Orisha the Legacy - New Spark

Chapter One - Dreams and reality

It all started two years ago, the eve of Michael's twenty-first birthday. He had been having trouble sleeping. It was not the excitement of him turning twenty-one at midnight that exiled sleep. Or even the fact he had his passing out parade as he was about to be an official police officer in the morning. It was the fear of being drawn in to the recurring nightmare.
He had battled with the nightmare for the past week as he had the same dream over and over again, each time seeming more vivid.
He always woke up hot and in a pool of his own sweat that soaked through his bed.
He sat in his room trying to switch his mind off by watching tv with the volume really low.
The monotonous flicker of the tv parading it's late night shopping channels. The ticking of the clock as the long hand braced itself about to catch the short hand for the twenty third time today. With his eyelids getting extremely heavy, he took what he thought was a prolonged blink to rest his eyes.
He opened his eyes and was no longer in his room. Michael found himself outside, in an unfamiliar land which was definitely not in his grandfathers three bedroom house in East London. The scenery did not even look like he was in London anymore.
It then dawned on Michael that he was dreaming "damn it" he thought as he knew nightmare was about to begin.

It was dusk and Michael stood at the entrance of a village. There were huts, livestock, torches and black people of all shapes, sizes and skin tones packing up their market goods for the day. Children strapped to their mothers backs with cloth, produce in baskets being carried on their heads. This was obviously somewhere in Africa but the clothing of the people were not as modern as what michael was used to seeing on TV.
In Michaels nightmares he was never in control of the person walking through this village. It was like sleep paralysis He always seemed to be trapped in what felt to him like thick honey, unable to move but neither sinking or drawing for breath. Never able to stop what was about to happen. Usually with this dream there was always distortion and blurriness but this time, there was a bit more detail to this outer body experience. It was clearer to watch and not fuzzy, the sound was just muffled as it usually is. He was in a body that was not his own and was experiencing his pilots feelings.
A steady rage that was alien to him consumed and washed over Michael. It controlled him like a puppeteer conducting his creation to move. He looked towards his left hand, there was a scar on the back of it. It was shaped like a flame split in half in the shape of lightning and shone a deep purple and crimson red.
A flash of lightning whipped across the night sky which accompanied with a thunderous roar. The night sky slowly became darker as clouds filled up above blocking out the moon. The angry rage began to feel evil and was welling deep inside his gut, he knew it did not belong to him but was helpless against it's power. He began to wonder what could have triggered the owner to feel such hate. The glowing left hand raised itself to the sky and a shower of lightning rained down on the village charing the unexpected traders, women and children dropping them dead like flesh to fly spray. Was this a coincidence? It couldn't be, wherever michael saw the man direct his hand was where the lightning decimated. Huts and livestock were struck which set them on fire. There was a scenes of shear panic, everyone running, screaming, dying...pandemonium.
Still following the control of the owners body he began to cut down soldiers that came to stop him with a gold twin handled axe in his right hand, whilst a gold handled sword occupied his left hand. One by one with great skill and command the body began bobbing, weaving, hacking and slicing these warriors down. Michael knew that the rage controlling him belonged to an elite warrior as he could not comprehend such skill.
The warrior approached the entrance to a compound of a large hut, this hut was at lead 6 times as big as the huts that michael has passed on the way through this unfortunate journey, it was as if this place was the home of someone wealthy or powerful, it was like a palace. Outside the door of this palace was a bald silhouette figure standing with his hammer out. They stared in silence for a couple of seconds, the bald silhouette opened his mouth to say something. Out of nowhere lightning attended from the sky to the direction of his head which the bald man hit away with his hammer, this deflection made the hammer glowed red like lava. He again said something that was inaudible and muffled to michael, but he was sure the warrior did not like nor hear his words as the anger turned to sorrow, regret and then rage again. The warrior waved his left hand over the axe in his right hand, with that the axe turned in to a sword. The two warriors lunged at each other with break neck speed and began clashing with their swords. The bald warrior was cut, then cut again, still fighting not quite even in aggression but was trying to fight for something other than survival. The bald warrior held out his hand, another sword appeared out of his palms and began to defend the doors with his life. After several minutes of fighting, the hut door crashed open and a pregnant silhouette woman ran out with a lightning shaped sword of her own. The rage that inundated Michael's host temporarily vanished. They stared at each other. Regret and sadness were the feelings Michael now felt on behalf of his driver.
The silhouette woman then began to speak to the host which was again out of reach as if talking under water but whatever she said made the anger and rage rush back in full force causing the warrior to fly at her with full strength. Michael tried to close his eyes as he did not wish to see this pregnant woman get cut down. He tried his hardest to resist and stop the attack but to no avail. As the warrior swung down on the pregnant woman, the attack was intercepted by the bald warriors arm and stopping at his heart. The bald warriors arm flew past the pregnant woman's face and he collapsed on the ground.
The lightning seemed to ease up as if to pause with the warriors shock of what he had just done.
Tears began to stream down his face, he turned his back on the woman who appeared to be silently screaming whilst grabbing the now lifeless lover.
One final strike of lightning exploded on top of the palace collapsing the structure, setting it ablaze.
The warrior walked chest high out of the entrance of the village with scenes of destruction, mourning and death surrounding him.

