The Ancestral Plane
"Time to fly" she confirmed. Makela walked past the threshold that led to the balcony, spread her wings, kicked off from the baluster, and turned, "are you coming or not?", She asked while airborne. I ran straight forward, one step on the baluster, moon-sault thrice in the air, dived straight for the concrete and as I reached a meter from the ground I spread my wings, I span around and jet blasted from my position to Makela's. "show-off!", said Ta-hawa annoyedly though it was obvious she was impressed.
From above, Olēans looked peaceful and beautiful in the early morning. From a far, I could see morning joggers. About five minutes later we passed a small town. "You are going too fast", complained Makela via the helmet built-in communicator, "you're just slow", I replied laughing as I increased my speed.
There it was the City of French Romance, Paris. People were busy in Paris, commuters leaving home for work, traffic getting busy. A man accidentally bumped into another and though he apologized, they started arguing. I, myself, almost collided with a Pidgeon due to watching the two men below.
I started thinking about Anansi but no I couldn't get distracted while flying though it bothered me that it didn't matter to him that he was an African god, he was simply trickery, he might have done worse than the Angolan Civil war perhaps the World Wars. Wait. All this thinking was a distraction, I focused ahead as we were approaching the City of French Romance. "Juda!", Makela bellowed from her communicator, I hovered around to see her, who was being chased by a UFO.
The jet fighter was boomerang-shaped with an egg-like object in the middle, which was probably the cockpit. The jet fighter shot lasers and missiles; it was extremely unpredictable. The UFO was flexible, from every spin and turn, lasers shot out. "Makela. Rotate around the jet fighter and Then fly from right to left and vice versa", I instructed her via the helmet communicator, "what is this! flying school!", she bellowed in annoyance. "Jus'do it" I ordered, "yes Nike!", she complained.
As Makela rotated so did the jet fighter. As she flew from right to left so had the jet fighter. The jet was AI, I felt slightly dim for not realizing this earlier.
"What now!?", she yelled at me. "Fly towards me", I replied calmly. The AI UFO had a sensor that was probably in the egg part of the fighter. I took out my Ark and switched it to spear mode. Ta-hawa was approaching,
Everything went slow, my hearing improved, I could see clearer as in super natural High Definition. My senses were heightened. "Dive", I instructed Ta-hawa and she dropped like a dead bird, I threw my Ark spear towards the egg-like part of the UFO. Static electricity blasted out of it, though, the jet still flew towards me. I spread my wings, dived backward, and hovered. I noticed the bottom of the fighter, a neon blue light. It must have been the power source and without actually contemplating about it, I threw Nimzy at the neon light. As soon as the black diamond weapon collided with the neon blue; the UFO exploded. My armor turned color from Black to white, my helmet activated though I could still feel the explosion as it consumed me. Usually, in such a moment, you see your life flash by or a white light. Who came up with that rubbish? Because I had not seen anything except for complete oblivion.
I heard a fuzzing scream that pained my ears which instantly woke me up. I was in a familiar garden, "Gardens Commercial!?", I thought out loud. Only then had I admitted that this was one of the most beautiful places in Cape Town, not the garden though the people it hosted.
People of all color and social classes would converge here for whatever reason. "Yuda, stand up", said a beautiful voice. A young lady roughly in her mid-20s stood next to me. "My son, stand", she said again. I stood up, the lady looked exactly like me, or rather, I looked exactly like her.
She had an afro, golden brown complexion, full pink lips, and ferocious black eyes. "Mother?", I had no idea how I knew it was her. I mean I have never even seen a photo of my parents and yet I knew it was her. "Yes, it is I. You do not have much time so I shall get to the point", she said to me with a tone of concern.
"The gods have a way of leading us into their agenda therefore, you have to be smarter than them. Your advantage is, even the most ruthless of gods do not go against their word, not even Anansi", she said. "I thought he–", "you have to know that Anansi, much like all the other gods whether African, Greek, or Roman. They shift nature depending on the age and period they are worshipped in; African gods are predominant to all because they are the symbolic personification of human attributes, nature, and evolution. That is why they are primordial to all other gods. Now...", she stopped and stared at me for what felt like an eternity which is weird because I have never felt eternity before.
