My hands were already bruised and they had my knees to match. I’d now gone through the most ghastly situation anyone could possibly imagine but the night was threatening to throw a lot more at me. My knees gave in and I collapsed onto the cold ground, they had been through enough, carried me across the thick dark night with my heart feeling like it would explode at any minute. No one could have seen anything going this much wrong; I certainly didn’t expect to be running for my life tonight.

It had all began almost a century ago when people still feared the gods because they had destroyed the witches. Tonight, almost hundred years later, everything had changed. No one had seen anything coming because it had been kept discreet and under wraps for a long while. This was a grand situation and my own situation fell under this.

The small Mfiri village had been my home since my mother birthed me and it had always been a quiet place where nothing even remotely interesting happened. Every year, the villagers would hold a ceremony for the gods, to appease them and thank them for protecting us, for indeed they had been our sanctuary when we had needed them most. They brought the rains when the grounds were dry and crops were dying, they healed the weak and sick whenever they needed it. Ever since their great war with the dark witches, everyone had been grateful for everything that happened because of them but over the years, faith in the gods had dwindled in some and grown weak in most. People had become comfortable in their little paradise, too comfortable to remember them, to honor the moon goddess Nan’aya and to brew beer for Ori the river god. The young ones were worse, they had not witnessed the true power of the gods and they did not know that they could walk among men, and possess majestic, mesmerising human bodies and exact their wrath in despicable ways. People like me did not know anything.

I spent most of my days with my friends herding my father’s cattle and swimming in the river with the other boys. We would occasionally climb up the hills and look for wild fruits to pass the time. For as long as I knew, there had always been an inexplicable rivalry between us and the boys from across the river. Whenever we crossed paths, it would always end up in a terrible fight and someone would get badly hurt. The Furusa boys hated me most. I never knew why they loathed me so much, maybe it was my scrawny build that made them challenge me more, but I was always cautious enough to stay away from them. I knew that engaging in a fight with them only meant disaster for me. They had bodies that were big for their ages and they had thick arms to go with them. The family was made up of seven sons, two daughters and the mother. My mother had always warned me to stay clear of them, whenever I encountered them I was to change my route, I should have listened to her on that fateful afternoon.

The sun was already high up and I was lying under a thick Msasa tree, enjoying the shade and the slow breeze on the summer afternoon. My friends, Tino and Nyasha were in the water along with the others having a swimming contest, whichever team lost would watch the cattle the entire afternoon while everyone else went uphill to gather fruits like nzvirimombe. I didn’t mind watching the catlle with whoever lost. I wasn’t in the mood to go up the hill on that particular day. I just wanted to pass the day in the shade enjoying the breeze. I was already drifting off, slowly slipping away from reality when I felt water on my face. I was annoyed but not moved by this attempt to wake me up.

‘Maybe the idiot is already dead,’ a voice I wasn’t expecting finally said.

My eyes flew open almost immediately and at that moment I realised that what was on my face wasn’t water at all but urine. I sprung up swiftly, the anger in me fuelling my actions and before any one of the Furusa boys could say anything, my fist had collided with the face of the youngest of them all. The adrenaline was rushing through me at a very alarming and unbelievable rate. Everything around me was buzzing and a slow heat was building up in my body. I didn’t stop until all the other boys who had been swimming had joined me and every one of the Furusa boys were on the ground.

Takunda, the oldest of them all, finally got up after we had finished taking all our frustrations out on him. Blood was slowly trickling down his nose and his lip was been split.

‘Tonight you are going to regret this, mark my words,’ he said, staring me right in the eye and breaking off into delirious laughter.

A terrible shiver ran down my spine. There was something about those few words that terrified me and shook away the little confidence that I had previously possessed. The words my mother had uttered to me religiously came back to me almost instantly.

‘Stay away from those boys at all cost, when you see them coming, change your route,’ she had said.

But what was I to tell her now? That I had teamed up with the other boys and beat them senselessly? That they had promised to make me pay, that I was yet to find out which type of horror they had planned for me? If only I had known what was coming, then I would have stayed away from the Furusa boys.

The other boys went up the hill and I stayed behind. My thoughts were all over the place and fear was starting to enslave me bit by bit. What I had started only had a bitter ending and there was no way I could possibly redeem myself now. A stupid thought told me to follow them home and beg for forgiveness but I knew better, for once I obeyed my mother and kept my distance. The day flew by swiftly, almost mocking me and reminding me of my promised impending doom. I went home to my mother after the day was spent and found her outside the chicken run, about to get in.

‘Good evening, Amai.’

I wanted to immediately tell her what had happened that afternoon but fear of admonishment gripped my throat and snatched my words. What could the Furusa boys possibly do to me and how would they even see me tonight?

‘Get me the fattest one mwanangu so we can prepare it for tonight,’ she said, pointing to the one that satisfied her.

‘Is it not too late to prepare it for dinner?’

‘It’s not for dinner, its for the ceremony tonight at the square.’

My gut wrenched almost immediately. The words of Takunda rang in my mind like a gong to the ear. I was in trouble.

‘I had forgotten about that. Do I really have to go?”

She eyed me for a moment then opened the small door to let me in.

Night was fast approaching, the sun had already been snatched out of our midst and the sky had reddened, giving the atmosphere an eerie feel. The wind had finally picked up now and the leaves on the trees rustled, first softly then aggressively as the intensity increased. We made our way to the square where everyone was to convene for the strange celebrations. Now that I had come of age, I paid more attention to everything unlike in the past when I had been too young to understand what was really going on. The village seer would chant and call upon the three gods, Na n'aya the moon goddess, Ori, the river god and the unknown god. My father had told me stories about these deities when I was younger but to me they were just tales to get me to sleep early. Now that I was an adult, I saw the seriousness of it all and I witnessed how revered they were.

The ceremony was going as planned and the seer had finished his calls and chants. The weather had worsened since we arrived and now the heavens could be heard rumbling greatly. It was almost time for everyone to chant together and then come forward with their gifts when suddenly, lightning split across the sky and lit up the trees that were at the edge of the meeting square. Everyone cried out and screamed in terror, some fell to the floor in confusion, everyone followed suit when the tremors began.

‘What is happening?’ I asked my mother as I clutched her hand tightly.

She did not answer, she could not answer because at that exact moment,there he appeared, someone who I only knew from my father’s tales, from his intricate descriptions and his passion in explanation. His body was made up of scales that gleamed in the firelight, their allure was almost hypnotizing, his body was larger than that of an average man and his face was impeccably beautiful. His legs looked like they were immersed in a floating mass of water, like he was gliding above the ground. It was Ori, the river god himself.