Don't Rock The Cradle - Episode IV

Don't Rock The Cradle - Episode IV  (Josh Ziregbe)

Previous Episodes

Don't Rock The Cradle - Episode I
Don't Rock The Cradle - Episode II
Don't Rock The Cradle - Episode III


Omalicha is pulling through. She can remember blanking out, not exactly losing consciousness but just losing herself. Falling face first into a pool of pitch darkness is the best way she can describe it.

She can barely see, like a person just waking up from sleep, her vision is still blurred. A woman is screaming, yes this is a woman's voice and the source of the scream is moving. The woman is running, she's running straight for the bushes, Omalicha can see clearly now. She recognizes where she is, this is the edge of the river bank and she is looking at the River Niger. Something is different, she can feel it. The vegetation looks wilder for one.

Woman: Help! Help! Somebody help me!!!

The woman is running and panting in between breathes. Retracing her path, she could only have come out of the water but that's ridiculous, isn't it? Omalicha's eyes swing back to the woman, her body looks wet yet her clothes look dry. The facts are not adding up.

Almost immediately, she sees it with her own eyes. If she isn't going crazy right now then that woman definitely ran out of the water. Two men are walking on the Niger, armed with blades that she instantly recognises as Benin blades. These particular blades are only for a chief's personal guards, Omalicha can remember what her father taught her. "If you ever see men with weapons like that, run!", he said. They must be dangerous. What are high ranking Benin guards doing all the way here? Is the woman running away from them? Who is she, why are they chasing her? What on earth is going on?

What came next happened so fast that if she had blinked, she would have missed it.  Even with her eyes wide open, she didn't quite catch it. Omalicha saw someone flash past the woman and go straight for the Benin warriors. She knew that was what she saw because now there was someone  else in the mix, a third man. He had an impressive blade of his own, wait, Omalicha recognises his blade too. There is no doubt about it, it has to be, there cannot be another. What on earth is happening here? She is even more confused. That person is holding an heirloom to the founder of Onitsha, that is an ancestral weapon and no one has been allowed to hold it in generations. Who exactly is he?

*Clash*

Omalicha has never seen this level of power before, this is ridiculous! "Am I still alive?", she thinks to herself, "Are these people human?". The shockwave from the clash of their blades causes the air to quake, a tree even falls! "Just from a clash!??", Omalicha is wide-eyed in shock.

Stranger: Who are you and why are you chasing a woman on my land?

The stranger does not sound pleased. Omalicha is not concerned about his emotions at the moment, who is he to claim her people's land? She too is annoyed.

Benin Guards: Who are you to question us?

Omalicha: Ask the man! (in her mind)

Benin Guards: We are guards to the Esere of Benin, Osaredion Obamwonyi, Chief of the affairs of the Oba's house. Who are you?

Stranger: This is my land.

Omalicha realises that these people are speaking different languages yet she can understand them clearly and they can understand themselves as well. This is weird but she can't be bothered. After seeing two people walk on water, concluding that a third casually just strolled out of the Niger, she cannot be surprised by something as trivial as this. At least she's getting the gist, the conversation continues.

Benin Guard I: You do not seem to be of the Igala, they we know very well. Nevertheless, we have no business with you. We have come for that woman.

Stranger: Anyone who seeks refuge in my land receives it. This woman shall not be harmed on my watch.

Benin Guard II: Such insolence!

Benin Guard I: Leave this lunatic to me.

The guard launches his assault. This is surreal, their battle is affecting everything around them. Every slash is going beyond the edge of the blade with a force strong enough to slice through rocks, they are cutting stone like it's nothing! What strength!! The land claimer seems to be having the upper hand without taking his opponent seriously. The guard notices this as well and in anger flexes his muscles and throws a savage slash, the stranger ducks and a line of trees suffer for it, they lose their tops.

