ANXIETY - Flashback of a Nightmare

 The origin of Amafa's ancient kingdom is as mystical as the first person that set foot in this extraordinarily weird dynasty. It is a unique animal kingdom that boasts of all types of creatures known to man: big, small, cuddly, and not-so-cuddly, ugly, beasts of all shapes and sizes.  To many, Amafa was the real Biblical kingdom of Eden where creation was allegedly conceived thousands of years ago. The difference is that life in Amafa is full of high-edged tension, mysteries, and tales of the unknown that is incredibly dangerous and unimaginative.

Amafule, the Lion King was the crown head of the Amafa kingdom. He was a gigantic hydra-headed monster with nine heads (three of which were immortal, according to folklore). The monster’s haunt was his subjects, from which he periodically feeds on an unfortunate subject selected from the inhabitants of the kingdom. Legends have it that in the year of the (Konjo), which was a bloody revolt by the Amafa kingdom to unravel the mystery of the Lion King’s invisibility, anyone who had attempted to behead the Lion King found that as soon as one head was cut off, two more heads would emerge from the fresh wound. Centuries have passed and the population has grown double-fold since this futile attempt and nobody has attempted to try that again. In the same vein, the dynasty of the Amafule the Lion King has evolved and metamorphosed into the most dreaded dynasty in the Amafa kingdom. It is a kingdom that is perpetually at an edge, unease, and anxiety stricken.

 Moko, the celebrated storyteller and head of the Mkpmo clan has told that in the 17^th century, the Amafule dynasty had evolved into a vampire. In those days, as he narrated under the moonlight to his adoring listeners, the Amafule vampires were perhaps the most famous mythological monsters in the world. They were human and inhuman at the same time.  Amafule Vampires were only the most celebrated blood-thirsty fiends that feed on human blood and the blood of their own subjects. That was reminiscent of the Lion King feasting on his subjects on a regular and blood-chilling basis.

The history of the ancestral lineage of the Lion King was as blood-coiling to listen to as his present-day reign of terror. Amafule was a third-generation descendant of, King Yataba1 who had two sons, Yataba Vara, and Yataba Kappa. The Lion King was the first son of Yataba Vara. Just like their father King Yataba1, Yataba Vara was a strange vampire that feeds only in the daytime. Yataba Vara had two horns and feeds on other creatures in his kingdom by dropping on them unexpectedly. Using his two horns, that act as suckers in his head, it would literally suck almost all the blood from the creature. Both Yataba Vara and Yataba Kappa reigned over their respective villages with dread and terror. Their two villages were sandwiched between the dreaded village of Kumashi or the land where the “Dead and the Living” mingle.  In the 15th century A.D., a war of attrition was waged over boundaries between the Yataba Vara kingdom and the Amafa ancient kingdom. The Yataba Vara kingdom was victorious as almost half of the inhabitants of the Amafa kingdom were devoured and Yataba Vara installed his son, the Lion King as the autonomous king of the Amafa kingdom.

Yataba Kappa reigned in his own kingdom with the same venom as his brother or even worst. Yataba Kappa was built like a gorilla with three horns on both the head and the bottom and has several unsettling habits. A frightening similarity with his brother is that when feeding, he would attempt to suck all the blood from a person, but it will also remove the person’s soul via the anus. Yataba Kappa’s long limbs protrude from a solidly built body with a shell on its back. These limbs have incredible strength and pull human and animal victims down, where he would drain their blood. The head is monkey-like but with a depression on top of the skull. Inside this hollow is a liquid that gives him its strength. To defeat or challenge Yataba Kappa one must bow to him. Bowing low in return, the life-giving fluid in his head will flow from his head, and he would die or so the myth foretold. But the question among the inhabitants was “Who will bell the cat?” In any case, you must be a beast with a heart made of sterner stuff to remember that trick, given the other method of attack that Yataba Kappa has.

After conquering the Amafa kingdom, Amafule the Lion King dominated an entire acre of the landscape with his wife Amefule. The rest of the creatures in the kingdom pay homage to the Lion King and his wife regularly, usually every market day, with literally their lives.

Curious? That is not the only strange thing that happens in the Amafa Kingdom. The sun rises from the west and sets in the east. It seldom rains, but when it does, it would sometimes rains for seven days and seven nights non-stop. In the morning after the heavy downpour, the eaves would drip with reddish blood-like foam. The moon shed feathers of red light as if it is dazzling directly from the red planet. All over the Amafa ancient kingdom, inhabitants would be taking shelter in their cellars and under their huts and caves. the first three days of the continuous rain bring death and destruction. It is called the rain of death. Any animal that tastes in the rainwater is bound to die within 24 hours. It was that ominous.

