1813, Elmina, Cape Coast
Kuzo and Summer appeared on the shores of a strange town. They were surrounded by strange people, Summer clung to him in fear.
"Where are we?"
"Stay close and don't do anything"
They were already being stared at. Their clothes had changed as well, nothing on them showed they were from another time. as if they had lived in that strange land all their lives.
She could feel her shaking in fear. The natives who seemed to be fishermen, fixing their nets only stared, so did women who had babies tied to their backs.
Kuzo walked up to them.
"Excuse me, can you please tell me where we are?" He said to an elderly looking man who was mending his net.
He said a few things and at once Kuzo knew where he was. He scanned around to make sure and then he saw it. His gaze froze as sea water hit against a rock and splattered on their backs.
"Medaase" He said to the man's surprise.
"Where are we, you speak their language?" Summer whispered as they walked away.
"Summer you need to keep a fair distance these people are traditional and clinging to me like that could put us in trouble, we really don't want to call any attention" He whispered and she adhered.
"You haven't answered my question" She said and then he spotted a man in uniform, his color immediately distinguished him from the black people. He was speaking with one of the natives who turned towards their direction and pointed. The man looked at them.
"Shit, they must have seen us come out of the sea, the way" He grabbed Summer and doubled his steps.
They occasionally looked behind and when they saw the white man ran after them, they took to their heels too.
"Kuzo where the hell are we and why are we being chased?" Summer asked.
"We're in Ghana, Gold Coast, precisely and if we are caught, we're gonna end up in that white castle on the hill"
"Is that castle the slave castle…..?"
"Yes it is now run like hell and stay close"
***
Kuzo had no idea how long they had been running or how far they had gone but when all he could see was forest, he knew he needed to get away as far as he could from the slave traders. He had no idea what time he was in and so he couldn’t tell whose colony it was at the time.
"Stop!" Summer stopped running. She seemed irritated and was panting heavily.
"Do you mind telling me what the hell we are doing in Ghana?, and why the hell are we running?, how did we even get here?"
"Time travel?"
"What?" She looked at him as if he was a complete idiot.
"Have you lost your mind or do I have to hit you to get you to make sense, your mother just pulled us out of the ocean with vines coming out of her hands, her eyes glow like high lights and now you're telling me we time travelled?"
Kuzo only stared.
"You arent kidding are you?"
"No Summer, I'm not from your time either. Im from Geeces, that is Ghana, in the year 4,900. My mom only brought us here because she wanted us away from some very bad people who want something she has. A soul stone. I'm not really sure what it does but its sustained my mother for centuries. She sent us here to find something because im sure my father is in trouble and he needs her help, that’s what her statement about going after him should mean. My dad, he is a brilliant Engineer and if people from your time get a hold of him, I do not want to even think f what they would use him for"
Summer was lip locked.
"Summer…" He grabbed unto her shoulders.
"We have no time" He said, and his worried look depicted that he meant it.
She nodded.
"Come on" He began walking and she followed.
"Do you even know where we're going?"
"She said to use the stories" Kuzo frowned.
"Well what stories did she tell you about Ghana and a man that has no name?" Summer asked.
He searched through his memory but found nothing. Then Kuzo saw a bright light ahead, it flashed and it was gone.
"Did you see that?" He asked,
"Yes" Summer grabbed his arm in fear as he began to walk towards it. She pulled him back.
"Are you crazy?" She whispered.
"Right now, I'd embrace anything out of the ordinary" Kuzo confessed and continued walking slowly towards where he had seen the light, then he saw the shrubs move. He stopped, suddenly, an old man appeared, the middle of his head was completely bald while at the sides were thick grey hair. He had a grey beard as well.
He stared at them in silence as he held unto his sack and hoe.
"Umm, hello, my name is Kuzo, this is Summer….."
"You speak the white man's tongue yet your skin is as mine"
"You speak English?"
"Yes, the blind woman gave me a seed to chew, it was bitter , but she said I would need it"
"A blind woman, where did you see her?"
"You are the one she spoke about….intriguing, she just left seconds ago and then you appear?"
"Seconds ago?"
"Yes"
Kuzo and Summer followed him.
"Would you mind carrying my Sac for me, its quite heavy"
"Sure" Kuzo offered to help and tried to take the sack from the old man, immediately, he touched Kuzo's shoulder and held unto it firmly. Then stared into his face.
"You are the first aren't you, you are her first son aren't you?" The old man asked.
"If you're talking of who I think you're talking of then I'm sorry I am her only son"
He shook his head.
"Your mother appeared to me in the forest with a baby an hour ago.
She told me everything.
"Tell us what she told you"
"She said she had something but after giving birth to you both, she lost it?"
"No, I'm not hers"
"Summer isn't my sister"
"No, a brother, she had twins, you survived, the other didn't, the power she had was taken over by you, you were too tiny to understand or control it and your other twin was too weak to share it with you.
"So, what are you saying, I killed my twin?"
"Your mother asked me to give you this when you arrived I didn't think it would be this soon, what year are you from?,
"4,900" Kuzo said.
