FOG

The Skies brightened as a long streak of blue lightning ripped through the clouds. It felt like rain. The atmosphere became cold with the winds picking up and objects flying around in the gust. The sky rumbled again, with the blue lightning but also accompanied by a loud thunder clap. People suddenly stopped going about their businesses and all eyes went up. This didn't feel like your average storm brewing, something was not right. People walking about stopped and began to gather, muttering nervously and pointing towards the sky. Suddenly, a large streak of lightning ripped through the clouds, hitting the earth. A tremor went through the earth as the lightning struck the ground. Clouds of brown dust flew into the air, accompanied by the sound of tiny bits of rocks hitting the earth. People screamed and began to slowly retreat into the city. They had never experienced an earthquake before, and certainly not one induced by a strange burst of lightning. The lightning flash again, followed by a thunder clap; a clap so loud it was deafening and the light so bright it was blinding. One odd thing, though, was the churning in the clouds; a spiral which could be seen forming right at the spot where the last lightning ripped. A spiral that had first started as a small hole just like when you made a puncture through a cardboard box, a puncture from which light escaped. The clouds grew darker, as if from a storm, with the sky grumbling and more lightning flashing up inside the dark clouds. The spiral kept growing bigger and glowing brighter. A whizzing sound could be heard, followed by more rumblings as sparks of blue and purple flew began to fly out of the spiral. One curious thing also was the look of the spiral. Initially, it had seemed like some sort of cyclone forming within the clouds. Now, it was more of a tear; like the very heavens were being ripped opened from within. The People were still watching. Maybe this was some sort of rare atmospheric condition. The air smelled of coming precipitation, after all, and cold drizzles of water could be felt. A blinding flash spread across the clouds and then the spiral burst open. The heavens had finally opened. This was no rare atmospheric condition. People screamed and began running into the City, hoping desperately that it would be safe in there. "The end is coming!!" Some of them yelled. If only they knew how right they were. The hole got wider and wider and then something like a thick black smoke flew out through it. The smoke flew rapidly towards the earth and crashed in a ball of fire. Then another smoke followed, and another and yet another and soon the sky was dark and hissing with these smoke-like beings rushing out from the sky like flies escaping from an open jar. These beings rushed towards the City. They spread out across the widelands, dissolving the earth as they flew by. The smoke-beings engulfed the city slowly just like a piece of paper that was being burnt from one end; the blackness creepling slowly, dissolving any form of life across it's part; plant, dirt, fowls or man. "Ah!" The Old man gasped and quickly opened his eyes. He looked around him and sighed slowly. It had been a dream, albeit a troubling one. Sweat trickled down his forehead and he looked around him. They were there; the spirits that spoke to him. He could feel them. This fact comforted him. The Cave where he lay was dark and quiet. Once in a few moments a drop of water fell from the ceiling and hit the rocks, echoing softly throughout. The Old man got up from the stone bed he lay on and snapped his dry fingers together. The cave echoed again with the snap, followed by the whoosh of a fire being ignited. He sighed deeply and dragged his feet across the dry rug that spread across the cave; Gorilla skin. They made for the best cave rugs; they easily contain the magical essence in the area. He reached his hand for the animal skin bag that dangled from a Y-shaped pike. He muttered some incarnations, abating the spirits that roamed about, and then reached into the bag. He withdrew his hand slowly as he felt the smoothness of the five glowing objects; the sapphire stones. Walking slowly up to the divining table, the old man threw the stones on a small square hole and began to hum loudly. His eyes were shut tight and his mouth moved quickly. The Cave where he was began to shake. It was sturdy as it is, so he had no fear that it might collapse. A small draft of air rushed into the cave and a wisp of dust appeared. The Old man kept muttering and then he caught it: the revelation. It came in the form of a white feather floating within the wisp. He coughed slightly and then walked up to a big mirror. There were markings around the edge of the mirror, ancient languages. The Old man placed the feather into a socket at the foot of the mirror and stood back to watch it light up. At that moment, the revelation played out. "Its only a matter of time, he thought. The end is near." The Grand advisor wrapped his wrinkly hand around his Snake staff and began the two days trek to the Tower. **** The new republic was a city situated in the centre of the widelands. It was a large territory surrounded by impressive walls and high outposts. The walls were white; such a white which reflected the rays of the sun in a way that made it glimmer in a crystal-like fashion. The widelands around the city was a dry, scotched barren land; an almost intimidatingly expansive land hence it's name. The widelands had once been flourishing with greens, so they had said, until the great war. It was after the great war that the new republic was formed; the merging of the eastern, western, northern and southern territories under one supreme government; the republic. That supreme government was under the sole control of Pok Mak Loho and in a way, his council of dummy elders. There was one building that literally stood out from the rest of the structures that made up the new republic; the