THE LEGEND OF KIWAKAAZI

In the beginning was only One Being. This Being was an Ocean of Light and Love. The human mind identifies things by their names. Therefore, Anambre called Him Akaani (The Indescribable/Nameless One) for the sake of those he taught the mysteries of this Being. When Akaani wanted to multiply, Oogu (His Word or Cause of Creation) permeated the entire universe like a melodious song and created His seven sons. They are Hikazi (Will), Ibra (Love), Jawe (Wisdom), Dzani (Knowledge), Wembolu (Truth), Akaawe (Power) and Kilambe (Beauty). Each son was identical to Akaani. Each son manifested only one aspect of Akaani. Kilambe was the most beautiful of them all because his light was the brightest.

Anambre explained to Kiwakaazi that after the creation of the seven sons, Akaani was never seen again. He neither died nor disappeared but simply continued to live in His sons. Oogu (The Cause of Creation) continued to move and created five homes for the seven sons of Akaani. The largest, brightest, highest and purest of these homes, Hainlaami (The Home of Eternal Light), belonged to Hikazi (Will). The second, Brasiami (The Home of Sweet Love), was Ibra’s (Love’s) home. The third, Weziami (The Home of Absolute Wisdom) belonged to Jawe (Wisdom) and the fourth, Alaami (The Home of Eternal Peace), belonged to Dzani (Knowledge). The three younger brothers shared the fifth home, Sasrantin (The Region above darkness) which was also subdivided such that Kilambe had the smallest share.

Kilambe one day just sat in silence and started praying. He prayed for many years. When he opened his eyes, Hikazi (Will) was standing in front of him. “Father sent me. He wants to know the reason behind your fervent prayers,” asked Hikaazi. Kilambe knelt before his brother and bowed his head. “Tell Father I am not pleased with my share. I want a larger region,” requested Kilambe (Beauty). “You can have the three dark regions outside Sasrantin (Region above darkness). This is Father’s will,” said Hikaazi.

Kilambe left Sasrantin and entered the dark regions. It was all darkness. Kilambe smiled and shouted, “Let there be light!” and there was light. He started developing the three dark realms. The highest and the one closest to Sasrantin he named Duitifa (City of Time). Below Duiti was Gbeleshie (Afterlife) and its capital was Vuiti (Home of the gods and goddesses) and finally below Gbeleshi was Fujita (The physical or material world). Fujita was the darkest of all the three dark realms. Here, Kilambe separated the darkness from the light. He called the darkness, night, and, the light, day. He created the stars to shine during the day and the moons to shine during the night. He separated the waters and created the oceans, rivers, lakes, mountains and all the things in the world. When his work was complete, he looked upon his creation and he was pleased. His moved on the surface of the earth and then he realized that his world was empty. He had three vast worlds and all were empty. That was when he had an epiphany.

Kilambe (Beauty) returned to his home in Sasrantin (Region Above darkness) and prayed once again for many years in silence. Hikaazi (Will) visited again and asked, “Why have you been praying for so long beautiful son of Akaani?” Kilambe knelt before his brother and bowed down his head. He answered, “I want to create. Teach me how to create.” Hikaazi placed his right palm on Kilambe’s head. After about three seconds, he disappeared. Kilambe rose to his feet and whispered, “Thank you brother.” He returned to the dark regions and started creating beings. The beings that resided in Duitifa had bodies made from light with great intensity. The intensity of light however decreased from Duitifa down to Fujita (material world) where the light around beings disappears. However his creations were like corpses — lifeless. They neither walked nor talked. Thus Kilambe returned to Sasrantin and for the third time prayed to Akaani for many years.

“Father has accepted your prayers. What do you want from Him?” asked Hikaazi. Kilambe first went down on his knees and bowed before his brother before answering, “I want to know the secrets about life.” Hikaazi sighed and closed his eyes. After about six seconds, all seven brothers were in Alaami (Home of Eternal Peace). Kilambe was puzzled. Hikaazi ordered the seven sons to stand in a perfect circle and stretch their right arms forward. A beam of light traveled from their arms and met at the center. It glowed brightly and was shaping into a being. While this happened, the seven brothers heard music. It surrounded them. It enchanted them. It was so beautiful it made their eyes water. Kilambe turned to Hikaazi on his right and asked, “What is that music?”

Hikaazi answered, “That is Father’s first son or more appropriately Father’s zeroth son – Oogu (The Cause of Creation). Only He existed with Father in the beginning. He is Father and Father is He. They are one. He is the sound that creates all things.” Kilambe thought, ‘Oogu… Why did I not know about Him?’

