Prologue (12)

ALWAYS 15 YEARS AGO

The troop went wild and began to scatter in all directions. The seventeen-year-old Babida unbelievably stood still in his position and did not move even for an inch. He extended his right arm into the air, holding tight his ax in the palm of his hand.

"Come here, you little monster. Your end is near," He said, challenging the Beast which was teased and began to swing disorderly.

The Monster screamed angrily while opening his wings, which it then used to blow, with brutal power, a sandy wind.

Babida and his war comrades were sent into the air spinning before they landed painfully on the surface of the ground. Some of them died on the spot. Their weapons were spread all over the combat zone.

Lain and hurt, Babida looked up at the sky. His ax was a hundred meters away from him. He felt like his days were numbered and therefore expressed his last wishes.

"I wished our ancestors, gods of the Batang people would lend me their superpowers so I can defeat the Monster and in return, I promise to let them harness my plot of land for the next ten years as I will leave," Babida vowed.

As he was done mentioning the name of the ancestors, a voice that he only could hear, enjoined him loudly: "Babida, Babida! Rise and go pick up your weapon! Your wishes have been accepted."

A shooting star thereafter fell from the sky, rolled around the courageous young combatant, and cured his wounds before evaporating into space.

In the greatest shape of his lifetime, the seventeen-year-old boy stood back on his feet. The Monster was still yelling but he wasn't intimidated. He sprinted to grab his ax and threw it with tremendous strength and accuracy on the long and skinny leg of the giant bird.

Bingo! The Beast was hit and its blood burst out diffusely. The animal went wild, swirling like a tornado in the direction of the inner Ekule. It ravaged everything on its path before crashing into a home.

"Annaaaa, Suzie!" A man shouted hysterically while running toward the location where the Monster of the Forbidden Mountain had fallen. It was Bibi, Suzie's uncle. He raced as fast as he could but tripped over a stone and sprained his left ankle. He stayed on the ground, sobbing.

Babida began to run as well, as human voices in crisis emanated beneath the enormous injured bird.

"Help! Help! Bibi, we are stuck in the cave," Anna cried out while three-year-old Suzie burst into tears.

The Monster was moaning. Babida came up to its level, stood over it, and with an air of superiority declared: "Die, you, bird of ill omen!".

He then snatched his ax from the Beast's leg and extended his two hands in the air.

Lastly, he directed with unprecedented brutality the blade of his weapon on the animal's long neck and the Monster pushed his last breath.

"Hurra! Hurra! We are safe. The Monster of the Forbidden Mountain is no more. It has succumbed to the sharp blade of our valiant defender," Uncle Bibi intoned despite the pain from his bruises and the crowd which flocked to the place repeated the slogan after him.

Babida had just killed the villain and people were euphorically celebrating his prowess. However, he urged them to first assist him in pulling away the Beast, for there were two persons enclosed in the cave whose exit was blocked by the fallen Monster.

Anna got out of the hole holding in her hands a sleeping three-year-old Suzie. She thanked Babida and the rest of her rescuers, then walked to the position of her wounded brother Bibi and tried to bring him moral support while he was being treated by a native doctor.

As the Emperor had ordained, Babida took to him on a silver platter the head of the dead Monster and he was decorated with the medal of the highest honor and merit.

A few days later, he left the imperial city Ekule for an unknown destination to fulfill the pact he had signed with the ancestors.

BACK TO THE PRESENT

All this while eighteen-year-old Suzie stayed under the heavy falling rain to listen to her Uncle Bibi telling her a fifteen-year-old story that starred the today old, the yesterday young, Babida the lumberjack. She was now in admiration of who she thought was a man without manners, a stalker. She looked around and….

"Where is he, Uncle Bibi?" She asked angrily.

"Where is who?" The uncle reacted.

"The lumberjack!" The young Miss shouted.

They checked around the compound but the woodsman had vanished away...Too late, Suzie!

TO BE CONTINUED…