Jakuta – Chapter 8

Bonka led them into the forest as he clears the bushed obstructing the road path with his sword, while Thimi held onto his bow on one hand and an arrow on the other. They were able to spot the holes just in time, hence they navigated well around the walk way. At first, everything seemed the same, the trees, the little mountains, the vegetation and all, they all looked normal. Which made both Thimi and Bonka wondered in their minds, what exactly made this forest a dangerous and forbidden one.

As the tales had it, the whole land on which Horanmiyan founded the empire of Hoyoh was dominated by spirit and demons. Upon Horanmiyan’s arrival, he had a pact with them. They all agreed to migrate into that forest, while Horanmiyan takes over every other part of the land, the agreement also stated that Humans would stay away from the forest, while they, the spirits and demons will also stay away from the other parts of the land. The Emperor had passed this into a law and forbade all his subjects from entering into the forest that was later named Lahkiritah.

Despite the continuous hammering of the warning by the Emperor, some of his warriors had thought in their mind that there was more to the law than the Emperor was telling, some even thought the forest contained treasures, they all agreed to go into the forest to see for themselves. Horanmiyan heard about their plan but it was too late, as he couldn’t stop them before they embarked into the forest. Ever since then, no one has ever seen, or heard from them anymore. Some said they were killed by the demons, some said they were turned into demons and they now reside into the forest.

They both wandered round the forest as it was very very big, no sign of Jakuta, neither were they signs or trace of anything living in the forest, they had wandered for some time now and darkness had begun to gradually cover the clouds, they were both scared of what might happen to them if darkness finally convered the clouds, maybe then will the demons step out to devour them, they were both worried in their minds but tried to keep a bold face still.

“I don’t think Jakuta is still here.” Bonka finally broke the silence.

“Me neither, but how can we go back to the palace without having any information for the Emperor about his son, Jakuta?” Thimi replied

“I really don’t know, but staying put here won’t help matters too, would it ?”

“Okay then, let’s take this route, navigate round a little more and if there’s still no sign of him, we will return to the palace.” On that, they  both agreed and forged ahead in their search quest.

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Jakuta finally opened his eyes after being unconscious ever since he fell from the hill, his headache had now magnified enormously. It felt as if there was a calvary of warriors walking in his head, with all the strength left in him, he sat up first and then stood to his feet. He felt so weak and lightheaded, he felt as if he was going to pass out again, so he quickly picked up his blade that was laying right next to where he stood, and then sat under the tree he had hit his head against when he fell. He rested his back on the trunk of the tree and felt the cold breeze blowing. Gradually, he began to regain his strength, little by little. He closed his eyes for a minute and a quick sleep swept him off. In the sleep, he had a vision-like dream and saw his mother, Torosi. Although he only grew to see sculptures of her in reality but couple of times in his dream, he had seen her, and she looked everything that his father has described to him about his mother.

“Xhango!!!” His mother’s voice whispered to him. Xhango was the name given to him by his mother’s people after his birth, only a few of them calls him that name and he loves it when he was called that name.

“Xhango!!!” The voice whispered again “This is not the time to slumber, what lays ahead isn’t something that requires a little sleep nor slumber, you have to start preparing from now, you have to utilise every minute, for every minute is a gift from Eledua and it must be judiciously utilised. For the prophecy must surely be fulfilled, wake up my son, wake up, wake up.”

Almost immediately, Jakuta jerked out of his sleep and stood to his feet, his strengths were replenished, he felt a new energy radiating around him, he looked around and saw that it was getting too late and that his father must be getting worried by now. He was still looking round to see how to get out of the forest when he saw something so strange, yet so familiar. A mountain, solely erected in the middle of the forest, how come he hadn’t seen it ever since he regained consciousness, that made it strange. It looked like the mountain he had been seeing in his dream for almost half of his life, that made it familiar.

Without no form of hesitation whatsoever, he headed for the mountain and before he could even realise what he was doing, he found himself climbing the mountain. After much efforts, he got to the top of the mountain and he saw that which was more familiar, the pot from his dream, he didn’t let his surprise hinder him from proceeding towards it, he picked up the pot, and opened it. Just like in the dream, a lightening struck from the pot to the skies, passing by his eyes, almost blinding him, he let go of the pot and his blade, in order to scrub his eyes with his hands. The pot and the blade landed on the mountain at the same time and immediately they landed, thunder struck, a loud thunder that echoed in all of the empire.

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Thimi and Bonka who had sighted Jakuta on the mountain for a while, stood transfixed to the ground in amusement of how a lightening had struck from the pot and how the landing of the pot had caused a thunderstrike, they were still wondering if it was a coincidence that those things happened simultaneously when they saw Jakuta groaning and gnashing his teeth in pain, without telling each other, they both began to run towards the mountain but both stopped abruptly when they heard Jakuta roaring, his voice echoed in and around the forest, thick and vibrated like thunder. They were still standing there, bemused at all that was happening when suddenly, fire came out from Roaring Jakuta’s mouth.  They both opened their mouth in amazement, as the fire became even mightier before it finally went off, not without Burning some bushes in the forest.

“He spits fire!!!” Bonka said.