Lady Black and the mysterious creature of the night

Chapter 16

“Mpho said that she saw what I saw. She saw the demon on her throne,” Black was murmuring in her office. She had a painting she had made of the demon. That painting depicted what Black saw on her dark night of the soul. On such event, she had found herself in some basement standing before a woman-like creature who claimed to be her queen.

“Do you know who I am? Do you know where you are?” Black would not talk. The voice was soft as a whispered hum and tempting as a devil’s nectar, “You are in my vicinity. My castle… Kneel before me, Kanala. I am your queen, don’t you know?””

“There’s something so familiar about that woman.” Black looked up at her Angel, “Do I know her?” The Angel would not bring himself to respond. He played ‘deaf’ while he hovered above her with a book in his hand. He was fascinated with the writing. “Did you know, we used to have our own characters? We as Africans, we too used to write. Fascinating how things have changed,” he kept flipping through the book.

“Kanala…” she found herself in the basement of the mention. In there, she saw many souls chained by neck to the monster on the throne. The monster had its back at her. “Oh, dear. Kanala. You woke up. He found you. I must have underestimated your father. The way that I hid you, no-one was supposed to find you.” Black could not do much for herself. She felt locked out of her will. All she could do was stand there with curiosity.

“She said something about my father. She must have known my father. My father was Zula, the son of the treasurer. Angel, do you know my father?” she saw that he was not paying any mind to her. She resumed to murmuring to herself, “How would she know my father when my father passed on many centuries ago? Could she be nearly as old as I am? Did she have an affair with my father? Where was my mother in all of this?” Black left her chair; she went through the books on her shelves. Particularly, she went through the myth section of the shelve. She collected a few and brought them to her desk. She wanted to re-read these books—maybe she missed something at first. The past few days, Black had been racking her brains for answers. She realized that her past path may had been twisted and enigmatic. There were many dots that couldn’t join and there were many secrets that were kept hidden.

Black knew that her days were drawing closer. Soon, she would have to go and conquer the monster in Gama’s mention. Basically, she was running out of time. She needed to learn as much as possible about this monster that kept trapping souls of the living and the dead. Black’s new mission was to remember how she was defeated and locked in time. She also needed to know who did that to her.

The passage of the book she held her hand read…

…faced with a big troop of warriors, she stood her ground and would not back down. A smirk on her face, she was excited having to show-off her strength like that in a biggest fight of her life. Kanala had become a loner. She travelled alone, she met people and left them behind. She never intended on getting attached to anything and anyone given her past with loved ones. They either left for death or turned on her.

In her very first life, she’d had to leave her mother and father at the village, and run to save her own life. It was her grandfather who carried her as a just born across the land. Shortly, her grandfather died of old age and the constant running proceeded. Kanala did find herself a new family of which she joined. She had believed that it would be forever, until someday that family sold her out to her seekers. She lost a lot of friends and followers too. And finally, she lost her own life from a stabbing by her lover. Her remains were tossed over the cliff and forgotten.

Kanala was thereafter, given her first shot at resurrection. It was granted that; she would have to relive life in a peaceful way. She would have to become the helper of people in a cruel world. She was to become the giver of charity however, Kanala had taken a sharp turn. She became a whole new person. She was no longer hiding in the comfort of others' homes. She was no longer illusioned or envious of a life with a big, happy family. Instead, she became greedy, crook and murderous. Upon every path she walked on, people tumbled to their death. She was a worldwide wanted felon. Even messengers of death from gate of the Afterlife where send down to the earth’s crusty surface to reclaim her soul and bring her to justice. Without any regard for their messenger, the Grim Reaper, she slaughtered them all. Years upon years expired, but she was still ever so youthful and strong. She had become an unstoppable demoness.

For once in history, the persons of the earth had stopped fighting among themselves but came together, instead, to try and bring her down. They collected and gathered themselves—old enough and strong enough to fight. They chased north to south, west to east searching for her. They finally, found her. It was a battle that lasted a day and a night. She had wiped out every one of them, in their numbers. It was a battle won, she thought.

However, there shot a blast like lightning that stroke the earth’s crust and surely, caused a quake. It was a mage. It had been long since she had come in contact with a fellow mage. This mage looked a bit older than her, maybe twenty years older. She looked like she was in her 40s while Kanala looked like she was in her 20s. Her ability to grow with years had come to halt from her point of resurrection. Kanala was intrigued and impressed. Kanala was excited to finally face someone in her league. This mage did not bring any g*n-powder, or sharp blades like the fallen soldiers in the area.

Black was out of her study—out of her office. She joined the others for supper at the dinner table. For the first time, the Angel was also joining them for supper. It had been long since the Angel ate with others, he seemed excited about that. It was a cheerful evening, the table was full and lively. Every guest in the Castle sat down to eat. Every guest ranging from the serving staff to the boarders of the Castle. Black was impressed with what she had accomplished in this lifetime. She saw the pure joy in each one of them. They raffled a banter at the table. They had forgotten their problems of the past and possible problems going into the future in that moment.

They all seemed connected with each other regardless of their differences and backgrounds. They may had been strangers, they may had been random acquaintances, they may had been enemies, and they may had been joined by master-and-server kind of professional relationship before but in that very moment, they were all on equal ground. Black couldn’t begin to think that some of these diners where once her followers in their past-lives when she was an Empress—taking after her royal bloodline—but now, she held no title above them at all. Except that she was the boarding owner and provider. Lebogang did realize that he was dining with his family’s housekeepers, but that did not bother him. Mfundi could remember that all these people at the table were complete strangers to him, but he still felt safe and at home. The black kitten was aware that he was once a friend turned into an enemy of Black, but now he considered himself family.

