Temple Bongo Bonang

Jk: Makela? Where are we? [the view was too much to take in]

Makela: this, my partner is Temple Bongo Bonang. It's a training institution for the Apostle Brotherhood. The only one for Disciples in Bonang.

Jk: are you serious! What part of Africa are we in?

Makela: this ain't Africa, mate.

Jk: you don't mean to tell me that we are in the First World.

Makela: welcome to Kemet, well this is the only part of Kemet you will know for now.

We walked past the main gates and it was whoa from then. The Bonang Temple was mammoth; it was like stepping into a time machine that went back to when the pyramids of Egypt lit the world at night and marvelled by day. The ground was green and the buildings were restored ancient Egyptian structures.

A combination of the green lands in Southern Africa and Ancient Egyptian infrastructure. Two Egyptian temples stood on either side of the compound area while one stood in the centre at the edge making a sort of squared U. The compound was coated with green grass and huge white marble slabs like interlocks, a stream that flowed yonder.

Obelisks about fifty meters tall stood on either side of the stream. Seven statues of African warriors stood next to each obelisk, guarding it. Temple Bongo Bonang was as far as the eye could see. From afar I spotted disciples in navy training robes and wore different coloured armbands. The tutors were dressed in Black robes.  

A man approached us, he was tall and muscular like if he was your girlfriend's father, you would think a hundred times before considering cheating on her. He was light brown in complexion, a heavily trimmed beard with a fresh to death Fade haircut, which sort of gave an American footballer plus Spartan vibe, he was probably in his early 30s but you could tell that his wrinkles were due to stress as if he lost something extremely valuable to him.

Man: greetings [he said with a smile]

Makela: how-fa. Are you going to mentor us?!

Man: why are you in a hurry, yes, I shall...

Makela: Oh my word! … dream come true… Oops did I say that out loud? Sorry. Jk this is Jacob Ekende.

Jacob: wow. I live to finally meet another Bantu Kufu.

Makela: the last one.

Jacob: no wonder the Maditau has taken a firm interest in you.

Makela: which part, after or before she dumped him at an orphanage. 

Jk: I'm still here but carry on, don't mind me.

Jacob: forgive us, your family name from both sides of the continent is legendary, it was your grandfather who mentored me.

Jk: oh…

Makela: Jacob is the Patriarch of this Temple and the same Master Apostle who trained Heru Kwa Nzinga

Jk: Is Heru Kwa Nzinga an Apostle?

Jacob: yes, a fully trained one but Predators dislike the concept of being Guardians so he moved to KinKusu as soon as they summoned him to join their elite.

Jk: Kinkusu? 

Makela: The Kongo Royal Military Institute. Badass if you ask me, they are only summoned when there is an atrocious crisis. 

Jacob: that's where chosen ones are summoned among the Kongo go to. I'm surprised you haven't heard of Kinkusu, there's a Bantu equivalent in the Kongo region. They fought against the Portuguese at the end of pre-colonial Africa and during colonization and the 27 years of the Civil War in Angola. 

Jk: you mean the one that bore the Buffalo Soldiers?

Makela: yes, exactly.

Jk: You said predator, Makela.

Jacob: Apex-predator to be exact.

Makela: like the Odum, Alpha-Tau, Demi-Tau, and the Apex Tau

Jk: and they are?

Jacob: The Apex of apex predators and not to be messed with.

Jk: and among the mentioned, Heru is a?

Makela: Heru Kwa Nzinga is a Demi-Tau.

Jk: and that is?

Jacob: you met the Maditau right. Now, the highest power among the Odum apart from the Maditau is an Alpha-Tau, the leader, commonly a Kongo king. There is currently only one Alpha-Tau, who is the ruler of the Nzadi Empire, King Mamba dia Nzadi, she's a powerful ruler. The other two, the Kufu Empire and the Nzinga Kingdom have not had kings for over a decade or two while the current king of the Ntoma kingdom has not transcended to Tau-ship. For some strange reason, he chose to study in the Gentile world which was no positive. Anyway, when an Alpha-Tau and an Odum join together in holy matrimony they conceive a Demi-Tau. A very powerful being but then there's the Apex Tau who is conceived in holy matrimony when both parents are Demi-Tau. 

