Merry Haven - Episode 8

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"Annas you haven't observed your prayers since you came, don't vex Allah." Miraj was advising Annas. Miraj, Regina, and Aaron were dressed in a dark Jersey. They were planning on  hitting the basketball court in the city. Annas was staying, he longed to be with Regina and the rest, but his brother insisted he stay for a magical lesson. Castro was away, the Caracal was out hunting for his meal.

"I do pray sometimes, just that am--"

"Your what! We are going to Jumma this week." Miraj insisted . Annas was closer to him, they were beginning a great friendship. 

Regina was still not open to him. He wondered why a girl could hate him without reasons.

 Regina held Miraj's hands and that of Aaron, "And prepare for Pra-" Miraj was saying, he couldn't complete the syllables, they were no more.

"Where will they appear?" Annas asked his brother. Kashees was at the table sipping a cup of palm wine.

"They will appear at the bush you experienced your first teleportation." He answered.

"Why does she hate me?"

"She doesn't. Just give her time. She is going through alot these past months."

"She can confide in me

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. Am not a monster." Said Annas.

"You will soon get along well.. Just that she is scared that Unkur has return. He killed her family. She had been through it when Unkur was trapped in time. But now that he is back, the sorrows of watching the massacre is still hunting her."

"Is that why she hates me?"

"No, she doesn't hate you. She is living through the murder again, she is like that with we all."

"I don't think so. She talks to you and their Miraj freely, but she doesn't talk to me, even if she do, it lacks the friendliness she uses when she chat with you people." Annas said, moving to his brother. "Is it because Unkur is my very very great great great grand uncle?"

"No, it's not that. If it is so, she wouldn't like it here, because this is my hideout, and I am also Unkur's great great grand uncle."

"Now I get it. She hates me because whenever she looks at my eyes, she sees the eyes of the man that killed her family."

"Don't say so brother.." Kashees dropped his cup on the table. "She is with you on the verge to defeating our prime enemy. You are her team."

Annas still felt bad for reminding Regina of her woes. It wasn't his fault. What if his assumptions were false? What if she just hated him for no reason? It doesn't make sense to him. He knew why she hated him now. It hurt because he couldn't do anything to get rid of his strange eyes. Tapshat called it a corruption of the real eyes. Annas was discovering how corrupt and evil his eyes were, they had made a girl hate him, the only girl he had ever adored in his life.

"Kashees what magical lesson are we learning?" Annas asked, accepting his plight.

His brother watched him, Annas knew Kashees was trying to comfort him. Annas prayed he shouldn't. His prayer worked. Kashees hurried to the wooden floor where  wines were stored underneath, he beckoned on his brother to follow. 
 The underground room was very warm. The wooden wall was dusty, it was filled with cobwebs. The wine, liquor and other exotic drinks were stored in a wine rack. Two gourds of palm wine were beside the wine rack, standing on a large wooden stool. Kashees moved to the stool, picking the gourds. 

The room was large, but not as broad as the hall, there was a dusty table on one side with a chair crafted from palm fronds. Kashees took the gourds to the table, flashing a torch on his brother's face. "come on, let's stay here." Kashees called. 

Kashees lit the candles on the table with a match. He dusted the table and the chair. "Come sit."

"Kashees, what are we doing here?" Annas asked, perplexed.

"We are trying to get high. We must speak with those slain family of ours you are seeing in your drunken state." 

Annas wouldn't go that way again, his slain family hated him, they chided and scorned him. They might harm him.

"I can't brother. I can only take few cups. I can't face those slain fellows anymore."

Kashees moved to his brother, tapping his shoulder. "Don't forget am with you, I will make my self known to them, they wouldn't hurt you, I promise."

"I can't, I can't - it's - is too much to bear. I can't!" Annas purred hysterically. He wanted no part of it.

"Am trying to teach you how to veil yourself from them - plus we need some answers from them." 

"How can you make yourself known to them? Your not the one seeing them."

"I can see them through you, I know how to access one's life with their blood. Your blood runs in my vein, it will be more effective. My blood empath ability can make it work."

"Just as you pushed me into striking a basketballer.. you made me think I did it!" Annas bursted.

"Am sorry I did that." Kashees submitted. "I was sending a message. I wanted you so badly."

"No you don't! Am no use to you. You used me as a puppet!!" Annas snapped. 

