Those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it. My father was taken as a child and raised by the same man who killed his parents. I was taken by the Maditau, raised in the harsh life of the streets of Cape Town. All this… done by the same person who killed my parents.
Suddenly, dark giant figures emerged from on top of the cluster of tetrapods. "Odum…", muttered Makela. "these are the Odum loyal to the Maditau…", she swallowed hard. "how do you know", asked Princess Ngoma who was profoundly uncomfortable.
"I serviced in the House of the Maditau", Makela replied. "This is not going to end well…", grimaced Heru-kwa-Nzinga.
"I am right here", we all turned around to see. The Maditau stood before us. "Deucalion", she said. "how brave of you to show yourself here. Brilliant decoy by the way.", she added.
"I am sure you have… spilt all that there is to tell", scorned the Maditau. "not quite…", he gave a smug.
His smirk, menacing. His cadence radiated vindication. For a moment the Maditau looked unsettled. "Oh, Great Sekhmet! Oracle of the Kongo", he mocked. "too many accolades you have claimed as your own over the centuries", he spat. Deucalion must have dreamt of this moment. The smugness on his face was priceless. It was like the calm before the storm. He pointed at Ta-hawa, "you. Have you not pondered what was behind your unusual behaviour?", Ta-hawa fell perplexed at the question as it apparently made sense to her.
"You've coincidentally crash-landed on the exact spot that happens to be an ambush. You randomly broke into an apartment intimately related to your killing spree. you coincidently selected the correct target from Carter's…", he paused. The mention of his name set him back in regret. "everything upon your quest including Pandora's Box ran perfectly. I guess someone here was literally manipulating the concept of Regression to the Mean", his voice, this time, dismayed.
What if he was right? What if we were puppets all this time? Things have been going well until now. Perhaps too well. "The Great MADITAU has been manipulating you all this while", Deucalion bellowed. "you lying!", cried Ta-hawa. "QUIET. Stupid girl.", Spat Deucalion. My temper increasing, I stepped forward.
"Disrespect her again, and I'll cut your head off", I warned. "just like your father. Always overprotective", he said rather pleased than threatened.
"Judah, you can compel people but could not during your fool's errand. Why? She...", he pointed at the Maditau, "was in control. Your little girl-friend's mood swings were the side effect of the Maditau's force upon you, ask her to deny this", he suggested.
The Maditau was awfully silent. "his lying, isn't he", cried Ta-hawa as she ran to kneel at the Maditau's feet. "my mistress is virtuous. She is the personification of Sekhmet and the Light of… of Kongo", she recited in tears. "is it true?"; I asked the Maditau. "Yes", she finally replied. "No… it cannot be, you are-", "Yes, child. I could not leave this war to fate, not like the previous ones…", she interrupted Ta-hawa.
Deucalion laughed excitedly, not really because he was amused, and pleased at what he had come to reveal. He felt vindicated. For a moment, I thought to myself, what if we are the bad guys, his vindication certainly made me feel that way. "you know-", he began but was cut off by the Maditau. "SILENCE", the Maditau's voice was enraged but her facial expression was not vexed. "you humans are so puny. Not that I am not human, it is just that; I am not. We have given you everything to thrive and what have you done with it? Weaponized it! The cure to cancer has been with you all along and what have you done with them? You enslaved them", she sighed.
"None of you has lived forever, and, it may seem like a blessing at first, however, after an eternity… I have seen kingdoms and nations rise and fall. My people ruled the world whilst your ancestors", the Maditau pointed disdainfully at Deucalion, "were repeatedly rotating in a circle in some cave in the cold north. Your kind has been a disturbance to my people, and cancer to the planet since we taught you how to think", she spat.
"True. We may not have any history worth mentioning so we stole yours, yes we have no deity so we made yours look like us, and thanks to your black powder we ended up colonising this continent. You are right, your lordship, we are all that you have said and yet, here we are. Rulers of the world. Now stop beating around the bush and let's get to the point", he suggested mirthfully
"my mistress", cried Ta-hawa, still kneeling in front of the Maditau. "rise, Apostle", the Maditau's voice indifferent. We all knew she was about to share her side of the story but that did not happen.
"I watched my people suffer as I fought alongside them. I have won many battles but lost many wars. Do not expect any justification, none of you deserves one, nonetheless, know that this time I will not let my people wither away. It matters not to how you choose to label me. What matters is that this time, my actions will save my people. one final battle for one final war and we rid the planet of your parasitic kind", to add to the effect, she began to float.
