by Arthur Zulu
Read what others are Saying about this Allegorical Novel
“Interesting Read!
What do we look for when we pick a book to read. Say, a novel? Intrigue, entertainment or both? I for one seek the two in a creative work. And I believe these holds the same for the majority of readers out there who hold dear the Grisham books. And why, I would ask myself, would we go out to purchase a novel we cannot enjoy! So, I approached the book by the writer, Arthur Zulu, seeking nothing short of a good read. And a good read it was (I couldn't stop laughing from the first few paragraphs). CHASING SHADOWS! Is an allegory on the ongoing war on terror. And what is an allegory you may ask? For non-literary types, an allegory is a style in art in which abstractions or ideas are used in lieu of human characters. Like Morality in John Bunyan's PILGRIMS PROGRESS. (A novel.) Or Youth in Sandro Botticelli's ALLEGORY OF SPRING. (A painting.) Surprise grips you at every turn with each flip of the page. When you believe it couldn't get any crazier you are met with situations which can only be found in dreamland. Like the case of the smooching whales (bizarre?) Or the grim, but funny scenario of the galactic soccer match with the Earth, then later Mars, as football (yikes!). Hypnotic and surreal, the author has tried not to bore with the facts espoused, along with fiction, in this work. So, if you have read and enjoyed Jonathan Swift's GULLIVERS TRAVELS (as a child), George Orwell's ANIMAL FARM and 1984 (as an adult), and even John Bunyan's PILGRIMS PROGRESS (when feeling religious) you will no less enjoy this. For this is one work up such alleys.”
--Barnes & Noble customer review.
“Good book. Very useful, thanks for it!”
--Anna
“The best book I've ever read.”
--Steve
CHASING SHADOWS!
A Dream
© Copyright 2014, Arthur Zulu
2 1
OTHER BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR
HOW TO WRITE A BESTSELLER
THE HUNT FOR THE TREE OF LIFE: The Methuselah Poem
WHY DOES GOD ALLOW US TO SUFFER?
THE SECRETS TO SUCCESSFUL COURTRSHIP AND MARRIAGE
MALAYSIA MISSING PLANE: The Full Story
A LETTER TO NOAH
QUEEN ESTHER
FICTION DISCLAIMER
This book is a work of fiction. Places, events, and situations in this story are purely fictional. Any resemblance to any person or thing whether living or dead is purely coincidental.
DEDICATION
For the memory of my grandmother, Osodi Ojimiwe, who loved me with a great love.
CONTENTS
1. THE SEARCH FOR INFERNO BEGINS
2. CELEBRATING PEACE IN WAR
3. THE GOLDEN CITY
4. THE SURPRISE
5. THE RETURN
6. SEARCH FOR WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
7. THE LAST STRAW
8. CROSSROADS
9. INTERLUDE
10. THE END
CHAPTER 1
THE SEARCH FOR INFERNO BEGINS
I sleep and dream a dream. And in my dream I see Inferno, a devious monster, armed with dangerous weapons. He enters Orient land, bombs people to death, and sets the land on fire. (See weeping. See wailing. See gnashing of teeth.)
Yet Inferno walks stealthily to Occident land. And with his dangerous weapons, he commits mayhem and murder. (Behold pain. Behold anguish. Behold buckets of teardrop.)
I see dead bodies in the thousands as I had never seen before. And blood flow freely in the streets. Yet the flaming fires that reach the sky go on leveling one building after another.
Now the survivors are angry beyond measure because they had never seen anything like this before. Except in the movies. And the people plan to revenge Inferno for the terrible damage that he has done.
But Inferno is gone beyond the reach of any avenger. The people cry to their kings, Sunrise and Sunset, who promise to assemble the best military weapons to wipe off Inferno from the face of the Earth and his weapons of mass destruction.
So Kings Sunrise and Sunset declare a new kind of war—war on Inferno.
As they prepare for this war, I see a winged-man in white. He calls all of the people—from the East and the West together—in order to address them. And the people wonder greatly what this man in white will say.
