Inception

Each new day in the village of Kosoko was like the previous; little kids running in every direction with the intent of playing on the foremost part of their minds, and older kids acting grown up while chatting with rabbits and rats, weird, right? That's Kosoko. Mothers, ever busy, could also be seen keeping an eagle eyed look on their kids and hollering at them to return when they began to venture far out of sight amidst gossiping with peers. When dusk strikes and the lights come alive, the aroma of their food compel both men and kids to respond with stupendous alacrity. The men of the village only engaged in farming, which was contrary to their former occupation; hunting, but ever since the Igwoba(village head) bestowed upon animals the gift of speech, animals were rarely killed for food and sport. Kosoko was indeed a beautiful village, but it wasn't always so. ( Now, you're probably wondering where I am in all these, am I part of the men, women or kids running in draping pants?... Well, I'll let you in on a little secret : I am dead, and this is a story of how I died).

The ray of the sun stole its way into my room and pounded on my eyes till I was forced to open them. I cast a quick glance across my room, and with a loud yawn and a stretch a little bit over stretched, I hit the alarm clock hanging from the wooden frame above my hammock. It had not rang yet or had it? I wondered. Checking the time, I saw it was 8am

"Crap, I'm late " I muttered to no one in particular. Lifting myself up out of my hammock, I dragged myself to get washed in the bathroom, and having slept bare chested, it was no stress kicking my trousers off and heading into the bathroom. I opened the door, and walked into a spiral structure shaped like the human body; a courtesy of our tech department. I approached the 'spiral bond' and fitted myself into it with arms wide apart. There were controls for making it fit to your exact body size, so I hit the button labelled skintight. After 3 minutes of standing still and being bathed by the spiral bond, I got out of the bathroom, dried myself and put on my armour. It felt unusually heavy.

"Tensed much" I chuckled to myself. I was to be at the Igwoba's palace at 9am, she was going to have a meeting with some tribal leaders of which I had little to no interest in. Picking up a stick of cigar, I lit it, and stepped out of my room into the sunlight.

Passing a detour, which was a faster route to the palace, I mistakenly stepped on a mole,

"Look where you're going, you chucklehead", he hollered

"Sorry, Moly, not my fault you're so little", I retorted

"Oh, you want a piece of me?", the mole took a boxer's pose and screamed in rage

I retreated from the scene as fast as I could, moles were known for their extremely short temperance, and I wasn't ready to be a victim just yet. After about 15 minutes, I arrived at the palace, and went straight to the Igwoba's room. Some guards tried to strike up a conversation with me, but I ignored them and simply flashed a smile; They gossiped about everything and anything, ceaseless chattering about pointless matters, even what every family ate, I had begged the Igwoba a few weeks earlier to remove their power of speech, jokingly though, it just always got on my nerves. It took two flight of stairs to get to my destination, and when I got there, I announced my presence.

"You're late", the Igwoba shouted from her room

"It won't happen again ma'am "

"That's what you said the last time", she laughed

"History does love repeating itself", I retorted while laughing

"Just give me a minute, I'll be with you soon " she said.

The silence in her quarters of the palace was dreadful, and for a woman of 26, my age mate, she was quite excellent at ruling. Our last Igwoba died while at sail, and left the burden of administering Kosoko with his daughter, the present Igwoba. Reigniting my cigarette, memories of when we were kids struck me, we had made plans to run away and live life the way we wanted, the princess and the son of a knight. I laughed to this thought, pondering on how funny it was that she was now the Igwoba and all hopes of us ever being together had been dashed, as an Igwoba can only be with a prince or a princess.

The sound of her door unbolting brought me back to reality, and I stood tall as fast as I could.

She laughed and said "loosen up, you don't have to be so formal"

"Your majesty" I scoffed

Leading the way in her Igwoba costume, I followed closely behind despite knowing she was out of harm's reach in the palace, or maybe I only wanted to give the guards something to talk about and let my inner man laugh at the fright that would overwhelm their faces when they see the Igwoba pass by them. And indeed, my predictions became reality, the guards had been lazying around, and when they saw the Igwoba,they hurriedly pretended to be vigilant on duty which only looked like kids caught vandalising property. I made a quick broadcast call to my team with a mini walkie talkie that was attached to my armour, we were to converge at the Alapata conference centre.

