Nana had barely managed to make it down the hills in time.
He looked at the rising sun and let out a low but deep sigh. The weather was
still cool, the night chill lingered, but the little warmth from the rising sun
hit his face. He had changed from his usual outfit up on the hills; he would
bake in his usual clothes since the hills were normally very chilly as compared
to the base. He was now in a pair of blue jeans, a sleeveless ash hoodie and a
pair of Sankofa sneakers; he didn’t use to be a big fan of their sneakers; but
since he was mandated to wear them because they sponsored the Red Hills Arena,
he had grown used to them. His duffel bag was draped over his shoulders, his
red cap in his right hand; and he seemed prepared for his trip to the Ashanti Kingdom.
He looked behind, taking one last look at the red gate that served as an
entrance to the Red Hills and smiled.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be back in ten days.” He said, as he put
on his red cap and walked off. Today was the first day of his trial, minus that
he had to be back on the Hills by the eleventh day from this morning. He knew
this being his final trial, wasn’t going to be an easy one, and with what he
had been sent to investigate, he knew for certain that the success rate of the
trial was clearly below fifty percent. However, that didn’t bother him as much
as what Akose had told him. He had never really put much thought into death,
unless of course when he was facing Esi, that was a different case all
together, but being told you were going to die; now that was special.
Apparently Akose’s ability had evolved and now she got glimpses of the future
and past, like the time to her space manipulation; and she had caught a glimpse
of him dying. In her vision his right hand had been cut off and he was caught
in the middle of two attacks. She hadn’t seen his opponents, but according to
what she saw, his death was clear. He unconsciously touched his right hand as
he thought of it. Why now?
He walked towards the trotro station on the side of the
usual busy road; it was as if it was afternoon already, traffic was heavy and
people were everywhere. Of course, it was a market day, he had forgotten all
about that. The sudden sound of a loud horn caused him to turn on reflex
causing him to bump into someone. He turned to find an old man about a couple
of inches shorter than him stagger backwards. He immediately caught the old man
before he lost his balance.
“Opanyin, are you alright?” Nana asked as he helped the old
man. The old man just mumbled angrily in response, shaking Nana’s hands off
him.
“Children of nowadays, you don’t watch where you are going!
Nearly made an old man break his hip.” He complained bitterly causing people
passing by to look at the two of them. Nana tried to smile, but he was not
doing a good job hiding his embarrassment.
“Opanyin, I am really sorry. It wasn’t my intention. I hope
you are alright?” Nana asked respectfully. The old man sized him and nodded
begrudgingly. The old man looked to be in his seventies at the very least; he
was slightly hunched over on his walking stick. He was in a pair of togas and a
faded fugu, he wore a pair of leather sandals. He had a bald head. The only
hair on his face was his grey beard. He looked frail, yet somewhat energetic at
the same time. Something felt familiar about the old man, but Nana couldn’t
quite figure out what it was.
“We thank the gods.” Nana said with a smile. “I’ll be on my
way then.”
“Oh, the lack of respect amongst these new generations is
something to be ashamed of; if only our ancestors were alive to see this. If
this had happened in the good old days, a young man would have asked how to be
of service to the old one, but no! Not in this generation.” The old man wailed;
Nana who had turned around and was just about heading back on his way quickly
returned to the old man, to prevent him from causing a scene, as he seemed to
be drawing more and more attention.
“I’m sorry old one, how can I be of help to you?” Nana asked
as politely as he could. He was beginning to lose his cool; he had to catch the
earliest trotro in order to be on time. He couldn’t afford to lose a minute.
“Now you are moving in the right path young man.” The man
said tapping Nana on the shoulder with his walking stick.
“The old ways must never be ignored; they must be adhered to
and respected in order to attain enlightenment.” He continued to preach. “Now
per the old ways; you are obliged to do one thing for me, without complaint, or
risk carrying the curses of the dead ancestors.”
“Yes, sure thing.” Nana said without paying much attention,
he just wanted to get to the station. “Whatever you need old one.”
“Good, I like your eagerness.” The old man said proudly.
“Now I want you to carry my things over there, I’m going to the Ashanti
Kingdom, and my back is killing me.”
