Earth Shield! Khusela Artifact

"He's burying her by himself?" Pa Lifa and the others left in the direction of where Akhona's family were buried.

As they arrived, they saw Akhona ceaselessly digging the ground. Andisiwe's body was lying on top of another grave. Two of the men went to stop Akhona so that they could do it themselves but Akhona refused.

"No! " He screamed as they approached him. The tears that's been held back began to flow without restraint.

"Please, No... No." He continued digging.

One of the men who turned out to be his Uncle came to convince him. "Akhona boy, please leave it for us to do." He tried to hold Akhona's hand to stop him.

Akhona gave him a deep glance. Mthuzi which was the uncle's name decided to let him be. He could feel the sorrow in Akhona's eyes. He knew it was best to leave him alone.

Mthuzi have always been jealous of his brother, Gugulethu. His brother was the first person to have a fortunious gain with the Khusela artifact. Due to it, his strength grew without bounds. If he hadn't died, it was possible he would have become an Oracle. But he was short-lived.

Since Andisiwe wasn't too big, Akhona finally finished digging after a while. He carried Andisiwe's body and slowly lowered her into the grave. After covering up the grave, He sat down on the ground as his sight was fixed on the three graves. His eyes were glowing from the tears that have been ceaselessly falling.

"It's best we don't disturb him." Pa Lifa sighed as he spoke. "Mthuzi, can you please send everyone out."

"Sure." Mthuzi began to thank everyone for coming as he equally bid them goodbye as they left.

Many of them couldn't help but have immerse pity for Akhona. They all sighed as they left. It was evident that Akhona's family tragedy will hardly be wiped off the mouths of the villagers in years to come.

Everyone finally left, leaving Pa Lifa and Mthuzi who were still looking at Akhona.

Sigh!

"Pa Lifa, I should be leaving now. Please look after him." Mthuzi said with worry written on his face. Who knows if Akhona will fall ill like Andisiwe or even worse, Kill himself!

Mthuzi couldn't bare to see that. Even though he was jealous of his brother, he was proud of him. Seeing the pride of his family die was heartbreaking. He wouldn't want Akhona to follow in his family's footsteps.

"Don't worry, I'll keep a close eye on him." Pa Lifa had the same worries as Mthuzi. He couldn't bare to see another of Gugulethu's child die. Gugulethu was an unmatched genius in the village, even his exploits were recognized in the capital where he was a highly regarded member of an elite secret force. So it won't be much of a surprise if his child would match or even surpass his deeds.

Mthuzi left shortly after whilst promising to visit often to check up on Akhona. After a while, Pa Lifa decided to go inside and wait for Akhona. Not because he wanted to but age wasn't on his side. His back began to ache. He decided to believe his guts that Akhona won't try anything stupid so he retreated to his hut to lie down.

Akhona remained there unmoved, staring at the grave as if he was entranced. It turned out to be true. An unfamiliar aura was ceaselessly oozing out from the forest before him. To Akhona, it felt like something was calling him.

Before he knew it, he was walking towards the forest.

Three figures hid in the dark above the trees. All of them were cladded in black. They had circular black bead bracelets and necklace on. Their faces were covered in the dark.

"Are you sure he's capable?" One of the men asked. His voice was cold as ice, lacking emotions.

"We've waited for a long time for this moment. As long as he could feel the aura, he's the one... Including his state of mind, he can be easily controlled." Another man said with a smirk on his face. Seems like he's been waiting for this moment for a long time. The excitement in his voice could be seen.

The third man didn't say any words rather he anticipated the outcome. If this boy could merge with the artifact with his current state of mind, it would be very easy to control him as long as he was given the revenge he wanted.

Akhona finally arrived before a huge tree situated in a valley covered by large and complex rocky hills. The borders on Jobela are all covered with mountainous steeps and complex valleys. That's the main reason why Jobela hasn't lost any invasion because they could easily transverse the mountains and valleys but the outsiders won't which always outcomes in a massive slaughter of the invaders. For that reason, no one ever thought of invading them unless they were tired of living.