The road leading to the conference centre was decorated with patches of grass intertwined together, having leaves on both sides forming a railing, but the Igwoba wasn't a fan of walking, she preferred floating a little bit above levelled ground, that way, she could look tall and not get stressed. The extent of her powers always amazed me; flight, mind control, elemental control, telekinesis, there was just no end to it, the power that came with being Igwoba was without a doubt, mindboggling. We could have taken the coach, but she was adamant on us going there by means of foot. It was almost impossible to argue with her, who knows? Perhaps her hair coloured with a mix of black and grey one way or another, fuelled her obstinate feature.

"Are you scared?" I inquired, she stared right at me with a blank face and replied "like hell I am, I'm to meet with representatives of the tantin and jube clan"

"So, what about them?" I asked innocently

"Do you ever listen to the birds?" she retorted half angrily

"I know they're the most powerful clans, but how should that frighten you? " I asked

She gave me a pathetic look and said "I'm to meet with two representatives of the most powerful clans to discuss military strength, financial spendings, and a whole lot of other council of leaders stuff, I just totally can't handle it", she almost sobbed.

Staring at her, gone was her Igwoba aura, gone was her fierceness and might, all I could see was the little girl of decades ago who was in need of a friend. Her position isolated from her from every friend she had, there was no time to spare for social discussions. My knighthood was the only reason we had conversations.

"We're here", I announced.

The Alapata conference centre was a gigantic building hidden behind a waterfall, only the leaders of the 36 villages knew its whereabouts, and their guards of course. I let out a bird call, and out of the thick brush beside us emerged three people clad in black overall; two men and one lady, my team. We were entrusted with the duty of protecting the Igwoba at all costs. They bowed to greet the Igwoba, and together, we approached the waterfall. Upon getting there, the Igwoba waved her hand, and the waterfall parted, leaving an open space for us to walk through.

"Show off", I blurted out while grinning

The Igwoba passed me a mocking smile, and hit me playfully, then the whole group burst out in laughter. Oni and Tonio positioned themselves at our six for rear protection, while Tonia; Tonio's female twin, led the way, I was left in the middle with the Igwoba . As we reached the other side, a colourful ray of sunlight hit us, and adjusting our eyes to the sudden attack of its brightness, we could see dragons and unnamed leviathans circling round about the air. This was the Elders' keep, filled with the first of life to exist on this planet, it is said that only one had the power to control these immortal creatures. Taking in the scenery, we all stared with mouth agape, but our mesmerized state was disrupted by the rustling of leaves somewhere not far from us. Immediately, we all sprung into action, our blades were unsheathed speedily and we surrounded the Igwoba, poised to strike any who would dare attack.

"Put down your blades" , the Igwoba ordered

I stared at her wondering what could have prompted her to give such an order, then I saw it, it was a messenger squirrel, the Igwoba squatted and picked up the squirrel. Chatting with her in an unknown language, I watched its mouth run and noticed she kept nodding without saying a word. A few minutes later, she dropped the squirrel, and watched it scurry into the woods. The atmosphere abruptly became cold as she bent down and drew a wide circle.

"Step into the circle " she ordered

Advancing into the circle, I took the north, Tonio the west, Tonia the east, and Oni the south while the Igwoba stayed in the middle. Lifting her hands, bolts of lightning rushed from the sky into her hands, and both her eyes and hair turned as white as the snow. She slammed her hand into the ground, and an electric discharge circled round us, and the next thing I knew, we were standing right in front of the conference centre.

"Tristan, come with me", she said while moving

"Oh wow! You couldn't have done that hours ago", I complained, then continued "You three should wait here and be at alert", I directed the order towards my team.

The silence was unbearable with the waterfall already left behind, at least I couldn't hear its roaring again, the interior of the conference centre was vacant. Not one soul or piece of furniture was in sight

"After all the drama, I do not want to say this, but are you sure we're in the right place? " I asked

"All you needed was 3 seconds of patience, see that far wall over there, we're gonna walk through it "

"You can't criticize me, first timers' curiosity "

"Yenyenyenyenyenyen yeah indeed", she mocked me

I ignored her scoffing, and before walking through the wall, I put my walkie talkie on, and asked for an update of how things were going outside, the reply was 'peaceful', we passed through the wall and found ourselves right in front of a gigantic door, that opened itself at our presence. I could see two people who seemed to be the clan representatives seated opposite each other. Our entry must have interrupted something they were discussing, they seemed anxious, perhaps they were getting tired of waiting. After exchanging pleasantries, the Igwoba instructed me to stay outside and keep guard.