The man tells them that these things have been destined to happen to the world. But the people do not believe him that it is the destiny of the world to behold woes like these. So they call the winged-man a fool, saying that their kings are wise.
The man, however, refuses to start a quarrel with them, and further advises them that their kings cannot stop Inferno, and that things will only get worse. The people hear him, but they do not pay attention. They mock at the winged-man in white and call him all kinds of names.
The two kings, Sunrise of Orient and Sunset of Occident, arm their soldiers with missiles, bombs, and guns, to wage an eternal war against Inferno. For he has caused an unimaginable havoc in their lands. They vow to stamp him out from land, sea, and air, in a war codenamed Operation Hell Fire. And the people answer, “A-m-e-n!”
Now, when they finish applauding, I see kings Sunrise and Sunset lead the large army away. And I follow them—wanting to know the wise and the foolish.
The first place that they go to look for Inferno is First Inferno land. There is an impregnable gate to the land, manned by seven dangerous spirits named Hatred, Oppression, Frustration, Injustice, Mistrust, Fear, and Enmity.
And as the kings approach, Hatred, who seems to be the leader of the spirits, asks in a loud voice, which terrifies even the armed soldiers: “What seek you mortals in First Inferno land with missiles, bombs, and guns?”
The much-grieved kings reply: “We are looking for Inferno.”
“And why do you look for him, mortals?” asks Hatred.
The kings describe at great length the terrible things that Inferno has done to their lands, and how they very much desire revenge.
At the mention of the word “revenge,” the seven spirits laugh and roll themselves on the ground to the consternation of the kings and their soldiers. And the kings wonder whether Inferno has not done so much evil to them to merit revenge.
After they satisfy themselves with much laughter, the head of the spirits asks the kings another question: “And can you describe Inferno, mortals?”
Now, that is a difficult question, for none of the kings had ever set eyes on Inferno. They have seen his works, but have not seen the worker. So the kings describe him through his works.
“Inferno is faceless and hideous, cunning and wise, invisible and elusive, bad and ugly, and goes about with fire and brimstone.”
At the end of the kings’ description, the seven spirits fall down and begin to quake with laughter. And the kings and their soldiers look, and wonder the more.
After the spirits finish laughing, the kings tell them that they are being put to shame by their laughter, and demand to know if it is a wrong address so that they go elsewhere to seek him.
Hatred now answers the kings: “Inferno is here in the name of The Vanishing Child. So ready your weapons, for we are going to lead you to King Terror of First Inferno land, who will order his capture.”
At that, both kings rejoice greatly at the prospect of catching Inferno, the destroyer. Mistrust, therefore, opens the gate, and Oppression leads them to the king.
Now, when they get to the palace, Fear introduces them to King Terror.
“My Lord, these kings came with their soldiers to look for one Inferno, who wrecked their lands.”
“Did you not tell them that we do not have such one here?” asks King Terror.
“We told them so,” replies Fear.
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�My friends,” says King Terror to kings Sunrise and Sunset. “Ours is an oil rich country. Under our mountains are rich mineral deposits. All of my people are oil barons; we have no Inferno here.”
“They told us there is no Inferno, but that they have The Vanishing Child,” the kings say.
“So do you want to see The Vanishing Child?” King Terror asks them.
“Yes!” reply kings Sunrise and Sunset.
At that, King Terror promises to cooperate with his fellow kings in search of the destroyer. So he orders Frustration to conduct the kings and their soldiers around the country.
Frustration takes them through all the high and low hills, and throughout all the caves and valleys. But they neither find Inferno nor The Vanishing Child.
Being, therefore, frustrated, Sunrise and Sunset command their soldiers to level all the mountains to the ground. The soldiers obey, and the mountains collapse on one another and many people die.
When they return to King Terror, he is so annoyed at the destruction done to his country that he asks them to leave.
Injustice, therefore, leads them out, while Enmity locks the gate, warning them not to visit First Inferno land, anymore.