Nana gave out a huge sigh of relief as he heard what the man
said. It meant they were both heading in the same direction; killing two birds
with one stone. He saw the bag the old man was pointing to; it was twice the
man’s size. Was this old man travelling with everything he had in his life? How
did he even get it here in the first place? Nana couldn’t help but wonder which
poor young soul had been made to carry the load before him.
“Of course old one, it won’t be a problem at all.” Nana
responded heading for the bag.
“So you plan on living up to your promise?” The old man
asked with a sinister smile Nana had failed to notice.
“Yes please.” Nana bent down to pick up the bag and found
himself struggling. Nana stared at the bag then at the man in shock. How was
this possible? How could the bag be that heavy? The old man just smiled back
like everything was normal.
“What? Is it too heavy? They just don’t make strong young
men like they used to in the past. What do they teach you people in the Arena?”
The man complained. Every muscle in Nana wanted to just leave the old man
behind and go on his way; but he had heard of the curses of old people, and
with Akose’s vision and this being his last trial, he couldn’t risk it. He put
in more of his strength this time and managed to carry the bag.
How is this bag so
heavy? Who the hell is this old man? Nana thought to himself.
“Let’s go then.” The old man said walking in the direction
Nana had just come from.
“But, the station is this way.” Nana said pointing to where
the old man had been coming from.
“I know.” The man said walking on.
“If we don’t go now we will have to wait a long time for the
trotro to fill up.” Nana explained. The old man walked to Nana and took his
duffel bag.
“Let me help you with that.” He said hanging it on his shoulder.
“Who said anything about trotro?”
“What are you talking about?”
“We are walking to the Ashanti Kingdom.” The man announced,
guffawing as he walked.
What did I just get myself into?
In the Second (Now
First) Elmina Vassal Chief’s Palace…
The palace had been restored; all the damage from four years
ago had been fixed. It had taken long, but they had managed to finally return
the palace to the way it was meant to be. It hadn’t been easy doing the
restoration, especially since their duties had significantly increased after
they climbed up to the first vassal.
The Queen walked to the throne room at top speed.
“Where is the Chief?” She asked the Royal Guards standing at
the entrance of the throne room.
“He’s gone out my Queen.” The two answered in unison.
“This man never listens.” She said in frustration, white
mist began to emanate from her.
“Easy mom, it’s a bright warm day, we can’t afford to have
everyone here dry and trembling.” Her eldest daughter said appearing behind her
mother, the younger sister following closely behind.
“Akosua, your father is going to kill me one of these days.”
The Queen complained as she rubbed her temple. She looked at her younger
daughter; and smiled lightly.
“You know it has been four years since you came out of your
exile. You really have to return to acting like the daughter of the seco- I
meant first Vassal Chief.”
“That’s what I have been trying to tell her.” Akosua added.
“All she does is train all day.”
“After the attack on the family four years ago; I really can’t
afford to lazy around. My power has decreased greatly and I have to make sure
to restore it all.” Esi Mansah said with a serious look on her face. Her mother
and elder sister stared at her with total confusion. What was she talking
about? Decreased greatly? She single-handedly protected the house against the
Eliite Warriors of the former First Vassal Chief.
“You know, now that I think about it, she has always been
this way mother.” Akosua chuckled lightly.
Mansah stood there flustered. She had been released from
exile after she defended the palace four years ago; but she still hadn’t fully
adjusted. She still blamed herself for the attack. She had a lot of making up
to do.
“We heard from Esi last night; she sent your father and I a
message.” The Queen said, her daughters followed her into the throne room.
“Are you kidding me? I barely hear from her at all these
days, but she somehow always sends her grandparents messages instead.” Akosua
complained, feigning tears.
“Well, what do you expect? Not only am I a great mother; I
am an equally awesome grandmother.”
“She actually just wanted to tell us one thing.” The Queen
went on. “It’s about Nana.”
The Queen’s words rang in Esi Mansah’s ears. She hadn’t seen
her son since after the first stage finals four years ago. She had tried to get
into contact with him, but it wasn’t possible to contact anyone in a
Specialized Arena, since they were closed off to outsiders, except during
special events. She had rehearsed what to tell him when they spoke for the
first time. Not that they hadn’t spoken before, but she had never told him who
she was during the times they met. They had never spoken as mother and son.
“You trained him well I must admit.” The Queen said with a
smile.
“What do you mean?” Mansah said with a nervous smile.