Jk: so Heru Kwa Nzinga is a badass Demi-Tau engineer with Apostle and Kink combat skills? Explains why he is a threat to your government.

Jacob: the government does not know we exist, as far as those bamboozles are concerned, Heru is all the above except an Apostle.

Jk: I see…

Jacob: Okay, kids get settled down. Your training continues within six hours.

Makela: continues? We just arrived.

Jacob: yes, from your first training. Only once you have survived the Movoyo journey are you worthy of being here.

We strode to our chambers and to my surprise I and Makela had to share the same chamber, I guess the Maditau was serious about the partner thing. I spent my six hours sleeping which, was particularly difficult as I thought of that elderly woman. Her warning and that toddler with the Bobby Doll even at thought still gave me pause. I woke up with a "why do you drool when you sleep", from Makela with a sarcastic expression.  We rushed to the training ground where our mentor was waiting for us.

Jacob: An Apostle always has to be before time.

Jk: sorry we w ̶

Jacob: An Apostle does not make excuses. It's important to know who you are and what you are. What you would stand for, what you would fight for and what is worth dying for. An Apostle only has one sole objective and that is to guard the Scroll of Zayi, make sure it never lands in the hands of the enemy and serve and protect the people of this beloved continent.

We stood still, speechless, quite embarrassed.

  "The Order is above all earthly matters!", barked our mentor. I was taken aback by this change in persona. "Juda Kufu", he called. "yes, mentor. Sir…", I faltered. "That is the first of the Apostles' Four Tenets. You must live by it", he concluded.

It came to me as a paradox, though, I decided to not say nor ask anything as that might have led to another tenet I would be subjected to. This tenet, however, was rather difficult to live by. The Things of the world were below the Creed. I lusted the things of the world. Don't judge me, I'm not talking about what you are thinking of. I grew up an orphan, a nothing that had nothing. So loving money and materials things helps me cover the void of not having a family, of not belonging anywhere, nor to anyone.   

I was given the choice to choose a small weapon called a Confidant which is called so because it becomes an extension of your weapon hand, I chose a Kongo Military Tomahawk which was bladed on both sides of the head facing opposite directions, the base extended to a curved blade made from Black Diamond.

Well not the typical Black Diamond though when the diamond is heated at a precise temperature which I am not allowed to specify using Kongo Fire the diamond melts into a black liquid which is placed into a weapon's mould, from what Jacob told me, Black Diamond obtains magical properties which can only be used by one who possesses a similar talent. 

In short, the tomahawk was exquisitely deadly. There were at least seven identical tomahawks though as soon as I held the seventh one it felt right. I was given the Apostle's signature weapon, it is called an Ark. The Ark is, well, a weapon's ark that contains several weapons that are compacted into a stylish copper-gold cylinder rod (mine is a copper-gold like a rod that has Hieroglyphics engraved on it), it contained a spear, sword, bow and serves as a shield when on neutral. Ancient technology, don't ask me how it works.

Over the training weeks, I learned about the Four Arts of Combat which is a combat technique developed by the weapon skilled Apostles which defy laws of gravity, light, weight, speed, and time. Imagining perfecting the triple state of being that is Soul, Spirit, and Flesh to a point that you can glitch from one place to another.  The Four Arts of Combat consisted of land and air, Offense and defence, strategy and precision though I could only master two.

Jacob insisted that one of the key elements of being an Apostle is not knowing how to use a weapon but how to survive when one is weaponless. It took me about three months to master all four combats. Makela was ahead of me since she mastered all four a month After we started training and I felt as if I was slowing her down.

After our combat training phase, it was languages, I have always been good at learning languages except for Afrikaans. 

We had to learn Archaic languages, what the Greeks called Hieroglyphics and that was easier than the Four Arts of Combat, in fact, easier than learning Afrikaans. it was during phase four of our training that we had to read Holy Scriptures which also meant that we had to regularly go to the temple. Which felt odd because we were being trained in an Apostle Temple and had to regularly attend service at the temple, yeah.

