In a cold desolate windy desert in the heart of Africa. A huge combat helicopter hovered in the sky. It was a silent starry night and the pilot couldn't fathom for the life of him why anyone would want to come to such a place.
Africa wasn't the best of places even before the last war. After the war, the continent even became worse. Africa suffered the most during the war since the continent had no defensive barriers against ariel explosives.
The peaceful people tried their best to stay neutral in the war but it was impossible. How could one continent in the middle of others stay away from a full-scale world war? Well, even if they had decided to help, they wouldn't have been able to since for some reason the continent attracted a lot of stray explosives during the war which crippled them further. Whether these stray bombs were intentional or not was another issue since no one could tell.
Lost in his thoughts, the pilot didn't notice the beautiful red-haired young woman who strolled into the cockpit and who was standing right behind him until she gripped his shoulder tightly.
"Stop messing about and focus on your job" the woman whispered close to his ear as she dug her nails into the pilot's shoulder. The man had to summon all his willpower to stop himself from screaming out in pain and rage as he felt the nails dig into his skin. He quickly nodded to the woman's command. Satisfied, she turned to go, but not before leaving the sweating pilot with one last instruction.
"Oh...the big boss says to land the bird". The pilot immediately complied. he didn't want to anger the big boss. No one wanted to. even people with a death wish tended to steer clear of the big boss, because as he liked to say, "there are things worst than death".
The bird, as the fierce woman called the chopper could be seen landing on the sandy plain of the Mali desert. The place was dead silent except for the vehicle's noise that carried across miles and miles away.
Not too far from the chopper, a small framed African man in clothing that had seen better days was making his way towards the source of the noise. His name was Abdul Rashid.
Before the war, Abdul was a cattle herder. he wasn't among the big-time herders in his town but he was fine with that. He wasn't really poor. His family always had enough to eat and there was even enough left to help others. But everything changed when the war started.
He had lost everything including his family and his beloved cattle. All that meat. It had been 6 years since the war but Abdul had always remained the same broken man since he lost his family.
Today he had managed to make enough money carrying people's goods in the nearby town. He had planned to down his sorrow tonight by drinking himself senseless in memory of his wife and two sons since tomorrow marked the 7th year of their passing.
He had managed the first part of his plan alright. Abdul had drunk himself to a stupor and had laid under the tent he had pitched earlier. Not caring about whatever happened to him, but somehow some fool had managed to wake him by making all that noise.
Any other day, Abdul would have let it pass, but today he was feeling murderous. As Abdul got closer, he could see the large helicopter landing. He prepared himself to give whoever was in charge a piece of his mind and maybe even a piece of his pain as he took off with a war cry just in time as the door on the side of the chopper opened and a shiny black shoe poked out of the chopper, followed by a leg, then more of the person appeared.
The big boss was the first person to make his way out of the chopper. He was tall and muscular with a well-defined back and looked perfect in his black and white tuxedo. Every square inch of the suit fit perfectly on his body.
His face looked like something straight out of a Michelangelo painting with his chiseled jawline, straight pointed nose, and his blood-red full lips. His eyes were the darkest shade of blue and seemed to be competing with the night star's heavenly light.
Anyone looking at him would have guessed his age was between 25 and 30 years but in truth, this person was ancient. Even he didn't know his own age. He stood with his hands behind his back as he took in a deep breath of the desert air.
The smell must have lifted his mood for a beautiful smile manifested on his face." Stacy" he called in a voice that was fitting for a god. "My lord" Stacy, the red-haired beauty who had delivered the big boss's message to the pilot earlier bowed her head as she answered." Our task is but yet to begin young one. Bri...."
"hey! jy wit..wat is fout met jou? hoekom maak al hierdie geraas in die middel van die nag? wil jy jou gat geslaan hê? ( Hey! Whitey. What is wrong with you? Why all this noise in the middle of the night? Do u want your ass beaten?! )" A loud angry voice interrupted the big boss.
"How interesting. I felt this bug a distance away and thought the bird would frighten him off. Looks like he has more courage than I thought" the beautiful man said with slight surprise.
"Boss, let me take care of him", Stacy offered with annoyance. She would squash this man like fruit if the king allowed her. "Tsk..you have to take care of your temper Stacy. Don't worry, I'll deal with this" the man answered in amusement.
"Aah Abdul..soveel pyn. ek voel dit alles. moenie bekommerd wees nie, jou pyn eindig hier my vriend ( Aah Abdul..so much pain. i feel it all. dont worry,your pain ends here my friend. )" Abdul stopped in his tracks. Were his ears playing tricks on him or did the strange white guy just call him by name? And by the gods,the man was speaking his local language perfectly.
"wie...wie is jy. hoe ken jy my naam. waar kom jy vandaan?! (who...who are you. how do you know my name. where are you from?! )" Abdul asked in a voice mixed with panic and confusion.
The strange white man only smiled in answer as he raised one of his hands from behind his back and made a small twirling motion in the air with it before making a grabbing motion and pulling his hand back slowly, all the while with a gentle smile on his face.
Abdul could tell the stranger was doing something to him. He was stealing something from Abdul. Abdul knew he was gonna die if the man succeeded, he wanted to stop him but his feet won't move. He couldn't breathe, he fell to the floor, retching loudly. He didn't want to die. he thought he wanted to before but now he knew he was wrong. Alas, he couldn't do anything as he felt something ripped from his very core. Abdul's vision went black at once and he stopped breathing.
By Abdul's side, the beautiful man stood. A grayish-blue mist swirled in circles above his opened palm. " I'll put your soul to good use Abdul. Hope you enjoy hell " the big boss said as he opened his mouth wide and began sucking Abdul's soul into his belly.