Alade (Irunmole Saga)

by Jean-Marc Akerele

  “What are you talking about? You are a Goddess, you cannot die, only go into stasis.” “That was once true, but I challenge you to try and ask all the other Gods that he has thrown down, and you will get no answers, for they are silent because they are no more.”

  “Who is this being?”

  “The God who commands me.”

  “Who commands you?”

  “The Interloper.” Lulu sucked in a breath at the mention of that name and a deep rage and hatred originating not just from herself but from deep within her boiled as the Gods of Kongo stirred at the name.

  “Why are you here, Quandisa?”

  “Ah, for me to answer that question I think you had best deliver me to Alade.”

  “Why? And how do you know his true name?”

  “I know everything about him. What he thinks he is trying to achieve for the balance is a lie. I am not his enemy.” “You lie! It was you and your seduction that pushed the leopard to kill Sunshine. Lucius is going to rip you apart Goddess or not, and I am going to enjoy watching every minute of it.”

  “I did not seduce the leopard into doing it, on the contrary I was sent to prevent this very thing from happening.”

  “What do you mean by that? Stop talking in riddles before I remove a body part.” “It means your playtime with me will have to wait. You must take me to Alade.” Lulu looked at the Goddess carefully, and despite the rage of the Gods inside her she forced herself to calm down and look at the facts. Knowing that she was facing her doom it would be natural for the Quandisa to say or do anything to prevent it, but this? Lulu had never been good at torture; that was more Lucius’s field of interest. There was much more to this story, and she owed it to Lucius to let him be the judge of this. They could always play with her later. Finally resolved to her plan of action, she released the Goddess and stood in front of her and spoke.

  “I see now that you allowed me to capture you and you endured my ministrations so that you could gain access to Lucius. You will get your access, but I swear to you if it is some ploy to squirm out of your crimes you will suffer unimaginable pain and believe me, Lucius will help me. Just remember he will be reborn as the Destroyer someday. Think about the implications. One more thing, Quandisa, what does the Interloper want with Lucius?”

  “It is quite simple. He wants to be his friend.” “I feel the need to hurt someone in a very insidious and twisted manner and here you are delivering one of my enemies into my hands and you want me to wait before getting satisfaction, to give this creature more time while Sunshine has none? Impossible! Give her to me now, for I would teach her the true art of seduction! Quandisa, I will seduce your every nerve and fiber into a state of blessed pain so profound that you will feel that you have transcended Godhood. Yes, I will take you to the heights so that I can tear you back down to the ground and crush your every sentiment beneath the avalanche of horror which I will inflict upon you. And since you are a Goddess, and I am also immortal, I will be able to play with you for eternity. Now stop fucking around Lulu, and give her to me before I get angry.” Lulu had the Goddess of Lust in a protective cocoon, shielding her from my power, and if I wanted to force the issue it would mean extending my own growing powers and perhaps hurting Lulu in the process, which I did not want to do. This infuriating stubbornness of hers was going to get her killed if she was not careful, so I took a step back and pondered the situation. Lulu, stood here protecting the creature which betrayed her beloved father and ultimately caused the downfall of her people and Gods, protecting her like a shebear protecting her cub. And despite my growing rage, I had to question why. Lulu was my friend; she and I had shared our secrets with each other and were bound in the same way by our own service to our respective Gods. I took a deep breath and sat down, saying “Okay Lulu, you win. I have plenty of time to punish her later. What is going on?”

  “Well, my friend, I think we have a problem.”

  “Why? What’s going on?”

