The next day Auntie had an important meeting. I was left at home to take care of the baby.
"Don't put her in the bag and run away," auntie said jokingly.
"I'm here to make sure he is not running away," uncle says as they both laugh.
I looked at the baby who was sleeping on his bed. I hoped that he could not be violent as he was the other day. I imagined if he could turn violent and then electrocute me and I die. I imagined of what life could be after death. Where will I go to? How people left behind will cry. How they will ask me why did I go? Then I imagined of where I could go. Would I go to heaven or hell? Would I be trapped in the middle forever trying to choose where I should go? Who will be there.
"Arthur, what's wrong? Why are you staring at the baby like that?" uncle returned me back to this world.
"Nothing uncle. Just imagining," I said.
"Are you still thinking of the magician? Are you still thinking of the story he said to you yesterday?"I wondered why on how he could have known what happened yesterday. Did the magician tell him?
"I'm sorry kid. But I can read through some of your memories. Don't be shocked. That's why Kacey and her mom never play games on me. Sometimes I just leave to them."
He left for another room. I sat down on the chair near the baby. If he woke up he would begin to cry that's what I knew. But when he woke up he started to move his hands. I never knew which kind of baby was that. I thought maybe he was not hungry.
Then from nowhere a man wearing a white robe appeared. He had no beard but his hair was long and black. His face was white like snow. His eyes were shiny and his flat nose moved up and down. When he smiled his teeth were golden and shone like his eyes. He was so scary that I screamed. He moved towards me as I shivered. The baby started screaming loudly. He seemed like he wanted to run away. If he could walk then he would not have been still there.
Uncle came in carrying a machete. He wanted to slay anyone who was scaring us.
"Stop! I'm not here to harm anyone. Please. I am Prakash. I am the head of the Light clan in the core universe. I'm also the messenger of the core Headquarters. I came to ask you to protect your child from being snatched away by a monster called Gemini. If he joins Gemini's army then the whole planet will be in trouble. If he falls for his tricks then he might do something devastating to our core. He might interfere with the energy flow. He might take over the leadership and destroy the order and customs that our core has. Dear young kid, you must guard your cousin and ensure that he is on the right path. Don't let curiosity overpower you and forget about this. If he lives here in peace then he would have achieved something that no one has ever done. You must ensure he stays on this planet, OK, " he spoke with a tremendous voice that echoed each time he paused.
" So you mean my son is not a normal human being. How is that possible? "
" After many earth years a new soul is always brought to one of the universes. The mission of the Gods is to replace those that maybe have perished or the ones that left the universes. This new soul is randomly placed to anyone who is conceived by the time the soul is ready. Those who are at the core register this new soul and hand it a crystal of immortality. This means that the baby will be immortal during birth. Then the baby is assigned a role. If he would be a guardian, a captain, a champion or a leader. Others are given a role to control nature. The baby will have to pass tests before they can be declared immortal. If your baby passes the tests then he would be immortal. If he fails then the crystal of immortality will be called back. He will have superpowers but at the end of it all he will just die like you. He will be caught in the normal series of rebirth and reincarnation that ensures continuity of life. The more the mistakes he makes, the more the chance of loosing the crystal. Goodbye. "He disappeared .
I was so astonished with what he said. Someone could just see how wide open my eyes were. Someone could see how agape my mouth was. The magician had never thought me something like that. I saw uncle scratching his head. He sat on another chair and left for the land of thought and imagination. I looked at the baby. He was smiling and his hands were apart. His irises were not green anymore. They had turned brown. His hair was blue now.
"How is he able to change hair color? I shall ask the magician," I thought. But uncle will just know it. He is able to read through my memories.I went to my bedroom and wrote it on my notebook.
The stranger returned again. This time he carried a big red book. He handed the book over to me. The book was written in characters that I didn't know. They didn't belong to any of the letters and glyphs on our planet.
Curiosity always said, "Don't refuse strange things. It might be luck that you are running away from. Take them always." I did as curiosity told me.
"How will I read it?" I asked.
"Try the cover," he said laughing.
His laughter was so irritating. Some people actually don't know how to laugh. They should just remain silent. I looked at the book cover. I read it, " Capturing Wild imagination, a guide to infinite intelligence."
"Yes, that's it. Any book from the Tundra planet can be read. It always translates itself in your head. Try switching to swahili."I tried.
The words were read. Uncle entered. He took the book and said to him, "Prakash, leave. You are doing a mistake. I can see from your memories that what you are doing is illegal. So leave. You gonna bring trouble to us. I will call the wizard."
"Wizard? You mean Ikamba." he said.
"Yes that one."
The stranger was amazed. Speechless, he began to sweat. It was like he had stepped on a wire carrying electricity. He then produced wings as his eyes shone brightly. His hair began floating. He had no earlobes. He also lacked eyebrows. He disappeared.
Uncle took the book with him.He told me that I was too young to capture wild imagination. As a child I was supposed to have aimless imagination so as to be able to relate the past and present to the future. When I will be living in my future, that's when I will be able to use the book. He told me that the book won't open unless it's opened by the chosen one. It was no me, nor him. Who was it then?
I was left wondering why did the stranger who was proving to be powerful fear the wizard. What did Ikamba have to make superior beings fear. Did uncle knew anything about it? All remained mine. Now I had a task to prevent uncle from accessing my memories. This would help me keep everything secret.