Akyeaa: Chapter 10

That night, Ekuaba examined all the markings again. Separately, they did not make much sense, but put together, they revealed secrets. Secrets to happiness, the purpose of meaning and the secret to eternal life. Or to be more exact, a possible way to gain eternal life. In the deepest cave, beneath the ruins of a warpriest village, burned several mystic flames.

In the past, the Sakraman dinn ( silent wolves) carried a little of these flames to human settlements. But there was one particular white-hot flame, larger than the others, that they never touched. It was a fragment of the lifeforce of the planet. Which meant that whoever touched it would either gain some of the planet's own lifeforce and live forever or cause the world to be engulfed in flames.

Ekuaba flexed her left fingers. They felt stiff, and wooden. They had been that way for ten years now. It wouldn't be long before she became an adult sized wooden doll. Eventually decaying over time, not to an afterlife but to a black, endless void. It would be as if she had never existed. She trudged onwards and paused when she sensed her followers pursuing her. Sensed their confusion slowly turning to outrage.

She turned to face them, 'Your services are no longer required. I have no intention of sharing immortality with you. Leave now or perish'.

They knew she was tough. They had seen her power firsthand. But the thought that they had abandoned friends, family, jobs, and their principles for nothing was too much to bear. They eyed the scroll she clutched in her right hand. They did not know how to decipher the markings but that did not matter to them. Not anymore.

Akyeaa's parents lead the attack as they pounced on her. They fought valiantly, desperately, but by sunrise, Ekuaba set off towards the horizon, with her scroll intact and left her followers wounded, broken and defeated.