THE LEGEND OF KIWAKAAZI

Kaki activated the Kaki-lala (cry of death). Once she started screaming, the mamba wrapped itself around the dwarf. Only the crocodile disintegrated as a result of the cry. She fell, got up immediately and killed the chameleon which laid the egg. After killing it, she withdrew and was standing in front of Kiwakaazi.

Kaki was not sure the lake ahead was really the Walanuntso. There is always something peculiar about special locations. Sometimes you will find a distinct color or some special inscriptions or marks. But the Walanuntso did not have any of these things. It looked like a normal lake to her. It was wide and did not flow. Being surrounded by thick vegetation, it stood still.

If she had not met Kuntunku (third dwarf) and his pets near the lake, she would have looked elsewhere. She was now catching her breath when she saw the snake shed its skin. A new crocodile crawled out of the Walanuntso. It walked slowly and positioned itself to the left of its master. Kaki took a good look at each reptile again. The mamba with its grey skin opened its mouth once again and hissed a few times. The crocodile also opened its mouth like a panting dog. The lizard nodded at her a couple of times. And then the chameleon was moving its special eyes all over the place. The dwarf, like his second brother Kuntu, stood arms folded watching her. He was unmoved by her. Kuntunku glow red and the cycle of egg laying, hatching and battles commenced.

The mamba moved quickly and tried to swallow Kaki. She jumped out of the way but the lizard’s tail slapped her across the chest. She slammed into a tree but quickly rose to her feet. She flew and caught hold of something invisible. She grabbed hold of it with both arms and pulled it until it tore. A green colored chameleon appeared and disappeared. The crocodile lifted its head slightly and opened its mouth wide. Kaki felt something pulling her. It was as if she was being sucked into the mouth of the crocodile. She quickly opened her mouth too and you know what came next.

 Kinwa and his wife Ouzie had four sons. Their first two sons were twins; Attawaazi and Bakaazi. Their third son, Feitu was three years younger than the twins. And their fourth son was Zeeta was two years younger than his older brother, Feitu. The first three sons resembled their father. They had his head, eyes, lips and ears. They eventually grew taller than their father but that was it. It was almost impossible to distinguish between father and sons. Of course they picked up one or two things from their mother. Zeeta however looked more like his mother than his father. He had such gentle and female features. People sometimes mistook him for a girl.

From their childhood, they heard stories about an All Powerful but Loving being who dwelled in a far place from their parents called Akaani (The Nameless One). They learned Akaani created everything in the seen and unseen universe with just His Word (Oogu).They learned it was possible to communicate face-to-face with This Being. They even learned how one can travel from the physical realm to Alaami (Eternal Home of Peace) where this being resides; where they can communicate with Him and understand the reason behind creation, pleasure and suffering in the world of the living. It was very difficult to follow the kind of life their parents demanded and even more difficult to follow the practices.

After a while, the four sons started to show that they may look like their parents on the outside but on the inside, they were unique and perhaps a little different from their parents.

 Inside Nomposuro, the Kaki-lala (cry of death) killed all four reptiles. It destroyed their eggs and their fast growing offsprings. About five seconds after she stopped, a new mamba crawled out of the skin of the old one. A lizard and chameleon came crawling from behind the trees and a crocodile crawled out of the Walanuntso. Deila moved her head from the mamba to the lizard, then to the chameleon and finally to the crocodile and she knew this battle was going to be long and difficult. Since the battle commenced, she had not had a chance to attack the third dwarf directly. ‘How is she going to defeat him when she cannot get past his security — the reptiles?’ she wondered. So she asked herself, ‘What will Kay do in a situation like this?’

Attawaazi had a gift from his childhood. It was not a gift to sing like an angel, no. It was not a gift to play musical instruments, never. He was neither a talented artist nor a poet. The physical world fascinated Attawaazi and he wondered each day of his life how he can modify the things around him to make life easier, fun and simpler for mankind. He desired this more than knowing more about an All-Knowing Being. He started thinking of ways when he was very young — a little over ten years old. And his first project was a fun toy.

