Grand Adventures of the Witch King

Final Touches of the Gift

3 months later

Ezekiel could currently be seen walking out of his little hut, still covered in the same large cloak and his hunch being very much smaller than before enabling him to walk a little straighter than before.

As for now, he only seemed like a large man covered him from head to toe with a black large cloak.

The other difference was on him as well was that he had a long wooden staff that had black lines that twisted around its surface from top to bottom in his hand that he now used as a crutch for support instead of a spear, he acquired it later that very night he arrived.

After that, he used Ullo’s old memories of when he was a boy to hunt down prey using traps and snares. That he then turned into fuel to get better and was able to finally seem like a living human being again. Albeit a thin human.

The reason was that it turned out that this spell was more cunning than he had first thought, for within the last 10% of it, it refused to move stubbornly and every time that he poured in the essence it just failed as if it made his body akin to a bottle with holes everywhere on the surface.

But that was enough for now, as he could at least he could move about freely and not suffer much, not that he thought about he was not in much pain at all even in the beginning.

'Maybe it’s because of my powerful soul that pushed them away, not that I care at all. Tonight is the night I finally get to present my little 'gift'. All I need is to add the final touches since today is a special day for all the youths of age 16 after all everyone will be at one place.’ He chuckled lightly in his mind as he continued lightly limping towards the direction of the gates.

Looking around at the festive atmosphere that was the Coming of Age ceremony, he saw people being excited and cheerful with large smiles of laughter, each one wearing their best clothing for the event. Though none of the participants were in sight at the moment.

This was what he was waiting all this time since he first landed and made plans.

Tonight was the feasting and celebrating as it was the first part where the young men and women all got together for one last time, only later after the dispersal shall the young men sleep where the gem is and get their blessing, while the young women move towards the shaman’s place for a week without leaving until they have mastered or at least reach a certain competence in that arcane art the shaman shows them.

For it was also the same in levels of success as not all the girls succeed, however, unlike the men, there is no death, and those that fail just become ordinary people like most of the villagers. This was also why each warrior would have many wives, for the women were more than the man, at times they marry them off to other villages as well.

Even if Ullo was not found himself accused of being possessed, he wouldn’t have participated in the ceremony like the others, it was the same reason he didn’t help his case when he was being accused and that reason was that he was not of this land and grounds.

There was no ancestral heritage in his blood from the Tambe village.

From the memories Ezekiel saw, Ullo’s parents came from a very faraway place after crossing the vast forest that is full of perilous dangers and ended up here. They wouldn’t have stopped here either had his mother not been in her last months of labor with him.

She gave birth to him, and after that, he noticed that there were no memories of her face at all as if she just disappeared while he was very young, so it was only his father that was left to look after him.

From what he saw, it seemed like his father was a great and powerful warrior and mage.

He taught Ullo the techniques as well as the ways to survive and get stronger by first imparting all he knew to Ullo from age 3 and even taking him in the jungle to hunt and kill.

At age 5 he was left alone for a month to fend for himself. It was hell for the young Ullo. But he was an extremely tenacious little fella that did not shed a tear, he just gritted his teeth while clenching his weapons tightly and used all his father taught him over the years and survived.

His father was very mysterious and never shared much with Ullo as well as made him promise not to reveal his abilities. As they were different, stronger, and better than the low leveled nonsense these people used, but never revealed the reason why.

At age 7 his old man also disappeared like his mother one morning. And only left a message along with a map that he had to follow once he reached a certain realm in the technique he was taught.

'What a clique beginning that went off the rails before he could even step out of this forest, not to mention very irresponsible parents.' He berated them mentally.

But he had to give it to Ullo, no matter how depressing and lonely he was, he worked very hard and never gave up to fighting and reach the realm he had been told to reach, that and he was strong as well as developed a mature and stern persona that kept him focused but also away from people as well as the thirsty girls and women of this village.

Ezekiel had a hunch that it might have been the reason Yuje’s mother wanted him dead.

Now that he thought of that it might be true. She might have actually lusted him, but he ignored her and one day he caught her with another man of another village in the forest once, he caught them during a very intimate moment, well not that intimate, it was more like they had ended their business with their clothes all messed up, Ullo came in their range when they were giving each other goodbye kisses.

He of course just turned around and walked away, but the man wanted him dead, Ullo promised that he wouldn’t tell a soul, but the other was adamant about getting rid of him. So Ullo killed him, she saw this and ran. But Ullo didn’t bother with her and lived his life in peace, she to him once and tried to seduce him so he remains silent but Ullo just rejected her offer, she then pleaded for him not to say anything and he affirmed her request for he didn’t care much about this village at all.

So when Yuje brought the news of Ullo being possessed Ezekiel thought that it might have given her a reason to end him and perhaps chalk up everything that he might say to the crowd of her adultery as the wicked spirit trying to sow discord.

Though it might sound like a valid point of the chief’s wife wanting to murder and torment Ullo, Ezekiel thought that there might have been an even more complex reason for this, for she could have ordered Yuje to kill him that day instead of putting that nasty curse on him that ended up killing him anyway.

But the real reason will remain a mystery as Ezekiel was not interested in finding it out, however, what interested him was the special transformations of the chief and co displayed in their battle against Ullo.

‘Not that it is worth it, for once the person chooses a beast to use, they stay with it until their death. Though it must be an individual type of power as none of the children born by these people don’t inherit their parent’s beast forms or any features, it is interesting as I have only seen something like that a few times back on earth.' With a small smile, Ezekiel carried on his steady walk.