tower. The tower was a massive red stone building that, well, towered into the sky. It was situated in a far section of the city; away from the people. The tower was notable for it's blinding halogen lamps, numerous outposts and the large number of dogs that were said to patrol the grounds. It was basically a do-not-think-of-peering-in territory. And no one did. It was in this tower that Pok Mak Loho had his chambers. The Supreme leader, Pok Mak Loho, stood in his large chambers watching the orange sun as it began its decent. He closed his eyes and sniffed the air; dry, he noted. He was a massive man with greying hair and dark, glistening skin. It could easily be noted that he had been a mighty man in his younger years; his muscles still bulged and his outfit added a certain reverence to him. The robe he wore was cut in such a way that it didn't cover his arms, they were tight on the shoulders, possibly to make his arms look larger. Who knows. His robe had a tail behind it, a sort of loose cape that faltered with the wind, and his pants were loose; typical of the western people. The supreme leader had been from the west, according to word of mouth; a great conqueror who'd joined the great war and single handedly unified the territories. Speculations, ofcourse. On the walls of the chambers were mounted metal bowls of orange flames. The flames did not exactly light up the chambers, that was the job of the electrical fittings. No, as with most things regarding the supreme leader, it just made the chambers have a more intense feel. The slow crackling of the flame could be heard in the quiet chambers and once in a while, a soft beep would also ring through the air. Possibly from the surveillance unit mounted somewhere on the walls. He was not alone. The elders of his council each sat quietly in their seats; all eight of them. They were all quiet, and not one of them would speak unless the supreme leader spoke. It was one of the reason the people referred to them as 'dummy elders'. Just one of the reasons. Another could be because they really did not make any decisons, they were by post the people's mouthpiece but that wasn't evident. The supreme leader was in supreme control. This would be proven shortly. The supreme leader turned around and faced them, his face grave and his hands clutched behind his back. The floor shook as he slowly walked back to his throne. He was bare footed; another western attribute. He placed his legs on either side of his footstool and then sat down lightly on the throne. "Let the cleansing begin." His words had a certain finality to it, one he used often and one he'd realised didn't encourage objections. The elders began to whisper among themselves; the best they could do. One of the elders stood up and bowed. He was the chief elder; considered the wisest–Considered. He wore the typical red feathered caps of chiefs from the eastern region. As a matter of fact, the eight dummy elders comprised of two men from all four territories. The Chief elder was from the east. "But Supreme Leader," he began and that was as far as he went. The Supreme Leader frowned and held his hand up. "Let the cleansing begin." His voice was final. The elder bowed even lower. He then turned to leave the chambers, a look of worry over his face. **** The new republic was divided into sections as was any typical city. It was the turn of the century, the twenty second century and the people had learned to adapt to new technologies. Their way of life was still the same, obviously. There was the higher, middle and lower sections. In that order and with a good guess one could tell that the lower section was for the poor. Although, the cleansing affected everybody, poor and rich alike. A sort of equaliser, if you may. In most african territories, cleansings were common; albinos, twins, even dwarves. As long as you were different. But those were archaic practices, gone with the centuries. The new republic had a different abomination to worry about. The Cleansing happened every year. It was simply the practice of sorting; eliminating the abominations from the normal folks. The abominations in this case were what some people called ọrọ nrọ, translated simply as Dreamers. A Dreamer had the ability to live dreams; a normal person would sleep and have dreams, but a dreamer could live his dreams; literally experience them. The Dreamer usually felt conscious as the dream played out. It was like watching a recording except that you saw yourself in it and felt what happened within it. It was a strange power and most people, even the Dreamers, didn't understand it. For decades, dreamers have been cleansed and no one really knew the real reason for this. The supreme leader ordered it and that was all there was to it. Night was slowly approaching in the lower section. The lower section of the city was more or less the city centre. It was made up of tightly packed low buildings, congested walkways and crowded market places. Passing by the lower section for the first time would almost certainly be a daunting experience. On a normal day, the air would be filled with clatter and chatter. Cleavers thudded on wooden tables as butchers hacked away at bloody pieces of goat meat. Women chatted with each other as they expertly sorted through large piles of green vegetables. A bell could be heard as a man dressed in brown singlets and black shorts somehow maneuvered a rickety, smokey bike through the crowded corners, yelling something like "Fresh palm wine or fresh fish, or fresh oranges." Anything, but always supposedly fresh. Also, once in a while, an old lorry would stop by, it's trailer piled high with bags of rice and large men in nothing but shorts would jump down from the trailer and begin hauling bags after bags of rice around the market. Ofcourse, in all this, little children still found room to play with their little dogs, or wooden carts or–if lucky– a model hover jet with a remote control. All these