"Am sorry I did all that, am deeply sorry. We need to break the curse. You are our gateway for that."

"How?"

"That's what we are trying to unlock - Answers. With your cooperation we will get some answers. Jacob, our grandfather was discovering ways to break the curse before his son killed the whole family. We can meet him and learn what he was trying to do.. we might get the truth, only with your cooperation."

"I will try." Annas sat on the chair, Kashees served the drinks, filling them in a wooden cup. Kashees was at the table, sipping his own drink. He wasn't drinking to get drunk, he needed his sanity.

"There is one severed head that Unkur didn't get." Kashees said, sipping his palm wine, Annas sat upright, listening. "Jacob's Father was a healer, and he did some tricky sorcery as well. He knew that one of his son will kill them all so he planned with a very strong Magician to hide his dead body when he died, so that Unkur wouldn't sever his head. The Magician did as Jacob's Father pleaded. When Unkur came to bag all the dead body's head, he found one body missing. It angered him, he has been on a search for the Magician and for the missing body, all to no avail, he is still searching though."

"Why did Jacob's Father begged for his body to be hidden?"

"He wanted to come back as a Dajri."

"What's a Dajri?"

"We have them around us, Dajris have been around since the beginning of time. They are viewed as abomination by some. They are futile, it only takes a great healer to create a Dajri. Great healers in a bid to bring one to life awakens a false body, instead of bringing the real person, they bring a corruption of the real person. Just see it as bringing a dead body back to life, but they become different."

"Was he hoping to come back as  a Dajri?"

"I think so. But the problem now is who will bring him back, and where to find the body."

"Why does he want to come back?"

"He knows a way of getting rid of Unkur, just like his son Jacob."

"I hope I will see him as well when am drunk." Annas downed a full cup of palm wine, hoping to get drunk faster.

"Maybe."

Annas downed his palm wine, hoping to get drunk. He drank more, waiting.... He welcomed the second gourd of palm wine, drinking like it was a craving. He shivered at the realisation of what he would see, but he must face the dread, his family's life was at stake.

"I don't think it's having any effect." Said Annas, after emptying the two gourds of palm wine.

Kashees moved to the wine rack, plucking an alcoholic drink from it. He hurried back to Annas. "Drink." He said, giving Annas a liquor.

Annas downed all, feeling the warmth inside his spine. "You know Mr Ernest is a jerk?. He doesn't know what he is missing by disowning you." He said, he felt he wasn't the one speaking. He was high.

"Don't call father a jerk... He will welcome me back one day." Kashees managed to say, with a bothered countenance.

"Does he come here with Benjamin?"

"No! He doesn't need to, but he is indirectly sponsoring us. But Uncle Benjamin do come."

"You see... Mr Ernest is a jerk. His heart have hatred more,  but love, nah, I doubt it!." Annas purred, feeling giddy.

The room was swirling, Annas stood up, staggering. He struck the wine rack in a bid to gain balance, the wine made a quaking sound, but none came down. Kashees appeared, aiding his brother, he managed to get him back to the chair.

Annas beheld them after six years; his maimed and wailing dead family. They were always wailing; some were probably used to their doom, for they were only glaring at him. The candles on the table flared higher with a thick glaring blaze. Kashees was no where. Annas was alone in the room, alone with the wailing dead.

They were scores of maimed soul in the room, he had never witnessed such crowd in such an underground safe before. Unkur had murdered many generations of his family, they were too many to number, he wondered why they were after him, he was innocent. They were his great great grand generations, some probably his recent generation. The wailing persisted, his ears were bleeding from their sorrowful wailing. Groups of men, dressed in blood stained caftan were severely gorged, a brown fluid was spurting out from their gorged flesh, their necks were without skin, it was a bare flesh, with exposed jugular. One of the men's head dropped, he scattered his hands on the floor searching for his severed head, he fetched his head when his hands struck it, fixing it back to his neck, but they never stuck again. The head fell again, the severed head opened its eyes and its mouth, making a screeching sound that deafened Annas's ears. Another maimed soul in the group moved closer to Annas, his eyes were bleeding, "I curse your eyes! you've brought sorrow to we all, you have  made us suffer, and you are still willing to kill our children. You will be damned just like you did to us." Said the sorrowful soul, his voice was too sad, his fellow damned brothers followed in the curses, they made harsh and spiteful curses at Annas. 
 Annas ran through them, trying to get far away from the legions of souls. A new group slowed his progress, they surrounded him like  vultures trying to feast on a carcass. They were feeding his ears with curses.

