I looked at everyone and paused. The information I had to deliver was not pleasant. “You guys, I had a dream. The Houdakin are building a mechanical army. They're planning a big attack. They are planning genocide.”
Everyone was silent, horrified. Sigvard finally spoke. “Then, all the more reason for us to get started. But first, Yaya, please, sit and eat. You will need all of your strength for today.”
Aziz lead me back to the low wooden bench that had been brought out. I greeted Kaisan who had stood when I entered, and sat cross legged on the floor between him and Aziz. I began loading the food on my plate after saying Bismillah.
Nonkululeko and Sigvard sat at the ends of the table. “Yes, All praises be to the Most High, you all passed your tests. Now, we can get to the exciting part: your individual training.”
We exchanged expectant looks. I could hardly wait.
I barely tasted my food I was so excited, and the feeling was mutual. Within minutes it seemed, we were all ready to begin.
Sigvard and Nonkululeko stood before us, hands clasped at their waists.
“You will each be mastering your own special gifts, but first you must learn how they work.”
Nonkululeko continued, “There are four principles that you must utilize when you use your gifts. You have already made use of the first principle: Engaging. Engaging is like turning your gift on, awakening it. As you know, the way that you do this is to say 'In the Name of God/The Most High/The Creator'.
“Next,” Sigvard said, waving his hand, “you will need to Qualify or Quicken. This will 'power up' your gift, give it charge. You will feel a surge of energy throughout your body when you do this. To Quicken, you will make the declaration, 'There is only One God. The God who Created Me, the Universe and all of Creation.'.
Every eye was glued to Sigvard and Nonkululeko. We didn't want to miss a thing. Sigvard went on.
“After this, you will need to Fortify. Fortifying is giving praise to the Creator, so again, you may do this in any language, whether it be 'Praise God, Hallelujah, or Alhamdulilah'. Any of these will do. Fortifying will enable your gift to travel through your body. ”
Nonkululeko started in again, with a twinkle in her eye. “And then,”she said lifting her eyebrows, “You're gonna have to Testify. Use those terms that exemplify how The Creator has moved in your life”
She then demonstrated. “Bismillah! There is only One God. The God who Created Me, the Universe and all of Creation. Alhamdulilah! God is The Knower!” Her hand shot out towards the wall behind us, and a thick orange bolt zapped a huge smoking hole straight through the bamboo wall. Nonkululeko blew the tips of her fingers as if they were a smoking gun.
Sigvard gave her a half smile, half smirk, shaking his head. “Show off.”
“Well that gives new meaning to the word 'testify', Aziz said.
Nonkululeko just laughed, the sound light and rich. “Mmmm-hmmm. Now, let's go ahead and start the battles.”
We all got real silent. Battles? Battles? Oh, boy.
Before we could question her, she began, “Joelle, Hantaywee, you're up.”
Both girls looked at each other wide eyed, and slowly got up. They stood at the center of the room with Sigvard in between them. “Joelle, your gift is Power with Water. And Hantaywee, your gift is Power with Fire. Now face each other and ...Begin!”
Joelle and Hantaywee looked at each other, and then back at Sigvard. They looked totally lost. “Sisters,” Sigvard said quietly, “Trust me. Now, Engage.”
The girls looked back at each other nervously and resigned to give it a try. They each began, “In the Name of the Most High”. Immediately, the pupils of their eyes lit up and began to swirl. A breath of air swooshed in at the words, and gently fluttered the fabric of their clothing. Their eyes widened simultaneously.
“Now, Qualify!” Sigvard commanded.
“There is only One God!,” they both began. Sigvard began to back up. The wind began to pick up around both the girls.
“The God who created The Universe!,” Joelle began.
“The God who Created all of Creation!,” Hantaywee said.
They could feel the energy building up inside of themselves. The floors and walls began to tremble. We sat on the edge of our seats.
“Fortify!” Sigvard said, his voice clear and strong.
“Praise God!” they both shouted at the same time.
