Origins of an African Elemental

by Alicia McCalla

  The Sankofa Adinkra symbol danced in the pure light. Iniko’s forehead burned and she dropped her sister-in-law’s bloody body. Memories flooded back of how she’d been reborn and remade into a warrior woman.

  The voice of the goddess was muffled and she couldn’t hear the words well. She hesitated. Iniko grabbed her head; she was torn, confused.

  Why was there so much blood?

  That demonic voice inside her mind boomed, “Yes. Can’t you feel the power? Drink more...”

  Iniko smacked her talon-like fists against her forehead. Her constitution was weak. What had Kuumba done to her?

  The goddess’s words were clear. “Iniko, you can always turn towards the drinking gourd of light. Vanquish the evil.”

  Iniko straightened her shoulders and stood tall. “I will never join you. Death to you and death to your master! I will destroy you.”

  Kuumba’s fangs dropped down as he stepped away. Iniko saw her daughter’s lifeless body. He’d drained her!

  “No!” Iniko yelled. The anger rang throughout her body. She’d failed to protect her daughter. In a fit of passion, she returned to all she was and called forth her dagger and Akofena war sword of light.

  They burned her hands, but she ignored the searing pain. Iniko swung and chopped off her husband’s head. His lips continued to move as spidery tendrils tried to reconnect the head to the body.

  “Iniko, throw my body into the circle of Nana Buluku’s light portal to entrap the Guhruhi.” Iniko became mesmerized with the burning brightness of the portal. She picked up Kuumba’s headless body and was about to throw it in, but crimson oozed out and clung to her arm.

  “Join us. Become one with our cause. We will bring your daughter back to life.”

  Iniko turned towards her daughter’s hollow eyes and broken body. She’d lost everything. Traumatized tears rolled down her cheeks.

  Kuumba’s head whispered, “Don’t trust the evil. Throw my body into the light.”

  Iniko bit down on her lip. The voice of the Obayifo witch spirit grew louder and warped her mind. She listened and realized she could have it all. Iniko stole one last look at her sweet Zawadi. In that moment, she turned from Nana Buluku’s light and opened her heart to the Guhruhi.

  “Yes! I will join you! Save my child!”

  The Guhruhi burrowed into her pores and took her quickly. Iniko screamed, but no sound came. Her vision clouded. She dropped her dagger and sword then fell to her knees.

  “Drink Kuumba’s blood and soul!” the Guhruhi commanded.

  The goddess spoke. “Kuumba, you have fulfilled your vow. Free your soul from your body and soar into the light.”

  Kuumba’s magical soul floated above his body and Iniko felt the mate bond flare for the last time. Kuumba said, “I love you, Iniko, no matter what. I forgive you. I understand the lure of the power. Don’t let it consume you like I allowed it to consume me.”

  The white priest tried to capture Kuumba’s soul, but Nana Buluku’s light shone brightly and blinded them all. As his soul entered the portal, Iniko became cold and empty.

  She dragged herself to the fallen body; her fangs came down, and she lapped up all that was Kuumba’s body and blood. Kuumba’s encasing spell took root inside of her belly.

  She began to cough and choke.

  Iniko’s insides imploded, reforming. Her body split and the Guhruhi was forced to take the shape of Kuumba’s form. They merged into one vessel. One side was Kuumba’s likeness and the other side was Iniko. She’d become twin souls glued together with the Guhruhi.

  Iniko—or it—awoke, face flat to the stone floor. The universe came crashing into its ears as in this new being, new evil life grew. It looked around and Nana Buluku’s portal and light had vanished. It felt cold, abandoned.

  The white priest yelled, “The Prophecy has been fulfilled. Bow to our new Master/Mistress.”

  The twin soul stood up. It saw the dead daughter on the altar. A tear rolled down its cheek.

  “We should kill you for stealing our daughter’s soul, but we have something else in mind. You will be our eyes and ears in this universe. Come drink from us.” It sliced its arm with a talon-like fingernail.

