As I opened my eyes, I realized that I was in a bed in a small room that was pretty empty. The only things in the room were the bed a desk with a lamp and a window with curtains. As I looked around I got up and went to the window, opened the curtains and looked out of it so that I could see the world for the first time. At first I was blinded by the light that poorer in through the window. I immediately blocked the sunlight by using my arm and allowed my eyes to slowly adjust to the brightness. When I could finally see, I saw that I was at the top of a three story building within a pretty busy city. There were stalls selling all types of food, clothes, furniture, jewelry, trinkets, and any other object that you could think of. Most of the people in the street were brown skinned but were mixed in complexion from light brown to very dark brown or black. People were wearing all types of different clothes and jewelry like beads, earrings, necklaces, chains, and anklets. You saw people carrying water or pushing carts up and down the street too. I sat at the window taking in the scene, watching people interact with one another and listening to the sounds of life that I had never seen before. Suddenly I heard the door open and the big man with long twisted hair came through the door. After my "meeting", if you can call it that, with Zo I wasn't as intimidated as I was when I had first seen him. He called out to me and said "I hear your name is Zahir. Let's sit down so that we can talk about what's going on." Since I had been waiting to ask a bunch of questions I went back to the bed and sat on the edge while he pulled in a chair from the hallway. As soon as he sat down I fired off my first and most pressing question. "Where is David and Nala?" The big man chuckled and told me "They are safe. How about we start with introductions first, since you don't really know about anything. My name is Jed, nice to meet you." He held out his hand towards me and said "Your supposed to shake it as a sign of goodwill." I took his hand and shook it and then asked my next question. "Why did you take us out of...wherever we were?" "That, my friend, is going to take awhile to explain." "Well I'm used to sitting and listening so there should be a problem should there?" Jed smiler again and said "Your right you deserve an explanation. But first I'll need to tell you why you were kept down in those dungeons for so long. 30 years ago was the start of a war that took place on the continent of Eyin. At the time the four great tribes of Isas, Azus, Phalas, and Yifoya were ruled peacefully by the tribe of Ofe. The Ofe tribe had two groups within it in order to maintain balance. One side of the family were descendants of the god Shango the deity of darkness and on of the first gods of creation. The other side were descendants off the god Ul who is the twin brother of Shango, who is the deity of light. The descendants of Shango would rule over the country, controlling the military and political aspects of the country while the descendants of Ul focused on the judicial and economic aspects. However, even with this balance the descendants of Shango were the ones to ultimately control the affairs of the country making the leader of the Shango descendants the leader of the country. After centuries of this dynamic, the descendants of Ul decided to usurp the throne from the Shango family. This lead to a 20 year war between the Ul and Shango family to determine who would rule. It was an even battle for the first 10 years but it was gradually tipping to the Shango families side due to the physical strength that their descendants possessed and the leader ship of the Shango leader Khan. But the unexpected happened and the Ul family hired assassins to kill Khan, his wife Dayo, and his son Zahir." After hearing my name mentioned in the story, my mouth opened in shock. "Yes you are the son of the leader of the Shango and the rightful heir to the throne. But we'll get to that later. The assassins devised a plan that would use you and your mother as hostages in order to deal with Khan more easily and it worked. With you and your mother kidnapped, Khan lost the will to fight and turned himself over and was immediately killed. You and your mother were then brought to the Ul family and it was decided that your mother should die too, since she also possessed great enough power to threaten their rule. With both Khan and Dayo dead the rest of the Shango lost the will to fight and were captured and put into dungeons where most of them died."
"After the Ul obtained the right to rule the country, they began to implement changes that went against the wants and needs of the people. They raised taxes, started unnecessary wars with our neighbors, and started to sell our land to our foreign enemies. Everything they did was in order for them to gain more wealth and power. After some time the Azus and the Yifoya tribes tried to overthrow their rule, but they were overwhelmed by the power that the Ul possessed. After their devastating defeat, they were forced into second class citizenship and their leaders children forced into the dungeons as punishment. Some were even sold into slavery. For the last 10 years we have been waiting and biding our time so that we could free you and the other children from captivity so that we can once again try to overthrow the Ul. So to answer your question, we saved you from that dungeon so that YOU can lead us into prosperity once again."
I sat there in the bed in a daze staring at Jed and trying to remember my mother's face, my dad's smile, a part of my childhood, anything so that I could confirm what was being said to me. MY dad was the leader of the countries most powerful clan? And again I hear I'm supposed to rule or lead people. Why me? As I sat there contemplating everything that Jed had told me he then said "I know that this is a lot to take in right now. I doubt that you even remember your childhood due to how traumatic the experience was, but just know I am here to answer your questions and to help you take your time." I continued to sit there on the bed for awhile fighting back tears because I can't remember my family or my life before my cage. I became enraged at the Ul for taking everything away from me. For taking my dad away. For murdering my mom. As I felt these emotions the room began to shake and I began to emit a black aura from my body. Jed in panic said "Calm down I know it must be hard to hear bu…" "HARD! HARD?! WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT HARD!? I'VE SPENT MY ENTIRE LIFE IN A CAGE WITH NO LIGHT, NOT KNOWING THAT I HAD FAMILY, NOT EVEN KNOWING ABOUT THE OUTSIDE WORLD FOR YEARS AND YOU SAY IT'S JUST HARD!? HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT'S HARD!?" With a fearful look on Jed's face he replied, " Your right I don't know what that's like, but I'm here so that you can tell me so I can help you work through it so please calm down." I tried to calm myself down with deep breaths and eventually my anger subsided. I looked Jed confused and asked " What was that? I've gotten angry before and that has never happened." He said, " That is the power of the Shango family. In the dungeons they used special stones and crystals to hinder your powers so that you couldn't escape, they were afraid of you and what you could do." "How do I control it?" "That my friend is what we will be working on while we are here." Said Jed. "Anymore questions?" I sat and thought about it for a minute and said "I have two questions. One, when can I see Nala and David and two when can I eat?" Jed smiled again and said "We are finishing up lunch right now and I think Nala and David are in the kitchen already. Just follow me." When I got up to walk I felt the world spin and almost fell down. Jed caught me and said "This is a side effect from your powers. You just need to train some so that you can use them easier." "If they make me feel like this I don't think I want to use them." Jed chuckled "Don't worry, everybody has to start from somewhere." And he guided me out into the hallway and down the stairs.