There entered Mpho, holding hands with her brother, Karabo. He seemed shaken and amazed at the same time walking into such a glamorous building. He marvelled at every corner of the room. “What is this place?”

“A place of safety and reunion.”

Karabo did puzzle over what Mpho may had meant by that. The reception desk was empty, that was odd. The elevator, too, was empty. Mpho leaned on his brother to ease off the pain of the stab wound. She pulled her brother through to the dining room where she detected a noise. Mpho and Karabo found them dining. “Who’re these people?” Karabo whispered closely to Mpho. “Are they your friends?”

Mr. Polile almost immediately knew that was his son. He could instantly see the resemblance—the boy’s sharp features reminded him of his wife and his overall face and body reminded him of himself when he was younger. He leapt off his chair and rushed towards the boy. He embraced the boy and would not let go. The rest wavered cheerful sighs at the reunion. Mpho was saddened and Black left the room first.

Black had things on her mind. As she was walking down the corridor to her room, she began having flash-backs of her past. Clear and vivid as day could be.

“You’ve been bad, I heard them say. You’ve been bad, I see that now.” The ground they stood on was matted with bodies of the fallen warriors. The mage said, “A true demoness as can be. You take after me, I believe.” The mage had locks thick and long to her knees. Her dreadlocks dressed in beads, stones and thin chains. She draped in a fine flowy lace that exposed her arms and had thigh long slits on both sides of her legs. Her wrist and ankles cuffed in bells, tooth and beads. In her hand, was her magic cane.

Black was now in her room. She was in her bed, had her back rested on the headboard, her bed nets down and her lights off. She clenched her pillow tight to her chest and stared into nothingness. Her mind raced with the details of that encounter with the mage.

“We meet again,” said she smiling cynically. All the while, Kanala could only wish to find what that woman wanted from her. Kanala was not naïve as to believe that she was after friendship. “Your blood gave me all my powers back, and it killed me at the same time!” she shot a blast of razor wind at Kanala. Kanala fell and got back up—that was sudden. She saw cuts on herself. “Your blood gave me my powers back and even more strength. My body was not prepared at the time, and so it shut down.”

“It is you!”

She laughed, “You remember now.”

“You turned my friends against me, had them hunt me down and brought to you. They sank a blade through my flesh and you drained my blood like milking a cow. You tossed my body over the cliff to rot and vanish!” Kanala sprang off her feet and charged towards the mage with her claws out. They fought it off and took another pause.

“People can be evil, my dear child. Oh, I led them. Won every war for them and I fed them. But with just one groundless little rumour, they all turned on me. They refused to rest until they tied me down abstracting my powers from me with their gold chains. And then, they tossed me in the den of the eternal flame. I crawled out of there scarred and deformed.”

“What did all that have to do with me?”

“You’re so slow,” seeming very disappointed. “Kanala, you carry a blood with a healing power. You are the gift of humanity. With your blood, no illness prevails. With just a drop of your blood, lost powers can be regained and the dead can rise again, don’t you know?”

“You could’ve just asked me nicely, I would’ve given it to you!” again Kanala sprang towards her, hauling a fist of dust with her. The mage shielded herself with a rock of earth. Kanala punched through the block of earth scattering it into pieces. She then tossed a ball of blazing fire at the now exposed mage. The mage twirled escaping the touch of the fire. The fire burned out.

“My bad,” the mage snickered—angering Black even more. “I didn’t think of that. I must’ve been tired of being so kind to a world that never wanted me in the first place. I learn to take without asking and without giving. And oops, I must’ve been so greedy as to milk you dry.”

“You milked me to death!”

“Oh, come now. I did you a favour. Look at you now, you’ve been granted a gift of eternal life. Centuries have piled on but you still look so youthful. Look what you’ve achieved. Realize the reputation you have built for yourself. It is impressive! This is way better than that pathetic life you were leading following those twin boys around and hiding from the world. Look around you, child. Power!”

Thinking through the mage’s words, Kanala was beginning to realize a truth. She did feel powerful doing what did. She did feel unstoppable and feared.

The mage continued in her soft voice. Her whisper was soothing and tempting as a devil’s nectar. “And together we can do more. Join me and we can take over. To hell with the weaklings of this earth. To hell with these fickle mortals. The world is our oyster.”

“How did you come back? You said that you died shortly after. Then how did you come back?”

“I was taken to the distant star. Caged in one of the holding cells. I was taken to hell. Just like I escaped the blazing den before, I escaped the Tunnel of Hell all the same. And I came back. And I have been laying low watching you.”

“The fallen Angel of the Dark. You are the fallen Angel of the Dark! I thought the rumour was untrue.”

“Well, here I stand before you. Let’s come together now.” She stretched out her hand, “I am your queen, don’t you know?”

Black was amazed at how much she had uncovered. Black remembered. “She’s the one who wiped out my memory, and locked me in time! She never wanted to join forces with me, she just wanted my body as a form of disguise to hide away from the agents of the Gate of the Afterlife!” Black could only mutter to herself in her room, “Ow, I must tell the Angel! When she saw that my body and soul where locked together and she couldn't host in it, she blanked my memory so that I wouldn’t expose her identity. Could she possibly be the monster hiding in Gama’s mention?”