"Ehe! Tell me please, he is an Ordainer and his failure can be a great cataclysm to the people of our land. I do not want to imagine how many can die in the hands of those devils and other evil creatures while we wait for another Ordainer."
Mboya on hearing that Ochieng' was probably in a problem, any other thing that Nonka said did not matter to him. He wanted to know what was to befall Ong'am's son.
"You hold Anindo's Book of Ordainers. That is where the problem is." Nonka said sternly after he saw that Mboya was understanding the situation.
"But I burned it down!" Mboya said shaking his head. He was not understanding what Nonka was trying to say.
"And that is where everything begun and set Ochieng's journey to end as miserably as you saw it in that painting."
"What?"
Mboya widened his eyes in dread. If Ochieng' would die just because of him then he would kill himself even if that was the greatest taboo in Lu land.
"We the Saints are the people used by the One from above as a means of communication between him and humans. Our duty is to look upon the earth and report to him every time he visits. He then tell us what to do and what to tell humans. We are given the ability to see the future and are capable of changing them. The Lord of darkness, the almighty king of the Black Fiends is the greatest enemy of the One from above. He is also capable of changing the future and can do anything to his favor."
"Anindo Ngilo was one of the greatest Ordainers of all time, but was tricked by the Lord of darkness through a very powerful Black Fiend into making the book, since the Lord of darkness could not step on earth himself. The One from above wanted a life of peace for his people and therefore chose the current Ordainer to end the war between the Black Fiends who belong to the Lord of darkness, and the humans who belong to the One from above. The humans and Black Fiends don't just 'belong' but were created by the One from above and the Lord of darkness respectively. The One from above cannot also step onto the earth lest it is destroyed."
"It is a difficult war and if things are not changed, maybe it might worsen and might not favor those who were made by the One from above. We thought Kuru Kureri, an Ordainer before Ochieng' could be the one but the Lord of darkness destroyed him. He still lives but powerless. He is a wizard and a former Ordainer. We want you to look for him and head with him to the Hall of Righteousness. Ochieng's loss will mean the One from above's loss and the end of mankind." At this point, Nonka stopped and shook his head. He was once living among those mortals, he loved them so much.
"You still haven't answered my question," Mboya said with a frown even after Nonka said that much, "I want to know how burning the book is related to Ochieng's destruction."
"Anindo killed a very powerful Black Fiend several seasons ago. The demon was an elder amongst its members in the dark world where they come from. Its body was invaluable except for the skin above its member. This was a secret that was disclosed to Anindo in a dream. We wanted to stop the dream but he was under the charm of the Lord of darkness himself. The Lord of darkness is almost as powerful as the One from above, we couldn't help. We turned to the One from above for assistance but he was helpless as well."
"When still in the trance, Anindo removed the devil's member, took its skin and wrote a few things about Ordainers on it using a particular pen given by the Lord of darkness. We did not want this to happen but it did. What was fortunate was that Anindo did not write the most important things the Lord of darkness wanted. Nevertheless, the book became an artifact to help the Black Fiends to know of the existences of Ordainers and they could do everything to destroy these special people. Anindo after knowing the truth wanted to burn the book but we stopped him. He did not but died a few days after. We sent a fellow to take the book but the Lord of Darkness was swifter. He sealed it with his own abilities. Whoever was to find the book would be used to destroy the current Ordainer..." Nonka explained helplessness written on his face.
Mboya breathed faster when he heard he was the one who would be used by the Lord of Darkness. He cut Nonka short, "Don't tell me I am going to destroy Ochieng'."
"You are powerless before any Black Fiend. Even if you love Ochieng', when your time comes, the Lord of darkness will still use you. Take for example when you burned the book, you did it because of a dream you had. Were you even aware that you were under the spell of the Lord of darkness?" Nonka asked the question with a mischievous smile.
Mboya shook his head and did not say anything. To him, the possibility of him being under the spell of humans' greatest foe was inconceivable. Seeing how helplessly Mboya looked at him, Nonka continued,
"The skin above the member of that Black fiend was made by the Lord of darkness to help him in his own ways. The ink that Anindo used made the work of the skin improve staggeringly. The secrets concerning Ordainers were concealed in the Hall of Righteousness and they were a conundrum to the people and the Black Fiends. Knowing them was important to those from the dark world if they wanted to destroy Ordainers. Burning the book released the volition the Lord of darkness inserted in the skin and the information written on it went with the volition."
"The day you released that volition, it found its way to the dark world, a planet entirely different from earth. The meaning of this is that the Lord of darkness has found several ways to reach Ordainers very easily. Kuru Kureri was found by them after a lot of calculations and were even unable to kill him. They however made sure he was inconceivable. Getting to Ochieng' is extremely easy and killing him is also a walk in the park since they have information concerning Ordainers, though basic but very important."
"What am I expected to do?" Noticing the urgency of this matter, Mboya decided not to waste even a second.
"The reason why we got you here was to help you get to Kuru Kureri. Even though he did not make it to the Hall of Righteousness where the most powerful wizards live as an Ordainer or as a wizard, he was an Ordainer at some point in life, he is very important in this mission. We have already told him everything, you don't have to be worried. You must go now."
Immediately he finished, he flickered his wrist and before Mboya asked what he wanted to ask, his vision darkened and when he could see again, he was before an exquisite hut. Out of that hut walked three men. The one in the middle was an old man clad in a long yellow robe with a cow's tail in his right hand. He was smiling crazily. On his sides were two middle aged men clad in leopard skins.
"You must be Mboya Ogwang, Karachuo division's war advisor, right?" The old man asked with a smile. Mboya nodded.
"Hahaha, I must blessed at my old age. I didn't know I could be meeting great people in my life at this time. The One with the Book, I dreamt about you the whole night, come on in, we have important things to do together." The old man laughed and then turned to the two middle aged men beside him, "But before that, I think I should send these friends of mine back home."
The two middle aged men started looking at each other confusedly. Before they understood what was happening, they had disappeared from sight leaving behind Mboya and Kuru Kureri. The latter's lips were twitching constantly performing some incantation.
"Now that unimportant elements have been eliminated. Let me introduce myself properly. I am Kuru Kureri, an old man on the verge of death." The old man stopped his performance and turned to Mboya and extended his hand with a smile.
Mboya greeted back with with a smile as well but could not help but laugh at the funny old man inwardly.
"Nice to meet you Mboya. Let us get in and have a magical meal."
"Magical meal?"
"Patience my child. Why are young men so impatient these days?" The old man shook his head in disappointment leaving Mboya looking at him with a bitter smile.
They walked into the hut and a few seconds after, the magical meal was already on the table. As if not seeing Mboya's shock, the old man served himself a large glob of food and cleared it up in a few minutes.
"You want me to tell you to serve yourself some food? Dream on." The old man looked at the baffled middle aged man with a wicked smile before serving himself another large glob of food.