"I am sorry, please don't, don't - don't...! Please....!" Annas screamed, he wasn't hearing his voice, it seemed mute. He retired to the wooden floor, writhing in pain.

A boy of about sixteen stooped, glaring at Annas; his empty eyes sucket were trickling down blood like a flowing stream.
A tall man wearing a Leopard hide, and a grey kilt appeared, shoving the boy away. "He is mine, I have waited for him all these while. I must kill him!" He grabbed Annas on the shoulder, lifting him up from the blood soaked floor like he was lifting a light object. Others shuffled around the man, struggling to also get hold of Annas. 
 Annas struggled to get free, he was let loosed, meeting the blood soaked floor again. He refused to lay on the floor for long, though he was fatigued, but he wouldn't let it be his downfall. He sprang up, shoving away from the struggling groups. He climbed the ladder step that led up to the hall. He bolted the lock, breathing with relief, he hoped they would be locked forever. 

The hall door made a low thud thud sound, someone was knocking. The knock came about every three seconds, his ears heared the consistent knocking. It stopped. The door creaked open,  Annas craned his neck to watch the knocker, no soul was at the door.
 A severed head flew into the hall through the door, rolling when it touched the floor. It rolled down to Annas, making a slow halt when it reached Annas's feet.
Annas was in a nightmare that wouldn't end, he was a misplaced target; these were his family that should love him, not hate. He felt the sorrows of the damned souls, their wailing cry deafened his ears the more. They paced slowly, getting to Annas. Some were glued at the entrance, probably guiding the entrance or stuck because of the slow traffic; they were scores of the damned souls in the hall, much than the souls beneath him. Annas was nurturing a fear that knew no bounds, it saddened him to see the people that should love him displaying such hatred for him.

His screaming was futile, it was mute, not bringing forth the sound he expected. He shoved his hands violently at the nearest damned souls, striking some off his path. He was making his way to the spiral staircase. 

Annas bolted the door when he was safe inside his room, gasping for breath. It was quiet downstairs, maybe for now. He rummaged around, searching for any object that might be used as a weapon, anything could suffice. He fetched a scissors from a large table, trying to be calm, praying he shouldn't see the nightmare again. He noticed his reflection, the mirror on the table was giving his eyes a picture of a being he couldn't recognize, he beheld a caricature of his self. He stooped, peering at the mirror. His long beard were rumpled and filled with dirt, his braided hair were lacking its firm plaits. Blood were painted all over his body, like a butter on a bread.

The dread revisited. He got a glance at a young girl on the mirror, she was soaked in blood, he felt her pain like he was scourged with sorrow and pestilence. Another young girl joined the former, drenched in blood. She wiped some blood out from her sister's face, humming a sad and sorrowful tune. More girls joined, humming a sorrowful tune in unison. Annas backed the mirror, facing the damned ladies; it was the saddest sight he had ever seen.

"You cursed child! you don't behave like an obedient cub, you betrayed your family. You think killing us was the best idea." A lady cursed, with a sorrowful voice. She was wearing a blood stained veil and a tattered gown. 

He resented the way they call him, he wasn't Unkur, why can't they see it? He shouldn't suffer for a crime he didn't commit, it was unfair, it wasn't right, the world was against him, he sighed with a heavy heart at the thought of it.

He would flee no more, it was better to face this, running wouldn't change his woes, he was doomed for life. He couldn't stand the sight, they were too gruesome. "Please I think you are misplacing my identity. I am Annas, son of Ernest who is the son of Jacob."

"Curse you for calling that name, Jacob didn't father evil, you are an abomination. I curse you!!" She snapped.

The bevy of Ladies were advancing toward him, he was stuck at his spot. He wish for death - or oblivion, but they were only wishes, his doom was glaring at him with no prospect of relieving him out of his misery.

They got their hold of him, he was surrounded by vengeful ladies, they were here to suck out his joy, he felt trapped, trapped in a dungeon that lacked happiness. All was sorrow, chaos, misery and regrets; a regret to be born to a world of sorrow and doom. Where had the happy days gone to? his misery started after the Merryhaven murder, he knew it wouldn't cease, he was sentenced to a lifetime of doom. 

