57 The Key

"There are things you will not understand no matter how I explain them to you Lokoit. Just know the little I have told you. Even the young man you said I guess does not even understand himself. He will know whom he is with time. I also warn you to stop looking for trouble with him. Ordainers are meant to serve people beyond their own tribes. If you kill him before he unleashes his full might as an Ordainer, a legend to save you people shall be gone." The old man explained.

The two middle aged men nodded their heads in understanding. Ordainers were known by the people to be rare. Nobody knew they could not exist as two or more people at the same time. That is why the Dark Jackal from North thought it could find another Ordainer on earth. It did not know the one it could find if there was another one other than Kuru Kureri could be extremely useless to it.

"I did not want to talk about this but since I have said this much, I think it is good to let you know. The young man only knows he is an Ordainer but his main role he doesn't know. The one from aboveis waiting for him to awaken his three main powers as an Ordainer before he is taken for training."

"Ordainers are meant to save mankind from evil. According to a prophet that died a few seasons ago, this generation is going to face a great storm. It is the work of an Ordainer to save the people from such things, if you want to cease to exist, eradicate the young man." After saying so, Kuru took his pipe and drunk the liquor silently.

Lokoit and Luvembe did not know things were this complicated. They remained silent wearing excusatory looks. If they knew the roles of an Ordainer, they could have not tried to seek revenge.

At noontide, Ochieng' and his companions arrived at the foot of a hill in a dry land. The map changed. The terrains it was showing a moment ago disappeared. A dark arrow appeared on its surface. They stopped to take a rest there and eat something.

"That was fast Jade Eagle. I thought we were going to travel for a few days." Ochieng' sighed looking at Jade Eagle as if he did not know it.

"The water I drunk from the lagoon had given me strength to move at that speed. If it was before, we could have travelled for at least three to four days."

The others nodded their heads upon hearing what Jade Eagle said. Water from the Lagoon of holy water was indeed marvellous. No wonder Dark Jackal from North and other beasts protected it even with their lives.

They rested for around thirty minutes before they started following the direction the map pointed. The arrow kept changing its direction, from left to right, north to south. They walked for an hour before the arrow disappeared.

"We are here." Ochieng' said his eyes lighting up immediately. Others were not any different. From their faces one could only read excitement.

White light came out of the piece of skin. Maybe because it was day time, they seemed not to notice it. After a few minutes though, the light brightened to a point that they could notice. Ochieng' did not hesitate after he saw the light, he tore the piece of skin in the middle from the top to the bottom.

Immediately the map was torn, energy surged releasing air waves that swept out. The beasts and Apeleka were immediately sent flying several metres away. Only Ochieng' was unaffected and he even seemed to have not noticed what had just happened because he was shrouded in white light. His field of vision was suppressed by the light.

Just above his head was a golden key that was suspended in the air. The key was rotating in a very slow motion. Its sparkly surface made it look extremely beautiful.

Ochieng' unconsciously reached out to touch the key and what happened next gave him the shock of that day.

Immediately he touched the key, his vision darkened in a second before finding himself at the center of a large square hall. He did not know how he got there. The hall had walls of exquisitely crafted stones and the floor was made of beautifully decorated tiles. The ceiling was made of attractively arranged pieces of wood. On those pieces of wood hung pearls that illuminated the whole hall. The hall was around one hundred square meters in area.

Ochieng's mouth was opened wide out of shock. He turned around to see if maybe he could see his way out but to his disappointment, apart from small windows on the walls, there was no other openings in the hall. He was only around 1.5 metres tall. The windows were arranged along a straight line on the eight meter points on the ten meter tall walls. Even if the windows were large enough to let him pass, he could not jump up to that point. Unfortunately, putting aside him, not even a hen couldpass through the windows easily because they were extremely small; around a feet long and a feet wide. When he saw the darkness beyond them, he knew they were just there for decoration purposes.

Knowing that just standing there could not help him, he decided not to think of getting out of the hall but think of the reason he was here. He decided to carefully study the hall and see what could possibly be there. It is then that he saw a one meter tall altar at one of the corners of the hall. He walked softly towards it to have a closer look.

The alter was one metre tall, and had a square cross section which was one square meters in terms of area. It was made of steel and embedded on its edges were golden bodies of beasts he had never seen before.On the four top vertices of the alter were the heads of those beasts with all of their faces facing outwards. Their mouths were opened and their eyes looked vicious. From their mouths came azure smoke what shocked Ochieng' beyond words.

"An Ordainer has finally arrived in my hall."

He had no sooner reached near the altar than a deep ancient voice resounded within the hall. He turned around to see where the voice came from but saw nobody.

'Don't tell me the voice originated from this altar' After looking around and seeing no one, he turned to the altar and had an ineffable expression on his handsome face.

"Where is Ochieng'? Is he alright?" Asked Apeleka wearing a disquieted face.

They had already recovered from what they had suffered from a moment ago. Apeleka only thought of Ochieng' the moment she came to.

"I believe he is alright." Answered Jade Eagle shaking its head confidently but deep within its eyes one could see traces of worry.

"But where is he?" Apeleka still did not understand what was happening.

In this world, the one person she truly loved other than her mother and Anyango, Ochieng's mother was Ochieng'. This was a man she had enigmatically met in the forbidden land. She unknowingly fell in love with him the more she saw him. When they finally met face to face, she had inwardly sworn that she would never leave his side. Being by his side, she had received great help from the young man and the love between them became stronger and stronger. His disappearance was always her plague.

"You worry too much Apeleka. Do you realize everything that appeared when Ochieng' tore the map disappeared with him. Furthermore, he was the only one capable of reading the map. When that mysterious light appeared, we were all blasted off except for him. From these, it is clear he is the only one in a better condition. I think we should just find a place and have some rest as we wait for him to appear." Consoled Jakony. It was the only one Apeleka could listen to more in this group.

"Okay." Apeleka said and followed the beasts though she never stopped worrying about Ochieng'.