  The priest approached, cautiously, with his fangs ready. He drank the blood, greedily, until it pushed him off.

  “Now, you are bound to us for eternity.”

  “Yes, Master/Mistress.” The priest humbled himself.

  The side that was Iniko saw a cascade of images she didn’t understand. The Great Mother, Mawu, was enjoying the love of a white man, her father, in a sacred bed.

  But his eyes were all wrong.

  Her father was not Tyr but Loki, the Norse god of chaos. Then, she saw Mawu win her final battle when she was pregnant. The goddess’s water broke and she pushed out a child. Iniko’s heart sped.

  More images flooded her mind. Mawu bound the child’s magic and then gave the little girl to the woman who Iniko called “Queen Mother.” Iniko’s side choked.

  Her mother easily abandoned her because of who her “real” father had been.

  The Guhruhi spoke inside. “We have always known that chaos suited you from the beginning. You were destined to join us.” Anger boiled. Iniko’s side went crazy. The evil drowned all that was good.

  The Guhruhi said with Kuumba’s mouth, “We are joined. We have one heart, one mind, and one soul. We will find a way to restore our daughter.”

  Then, the Guhruhi showed the prophecy of another girl magic bearer in America who would be able to resurrect the dead with air magic. It would take three hundred years.

  “Now that we are reborn, we cannot easily walk this plane. We can return to our rightful place, but you must open the door of no return,” the Guhruhi said reassuringly.

  The side that was Iniko looked at Zawadi. “But my child, can she go to this place?”

  “Yes. She will not rot of death. We know a ritual to keep her fresh. She will remain like this until the resurrection.” The Guhruhi showed her an image of what the white priest could do. It also revealed the priest was a descendant of Loki who had been sent as a special gift.

  Iniko’s side receded and watched the Guhruhi who had her husband’s likeness cast a final ritual spell on the white man that bound them together in a trinity of darkness.

  The Guhruhi spoke inside her mind. “This one will be our eyes and ears on this plane until we can return.”

  Iniko’s side picked up her child. Her true essence tried to return, but she looked down at her dead daughter.

  Her heart sobbed.

  She must wait for the other little priestess to be born and resurrect Zawadi. A light caught the side that was Iniko’s eyes. The dagger and Akofena war sword called to her. The Adinkra symbols magically danced along the castle walls.

  They encouraged her to end her own life.

  The light shone brighter and began to irritate her eyes. Iniko’s side turned away and left them. She would do what it took to save her daughter. She would never leave or abandon her child as her mother had done to her.

  The Master/Mistress twin soul walked down the courtyard of the castle clutching the dead child. Iniko’s side closed her eyes and wished the door to open. The portal swirled, radiant and rouge.

  The Master/Mistress stepped into the door of no return as an evil twin soul—reborn on a mission of power and resurrection.

  EPILOGUE

  Mawu

  Mawu tried to awake but she could not. Her soul was crushed. Iniko was lost. Then, another prophetic dream took her under. Iniko’s joining with the Guhruhi had haulted the growth of her newly-conceived child.

  Mawu gasped.

  Iniko was pregnant with the reincarnated soul of Eshu who would be reborn in the new American lands. Would this child join the fight against evil or turn towards chaos?

  FLEE: A SHORT STORY

  This is installment two of the Soul Eater series.

  Flee: A Short Story is the prequel to Rise of an African Elemental. After the death of
her grandmother, Shania Moore, a 27-year old African-American woman, is tormented by her ex-boyfriend and a paranormal serial killer. When Shania falls into a dream realm and connects with an ancient African goddess, her earth magic awakens. Shania realizes that in order to save her daughter’s magical soul, she must run into the arms of the white man who she lied to about having an abortion and stood up at the altar ten years before.

