Next morning the recluse forbade Arpaksad to go saying that he was not strong enough. But he didn’t listen to her and instead won her over to tell him where exactly Uglyface lived. She told him that Uglyface was the king of a small kingdom hidden to the eyes of ordinary man which could not be found by mere explorations of men. She told him about an invisible ‘yellow river’ that bordered his kingdom away from the rest of the world. That world could become visible to a person only when he had crossed the ‘yellow river’. And only the extra ordinaries knew where that border existed.

  Agnethas tried her best to reason with him that going after the killer would be a foolish thing for a man with ordinary potentials to do. But this son of the slain father was not an easy coward either. He felt that he could satisfy his hunger and quench his thirst only after he had chopped off the monster’s head.

  And so, he went to the direction where his lover-turned-recluse said the invisible line existed. The invisible border, also called the ‘yellow river’ was not really any river but a widespread term used by the village folks for an undergrowth of spiky bushes under which was a river-like column that served as a boundary line between the kingdoms of the mortal human population and the unexposed world of immortal gods such as the little sprites, the mischievous imps and elves, the cunning goblins, the ugly trolls, the clever brownies, the beautiful nymphs and fairies and needless to mention, the blood thirsty predators of the vampiric and wolverine clan. Because of the razor-sharp thorn that looked perilous to the ordinary people, no one even thought of going near the undergrowth for it was also said that creatures of the deadliest kind lived along the line.

  Daring all this likelihood, the brave big brother ventured. On the later part of a few more days, he found the described part of the terrain and waded through the pricks and thorns. But he was pleasingly taken aback to discover that the undergrowth of spiky bushes which was believed to be an unsafe path was rather a very safe passage with not an obstacle that led to a secreted world. The thorny thicket was only a diversion for human eyes.

  Not far from there, was the said kingdom where the ugly king lived with his loyal subjects. The avenger wondered what the inhabitants would look like. He thought he would not be an inch nervous but he knew that he was feeling a little panicky as he found himself at a strange world where strange people live; a place which had always been heard of since long but where no human had ever been.

  3

  The End of the Eight Brothers

  He did not see any source of light. But the land was dimly lit almost like the twilight hour. The sky seemed to be as high as normal but a bit cloudier and the edifices and lodges were made of unknown supplies. Everyone seemed to be minding their own work. Nobody asked who he was or where he had come from. He was not seen as a stranger by the native people living in that unfrequented hidden civilization. Their looks were scary and funny as well. Some had pointed noses, some had tails on their backs, while others had big round eyes and floppy ears. Their features were all different. There were also some who looked exactly like humans except for their long sharp corner teeth, extra darkened eye-brows and deep red lips.

  He explored the place half hiding and half exposing. He came across a community of people who were more beautiful and fairer in complexions than the people at his village. He saw the fauns and the satyrs and other life forms that seemed to be gentler. Then he came to a place where he saw blocks of outbuildings and a big lodge that looked like a stronghold. When he peeped in through one of the holes in the wall, he learnt that the lodge was the home of the lord of this new found world. The lord and the subjects living with him were the exact replica of men. He decided to check in to know more about the people living there.

  When the gate-keeper announced to the lord about the new arrival, he was delighted because he already knew who the visitor was. A messenger from the humans’ world, the primate chief, had pre-informed him about a redressing son who would come to avenge his father. The lord instructed his loyal maids to serve the stranger with generosity. At nightfall the visitor was allowed to meet the lord in person. He greeted the lord and told him that he was a pilgrim and that he wanted the lord to bless him for his pilgrimage. He also expressed to the lord that it was his heart’s elation to see him.

  The host and lord of this semi lighted land was a muscly kind of a man, tall, handsome and apparently noble. He was dressed in a long purple robe that came down to his feet. He wore a breastplate made of sea shell and carried a sword with an eye-like stone on the hilt. He looked mid-aged and positive and his subjects seemed to dread him more than respect him. Everyone would kneel when he passed. He talked in different tongues to his subjects. His hair came down to his neck line. He also wore a crest on his head.

  At midnight when even the dim light was no more except for the glow-worms that provided tiny illumination over the house tops and when everything was quiet and silent, the lord of this weird kingdom whispered to the wind. The wind then whispered to the termites and soon an army of soldier termites set off to work.

  Unknown to the knowledge of Arpaksad the avenger pilgrim, while he was fast asleep and visioning of the victory over his father’s killer, the termites, in obedience to their lord’s command, destroyed and ate up the interior strand of the bow and arrows which were hidden behind the boulder outside the fortress. At dawn when the dim light was beginning to peep in for a new day, a rooster repeatedly crowed whistling, “Cock-a-doodle-do! Cock-a-doodle-do! The lord lives! The pilgrim dies! The lord lives! The pilgrim dies!” So, to avoid the pilgrim from being alerted, the rooster was ordered to be finished off.

  Next morning after an enticing brunch of parboiled rice and kebabs, with the host walking by his side to see him off till the fortress, the pilgrim set off to continue his so-claimed sacred journey. When they crossed the gateway and had gone some hundred yards away from there, the pilgrim revealed his true identity and what his real intention was to have come there.

