THE LEGEND OF KIWAKAAZI

Kiwakaazi appeared and swung his kafunde aiming for the neck of the Kun. The dwarf ducked and Kiwakaazi missed. Kiwakaazi realized in that moment the dwarf’s weakness.

Kiwakaazi and Deila’s fight with Kun begun with something interesting; something Kiwakaazi did not notice at first. The air was filled with petals of flowers and leaves of various sizes and shapes. Initially Kiwakaazi did not know why. The dwarf is connected to plants. He uses them to predict their movements. What the leaves feel, hear, see or smell are transmitted to the dwarf and he uses them to plan his attack and defense. But remember plants respond slowly to stimuli. Speed was Kun’s weakness that was why he preferred to use long range attacks.  Victory is nigh.

The leaf bird had grown bigger. Kiwakaazi’s hundred golden swords destroyed the bird but a new bird was formed almost instantly. It had more leaves now and grew bigger than before. Still petals of flowers and more leaves floated in the air. The bird attacked Kiwakaazi again and before it got close to him, Kiwakaazi disappeared.

Kiwakaazi appeared on his knees behind the dwarf. His kafunde was already on its way to slice the dwarf from right to left into two. Kun was slow in reacting. Kiwakaazi’s kafunde was only able to make a horizontal mark in the wooden armor of Kun. There was still enough force behind that attack and Kun fell flat on his face. Kun was now vulnerable but it was not for long. Kiwakaazi abandoned his attack on Kun’s back with the pointy end of the kafunde when Kun was pulled under the soil by some roots and vines emerged from the ground to attack him. Like he had done many times in the past, he changed locations quickly and floated about a meter above the ground on two golden swords.

“I have to cut harder,” thought Kiwakaazi right before all his golden swords surrounded him. The golden swords received a beating from very strong leaves that were looking for a way in. He looked up and saw two things; first the green bird was once again attacking and Deila was still suspending in the air being held prisoner by leaves and petals of flowers. He held on firmly to the kafunde and clinched his chin. He screamed and swung the kafunde in the air. A hundred golden swords attacked and cut into pieces a green bird with leaves as wings and feathers.

The bird was gone but Kun was nowhere to be found. The last time Kiwakaazi saw him, he was being pulled into the ground by some roots. Kiwakaazi turned and turned looking for the dwarf. He looked up and saw Deila had her eyes closed. She was probably unconscious and that worried Kiwakaazi. Then, he turned once and saw Kun standing on the apex of a ginormous tree. Hopefully, he would be safe from Kiwakaazi at that height. Kiwakaazi looked at the dwarf angrily. Tightened his grip around the kafunde and disappeared.

With just one swing, Kiwakaazi cut down the tree on which Kun was standing. Kun was terribly surprised. That tree had a very strong stem and he did not expect the kafunde to easily cut through it. He however did not have time to be too surprised. He jumped and a tall tree grew shortly after his jump in the path he was supposed to fall. Kun landed on a branch of this tree. Kiwakaazi attacked this second tree also and chopped it down. Kun jumped and the next tree that grew to support him was cut by Kiwakaazi even before he could land on it. With nothing to support him, Kun was falling down. While falling, he noticed Kiwakaazi had a look — the look of a man who thinks he was going to be victorious.

Thunder struck; lightning flashed and the rain continued to fall. The battle between Kusu (the dead man) and the Wosu (the shadow) continued. It was a beautiful spectacle. Zakaru was a Rahasi and the entire body of the Wosu was his shield. Once in a while, Wosu will use his arm or his leg or his head, even his stomach and chest as shield against Zakaru’s slayer. Each time the slayer will bounce off the shadow’s body which was as hard as a rock if not harder. The  Wosu was also able to cut Zakaru. But these cuts could only break through the dark wool; not even a single scratch on Zakaru’s body was made. This battle promised to go on for ages.

Kun opened his palm. Kiwakaazi felt something and disappeared instantly. Growing and extending from the area where Kiwakaazi stood were various plants with thorns, spikes and other modifications that could have caused injury to Kiwakaazi. I am not talking about small plants here. However, just before Kun landed in his own trap and injured himself or even worse, a large leaf appeared and cushioned his fall. He landed on his stomach, got up and sat on the leaf majestically. He wore a grin on his face while he looked at Kiwakaazi’s frowned face. Kiwakaazi disappeared quickly but his vest was healing from the many possible injuries he would have sustained. Kun rose to his feet and shouted “Vulu vlaga!” meaning “thorny forest!” Kiwakaazi watched while plants with thorns and spikes grew towards him with great speed. After a while, Kiwakaazi was buried inside a thorny forest; mortally injured or perhaps dead presumed the dwarf.