  Flee: A Short Story, Copyright 2012 by Alicia L. McCalla

  Prequel to the Soul Eater Serial Novel

  By Alicia McCalla

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For permission, contact the author at www.aliciamccalla.com

  This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used factiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Cover by Noelle Pierce www.noellepierce.com

  Edited by Pharside Editing http://pharsidecoedbookclub.com/

  Layout and formatting by www.formatting4U.com

  Published in the United States by: ffpincolor, LLC Atlanta, Georgia

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I am so excited about my new paranormal romance series with African elementals. Special thanks to the Pharside editors for help in building this short story. I’d like to thank Donica Crawford, Sharon Cooper, Delany Diamond, Regina Hackett, Noelle Pierce, and Vershawn Young. Thank you all for your support. I’d also like to thank my wonderful husband, Howard McCalla and my son, Asante McCalla. I appreciate you both.

  I’d really like to thank Milton Davis for helping me build a frame of reference for this series in his description of the Sword and Soul genre. I’d also like to thank the Black Science Fiction Society for supporting my work as well as the Georgia Romance Writers.

  I’m so grateful to everyone who has helped further my writing career. Enjoy!

  CHAPTER 1

  The Funeral Repasse

  Shania stared at the wood box on top of the West African chair stool her grandmother left her. She could swear that the Adinkra symbols on the box hummed and glowed. She rubbed her temples. It felt like she should remember something important about the symbols but the memory vanished.

  Her attention focused out the front door of her urban farm apartment. She longed to go outside and work in the community garden like she and her grandmother had done many times before. Her hands ached to touch the earth which always brought her comfort.

  Shania took a deep breath and realized how much she missed her grandmother. She couldn’t believe that she was gone. Person after person consoled her as they arrived for the funeral dinner. She wanted this day to be over. The intensity of the light from the box grew. Everything in her vision seemed to have a greenish hue. Her hands vibrated. She rubbed them on the back of her skirt. Her equilibrium was off. She wanted to keel over. She wiped her puffy eyes. Could anyone else see that thing glowing?

  Shania heard her German shepherd, Thor, growl as she flinched from the smell of alcohol mixed with musty natural oil cologne. Her attention snapped back and her stomach toppled. Not here! Not now! Corbin Mallory, her soon-to-be- ex-boyfriend was next in the funeral line. Her body knotted up as she manufactured a frail smile. She didn’t want him here. There was too much going on.

  The box glowed with a vivid intensity comparable to Corbin’s smell. He drunkenly hugged Shania. She quickly turned her face before he smushed it into his lime green Dashiki. But it wasn’t Corbin that Shania envisioned in her arms, it was images of Deacon, her true love.

  Shania remembered how Deacon looked like a tanned Viking. Her hands while touching Corbin, recalled the feel of Deacon’s dark hair and muscular body. She could sense Deacon’s deep love. She missed Deacon terribly and that was when guilt smashed into her gut. Remorse taunted her with the lies she told Deacon and convinced her she’d lost him forever. Shania pushed back out of Corbin’s embrace.

  Corbin smiled and kissed her forehead. The alcohol combined with natural oil cologne made her want to vomit.

  “Shania, can I borrow you for a moment.” Corbin seemed like a gentle drunk around others, but she knew better. With a firm grip, he escorted her away from the receiving line and forced her into a nearby corner.

  “Can we talk later?” Shania tried to steer her body away from the confinement. She wanted him to leave. He continued to keep her caged, trapped. She stilled as Thor protectively brushed against her leg like a four-legged guardian.

  “This will only take a minute.” Corbin flashed his inebriated smile. He was handsome, tall, biracial with russet-colored skin and jet black hair but looks weren’t everything. Shania reflected. His addiction to alcohol, clinginess, and stalker ways were out of control. And Shania knew she didn’t love him--not like she loved Deacon. She couldn’t remember why she lied to Deacon and stood him up at the altar ten years ago. Two of the Adinkra symbols on the box, the Akofena war swords, clinked and crossed as they danced in vivid colors.

