THE LEGEND OF KIWAKAAZI

“Fear not the darkness or the evil perceived to dwell within it. Fear not the shadows that form around the light. Fear not for you have the light with you. The evil one like a roaring lion seeks for your soul to devour but he cannot for your soul is all light and the darkness cannot comprehend it. You are victorious for you did not fear.” – The black genius

Darkness was slowly engulfing the battle field. Darkness is death and death is darkness. Whatever death touches, death takes. Whatever death grabs hold of, death does not let go. When death threatens, the soul fears and begins to tremble. Aran, the current leader of the death gods has decided to touch Kiwakaazi. He is going to grab hold of him and there was nothing the young boy can do about it. Kiwakaazi’s time has finally arrived – death calls.

Aran, after being cut, roared. So loud was the roar that all of Nomposuro was agitated. No one had heard Aran roar this loudly before. This suggests that something must be going on in the forest of the shinkos – something interesting. The roar was aimed at frightening Kiwakaazi but he was unmoved by what he described as “unnecessary noise”. With a cheeky smile, he said, “You shinkos really love your roar.”

Arangosango’s transformation commenced. His body grew furry; big white fur. His legs followed and his cut arm regenerated quickly. And finally his head and face changed into something scary and intimidating. The creature called shinko. Aran went on all fours snarling at Kiwakaazi. He possessed perhaps the reddest pair of eyes; the meanest look, the sharpest claws and the nastiest fangs amongst the shinkos. The very air around him was highly charged, and, a desire to kill so intense that it can cause paralyzing fear in any opponent. And when he finally attacked, the ground underneath his feet was completely crushed and destroyed. In just one leap, he was near his opponent.

He had become faster and stronger and with one swing of his claws, Kiwakaazi was sent flying upwards. Aran disappeared and appeared right behind Kiwakaazi while he was still airborne. He struck Kiwakaazi with a powerful right claw straight into the ground. So powerful was the attack, that, Kiwakaazi’s body damaged the area on the ground where he finally crushed. Kaki screamed, “Kiwakaazi!”

Aran, realizing that Kiwakaazi was still alive, attacked him while he was still on his stomach. Aran crushed and destroyed the ground after Kiwakaazi disappeared to avoid being pummeled. He appeared behind Aran and swung his kafunde. Aran turned quickly and met the kafunde with his sharp claws. Clearly the force behind Aran’s claws was far superior and Kiwakaazi was the one who was pushed back. Aran appeared immediately in front of Kiwakaazi and swung his right arm again. Kiwakaazi also blocked it with his kafunde but lost again and was pushed back even further. Aran now appeared behind him. He swung his right arm again.

Kiwakaazi disappeared but still sustained a scratch at his back. He put quite some distance between himself and Aran to catch his breath. Dark clouds had covered the skies completely. It threatened to rain and yet the rains did not come. The wind was blowing filling the air with dust and dried leaves.

Kiwakaazi realized he could not keep up with Aran’s speed; neither could he match his power. Aran was only vulnerable when he attacked which mean he could only get Aran while he was attacking. He must aim to end Aran in just that brief second or so when Aran attacked him. That is not going to be easy at all. Brace yourself Kiwakaazi, this is going to be a really long battle.

Aran was well aware of his own weaknesses. He remembered the first battle he truly ever lost as Shinko. It was to Zibaru. And he lost when he attacked. His left claw was stuck in Zibaru’s Rahasi vest but he was careless and noticed Zibaru had also driven the kafunde through his chest. They both fell and he thought they both died but later learned that Zibaru survived and died in Nhutudan (elemental forest).

Aran disappeared and by the time he reappeared, Kiwakaazi had also disappeared. The beast disappeared again and yet again Kiwakaazi avoided confrontation. Kiwakaazi decided to keep up with this until the right time – the time he will catch him off guard. The time Arangosango will attack and be vulnerable. He will attack in that instance and hope to defeat the grand shinko, Aran.

Kaki was performing a breathing exercise. She drew deep breaths and exhaled slowly and slowly her strength returned. She was finally able to stand on both feet. She felt her power rushing in. She prepared her mind and her body and her very soul. This fight is not going to be easy. She may die but she is prepared to die. She looked up into the dark sky and took one step forward with her right.

From nowhere, Aran felt something big and powerful flying from behind him. Kaki must have been naïve to think he did not expect her to join the battle soon. He realized just how much Kaki had fallen when he fought her and just how much she wants to sacrifice to save this boy. He did not know why but he was convinced that with time when she felt her new boy toy was struggling, she will come to his rescue. The attack came from his blind spot – somewhere from behind him and if he had not been the great Aran Shinko, he would have been hit and killed for sure.

Kaki swung her right arm from behind Aran. Aran quickly turned and caught Kaki’s arm with his left hand and quickly attacked her chest with his free right arm but Kaki too caught his right arm. This was it – Kiwakaazi’s perfect chance to end Aran. Kiwakaazi came in and swung his weapon horizontally. He probably wanted to cut Aran into two equal halves. Seen floating majestically above the swung kafunde of Kiwakaazi was Aran. And when he landed, he threw Kaki in Kiwakaazi’s direction. The two of them collided and ended up eventually on the ground.

Aran immediately arrived close to them. Kiwakaazi caught sight of his raised left arm coming down to pummel his patron, Kaki, he moved quickly and raised his kafunde to halt it. Strangely, at the same time Kaki had her claws up supporting Kiwakaazi’s arm and Kafunde. The combined effort of the two stopped Aran’s attack from destroying Kaki. What great understanding the two had.

Aran immediately withdrew giving the love birds a chance to regroup. Kiwakaazi was quick to complain that he did not need her help. She just stared at Aran and said, “I know you don’t, but remember we are in a bit of a hurry. Besides we are stronger together.”

Remember Kiwakaazi had only fifteen days to exit Nomposuro. Nuumo Tsuru was not specific because outside Nomposuro, Kiwakaazi had been in the forest for not more than six days but inside the forest, he had spent almost ten days already. So the question is, is he using time outside the forest or inside?

Kaki crouched. She frowned, snarled and roared. By the time her roar was over, Kiwakaazi was already attacking Aran swinging the kafunde from left to right. Aran used his right palm as shield and attacked Kiwakaazi’s face with a right fist. Kiwakaazi disappeared. But Aran had to quickly disappear because once again Kaki was attacking from behind him.

Kiwakaazi appeared next to Kaki and commented, “You were right. We are strong together.”

Kaki’s face changed back to human. “You don’t have to worry about me Kay. I have been a beast for a really long time. I can take care of myself,” she explained. “I guess you are right. Sometimes I forget,” responded Kiwakaazi.

Kaki’s face changed back to a monster. She said, “Come on Kay. We have a shinko to kill.”