A Heart In Flames

CHAPTER THREE

At cockrow, Oma woke up and set fire to warm himself. Mansa joined him not long after. The weather was cold; the sea breeze was strong; the mountain tops were covered with mist. Few birds could be seen flying, and most people in the village remained indoors. The cold season had begun.

“I must go to Mookoo,” Oma said to Mansa, and picked a piece of firewood and used it to rekindle the fire.

“How are you going to do that? It’s an evil island; no one goes there and comes back alive. I don’t want to lose you,” Mansa replied. “We are not married yet, and we can’t afford to miss the fantastic honeymoon we have been dreaming about. “Please, let’s stay together and live our happy life.

"Don’t worry about the voice we heard when we were at the mountain. The evil hands on the evil island will someday cease to exist; they will not be there forever.”

“You are my queen, my whole world, my happiness,” he said with a smile, “and I must listen to the desires of your heart, but if I don’t go to Mookoo to defeat the evil hands, our children's children will live to suffer the evil that will befall mankind again in the future. I must go to Mookoo, and I am sure I will return alive.”

“The powers of the evil hands are stronger than that of humans. Mortals cannot fight immortals, and win. You can’t win the battle, my king,” Mansa cried.

"I believe I have been given the powers to defeat the evil hands. The evil beings on the island must be annihilated, and the evil tree must be chopped down. I will go and return alive,” Oma assured the love of his live, as he stood up and hurried to his room.

Mansa sat worried. And alone at the fireside, she spoke undertone to herself till Oma returned from his room. He returned with the sword that came from his dream. He held it with his right hand, and without saying a word to Mansa, he stretched his hand and pointed the sword towards the direction of the Eastern mountain, and chanted the three mysterious words: “Tamun Hu Oma.”

Instantly, the sword burst into flames. The flames from the sword were so bright and so hot that, they subdued the warmth and the brightness of the flames from the firewood. “Wonderful!” Mansa screamed. She stood up and gazed at the sword in awe as the flames kept glowing. After awhile, Oma chanted the three musterious words again, and the flames disappeared from the sword.

“You believe me now?” he asked her with pride.

“Yes,” she replied. “It’s strange, wonderful, mysterious! How did you get it?”

“It’s divine. It came out of the dream I had last night. I am tasked to go to Mookoo, and I believe victory will be mine,” he replied as he held Mansa's hand to take their place back at the fireside.

Mixed emotions filled Mansa's heart, and she was left hanging on the thin line between happiness and sadness. She was pleased that Oma had gotten the powers to go to the evil island to defeat the evil beings, but she wasn’t happy that she was going to be left behind. Her world was Oma—she could not live a day without him.

“I will go to the evil island with you. We will perish or survive together. I will have no life to live when you are away. I will have no breath to breathe, and my heart will stop pumping the blood in me if you leave me behind. I will go with you to Mookoo island,” Mansa said to Oma in tears.

It was a sad moment for Oma. He hated to see Mansa cry. He cuddled her, and in a soothing voice, he whispered into her ears: “Wipe your tears my beautiful queen, my world and the love of my life. I won’t keep long on the mission; the victory will be swift, and I will return to you in time.”

He loved her so much, and always wanted to do her heart desires, but this time, he believed her decision to go with him to the evil island was something he could allow to happen.

“I would rather die right here, right now than to allow you to go to the evil island without me,” Mansa shouted angrily and took Oma's hand off her. She seemed resolved and determined to go with him, and she would not allow anyone or anything to stop her.

The two lovers drugged the issue back and forth and at the end, Oma agreed to go with Mansa. Perhaps, destiny, if there was anything like that, was taking its place in the lives of the lovers. It was clear, the two were made not to live independently of each other.

“I will go with you, my love. We perish or win together,” Oma agreed.

“But before we go,” Mansa said joyously, hopping around, “we must get married. We must go as husband and wife.”

Again, Oma agreed that they should get married before embarking on the journey to the evil island. Each of them was only twenty years, and both had lost their parents in the millennial misfortune, but that was not going to hinder them from having a glorious marriage ceremony. As they had always been together to the admiration of the villagers, so were the people of Subasu going to observe their marriage with joy and admiration. They would do everything possible for that to happen—they planned to make their marriage ceremony a memorable one to themselves and the people of Subasu.

Right away, the inseparable lovers started planning the marriage ceremony. They decided on which clothes to wear, food and drinks they would serve, musicians they would engage, and other things that mattered in ceremonies of the sort.

Before the day ended, Oma and Mansa had finished planning the marriage ceremony. And as they went to bed the following night, each one of them had in mind the beauty and the glory of how their ceremony was going to be.