THE LEGEND OF KIWAKAAZI

All twelve shinkos were on four limbs. They were growling and snarling at Kundu. Kaki and the third shinkos were in the middle. The two of them stepped forward and roared. Just before their roar ended, the remaining ten also roared. The third looked Kaki’s way and questioned, “Do you sense it too?” Kaki answered, “Yes. This man is completely fearless.”

It had been six days and Jamila had still not figured out Kundu’s abilities. Kundu and Jamila were standing in a hall. It looked like some sort of training area. There were many benches arranged on the sides and an open area in the middle. Kundu accepted — he was in the first category of men, that is, men who do not have any magic in them. He was ready to give up. Jamila said, “You fool. The only reason why my father accepted you were because he knew you have potential and if I can’t bring it out, my father will banish me.” “But I can’t do it!” shouted Kundu. “We have tried everything. I have meditated in silence for days. I have tried to heal that wound you inflicted upon yourself and I have tried to control the elements. Nothing works!” added Kundu. “There must be something holding you back!” remarked Jamila. Kundu reiterated, “There is nothing holding me back!”

Jamila sniffed the air and said, “I can’t believe I missed this. You have zero confidence in yourself because you are afraid. Tell me what you are afraid of, Kundu.” Kundu turned his back to her. Jamila had grown really fond of Kundu. She moved closer and placed her right palm on his shoulder. She said, “It’s okay. You can tell me anything. I won’t judge you.” Kundu sighed and said, “Fine. I will tell you.”

Back inside Nomposuro: Kundu whispered, “Aniwa hain (light eyes),” and his eyes glowed. When it stopped, he shouted, “Hain eduo sonson (seventy-seven rays of light)!” Bright light shone and blinded the shinkos. “What is happening?” questioned one of the shinkos. It was quick. Something sharp stabbed the shinkos in the chest and turned them all into stone mummies. While this was happening, Aran was sitting on top of a tall tree watching his brothers and sister fall ever so easily. He put on a very wicked smile and thought, “Srabalala; you truly are the light plague.”

Kundu’s story: Kundu had only one family member in this world; his sister, Wunam. His mother abandoned them when he was just two years old. She ran off with another man. Kundu’s father was upset and during a time of brief war between the people of Zuruanga (Kundu’s village in the west) and Halipoli (a northern and neighboring village), his father fought too hard and got himself killed. So Kundu knew only one person as a mother, father, brother and sister: Wunam.

From age seven, the people of Zuruanga called him “clumsy.” Personally, I think it was too harsh. All he did was pour hot water on his sister’s foot once. Maybe he kicked the ball made from rags his friends made too hard and destroyed it completely. When sent to buy anything, he would probably return with the wrong item or lose the money along the way. He also almost burnt down his father’s house and almost killed his sister several times. But come on, he was a child and all children are clumsy. Then when he was fourteen, he did something that earned him a new name — zagaza (brave).

Back inside Nomposuro: Kundu asked, “Who are you?” “My name is Arangosango shinko. I am the leader of the beasts you just murdered. It is an honor to meet Srabalala.” Kundu said, “I don’t know who that is and I don’t have the time to find out.” Then Kundu shouted, “Hain eduo sonson!” Bright light shone.

Kundu swung something and Aran blocked it with his weapon, the dompesan (three edged sword). Kundu moved away from Aran and the light dispersed. Kundu was surprised. Aran had closed his eyes and could still stop his attack. But powerful Aran shocked Kundu some more when he disappeared, appeared and swung his dompesan across Kundu’s chest. Kundu shouted, “Honam hain mpem mpem (reduced body into a thousand particles of light)!” Aran’s dompesan and his very body went through several particles of light. The light particles assembled again as Kundu. Aran opened his eyes and saw Kundu already panting. Kundu thought, “This one is not going to be easy to trap.”

On the outskirt of Zuruanga stood an ancient and dilapidated castle. It was rumored that it was once the castle of a powerful king. This king was defeated during Tete’s campaign to unite kingdoms and raise an empire. Children have been warned to stay away from the ruins. Some boys were playing a ball they have made from wrapping rags together to form something that looked almost round. One of the boys kicked the ball and it went inside the castle. Two of them went inside for the ball and the coward amongst them stayed outside and waited. After about two minutes when he realized his friends were not coming, he run to the village screaming for help.

Kundu and two of his friends, Farouk and Barak were already at the ruins. Farouk insisted that if one of them was brave enough to enter the ruins and exit with a crown, that person will someday marry the beautiful princess of Zuruanga and rule their village as chief. Kundu and Barak did not believe this. They simply wanted to satisfy their curiosity. ‘What could possibly be inside the ruins?’ they wondered. Kundu strained his eyes and shouted, “I can see people coming out of the entrance.” Barak said, “stop joking, Kundu.” Kundu insisted, “But I can see them!” The three friends heard “Help… help!” Farouk shouted, “Ghosts!” Barak and Farouk screamed and run as fast as they could back to the village.