  “I think I will let her tell you.” The Goddess glided to the chair opposite me and sat down, obviously wary of the rising power levels in me which seemed to be increasing exponentially since the murder of Sunshine. I was leaking power everywhere, from my eyes, from my mouth as I spoke, and even my form had begun to change as I went from an athletic well-defined shape, to a larger, bulkier, more densely muscled form which had I been paying attention, would have shocked me to the core. My eyes glowed constantly with bright green light, and I could no more pass for human now than an eagle could. I fixed those eyes upon the Goddess and watched with satisfaction as she flinched in pain from the power she saw there, and bade her speak. “Know this Quandisa, I will hold you responsible for the words that you speak no matter what their source or for whom you are delivering them. The pain I feel because of Sunshine’s death is unbearable, and because of it soon this power in me will consume me. If I do not have vengeance soon, then when I am reborn as the Destroyer, what do you think will happen, mmm? Give me something good, my dear or I will give you oblivion, for I too, can destroy Gods now.” Both Lulu and the Quandisa were taken aback by that last statement, but nevertheless, the Goddess of Lust took a deep breath, faced me and began to speak. “You know what she put inside you, your Yemoja, but you do not understand why. She has told you that it is to create a weapon that will restore the balance by destroying the Interloper, but that is not true. The Interloper also serves the balance by a direct mandate of the One God, as do the Orishas. Who is right I ask? I am minor Goddess and my place in the cosmos is different than those of these great powers, but I am enough of a Goddess to know that the One God is never wrong, so if there are two mandates then there must be a reason. Also, I witnessed personally, the arrival of one aspect of the One God and saw the Interloper kneel to it and call it Lord. What does it mean? How should I know, but I do know this; I was sent to prevent your transformation in the Destroyer, not precipitate it by killing Sunshine as you can see it is doing. But that is not all Alade. You should know that because Yemoja cannot see into this place you have taken as your own, she has sent in agents to keep tabs on her weapon. For you see, when your power blossoms she plans on ripping it from you and taking it for herself. There was never to be a happily ever after for you because she sees you as nothing more than a tool. And as for Sunshine, have you not wondered how a leopard got the best of a hyena as powerful as her? Her natural powers were augmented by her betrothal to you; your bonds caused your strength to flow into her. So how could a low-level Leopard beat her and devour her alone? Because he had help, that’s why, God level help. He was your Goddess’ agent with power granted him by her, and you cannot find him now because he has fled to her protection.”

  I found my senses reeling, for all things she was saying rang true and I felt my very essence falling apart, fragmenting as my power began the multiply in response. With a great effort, I got myself under control, and looked at her. “Why?” I said. “Why would Yemoja betray me? If this is what she wanted she could have simply told me to make the necessary sacrifice. Why did Sunshine have to die?”

  “Sunshine died because your love for her caused the darkness to recede and you forsook your task for her. Your precious Goddess for whom you have sacrificed so much had her slaughtered to get you back on track. She took her away from you Alade, as easily as plucking a flower. And in the end no matter how much you protest she will still rip the power from you and leave you cored. This is your destiny; this is how you truly fall.”

  I had not heard her last words, for the moment she had told me that it was Yemoja who was responsible for Sunshine’s death I had lost all control, the expanding power in me became unbound and quietly consumed me. I looked up sadly at Lulu as the darkness enveloped me, and using the last remnant of my consciousness I opened the pocket dimension where I had killed Lo and threw myself in it before my power detonated and killed my friends. Just before I sealed it off, I sent out one last thought to Lulu and the Quandisa. “Don’t hurt her Mbilia,” I said, “I need her.�
�� “Quandisa, tell your master I will come and visit him soon, if I survive this.” And then every fiber of my being exploded and I learned the true meaning of pain.

  Part 3: Return

  19 Floating in the void, I awoke to a soft voice questioning me from a thousand mouths which seemed to surround me from every perspective. Though I was in agony and through the pain that I was experiencing I remembered the lessons that Nephilim had taught me and forced my consciousness to awareness and focused on the voice and its questions.

  Who are you?

  I do not know.

  What are you trying to achieve?

  I am not sure.

  Do you know where you are?

  In a alternate dimension.

  No, you are elsewhere.

  Where am I?

  Do you not remember your lesson?

  Which lesson?

  “Before there was day,

  Before there was night,

  And before there was a Universe,

  All things lived in harmony in Olorun, The Cosmic Heavens,

  Located in the realm of Ikode Orun.

  The Giant Egg that sat in the center of Nothingness.”

  The lesson of Nana Buukun.

  I am in the Egg?

  Yes.

  Why?

  Where else are Gods born?

  I am not a God.

  But you will be soon. That and more.

  What about my destiny to cultivate a weapon?

  A deception, as were many of the things you have been told.

  What must I do? For now, you must sleep. There is another who comes to join with you, one who has yearned to return to your side but you never saw fit to call it. It comes now so that you two will become one being with the power and skills to shake the heavens themselves. In its time, away from your side it has grown in power and skill. There is no Goddess that can rip from you that which is you.

