Alade (Irunmole Saga)

by Jean-Marc Akerele

  “And what exactly would that be, Lucius? Please do enlighten me,” she said sarcastically.

  “Just one thing, Lulu” I said carefully, “I am selling redemption.”

  “Well do you have any more bourbon floating around where this redemption is hiding?” “Lulu, we can get you cases of the stuff if that’s what you want. Shawn here drinks it by the gallon. It helps bring down the edge from his crack smoking.” Shawn looked at me, about to open his mouth to protest, then shrugged his shoulders and thought the better of it. Lulu poured herself another healthy glass of bourbon, and sucked down half of it in one gulp. “Ah, that’s really good,” she sighed. “How’s a poor Bokor to keep herself supplied in bourbon when all these cheap motherfucking rejects have no money to pay for my services? I’ll tell you what Alade or Lucius or whatever the hell you call yourself now, if you keep me stocked in good bourbon you and I can do business. I need this shit to survive.” I had no idea what she meant by her last words or how she knew my true name, but I wasn’t about to question the turn of events. I quickly called out to Samantha mentally. When it answered my call, I explained the situation and within minutes, it had used its power to shift ten cases of premium bourbon from some unsuspecting liquor distributor’s warehouse to here, and they were now stacked neatly on Lulu’s living room floor. “Hot damn,” she cackled, “you are crafty. It must be very useful having one of them creatures around you. Anyway, you keep them drinks coming and I’ll keep coming, you hear? We got a deal?” She spat in her hand, using that disgusting and antiquated way of sealing a deal, and despite my disgust I shook her hand warmly, feeling elated. “So, big boss,” she said, “What can I do for you?”

  “Oh, it’s really simple actually. I just need your help to capture a Nephilim.”

  “Oh shit.” she said.

  “That’s right,” I agreed, “Oh shit indeed.” The man was huge, so huge that it seemed as if parts of his gigantic body were somehow hiding more mass than was evident in a secret place somewhere like he had a small singularity hidden deep within his form. His shear mass was causing the concrete of the sidewalk to buckle in some places as if his flesh was much denser than it appeared to be. This was a giant if ever I had seen one, though his true nature had been hidden by a clever illusion which cloaked his true from and tamped his awesome power. This was a Nephilim, the magnificent child of an angel of the highest chorus and a human female, cursed with powers greater than both, and a loneliness that could never subside. My plan had been to capture this creature and then while it was incapacitated talk to it, but as I watched it from a distance now, I knew that even with Lulu’s help, I could not capture this creature. All I would succeed in doing is rousing its anger, and for a creature that has watched almost all its brethren be eradicated by their very own parents, it had taken survival to the level of an art form. I was curious to watch it though; it sat on the stoop of a small apartment building serving the many squirrel-like addicts crack as quickly as they arrived. He was doing a brisk business openly and without backup, and for that I had to applaud him. But then again who would dare attack him? He was close to eight feet tall and probably three hundred and fifty pounds of straight muscle, with long cornrows, and caramel skin. Women would probably have considered him attractive once they got over his size and he moved without the clumsiness that most men of his size usually exhibit. I sighed and walked around the corner to where I had left Sunshine, Shawn and Lulu waiting for me. I saw Lulu first; she had her constant companion with her, the bottle of bourbon which she seemed to gain strength from, while Shawn was taking a few hits from his crack pipe, fueling his own impressive strength through the arrangement he and the Mwbiri demon possessing him had. Sunshine, to my annoyance, was nowhere to be found, but because of my growing intimacy with her I could sense that she was nearby eating something or I should say someone, most probably one of the junkies that the Nephilim had just served. I sat down next to Lulu and took a pull off the bottle she offered, and she looked at me and said, “It’s that bad, eh? Is it so big and bad that Lucius has turned chicken shit?” She chuckled and took another drink. “Don’t worry darling,” she said patting my shoulder, “I’ll protect you from the big bad Nephilim.”

  “Very funny, Lulu,” I snapped back, “But it is not just his size, it is the power I sense within him. He is not like his kin, there is a power moving in him that I have never felt before and it disturbs me. Not even you and I together can capture this creature.”

  “As much as I want to fuck with you, Lucius, I have to agree. I feel it too. Something new has grown within him much like there is something now growing inside of you. I have an idea. Why don’t you just go up to him and introduce yourself? Perhaps he will be as curious as you are desperate.” Shawn put away his pipe and got up and walked around, stretching his legs. “You know Lucius she has a point,” he said. “Trying to capture him will only trigger his fight or flight reflex, and since this is the last place for us rejects to flee to, where else can he run to? His only option will be to fight and I don’t think any of us want that.”

  “Who’s going to fight?” Sunshine asked, as she walked up from the alley. “I thought Lulu was going to capture him?”

  “That is no longer an option, my dear, as you would have known had you not been off eating someone.”

  “Oh, are you pissed that I didn’t save you some?” She laughed as she sidled up to me and sat on my lap. “No, but you could have let me have his darkness and despair before you ate his body or even while you were eating his body; I may soon need the extra strength.”