happened in the crowded lower section on a normal day. This particular day, the day of the cleansing was not a normal day. The nervous voices of people hurrying back to their houses filled the warm evening air. Bodies bumped against eachother as they moved to and fro carrying wares and closing up shops. Goats bleated in their sheds and the putrid smell of animal waste and warm, rotting vegetables filled the air. Doors shut loudly and metal clanked as bolts were slid home. People constantly watched the skies, noting the sun's leisure descent and walking even faster to get home before the moon started it's shift. In a matter of minutes, the lower section was quiet and for what would be the only time in a year, the streets were empty. There was just as much nervousness in the slightly better, less crowded middle sections. The middle section was a form of business district. The buildings were made of concrete and steel and rose just high enough to be classified as two-storeyed. Most buildings had bright neon signboards on them, advertising businesses. The roads were narrow–but wider in comparison to that in the lower sections–and ran down hill. People trekked, or rode a cycle or maybe even a small car. But everyone was in haste. The long shadows cast by the setting sun being a constant reminder of what the night meant. The higher section was simply described as the area of the rich. No much description is needed except that everything there was swanky and clean. The houses had gates and passing by, one could spot the latest model cars and cycles. The types that were AI driven. Little dots of stars peeped out of the now dark clouds. The night air was warm and intensely calm. The street corners were empty except for the few moments when a man or a woman would hurriedly walk through an alley and into a building, locking the door quietly. There was a rush of air as three huge hoverjets circled around the sky and docked at the border. The hoverjets were just like airplanes, but bigger and with large rotors. The huge doors of the hoverjets hummed slowly as they slowly opened and the ground shook with heavy thuds as Soldiers began spilling out of it. The Soldiers were there to 'fish' out any Dreamer. They would take the Dreamer back to the Tower where the main cleansing would take place. Finding a Dreamer could be sometimes tricky. As a result of this, each group of five soldiers carried a detector; a device that sensed the essence of dreams. It was like this; every human had an essence of dreams, just like the scent of a perfume or the strong stench of a male goat, but it trailed off about an hour after waking up. A Dreamer, on the other hand, reeked of this essence. It was all over them. It wasn't something pronounced. It was there, perhaps just the way you had a spirit within you. Except, the dreamers themselves weren't aware of it. This was why the detectors were mightily important. It was advised that on days of Cleansing, people should refrain from sleeping. This was because the essence present when someone slept could 'trick' the detector. There had been a time, years ago, when a person had been detected as a dreamer when in fact he had just been sleeping all day. The days of cleansing were fearful days indeed because most parents had no idea if their children were dreamers. Even most dreamers had no idea they had the ability. The Soldiers spread out towards the various sections of the city, marching in unison. They were all dressed in black outfits with red masks over their faces. "You have no idea what those people are capable of, so always cover your faces." The supreme leader has once said. The windows and doors to each house were locked with the members of each household waiting for the knock and dreading that one of them would be detected as a dreamer. The night was quiet now, but in a few minutes would be disturbed by the wailing of mothers whose children were being dragged away. That was usually the sign that the cleansing had begun. The Soldiers were five in number. The leader walked into a small compound, his pants flapping and his gloves tightening against the rusted iron railings that served as a demarcation between houses. The steps creeked as he climbed them and knocked once on the front door. "Members of this household," he called out. The door slowly creaked open and the soldier signalled to his men as they walked in. The house was extremely silent, with only the sound of a fan whirling on the ceiling. The leader moved his head as he watched the members of the house; a family of five. He could see them whimpering and shaking; a sight he was only too used to. He focused on the detector; it was all he could do to push back the countless cries and pleadings that played through his mind; he dare not look these people in the eye, that'll set off those cries again. The brown square device had an LCD screen with a dial on it like a normal metre. He reached for the edge of the device and drew out a thin, white antenna about five centimeters high. The device beeped as he pushed the red power button. He moved the detector from one member of the house to another, the device crackling but not doing anything else. Satisfied that there was no Dreamer amongst them, he turned and nodded to his group. They walked out, closing the door behind them. It was over in less than a minute. Placing back the detector, he took a look at their faces, he could afford to now. It was almost the same, the look of relief and quiet thanks and also suspicion that maybe he would still take away their loved one. The family began to hug one another once the thudding of boots faded away. They were relieved that the wailing would not be heard from their home. Elsewhere, another group of Soldiers burst into a small house. The house had four members: a man, a woman, a boy of possibly twelve and a girl of ten. The house as usual was quiet, except for the beeping of an old holo projector; a form of television