She awoke hours ago to a faint breeze, which tingled down her spine, rattling her core and suddenly was shook by a hot burst of air rushing against her skin. The shock of the chill and sudden burn startled her as she awoke to the sight of bright yellow-green eyes that watched over her that night. For hours now, she had gripped some sheets she found on the bed, depressed on her tongue and has been sweating drops of terror from her skin. She felt the heavy yellow glow press down upon her like a mega-tonne, perversely watching her cower under her soft quilt. She began to grow tired and her eyelids dropped and she was finally at rest for the first time in hours. When she opened her eyes again the yellow light blinded her and without a sound, her demonic intruder was face to face with her; in this moment she shrieked out a primal scream of sheer terror which the creature bathed in with great pleasure, as it seemed to feed on her very fear.
The next morning she awoke perfectly fine as if nothing had occurred that night. She assured herself it was simply a nightmare. As she stood up she realized that the window was open, and in that moment she felt the cold breeze that awoke her last night. That’s when she saw the claw marks which scratched the window frame and ran up and down the bricks of the side of that strange house. She took a deep breath and prepared to let out a scream like the scream she unleashed that night but, to her horror she was incapable of uttering a single sound. The creature had devoured her voice.
"This is still a haunted place," she told Abednego.
"We are still far deep in the forest, but at long last we have an ogrism tail so we don't have to be afraid," she went on.
"Have you ever had a dream where you were somewhere you did not belong, perhaps. you panic as you’re unsure what you are supposed to be doing and everything seems off?" She asked Abednego.
"If reality seeps its way into your dream and you remember you don’t belong here. As I tell you my story I want you to keep such feelings in mind because it is the only way I know that may describe what I went through," Anednego answered her.
That very moment they heard a familiar sound of my Matendechere calling them. she called several times. They didn't know that Matendechere will follow them in the spirit after getting an ogriam tail. They slowly got out bewildered. Looking around Nina felt nostalgic.
Matendechere was there in a spirit form. She told them it was now time to rush back to Namamali village and save them from that ccruel king Imboko. That it was time to liberate the people of Namamali village and those whose blood was shed. She gave them a secret on what they were to do with that ogrism tail ones they reach the village. She performed some magic on Abednego's wounds and Nina's woumb. To their surprise the wounds dried and the skin became soft as if nothing had happened.
Matendechere assured them that all shall be well and that she will avail herself whenever she will realize that they are in trouble.
"I missed the scorching wind of Namamali. How it pours sunlight onto your face, toying with eyelashes, flattening dry sand against cheeks and milling around hair. I missed the smell of the valley and that ripening softness glistening in the afternoon breeze," said Abednego.
From up from where they were they could see their house, the calabash has worked magic. This is how they got up here, to the top of this hill, where they were standing now. The climbed all the way up there, so they can finally end it all – all these years of vagrancy and fugue, exile and fear. This is where it’s all going to come to an end. Matendechere an old woman spirit has indeed by the use of calabash magic enabled them to get out of Igodo forest.
Now, they have an assignment, assignment to set the village free from the hands of the evil king Imboko. They were instructed use the ogrism tail.
But for now, they were enjoying the view of the valley unfolding below. They were sipping the air of what could be their welcome to a new assignment of liberation.
She will show up soon. She always does. Like a shadow, she’s been following them right on their footsteps, always there, behind them. And there she is!
Her limping figure appears behind the sharp bend off Abednego. Nina looks up and she sees them, then stops for a moment to catch her breath and leans on the calabash, as if assessing the remaining trajectory for this final stretch, then resumes her walk reassuring them that it is going to be well. Years of endless chase took a toll on her body. She now believes her ghost will go to rest ones Abednego and the wife Nina accomplishes the mission. Finally, they started laying strategies to go get the king and secure others trapped in the kings courts.
"Kipili will be back to me," smiled Nina.
Imboko was having a magical powers too, he has a spirit guiding him but with ogrism tail in ones hand you can strike it with knife.
