The black smoke faded roughly six minutes after impact. The air was filled with ignited carbon dioxide and anxiety. Apart from the cacophony produced by the Gaddafi, the demigods were gasping and coughing. Phoebe, their pack leader, was assured that all was well though her tone was dismaying.
The mist faded. On top of a grey marble stand, fit to display a Tiberius Caesar bust, laid Pandora's Box. As I approached it. I noticed that there was absolutely nothing curious about the box, no conspicuous adornment. I could not tell whether the box was made of wood, metal, glass, plastic or crystal. A certain allure about what the box concealed was intriguing. Was the Scroll of Zayi really concealed in it? I thought to myself.
Pain overwhelmed me, I was still losing blood. I was here, I had the box so we're was this guy. "Anansi? Now is a better time to freeze time", I started. "Is that right? Let's skip all the theatrics, it is good to be seen", said Anansi while materializing behind the box. "Here's the key", I handed it to him, "oh no, that's for you to open, son.", "why?", "curiosity is a human thing, na'mean", he chuckled.
"And to no avail, you might as well strategize a different approach, Anansi", whispered a voice. The voice belonged to a Greek woman, adorned in Greek royalty.
She seductively turned around Anansi, placing her hand on his chest, "well, long time no see. Truly, I'm surprised you mustered the courage to show up. Surely, your brotherly husband is mortified by your action, Hera", sneered Anansi as he removed her hand disdainfully. "The box is what has brought me here", Hera said flatly.
"Lies, you seek the Holy Grail, just as before, your world and its existence are inadequate. The Holy Grail belongs to Kemet", tutted Anansi.
This enraged Hera, "I shall have it!", she roared and for a second it frightened me. Anansi smiled though the rest had not turned out pleasant for Hera. "You think you match my eminence? I saved your king, your husband as a boy while he was trapped by that vagabond oaf of a Titan", the mirth on Anansi's face was sinister.
His mirth faded into anger, "I am the Titan, the Titan of Titans. I trained him and his brothers, I corrupted them to undermine and overthrow that oaf, Cronus. Before that, I corrupted your current problem, Gaea to destroy his witless oaf of a husband.", he spat, and to add to the effect, lightning struck, that, with no clouds.
Anansi began to morph as he increased in size, "You think you match me! silly Olympian queen. Do I strike you as kin? I am Prime to your Primordial gods", Anansi was no longer that cool Motown pip. He stood about sixteen meters tall, his body was made of mist and his head was replaced by a black hole under a cowl made of stars.
The surface was flooding with ocean water, the ambient resembled a twilight evening. Whispers and laments of the dead became hearable. As the ocean was raised, things began to move in it. Hera was petrified, she messed with the wrong African god. Anansi was theatrical, however, this was no pantomime, "Your kind and the Gentle believes it was Rhea who deceived Cronus by hiding baby Zeus and replacing it with a stone wrapped in blankets. A trick worthy of Anansi!", his laugh was mortifying
"Do you know why there's absolute and constant calamity in Olympus? because I HAVE MADE IT SO. I AM ANANSI.
I AM THE TITAN KING, I AM PRIME TO YOUR PRIMORDIAL GODS, I AM
TRICKERY, THE MAKER OF GODS! I AM, ABSOLUTE DECEPTION. YOUR EXISTENCE LIES IN THE AMORAL IMAGINATION OF LESSER INTELLIGENT BEINGS. TAKE YOUR EXISTENCE into CONSIDERATION BEFORE YOU ATTEMPT TO LEAGUE ME", exploded Anansi.
I shut my eyes, instantly. I counted to ten before I opened my eyes. Anansi was back to his Denzel Washington swagger but that did not stop me from shaking in my suit. Hera was speechless, powerless and perturbed at Anansi's true nature. She took a couple of steps back, horrified at Anansi. What was the lady thinking? I thought to myself.
Anansi is not like most gods who depend on a particular ethnic group to believe and worship them. Anansi is a concept, a notion, nature, a character, an attitude practised in every culture globally. As long as there is sin, there is Anansi, the god of Trickery and Deception. He required no worshippers, simply practitioners which, by the way, was too easy as sin was nature to unjustified men.
His mirth returned as if nothing ever happened. "you seek peace; correct the mistake your half-breeds have provoked. Seek the Parthenon through the daughter of Athena, it will mollify the feud among your breed and perhaps aid in defeating Gaia, how is she, by the way?", he said mirthlessly. "How do I trust the words of Trickery?", she asked, "by gambling. Assemble the mightiest of your offsprings, for as the prophecy narrates, to tempest or blaze, terra must fall. Keep your demigods closer", he replied.
They both looked at me, suddenly I was in their conversation. "The Scroll radiates power that allures both benevolent and malevolent entities. As soon as you touch the Scroll, I'll teleport you to your fold", said Anansi. In a trance-like state, allured to the Scroll that was concealed within the box. I inserted the key, light in rainbow colours irrupted, the sight of it was both blinding and deafening. I squinted to see. The only visible thing in the box was the seal Makela told me about.
I reached out my right hand to touch the Scroll. I felt a magnetic repulsion impeding me. The closer I persisted the weaker I became, my open wound stinging. Sweat cascading, the magnitude and light burning my hand. I held it and instantly everything felt at peace. I no longer felt pain, a warm sentiment took over. Simultaneously, Anansi touched my shoulder and… Oblivion.