Kundu alone went inside and found the two boys falling. They were holding on tightly to parts of the collapsing castle. The boys saw Kundu and shouted, “Help!” again. Kundu was scared. The castle continued to shake. He was caught in two minds but he was leaning towards ‘run and abandon these poor kids to die’. He was running outside when he saw a boy. He was not dressed like anybody Kundu had ever met. He wore a golden robe and a golden crown. He was carrying a rope. He lowered it and pulled after a short while. He looked Kundu’s way and Kundu was forced to change his mind and help the kids. By the time he pulled them out, this mysterious boy in gold had disappeared. Kundu led the boys out of the ruins to safety.

Outside the castle many of the villagers had gathered including Farouk and Barak. His two friends shouted, “Kundu Zagaza… Kundu Zagaza!” and the villagers joined them. They carried Kundu on their shoulders back home. But Kundu knew he was a coward. He was not the one who saved those kids. It was a ghost. But he told no one. He kept it as his own little dirty secret.

Jamila said, “I have heard that story. So it was you. I think you were the one who saved those boys.” Kundu said, “If the ghost had not appeared, I was going to leave them.” Jamila said, “Maybe you didn’t see a ghost. Maybe you saved them but something happened and you started to think you saw a ghost.” But Kundu was very certain about what he had seen. Jamila said, “Fine, now tell me why you want to join the Asratifo program so badly.” Kundu answered, “It’s about my sister, Wunam.”

Both Aran and Kundu had stopped fighting to catch their breath. Kundu was kneeling and holding the mid portion of his long light staff which was his weapon. He was exhausted and sweating. Aran had planted his sikan dompesan (the three edged bone sword) in the soil while he tried to catch his breath. Kundu said, “You are very strong. I must give you that. But my powers have finally returned. You won’t last any longer.” Aran rose to his feet and said, “I agree with you.” Aran stretched his right and disappeared while Kundu shouted, “Hain panie mpem mpem (thousands of light needles)!”

Needle shaped light rays moved from Kundu’s body and travelled in a circle around him over about a five meter radius and stopped. Aran suddenly appeared. His entire body was covered with light needles. His entire body shone and exploded and what was left after the explosion was a stone mummy of Arangosango shinko. Kundu whispered, “Aniwa hain (light eyes)” and saw the path to the buduga (serpent’s bridge). He took a step and was at the foot of the bridge. Why… why didn’t he just go for the kafunde? It would have done him a lot of good. Anyway, let’s go on.

He climbed the stairs and was on the bridge. The sibudu stuck its tail out and attacked Kundu with it. Kundu quickly drove his light staff through the serpent’s tail. The tail changed to water. Kundu said “sorry but I am not letting you escape. I have already marked you.” His staff disappeared and he moved his arms and fingers as if pulling something from the Blue River. The sibudu flew out of the river. Kundu held a circular light weapon. He threw it and it cut off the head of the serpent. The serpent’s body changed color from blue to colorless and so did the river. Kundu walked gently across the bridge into Nhutudan. I ask again, “Why did he not go for the kafunde?”

Kundu’s story continues: Kundu had only one family, his sister Wunam. When Kundu was about nine years old, he was going round in circles holding a pot of hot water. He stumbled and let go of the pot. The water in the pot would have burnt his body if not for the timely intervention of his sister. Wunam pushed and shielded Kundu with her body and suffered a few burns on her foot. Instead of being angry, she kissed her brother on his cheek and said, “What will I do without you?” Kundu was very apologetic but his sister did not care much. She treated it with some herbs and after about a week, she was healed completely. Not even a scar remained.

This was just one of the many times Wunam saved Kundu and she was always happy to do it. For a long time it was just the two of them. They played together; they bathed together; they washed together and they ate together. They knew everything about each other. They were not only family but best friends. Wunam was about four years older than Kundu. Time passed and at age twenty, she got married to Sule, the son of a very rich man in Zuruanga. Kundu did not like it but he accepted it for his sister’s sake and happiness. His sister moved to stay with Sule. She wanted Kundu to come with her but Kundu said no. He stayed back in his father’s house.

His sister had two children; a son and a daughter before she became terminally ill. When Kundu received news about his sister’s illness, he left Zuruanga at once. The people of Zuruanga say that his sister was still alive because she was waiting for her brother to come and see her. She wanted to say goodbye to her brother before she departed from the world. Meanwhile, Kundu was running around looking for a way to save her. He found an herbal healer who told Kundu, “There is a way.” Kundu asked, “How?” The healer said, “Have you heard about Nomposuro?” Kundu answered, “Why don’t just tell me?” The man told Kundu everything he knew about Nomposuro, the guanvi and the guanvibushi. Kundu exclaimed, “I must go to this Nomposuro!” The man said, “No, you must not. You won’t survive there — no one does.”

But here we are, back inside Nomposuro where Kundu was about to fight his next opponents, the nhutus. Five of them were floating in the air around him. Obviously, Safihutu and the black-haired nhutus were floating on rocks; the blond-haired nhutu floted on ice; the white-haired nhutu floated on something invisible and the red-haired nhutu floated on a ball of fire. Kundu said, “You demons of hell, your worst nightmare just came to town.”