Ones eliminated the king will be powerless. Imboko pulled his cigarettes, got one from the case, he put it in mouth as the lady working as a helper steps in to light for him. He puffed and blow out smoke in the air with a sigh of relief and settled into a very comfortable chair behind a large writing desk.
Late afternoon sun filtered in through the bay window but couldn’t defeat the darkness of the his refurbished house, nor the drowsiness of his mood. Luckily, he had had the mind to call his soldiers and gave them some instructions. The place had no lights so he asked one of his men to pack a few battery-powered lanterns, and one of them now provided enough illumination to take around the palace. He reminiscent how he poured the bowels of his brother to take up the kingship. Imboko has killed so many people, he has subjected many of them into total t*****e, but he loves it.
Every tickling second, he loves seeing someone writhing in pain. His magic powers can't be argued, he has total protection, all around the palace. He squeezes his big magic wring on his index finger, he goes as far as squeezing the bridge of his nose and releases an exhausted breath. He had admittedly taken the loss of his brother very hard, as he was a kind, bright, thoughtful man taken way by him before his time, but he was a lucky man, raising to the kingly throne.
He wings at something that can't be seen by n***d eyes, it is his guardian spirit. The one that protects him from being haunted. The spirit posses same qualities of death and had been giving the king Imboko protection of all kinds. The spirit can tell if there's any negative plot against the king. It can smell, it can sense and it can also repel any charms send to the king.
The guardian spirit has genes that seemingly came from the woman believed to be an ancient woman who used to boil little children, drunk their soup and ate their flesh every evening.
[9/28, 11:45] Jesus Is Lord.: CHAPTER 30
He had received several information about the disappearance of Abednego and his wife weeks before at the allocation of their child Kipili.
"They ran and left the boy. Anyway, this child will become a killing machine," he murmured.
A wooden box was brought before him by one of his soldiers, the content inside were undoubtedly heads of some of the people who were sent to be beheaded, so they were brought to him as a sign of confirmation.
He had agonized over opening it, though, as he was unable to come to terms with what he did to his brother for him to get the kingship. The spirit gave him some signals and finally convinced him that they might provide comfort rather than sadness.
With final resolve, he retrieved a dusty head from the box, lifted it up for people to see and shouted loudly
"May it happen to those who goes against my leadership, the same way it has happened to this one."
The head was ruthlessly cut, it was dripping blood, whoever it was, must have gone through horrendous, painful death.
He placed it back in the box and ordered to be taken behind his house.
There are not enough words to describe how ruthless Imboko was. But his health began fading, there was something sinister, Matendechere the sorcerer leaked out information to Abednego how Imboko's power shall be brought down, that one will lead into his death. Abednego has to get the tail of ogrism, the tail will make him invisible; thus he will be able to enter the king's court without being seen. In a spiritual form he will also see the spirit guardian and wrestle it, he will take a magic calabash hit it on the head. That will be the end of Imboko the king.
On sensing something wrong, the spirit whispered regrettably to Imboko,
"I will always be with you to guide you, indeed I will without any failure but I'm sorry for what I’m about to reveal to you. I fear though that there isn’t enough forgiveness on Namamali village for what you've done."
The spirit told Imboko, it had seen Abednego in the spirit hunting for ogrism tail, it knew that terrible moments await Imboko. That ment that his final will and testament have been executed and that he shall probably be surprised to find that he will no longer be a king and that he will have to pay dearly for all evil he did. The spirit affirmed to him and asked the king to heed its words.
The king was also warned never to go back to his house from the day the matter was disclosed to him.
" Do not go to that house. Put the deed in the back of your safe, claim it as an asset, but otherwise forget that it exists. You may be curious to see the how sweet home you may be having, but please, do not go to that house," it warned.
"I' m going to tell you why, I am a spirit, you know that. You know I collect any information about you in the spirit and you may not have the same respect for me afterwards, but it is imperative that you understand the gravity of the situation," it told him.
