Chapter 1: A Mysterious Little Boy
Birds sang that morning as the sun rose with majestic warmth, pouring it's abundance of life upon the tropical island of Nyumbani. This small island was a beautiful one, full of rich and vibrantly colorful flora of miraculous sizes and shapes. The fertile soils held the footprints of many diverse creatures, some small, some large...but there was one creature that didn't leave footprints. No, this creature left a different mark of it's mysterious presence. A mark that has been long forgotten within the minds of many...until now.
Overlooking a nearby stream within the tropical forest, a fruit bat hangs upside down, munching sweetly from a juicy mwembe fruit. With innocently curious eyes, the winged creature looks down with a flicker of the ears to spot a small figure making it's way along the riverside. "I'm so hungry." says a gentle voice. A voice of a young boy. A mysterious boy that just so happens to be the key of this story and grand adventure. "I can taste that juicy fruit already." the boy says to himself as he sways forward along the river's edge, rubbing his belly. Yes, swayed, because this boy was by far from ordinary. You see, this boy did not have feet for travel.
A winding trail followed behind the little boy, which he left in the damp soil. A serpent's tail, elegantly swaying left to right under the boy, was the source of this trail. Yes, this boy was no ordinary boy, for he was half humanoid above-waist and half snake below it. A strange and mysterious sight, to say the least. His tail held the patterns of the royal python with a dark brownish-black base and golden-brown spots ornamenting all over. He normally stood at around 4 feet and 4 inches in height when he wasn't lifted more by the length of his tail. His skin was a golden brown that glowed in the sun with a slight sparkle if you were to look closely. Upon his head grew ten dark brown locs which looked like snakes, themselves, at first glance.
This mysterious young boy was all alone on the small island, stealthily fending for himself against all of the numerous creatures that lurked within the dense jungles, ready to devour him like a noodle. Though he is naturally adept at stealth and sneaking about, he still has much to learn about surviving the many dangers the world of Mtoto has to offer. "There it is! The sparkly fruit." he says to himself in excitement as he approaches a huge tree with thick huge limbs spread all over in many directions like veins. Each limb holding rich green star-shaped leaves and numerous soft skinned fruits, similar to what you may know as a mango. The only difference is these fruits were not considered ripe until a gold layer formed in between colors of red on one side and green on the other side of the skin.
Standing under the tree of veiny limbs, the boy smiles while closing his eyes and lifting himself up a little by his tail to inhale the fresh scent of the fruits that dangled from the tree. "Mmmm. My mouth waters every single time just from smellin' the fruit." he says before carefully swaying his snake body up the wide trunk of the tree and climbing onto a thick limb. Birds tweet beautifully in the background as the sun beamed thin warm rays through the canopy of the jungle while the little serpent boy searched for a gold layer on the slowly sparkling fruit. "Let's see...I want a juicy oosie one. Nice and gushy." he says playfully before finding just the right one. "This one!" he shouts happily, grasping the 3-toned fruit with his little hand and picking it. "I thank you, tree." he says as he closes his eyes, hugging the tree warmly.
Being he didn't have any friends that could talk to him, he found solace in the connection he had with the living environment around him. For the world around him, in his eyes, was very much alive and spoke in many ways without needing a mouth and tongue. When he spoke and hugged the tree, he knew deep within his heart that he was heard and felt by it. The many trees were indeed his friends and he loved them dearly. He opened his eyes with a warm smile after his hug and looks up only to have his smile slowly fade into a look of dread. For what he saw staring back at him was the last thing he wanted to see on this day, if at all...
Chapter 2: Run, Yaiwa, Run! Or...Slide...
The singing chirps of the surrounding birds grew to a dead silence as they flew away into the distance, knowing that grave danger was the only rise in this situation. The boy, frozen between fight or flight, was eye to eye with an Utamaduni. A huge vulture-like creature with huge black wings that gleamed like obsidian. It's black beak was downwardly curved with a sharp point to ensure a promised puncture to flesh while it's huge talons wrapped around the thick branch the bird was perched upon. "KWAKAWWW!" the giant bird shouts before lunging towards the boy with loud swoops of it's wings. "Ack!" the boy startles before waving his arms frantically, trying to catch his balance. This didn't help much, for he tumbled backwards from the tree limb with the bird's sharp talons nearly missing the boy's chest by inches.
He's only seen the giant bird a couple of times in the past as it fed on prey from a distance or flew overhead with it's prey gripped in both talons. The boy knew to avoid giant birds such as this one, being that they especially have a taste for those that slither. The gigantic Utamaduni, frustrated from it's miss, lets out another cry before turning in the air after it's lunge to try once more to catch it's serpentine breakfast. "KAAAAW!" it screeches with a bloodcurdling cry as the boy fell into a bush, breaking his fall. He quickly brings himself up and dashes out of the bush, hastily swaying away to make an escape from imminent death. A deadly chase has begun and there the boy was, dodging trees and sliding down small cliffs of soft clay and dirt, on the race for survival.
He pants heavily with adrenaline as he dashes through the dense jungle, fern stems swatting against his sweat-coated skin. At this moment it seemed as if time stopped, where all he could hear was the screeching of the giant predator and his own little heart quickly beating. Ba bump, ba bump, ba bump. He turns his head as he races to safety, needing to see if there was a good space between him and a sharp beak. To his shock, the bird was closer than he thought! The bird's speed was just too much for for the boy and naturally, it flew closer...and closer and closer it got to the boy as it opened its large talons for it's target. His breathing intensified as the bird let out a final cry. "KAKAWWW!!" as it lunges at the slithering boy, darting down with a swoop and BAM!