  What other being comes to join me?

  Your old friend.

  Akharu? Yes. The two of you will merge forms, becoming a weapon, a power, a God. You will be something more than a God and something new, a new being who will change the nature of this cosmos.

  Why? To serve the balance?

  No, to oppose it.

  But why?

  Because even the balance must have balance, and already too many serve it to its detriment. All things must have an equal and an opposite.

  I will be alone in this task?

  Yes and no. But there will be no other Gods in opposition to the balance, only you.

  That doesn’t make sense. The others will destroy me utterly.

  You will be equal in power to all of them combined; this is the essence of the balance.

  Who are you?

  I am not so frivolous now, eh?

  Nana Buukun?

  Rest now, your Akharu approaches. As I rested within the Cosmic Egg, Akharu arrived and we had a brief but joyous reunion before the forces contained within the Egg tore us apart. We were broken into a million pieces, shattered beyond recognition, reduced to monads, the smallest point of consciousness so that we could be re-forged into a mighty new God form driven by a new purpose. We cried out in unison as we were bent and battered into shape, and begged for mercy as we were folded and hammered repeatedly while being heated with fires hotter than those of the stars. With each of the mighty smith’s blows I became less Lucius; with each of the many quenchings Alade Akeju became less and less recognizable. Akharu resembled nothing so much as a vortex of energy, and was swirling around the Egg in pieces as bit by bit, piece by piece the two of us were layered and wrapped around each other’s souls and consciousness until a new being began to emerge. The fire burnt away our doubts and gave us a new hardness and flexibility that we both lacked before. Our skill sets became sharper and the depth of our power was unfathomable. I looked upon my old friend with what remained of my awareness for the last time, and then I gave up my consciousness to the metamorphosis. Alade Akeju and Akharu were destroyed and deep within the Cosmic Egg something dark and deadly stirred restlessly waiting for the moment to be reborn.

  Lulu sat drinking bourbon with the Quandisa, who had turned out to be surprisingly good company. Shawn, as usual was hovering around the Goddess of lust looking for a smile or a hint of her interest, and never quite getting satisfaction. A year had gone by since Sunshine’s death and Lucius’ disappearance and remarkably the Quandisa had almost become one of the family. While in the process of taking a large swig of the bottle Lulu suddenly spit out her mouthful and shouted, “Get down now!” All three of them ducked just in time to see an eruption of eldritch energy coming from above the sitting room, just beneath the ceiling. They all quickly prepared for battle, taking various defensive positions around the room all the while carefully watching the rift which had opened above them. Lulu had begun to chant and just as she was about the launch her spell, she heard a familiar voice calling out to her. “Hold Lulu,” it said, “I am coming through. Don’t blast me.” The others looked up in puzzlement, their guards still up and when a massive, muscular and very naked dark brown skinned entity descended from the hole, they were terrified for this being radiated power such as none of them had ever experienced. Lulu stared at it closely, at its glowing green eyes and the many scars that graced its transformed body, and as understanding dawned upon her she stood up. “Lucius,” she asked, “Is that you?”

  “No Lulu. Lucius is no more and just as Alade Akeju is no more.”

  “Then who are you? You speak with his voice, you have his eyes and you are marked by the same scars as he was.” “Who am I? Of that I am not quite sure yet, but my name is Alakharu. I am the Destroyer, he who must oppose the balance. Quandisa, your master wanted to meet me? Well there is no time like the present, so take me to him. It is time I returned to the world outside. I have much work to do.”