"My parents and I had moved from this village into Igodo forest when I was around fifteen to live with Aunt Matendechere. However, when I was a few years younger than you are now, I succumbed to terrible sickness and I was taken to the evil forest.
I later passed on, but my spirit was brought back to your family as a guardian spirit. You know my parents both passed away shortly after they had handed me to Matendechere in the evil forest and now I’m telling you that they too were taken to that forest in spirit, they had left me there when I was sick, terribly sick, but they didn't know that I was dead and that I was now living in spirit form. Now, it is so unfortunate, but they never provided me with the knowledge I’m about to bestow upon you, my poor, sweet king. You started killing people, maiming them and even sacking there blood. Now, the spirits of those people you killed are baying for your blood."
"Out of convenience," the spirit went on.
"I moved into your house several weeks when you went to consult the sorcerer. He gave you me to protect you, but there's a cry. All the innocent souls you killed want to avenge for their blood."
The tail had turned Abednego and Nina into invisible being. So they went all the way to king's court.
"I will wait. Right here, behind this rock. I will finally come face to face with him. This sharp knife blade I am holding in my hand will soon lance right through his neck bone. Yes, that’s what I am going to do," Abednego told Nina.
"Funny. After all these years, I never knew Imboko has an invisible spirit that is guiding him. No wonder the killings," marvelled Nina.
The ogrism tail had totally turned them into invisible being. They went unnoticed to the king's court, passed the guards and then it happened. Something that caught them completely off guard. The king came out of the court, at that moment Abednego saw the guardian spirit of Imboko pointing its finger in Abednego's direction, that came as nothing short of a shock.
Imboko shifted his gray-shaded pupils in Abednego's direction as if reacting to a sudden buzzing of a fruit fly.
At first, Abednego did not pay much attention to him, no more than he did to the guardian spirit. So here was another one sitting right behind the gated area of the square. Striped worn out jacket, heavy cap, sandals with clots of woolen socks sticking out. A common hippy bum as anyone may have thought. He thought so too except this one had something that made his intestines churn. He didn’t know what it was, but once he saw him, he felt the irresistible urge to instantly walk away in that invisible foam.
The way it looked at him, that gloomy frown that made him think of escaping away.
His eyes, as if carved from a rock below his forehead were mercilessly drilling thousands of tiny holes through him, he added pace to go and attack the guardian spirit behind Imboko. As he turned back one last time, he noticed it slowly walking towards him. Past the gates of the square, onto the entrance, paying no attention to anything around. Walking right towards Abednego.
He’s just a bum. No, he is not.
Just another one of those unwashed hippies. No, no, run run run!
Abednego could hear his brisk footsteps. Or was it the drubbing of his aorta against the chest? He was catching up.
Run? Don’t be silly. Yes, run. First slowly as if you’re trying to not show that spirit that you’re scared. No, not scared, more like in a hurry.
Why am I running? I can take him out with one punch.
But it really wasn’t about that. It was his first experience of that feeling, which he can only describe as some sort of primordial sense of fear. Panic. Dread. Unexplained sense of looming doom arching above you like a dark figure with a scythe.
He ran. He ran faster than his feet could move. As he turned the corner on the gate of Imboko he paused and looked back, fearing to see the guardian spirit right behind. The herbs he took to keep him alive in the evil forest were about to make their way back up through his esophagus.
Wiping the sweat off his palms onto his skin short, he bent forward in a protective position and looked around. Empty king's court was checking him out like a toddler witnessing parent in a cowardly act.
Whoever that man was that incensed him into this uncontrollable panic, he was now gone. Shame on you, Abednego, he repeated to himself while making futile attempts to enthrall palpitation to subside. Shame on you. he mumbled repeating that word. Mumbling turned into whistling that song by “Magic Lanterns”. Shame, shame. He whistled, acting calm and self-composed. He sang without knowing words only to convert his mind to something else. He sang so that Nina wouldn’t notice him shaking.
Even now he had questioned himself whether his journey to madness began on that day or was it underway for many years. Madness that creeps in and recedes in tidal waves. Is that how it usually happens?