The girls began to say their phrases of praise. As soon as they did, you could almost see the potential energy that had been building inside of them zap through their bodies. Their figures automatically slid authoritatively into combat stances. It was as if their forms were on some type of auto pilot.
“Now Testify!” Sigvard had moved totally out of the way now. And with good reason. As the girls began to speak, the invisible wind became more forceful, swirling and whipping around their forms like a swift water current. Their hands too had taken on a glow as if it lit by the orange light from underneath their skin.
“He is The Healer!” Hantaywee said at precisely the same moment that Joelle said “He is The Restorer!” And the battle was on.
Each word that came from their mouths was accompanied by bursts of fire, water, smoke, ice daggers, fire walls and contained mini tsunamis. They tested their gifts to the fullest extent, hurling shots out that were quickly answered. Without thinking they adapted, maneuvered, side-stepped and brought their full A-game. I had never seen anything like it before.
It had been a wise plan of action. Like throwing a baby into a pool of water when teaching them to swim. The abilities came by instinct.
“Enough!” Sigvard ordered. Hantaywee and Joelle froze and then straightened, breathing hard. It had taken all of their strength and mental concentration, but you could tell from the looks on their faces that they were exhilarated and ready for more. They turned to each other, bowed and then ran to give each other a hug. The excitement in the room was electric.
“Aaaaaahhhh!!!!” the girls giggled, yelling and jumping up and down. “We are so good!” they laughed, and that made us all laugh too.
“Very good Sisters. You are learning quickly. And now, Aziz and Teo, please step up.”
The Brothers got up quickly, itching to tap into their powers.
“I'm not gonna go easy on you, Bro,” Aziz said with a quirky smile, flexing his muscles.
“Good, and don't bring out none of those baby zaps either, OK?” Teo countered with his own amused smile.
That earned him another good-natured dirty look from Aziz.
The Brothers were more than ready. They bowed and then slipped into their ready positions, awaiting Nonkululeko's command as she stood between them.
“Teo, you have been gifted with the power of Super Speed. Aziz, your gift is Super Strength. Now, ..”
But the boys didn't wait for Nonkululeko to finish. They spoke their phrases, and then they were off, and they didn't disappoint. We could hardly catch a glimpse of Teo, he moved so fast. He whipped around Aziz with lightening speed, dodging every punch and kick. But after studying Teo's movements, Aziz began to adapt and anticipate where he would end up, and once Aziz got a hold of him, there was nothing to be done. He picked Teo up and tossed him into the air like a twig. They threw everything from punches to kicks, and even incorporated some Pulses and Deflects into the mix. When time was called, both boys were panting but had huge grins on their faces. Their enthusiasm was contagious. We broke into applause.
And now, here it was my turn. But everyone else had been partnered already. I hope and prayed that I wouldn't get paired up with one of the Instructors.
“Aziz, Yaya!” Nonkululeko said “You're up!” Aziz's eyebrows went sky high. Then he shrugged his shoulders.
“Don't worry, Sis, I'll go easy on you.” Aziz winked at me.
I shot him an exasperated look, hoping that it hid my trepidation. He had super strength. I hoped I had something that could match it.
We walked up to Sigvard who had joined Nonkululeko i
n the middle of the floor.
“Aziz, you know that your gift is Super Strength. And now Yaya, you must learn your gift. You have been blessed with Telekinesis- the ability to manipulate molecules.”
Aziz raised his eyebrows again. This time I joined him.
Nonkululeko noticed my dubious look. “Why don't you give it a try, Sister.”
I looked to the corner of the room and focused on one of the bamboo reeds that made up the wall. Engage. Qualify. Fortify. Testify. I went through the phases in my mind, mouthing the words. Then I opened my mouth and said, “Bismillah!” I could feel the cool sensation in my eyes as my pupils began to swirl. “There is only one God, Creator of the Universe. Subhan'Allah! God is the Healer!”, and the bamboo stick tore away from the wall, snapping and cracking in protest.
I could feel the warm energy radiate through my body, coursing its way through my veins as I mentally guided the stick to float until it was right next to us.