The waves from afar smashed against the tetrapods. Cracks of lightning adorned the night sky with no thunder to follow suit. If it were not for the circumstances, I would have been in awe. BUT I was too exhausted. So it's true, you killed my parents, I thought as I looked at her. My child that is no longer relevant. You have come this far. Fulfil your destiny, her thoughts channelled to me.
A bunch of things happened simultaneously that keeping up with all of it would have dazed me. Choppers materialized, airborne and shot at us. Foot soldiers on jet skis ramboed in. The Odum went immediately to attack mode. Another fight broke out. "this will not belong", smirked the Maditau. An Odum pounced on Deucalion, extended its clause. Without even thinking, I switched my Ark to spear mode and launched it at the Odum's back leg, which only distracted her. This by the way did not vex the Odum. It only irritated her.
She looked at me, the Odum, like; we are on the same team, and immediately pounced on a hopeless foot soldier whose head laid meters away from its body a few seconds later.
The same team… we were not on the same team. I stretched my hand out and my Ark returned to me, upon its touch I switched it to sword gear and shot up to attack the Maditau.
With the flick of her index finger, the Maditau compelled me to the ground. I was seeing dots, stars and anything else you can think of. I stood up momentarily, fighting to maintain balance. I launched myself again and again I was sent crashing to the ground, I swear something cracked on my right.
"my child. Why do you fight me when you know that it would take two Apex-Tau to make me drop a sweat?", she explained. Her voice gave the impression that I was forcing her to hurt me. I heard Deucalion shouting orders from afar. Heru-kwa-Nzinga only uttered one word and that changed everything. "Lulama!", he commanded 'order' in Kikongo.
The aristocrats with whom were with him, among them princess Ngoma followed the command, even the Odum loyal to the Maditau followed suit, "Lulama", adhering to the Warrior King's battle chant. This made the Maditau momentarily uneasy, for her Odum were now on Heru's side.
The Warrior King glitched from one body to another, leaving a trail of decapitated bodies. Princess Ngoma would shift into Odum and back to human form as she administered her kills. The Odum loyal to the Maditau, well, they were having a good time, now in service to Heru. Sheering and tearing bodies, one could hear a tune as they cracked bones per bight. Ta-hawa fought to get to me. Every step was a body count.
It must have been the first time Deucalion witness something of such nature for he froze at all that occurred. No one else touched him as the Maditau wanted him to be the last killed.
Heru Kwa Nzinga was meant to be a warrior king. He was right in front leading the lot into battle. From what I managed, most foot soldiers tried to avoid him but only to be decapitated by an Odum. Deucalion was losing men and yet he was still too petrified to give orders. Lindiwe, who I just realised, was managing on her own against the foot soldiers. She ran out of ammo and decided to go full contact.
"stay put", cried Makela to me. "I'll be there in a sec", she promised. I tried flying after what felt like a while to get to my feet, but to no avail. "my child, I am not your enemy. Do not choose the path of your parents", she advised. "what? Will you kill me like my parents if I do?", I retorted. The Maditau Flew to Deucalion for a kill but I managed to shield him. Foolish of me, only to get hurt in the process. Her claws pierced through my armour like it was nothing. "My child!", cried the Maditau. For the first time, I sensed remorse in her voice.
"JK!", bellowed Ta-hawa in bewilderment. "I'm fine", I staggered to my feet.
"why, child? Why give your life for this man, your adversary?", the Maditau sounded more hurt than I felt. I released my carbon-emitting bead to its full form as the Gaddafi. With my bow to the ready, pointed at the Maditau, "this might not hurt, but it won't tickle either", I said mirthlessly. The Maditau was uneasy for the first time.
I knew the Gaddafi was not powerful enough to kill her but it was capable of wounding her just enough to make her look human. "I am not your enemy. He is", she reasoned persistently. "I don't care, you killed my parents". Suddenly an Odum reaped off a part of my right shoulder and knocked me to the ground glaring with disdain "remember who you are!" he said grimly.
"No!", the Maditau cried. At first, I thought the Maditau was stopping her loyalist from finishing me off but… a composition of melancholy, remorse and regret beguiled her face.
The last thing I heard was Ta-hawa screaming my name as the scene turned to…