  Then, she heard her grandmother’s Swahili words. “Nkonsonkonso.” [We are linked in both life and death.]

  The words she heard next were the heart symbol. “Nya Akoma.” [The symbol of patience and endurance.] She remembered her grandmother explaining what the symbols meant but her memories were out of focus, unreachable.

  Shania felt Maddy Lynh’s hand on the small of her back. She relaxed. It was good to have her best friend here during her time of need. Maddy flew-in from Atlanta and had been by her side since her grandmother’s passing. Shania loved Maddy and missed her. They’d been friends since high school.

  Eyeing Corbin, Maddy whispered in Shania’s ear, “Is everything okay?”

  “I’m okay. It’ll only be a minute.” Shania gave an anemic, sad smile. She reassured her and watched Maddy head back to the guests.

  Shania could barely think or talk without crying. Her grandmother’s death was hard especially since her parents had been murdered when she was young. Now, it was just Shania and her little girl Lydia, Deacon’s child. She’d never told the man. Guilt ripped through her again. Why did she lie to Deacon and tell him that she had an abortion ten years ago? She couldn’t remember. There was a wall inside her mind blocking the memories. That glowing box was doing something to her. She scrunched her forehead and rubbed her temples even harder.

  Corbin pulled her into his messy moment.

  “Shania, I know this is a difficult time but I had to see you.”

  Shania bit down on her lip. This relationship with Corbin had gotten out of hand. From the onset everything about them being together was wrong. Her heart pounded. She didn’t want to talk to Corbin. She felt sorry for him because he was struggling with alcoholism and she wanted to help.

  In a pitiful, lonely moment Shania had sex with Corbin because she seemed incomplete without Deacon. After ten years, she didn’t even know if Deacon remembered her but what she felt for him was strong, unbreakable. But that weak moment with Corbin resulted in an unwanted pregnancy that she knew she could not keep.

  Shania’s insides shook. She thought back to a few days before her grandmother’s death, Shania did the unspeakable and had an abortion.

  Corbin kissed her forehead again. He reeked like a bad brewery.

  “I know you pregnant with my baby.”

  CHAPTER 2

  The Sucker Punch

  Shania’s stomach somersaulted. Thor growled again. Shania bent down and rubbed his back. Thor had been a puppy when she broke up with Deacon. Thor had a twin, Hercules, who went with Deacon. The separation had been painful for the twin dogs. They both squealed and whined. She flinched at the memory.

  She couldn’t deal with this. She hadn’t told Corbin about the abortion. She hadn’t told anyone about the pregnancy. How did he know?

  “I want to make you an honest woman. I’d nev
er abandon you like Deacon.” Corbin smiled while forcing her into an upright position. He grabbed her hand and cradled it into the center of his sweaty palms.

  Shania wanted to pull her hand back and wipe it clean.

  “I know the only reason you broke up with me was because your grandmother stood between us. Since she’s dead, I’m going down on one knee to ask you to marry me.”

  Corbin’s tall body went down and he looked up at her like an enraptured child.

  Shania couldn’t speak.

  The Adinkra symbols became a blinding light and she shielded her eyes. Tender memories of Deacon flooded her mind, his smell, his lips, and his kisses but there was something else, danger. Her pulse drummed.

  She couldn’t be with Deacon because something bad might happen. Her memories flooded back confused, jumbled. She couldn’t figure out what it all meant.

  Corbin tugged her arm. “Will you marry me?”

  Shania heard gasps behind her. Someone whispered, “Is he for real?”

  This was all moving too fast. The Sankofa Adinkra symbol danced, floated.

  Her grandmother’s words rang in her ears. “SE wo were fin a wosankofa a yenkyi. [It is no taboo to return and fetch it when you forget. You can always undo your mistakes].”

  Shania’s body pulsated. Her vision turned green. It felt like the forces of Earth pushing through her soul. She drew back and shielded her eyes. Earth magic awakened. The urban farm apartment complex shook.