“Come on, we all knew you snuck off to train him when he was
preparing for the SCT.” Akose added.
The two sisters laughed lightly; their mother took a seat in
her throne.
“What did she have to say?” Mansah asked.
“Well, I don’t know how you’ll take this; but your son is
the King of the Red Hills Arena.”
Mansah stood there, frozen with excitement. Her little boy
had grown well and strong. King? Even she hadn’t seen that coming. He had done
a lot of growing within the four years. What exactly had he done? How much had
he trained to make it to the top of the Red Hills?
“If I remember correctly that means he’ll be fighting in the
Royal Family Battle right?”
“Yes.” Akose answered their mother. Then she realized what
their mother was trying to say. “Oh… I see.”
“See what? It is after all normal for the king to be in the
Royal Family Battle.” Mansah added.
“That’s not what she was referring to? We have two from our
family in that battle; your Nana, and her Esi.” The Queen said with a knowing
smile.
“Wait, Esi is also the head of her Arena?”
“Yes.”
“That means-”
“Your son and my daughter will
be facing off in the Royal Family Battle. I hope he’s ready for that.” Akose
said wrapping her arm around Mansah’s neck.
Day two of the Trial…
Nana panted loudly as he struggled to stay on his feet. He
couldn’t remember the last time he had been this worn out. He was almost at his
limit. What the hell was this old man?
“You see, that’s my problem with this generation, you are
not made of stern stuff.” He said walking towards Nana. “You should be thankful
you ran into me kid; I am going to whip you in shape, though it won’t be
literal. Looking at you, losing any more weight is going to ruin your balance;
I can’t help but wonder how you trained to make use of your size though. You
must have had a good master.”
Nana’s head was filled with unanswered questions. It was day
two and he still hadn’t arrived at the Ashanti Kingdom. How had he been talked
into this? How did this man know about his weight and balance just from looking
at him; and how come he was tired and this old man had barely broken a sweat?
“How do you do it? How do you move like that?” Nana asked in
between breaths. He adjusted the heavy bag on his back and took a deep breath
exhaling and stretching. The old man stopped, laughed and shook his head.
“It’s easy; I don’t make useless movements; every move I
make is aimed at making my next step faster. You kids these days focus too much
on making flashy movements. Getting better is not about looking good or a
flashy physical transformation; it’s about being efficient, doing something
that will normally take fifty percent of your capabilities; with just ten
percent or even five, but achieving the same results. That’s the correct
meaning of being strong.” He took the bag off Nana and flung it over one
shoulder without as much as a grunt. “Easy.”
Nana stared in shock, it had been a while he had felt that-
shock, and it excited him, his blood boiled. He wanted to learn, he wanted to
be able to become efficient, better.
“Now before you ask me to teach you-” The man three the
oversized, heavy bag at Nana. “I’ll only consider that, if you can make it to
the Ashanti Kingdom by night fall. We seem to have another hundred kilometres
ahead of us.”
“It has been roughly thirty hours since we set off, and
we’re now only halfway there?” Nana sighed out of exhaustion.
“Well, that’s your fault. On my own, at full speed,
factoring in rest; I could have been in the Ashanti Kingdom in fourteen hours.
I’m too old to do it like I did when I was younger.”
They both continued their journey on foot, it was afternoon
but cloudy; making their journey bearable.
“So, kid… tell me what ability do you have?”
“I don’t have any ability.” Nana replied as they walked.
“What?”
“I have never really needed it; Tumi works fine for me.”
“Kid, you have a lot to learn.” The old man chuckled.
“What do you mean?”
“We are going to find your ability before we part ways.” The
old man took a step and disappeared from Nana’s sight. He’s fast! Nana took off
after him.
“Watch how I move, and try doing same.” He said once Nana
was behind him.
Who the hell was this old man?
“I am going teach you the old ways.” The old man said with a
sinister smile.
Big Head hated having to blend in with the regular people.
It might have been the wise thing to do, but it didn’t mean he had to enjoy
trying to be normal to avoid detection. He stood behind a man who was twice his
height and build. The man was testing Big Head’s patience. He was holding up
the line with his indecisiveness, even the kenkey seller looked frustrated. The
customers behind him grumbled with dissatisfaction, but knew better than to
confront the overly built man who could probably break the average person in
two.