  The lord sniggered. He demonstrated not a sign of terror or surprise but seemed rather pre-informed and thrilled. “Now show me what you looked like when you killed my father so that I may show to my people that I killed the real you.” So saying, the desperate avenger picked his weapon up from behind the big boulder and pulled the string of his bow with an arrow aiming straight at the heart of the demon king who had now shifted his form from a handsome lord into his real paranormal ghostlike ugly self. It happened too fast. The bow broke; the arrows snapped; the neck warped; and blood drained out of the man. Thanks to the termites; faithful disciples of the lord.

  After he had his fill, the lord of the dim world gave a long wailing cry of satisfaction that echoed round and shook the whole kingdom as he felt his strength enhanced by fresh human blood which he had not tasted for quite a while. In fact, Uglyface had been gentler after he had slept with Agnethas, a mortal woman who fled after bearing him a baby-girl.

  That was the end of the first brother. When the waiting turned futile at the village, the next eldest brother Nahorin decided to set out in search of his brother Arpaksad. The mother objected to no use. This adamant young man was also determined to follow suit. He took with him everything that his elder brother had taken with him when he left. He met the same village of the primates on the evening of the first day of his journey; took the same test and failed to hit the target. He misinterpreted the nodding indication of the primate chief like his elder brother and proceeded.

  On the evening of the second day of his journey he came across the woman loner and couldn’t eat the leaf insects, leatherjackets, leeches and tadpoles or drink the quince-like acidic and sour milk. He slept with her and couldn’t come out until orally drawn out. He refused to discontinue his journey in spite of the woman’s counsel. He encountered and experienced everything that his brother had seen and experienced. He met the same fate and suffered the same death.

  All the brothers one after another, down to the last of the twins had an abortive attempt to avenge their father and finally ended up fulfilling the ultimate destiny of their lives in the jaws of the blood-drinking lord of the fallen world providing him more strength and power by the supply of their pure youthful blood. The mother of eight sons thus became a widow and mother of none.

  But she got excited later one day by the power of an unknown force that came upon her in her sleep.

  4

  The Lustful Angel

  “There’s a woman uncontrollably lamenting in tears down below on the earth,” said a seraph to the king who was seated on the throne. “You have again opened the backdoor. How many times have I told you children not to do that? The earth is an abode of heartache. The inhabitants are cursed. Every time you look down, you will always find it in turmoil.” the king said.

  But the king knew that it was his concern for he made the earth by his own wisdom for his own purpose. Though the humans were sent down to the earth because of their fall, they still worshipped him on occasions and acknowledged him as their creator. While on the other hand, the gods and the goddesses of the demonic clan who were sent down much earlier, continued to rebel against him under the headship of the seven-headed beast who wanted the Throne of the king for himself.

  So, the king said to the one who looked down upon the earth, “Go down, you unlearning child and find out the cause of her grief.”

  The guardian angel reached down the earth and soon came back. He said to the king, “Her husband was devoured by a man-eater and all her sons have not returned.” “Why did you leave her be and not comfort her?” admonished the one on the throne. “I know not how to,” replied the angel. “You of so little insight!” said the king, “Fly over the land and find her a man with the noblest heart to be her novel husband. She will bear more children and find peace,”. So the elated soldier of heaven went down to the earth again and flew all over the land to find the noblest man. But he came back declaring that there was not a man with a noble heart on the earth. All men were corrupt.

  Then the king of the firmament and maker of the earth and everything upon it said to the archangel, “Go then and satisfy yourself and the woman, you lustful herald. Make love to her and let her have a child of her desire from your covetousness. If she chooses wisely for a son, he shall grow up to behead the man-eater and the earth shall be blessed again with the peace and glory of Eden. But if she chooses for a daughter, the earth shall not retrieve its glory. Yet her daughter shall be the most beautiful creation ever created on earth who shall grow up to revolutionize the world. Out of her number-of-the-days offspring, shall a mastermind be born who would both intimidate and reassure the world.”

  So the angel came upon the woman when she lay on the couch alone on a full moon night. He took her to a garden in her dream and appeased her the whole night.

  5

  Lilium and the Lustful Angel

  One full moon night, a year later after the last son left her to follow his brothers’ footsteps, the melancholic widow, weary of mourning the death of her entire family, was fast asleep on the couch when, in her dream, she found herself in a flower plot. As she drifted and roamed along the endless garden path, the fragrance of the enchanting flowers gave her exceeding joy and peace of mind. When she reached down to pluck a flower, lo! her affectionate husband who had grown wings on his sides, was there too sitting on his heels and touching the boughs of the plants. He turned to his wife, gave her a smile and gently yet vigorously made love to her in a handsome flower garden, fulfilling his own lust till the morning light when at last he let himself reach the climax and came out inside her. The woman on the couch moaned in satiation as her husband, who was a planter but now appeared to be a winged knight, made love to her on a bed of roses and lilies and dahlias. She felt the thrill of contentment that was never experienced before even during the practical years when she was once married to a man of her heart.