Attawaazi commanded some of the guards in his father’s palace to cut down a tall tree. He made them carve a rectangle from the stem of the tree and four circular tyres from the same stem. Next, they carved two cylindrical parts with pointy ends from the stem. They attached all these parts together, with vines and other parts of the stem to create a moving vehicle. There was room for not more than three people on this vehicle. Attawaazi studied his invention for three days and made his workers attach something at one end – something a person can hold on to while the vehicle was moving – this last and final detail was a semi-circle shaped wooden attachment – a steering wheel of a sort. Attawaazi and Bakaazi took the toy out for a test drive.

Since Attawaazi’s vehicle did not have an engine they needed a gradient and there was a nice slope in Nananompofie (Central Empire) about half a mile outside the city, Tsutsukoman (The Ancient City). The twins were looking down from the zenith of the slope when Bakaazi suddenly felt dizzy. He grabbed his twin brother by the arm and cried, “I can’t… I can’t do it! What if it does it not work?” Attawaazi answered, “It will work. Trust me brother.” Bakaazi climbed on first and held on firmly to the semi-circle which was some kind of a steering wheel only it could not steer the vehicle. Attawaazi gave it a slight tug from behind and quickly jumped on it. While the vehicle was rolling down the slope Bakaazi slowly felt his fear fading. He was free. The wind rushing past his body was exhilarating. He let go and raised his arms. Attawaazi did the same thing and the two brothers howled and cried with excitement. They were almost down from the slope when Attawaazi asked, “How do we stop this Baka (short for Bakaazi)?” Bakaazi frowned and shouted, “Why are you asking me?! Were you not the one who built it?!”

The finally descended the slope and the vehicle as foretold by Sir Isaac Newton kept on moving in a straight line. Bakaazi shouted, “What do we do!? How do we stop this?” Attawaazi shouted, “I don’t know!” Bakaazi put his scared face back on and held on firmly while their vehicle rode into town. They destroyed a few things on their way — nothing big — just a few wooden structures and food until they run into a wall — an external force. Isaac Newton was one mad genius. Attawaazi was quick and jumped off at the last moment. He sprained his ankle in the process while Bakaazi smashed his head against the wall and bled. But he was okay, too.

Their father treated their injuries while their mother scolded them for being so reckless. She was like, “What have you done? You could have killed yourselves! You could have killed somebody! Why did you build that thing?!” She went on and on and wagging her index finger angrily at Attawaazi. She turned to the family doctor, her husband, and shouted, “Say something!” Kaazi Kiwakaazi cleared his throat and put on his serious face. Attawaazi and Bakaazi had never seen their father look so serious. They feared the worse. He was probably going to get a cane and give them a good beating. Instead he said, “Sinduye (meaning the black genius and while looking at Attawaazi only), I hope you have learned your lesson. Next time, add a part that can stop it!” and broke into a loud laughter. His sons laughed too while their mother simply shook her head and stormed out of the room where the twins were being treated. While she was leaving, she heard her immature husband asking her sons to tell him more about their vehicle; how it works and maybe he can help them improve upon it.

Days turned to nights and nights led to days and slowly with each passing day, the twins grew bigger and wiser. Attawaazi became a very useful asset for Nananompofie (Central Empire). Instead of young girls walking long distances to fetch water, Attawaazi created a simple way of supplying homes with water. He created simple pipes from bamboo and connected them to supply water to homes. To ensure the constant flow of water, he instructed that the pipes be connected underground from the river. Not too deep wells were constructed in every home and the water that was collected in the wells was used by the household. Other households had to dig deep wells and obtain water from ground water. It was not perfect but there must be a starting point — every invention has one. That was not all. He was also very good at combining herbs in various ways to cure diseases. He perfected the vehicle later on in his life and it was the basis for the invention of the cars that were used during the Saharaifa (Saharan Civilization).

When the twins turned twenty-three, the Kaazi (Emperor) and Kaaziba called for a meeting. In attendance were the men and women of royal birth. No one knew the purpose of this meeting and no one really cared. To them, it was a great opportunity to enjoy good vegan food, drink non-alcoholic wine and socialize. After all, nothing bad happens in the Central Empire — not yet and not while the most powerful man on earth was ruling the empire.