As mysterious as the kingdom itself, nobody can put a finger as to when the ritual of appeasing the Lion King and his wife with an unfortunate subject that may be nominated by other creatures started.  Any animal that is deemed to have fallen foul of the imaginary rules in the kingdom is summarily dragged, kicking, and screaming to the lion’s den for the king’s feasting. Incredulously, your offense may be as freaky as appearing well-fed and full of life!

 Mambe the tortoise was the trickiest and most canny of the animals in the Amafa kingdom. He lived in a tiny hut with Alia, his wife of twenty-eight years, and their bulldog terrier dog called Jingo. Alia was a paragon of beauty and a centre of attraction in the kingdom. She was also the envy of other animals who have often wondered how on earth a ghastly-looking animal such as Mambe could be so lucky! The story has it that she was won as a trophy when Mambe was the most celebrated wrestler in the Amafa Kingdom. At stake was the most beautiful animal in the kingdom and Mambe used his trickery to defeat the other twenty-three contestants, including Damper, the most powerful gorilla and indomitable wrestler. He has continued to remind his wife of his bravery and knavery up to this day.

Over the years, Mambe has through his shrewdness escaped falling prey to the Lion King’s ritualistic appetite for feeding on his subjects. He has perfected his escape strategy by being the first to nominate the animal that would be sent to the lion’s den. On several occasions, he has been successful. It was like getting away with murder daily. It is therefore no wonder that he has assumed some gait of invisibility among his folks. You pick a fight with him or his wife at your peril.

It was the last day and the last hour of the seventh day of a torrential downpour that was tingled with all the fateful signs of the end of time. Dusty reddish light-tinged rainbow-pink rays seep through the cracks in Mambe’s hut. On this night of portentous mysteries, folklore has it that you do not fall into a deep sleep, as you may not wake up. On this day, Alia was on the edge of deep sleep but struggling to stay awake. All that has kept her awake was the shrilling deafening buzzing song chorusing her chilling and untimely death. She had at a point turned to her husband to ask if he was hearing what she was hearing? Mambe is one that does not believe in the realization of nightmares, not when it must threaten his self-acclaimed invisibility. He has always comforted himself by insisting that it is the eye of a childhood that fears a painted masquerade. Mysterious nightmares, therefore, are not for the grown-ups. They are for the faint-hearted, he has continued to assure himself.

After the terrifying night before, Mambe and his wife wished that they had never gotten out of their bamboo shackled bed. Despite a night that was creepily interrupted by unexplained happenstances, Alia still wished that her husband had not bordered to wake her up relatively early that morning. Their pet dog, Jingo curiously shared in the creepiness of the night and could not stop barking. A particularly inquisitive parrot had perched too close to their window and unceasingly sang the gory song of “death in this household.” Mambe was rattled and could not make sense of the ensuing commotion. He was sweating profusely despite the chilling night that preceded the heavy downpour.

It was about a quarter past midday that words sipped through that the Lion King would address his subjects by 6.00 pm at the Olerie Market Square. Absenteeism shall not be tolerated and the consequences shall be death. For the Amafa ancient kingdom, this call by the King after the end of seven days and seven-night rain would only portend calamity.

 In its history, the Olerie Market Square has been hunted gallows where petty thieves were tied up and beheaded, and a house for exorcism and banishment of evil spirits. At the centre of the market square lies a deep borehole that serves as the burial ground for enemies of the Amafa kingdom, who when captured in combat are dumped into the well at the orders of the Lion King. To the inhabitants of the Amafa kingdom, nothing good comes out of a sudden meeting with the Lion King at the Olerie Market Square.  While the entire kingdom was gripped with a palpable fear of the unknown, with everybody whispering about who it is that Mambe would recommend to the king on this market day, Mambe and his wife have an unusual gait of unease about them.  They have never felt this uncomfortable in their twenty-eight years of marriage. Within this enduring period, the Lion King has never summoned the entire community for a gathering on market day, and in the dreary hot midday after the seven-day rain. If it sounds strange, it is strange, scary, and daunting. Nobody sees a rabbit running around on a hot and sunny afternoon without anything chasing it. The eerie uncertainty was compounded by the much spookier skin-coiling dreams and nightmares that have dominated Alia’s sleep for the previous seven days and seven nights.

In the wee hours preceding the market square meeting, Mambe had taken a crawl to the loo situated about six metres from their cave. When he came back into the room and looked at his wife Alia, despite her state of unease and worries, she still radiates beauty and elegance, especially in a state of undress. Mambe moved on to finish undressing her and tentatively took the weight of her breast in his hands. There is something about the breast that defiles a man’s state of anxiety. Alia was shocked that despite what they are going through for the past few days, Mambe was still in the mode of intimacy. She gently took his hands off and turned her back on him with a characteristic deep sigh.

