When light comes

Part 5

It has taken Saluu all night to descend Magu's rocky surface.
Almost half way down ,he turns eastward , towards  a  flat grassy plateau on the other side of the mountain .It was covered with lush trees and green vegetation.
The old man reaches the edge of some trees and without looking down or missing his footing, he crosses over a man made wooden bridge and disappears into a thicket on the other side .
Finally he breaks out into a clearing that leads straight to his raffia hut.

Already, the dawning of the day had begun and the few livestock he owned were already rearing up from slumber. And as if on cue, the rooster in saluu's small barn began to crow, ushering in a new day.
The old man entered his hut and gently placed the serpent down on his raffia bed in the far corner of the room. It was limp and cold to the touch.
It was obvious;The snake was dying.
The whole ordeal had taken a toll on it's body.
Saluu looks around the room, searching for the gourd of fresh water he had normally placed beside a pile of old blankets. He needed to quench his thirst fast. His recent adventure had totally drained him.Finding it the gourd, he raised it to his lips, but before Saluu could take a swig at it,..he heard the an eerie voice; precise and piercing in his head.
Saluuuu!
Saluu swung his whole body almost three hundred and sixty degrees towards the bed were he had set the serpent down barely a minute ago .
He stumbled over to the raffia bed ,staring intently at the serpent which had rolled on its back.
With foamy spit and blood running down it's open mouth and it's forked tongue hanging out to one side,..he realized it was dead.

Then he heard it very faintly ; the scratching of claws against a the thick mud walls ,and the beating of membranous leathery wings against a non existing wind.
And the smell! , Awww!. It was as if death itself had stepped into the room.
A dark form darted across the room at lightning speed across the old man's line of vision .

There !...deep within the innermost corner of his hut ,a dark shadowy form .
Saluu's beady eyes almost bulged out of their sockets at the incredible image before him.

It had arms and legs but chose to hover in its misty form above the ground. There was greenish smoke inhaling and exhaling in and out of its nostrils .
Saluu could see a hideous face forming within the shadow . It had a horns like a ram's on either side of it's head, eyes that-glowed like hot coals. And it's jaws were lined with razor sharp teeth , grinning wickedly at him .
Trembling , the old man knelt down and bowed low , his head touching the ground.
It was the Master! .
"Jinthu ethjab !" . Said the old man, hailing the chief demon in the old tongue.
"Welcome back to your lands which you once ruled with wisd..."

" Silence you old goat"! , the demon roared .
You drank the ' Elixir of life' to keep you from dying after I was imprisoned ....
By now, Saluu was trembling ,..as dirty sweat ran down his wrinkled face in succession.

"And it took you two hundred years to find a way to set me free ?" ,..
continued the demon,grimacing at the kneeling figure before it.
"You filth ! . And to welcome me back , you brought me to this disgusting place .
The demon looked around his dirty surroundings , with its glowing eyes resting once again on the quivering human before him.

Where are my shrines , my place of worship by the grooves that bore my name and housed my statues". demanded ethjab.
" Everything was destroyed ,Master," saluu's replied , cautiously lifting his head up to gaze in amazement at the demon.
He had never seen his true form outside of a body before.
During the fetish rituals ,the Masters and Mistresses had always been summoned and provided with human hosts to inhabit.

"The Christians ,lead by that woman, broke down all the Shrines and Places of worship of the old gods". Said Saluu.

"Comfort Marcella", the demon bellowed out, recalling all that happened between the two of them so long ago.
"Every moment of my captivity ,I thought of nothing but how to make her suffer for what she did to Me".
"Does she have any descendants" ? Continued the demon .
"O yes master". replied Saluu. " A grandson . His name is Jacob. He heads the old community church in town .His disciples are not many but..."