In quick retaliation, he plants a foot against the guard's chest but the impact sounds more like a clap of thunder against the man's rib cage. The guard is down on one knee but Omalicha does not understand how thunder can strike a man yet he does not fall. "These men must be beasts!", she concludes. The second guard makes to go for his blade but just before he touches it.

Benin Guard I: I said leave the lunatic to me!

Still down on one knee and balancing on the tip of the toes of his other foot, the guard chants something. This time Omalicha cannot understand. He looks up, scorn written all over his face and his fist now covered in flames. The stranger sees the fire and his demeanor further darkens. The second guard scoffs.

Benin Guard II: Now you meet your end, fool!

Stranger: *Silence*

The guard throws his punch but this is more like an explosion, like a god opened his mouth and spat fire against the enemy of his disciple! The stranger stabs his blade into the ground, even Omalicha is worried for him, does he want to die!? "Get out!", she screams. He doesn't seem to hear her, none of them do but then the woman, the one that was running, looks in her direction.

The stranger stretches out just one hand as death by fire approaches him and that is it! The fire disappears at his hand, not a thong of flame goes beyond him.

Stranger: I see you are a disciple of the ancient art, but you still have much to learn *grunt!*

The earth on which the stranger is standing quakes and lifts him up into the sky, his blade is up in the air with him still driven into the piece of earth. There are scorch marks where the earth lifted up from, like the piece of earth was propelled into the sky by a blast. Omalicha squints below the floating mass on which the stranger stands and she notices that light just beneath it is being bent. The same effect just above the fire of a cooking pot. The piece of earth isn't just floating, it's being propelled by fire. This must require a level of mastery and control that either comes with years of experience or genius.

Stranger: *grunt!*

He recoils his fists to either side of his waist and ignition! Both fists are covered in grizzly green flames!

Stranger: Oku mmuo!

If what came before was an explosion then the stranger was right to call this what he did. Omalicha heard him clearly, he is speaking her language after all, "Hell fire!" The stranger had directed his reply to the guard and his reply was disproportionately overwhelming, a raging beam of fire with a diameter the height of a grown man.

The second Benin Guard appears in front of the first, Omalicha didn't even see him move. The first puts his hand on the back of the second as if to add to his strength.

Benin Guard II: Agenebode!

Water from the Niger rushes in front of the duo and the impact of the stranger's inferno is being mediated by the extension of the river that has engulfed the men. *Grunt!* It appears the stranger is getting serious. The flames keeping the stranger's earth floating are now more visible as he exerts an extra burst of energy. The Benin guards' water shield is engulfed and the battle is clearly decided. There is steam everywhere.

*Thud*

The floating earth has fallen back to the ground. Omalicha can't make out what is happening clearly because of the steam but she can see silhouettes. The three men are all in one place and a blade seems to be resting on somebody's shoulders. The steam is lifting.

Stranger: Leave my land with your life or stay and die.

The stranger has his blade in his hand and it is resting on the first guard's right shoulder with the sharp edge pointing inwards. The second guard refrains from moving because he can feel the heat of the flames on the stranger's hands a few inches away from his back. They have been outclassed.

Woman: You! How is it that you are here? You are not supposed to be here.

Omalicha is startled, she didn't know the woman had come close to her, the woman was right in her face. She was right, the woman did look in her direction earlier, the woman heard her scream.

Woman: This is not your time, this is generations before even your great grandmother was born. You remind me of my younger sister, you look very much like her.

The woman smiled as she spoke of her own younger sister but Omalicha was confused, quite frankly scared, and so she just stared.

Woman: It seems you do not understand what is going on, you have come here by accident and that makes this even more dangerous. You must return immediately or the consequences could be grave! Time travel is forbidden for a reason.

*Gasp*

Just then, Omalicha feels a shock, like a hand has gripped her heart. She is grappling in the air, struggling to breathe as she falls back into that same pool of darkness she came out from. She tries to hold her breathe this time.

Woman: Breathe, relax, I'll be waiting for...

She barely hears the woman's voice as it fades away into the darkness. She is losing herself again.

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