However, on Amefule’s birthday in a fortnight, Mambe’s fortunes have run their course. The king has personally demanded that Alia would be a perfect animal to celebrate his wife Amefule’s birthday. The mystery and confusion of the Lion King’s demand spread like wildfire in the village. For the tortoise’s vast enemies, that was the best choice the king had ever made. Good riddance to an annoying boisterous animal; they chorused. Nemesis is alive and encompassing; others cheered. One bad turn deserves another. What goes around, comes around. The jubilation in the kingdom was defeating.

To the tortoise and his lovely wife, this was a bad omen and they were beside themselves with grief.  Mambe’s smartness, a bundle of tricks and shrewdness were being put to the test. For many years of his life in the kingdom, he had often gotten away with murder. He was now facing the most difficult and heart-wrenching decisions of his life. How can he surrender his loving wife to the Lion King to be fed to his wife Amefule? Something must give. He had a fortnight to make his escape from the Amafa Kingdom. But where would he go to and how would he escape without being found out? Amafa is a close-knit kingdom where everybody knows everybody else. That makes any attempt to escape very daringly.

As a child growing up, Mambe heard stories from his parents about the Kumashi village, hundreds of miles away, where the living and the dead interact and live happily thereafter. Could that be the area he could escape without being found out?  However, he has a problem. He leaps in one leg following a fall he had while trying to fend off an attack on his wife some years ago. It would be a herculean task to trek hundreds of miles away with his wife without being found out. Most terrifying was that to reach the Kumashi village, they must have to pass through the Yataba Vara and Yataba Kappa kingdoms where they could meet a more gruesome end. As much as possible, he had tried his best to hide his real state of anxiety from his wife. He must be a man. He must make a move and make a move as fast as he can. He has without emotions hinted to his wife their likely destination but without disclosing the attendant dangers involved.

The D – day was two days away when a plan came to mind. At the Amafa market square, there was only one transporter that takes bamboo and sawdust to the next town nearest to the land of the living and the dead but passes nonstop through the Yataba kingdoms. The wooden padded truck has an inscription on it saying “The living shall meet the dead at the last stop” Very often there are one or two spaces for passengers in the carriage. To perfect this strategy, the Mambes must disguise themselves completely. Mambe ruffled through his hut and got out the oldest garment he could think of. Both would dress as elderly disabled “women” who were going to visit their dying mother in the village of Idaho, about half a mile from the Kumashi Village. This was the last stop as there was no direct transport to the Kumashi Village. They pulled that off. On the day of their daring escape, Alia was the first to embark on the truck, followed closely by Mambe.  It was a two-hour journey that looked like an eternity. Barely thirty miles into the Yataba Kappa Kingdom, the wheels on the lorry stopped squealing and came to an abrupt stop. This was in the middle of nowhere. Mambe almost defecated on himself with fright. Is this the end of the road for him and his wife, he whispered inaudibly to himself. There was a tomb silence and like the making of a nightmare come real, a voice roared from the back “Who is this and where are you from”? Mambe wanted to speak but the words came out incomplete, incoherent at best. A mumbled half-sentence, funnily coarse and meaningless. Somebody appeared to have recognized the two strange “women’s” accents, but when confronted they fiercely denied being from the Amafa kingdom. Mambe swore on the gods that he has never heard of Amafa kingdom in “her” life. They were allowed to continue their journey but warned never to venture alighting no matter the urgency.

For the remaining lap of the journey, the fugitives did not hear anything or see anybody except the mosquitoes, cockroaches, and crickets around the bamboo. It was becoming ominously chilly, unnerving, and spooky. Alia was complaining bitterly and blaming Mambe her husband for dragging her out to suffer in the land of the living and the dead. It never crossed her mind that if she had been in the Amafa Kingdom, she would have become a delicious meal for Amefule, the Lion King’s wife. She never got it.

Over in the Amafa Kingdom, the villagers had noticed that Mambe the tortoise, and his wife have mysteriously disappeared as the D-day draws nearer. The mystery of the missing couple spread like wildfire in the village. Many speculated there have fled the village while others suggested a wild beast other than The Lion King have devoured them. Despite several speculations, the mystery of the disappearances remained unsolved. When this news reached the Lion King, he furiously ordered the immediate arrest of the couple, dead or alive.

The couple arrived in the village of Idaho in the early morning and this time disguised in large oversized shells. It was bulky, but enough to protect against the chilly elements. Thirty minutes later, they arrived at the land of the living and the dead. Mambe has quickly constructed a hut at the most secluded corner of the Moon Village. It was here that both started a new life and lived there happily after.

It is the reason that up to this day, the tortoise is seen with the oversized helmet-lookalike shell and would quickly retract to the shell when somebody moves closer to avoid detection or recognition. Lion King and the Amafa Kingdom were too petrifying to be forgotten in a hurry.