All he knew is that an hour later he was laughing at his little moment of weaknesses.
Memory is a tricky animal. As he gaze over the king's court and satiate his lungs with familiar smells, he cannot think of anything specific. Vague and elusive memories of his encounter with Matendechere and the firm instractions of liberating the village and setting the spirits in Igodo forest freshly lingered in his mind.
He close his yes and let the sun twirl around with tinted specks of mosaic light. He is trying to focus without looking. Alas, nothing comes to mind. He has been robbed of his memory. You!
He cast his eyes at the king's entrance again. He is closing in. It’s hard for him to walk upward, and yet he see that determination in his eyes, in his tight grip of that wobbly walking stick, in the way he periodically stops to catch his breath and eyeball the remaining distance.
"I am not going anywhere. Five? Ten more minutes? Come and take me, old man. If you can," he courageously said.
He almost see his facial expression under the heavily pronounced frontal lobe. It’s a grin. It’s an expression that says,
“We shall see."
We all die. But imagine what would happen if we all stared right into the face of death every single day of our lives and knew the time that was left for us in this world. Death not as a vague concept portrayed by middle-aged artists, not as a folklore tale of a grim reaper. But as a real living entity that stalks you and walks around showing you a ticking clock counting down minutes and seconds. Getting closer to you with every second, trying to grab your hand. Running from death is worse than death itself.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Cold shivers that have been accumulating in his lower back rushed up his spinal cord in millions of explosions. Nausea formed a massive ball of air in his throat, and for a moment he struggled to breathe. Desperately trying to cease the thumping inside.
"Take the guardian spirit out!" he heard Nina's voice.
"Instructions from Matendechere states that we can't reach out to the king before eliminating his damn guardian spirit," she told Abednego.
Abednego was looking around, hoping to see the king. He wasn’t there. But its guardian spirit was there, he felt its presence not very far from him. But his nomad memory is lost in endless labyrinths. You took my memories away from me, didn’t you?
Wait, mortal. Wait five more minutes, and you will know the answer, he hear in his brain. It is talking to him now.
“Do not ever come close to him. Do not look him straight in the eyes," Nina warned.
Abednrgo jumped up in an invisible foam. And he wandered. He evaded. He followed.
It came too close to Abednego the fool in him still thought that escaping from him would be as easy. But no, they were on a mission, mission to liberate Namamali village and sent spirits in the evil forest to rest.
"When you first come face to face encounter with him, hit it on the head with the calabash," Nina advised Abednego. They were all transformed into invisible beings.
Abednego felt his presence, but his ignorant foolishness dismissed all the warnings and instead went direct into the king's living room. All he wanted was to finish the king completely, he was completely invisible, no one recognized that they were around. It was in the room, sitting behind the king with a rope in his hand. A thin white blanket was covering his head like a shroud around a statue. Abednego stood in a stupor like a paralyzed insect. An avalanche of sweat gushed from every pore of his body. With hand twisted behind his back, clutching the calabash, he was feverishly trying to twist the calabash. He got up with a groan. He took a step towards Abednego. Hand too sweaty to lift the calabash.
It grabbed Abednego's wrist.
“This is your chance Abednego!” a whisper crawled into his ears.
“Hit it. Hit it on the head and run!” hissed the wind.
Any slight delay and the calabash will be powerless; thus they will not be invisible anymore. He was on a task that if he jeopardized with it then he will have put his life and the life of his wife Nina at stake.
Abednego lifted up the calabash with a lot of strength, hit it hard on the head and ran until his legs gave in. He fell down somewhere in the outskirts of the village, passing out in an alley amidst rubbish until sunup.
By that moment Nina had been directed by the spirit of Matendechere to where Kipili was hidden with a nurse attending to the child. She entered in the house in an invisible foam, rubbed some concoctions she got in the evil forest on the child's arm and immediately he turned invisible. She took him and by the time Abednego hit the king's guardian spirit, they were already out of the king's court.