A burst of feathers dispersed through the air when the bird ran dead-smack into a rocky cliff, right above a small opening that was covered by surrounding fern bushes that the boy quickly slid through. Sliding quickly through the small tunnel, he made his triumphant escape from death's clutch through and out the other side of a light at the end of the tunnel. "Wa-WOA! WAAAAH!" the boy yells as he fell through the air. The light at the end of the tunnel was just a hole in a rocky cliff that rose high from the island ground. Just when his luck shown favor. A view overlooking a beautiful rich green canopy below him drew closer and closer as he fell, finally reaching and crashing into it and falling against snapping branches through his dramatic descent.
He finally lands with a thud. "Ughh, my head." he says while placing his hand on his forehead. Surprisingly, even after all of that, his wounds weren't severe...only mere bruises here and there. He laid there on his fluffy landing, breathing heavily and chuckling, still feeling the residual effects of his adrenaline rush from escape. "Wait a minute", he thought while slowly running his hands around this "fluffy" landing that broke his second fall of the day. Leaves and steams aren't supposed to be this fluffy...and...hairy...and..."Grrrrrhhh" growls the fluffy padding he rested upon. The boy slowly turned his head to the side as he laid there, looking down to see that he, in fact, was laying ontop of what was a resting Mbwa Mwitu, or Forest Wolf. Gulp.
The medium sized Forest Wolf, which had thick brownish black fur and oversized fangs similar to a sabretooth tiger, snarled as saliva slowly poured down between those big fangs of his and onto the dark jungle soil upon a passing trail of ants. Leaves crunched slightly all around the boy before he slowly looks around to notice he's being surrounded by a family of hungry approaching wolves with a starved intensity in their eyes. "You've gotta' be kiddin' me!" he says to himself before a wolf lunges at him with a snarl. The little snake's instincts and adrenaline led him to roll to his side while gripping the wolf he laid on and throwing him at the lunging wolf, startling the others before the boy took that opportunity to make a break for it!
Chapter 3: Through the Fire & in the Water
Having an opening from the two wolves crashing together, the boy slid and leaped over them, speeding off passed the group of wolves before they all recollected and took off after him. Snarls and barking followed the boy as he slithered once again through the dense jungle. He slid and swayed with swiftness, passing by more hungry creatures who began to follow along the wolves as well, ready to make dinner out of the poor boy. Before he knew it, those same creatures began to join in on the hunt and chased after him as well. "This can't be happening! Why now?! I just wanted some sparkling fruit!" he thought to himself as he dashed through the colorful flora of the jungle.
As he fled for his life, he couldn't help but to deeply ponder. Is this all of what life has to offer? Being on this island with no true family of his own. No friends to walk by his side. Just stealth movement and intense survival every other day. There must be more than this. There must be more to life! A tear slowly ran down his cheek as he swayed through the jungle with a focused expression upon his face. He looked up through the openings of the canopy and looked directly into the glowing sun. At that moment, he felt what seemed like a pulse coming directly from the sun's energy. "Yaiwa. Yaiwa. Yaiwa." was a name that began to ring in the boy's mind. A wave of chills swept through the boy's body and he suddenly could "hear sparkles" coming from a nearby river. In his soul, he knew to follow this sound.
He pressed forward as Forest Wolves, Utamaduni and other creatures of the jungle chased him. The many sounds of growling, snarling and screeching echoed, sounding like something straight from the darkest nightmare. The boy finally reached the river's edge and slid a little, ending with an abrupt halt. His eyes peered down to see a huge waterfall, thundering a wide majestic pouring of the river's water to the lowest layers of the island. Now, the boy has fell many heights before...but this height was one that only promised a high chance of death. That's it. It was over, he thought. The wind blew differently during this moment, as if seeking to nurture the boy as he embraced a sense of calm.
He stood there with his back turned to the frightening sounds approaching him from behind and began to look up and into the sun once again. "You're so beautiful. Asante for everything." he said to the sun. Asante meaning "I thank you" in Nyokaian tongue. The Nyokai, being the ancient Serpent People. Though he had never spoken with another Nyokai, let alone ever seen one or had knowledge of the Nyokai, this word was instinctively connected deep within him, so he spoke it. Suddenly something magical began to happen. He began to see glowing white particles like wisps of snow, slowly floating around as he looked into the sun. His body was flushed with soft chills as the background snarling grew louder and louder.
The young Nyokai stared into the sun with his pure black eyes as if in a trance and knew his name. "Yaiwa." he said as his golden skin began to slowly sparkle with the same faint sounds he heard coming from the river. He looked down the cliff of the waterfall as the horde approached him before turning around to face them. With the sun beaming white with colorful spectrums of rays down towards Yaiwa, he stared at the horde with both hands held forward and yelled..."Nakufukuza!" Suddenly, an invisible aura burst around his sparkling body and grew into a bright yellow-white fire and from his hands, he expelled a burst of that energy at the horde of screeching beasts. The flame-like energy fiercely poured over the horde as they disintegrated into ash with the force of this blast knocking Yaiwa powerfully off the cliff and into the pouring waterfall.
There was a quiet calm once again. Peaceful. The boy fell along with the powerful waterfall current, knocked out from the blast of energy he released. His little snake body was engulfed by the heavily misty plunge pool of the waterfall before he began floating down stream, still breathing. Through all opposition...he survived. The sun began to set a red, pink and orange hue across the horizon as it lowered slowly behind the sparkling ocean that the river poured into. Yaiwa's body was swept into the ocean where the waves guided him back to the beach of the island, washing up into the warm sand. He breathed calmly, locs soaked with water as he lay there in a comfy sleep before he heard...singing. Beautiful....singing. He slowly opened his eyes to see before him, a beautiful Samaki sitting upon a boulder. A beautiful...Mermaid.
-To Be Continued
Alex C. Walker
