Anaya: A Dark Voyage [#1 LightBlood Series]

Chapter 9 -Mwanaume's Shrine

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Anaya opened her eyes without warning. They flung open so wide that all the black on her pupils could be seen. Confusion was written all over her figure. She couldn't make sense of what had happened. All she remembered was the excruciating pain in her abdomen, the voices in her head, and everything turning black. And now she was at a place she didn't remember going to. But wait...

She turned her head side to side to make sense of what had happened earlier and how she got to where she was but nothing made sense. At least not yet. Then she saw an old man walk towards her. She sighed at the sight of him. Perhaps, he would be the one to answer her questions.

"What happened? How did I get here?" She didn't wait for him to get any closer than he had gotten before she asked.

"Kuchukua muda wako."

Oh, right he didn't speak English nor the local language.

"Wha-what?"

"He says take your time." A very sweet and soft voice echoed from behind the man. Anaya lunged her neck to see the face that voice belonged to. It was a young girl — fifteen or younger. She was clad in a white cloth. The cloth was draped around her upper body down to her feet and all the hair on her head had been shaved so down you could see her scalp.  Her look had been made complete with beads — black beads — around her neck, arms and legs.

Who dressed this way in 2019 when the world was seeing a lot of height in fashion? Anaya queried in her mind. For the first time, her attention was drawn to the appearance of the old man who stood in front of her, still wearing a smile and standing still as if he was giving her time to take everything in.

He also had a white cloth wrapped around the waist. And, it covered from the waist to the knee. Then another covered the upper part of his body, around the torso and shoulders. Unlike the young girl, he had no beads on. Just a spiral symbol on his forehead and of course, his hair was shaved down to his wrinkled scalp. He was old. His wizened face and slightly hunched back were evidence enough. Not to talk of the thick white eyebrows that rimmed his eyes. Place him at seventy-five or older.

The room, however, was a genuine contrast of all the whites those in front of her were clad in. The room was dark with its only source of light being three black pots filled with fire. Each pot was set up at different ends of the room and together, they brought light to the room.

Was technology lost to these people as well? Anaya thought.

To add to the eeriness of the room were strange and unnerving wood carvings of different symbols and creatures Anaya had no idea of, hanging loosely like nobody's business at different parts of the room.

After carefully scanning the appearance of those in front of her and how the room looked, Anaya finally realized she was inside the Mwanaume shrine or at least a part of it. The young girl was a shrine maiden, certainly. And the old man was the Mwanaume.