If what she just felt was wrong, then at least her eyes did not deceive her. She saw it. The three lines were like the careful work of a careless tattoo artist on his chest, and that relevant glow in the pupil of his eyes.
"Oh No! oh no!" She kept on muttering to herself. "It finally came!... It finally happened!"
"Damn it! am not ready, I have to update the plan."
She ran into the house not noticing the grocery bags that had escaped her hands to the ground.
In a world with a sky always filled with snow all year round. On a building so high it made the Eiffel tower look like a proud dwarf, a man stood on an oval-shaped balcony wide enough to comfortably park a passenger plane. He had proud eyes that seemed to look down on the world. He was slender in stature, and even though he had hair as white as the snow that fell around him, he had a very young face.
He looked far ahead, to the horizon. His sight was so strong that he could see little children playing in the snow and it made him smile.
He was still enjoying the view when a dark-skinned woman wearing a tight overall kente cloth with two rows of goomba beads around her neck strolled gently to his side. Her steps were so light, it seemed a cat walked over. But before she came close enough, she heard his voice.
"I enjoy my peace and quiet 'Shadower'. If this is not important, I might decide to remove your noisy legs."
She fidgeted a bit but still took a step forward and bowed deeply, intentionally exposing her chest. "My lord, it rang. We've found him."
The man's tranquil eyes became brighter but immediately resumed their calmness. He closed his eyes and opened them again. Took a deep breath in and out. Seeming to have arrived at a decision. "where?"
"The central messis humus. Angola, my lord."
"Which family's outpost is closest to it?"
"House Nathifa."
"Oh! this is going to be quite troublesome. If it is really him, it is going to get really messy. Am sure the other families are already aware. Your job is simple. OBSERVE!"
"Yes, my lord." A firm reply drifted in the air as she vanished from his presence.
Somewhere in another castle, a very fat man stood in front of a painting of a double-headed snake on the wall and sipped gently on his cup of wine as he listened to a report from a kneeling man behind him. He turned around and grabbed the man by his neck. "Are you sure it is him?"
"Yes, my lord! the wavelengths match." the man replied struggling for his life."
"Send the Gardeners. We have to make contact first!"
"Yes my leash!" the man acknowledged massaging his neck as he left the room.
Several scenarios such as these happened simultaneously at different places, only with different results.
Tiny was like white on rice, stuck to Derek's arm. As usually of cause, enjoying the privilege of sitting close to him. Not that anybody wanted to, except for muscle man Aesir of cause-whom was the attraction of her constant bullying. He was chased away to another sit with a glare.
Aesir sat two sits behind the duo, close to Madeline. But she barely noticed his presence as her eyes were fixed on the shameless Tiny. She was a pretty girl by social standards, having dark curly hair that stopped at her shoulders. With Pretty large and radiant eyes, a pair of dimples on the side of her cheeks that always had the attention of people whenever she smiled.
She envied Tiny a lot. For her boldness but also despised her for her lack of morals. Madeline always had a body quite muscular for a girl. Therefore, always felt socially insecure and that made her timid by nature. She also had a crush on Derek. In fact, it dated far back to before Tiny came to the orphanage. Except for her method of expressing it at that very young age was quite special. The pull your hair and take your lunch money kind of special. But she was not to be blamed. A little history hid behind her misunderstanding. She didn't know she got it wrong until her current competition arrived.
Tiny was talking, but Derek could not hear her, or rather he could, except it was drowned by a whole lot of other voices. It felt like thousands of tiny ants were crawling on his brain. All trying to get his attention. One more than the other. An intense headache hit his head, and he thought his mind was about to tear.
He held his head in pain and just as it came, it left. It was clear again.
"Derek...Derek...Derek! Are you okay?" A voice asked worriedly. He lifted his head and saw a concerned Tiny.
"No, it's nothing. I just need my aspirin."
"Are you sure? You were murmuring words...in a different language."
"Yes, am okay. It was just hmm... Klingon. You know, from Star Trek." He smiled nervously.
"Okay, if you say so. Wait, what's Klingon?" She asked as she handed him the small bottle of aspirin.
