Drums sounded all around the village as the villagers drank and ate. Over by the open fields, an open cooking area was laid out as countless pots were put over many open fires and with the older women of the village mending them.
Analka looked happy as the women chatted away with some husbands holding their cups full of alcohol in their hands trying to act normal while they slowly crept closer to where the women were, so to hear what they were talking about.
They knew that in that cooking area, the younger women were getting advice on how to treat their boyfriends and husbands. Over the years, they would always come back home as changed women for at least the first months after such big ceremonies and it was usually hell for them.
They ran away like dogs being chased away from a plate of food when they saw Second looking at them and with a long wooden spoon in her hand used for cooking porridge. It was like she would throw it at them at any given chance. She smiled after seeing them scatter as she was having fun.
Not that far from the cooking area, a big pile of wood was laid out and was not lit yet. Almost everyone was there. By the pile, a woman danced over the beat of the drum as her hips swung from side to side in a sexy seductive way, with each swing teasing the drum to beat again.
Her long dark silk-like hair floated up in the air like it was being carried by the wind. The sky praised her as clouds gathered to watch her dance, the moon's light fading over the clouds as it made her skin look breathtaking as her dance satiated her sexy posture.
Her stomach, exposed by the loose white off-shoulder flare crop top she wore that also looked traditional made every man looking at her to gulp. As the jewel on her belly button moved as she moved to make her dance mesmerizing, all the girls took notes with none of them feeling jealous or envious.
Her top looked like it could fall off at any second as it looked like her full but average breasts would fail to hold on to it. This made her move in every beat she took, together with her long white silk dress seem like the word seductive had become a person. The silk silvery cloth teasingly covering her face made you want to see who was behind it even though everyone knew.
"Gulp."
That sound was the sound of a kid falling in love.
"God... I know you want grandchildren. Just turn back time and make me reincarnate the day she was born and I promise you will get as many as you want. God!!!.... please!"
Nolamine was looking up at the sky again in turmoil. He cursed the very existence of beauty in this world. He took a recording and sent it to Son-join. He had to turn off his phone because of the 100 texts he had gotten in minutes after sending him the video.
"Gulp."
Nolamine looked like he would run out of saliva pretty soon by the way he was shaving it down his throat.
Fourth, who had turned into a seductive goddess had looked at him. For just a second, he thought he was the only male on earth until he looked around him and saw all the men still looking on. He wanted to put a curse on them right then and there. He did not know that they felt exactly the same way as he did.
A beat down occurred not that far away from where he was. A woman was beating up her boyfriend like he was a thief that had stolen her life away. He too had been looking on and then suddenly kneeled right in front of her, asking the ancestors to take pity on him and let Fourth become his wife.
Over the course of the dance, he had fallen in love with the seductive goddess and forgotten that he was bound to get married to the woman right next to him.
Everyone laughed until someone came over and slowly walked to where Fourth was. It was Langa and he was in the same form as he had been when he killed the Serangunis. Black smoke continuously left him as his muscles bulged.
He was holding a stick in his hand and the place went quiet as soon as he walked in. He was filling a role his master would perform. It seemed he had finally gained the respect and acceptance from him to perform it.
The drum beat as he walked around like an alpha male looking at the people around him like a wolf about to pounce at them. The drum beat again as he looked over to Fourth, who was now there standing still, looking at him and acting scared.
He walked over to her and walked around her like she was his equal. Nolamine's mind almost blew up when he saw him stop with his back towards her and then, using his feet, he shoveled dirt onto her like she was nothing. The dust and grass fell onto her, dirtying her all over.
Every man there wanted to rip him apart, but the drum beat again and he looked at them, now like a beast that would attack them at any moment.
The sky rumbled as the clouds protested his action. The drum beat in a regular fashion as he started to perform a dance that was like he was mocking the sky.
His foot went up in the air, over his head, and came down again, lightning accompanying it as it struck the pile of wood and it started to burn.
He repeated the same move two more times and Nolamine could feel the heat from the fire as it raged on. His skin trembled from having lightning strike so close to him again. He looked on as he saw its flames purple, like the lightning from that stormy night that started all his troubles.
The drums raged on as Langa walked away like he had just not summoned lightning to light up a pile of wood. Fourth came to where he had been and started to dance too.
Just as he did, she then lifted up her leg over her head and then slammed it down on the ground again, the clouds rejoicing to see her dance again as countless lightning was seen across the skies. Rain started to fall thereafter as she exited the field. It was like the sky was in tears to see he leave.
Nolamine was in Awe.
"Son-join will not believe this."
He murmured to himself.
"So, when it is Analka, you ask God to gouge your eyes out, but when it is my former master, you wish to turn back time and be reincarnated when she was born just so you would try to marry her?"
A girl's voice sounded out that shocked him to his core.
"Huh?"
He looked over to his right.
"Nala?"
He said in surprise.
"Who else could it be?"
She said teasingly.
"Cough, cough, where did you hear such ridiculous, senseless nonsense? Whoever said that is an idiot, but.... but... well, with a little bit of intellect...."
"Awe, so you mean to call yourself an intellectual idiot?"
She said with amusement.
'Damn it! how could she have heard that in the first place?'
Nolamine thought.
"Yep, and who shall always fall into idiocracy each day he doesn't get to see you."
Being the smooth criminal he was, he tried to navigate his way back to try and steal her heart with smooth talk.
Nala smiled and said nothing, only looking at the fire. She was wearing an eye-patch over her Moon Eye and looked badass. Her entire nature had changed. She was no longer sweet and strong, but sweet and terrifying while being mystical and stern at the same time.
"A pity. Our only meaningful interaction over the months you have been here is only me kicking your butt."
She said playfully.
Nolamine stopped breathing when she said that, his face turning red in an instant. Nala laughed so hard that she almost looked like her old self for a moment.
"I see you are not so smooth anymore."
She said.
Honestly, the way she talked to him at that point seemed to be more mature than when they first talked when he came back. Her voice had some growth to it. In just those few exchanges, Nolamine did not know how to talk to her, though she was openly joking with him.
"Anyways, this is your sending off ceremony. Let me not remind you of past trauma."
The girl was on a role. Nolamine secretly vowed to get back at her.
"So, you finally show yourself after so many days indoors. Finished brewing what you were brewing?"
He asked as the rain soaked them while the villagers danced in the rain. She looked at him and smiled.
"When the devil ignores you, then you know you are doing something wrong. Conversely, when the devil comes after you, then you must be doing something right."
She said to him as she looked at him straight into his eyes. Nolamine was taken aback by the sudden words.
"Even though this is your sending off, you must forgive me, for they have successfully pleased them. I need to communicate with them so as to find and kill the first ever traitor to disgrace our ancestors."
She said as she took off her eye patch, revealing her eye with an outline of a full moon. To his surprise, she then left him and went straight to the fire that the rain was doing nothing in putting it out.
King walked right next to him as he watched her walk away from him.
"Grand Disciple."
He said with his hands on his back.
"I am sure you can see it too. She is as old as us, but looking at her now, I already see the wisdom of the Grand Witch in her."
He said as the two looked on as the celebration stopped and everyone turned to look at her.