A Heart In Flames

CHAPTER TWO

Mansa was always sad after her parents perished in the millennial misfortune. How she wished her parents had survived. She and Oma were planning to get married, and she wished her parents would be alive to bless her marriage, but there was nothing she could do for that wish to come true.

The inseparable lovers lived together after the millennial misfortune. They did everything together. One evening, the lovers had a walk to the Eastern mountain and there, under the mountain, they sat and talked.

"Today marks the beginning of my new age," Mansa said, "and I have decided to surprise you."

Oma smiled. "A surprise? I can't wait to see or hear it. I turned a year older yesterday, but I had nothing in mind to do because, I live in agony of mind everyday after my parents died."

"Don't worry, my handsome king; we shall be happy again," Mansa said to Oma to comfort him.

"Yes, I know. With my beautiful queen beside me, I know sorrow will soon have no place to live in our hearts again."

"Now, stand up and close your eyes and don't open till I tell you," She told him, and smiled beautifully.

Oma obeyed—he stood up and closed his eyes. And after a while, she asked him to open, and when he did, joy replaced the sorrow in his heart. In front of him stood Mansa. She was naked. Her flawless skin glowed. She looked amazingly beautiful.

"I am grown," she said, turned from left to right; and showed Oma how endowed she was.

Oma stood still, and stared at her in awe. His heart pumped within his chest; she appeared more beautiful to him than ever. He had no words to describe her beauty.

"You are magically beautiful," he said and smiled. And when he took a step closer to her, she fell in his arms and kissed him.

Then, he sung:

The beauty of my queen

Is a healing to my soul

My heart is healed from sorrow

The wonders of nature are a blessing

to mankind

This is my world, my beautiful world

A world full of wonders

Why must a glorious world

Be hated by evil hands?

The beauty of my queen Is a healing

to my soul.

With his heart full of joy, he sung repeatedly. And just when he finished singing, a voice spoke from the top of the mountain. And out of fear, Mansa dressed up quickly. She feared that someone might have seen her nakedness.

"For this you were born. Defeat the evil hands and save your queen and your beautiful world. You can do it. You have the power to do it."

Oma and Mansa did not see the one that spoke, and that made them afraid. They hurried home and kept what they heard a secret.

The following night, Oma had a terrifying dream. It was deep in the night when he woke up. Subasu was quiet, and the song of mountain birds could be heard on the mountains. He stood up from his bed and went to the door of Mansa.

"Wakey-wakey," he shouted, as he knocked on the door. Mansa woke up and when he opened her door, Oma entered her room.

"I had a very terrifying dream," he revealed with a shaky voice, " and I want to tell you about it."

"Sit down and tell me, my handsome king," Mansa replied, as she showed him a place to sit on the bed.

"I dreamt and saw the two of us in a boat on the sea of Gusha, sailing to Mookoo island. And on the sea, there were many monsters. I also saw the wizard of Manke. The monsters and the wizard wanted to destroy us, and as we tried to escape, I woke up."

"That's really a terrifying dream. What do you think is the meaning of it?" Mansa asked, and leaned on the right shoulder of Oma.

"I can't tell, but I think it has something to do with the voice we heard when we were under the mountain. The voice and the strange dream cannot be ordinary."

"Very well then, don't be afraid, my king. The evil hands will not rule forever. "Go back to sleep. Nothing will happen to you," she said soothingly to calm his fears.

Oma went back to his room to continue his sleep after he had kissed Mansa on the forehead. It took him sometime before he could sleep again because, he thought about the dream; the strange dream terrified him. How he wished he had not had the dream, but not long after he slept, he had another dream. This time, he saw a supernatural being in a form of a man. The man was in a long robe, wearing a golden crown, and he was covered with flames of fire but he was not burning. The awe-inspiring being stood on the mountain at the east of the village with a golden rod and a sword in his hand, and beckoned to Oma to approach him.

"You have the power to defeat the evil hands. Trust in yourself. To the island you must go. Go and save the earth from sorrow. Go and defeat the evil hands," he said to Oma, and drew closer to him on the mountain.

Shivering in fear, Oma asked: "To which island must I go, and how will I save the earth from sorrow?"

"To Mookoo island you must go. Trust in your sword, and don't forget the three mysterious words," the aw-inspiring man replied Oma.

"I don't have a sword!" Oma shouted, "and I don't know any three mysterious words." Oma's voice echoed in Mansa's room and woke her up.

Mansa got worried. She knew her man was deeply troubled, and that worried her endlessly. She walked to Oma's door and knocked.

Oma woke up to see a sword on which three words were written lying beside him on the bed. He took the sword and hid it before opening the door.

"I heard you shouting," Mansa said when Oma opened the door.

"It was another dream. Please, go back and continue your sleep. I am fine," he replied, and as Mansa walked away, he closed the door behind her.

Oma took the sword from where he hid it, and read the three mysterious words that were written on it. "Tamun Hu Oma," he read. And instantly, the sword caught fire, but the flames could not burn it. The three mysterious words mean, “Oma The Conqueror.”

"Prepare to go to Mookoo," a voice spoke when the flames on the sword disappeared. "Conquer the evil hands and chop down the evil tree, and safe the world."

With the sword in his hand, Oma sat surprised but happy—he was happy that he had been given the powers to defeat the evil hands that tormented the earth and the people that lived on it.

But how easy was that going to be?