One mental switch, and the stick snapped into 2 parts, then four. They hovered mid-air for a moment, and then, with a thought, the sticks burst apart into small sawdust particles. The dust coiled into a circular pattern, matching the movement of the pupils of my eyes..
I released a mental muscle, and the particles froze, and then fell to the floor as if they had been poured down an imaginary funnel. The dust collected into four neat heaps. Aziz and I stared at the mounds and then looked back at each other. The room was dead silent.
Even though we were the same age, he had always viewed me as his 'kid' sister. Now, I could tell that he held me in a new regard. I even saw myself differently for that matter.
One word came to mind that described how I felt at that moment: Exhilarated. I was on an extreme natural high, and I couldn't wait to flex my new found mental muscles again.
Aziz saw the look in my eyes, and jammed his hands on his hips with a look that said, uh-uh, you better just slow your roll... But before he could even think to move those thoughts into words, I was off, ripping two more bamboo poles off the wall, grasping them in my palms like samurai swords- turning and twisting them as if I'd been wielding them for years.
I let go of one of the sticks, and smacked Aziz on the side of his shoulder with it.
“Yaya!” Aziz reprimanded, ducking as the staff hit him. He couldn't bring himself to strike—even if it was only for training.
I pounded the sticks on the floor.
“What?! Aziz, come on! Everyone has trained except for me!”
“Whack!” I hit him on the other shoulder, trying to get him to cooperate.
“Hey, stop that!” He turned to Nonkululeko, “Tell her to stop!” he pleaded.
Nonkululeko and Sigvard just shrugged, stepped aside, and went back to their seats.
“I think you had better listen to your Sister, Brother Aziz.” Nonkululeko whispered as she passed him.
I was about to bop him on the head with the stick when he grabbed it.”
He looked incredulous, “Were you just about to hit me on the head?”
I paused......then nodded.
Aziz just shook his head, resigned to humor me, and said, “OK, that's it.”
The mysterious wind began to swirl around him, but I was undeterred. I could feel my heartbeat. I felt totally alive. It was a feeling like I'd never known before.
I set my jaw. I was ready.
Right away, I could sense Aziz's strength. Everything I threw at him, he tossed aside like a child's toy. This is how the first few seconds played out, and he had the upper hand because he had already adapted from battling with Teo.
But soon, I adjusted too, manipulating not only everything I could grab in the room, but also adding force behind them too. Within minutes, we were evenly matched. I hurled bamboo sticks, floor boards, anything in sight, and Aziz met each thing with equal might- catching floor boards and batting away the sticks as they flew at him with lethal force.
Then it came to me.
Weren't we made of molecules too? I dropped my arsenal and began to walk slowly to Aziz, my brow furrowed and thoughtful. He saw the look in my eye, and jerked his head back.
“Now what?!” he said.
I focused on his frame, and in an instant, his feet lifted an inch off of the floor.
Aziz was speechless.
I pushed farther.
The air swirled around Aziz, making the ends of his tunic flap and the fabric of his pants ripple.
“Hey! HEY!” Aziz was whipping his head from side to side, a panicked look starting to spread over his face.
“Yaya,” he warned.
But I wasn't listening. If his gift was super strength, then I'll remove his ability to use it.
Aziz still had his hands on his hips, ready for another reprimand. If I hadn't been concentrating so hard, I would have giggled.
He tried to incorporate some of Papa's gruffness into his voice, “Yaya, now that's enough! Put me down!”
“Shhhh, Aziz, I'm gonna try to flip you.”
“What!!!?” Aziz hovered in the air for a moment, arms and legs flailing, and then slowly he began to spin mid air.
“Yayaaaaaaa......!”Aziz yelled.
“Oh, Ok,” I gave in, and lowered him to the floor.
As soon as his feet touched the floor, he ran full speed towards me, “Now you're gonna get it!”
But I was ready, peeling up floorboards, swiping curtains in his face to block him, but he just grabbed the boards, tossing them effortlessly out of his way.
He grabbed me, hoisting me above his head. I tried to lift him again to put him off balance, but my mental muscle was tired.