“Excuse me, big one, would you be quick? We are all hungry
here.” Big Head said as calmly as he could. The man turned to look at him, a
deep scowl on his face.
“Do you have a problem?” The man said; he seemed as if he
would burst from his tight t-shirt anytime now.
Big Head sized him up. He could take him easily, if he
wanted to. He was all muscles; nothing to back it up. Just one clean hit; and
his head would roll off his body. Regular people were so fragile; it was sad.
Maybe he could at least teach this one a lesson without drawing too much
attention.
Boss, we’ve found him.
He seems to be lodging with an old geezer; but it is him alright. Do we
proceed?
They’d found the king who was supposed to come and
investigate them. It had taken a few days longer than projected, but they had
found him nonetheless.
Do a little more
recon, report back and await my orders. I have to go and inform the other two
about this. He had to go and tell his brothers now. They had to make a move
now.
“What is the problem? Are you too scared to speak now?” The
voice of the big guy in front of him pulled him out of the temporal telepathic
link.
“Excuse me?” He looked up at the big guy. He had almost
forgotten all about him. He didn’t have time to deal with ants. “No, I’m okay;
let’s do this later.” Big head said tapping the man on the shoulder and walking
out of the line. Those gathered there were confused; they had been expecting a
confrontation.
Big head didn’t have time for this; he had better things to
deal with. People to get rid of… kings to kill.
The Queen mother had tried sleeping, but she hadn’t had much
success there. Her husband had been away without a word for almost two weeks.
It was dawn, and the sun was just about rising as she walked into the throne
room.
“Has anyone told you how beautiful you look in the morning.”
A familiar voice said. She chuckled lightly.
“Flattery won’t save you from this one.” She replied.
“I know I should have said something, but time was of the
essence. And I mistakenly left my communicator when I was leaving, so I couldn’t
call.” The Chief explained as he walked towards his wife. “Where are the
girls?”
“They left earlier for the Red Hills, they want to watch the
tournament.”
“Ah, the arena tournament.” He said grabbing his wife by the
waist.
“Where did you go?” She held his head between his palms.
“I went to spend some time with our grandson. I had to teach
him a few things.” He responded with a smile.
“Wait… what do you mean?” The Queen said letting go of his
head.
“It’s a long story. Let just say the Elders gave him a trial
too much for him to handle; I had to do something about it. Something big is
coming.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Your brothers are not dead. I met Quick Feet.”
“What?” The Queen said with shock. That wasn’t possible; she
was there when they were taken down. She had killed Quick Feet herself!
“Why did they move the Royal Family Battle to the first
event? It’s normally the last!” Debrah said pacing up and down. He was angry;
everything was a mess; their King wasn’t yet in, and if they wanted to win this
battle, they needed him. The rest of the members of the royal family were all
gathered in the waiting room.
“Where is our King? He’s supposed to be back today right?”
Dasebr3 asked nervously. Akose was quietly sitting down trying to distract
herself from their current predicament.
“Calm down everyone.” RT said from where he was sitting. “We
know what to do even if Nana is not here. He made us prepared for it.”
“RT is right. You all need to chill.” Dziedzorm said from
behind the screen of his handheld console. “He’ll be in.”
Dziedzorm saying that helped calm their nerves. Dziedzorm
had never been wrong. Enyonam gave Akose a reassuring look, and Akose responded
with a weak smile. The sound of a horn echoed throughout the Red Hills and the
sound of spectators at the Arena cheering loudly followed. It was time to
begin.
Dziedzorm for the first time willingly shut down his video
game and got up from where he was. He had an unusually serious expression on
his face. He adjusted his glasses and walked forward.
“I, Dziedzorm invoke my position as interim King in the
absence of our true King, Nana.” The remaining members of the Royal Family
bowed and acknowledged their interim leader. They rose and all looked at him.
He looked totally different when he had a responsibility.
“Let’s go show them the difference between their leaders and
our true King.” A sinister smile spread on his face.
To be continued…
Note from the Author
Hey guys, yet another Thursday. So this chapter is more talk
and less action. There’s also a lot of scene movements too. It’s quite a loaded
chapter and I hope you make it to this moment. Thank you for reading and thanks
for your support. Next week will be action packed!! I promise!
Yours Faithfully,
everydayGladiator