  “I’m sorry dear; I promise I’ll share the next time.” “That’s alright I am not mad.” I stroked her face with my fingers and brought her face to mine for a kiss and she growled with pleasure. Shawn turned away from us in disgust and Lulu took a swig of bourbon and mumbled something under her breath about black tar babies and hyenas. “Lucius,” said Shawn with his back still turned away from us, “Are we going to do this thing or what. Or are the rest of us just going to sit here and watch you two lovebirds make whoopee?” “Make whoopee?” I laughed, feeling some of the tension flow out of me, “where on Earth did you get that term from? Anyway, you guys don’t sweat it because we are not going to do anything. You are all going to go back Samantha’s place and wait for me there. And I am going to up there and introduce myself to him as Lulu suggested. If he gets hostile just make sure all of you are ready to bail my ass out. Samantha can get you here quickly.” Lulu and Shawn nodded and stood up getting ready to call Samantha, but Sunshine was having none of it. “I am not leaving you alone with that creature,” she protested, “The others can go but I am staying here with you.”

  “I need to do this alone, my dear any other supernaturals may spook him.”

  “I highly doubt it; he is such a big boy after all.” “Nonetheless, will you go with the others and wait for me at Samantha’s please? This is not the time for us to argue.” I turned around when I heard Lulu and Shawn sniggering, laughing at the strange relationship developing between me and Sunshine. As for Sunshine, she was very upset and the strange growls and hisses she was making told me that I would get an earful later, though for now she would obey. I kissed her soundly and slapped her on the ass to get her moving and she turned to me one last time before leaving and hugged me saying, “be careful Lucius.” I touched her face again and then she turned and walked away catching up with the others who had already started walking down the street. As I watched her catch up with Lulu and Shawn, I could not help but smile. I am dating a hyena, I thought, I wonder what my mother would think? I watched them fade into the distance and then turned around. I slowly walked to the corner and stopped, steeling myself for what was to come, and then walked around the corner, following the other crack addicts to the massive lone figure on the stoop. As I approached, I saw him cock his head and look at me briefly and then he continued with his business. I stopped about twelve feet in front of him and sent out a questing tendril of power; I wanted to pu
t all my cards on the table so he knew what I was, and I was sure that for a being with as much power floating around inside him I was sensing, it would take very little skill on his behalf to sense my own power. I waited a few moments and then moved a few feet closer, which at that point he abruptly he stopped serving the fiends and looked at me full in the face. He held my eyes with his own for a few moments before smiling at me and patting the stoop next to him. “Come join me my friend, it has been too long since I have been able to truly talk to anyone. You are like me in some ways. Do you suppose we can be friends?” I reached the stoop, sat down and looked at him, still nervous, but genuinely moved by his question. “My name is Lucius,” I replied, “and I would be honored to be your friend if you will have me.”

  “Good my name is Lo, you already know what I am and thanks to your good manners in first letting me taste your power, I know what you are too. We have much in common, Lucius, though if you are to succeed in your task there are many things that you must learn, and if you are willing to learn them, I can teach you.”

  “Like what?” “Like how to build a weapon.” I remained silent for several moments, for now I understood our kinship. He was a Nephilim yes, but that was not where his power came from. Somewhere in the dim recesses of history something had been seeded inside of him like something had been seeded in me and it was this power that I had felt cascading from his form. There was much I could learn from him, and learn it I would. “ So, when do we begin?”

  8 The universe is a timeless, changeless, necessary, uncaused and of course immensely powerful creation. The life which exists within it lives out of its own necessity to pursue its own nature. To the many minds which have tried to quantify the nature of existence and the forces which govern it, the negative that exists in the world and the terrible consequences that it rains down upon the unsuspecting inhabitants of the Earth is a phenomenon which should not be able to exist under the auspices of a God who is infinite in power, in wisdom and in love. But the truth is that the woe and desolation which had entered creation was by no means the work of the One True God; on the contrary, once it had accomplished its goal it had returned to its contemplation of the cosmos and had left creation in the hands of its children. It was an intruder, whose sly presence had no reason for existing, yet Oludumare had put in place a plan and thus everything had its place, even this thing and therefore it must play its given role. But it was pride in his own glory and achievement that had nourished one young God’s desire for supremacy and the honors which he saw conferred upon the Orishas solely because of the order of their birth and it rankled him for he believed himself just as worthy to lead as they were. After all, had he not willed himself into existence? Was he not self-created? The God that would one day be known as the Interloper was not content with his lot. Why, he thought, should the Orishas have supremacy? Why should they be honored above me, who was not created but self-willed into existence? Therefore, he thought, he would make a plan, long and arduous plan, so that in the end it would bring him the power and recognition he so desperately sought.