I see the mighty frustration written on their faces, but the kings are determined to find Inferno, wrecker of nations.
So they march into the next country, Second Inferno land. And I see in this country as at the first, that seven vengeful spirits are also in charge of the frightful gate that leads into it. These are Hatred, Oppression, Frustration, Injustice, Mistrust, Fear, and Enmity.
Now, Hatred steps forward, and inquiries from the kings, for whom they are looking.
“We are searching for Inferno. And because of the havoc that he has done to us, we want him either dead or alive!” kings Sunrise and Sunset reply.
At this, these seven deadly spirits fall down and laugh the kings to scorn. And the kings are perplexed.
But after the spirits have done with their laughter, Hatred shocks the kings even the more with another question.
“Can you tell us what he looks like?”
None of them had ever seen this Inferno. So they describe him from what has been said about him, saying that he is faceless and hideous, cunning and wise, invisible and elusive, bad and ugly, and that he goes about with fire and brimstone.
This description provokes the spirits to a greater laughter than the first, which makes the kings look foolish.
“You make us stupid by your laughter. If Inferno does not live here, tell us,” plead the kings.
“We do not have Inferno, but we have The Disappearing One,” says Hatred to them.
Hearing this, the kings ready their weapons and shout: “It is him we want!”
Then Mistrust opens the gate, and takes them to Oppression who leads them to King Destroyer of Second Inferno land. When they get there, Fear tells the king who they are, and the subject of their mission.
“You are welcome, my fellow kings,” says King Destroyer to the kings. “I sympathize with you, and I will really like to help you catch this lawless man, Inferno. But you see; we are farmers here. The one that you are looking for does not exist here.”
“We want The Disappearing One!” they answer.
King Destroyer hearing this assures kings Sunrise and Sunset that they will find The Disappearing One with the help of Frustration.
So Frustration takes them through all the farmlands in the country. But they do not find either Inferno, or The Disappearing One. And out of anger, the kings explode their bombs and fire their missiles--destroying farmlands and killing people.
King Destroyer is annoyed when they return to him because of the damage that they have done to his land and people. He, therefore, asks Injustice to lead them out, and Enmity finally shuts the gate.
Then I begin to wonder what the kings will do next. But before I finish wondering, the kings head for Third Inferno land.
And when they reach its mighty gate, the same seven spirits: Hatred, Oppression, Frustration, Injustice, Mistrust, Fear, and Enmity confront them. The kings explain the subject of their mission to the spirits, and Hatred answers them: “Inferno lives not here, but we can help if you give us his profile.”
Then says Sunrise and Sunset: “He is all sorts of things, only that we don’t know his face.”
Then the spirits fall upon themselves and laugh at these confused mortals.
“Well,” says Hatred after they finish laughing. We can show you The Man with the Mask if it so pleases you.”
Then the kings beg to be shown him, for he is actually the one that they desire to see, for the mention of the former is a slip of the tongue.
So Mistrust admits them into Third Inferno land, while Oppression leads them to Avenger, the king. Fear now addresses the king: “We brought these kings, Your Excellency, in search of Inferno, destroyer of great empires.”
“But do we have anyone that goes by that name here?” asks King Avenger.
“None my lord. They said to see The Man with the Mask.”
Then Avenger, the king, sympathizes with the bereaved kings and pledges his solidarity for their cause.
But when he says that Third Inferno land is a country of asylum for victims of violence from other lands, and that as such it is unlikely to find Inferno there, the kings reply that having gone to other lands and returned without success, Third Inferno land—the immigrants’ paradise—is the best place to find him.
So right away according to King Avenger’s order, Frustration takes kings Sunrise and Sunset and all their armies through all the refugee centers of Third Inferno land. But neither Inferno, nor The Man with the Mask, do they find.
And the kings, therefore, command: “Raze all the resorts and the vegetation of the fields to the ground!”
Bombs and missiles and bullets rain, and Third Inferno land lay desolate, and corpses line the streets. King Avenger orders Injustice to march them out with ignominy, and Enmity bides them a final adieu.
