58 Mbaraka Nyika

"Don't bother searching my friend, I am within this altar." The ancient voice resounded again waking Ochieng' from his shock.

"Who are you?" The young man asked with a deep frown between his brows, his eyes full of fear.

"I am Mbaraka Nyika, the first Ordainer in our great Keniya land in the Black Continent." There was some pride in the primordial voice.

"Keniya land? Black Continent?" Ochieng' was at sea. He had never heard those names before.

"Have a seat first because we are going to have a long discourse."

"Seat?!"

In his state of confusion, a beautiful chair redolent of a throne appeared before him. His eyes shimmered when he thought of sitting on such chair. It is worth mentioning that even the tribe heads of various communities only sat on golden stools. Even though they were crafted to be comfortable enough for a tribe head, they still paled in comparison to the chair that just appeared before him. He had not seen a tribe head's stool before, he was certain they could not match the chair he was seeing.

Without even thinking twice, he jumped to the chair revealing a satisfied smile. The chair was more than comfortable.

Ostensibly seeing what the young man was doing, a hearty laughter echoed in the room. The hall remained silent for a moment before something bizarre egressed from the center of the altar. It was a puff of smoke that formed a perfect figure. The figure absolutely resembled a real human being. The human was an old man with white hair and dark skin. He looked young on the face and if not for his thin body, his white hair and a few wrinkles on his small head, one could not believe he was an old man. The old man remained floating on the surface of the altar.

Ochieng' stood to flee but the was stopped by a loud 'stop' from the old man. He stopped but was his heart was palpitating loudly. He was also hyperventilating with widened eyes. He was even shuddering!

If not a ghost, what on earth did he see?

In this land, nothing was feared more than ghosts. The dead could appear to everyone through dreams and nobody feared them. It was considered as a means of communication between the dead or the ancestors and the living. Nevertheless, nobody wanted to meet someone who had died physically. Ochieng' was not an exemption. He only managed to talk to Rende Kabando in the past just because the latter explained everything before Ochieng' fainted out of fear. Furthermore, Ochieng' met him in his unconscious state.

Right now, he was sure he was conscious. First, it was the hall that he did not even know its exit. Secondly, it was that outre altar. When he least expected it, a voice reverberated in the mysterious hall then it was that chair. After going through such traumatization, how could he keep his cool when he saw what appeared like a ghost, what was feared most in his land?

"Do not be afraid my brother. I am not a ghost, I am just a fragment of Mbaraka Nyika's soul. I am here to give you a few instructions and then I will fade away. You are an Ordainer, you should never be afraid at any given circumstances."

Seeing through Ochieng's fear, the old man came to his rescue. Ochieng' breathed a heavy sigh of relief before sitting on the golden chair. He wiped off the perspiration that was trickling down his forehead.It was the first time he had felt that fearful.

"Forgive me elder for the misunderstanding." Ochieng' bowed his head a little.

"There is no need for that. You are still young, you are yet to know the world. I cannot blame you for something as infinitesimal as that." The elder shrugged off.

"Thank you elder."

"I really don't have much time. I should tell you what you need to know before I finally rest entirely. I have been in this altar for the last fifty thousand seasons, I was waiting for an Ordainer to come and release me and thanks to the One from above, you are finally here." The old soul shook his head happily.

"But something is not right elder, I met an Ordainer who lived several seasons ago. I met him in a map to this place and he was the one who showed me how to use it. If I remember correctly, I was to come to his treasure vault, why is everything different now?" Having remembered something, Ochieng' asked in a confused manner.

"That must be the thirty fourth Ordainer, the One With The Map. His role was to make that map to this place so that an Ordainer to fulfil the prophecy to have it. He made it under the instructions of the One from above. How he could give the instructions was upon him. What is important is that you are here." The old man smiled.

"Elder, I don't understand everything you are talking about. Who is this One from above? And what is this prophecy and what is with the Ordainer counting?" Ochieng' was confused.

"That is why I am here. Before I died fifty thousand seasons ago, the One from above had a fragment of my soul severed and sealed in this altar so that I could give warning to the thirty sixth generation ofthe Ordainers but unfortunately, he was too weak to take up our course. He encountered something mysterious over one thousand seasons ago. The One from above thought he was smart enough to change his fate but his failure only confirmed his weakness thence you were born to save mankind..."

"How did you know that much if you were sealed?" Ochieng' interrupted.

"I got everything through dreams from the One from above. The One from above is the creator of heaven and earth and everything that lives in it." The old man grinned.

"Really? So, we the Lu people were created by this One from above?"

"That is right"

"But we came from Ramogi? How come we were again created by that One from above?" Ochieng' could still not understand.

"Okay, Ramogi was created by the One from above."

"Was Ramogi not created by 'Were'?"

"The One from aboveand 'Were' are the same person. We use the former name simply because Ordainers are chosen from different tribes and you know we call Him differently in every tribe." The old soul patiently explained.

"I see..." Ochieng' nodded in understanding, "Now tell me about the prophecy and the numbering of Ordainers."

"Sure." Mbaraka Nyika cleared his voice before narrating, "The people of Keniya land lived happily until Black Fiends surreptitiously came one day. They feed on the flesh and blood of humans. They ravished women and destroyed everything that belonged to humans. Humans in Keniya tried getting rid of them but the magic they had was too powerful for humans to go against."

Ochieng's breathing had changed and he was gritting his teeth in anger. The old man had also paused to have a heavy breath before continuing.

"Many decided to seek help from the powerful wizards of that time. When the Black Fiends learned that people were using magic against them, they went berserk and destroyed the human race even more. Humans begged for mercy and they indeed had mercy but in exchange of all the wizards in Keniya. This led to the death of very many wizards."

"Realizing that they would cease to exist, the remaining wizards decided to meet and work together against the Black Fiends. This was the time the One from above interposed. He knew he would lose all the wizards in Keniya. He decided to ask them to hide and wait for his help. He chose to help humans through special people called Ordainers. Knowing that the Fiends could kill any Ordainer if they were born, he decided not to tell anyone about them. That is why not much is known about them after they are born even after so many have passed."

"I was the first one to be born. I went through special training in an island far from Keniya. I was led there by the One from above himself. He trained me through visions. When I came back to Keniya, I fought the Black Fiends and won. The One from above promised to save humans from future trouble, so he decided to have Ordainers in every generation. To avoid trouble, he chose to have one Ordainer at any given time. So, I was the first one, thirty five others followed me and you are now the thirty seventh one. The thirty sixth one lives but like I told you before, he met a mysterious thing in the past, so he is more or less an ordinary human."

"A few weeks before I joined my ancestors, The One from above saw what could happen in future. He decided that part of me remain to help the Ordainer that would exist in that future in a few things."

"But the One from above can warn me directly, why did he choose to use you?"

"A man understands a fellow man more easily than any other thing. The One from above doesn't want to see what happened in the past repeated. He could not take any risk."

"And what exactly will happen?"

Before Ochieng' received an answer, the altar shook violently before several cracks appeared on its surface.