OK, I thought to myself Plan B. I couldn't lift him, but I could still manage to lift some smaller things, and I had an idea. I motioned for the curtain to come over, and it instantly tore off of the rods an wrapped itself around Aziz, covering his face.
“Hey! I can't see!” Aziz's muffled voice protested.
“That's kind of the point...” I said while dragging a bamboo stick across the floor. One quick motioned, and I made it swipe against Aziz's calfs, knocking his feet from under him. He dropped me in the process, and I landed on the floor, rolling to the side, crouched and ready for the next attack.
Aziz was a sight, fighting his way out of the twisted fabric. He tossed it behind his back as he walked over to me, hands up.
“OK, OK, nicely played, little Sis.” He gave me a bear hug. I laughed, but then stopped short.
“Hey,” I said, trying to get out of his hold. His arms were like steel holding me in place.
“Just remember who the big brother is, OK?” Everyone broke into laughter, and he gave me a noogie, rumpling my scarf.
“Whatever!” I laughed. We both headed for our seats to a smattering of applause.
“Very, very good. You all did extremely well. You will need to practice your skills and master them. When you use your gift, remember the things that God has done for you. It will give your gifts extra power. And no matter what happens, do not lose hope. Hold fast to your faith, and do not doubt.
“Now,” Sigvard clapped his hands, “We will take a break. There will be a banquet tonight in the main courtyard, and dinner will be served. Go, freshen up. And get prepared for a nice time. We will meet back up with you there.
Chapter 8
“Recite what is sent of the Book by inspiration to thee, and establish regular Prayer: for Prayer restrains from shameful and unjust deeds; and remembrance of Allah is the greatest (thing in life) without doubt. And Allah knows the (deeds) that ye do.”
The Holy Qur’an,
Surah 29, Ayah 45
We left the room feeling on top of the world. We split up-- the Sisters going back to Mother Kathleen, and the Brothers following Brother Vasyl. By the time we had changed into the fresh clothes, dusk had fallen and the twinkle bugs had begun to float about in the air, searching for their night time mosquitoe meals.
Hantaywee, Joelle and I made our way to the main courtyard and spotted No
nkululeko and Sigvard. We settled close by on a group of moss skins.
In the midst of everything going on, I had totally forgotten that this was the day that the entire planet observed to remember the day it had been announced that Mercia existed—when we had been given a second chance.
The lower and middle class observed the day by gathering together with family and friends while meditating on what it really meant and how we could demonstrate our gratitude in our personal lives.
Some volunteered at Health Centers or soup kitchens. Some chose to just try to be more forgiving in their personal lives. All in all, it had become a day of charity and kindness.
For the Houdakin, it was something different all together. For them, it was a day to remember how they had come into power. They had a great festival at the Capitol which featured a parade that no one from any other sector was allowed to attend. They also launched skylograms to project the live video feed of the parade for everyone to see.
Floats decorated with Obsidian II and Aoki plants sashayed down the streets while their children tossed Obsidian II pepper-flake confetti in the wind. It was a ridiculously lavish display, intended to do one thing: Show everyone else that they were the wealthy and that they were the ones with the power.
They even had the nerve to send glider-crafts which flew overhead which dropped bio-candies and power paste. The candies were bio-engineered to be extremely delicious and accelerated tooth decay at an alarming rate.
The paste was designed to stop the tooth decay in its tracks. It was yet another way the Houdakin invented a harmful product and then also offered its solution in an attempt to make more money. No one touched any of it, though, and at the end of the day, every dumpster was stuffed with the items.
We walked into the courtyard and took seats around the huge bonfire that stood in the middle. Plates of dinner were brought to us and the aromas lifting up from the various foods were mouth watering. Each plate was piled high with noodles seasoned with peppers and limes, barbequed meats, steamed snow crabs sauteed in oniper and shrimp sauce and rounds of puff bread.
The Azurean Trilogy (All Three Books: 1, 2 & 3): Essentia, Burgeor & Manifest Page 14