  After the game of pleasure in the garden, the winged man started to leave trying to avoid looking at her anymore. When she held him back and looked at him, she was shocked to see that it was not her husband at all. She had been cheated. She felt like an unfaithful wife. But it was just a dream.

  Or was it really just a dream?

  In the morning when she awoke, she felt tired and exhausted, as if she had spent the night wrestling with twenty giants. Her legs were wide apart and her petticoat was rolled up to her waist. The bedclothes smelt sweaty and her long-forsaken genital was wet and watery. She couldn’t comprehend the position she was in. Has someone used her while asleep? Nay! The door was intact from inside.

  Two months passed peacefully. She didn’t remember a thing. Only three months later did she realize that she hadn’t had her monthly periods! ‘Am I old enough to be menstrual-free now?’ she asked herself. No, because she was not even two scores yet. She was married at seventeen. The eight sons that were born to her were developed in just three pregnancies. They were all given birth in just three normal child delivery cases without even consulting the village expert. The eldest triplets were fifteen years old; the next triplets were fourteen and the youngest twins were just thirteen years old when her husband turned into the victim of his own curse. She was not even two scores!

  Thirty days passed with questions in her thoughts, and then she realized that she had gained weight. She was with a child in her womb!

  What had happened? What caused the zygote in her womb? What could she tell the people? How could they believe it? She cursed herself and the day she was born. She wished she had long gone to the land of the dead. Why did the man-eater spare her? Why did she not go to seek vengeance where she would end up like her children? Why were the gods not giving her any of the good turns that others were given? She was afflicted with much pain already. And now as though her sufferings were just too little, the gods seemed to enjoy adding salt on her wounds. Why should she carry on enduring more? Wasn’t the tragic end of her loving husband and all eight sons enough? What wrongs had she committed? Which limit had she crossed? Why were the heavens unmoved and apathetic with her? She wanted to stab and kill herself and the baby in her womb.

  She looked for her husband’s old dagger. It was right there on the shelf. It had always been there. She saw it just there the previous night. But where was it that day? She checked in the old drawer. It was not there either. She desperately rushed here and there to find the knife and in so doing, she knocked her head against the main support of the roof in the middle of the old shack and collapsed.

  She didn’t know for how long she had been dazed but when she woke up, the day had already well advanced.

  Strange but true, she was with child and she had to accept her fate however cruel it might seem. Impregnated by a spirit who gave her the climax of satisfaction in her dream!

  Weeks later when the village folks came to know of her condition, they threw insults and accused her of not being faithful to her husband’s spirit who still watched over her.

  The old traditional belief of the people was that a woman whose husband had died should remain faithful to her husband until her last breath because a dead man’s ghost continued to live on on this earth to defend his wife in fear that she might marry another man. The waiting on his wife was to unite himself with her in the spiritual realms when she too died on the earth. If a woman whose husband had died married another man, then the spirit of the dead man would have nowhere to go and hence suffered a second death which was eternal gloom. So, fearing eternal darkness in the spiritual life, he watched over his wife’s every move. Therefore, a widow was strictly forbidden to marry or sleep with another man.

  However, if the wife died early, her ghost would not be watching over her husband but would be gone to a waiting place called holiday home where she waited for the coming of her husband to unite again in the spiritual realm. It was not forbidden for a man to marry another woman if he couldn’t bear the pangs of loneliness. He could marry any woman of his choice provided the woman was unmarried and willing to become his wife. When this happened, the ghost of the woman who died would have gone from holiday home to nirvana to live with the angels and become one like them. She would not unite with her husband who had married another woman but she would be rewarded with the stature of an angel. In the case of a child or a youth, their ghosts directly go to the bliss to live with the angels until they unite with their families in the spiritual world.

  So, the people were much incensed with Lilium holding her responsible for sending her husband Ahisamak to eternal damnation by sleeping with another man and getting conceived. They called her an unfaithful widow, a whore and a woman who suffered from nymphomania, an uncontrollable sexual lust. The kids threw at her animal excrement and the adolescents would often knock on her door late at night calling, “Mother Lilium, mother Lilium, let your children in, let your children in. We’ve brought you the head of the beast.”

  One night during the sixth month of her gravidity she had another dream. She was there again, the same flower garden where she was cheated on. She saw the winged man who satisfied her among the flowers of many colors. The seraph strolled beside her like a friend and asked, “Would you have a bouquet or a garland?” Discerning that garland symbolized the return of a warrior or a son whereas a bouquet signified the gift of beauty or a daughter, she told the angel that she would have a bouquet as she had had enough sons. She did not want to add anymore heartache upon her already grievous life by having another son who would again go on a hopeless attempt to react to the killing of the whole family. She did not expect any victory, for all the hopes of her son’s victory over the monster had been worthless.

  The angel once again asked her, “Would you have a garland or a bouquet?” this time mentioning the second one first. Again, she gave the same reply, “I will have a bouquet.”