"2019" Summer said.
"Its 1813" The old man said.
"The reign of the Danes" Kuzo said.
"How long will it last?" The old man asked.
"It won't end till 1850,when the Danes leave and then the British will take over till 1957"bKuzo replied.
"I won't be alive then" The old man said.
"No" Kuzo muttered.
"Sad" The old man stopped walking.
"My sack please"
Kuzo handed it to him.
"Your mother also said, you should be the only one to touch it, she said she wasn’t permitted into the future, only the past, and she couldn’t alter it, but you could since you havent seen it.
"That makes sense"
"Maybe that is why the stone chose you, to allow her bend the rules"
The old man emptied the sack on the ground and Kuzo immediately knew what belonged to him.
"A rattle?"
"Yes, it belongs to you" He touched it and it was as if he had been electrocuted, he couldn’t let go but it hurt, he screamed in pain as the memories overwhelmed in, but he knew they were not his mothers memories, but the stone's, playing in his head, and this what was he saw…
The Fall of Binju…
Mabu had been running for long, her feet hurt and she knew she had cuts all over her arms but then she stopped.
"Don't do it" It was Te Fiti.
"I have to" Mabu didn't wait to argue, she turned around and ran as fast as she could towards home. The used the same route she used and found her way through into her Father's home, hoping to find Suri and then she heard Han's voice outside.
"Han!" She walked out to him.
"What are you doing here, Suri told me you left"
"Yes but I came back, where is she, we need to leave, I know a way out"
Han said nothing.
"What's wrong, we need to go now Han!" Mabu turned in fear to make sure the enemy wasn’t around.
"Suri is dead"
"No she's not, I was with her….."
"I'm sorry Mabu, I watched her fall with my own eyes"
Mabu dropped to her knees.
"You left her, she said you ran, how could you?" Han began to blame her.
"No…we can change this, the soul stone….." Mabu began to say.
"Han!" A man appeared, one of them, their enemy, behind him two others, she stood, but how did he know Han by name. Then it hit her. She began to take steps back.
"You brought them here"
"Seize her!" The white man screamed to his guards and immediately they grabbed Mabu.
"You did this, how could you, traitor!, you killed your own people, traitor!"
"I'm not the one who ran away, maybe if you had stayed, Suri would still be alive"
Han screamed after her as she was being dragged. Mabu felt so weak emotionally, she couldn’t even think, all she did was weep as she passed by corpses of her people.
They locked her up in a cold dark room, it was almost dawn. She could tell. The winds had changed.
She stayed silent, sobbing but she thouight of Han and her last moments with Suri, she refused to believe his words but somehow, they got to her. He was right, if she had stayed, Suri would be alive.
"How could I?" She screamed and went down on all fours.
"Forgive me father they must die!" She willingly allowed the anger take over her, she could feel her veins pulsate within her, something was taking over, she stood but her spirit remained on all fours in the form of a leopard, with roaring red eyes.
"I know what you want, but I need you to speak it" It said to her.
"Kill them all!" She said. And the leopard leapt into the walls.
It ran freely in the winds and found Suri, then leapt into her chest, she awoke…..
"She wakes" One of the drunk men said and they laughed. Han appeared and then she began to pull at the ropes till they came off. Her staff appeared in her hand and then she stamped it, causing a great earthquake, and then the Spirit leapt out, and into one of their enemies, immediately, he flamed up, it did same to all the men till everyone was dead. Han had fled. Convinced she had the soul stone.
Suri passed out. The Spirit returned to Mabu as the earth continued to quake. Completely oblivious that her sister was alive. She escaped, on her way, she found the body of a binju child, in her hand was a rattle, she picked it up as a tear escaped. She stood feeling like a failure, and a traitor, she ran and witnessed the fall of Binju from a high mountain.
"Father was able to walk through time, that means I could change this"
"Don't do it, you can't alter what has already happened, don't force our hand"
A voice said, as gentle as the wind.
"I must!" She began to run towards Binju through the thick forest as time past by but there was no Binju to go back to, she didn't stop trying, She kept running till she was growing, livin through the course of time, running in it's loop, her hands had changed, her feet too, so did her height but her vision….was blurring.
"What is this, what is going?, I can't see……I can't see…..somebody help me, I cant see"
But there was no one…..there was another war going on, in a time where no one cared about black people.
Kuzo snapped as the image of his mother began to drift away.
"I think I know what to do" He said.
"One more thing, there is something your mother hid in the grave of your twin brother"
"My twin brother's grave is here?"
"We buried him hours ago"
"This whole time thing is really something, how is it that your mom was here an hour ago and and foretells our coming and then we appear just when she leaves yet she's back in Baltimore fighting some,....whatever the hell that lady is….."
"That lady is her sister, Han, her boyfriend betrayed them and let the enemy into their land, and that brought Binju to annhilation, my mother tried to change the events that happened and she lost her sight.
"So the world is about to end because of a love story gone bad, really? "
Summer said, not amused at all.