Zakaru and the Wosu may proudly call themselves immortals. They may even go ahead to demonstrate this on the battlefield by using strange techniques. But at the end of the day, the human body is mortal and has its own limitations. After several hours of exchanges, the Wosu (shadow) and the Kusu (dead man) were exhausted and breathing loudly with their mouths. The rain concealed their sweats. So far the Wosu had the upper hand. His body was simply indestructible. At least if he should put in more power in his attack, he could break Zakaru’s impregnable armor and cut his body. His fabled sword the “keys to hell” don’t necessarily have to cut his opponents. Sometimes, just being touched by this weapon is lethal.

Both Zakaru and the Wosu took a break to think; come up with strategies to end this battle. Ironically, they both came up with the same strategy and it was obvious. The sources of power of the two immortals were their peculiar weapons. The Wosu thought that if he could take separate Zakaru’s slayer from Zakaru’s firm left grip, Zakaru will be rendered powerless. His skin will be exposed and he will die when touched by the Zabugi Gbeleda Vuju (the keys to hell). Zakaru also thought the same thing. The strange weapon known as the “keys to hell” at the beginning of the battle looked like two snakes wrapped around each other. When Zakaru turned into a Rahasi (guardian of hell), the swords merged into one weapon. If the Wosu should somehow let go of his weapon, his entire body will stop acting like a shield and then maybe; just maybe Zakaru can cut and kill him with his slayer.

The two immortals finished with their assessments. They raised their weapons and with a loud scream, engaged in combat for what may be the last time.

The thorny forest was slowly disappearing. The petals of flowers and the leaves of the leaf bird started drying and dying. Many of the flowers and plants started dying. Why this? What could have caused this? It was over for him — the master of the plants; the lord of the flowers and the king of the jungle. Kun, the first dwarf, was tricked. Kiwakaazi outfoxed him and killed him.

While falling, he created plants with thorns, spikes and modifications that drove Kiwakaazi away. He thought that was it. The boy’s impervious defense could probably not withstand a thorny environment. So he commanded and started to create a thorny forest. He stood above this forest at a reasonable height on a large, broad leaf admiring his creation. Kiwakaazi was buried inside the thorny forest. The dwarf flinched just by imagining how Kiwakaazi’s body has been decimated by thorns and spikes when suddenly Kiwakaazi appeared on two golden swords right in front of Kun. Kun was mightily surprised. Kiwakaazi should have died even his appearance was enough proof. His impregnable armor for the first time was almost completely destroyed and covered in Kiwakaazi’s blood. It was healing but very slowly and Kiwakaazi looked very weak. But all that this did was distract Kun. The real attack was coming from behind him. Kun felt something strike him from behind. It was just one golden sword. It travelled through Kun’s back and appeared in front of him. Kun looked into Kiwakaazi’s eyes and smiled. He coughed blood and stared to change. Kun was killed and was turning into a kafushii (stone mummy) and the beautiful garden inside Adopedan died with him.

With the king of the jungle temporarily gone, the leaves of the tall trees in Adopedan started to die and fall off slowly. With the lord of the flowers gone, all the brightly colored petals of the flowers turned brown. With the master of the plants gone, nothing could remain green for long in Adopedan. Kun had fallen. Kiwakaazi has emerged victor once again. Who is going to stop him now? I think the real question is: if the first dwarf is this strong, then how will Kiwakaazi survive the remaining four?

The battle for supremacy between two immortals raged on. Zakaru was doing everything possible to take the Wosu’s sword from him and soon realized the Wosu was doing the same. But something changed the Wosu’s mind. Their swords clashed and Zakaru grabbed the Wosu’s left wrist with his right. Zakaru wanted the Wosu close while he figured out a way to relieve him of the keys to hell. The Wosu saw through Zakaru’s plan and attacked Zakaru’s head with his own head — he head-butted Zakaru. The Wosu’s head clearly being the biggest and the hardest drew blood from Zakaru’s exposed forehead and displaced him slightly. Zakaru was now exposed. He aimed for Zakaru’s heart and moved his sword in that direction as quickly as he possibly could.   

After Kiwakaazi defeated Kun, the leaves and petals of plants holding her captive also turned brown and fell releasing her. She was also falling now that she was human and unconscious. Kiwakaazi felt very weak but he couldn’t just let her fall. While she was falling he was slowly rising to his feet. The kafunde was still in his left hand. He shouted “save her!” and his body instinctively moved higher using golden swords as steps. He caught her and landed on the ground with her. Thank the gods for her thin and light body. The instant his feet touched earth, he felt stronger than before just by admiring her beautiful face. She opened her eyes sluggishly and asked, “Is it over?” He nodded in response. She breathed a sigh of relief and closed her eyes again.

Another victory under their belt but the battles that lie ahead are more difficult than the battles won.