The music continued to play and when it stopped, Shosuma (Life or Soul) appeared. He was identical to all the seven sons. He was the youngest son of Akaani. Interestingly, Hikaazi knelt before Shosuma and his brothers followed him in the order of appearance. Kilambe was the last to kneel before Shosuma. Kilambe lowered his head and frowned. Shosuma was his younger brother. He has been born to serve him but now he is being forced to kneel before him. ‘Who is the real master?’ questioned Kilambe.

Hikaazi ordered Shosuma to divide and multiply. An infinite number of Shosuma (Life) appeared at once. Some of the Shosuma remained in Alaami. Some travelled down and resided in Sasrantin and the remaining billions upon billions followed Kilambe (Beauty) to his three realms. The Shosuma is life and by filling the bodies created by Kilambe, they lived. They walked and they talked. They had life. They had Shosuma. Think of Shosuma like a traveler from England who speaks English. He travelled to India and does not understand the language of the Indian people. To help him understand, his host in India gave him a companion — a translator. This translator is known as Yudu (mind) and he helps Shosuma communicate with the physical world. But remember Yudu is still a servant of Kilambe.

There exists a strong sire bond between everything that had been created by Akaani and Akaani. They loved Akaani. They prayed to Akaani and they were happy in Akaani’s Will. Even Kilambe had great love for his father. Sometimes, he thinks he loved his father more than any of his brothers. This kind of bond was what Kilambe wanted. Beings who would respect and love him. They would serve his every whim. They would pray to him and love him only. This was supposed to be the purpose of Shosuma. However, Shosuma like all creations chose to be sired to his father and not him. Kilambe was filled with jealousy and anger. There was only one way to end this — he must find a way to end Akaani and that would mean ending all his six brothers.

But even before Kilambe thought, Dzani knew. Dzani reported what he knew to Hikazi and after a long meeting between the six brothers, it was decided that the only solution will be to prevent Kilambe and his army from entering Sasrantin. The six brothers could not kill their youngest brother so they sent Akaawe (Power) to narrow the gates at Rusa (Rusa was another name for Sasrantin). Akaawe narrowed the gates and the narrow passage hence became known as “The eye of the needle.” He also created a lake of fire that separated Rusa from Duiti.

Gbelemantse and his army arrived but could not come close to the lake of fire. Kilambe himself appeared and shouted, “You think you have won! All you have done is delivered Father’s precious Shosuma into my hands. I will enslave them. I will trap them and I will make sure they forget Father and Alaami forever!” He disappeared and his army disappeared too.

Kilambe created beings; ruhas (gods) and ruhushis (goddesses). He gave them power over yudu (mind) and ordered them to slowly entice Shosuma. By influencing yudu (mind) they slowly gained power over Shosuma. With time, Shosuma forgot all about Akaani and Alaami and became a slave to ego, lust, anger, fear and their kind.

Back in Nomposuro, Kiwakaazi sat down and focused on the entrance. Kaki shouted from behind him. She invited him to join her in the pool. The water was great and she was really enjoying it. She would probably enjoy it more if she was swimming with Kiwakaazi. But he was not interested. This is Nomposuro. Things happen and change in an instant. One of them must be ready for the unexpected. Kaki noticed just how serious he was. She swam to the edge closest to him and climbed out of the pool.

She was soaking wet when she stepped out of the pool. Drops of water falling off her skin and hitting the ground were heard by Kiwakaazi. She picked the leaves and used them to clean the water on her skin. Then, she walked and stood right in front of Kiwakaazi with broad leaves wrapped around her body. Kiwakaazi was stunned. ‘What is she trying to pull?’ he questioned. She asked, “Can I get my skirt now?” Kiwakaazi suddenly noticed he was sitting on her skirt. He asked, “Why did you not ask for it while you were still behind me?” She answered, “What would have been the fun in that?”

Kiwakaazi got off her skirt and told her to pick it up herself. He turned while she dressed. After dressing Kaki apologized for her actions. But she was worried about him. He was too serious about this whole mission. He might end up dying in Nomposuro. But what stops him from having some fun along the way? ‘He should loosen up. He is too stiff,’ thought Kaki.

Kiwakaazi explained to Kaki that he understood her. She had been trapped as a beast for too long. So she needed some time of fun. But one of them had to be alert. One of them had to be on guard and he was taking that responsibility.

“Responsibility..?” asked Kaki. “You are not responsible for me or for anybody. If you try to shoulder everyone’s responsibility you will simply die of a heart attack. Sometimes, you need to simply let go. Let go Kay. We will be fine,” advised Kaki. Obviously he struggled to relax. She added, “Oh! Did I tell you my name is Deila and not Kaki?” “What?!” exclaimed Kiwakaazi.