice filtering through the sting of the sounds of men dying, begging for him to spare his last brother, his last enemy.

"Duryodhana took me in, he cared for me!" Karna was shouting, notching an arrow as he approached the sounds of his brothers breath. He could feel his aura seeping out of him. No one could hide from Karna's heightened senses. "Kunti took my sight and you did nothing but mock me!"

He released his arrow and it flew true, striking Arjuna in the heart. "I will stand by the side of those who loved me," he said, turning his back. "Not on those who abandoned me."

Image of Karna found on Wikimedia Commons

Author's Notes

This story is based on the story of Karna found in the comic by Anant Pai. In the story, Karna gives away the armor and earrings that grant him his power and invincibility in exchange for a weapon. In that story, Arjuna is able to kill him because of this. I wondered what would have happened if he were able to keep those things. In my version, he turned on his family because of what his mother did to protect him. His brothers mocked him and Duryodhana supported him through it, similar to when he supported him at the tournament with Arjuna in the original story. In my version, Karna is still invincible and never makes a pact with his mother. The Kauravas are victorious.  Also, instead of one long story, I decided to try a different tactic. It's a short story comprised a small snippets of time. The middle is left to interpretation.