Derek was thinking about what had just happened to him when her words hit him and he grabbed her by the shoulders.
With a sharp look in his eyes, he glared at her. "What!!! You don't know Klingon? That's like the greatest language created in cinema history"
"Wait! You don't know Klingon. How dare you?" A nosy Aesir eavesdropped on the conversation and butted in. At this point, Tiny knew she shouldn't have asked such a question. Especially around these fanboys. A world of regret was about to ram into her ears.
The school bus arrived at its destination and the students alighted it. A staggering Augustina came down with a dazed look on her face, muttering something that was definitely in a foreign language. She could swear she just heard the full story on the Star Trek franchise from two nerdy psychos, and it was all in less than twenty minutes.
The ring of the school bell woke her from her stupor. Students ran towards the large entrance of the school. Some were gisting, trying to catch up on undone assignments, some on the previous night's game.
Tiny took Derek's arm as there walked into the hallway, claiming to help the weakling against rushing. They entered the classroom and each took their sit. A few seconds after sitting, a man walked into the class. He looked to be in his mid-thirties. He was dressed in a black suit and a red tie around his neck. He had a black briefcase in one hand and an umbrella in the other, which was quite puzzling since the sky was clear but no one dared to ask why.
He took his seat at the teachers' desk and proceeded to bring out several textbooks. All of which annoyed the students, solely because of their bulk size. He took one of the books in one hand and slowly flipped through it. Taking his time on its pages as his head kept on nodding in agreement.
He took the chalk and gently walked up to the board, writing two very bold words on it. 'HUMAN PSYCHOLOGY.'
"Bring out your notebooks and please note as I go on," He said.
"We are going to be addressing the reasons for procrastination as assessed by Dan Ariely in chapter 6 of his book titled 'Predictable Rational'. In this book, Dan claims to understand 'the hidden forces that shape our decisions. He partners with a colleague of his to unravel the mysteries of why human beings procrastinate so much and as such used his students as the guinea pigs to prove his theory. He gave three classes an assignment with the first-class the liberty of choosing their own deadline for the assignment before the end of the semester which of cause most, if not all choose the end of the semester. The second class had no liberty to choose a deadline at all and were required to submit their assignments at the end of the semester. The third class, however, was given deadlines on different parts of the assignment throughout the semester. In his findings, he discovered that the third class did better than the first two."
The teacher spoke loudly as he walked about through the tiny alleys formed by the students' desks. He kept on talking as the students jotted down his words when it happened again. Derek grabbed his head. The voices in his mind had arrived. He saw himself as a child being born looking up at his parents who were smiling in joy, then suddenly it changed and he was on a farm with sweat running down his face as he tiled the land and it changed again as he fell in love with a beautiful girl and yet again another change as he caught her with his best friend and stabbed them both out of anger.
Mr Derek...Mr. Derek...Mr. Derek!!!"What?...Whaaaat!...Sir!?" Derek replied hastily, raising his head from in between his hands. looking up, The teacher was standing right before his face. Even leaning in a bit. Now that he looked up close, he realized this man looked a bit familiar.He had dark straight hair, With keen but sad-looking eyes under those glasses. His bright skin looked tanned. Derek wondered if all he did was bathe under the sun whenever it rose. "Would you mind telling the class in your own words of cause, what you think is the reason for the difference in the result by the three classes as gotten by Dan Ariely?"Derek could still feel his mind pounding in bits. He was in no way in any condition to answer any question. He felt the air thicken as he breathed. "Oh! the pressure, the pressure.""Correct Mr Derek.' Pressure'. External pressure is the reason for the qu
Note, this chapter contains minor scenes of blood and gore... Five people walked through the hole in the wall. Their every step, was elegant, like they were exempted from the chaos raging around them. They were dressed differently. Four men, and in their midst, a woman of distinguishable temperament ...their attire painted them as people interrupted on their way to a party. The woman had stunning bold eyes with dark yet scanty brows. Her delicately modelled ears framed her Elvin face in such a manner that it complimented her button nose. On her head, gold beads that looked like there were sprinkled on her flowing black braided hair reaching down to her shoulders. The pearls that adorned her neck, held, even though there were clearly not bound by any string. She wore a sleeveless red-flowered pattern danshiki that came down tightly to her slim waist and opened freely to her knees. A gold patterned insignia of a withering rose laid on the left side of her voluptuous chest. Derek fou
