The Past.
Three Years after being Awoken
18 April 2019.

Nia Afriyie hadn't been herself since she came back from Koobi Fora three years ago. She hadn't been dealing with the pain of losing Kukua that well. She hadn't been able to let go of the pain she was feeling. Her eyes had an odd glazed look and her speech delayed every time she spoke. There was a stillness in her being... an emptiness in her heart, a soreness crashing her brain, a sheer blackness now consuming her soul, threatening to engulf her fully. She didn't want to say or do anything but just write in her book, mostly recounting the memories of the night she was awoken — the night everything around her took a sharp three-sixty. The night at the party.

When she went through the portal three years ago from Koobi Fora, she found herself at Mwanauma's shrine. At the very beginning, she had a hard time trusting him but after a while, she got to know he was definitely a part of them. Mwanaume helped her through the blip.

Being the only surviving member of the Initial counsel of LightBloods formed in the nineteenth century — the very counsel that initiated the first chosen LightBloods — he was the best person to walk Nia Afriyie through the dark times and also get her head straight and ready for what was coming.

Technically speaking though, the current Mwanaume wasn't the very one present during the initiation ritual of the first chosen LightBloods at the seashore some two hundred years ago. There was no way he could have survived that long. However, the sight of the first Mwanaume was being passed on from one person to another anytime the host died. Therefore any Mwanaume who was given the sight was granted access to all information and events from the past. They were able to see the future as well.

The only thing that made having the sight of a Mwanaume a bit challenging was, they couldn't do anything to stop what they foresaw in the future or say much about it. All they could do was give clues and directives and probably prepare for the aftermath. That was why when Nia Afriyie decided to leave the shrine to battle the DarkBloods, he did all he could to prevent her from stepping outside. He couldn't tell her why she shouldn't try going on that mission. All he needed was for her to listen but Nia Afriyie was a bit stubborn and wouldn't listen to a thing he said.

She felt she needed to do that for her friend and Guardian. Kukua had been there for her when she faced the most difficult times in her life...when no one would be friends with her because they believed she killed her mother. When no one defended her, Kukua would. She was like the sister or mother she never had. Kukua would sacrifice everything to make sure she was happy and just like that, she actually ended up sacrificing her life for her to live.

She had decided tonight was the day of reckoning and that was all she was focused on. Nothing else mattered. Not even her own life or that of the over seven billion people in the world whose survival depended on her.

Before she left the Shrine, she dropped her book on the mat she sat on, wrote a note that the book is given to her other two sisters of the chosen, if anything should happen to her and stepped outside without saying a word to anyone.

"Hauwezi kurudi sasa,'' Mwanaume called out from behind her before she got to the entrance, the burnt township of Kangara in front of her.

"You cannot go back now," the young shrine maiden beside the Mwanaume translated, her voice a bit shrill.

"Bado wanakutafuta," he continued. So did his young maiden...

"They are still looking for you," she said.

"Bado haujajua Magick yako"

"You still don't know your Magick..."

"Mwanauma, I have spent three years practising my Magick. If that is not ready, then I don't know what else is." Nia Afriyie replied.

"Sio kwa sasa."

"Not now."

"Huwezi kufanya hivyo peke yako."

"You cannot do this on your own."

"nguvu ya tatu, kumbuka?"

"The power of three, remember?"

"Nuru yako haingekuwa mechi kwa giza lao."

"Your light wouldn't be a match for their darkness."

"unahitaji dada zako."

"You need your sisters."

"Tayari nimepata mkubwa. Yuko Tékala. Anaya ndio wanamuita. Tutampata mdogo kabisa hivi karibuni. Pamoja, unaweza kumaliza kila kitu."

"I already found the eldest. She is in Tékala. Anaya is what they call her. We will find the youngest soon. Together, you can put an end to everything -"

"Great. Make sure she gets my book then. It has everything I have learnt so far. Should make her journey easier than mine since our Guardian is no more alive to assist her..." Nia Afriyie paused and clasped her hands together as she whispered some words that were only audible to her.

"tafadhali usiende!" Mwanaume exclaimed but before the young maiden could talk, a portal appeared in front of Nia Afriyie. She stepped inside its trenches then she was no more. The white circular portal swallowed her whole. The chilling crashing noise that projected from it, dying down slowly until it was heard no more.