The tree had some words written on it. Akhona could discern that it wasn't the normal amaJobela language.

What stunned him was that he could read it. The words spelt out boldly as "Isihlangu seMhlaba" meaning "Earth Shield"

The aura increased as if it was pulling him into the tree. Shortly after, the overbearing aura finally pulled him into the tree.

Immediately, the three men frowned. "I guess we'll have to wait and see the outcome." The second man said. The others remained unmoved as they waited for Akhona's return.

Inside the tree, Akhona appeared in a vast cave. The cave walls was smooth and patterned as if someone made it that way. The walls of the cave had glowing stones which illuminated the entire cave. Although the glowing stones lit up the cave, an even brighter light suddenly appeared at the end of the cave attracting Akhona's attention.

The overbearing aura disappeared immediately he entered the cave. He felt a lot relieved. When the aura appeared, it felt like he couldn't control his own body. All he knew was to follow it to the source.

As he walked to the end of the cave, everywhere was pitch black except for a glowing stone sculpture. The sculpture had a big head and burly body smoothly carved together.

Immediately again, the aura pressed down on Akhona, forcing him to take the artifact. As his hand touched the artifact, streaks of black lines emerged from the sculpture and crawled onto his hand, slowly spreading throughout his entire body. Akhona tried to scream but he figured out that he couldn't produce any sound. The pain was excruciating.

After the marks have finally crawled into his body, the stone sculpture exploded into dust. Akhona now fell on his knees to the floor, he was seriously fighting not to drop completely to the ground. One could see that his left eye has completely turned black while his pupil was earth coloured.

Before he knew it, he collapsed. He lay on the floor unconscious. He regained his consciousness about an hour later.

He was completely oblivious of what was going on in his absence. Pa Lifa and Mthuzi were looking for him. When Mthuzi returned to deliver some foodstuffs to Pa Lifa. He asked of Akhona only to discover he had disappeared.

They went to ask in the village but nobody saw it. They were left with only one option which was that, he went into the forest.

"What is he looking for inside the forest? ..... Did he really want to...." Pa Lifa didn't want his speculation to be correct so they quickly entered the forest to look for Akhona. Pa Lifa was an Ntathu rank warrior while Mthuzi was a Biyu rank warrior which meant that their speeds weren't comparable to normal people.

Warriors were ranked into 5 ranks namely; Okan, Biyu, Ntathu, Ezine and Tano. Tano was the highest rank while Okan was the lowest. After the Warriors ranks were the Oracle ranks, the strength of the Oracles were incomparable to the Warriors as the gap was too much.

Moreover, Warriors of the same rank are grouped into three. People that had developed Tamarta are known as the true rank warriors while the remaining two are known as the Second level and First level respectively. The first level warriors are just beneath True rank warriors and above Second level warriors. All of these are judged by the strength of their spiritual energy.

Akhona finally emerged from the tree and back into the forest where the three black cladded men were stealthily waiting for him.

As Akhona came out, he felt like his senses had greatly increased. His hearing was impeccable, he could feel the slightest disturbance in the air. Suddenly he turned his head towards the location were the three men were hidding. He could feel that something was there but the three men were extremely careful as they remained calm, not making any moves to disturb the air and revealing themselves.

If Akhona had mastered just a fraction of his new strength, he would have easily spotted them even if everywhere was pitch black. Soon after his gaze left them.

"Seems you were correct, he has indeed merged with the artifact. Let's move now." The first man said as he tried to leave without waiting for others.

A firm hand grabbed onto his shoulder, drawing him back. It was the last man that was silent before.

"Let's return." The man said in a low but domineering voice. One could see that this man wasn't ordinary.

"But...." The first man wanted to protest but seeing the gaze of the last man upon him, he could only swallow his words.