"There shall come a time when you will have to make a decision. When such a time comes listen to your head and not your heart", she said this emotionlessly. "Do not resort to revenge. An Apostle has never been a Predator and lastly, give me your left hand", she said stretching out her right hand. I held out my left hand, she closed it into a fist and cupped it with both her hands. "Relax", she said to me. The touch of her skin was as soft as a baby's, her warm touch gave comfort and assured security. I could have dazed at that moment for eternity and never miss home.
"You have a gift that you do not fully comprehend nor master. I am teaching you all you need to know, remember, your ability is like a muscle. The more you exercise it the better you become but the longer you use it the more you drain your strength". I looked at the glowing crimson aura around our hands I could feel the transfer and even though my mother said to teach, she was passing her knowledge of how to use my freakish curse. The glow died as an indication of transfer complete, though, she still held my hand.
I paid more attention to my surrounding as it became more difficult to look at her. She knew so much about me which for such a life I have lived thus far before my Apostle commission is something no mother would be proud of. Therefore, I kept my eyes on various moving objects such as supposed people and squirrels, I usually went to Gardens to clear my head but I wasn't really at Gardens, I mean the last time I checked I was unconscious falling at full speed to earth.
"Where am I?", I asked her, "during the explosion you created a direct link between your conscious and subconscious which created a bridge to here", she replied. "And where is here?", I asked, now more curious, "here is the place between bardo and limbo; the Ancestral Plane, it's a channel hub. Benevolent and malevolent spirits and souls either come here to channel into the dreams of the living or to communicate with the souls who no longer dwell with the living. No human can come here and go back except for the Vumwinu Nkangazi and the Ingonyama Ebomvu.", she replied.
"Huh… The vuvu-zela!?", I asked again now extremely curious. "Vumwinu Nkangazi, A Spirit Nomad. You have the gift to penetrate and compel the minds and dreams of others, you can travel here at will or be summoned, here is where you may find past or future answers to your present questions. When you reach the pinnacle of Self, you will be able to exert what the Maditau does, physically move between spaces. If you are willing, you could split your Self and possess another being while still functioning in your vessel", as she finished her last word, she leaned towards me and placed a kiss on my temple.
I was forty meters away from earth when my eyes opened, I spread my winds instinctively and pushed up. "Oh my gosh! I thought I lost you", bellowed Ta-hawa as she squeezed me in a bear hug, mid-air. "Can't… Breathe…", I squeaked. "Sorry", she said with a sheepish expression, "thanks for saving my life, again", "yeah I had to, I mean imagine life without an annoying friend", I laughed. "Whatever!", chuckled Ta-hawa. I touched my holster but it was empty. "it's probably somewhere down there", Ta-hawa said to me and due to my dismayed expression, she knew I was looking for Nimzy.
The Ark had reappeared in its holster. According to Jacob, the Ark always returns to its owner. How? That he did not explain.
"How will I find Nimzy somewhere down there and we do not have much time", I stressed. "JK. Something is coming in our direction", said Ta-hawa with a worried expression engraved on her face. An object was coming in our direction and coming quickly. The object was covered in some sort of bluish glow around it. I could see it better as it got closer. It was Nimzy. I stretched out my right arm and caught it, the black diamond blade was not so black diamond anymore, the blade was no longer pitch black but somehow a silver dark greyish with blue glowing scripts impregnated on it.
It felt cold as I held it like, it just came out of the freezer, and to make it even more mystifying, it radiated a foreboding aura of annihilation. "What happened to your tomahawk?", Makela asked. "I guess it has something to do with that energy source on that UFO", I replied.
Whatever it was it had to wait because we were running out of time.
A couple of minutes later Makela spotted the Eiffel Tower from afar and kept annoying me about its history which, was quite interesting, I had no idea that the Tower was named after the engineer who designed it but still, annoying. Like what is this? National Geographic? We had reached the city of Paris, a warm and beautiful motion. Natives were going about their morning activities; tourists were mesmerized by the tower and traffic as usual. No one noticed us above. That is until we landed...