Derek looked out the car window, at the receding back profile of a woman he had always known to be the closest thing to a mother. He remembered she would always ask him to help her reach the top shelf in the mall and would mount a chair screaming whenever she saw a mouse. She had always been so fragile and gentle. But now, words could not describe what he was seeing. "Did she just leap a full nine feet in the air to give an acrobatic kick?" He muttered to himself. "It was even effortless. like she was jumping over a little ditch in her path."He looked into his palm, at the object she had shoved into his hand. It was a little black cloth sack. It had an insignia of a roaring 'Cat'. He opened the cloth sack and a pendant fell into his palm.It was oval and gold around. It had the engraving of a roaring cat just like the sack. Now that he looked closer, it was more like a roaring tiger or lioness. It felt smooth to the touch even with the engraving, like the body o
Derek raced into the main house."Mrs Manica!...Mrs Manica!!...Mrs Manica!!! The reverberation of his screams echoed all around. He went to the cafeteria but was welcomed only by the tables and empty chairs. He checked the dorms and even the kitchen but there were all empty. Even the creche was empty of its toddlers. Like everything that survived on two legs had suddenly vanished including the caretaker, the helpers, volunteers. There were all gone.Madeline and Tiny took Aesir to the sickbay and laid him on a bed."Don't worry I gat this." Madeline took down the first aid kit hanging on the wall. "The only people that know this room more than myself are probably the old nurse and 'the weak one'.""The weak one...?" Tiny raised a brow"Yes, Your boyfriend!""My boyfriend!?""Yes, Derek?""Oh! Do you mean Derek?... Yes...yes, he is." Tiny averted her gaze away from Madeline a little. "I think Aesir got a bad concussion at school
The coagulation of ink on the wall had formed into a massive ring. It shimmered a golden hue and gave a slight humming sound, like the lingering ring of a bell. A rune was at the crown of it and it changed in shape at short intervals.Derek stood up in awe and even forgot the pain in his neck. "We have to go, we have to leave now!""I agree, we have to get out of here before that thing swallows us." the cowardly Madeline already headed towards the door, but Derek grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back."That is not what I mean. I meant we need to go through the gate. And fast too." Pointing at the ring. "We don't have much time and I can't explain how I know this but if we want to leave this place, we have to go through that thing."Boom!!! a sound loud enough to shake their feet was heard from above their heads. The three of them ran outside the cottage to see what was going on.Above their heads, Ellen and Vera had joined forces to hamme
At the safe borders of a great waterfall, a tour guide introduced the tourists to the beautiful scenery of one of nature's most spectacular wonders. With a fall of about 344 feet high and a width of 1312 feet, this amazing site has been the inspiration for famous poets, painters, sculptors and a variety of musicians. It has enlightened leaders, resolved wars and even had a religion with fanatic believers based around it. This was the great Kalandula falls. For years, adventurers and daredevils have tried to test the stinging whips of its unforgiving trials but have lost their pitiful lives to its impatient waters. Myths and legends of its past and supernatural abilities spread wide in varying stories. One of which was of mystical beings who look down on the rest of the world living behind the curtains of its falls. If only they knew how close to the truth the version of this story was.The tours ended early today. Tourists were directed to stay as far away from the wate
Derek walked into the cafeteria. Aesir and a couple of the usual gang were already at the usual table. It was noisy today like it had always been on any other day. He took his tray to the table and sat closest to his best pal. Preparing his fork to enjoy his bowl of noodles, he looked up to participate in the day's bout of arguments on superhero weaknesses. He frowned. Something was wrong, these were not his friends. No, there were. But yet they were not. Derek fell out of the chair in fear and panic.These were not the friends he had come to know for years. "Wha... What happened to you guys? Andre, Where is your hand?" A face came closer to him and he backed off some more, "Fred, your eye?""Oh! you don't remember? we gave them to you." A face that had one side of its cheeks dripping to the floor like melted butter answered him. It was Aesirs.He screamed and kept on crawling backwards. His left hand came across an obstacle and he turned his head in reflex to c