  20 The Witness of Fate was not in stasis nor was he absent. By he was the first of all the irunmoles, the only one who communicated directly with the One God he was well aware of the events which had been occurring on Earth. Gifted with the vision to see the path that the One God had laid out for creation, Orunmila had watched the manipulations of Esu and had even gone along with some of them, for in truth he knew that Esu and the One God were one and the same. His communion with the One God was profound and absolute so this meant that he could sense the One God in no matter what form it chose to take. That there were two sides to the One God did not disturb him in the least; but the fact that there seemed to be a third previously unknown element involved in creation that he had been unaware of did disturb him. The revelations of Nana Buukun and her own extremely subtle manipulations had culminated in the rebirth of the Destroyer. Alakharu had risen and even in his refuge on Georgia Avenue the effects of his dark power on the fabric of creation could be felt even here in Orunmila’s private sanctuary at the far reaches of the universe. Where he now stood in contemplation, the primal light from the moment of creation still had not arrived yet and it was here in this nether region where the Witness of Fate had chosen to remain until his vision had cleared once more. Too much was muddled and he did not understand what the One God was trying to accomplish. But he was only a servant and it was not his place to understand only to obey. Closing his eyes, he sent out a mental call which winged its way through the fabric of reality and found its way to the beacon of faith that was his priest, Niño. He spoke to him with power, giving him certain instructions which he knew he would obey to the letter and listened with concern to what Nino related to him of his experiences with Alakharu before his transformation. Nino would travel to Ile-Ife as planned and when he arrived there Orunmila would come to take possession of the blood Nino bore. For in the end blood will always sing true and if he wished to understand what Alakharu was, he needed to understand from where he had come from. For no entity created by the Gods, Omo Orisa or otherwise, no matter how powerful, should have been able to achieve apotheosis. There was a story that his vision had missed and i
n his isolation, he too had felt a strange calling and understanding began to dawn upon him as one aspect of the One God called to him and imparted to him what his own role would be in the ongoing celestial drama. The universe was changing and they all had roles to play and Orunmila now understood that his own transformation was imminent. As Niño drew closer to Ile-Ife Orunmila began to feel the presence of his counterparts in the world and of their growing powers. If the three of them were to play out the roles assigned to them by the Triple Being then he must embrace his own transformation. So he would remain here at the edge of creation and wait until Niño arrived in Ile-Ife and when he did he would travel there to meet his servant and then his own transformation into the third aspect would begin.

  21 I floated in a sea of my dreams, rolling slowly and luxuriating in the soothing motion of my power as it pulsed and flexed around me, testing its boundaries in preparation for my return to the world outside and the inevitable destruction which I had to unleash upon those feckless Gods who had taken Sunshine from me. I was a new being now, one unprecedented in creation, a being that had gestated deep within the Cosmic Egg and had been reborn for one purpose only; to oppose the balance by any means necessary. I would take everything from these petty Gods and throw down their very creation; I would be the Destroyer that Yemoja had so desired, but no longer would I be her pet but instead I would be her master. I would oppose the balance as was my mandate, as Nana Buukun had empowered me to do and I would do it extremely well. My righteous rage kept me afloat in the defensive cocoon of black energy which I maintained constantly around myself and my now blazing green eyes looked out of this mesh of power at my companions and knew that it was time for us to depart. I signaled the Quandisa to approach, and she came forward and knelt before me, giving me the respect due to a being of my power. When I spoke it was without words, and I made my desire clear to her; show me the path to the Interloper, for it is past time that we left. She stood up, bowed then closed her eyes and after a few minutes she opened them and spoke. “Lord Alakharu,” she began, “the message is sent, and as soon as we cross the borders of this place the Interloper will send emissaries to escort us to him.” I began to laugh at the last part of her statement, causing power to spark out from my eyes and spoke out loud saying, “Emissaries? I have no need of emissaries, I know exactly how to reach him, I was simply being polite. Besides, we both know that these emissaries will be powerful servants who he believes will be capable of, let us say, deterring me, should I decide to be more forceful in my approach. Anyway, it matters not. If he had nothing to do with Sunshine’s death I will not bother him, in fact I might just help him by destroying all of his greatest rivals. I must oppose the balance but I will do it as I see fit. If that means that he and I will become friends as a result then so be it. Sunshine must be avenged at all costs. Prepare yourselves all you; we are all about to leave, even you Samantha. I promised you once we would leave this world and take our rightful place outside, well now is that time. I will allow nothing to touch or harm any of you for my power is greater than that of any of the Gods now, and even all their power combined is only equal to mine. You are all bound to me in purpose so you have nothing to fear.” Shawn looked at me, smiling with excitement and Lulu had a hungry look on her face as she swallowed more bourbon. Samantha had changed from its customary layers of veils and concealing robes to a more modern look; jeans, a long-sleeved shirt and a head scarf while the Quandisa just stared at me curiously as I watched them watching me. Eventually, Shawn quietly spoke up. “Alakharu,” he began, having some difficulty not calling me by my previous name, “What of the balance?”