"No! Mum can't be dead," Anna yelled as she ran as fast as she could. She Didn't Know where exactly she was heading to but that didn't matter. Her mum meant everything to her and she felt like ending her life and joining her wherever she was.
As she ran further, she came to the sea shore, far away from the cabin. Her legs ached in such a way that they shivered violently and she could not control them. Anna placed her hands on her knees to catch her breath. After some minutes, she spun her Head around searching for a possible place to seat. Then, she found a nearby rock beside the shore.
Anna staggered to the stool-shaped rock and sat down exhausted. Placing her palms on her eyes, Anna cried her heart out. She used to come to the sea shore with her mum when they had nothing to do. It was here her father told her about his past life before they came to leave here.
She gnashed her teeth as she remembered her father's story as the greatest sorcerer in the Palace of Mogablaka. She saw the king and his council as responsible for her mother's death. If they had not accused his father wrongly, they would still be in the castle where the best physicians would have attended to her and she would have survived.
Anna felt her anger rising. "I will surely take my revenge on the king and all his subjects," she vowed. Then again, the last words of her mother came back to her. "Learn to forgive all those who have ever wronged you and never pay evil with evil," the words rang in her hearings.
She was confused. "No, I can't live and see these people go free after all they did to me and my family. But I also can't disobey the last words of my dearest mother," she thought. "Or I will take my life and leave this cruel world. That would be the best option," Anna resolved.
Terrified, she got up from the rock she was sitting on and journeyed to the Sea. She intended to drone herself and join her mother wherever she was. Slowly, she walked to the sea and felt it with her Legs. The waters reflected her tear-ridden face reflecting a beauty that the world have never seen before. A beauty that could soften the hardest heart and warm the coldest smile.
The water was ice cold and somehow weird. She did not know what was weird with the water but she was sure of it, something was not written about that what. "Or maybe I am too scared? I can do this," she assured herself. "I am nothing without my mother."
"But what about dad," she thought again. "Dad will cry for a while and take the decision I am taking today. Then, we will be together forever, as one big family. Away from the cruel eyes of this world." Anna went further Into the water then she heard a strange voice. She leaned her ears backward to detect the direction of the sound but the place was ice still. "Was that my dad searching for me?" she thought. "Then I have to hurry up before he stops me from joining mum."
As she attempted to go further Into the water, she had the voice again. "Leave that water now," it echoed clearly. Anna was suddenly overtaken by fear and she started running out of the water.
As she he got to the edge of the water, she discovered that she could not move her legs, she was stuck. She felt some things around the delicate skin of her feet. She was frightened and she glanced at her feet to ascertain what was really holding her down and she discovered that it was the multiple tongues of a beast the Mogalans called Aku. It was said that the beast lived under the earth of that river and it only came out once a year. Whatever life that lives on that sea it takes away. And there was another story that says that the last thing the beast takes away from its victim was its voice.
Anna had never believed in that story whenever her father told it even at a tender age. She had always wanted to see the beast herself before she would believe any story relating to it and today, she has found it. But she wasn't expecting this, at least not today. "Not cool, not cool," Anna tried to say but she could hear herself.
"What, I can't hear myself," she thought.
"My voice, it is gone. But I wanted to end my life anyway, this is just one of the ways to end my life, at least I am not doing it myself," she thought. But then, she thought again: At least not in the hands of a folk tale sea monster. I have to find a way to free myself." Anna attempted to scream again and when she could not hear herself, she passed out in the water.
Meanwhile, Lucus had just finished digging the grave and he wiped tears from his eyes with his dusty elbow. His heart was split into two as tears flowed out from the middle like water flowing from the middle of two parted rocks.
Suddenly, there was a quake but after a few minutes, everywhere was calm again. Lucus felt that something was wrong but he could not actually point out what was wrong. Again, the rumbling began. This time, it was more violent than the first. "Anna," a still voice whispered into the sorcerer's ears. Lucus knew what was wrong, Anna was in trouble.
With the speed of an African cheetah, Lucus ran following his stronge sense of sorcerer's smell. He could not afford another loss. While he ran with all the strength he got in him, Anna lay under the surface of the water unconscious and her body was about to be consumed by the dreaded folk tale sea monster.
TO BE CONTINUED.