  First, by working in mysterious secrecy, he visited a small tribe of mountain dwelling nomads in the Sahara Desert, and claimed their allegiance by exciting them with the dissatisfaction concerning the unjust laws that governed their world, and in return for their eternal faith he promised to secure for them liberty and a higher state of existence for all their progeny forever. Concealing his real purpose, the Interloper over several centuries nurtured this tribe, causing their numbers to increase, and as they grew in numbers so did their faith in him and with their ardent worship came an increase in power, a fact upon which he had counted on. Using all the powers of his master mind, now greatly enhanced by their worship, he called to him the many angelic beings which roamed the Earth sometimes serving the various Gods, and used his powers to secure their sympathy for his cause. He claimed to want to promote the good of the universe, but with so many voices crying out that they were God, how could the Earth not be inevitably torn into a thousand pieces as a result, and then what would happen when the beacon of Order in the universe was destroyed? No, the universe had become witness to a great perversion of its own blessed nature and he told these beings that it was his goal to eradicate this perversion, and in its utter extermination he would vindicate the love and honor that Oludumare had given them when it had created the universe. If they would join him, and serve as his messengers, they would be part of a great crusade to address the grand trespasses of the Orishas and indeed all the other younger Gods. For these angels, too had suffered. Neither divine nor human, they had been treated as almost slaves, bound to which ever higher power chose to grasp them, servants to the will of entities whose nature they despised. They began to act as his agents, working under his direction to establish his bastion of authority and to build a fortress to his strength and power that the other Gods could not throw down. They deceived, misconstrued, and perverted the works of the other Gods and then swooped in as harbingers of a change embodied by the Interloper who would come to these unfortunates as a savior. He broke down the barriers between the forbidden associations of other gods and assimilated the structures and strictures that it pillaged from the broken and shattered houses of worship that the Interloper stepped over in its quest to be the only servant of the One True God. Other Gods put up a determined resistance to his hunger and greed, while the Orishas, in their pride ignored his growing predations, and continued to wallow in the sea of selfimportance in which they were now fully immersed. They could not see the harm that had been calculated down to the last nanosecond, and all the while becoming more and more blinded to reality; the Interloper was now a force to be reckoned with, and its plans had only just begun.

  The host of angels floated around the glowing throne awaiting the arrival of the Interloper. He had called all his angels to his abode deep within the captive soul of his first high priest, where now they all awaited in anticipation of him revealing the pieces of phase two of his plan. A small globe of light appeared above the throne and slowly began to morph into a man’s shape until eventually the form of the white bearded and white-haired God was revealed, sitting upon his throne. He looked around the throne room, pleased with what he saw there, for along with his loyal angels, he noticed the presence of other beings, beings who were once worshipped as Gods, whose temples he had thrown down and destroyed. He had absorbed their followers, and erased any memory of their faith, and left most of them as wraiths, slowly wasting away to dreams. But these ones here had thrown in their lot with him so he kept them awake with infusions of his abundant power and they in turn served him. He looked out upon his kingdom, and saw the connections between the visible and the invisible woven tightly together by his will, the ministration of his angels, and his foresight in transforming the direction of human history. By showing the world a liberty which they could enjoy in his domains in contrast to the stern dictates of the Orishas, he had succeeded in luring more of his enemy’s faithful to his worship, but even still he had reached a plateau. He needed more power if he was to change the way of things, and because of this he had called all his servants to him now. “My friends,” he began, “I have called you here because our glorious purpose must not stall. Soon there will only be one servant of the One True God, and the people of the Earth will cry out in one voice, and reach out in one faith to me and the balance will be set aright. The Orishas have had their time; they have failed in the sacred task given them by the One, and have provoked a war of attrition between themselves and the younger Gods that continues to tip the scales. To you I say this; it is time to implement phase two. I must seize a greater portion of the faith that humanity provides and to do this I need you all to do your part. We will steal myths from dead religions and dreaming Gods; we shall repackage our form into that of another, one which the mortal world so desperately craves now. They are tired of our wars and strive for peace on the Earth and in their souls. We shall give them the peace which they so desperate seek. We sh
all give them a promise, a covenant that through this new portal there will be end to wickedness, woe, and ruin and through this communion they shall achieve a resurrection. But first they must pay the price; you must demand their undying faith. My angels go forth and reveal my divine plan to some chosen few. Lend them power to persuade and to punish and give them miracles to open their eyes to my truth. You demons, who now serve me, you must torment them; drive them forward and destroy their homes so that we may hear the lamentation of their women, and in the end, they will call out to me. And finally, you fallen Gods who have chosen to serve, blood needs be shed. You will serve as Dying Gods for me so that they will see that the road to salvation lies through your sacrifice and will bind themselves tightly to you and through you they will belong to me. Through this idea of immortal blessedness, they will come to me in droves, and my power will grow and our grand purpose shall blossom. Employ all your cunning and shrewdness in luring them in. Miracles, magic or war are tools which will serve you well, for the finite minds of men are inadequate to comprehend the plans or purposes of beings such as ourselves. This is the plan. We will create what we cannot absorb, and a new doctrine will have born one that will bring more power unto me and my cause. Go now and fulfill your tasks, for in time when this plan has succeeded we will implement phase three. Quandisa, come now, attend me.”