set invented a few decades ago. The leader of the group stepped forward. His dark leather suit creaked lightly as his body stretched it in movement. He had an equally dark belt wrapped around his waist with small pouches. The belt jingled as he reached for a small pouch and clicked it open. The detector gleamed in his hand as he deliberately pushed the power button, his face stern behind the mask. He watched the family line up before him and stare curiously at him, he grunted almost aloud. Let's get this over with, he thought. The detector crackled lightly, burring as he placed it near the man. He stared at the man and then at the device, and looked up at the man yet again. He nearly chuckled, let them sweat. The floor board creaked lightly as he moved to the next person on his left. He paused in front of the woman, a young woman of possible thirty-something. A fine specimen, he thought. The detector crackled and burred, nothing. He then moved on, in the same deliberate manner to the young boy. The young boy stood tall, one of those kids who got hit by puberty really hard and early. He even had the mild-but-ignorable musky smell of the hormones of a teenage boy mixed with sweat and a faint bush smell. The soldier grimaced and scanned the boy, also nothing. Pompous little brat, he thought as he shifted over to the young girl of ten. Once the soldier stood in front of the little girl, he suddenly felt uncomfortable. Something about those eyes and the way the child stared at him; almost brazenly. The stared at the detector and then at the girl, a wry smile playing over his face. The detector emitted a purple spark from the antenna and beeped and then it buzzed, and the display screen began to alternate colors. At that moment, they all knew that something had gone horribly wrong. The Soldier calmly pushed the power button and pressed the antenna back in after which he replaced the detector into the pouch and snapped it shut. The room was Still silent when he turned around and faced the other soldiers. "That one." He said and exited the house. The Soldiers grabbed the ten year old and pushed the door aside, leaving as abruptly as they'd come in. Even though the mother of the child began to wail uncontrollably, she didn't leave the spot she knelt on. The man breathed heavily, loathing himself and feeling weak as he felt his wife sniffling and shaking in his arms. The young boy looked questioningly at his parents, wondering why they had just let them tak his sister like that. The young girl, oddly, was calm. She didn't protest or kick back or cry. She just let herself go. **** The moon was high and covered by thick dark clouds. The night was occasionally disturbed by the loud wailing of a mother. The Chief Elder tried to walk faster, lifting his robe and taking the back roads. The stone floors crunched loudly as he stepped past them in quick strides. He cut through the narrow streets because they were mostly badly lit. Shifting quickly, he drew himself behind an empty stall and watched as some soldiers marched past. His task was made even more difficult with the fact that the whole area was quiet and empty; it would be easy to spot anyone walking by, let alone an elder in robes. His house was at the edge of the city, in the middle section. This meant that the cleansing would have not yet gotten there. He had to be fast Gasping lighting and breathing hard, the elder pushed open a wide gate and entered into a fairly large compound. The compound had a number of trees grown by the wall of the fence, and right in the middle, covered by a green lawn, was a stone two storey building; the type of houses that once you spotted would give you the idea that an elder lived there. The builder was a bright orange with dark curvy patterns drawn into the walls. It was a mix if ancient and modern, the house. Attached to the side of the building was a wide spice with a sliding door; a garage, possibly. The chief elder pushed open the door, which creaked gently, and then walked in. He saw his wife and only son hurdled by a holo projector, watching a Live broadcast of the cleansing, waiting for it to be all over. The broadcast was being relayed by drones hovering around the various sections of the city. These drones were like the news cameras of the twenty-first century; some relayed just the ariel view with no access to the real action, while the drones enabled with special clearances went in with the action, showing the detection and sometimes adding commentary. The living room was dimly lit by the rays of blue light escaping from the projector. The volume was set low and the light in the room flickered as the images on the screen changed. He closed the door behind him, not moving till he heard it click. "My Lord, welcome." His wife said, turning when she heard the click and moving towards him. The worried look on her face, he noted when she threw an arm around him. He pushed her aside gently and turned to his son, Amzhi. Amzhi was close to nineteen years old. He was just as tall him, maybe even taller, light skinned like his mother and thinly built. "Welcome, Father." He heard his son say. He nodded and tried to smile. He then shifted his gaze back to his wife. "Come, Mari, we need to talk!" His wife frowned; surprised at the urgency in his voice. The Chief Elder grabbed hold of his wife and took her to the corner of the living room. "We have a problem." He began. "What is it?" He scratched his chin and then threw his gaze towards the other side of the room, at his son. "Its Amzhi." He said. "What about him?" "The Cleansing." He paused when he heard a creaking noise. He slid over to a window, parting the curtains and watching as a group of soldiers walked across the road outside the compound. "We don't have much time." His voice was low as if he was speaking to himself. "I cannot understand you, my Lord." Mari said, her voice equally low. He turned sharply to her, "I think our son is a Dreamer!"