"Take me there." She ran out of the room. Derek followed after them.It was along the corridor of a small alley. Two beefy looking men blocked Madeline's path to a wall. There held steel pipes and had perverted looking expressions on their faces. One of them even licking his lips. On the other side of the wall, a man held Aesir by the collar of his shirt with a pistol to his face. He was much skinnier and shorter with a full-bearded face and a vertical scar on the left side that trailed from his eye to his neck. He looked to be the leader of the motley crew as he was the one spitting out orders."Leave them alone," Tiny ordered on arriving at the scene. "Kareem, go get your father." She instructed the boy and he ran off into another alley.Everyone turned to her and the men burst into laughter. The man with the gun looked at her. His gaze like a dog that found a new toy stopped at her waist. He had naked perversion apparent in his eyes. "Asim!" He called out, an
"Welcome Madeline, we have been waiting for you!" A voice whispered and she turned about to the sound of the voice.There stood a very tall slim woman. She had on a white crop top that revealed her very slim waist leadingdown to her white blouse. She had a pair of glasses on, and she smiled sweetly to Madeline."Where I'm I!?...And who are you!?" Madeline asked."Follow me! I'll explain" she said, gesturing to Madeline a path that opened up in front of them.Madeline frowned and at first did not want to, but still followed behind the woman taking gentle steps.Through a yellow path in-between trees that surprisingly had both carrots and cabbages growing on them, to a hut on a hill side. Madeline followed, while her eyes examed her environment with nothing but wonder and surprise.At the small hut, the woman entered, and then she gestured for Madeline to follow. Although she did not want to, she had no choice and followed.Madeline thought that her sense of reality was warped because
Aesir willed and his sword acted as an assist as it went straight for the bird's other wing.*Caw!*The eagle screamed in pain. Manila ran straight for it. And mounting it's back, she delivered a crushing blow to its neck.*Caw!* It screamed again. However, she did not stop for a bit and after the fourth blow, the eagle passed out. Derek and Aesir stared at her in surprise as she slowly stood from the eagle's back. She made fierce eye contact with Derek and then looked away. Aesir turned to Derek with a brow up, and Derek raised his hands in surrender, "what I'm innocent. I swear!" "Of course you are." Aesir smiled and walked away.Manila began work immediately. The plan was to use the bird as a distraction for the scorpions so that they could pass.The best way to do this would be for them to make sure that the beast could no longer pick up flight.Manila was unsurprisingly skilled at this. She cut out the feathers of the beast.Aesir and Derek also joined her and helped. Soon eno
"Exactly! So if you can't solve them, why bother about them? Yet, before you lies a problem that deserves you immediate attention which you can or at least try solving. But you are too concerned with the rabbits in the wild to realize that you should first deal with the one on your plate." Priestess Ada adviced.She smiled and walked away, "Don't forget, listen as a passerby and it will flow naturally." Madeline watched the back of the old lady leaving as the words she had just spoken played again and again in her head. She sat crossed leg once more as she continually told herself to let go. Her eyes closed tightly and suddenly the thoughts as expected came once more.This time around, she decided not to quiet it or silence it. Rather she let it flow naturally.At first she couldn't help but be swept up in the thoughts and the different scenarios they played. Some even ended in tragedy. And this made her ache in worry. This was a disadvantage of over active thinks. A disadvantage t
Derek could not help but look at them and observe them. These were not like the scorpions he knew from earth. For one, they produced webbings from their tail end. Also, there seemed to be very organized and particularly busy.Some of them were bigger, but those big ones were few. And from the looks of it, they monitored the activities of the smaller ones. These creatures were hard at work building it seemed."Scorpion colony! We will have to navigate round them." Manila spoke."Navigate?" Aesir asked, "how far are we talking of?"She pointed to the hill far in the distance. "That far? But that will take at least an extra day off our schedule." Derek added."Yeah! It will. But it will be far better than to have those things have our scent. Cause ones they do, they will follow us for a very long time." Manila advised."Hmmm. Is there no way to distract them?" Derek asked."Well, there are a couple of ways that could work. However, we don't even have the necessary materials to make tha