The party had started in the absence of the ruler and his wife. The kings, chiefs, elders and their relatives were enjoying the food and wine of the imperial palace. They gathered in twos, threes and fours to discuss family, their home and the meeting. Some wondered what message the great eagle (the Emperor) would deliver and some simply expressed how long it had been since they have all been gathered in one room. The princes whispered words of love and affection into the ears of the princesses and the princesses flirted with the princes. It was a great atmosphere in this very particular hall. Then, everything suddenly became dead silent when the doors where open so that the Great Eagle, Kaazi Kiwakaazi I and his wife Kaaziba Ouzie may enter the hall and grace the meeting with their presence.  

All the strategies and plans Deila cooked up did not work. Whatever she did was easily countered by the strange pets this dwarf collected. She had tried to destroy the eggs before they hatched, she had tried to kill more of one particular type of the reptiles and still she was getting nowhere. She was yet to remove even a single hair on the skin of Kuntunku (the third dwarf).

She turned to look at Kiwakaazi and noticed he was no longer breathing or maybe it had become too faint for her to notice. She looked at the hour glass and knew she had only a few minutes to end this battle or else her new best friend will die. What should she do now? She had run out of ideas. She was not as astute as Kiwakaazi. She relied on power and instinct. If only she had more power.

“Power!” she thought excitedly. Kuntunku saw a new light in her eyes but could not fathom the reason behind it. He thought she was giving up. At least he was not just going to stand arms folded for her to come up with any plans to defeat him. The red glow appeared around him and the cycle begun. This time, Kaki did not attack. She only opened her mouth and activated her Kaki-lala (the cry of death). The powerful screeching sound she produced killed all the reptiles. When she stopped, the mamba crawled out of its skin first. She expected it. However, it will take about fifteen to twenty seconds for the remaining three to join the party. The dwarf and his mamba during this time did not attack — something she anticipated. This was enough time for her to activate and use her trump card.

The large gate leading to the Imperial court where the party was being held was opened. The Emperor and Empress entered and took their seats on the highest platform of the court. They were looking very beautiful in their Imperial clothes. The Emperor was wearing his long white robe with black lines running through it. It looked like the skin of a zebra. His beautiful wife wore a white dress which ended around her waist. The sleeves were long and hugged her arms. She wore a very long skirt that concealed her feet. It hugged her hips and opened up from her thigh region. The Empress sat to the right of the Emperor. She was his right arm man or in this case, woman. On the Emperor’s left were his two younger sons and to his right beyond his wife were his two older sons.

“How are you all doing? Why do I even bother to ask? The way you are all eating my food and drinking my wine, I am sure you are all great. I don’t think sick men can eat, drink, laugh and be merry like you people are today. Surely, you started this party without me and you know how I love parties. What I do hate is to be left out of a party?” joked Kinwa. Everyone laughed from the very beginning.

Emperor Kiwakaazi was an interesting man. For a Gyaati (Messenger of Akaani) people expected him to be very serious. But he was far removed from serious. He always starts a speech with a joke. He smiles and occasionally makes fun of his wife. Maybe it was a planned thing by the super couple. But it never bothered her. She laughed the hardest at his jokes; especially the ones about her.

“I do not blame you though. If my beautiful wife had not taken forever bathing and getting dressed for this occasion, I am sure I will not be feeling so left out of this party,” he added. There was more laughter and even the Kaaziba (Empress) laughed. He turned to look at her. She shook her head. The Emperor also shook his head teasingly and even stuck out his tongue. It was very funny to see the man admired by so many people act like a child. But that was simply his nature. He was a simple man who found joy in the simple things.

He continued: “For a long time now, since our lands were united into an empire, I have been receiving very good reports from the people. They tell me when I meet them that our kings are merciful and generous unto us. Our chiefs give us everything they have and starve saying it is in the Will of Akaani. Sometimes, I become so touched when I hear this, that, I break down and cry before their very eyes. I don’t care if you call me a crybaby but I feel so blessed by our Almighty Father to have met such selfless leaders in my life. But you know that everything that lives must eventually die. Not that I am going to die anytime soon. I however feel that it is very important that you the rulers of this great land know the man whom will take up the mantle of serving the needs of our great empire when am gone.”

There was a short pause. Who is this person going to be?