"I don't buy the idea, let me be by your side, I can't ensure your safety from where I can't see you ", I replied

"Nothing will happen to me, I'm safe here, and besides I have my powers to use if anything goes wrong " she said with a smile

"Okay, stop smiling, chins up, go get them" I said, and retreated to the door away from the trio. The moment I stepped out, the door shut itself close. Something in the air just didn't feel right to me, I didn't like the atmosphere in that room, it spelt danger, or maybe I was simply over protective. I had to cool off my nerves, so I brought out another stick of cigarette , and lit it. It was definitely going to be a long wait, I pondered to myself. The door seemed to be soundproof as every bit of sound was sealed into the room. To my left was a hallway, and to my right was the same.

"they must be connected " I said to no one in particular.

I followed the path of the left hallway which seemed to curve at a point, which meant the building must have a 360 frame and probably a single backdoor. The floor was smooth, and had a crystalline texture to it, "if one were to run on it, they'd probably slip, or did it just seem so?" I asked myself. The walls, contrary to the floor were coarse, and could peel the skin if rubbed against.

A tremor suddenly shook the building , "what the hell is that?" I exclaimed half aloud. I made to run, but hit the ground, the force of my crash left me unconscious for about a minute. Regaining my consciousness, only one word ran through my mind; sabotage. Calling for immediate backup from my team through the walkie talkie, I put my right leg on the wall, then the left followed, when I felt balanced, I began running as fast as I could. If anything were to happen to the Igwoba, I simply wouldn't forgive myself. Running on the wall was quite stressful as it had been a while since I tried it, with my arms trailing behind, I edged on and finally the huge door was in sight. I jumped off the wall onto the floor and began jogging towards the door. Once I was there, the door did not swing open automatically, and I began desperately searching for a switch or a handle, there was none in sight, fear for the Igwoba's life overwhelmed me as I smelt the acrid scent of smoke slithering from underneath the door. Removing a piece of paper containing black powder from my tool pocket, I hurled it at the door and as fast as I could, I retracted and threw my cigarette at it.

With a loud explosion, the door shattered and splintered to pieces, I began coughing as the smoke from the room and the door explosion engulfed me, I drew up my noseguard, and began searching for the Igwoba, my eyes felt like they were burning, and my vision was distorted, all I could see was a combination of black and a number of uncertain colours. Amidst the fire, I could hear footsteps running towards me from the direction of the door

"They have found the hidden path in the wall", I breathed a sigh of relief. I turned to face them, and whilst staggering, hollered a shout of help. My senses were weakening, and I didn't have much strength again in me due to the intensity of the smoke, a hand grabbed me and resting me on its shoulder, took me outside. My eyes opened a little, I could make out the figure of my three henchmen battling the flames, I shook the dizziness I was feeling off and forced myself to rise up. I staggered towards Tonia and asked her to hand me her toolkit, I had put a smoke absorber there during our last mission. It was a little piece of technology,almost the size of a thumb. I activated it, and tossed it into the smoke. Steadily, the smoke began waning till there were only burning flames and debris all around. We combed the room but it was all in vain. When all hope was lost, Oni called our attention to a big gap in the wall which was not noticed all the time we were searching. Hastily, I ran to the spot, searching for an answer but all I could see from where I was, was an endless stretch of the forest. The wind was also extremely cold at that height, but that provided no answer, and although the distance to the floor was really high, I doubted it would have been a problem for two representatives of the most powerful clans, and that's if they didn't even have outside help. Suddenly, anger raced through my veins, I'd kill those bastards if anything were to happen to the Igwoba. Resting my hand on the wall, I felt something etched into it, I called for help, and together, the four of us used our knives to dig into the wall, my eyes glimmered with hope when I saw the object, it was my gift to the Igwoba during her last birthday; a hairpin that was designed to display the heat signature of the Igwoba if anything ever happened to her, so we could find her . I relayed this message on to my team, and they all heaved sighs of relief amidst a burning hope.

"So what do we do now" Tonio asked

I turned from them, stared into the forest and whilst clenching my fist, I replied

"We'll get our Igwoba", Then I turned to face them with rage all over my face "And we'll kill the bloody bastards"