Mfecane: The chronicles of the lioness and the ten orbs-Book1: First Encounters

Preface

Long, long ago when in our reality the rocks, the very ones which now hurt us, were as soft as the rumps of a new-born delinquent. As charming as the rosy cheeks of a well-fed and conceited brat. There existed a vast empire, which lay claim to over a hundred-and-eight worlds found in a massive multiverse known to many a planeswalker as the Khemau.

Within Terra Khemau, twelve are the prime worlds, which the populace of this empire call home. Like any of the many empires who have risen above the confines of their home worlds, the Uluzian Empire had to overcome many impediments before it could be elevated to its seat among the intergalactic races of Terra Khemau.

Amid the many threats that this once feeble but now strong race had to face, none was as terrible a calamity as the awakening of an evil being, known throughout Terra Khemau as Ugnulum.

It was in the time of Tarik Berhane Nem Ahde, the sorcerer and the reign of Menelik Berhane Nem Ahde, when the first of Ugnulum's assaults on Terra Khemau annihilated an embryonic planet on the outermost rim of the Gidmrad quadrant.

Tarik is the resentful elder sister to Emperor Menelik Berhane Nem Ahde. Tarik loathed many things but chief amongst them is her enviable younger sibling, Menelik. From their childhood days, Tarik, despite the fact of being the eldest, was always in the shadow of her younger brother.

As fate seemed to favor the young prince, Menelik took his connubial vows long before his older sister. It was only after Id Nan's sixth jaunt around Inag Naba since the passing of Emperor Mullugeta Berhane Nem Ahde, their father, that Tarik opened her heart to the father of her only son.

It was because of her being married after Akash's eighteenth jaunt since the passing of her father that the throne passed to her younger brother. This was because of two ancient decrees found in the Uluzian Codices of Rulers. The first declaration was that the one who sits upon the Uluzian throne should have a spouse lest the crown finds itself without an heir. The second was that the Uluz should never endure more than three of Id Nan's jaunts around Inag Naba without a ruler.

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Empress Taitu Berhane Nem Ahde and her infantile daughter released nine baby leopard turtles into one of the newly built ponds that are part of a baroquely arranged patch of gorgeous flora and ponds. The leopard turtles were a gift from emperor Menelik to his daughter for her third birthday.

"Emebet, stop that. You are scaring them. See how they retreat into their shells as soon as you try touching their heads?" Empress Taitu reprimanded her puerile daughter, Princess Emebet Berhane Nem Ahde.

The princess carefully placed the last turtle that she still had in her hands on the edge of the pond. Mother and daughter both watched as, one by one, all nine turtles jumped into the waters of their new home. The turtles and other interesting small fauna found in the royal gardens are inheritors of Empress Taitu's kindly nature. A keen eye would aver that although being members of different herbivorous species, they all share one likeness: they are the meekest beasts to come across the path of a dexterous hunter.

As soon as the last of the baby leopard turtles disappeared beneath the huge fronds of the variegated water lilies that turned the ponds into a psychedelic spectacle, the young princess was already a pest to a small flock of red spotted guinea fowls that were feeding close by.

The poor flightless birds, although standing a foot above the puerile deviant, were trying very hard to take to the air. The empress knew that it would prove too futile an effort to coax her spawn to sit with her under the shade of the mottled jacket-berry tree, while the servants prepared their lunch. After a short while, the servants announced their lunch.