"Hapana!" He cried out, his eyes shifting to the side and becoming glazed with a shiny blanket of tears. Although he had the souls of over a hundred Mwanaume who lived before him...although he was powerful and revered by many...although he was supposed to be a paragon of strength among the LightBloods, he couldn't help but feel helpless at that instant. What was the use of having the gift of sight if he couldn't do anything to prevent future occurrences?

As he stood there still beating himself up for what was about to happen, an old woman appeared from behind him. She was clad in a white cloth just like everyone else at the shrine. But unlike the rest, she had brown skin, with a swirling black hair with no tint of whiteness which was odd for someone her age. Her eyes were the colour of forest moss — there were no black or white...the sclera, pupil and iris were all greenness. She was short and very slender. She wore a dreadful face.

"You know what to do, right? We have no choice this time around."

***

The abandoned church persisted beside the road like some remains of a fossil, rotting away. It had become the refuge for rogue townsmen, mostly, the weed smokers. It was overgrown with vines and leaves. Dust and thick cobwebs hung on every surface of what was left of it — the broken pews, the cracked altar, everything. Fresh footprints could be seen imprinted on the dust-covered wooden floor.

A low whirring noise projected from the back of the church and then a dark flashing light appeared as the sound became louder. A portal opened, a flashing, smouldering umber prism. Dembe walked out of it looking a bit flustered. He advanced towards the altar after the portal disappeared. The wooden floor creaked slowly, echoing his footsteps while he walked.

Up in front of him, Kande stood beside Nia Afriyie. She is tightly fastened to an old chair with dark tree roots. They tangled and intertwined around her like snakes. They got tighter each passing second, choking Nia Afriyie as she fought for air.

"I am going to kill you, yeah, but you get to choose how fast, slow or painful you want to die by telling us where the other two chosen are." Kande snarled. Nia Afriyie gesticulated as if she wanted to say something but she couldn't get the words to come out.

"How did you get her?" Dembe sat on one of the pews in the front, closer to the altar.

"She walked into the trap. Her Magick was tamed before she knew it. The spell worked!"

"Ah!" Dembe interjected. "Means now we can suck their Magick out of them. It gets better with time."

"So...what do we do with this one? She refuses to speak. And you know the only way we can get to her mind."

"Do it, Kande. No mistakes this time. We don't need her alive. It's the location of the chosen ones we need. Get it at whatever cost." he said as he fidgeted with his fingernails.

Kande grinned as the order fell on her ears. She walked over to Nia Afriyie and ran her hands through her hair. It looked messy and a bit dirty from the dust in the church. She was almost out of breath. Droplets of sweat trickled down her face, her breathing was unsteady and she could barely keep her eyes open.

Kande walked around her in circles touching the tree roots at every turn. The roots moved at her every touch and writhed tighter around Nia Afriyie. She screamed as the pain was too much for her to bear. It was more than just a subtle burning pain creeping underneath her skin. No, it was as though someone had glued a live wire to each one of her nerves and her body shuddered as the pain thrummed through her.

Kande continued until Nia Afriyie lost consciousness, blood dripping from almost every pore of her body. When she was certain she was out, she directed two of her fingers to the roots and raised them up. Some of the roots marched towards Nia Afriyie's neck as directed by Kande's fingers. They attached themselves to Nia Afriyie's neck and entered down the right side. Kande closed her eyes when the roots were deep inside Nia's neck. Silence reigned in the church and deep in her mind's eye, Kande saw everything that happened at the Mwanaume's shrine for all the three years she had stayed there. Every conversation, plan, action, everything, were vivid to her.

"They found the eldest. She is in Tékala and her name is Anaya." Kande said almost to herself as her eyes opened. Dembe heard it regardless.

"Good. I will head to Tékala and search for her." Dembe stood up and made his way out of the church.

"And this one?" Kande called from behind him.

"Take care of her. No funny business though. Just get rid of her quietly." He instructed and entered the portal he had reopened.

Kande grinned and turned to the lifeless body of Nia Afriyie that sat on the chair, wrapped almost fully by tree roots like some kind of carved statue in a tree.

"You should have listened to him when he asked you not to leave. Look at where your act of bravery has ended you? More like an act of foolery if you ask me." She mocked, a sharp grin leaving her lips and disappearing as fast as it came.

***

Chapter edited by RubaiaMQ

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