In the king's court things turned upside down, all the spirits from Igodo forest came from nowhere, the apes, the ogrisms and all sorts of weared creatures. They engulfed the king's court and devoured his soldiers, including Okuyoyo. The palace had turned into nightmares, the king soldiers tried running back to the side of the court but neither of them had any idea what to do, let alone how to comprehend the fear. Abednego could hear one of his men screaming and fighting, and actually swear, that sound has never left peoples ears. The king's guards grabbed a rock and ran across the court. He hit the thing that had come from nowhere over the head, but it swiftly knocked him back into the pool that was built by Imboko. The guard struggled but it was too late for the poor guard, the water pulled him in on the other deeper side where he drowned. The creature made off with Imboko's limp body through the courts and outside into the forest. They lifted Imboko up in the air, each and every spirit cutting any part of Imboko. There were frightening eerie sounds in the village, you couldn't imagine the blood sucking creatures that had occupied the court.
People run on hearing those sounds, no one dared to move near. One of the ogrism was seen carrying one of the king's leg and another was seen carrying his head as they fled into the evil forest. Abednego and Nina, together with their child Kipili came back into human visible foam and with the use of ogrism tail they went to the king's court.
They summoned the whole village, the tail gave them courage and it also made all the creatures that had invaded the king's court to flee. No one was left in the court, they were all devoured, only the innocent soldiers and civilians who were working for the king are the only ones who were spared. But those who were ruthless like Okuyoyo and Imboko himself were devoured. The ogrism tail was used to miraculously wipe out the curses on the land of Namamali village. Abednego and the wife Nina, together with their child Kipili were applauded for delivering the entire village from that cruel king Imboko.
Abednego restructured the leadership of Namamali village, he shifted to the king's court and formed his soldiers who were well disciplined and went about helping villagers and contracting bridges in the village.
New songs were sang and the land was at rest since all the spirits in Igodo forest went to rest for ever. Abednego expanded his territory, together with the wife they became wealthy, the village became a place to be, all the time.
Nina became pregnant and gave birth to a robust bouncing twins, a baby and a girl. They built a memorial in the market place in remembrance of Nina's host, Aloice. Nina couldn't believe that she was now living in a palace with his three children, Aloice, Matendechere and Kipili. She raised up his family in a robust way. Everything was taken care of.
After having evening meal together, they all retired to sleep.
Abednego's eyes fluttered open, he was laying on his back, with head head turned towards that chair. On that chair there was a woman crying her eyes out staring directly at him she pulled out her insides. Her skin was a pale-grey color, and she had blonde hair. She just stared at him. Abednego was scared shitless. He tried closing his eyes, and then he felt a pressure on his chest. She was sitting on his chest pulling out her innards all over his chest while crying. All over a sudden she turned into an ogrism and carried Abednego back into the evil forest. It throw Abednego on the ground and shouted loudly,
"Now, we have finally got you!"
Abednego gave a closer look at it, gosh, it was the same ogrism which they had cut its tail.
"Let's skin him," it appeared to be speaking to another ogrism.
He saw it's claws and with its heavy masculine it pressed Abednego hard on the ground, it parted him apart, his back on the ground and his legs were being pulled apart as he felt excruciating pain. His skin clothes were tone; thus he was lying there helpless. It got hold of his manhood, and shouted at the other ogrism.
" Do as he did to mine....cut it out..let me first of all remove his bowels out," it screamed joyously as they made fun of Abednego. It dug its claws inside Abednego's stomach, it was about to pull out Abednego's bowels and he felt something striking his cheek, he opened his eyes, she was there looking at him frantically, amicably smiling at her. There she was, a woman of her dream, Nina, a woman who came to her rescue while in the evil forest.
"My love, your favourite breakfast is on the table," she whispered to him. What a terrible dream he had. It was indeed a dream, he woke up in the courts of their concurred palace and in the arms of her beautiful Nina.
"Left right...Left right!" Kipili could be heard commanding his twin brother and sister, imitating soldiers in his now parents palace. A robust family it became.
Aksara