Everyone ignored him and carried on with whatever they were up to as if he didn't even exist at all. Which would be extremely hard because of his battle and the fact that he often looked like an abomination.

The answer to that mystery was simple, witchcraft!

The first night Ezekiel arrived after he used his flames to kill a lot of domesticated beasts and purged the spell to at least 30%. He used the remaining essence to carve out small runes on his little house and create a talisman that would be on his body from a small bird skull he found in his room.

All too reduce his presence and make him almost none existent in their minds.

They knew he was alive; they could see him too but it was as if he was akin to a blade of grass on the side of the road.

For one that had the same standing as the gods even if he was not one, Ezekiel had touched and seen the strings of fate many times, so even if he had dropped greatly in power so great that it was like turning from being big and mighty as an elephant to being as helpless and as small as an ant.

But he had just enough tricks and experience to manipulate a village like this to ignore on like him from being the number 1 well-known person, to that guy that everyone barely knew and made it all seem natural too.

But it cost a lot of energy each day to keep it up, almost as much as 10 rabbits’ worth of essence energy, the reason was that he didn’t break the bonds, or cut them off, he just merely covered them as he was too weak to do anything else so that he didn’t have to deal with anyone for now and allow him to focus on his plans and recovery.

But it didn’t happen instantly, it was gradual for instance the first night he activated it that entire day each time someone had a thought of him it would simply appear uninteresting at first and when they met up with another to speak about him it was like a casual about the weather and then it would be turned into another memory instantly, as time went by people become indifferent towards him.

Conversations about him were like this during the first week after the battle:

"To think that boy Ullo was such a mighty Buburu host that he beat all the elders and chief, even with the shaman being involved."

"Yes, he was strong indeed we are very lucky he was stopped. By the way, I have been looking for a way to keep someone from stealing my eggs."

"Ah! You are lucky, we lost an entire coup last night, all I remember was seeing green lights in my dreams…"

And like that, with time they just kind of forgot about him a few days after the fight.

Even Yuje who would have taken this opportunity to bother him would just feel nothing but boredom and would get different thoughts that he had other things to do each time he wanted to go harass Ullo or in this case Ezekiel.

This just proved how powerful Ezekiel's witchcraft was, and he had not even started the first stage of it all.

Limping with those thoughts, he passed by the huts much like his own in the material used, a few others had rocks as walls instead with some having grass and thick, tough hides for roofing.

Each household had special and unique designs as well as paintings on them that they had exchanged with other villages or made their own from special crushed rocks or plants.

The entire place had a special ancient and primitive vibe, but don't believe them to be that ancient for they worked with metals and in the streets, at night they had these special bright lights like streetlights that came from these special kinds of rocks.

They hung them on poles in the streets, during the day the rocks would absorb sunlight and release it at night, the weird thing was that these rocks emitted no heat at all, just light.

'Strange world it is indeed. And one that is waiting for me.' He then picked up his pace and exited the large gates.

Once outside, he looked left and right for a second, he then stood for a minute or so just gazing at the ground as if he was waiting for something. With his cloak covering his head one could not see his facial expression at all.

"Ah… good, very good. It seems I will be done by the time the celebrations start." Mumbling slightly to himself he then walked towards the left side of the wall.

Soon he reached a spot and stopped, if one counted his footsteps from where he first stood they would notice that it was exactly about 500 steps, he then struck his staff a few inches into the ground and start mumbling in a low voice while leaning on it. After a while or exactly 3 minutes, he started moving again only to repeat the same thing after another 500 steps.

Thanks to his special spell whatever he did here were ignored, for to the guards on the towers, it would seem like a very old man who was taking walks and would get exhausted with every few steps only to rest for a while then carried on.

Perhaps he was exercising?

Ezekiel carried on his task diligently and didn’t rush anything nor was he hasty, each step was in order and measured perfectly.

The holes he would leave in the ground all seemed normal on the surface, and even if one saw this they would immediately ignore it.

But what many didn't see was that each time Ezekiel started to mumble, or to be specific, chant. A green fiery glow would light up in his eyes, only to disappear after he stopped and walked on.

After doing this 15 times, anyone could see that he was getting exhausted as he got increasingly slower and wobbled unsteadily, yet his feet remained firm on the ground.

Suddenly he came to a spot, it had a small hole in the ground. No one would see this as there were small patches of grass around it, as well as all around the wall.

A smile arched on his now old man-looking face that was full of wrinkles when saw this little dent in the ground. So he got closer and stabbed it with his staff.

It fit perfectly as if it was made by the same thing, which it was indeed.

This was where he had previously left off about a month ago, not even the rain had removed it. And this marked the end of his three months wait, and the beginning of his new journey.

"Ingens Maqlu." He chanted a little louder this time.

The staff in his hand trembled slightly as green wisps slithered down it from his hand into the ground. The trembling stopped as soon as the wisps entered the ground. With that, he removed it and looked down at it for a moment.

With a nod of satisfaction at this, he looked at the sky and saw it was completely dark. Seeing this he walked back without a word, slowly limping back to the gates.

As for the little dent in the ground, it began glowing slightly as if tiny lights of glowing emerald magic dust were poured into it. They just flickered gently, but all did it at the same time as if they had a pulse.

At this time if one looked from the sky above the village, they would see tiny innumerable green dots surrounding the village, all blinking in sync. A bizarre sight, that unbeknownst to all about what they hid.

The oblivious villagers on the other hand were ready for the ceremony, perhaps the best one that they had ever held before.

Perhaps the last one ever.