Two months had gone by and life seemed only about training and language studies. I had almost forgotten about that little thing I do to people when I wanted something, hey… It's not something I'm proud of but what do you expect, I ran away from my last foster home and lived alone. Like I was saying, I almost forgot about my little talent until one evening after training Ta-hawa asked.

Makela:  how do you manipulate people?

Jk: what do you mean… I'm not some satanic cult member if that's what you want to know.

Makela: no silly… I mean I noticed how you can get what you want. I recall the day I saw you at Maitland train station, you passed the ticket control without a train ticket and aboard the train you and your friends- none of you had Metro Plus tickets. After you spoke to the ticket monitor she smiled and passed to the next passenger.

Jk: I usually say I ran away from my last foster home; the truth is I walked out. I wanted to leave and they just let me go but after they realized what they had done they informed the police and I have been running since.

Makela: how do you do it.

Jk: I'm not sure, I don't know though when I want something I can either request or command for it. You find me strange?

Makela: who doesn't?

Jk: whatever…

Makela: I think it's cool… I mean you survived by using it. I will ask Jay if he knows anything about it.

Jk: Jay?

Makela: Jacob.

Jk: so how do you know each other before today?

Makela: Jay is like my mother's big brother so he's like my uncle. Probably one of the friendliest faces around.

Jk: he seems unsettled as if he lost something close to him.

Makela: he did… His family during the Mecca war. His wife was pregnant; after the war, she went missing.

Jk: and he couldn't move on?

Makela: we refuse to believe that they are dead so now and then, Jacob disappears in search of his family. His child is probably nine years old by now.

Jk: if they are alive I hope he finds them. Jacob appears to be a good guy. I'll hit the sheets now.

The following morning, we woke up on a wooden board being driven by water! How did we get to the river? No idea. "What!?", manage Makela, "is that a fall?", she asked me in disbelief. "I guess it is", I replied. "What will happen if we fall?", she asked me, "I do not want to find out", was my reply. 

We were getting closer to the fall, we had no weapons and no tools. "What do we do!", bellowed Makela. Judging from her expression I could not tell whether her fear was water or falling, "remain calm", I said. "We do nothing, except endure", I said to her. We were a few meters away from the fall, the closer the more beats my heart skipped. "for your sake, I hope there isn't a place after death because if we die I'll kill you in that place!", bellowed Makela, her last word was a horrible yelp as we fell and died.

"How had you known that it was not real?", asked Jacob when we abruptly woke up. Ta-hawa was still screaming the last word when she woke, she jolted up touching her body, probably feeling as if she was still alive. "What!?", she managed in confusion. I turned away from a bewildered Ta-hawa to face Jacob who was still waiting for an answer.

 "Elements, huh, natural components were missing", I replied. "Really? Smart, I guess that is expected from you", said Jacob though he had a look of disbelief. "Teamwork is essential, you have done well today", said Jacob as he stood up from where we laid. "How so?", asked Makela who in some way was underestimating her performance. To this day I doubt there is a more thorough self-critique than Makela. 

"Ta-hawa, you panicked nevertheless you listened. Jk, you were able to lead and maintain calm, I do not know about you though that's teamwork to me", said Jacob in a tone of satisfaction. "Never compromise the Order or its creed", "Second tenet, mentor?", I asked, partially dazed. Jacob answered my question with a nod. "it's two in the morning, there's more training and you have four hours left to sleep therefore I suggest you sleep now.", ordered Jacob while walking out of the chamber. 

The second tenet was not much of a big deal to me as the first. I was affiliated with the American Street Gang and respected the conduct. Moreover, I knew and managed to survive under the Number's Gang's Constitution.

Growing destitute in the most amazing city in the world, moving from one bridge to another, making wrong turns and being in the wrong place at the wrong time could mean being robbed, killed or worse, gang-raped. Knowing the Number's Gang constitution meant that you were able to live another day. Being valuable to a Notorious and powerful gang like the American Street Gang meant that you were protected and the Americans protected their own like a wolf pack, well, as long as that wolf followed the rules.