Ala Hears Their Cry

Ala Hears Their Cry (Josh Ziregbe)

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Episode I - The Ram God

Rumour of the destruction of cities and decimation of nations following the wake of the Ram God is spreading. The wind carries word that Kibuka's fury is coming to West Africa, that he has already made a desert of the Sahara. It has now reached Ndi Igbo, a people at the base of Africa's River Niger that the Ram is on a collision course for their home. They have cried to their supreme goddess Ala to protect them, to save them from impending annihilation. Ala has heard their cry.

Ala is the goddess of the earth, the daughter of the elder god Chukwu. She is a symbol of fertility and that is why the Igbo people call a woman's breasts 'Ala'. Even in death, it is within her womb that the ancestors rest. She is known as 'Ani' among some of the Igbo dialects which itself means ground or earth. At the end of each year's rains, the people celebrate "Iwa ji", the New Yam Festival, in her honor. Today the years of homage have paid as Ala herself has risen to defend her people from the Ram.

Ala: Turn back, you are not welcome here.

Kibuka: Move, you are in my way.

Ala: Leave this land at once or face the consequences

Kibuka: *Silence*

Ala: You have chosen your end, come forth and be sent back to eternal slumber.

The earth quakes and a rupture appears beneath where Ala is hovering. The tear in the ground is running towards Kibaku who is already charging straight for Ala. The ground continues to rumble and Ala lifts several large boulders into the sky, taking from within the earth and breaking off from the hills. Kibaku still has in his hand the skull of the ram and a glint can be seen from the pith of the darkness in its eyes. The Ram God's missing leg is being replaced by a phantom limb, the power of the ram is being called forth. *Whoosh!* Kibaku dodges a large piece of earth, his stride does not even falter, Ala has begun to strike.

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