Whilst walking through the forest passing where Michael had first appeared, the warriors gait changed from chest out to a slow slouch and limp as he began to drag his weapons behind him. Michael for the first time felt the weight of the weapons which he had never done in the previous nightmares. He felt as if his arms would tear off. The warrior finally ended up in front of a cave with a large tree on the top.
He held his hand up to the cave which stood the stone guarding it before it melted to the side. Warrior entered the dimly lit cave which was decorated with masks, drawings, cowery beads, kola nuts and primitive armour. He went to the middle of the room and began digging with his hands. This was also an action that Michael felt. After what seemed like an eternity digging, the warriors began to place his axe and sword in what was more or less a grave. He added the trinkets from his fingers, wrists, arms, neck, head, waist and ankles to the grave which were all bloody. The warrior began to wave his hands over the grave chanting. At first, the sounds were muffled to Michael but the words began to get clearer. It was not English but sounded like really strong Yoruba which Michael understood little of.
All the items in the ground began to levitate and spin, there were lights shining and the wind blowing and a strong heat emanating from this mini tornado. The items began to shrink and melt together into a pendant and the mark on the warrior's hand began to glow red and purple. The warrior looked up to the sky and screamed which ejected Michael out of the body and swirling through what he presumedtobe space. The vortex strobed different lights and shapes all around, pulling and pushing, growing and stretching Michael's body.
'Phwum' Michael was thrown back into his body which woke him up with such force. He sat up panting, laboured breath with bullet-like sweat dripping from his head and back soaking the bed which he had just arose from. He looked around the room..nothing. He reached over to the dresser with his left hand to check the time on his phone. He then noticed his hand was lightly glowing and through the glow he could make out a new scar on the back of his hand in the same shape as the dream warrior. The flame split in the middle in the shape of lightning. Michael held his hand out amazed but scared at the same time as this had not been there prior to his dream. He couldn't believe his eyes. Just then a feeling tingled down his spine as if he was being watched.  Michael's eyes snapped up just in time to see a shadow flicker by the window.
Michael got up quickly with a speed he never had before, on the defensive looking outside the window trying to scope out the voyeur but no one was there. It was as if they had vanished but Michael thought to himself who could be watching him from the second floor with no ledge below, 'it's not as if humans can fly' he thought to himself.
Just then he noticed in his clenched right hand that there was something there. What the hell could that be? How did it get there? How did I not notice? Is granddad playinga trick on me? Were all questions that circled his head within that split second. He slowly opened his hand using the orange street light as his source of light. There he saw a golden twin headed axe about 2 and 1/2 inches long, half way up the axe were two children back to back with their arms raised holding up the axe with a link of cowery shells as the necklace...it was the pendant from the dream. The shock made Michael throw the pendant which hit the cans of deodorant, aftershave and clutter on the top of the dresser which made such a racket.
The door to the room opened and stood all groggy was Adelekan Michael's Grandfather.