Madeline nodded her head in understanding to Chief Sasha's words."So what does this have to do with aura?" Madeline asked."Well! Every thing." She picked up another stone from the ground, "according to your definition of aura, then aura is this object in your hands. And has stated earlier, it weighs you down over time." Chief Sasha turned and threw the stone into the water, then she turned once more and slowly released her aura, "However, if you understand that all it is, is an extension of your body, then behold the weight is gone. After all, your hands have always been attached to the rest of your body and you don't hear them complaining."Those words suddenly stroke difference to Madeline. She felt like she was at a state where she wanted to understand. In fact, the enlightenment was just Infront of her, however, it was a yard bit out of reach.She even sat on the ground as she tried to think hard on Chief Sasha's words. However, for the first time in a while, her brain was una
"huh!?" Madeline could not believe what she was hearing."Don't worry! I am not as weak or fragile as you think. I am sure you noticed that we are a small tribe. Yet, we have survived for so long with terrible neighbors such as the Kaka tribe. Although we rarely bring out our full force, we are definitely not weak." Chief Sasha smirked a bit.Madeline nodded and then she commanded the Cerberus to attack. The beast used one of its paws and a heavy blow landed on the chief. *Bam* Some where within the carven, Priestess Ada was attending to a pregnant woman when she heard the boom of the attack. She raised her head and sighed, "So the the training has started."She pretended not to hear it and continue with the pregnant woman in front of her.....Meanwhile, Madeline was panicking. There was a lot of dust and it was difficult for her to see what had happened. As far as she was concerned,she had crushed the chief."Chief Sasha!" She called out in a low tone. Afraid that her eyes might m
A few hours later, Derek ,Aesir and Milan said their good byes as they started their journey to the Gaka tribe.However, before they did Priestess Ada had come to see Derek one more time."Please take care of yourself properly Repono. And if there is absolutely anything you need, do not hesitate to contact me. I maybe far from you, but some of the things I can do will very much amaze you."Once she said this, she touched behind his ear and Derek clearly felt another radio rune added to the one he already had.Radio runes were special but not ominipresent. One had to be within a certain range for it to be used.Derek knew that If she was giving him one, then it meant that she was sure of reaching him as far away as even the Gaka tribe.A sudden realization hit Derek. One that he had not thought of before. Priestess Ada was a Familiar. Which meant that she could also weave runes.He remembered his experience at the cave when he first came and the one that had happen during the fight aga
"And what might the main dish be?" Milan asked with raised brows. Chief Sasha did not exactly know how to have this talk with her daughter. But she knew that she had to. "Erm... Milan how old are you now?" "I am nineteen now!" Milan replied, "but in a couple of months, I'll be twenty." "Oh! That's nice. That's around the same age I was when I had you. Oh, how I remember it like it was only yesterday. That was the happiest day of my life. You were so little and so adorable. Your butt was not this big and chest this full then. It was all so..." "Mother!!!" Milan stopped her. Her cheeks had become red from embarrassment. "Just go straight to the point. Please!" Chief Sasha laughed a bit, "okay! I understand you are a big girl now." She sighed and then laughed some more. Apparently, she was still rolling down memory lane. "So tell me. What do you think about that Master Writer?" Chief Sasha asked. "Huh!?" This question had taken Milan off guard. "What do you mean mother?" "I mean
Meanwhile, back at the mountain that belonged to the Waka tribe, Derek sat crossed legged in a cave assigned to him. This cave was by far a better one than the one he had and his friends had been sharing on first arrival. Also it was decorated appropriately and it even had a bed in the middle made of several animal fur. Derek had already given out instruction that he would loved to be left alone for a while, if not the entrance to this place would have been crowded by people. With rumours of the tribe having a writer as a guest, every body wanted to meet him. Also, tales of his marvelous feat from the battle earlier in the day had reached their ears.He was as good as a god to them at this point. At the entrance of the cave already lay all sorts of gifts for him. However, Derek was not all that interested in playing messiah at the moment. He just had too much on his mind. Too much problems that needed his attention. One of which was the pressing matter that both his women were mis