The ladies touch robbed him of his remaining spark for happiness, he felt a sad emotion duelling with any feeling that could relate to happiness. Sadness triumphed. Sorrows, agony, regrets, hatred, and many vile emotions had beclouded his emotions. 


He saw a friendly face, it shone with the joy he had lost, her smile gave him a glimpse of happiness. She wore a white loosed gown, and a golden crown. She stretched her hands to Annas, he took it; being free from the fiend ladies would be a relief. 
~
Annas was on his bed, he had a pinching headache, though he felt better. He was sane and sound, a feeling he thought was gone.  He tried  sitting upright on his bed, but failed.

"Welcome back, I know you will make it back."

"What happened to me, how did I get here? I was tormented by some young girls."

"They are your relatives. All that are in the past now, you need your rest." It was a familiar voice, Regina. He knew it now, Regina was the crowned mistress that saved him.

"How did you do it? where the hell is my brother, so he forsaked me." Annas purred.

"They are downstairs, I needed to get you back alone, I needed to concentrate." She stole a quick glance at Annas, fleeing his stare when they locked gazes. "You suffered a lot, it wasn't easy getting you back. Am sorry that you have to be introduced to this world, I can help you block the weeping souls. Kashees thought he can help you, but he didn't see the feeling coming, it almost ruined his life, he didn't forsake you."

"How did it almost ruin his life?"

"What you are going through is so heavy, You are carrying the wages of unkur's sin, it's too heavy. You are also housing the cries and sorrows of your slain family. An ordinary man can't harbour such burden, I would have failed, but with great effort I pulled you out." She said. She stared at Annas with a sad and empathetic face. "I will help you, I will. Your burden is too great for you alone."

Annas was awed at her good and empathetic feelings. He couldn't believe it. She was a girl that hated him sometime ago. "Thank you..." Was  all he could say.

"Unkuriamima is a common enemy to we all. The day he killed my parents was the saddest day of my life. He beheaded them in front of me, striking me with their ripped head. My uncle tried to end Unkur, but he failed, Unkur was the strongest man I have ever seen. He killed my uncle, that was what we all believe, but I kind of doubt it."

"Am sorry about your parents. But why are you doubting your uncle's death."

"It happened in my sight. Unkuriamima literally only blasted him off the surface of this world, there was no trace of my uncle, he disappeared in my own eyes. Maybe Unkur transported him to another realm, that I don't know but I hope he is still alive where ever he is." She said, then sighed. "Out of rage I did something by chance. I made him a prisoner to his own power, he was kind of stuck in a different timeline."

She was still a mystery to Annas. Annas wondered what ability she had in her. Kashees didn't tell him about the individual involved in Unkur's disappearance, it was great hearing it from her.

"I didn't know what power I channeled, I wish I know. Now he is back. He will be coming for me." She poured out, with a sad and fearful tone." I and Castro with some of my uncle's close friends faked my Uncle's funeral. We needed to, it made me inherited his wealth. I got tons of information about the dark side and Unkur from the journals I inherited. It made me know why I have my powers."

"I heard you are the richest girl in Wide-pass." Annas said, managing a smile. 

"Wealth is nothing to me - for now. I just want to free myself from Unkur, I have to end him, then I will enjoy my wealth." Said Regina, putting on a smile. She was beautiful, her succulent lips were enchanting; it made Annas hunger for its taste. His feelings for her was beyond comprehension. It was like he was meant to be with her - forever. God brought forth a saviour for him, she was a being Annas lacked in his life, he could trade a million gold to get her attention.

His mauve pullover was thorn and tattered, his black leather short was tinged with dirt. Annas wondered who brought him to his bed. Reginald stared at his muscles, aborting her gaze when Annas noticed. She was on a black t-shirt, blue short jeans and a black sneakers. She was always on black, Annas admired her feisty virtue.

They were all with him. Kashees, Miraj, Aaron, Professor Tapshat, and Uncle Benjamin, Castro was away. The Caracal scampered through the group, sitting on his hind leg near Annas's bed.

"Hello young cub, everything will be okay now, we are with you." Benjamin said, tapping Annas's shoulder. He was on his Leopard's suit. "We must act fast, there was another murder yesterday."

"Who is it this time?"

Benjamin watched Annas, he wore a face that gave Annas the impression that all wasn't well. "Dr Bitrus, your family doctor." Annas had a strange fear that ate deep into him like a canker worm. He knew they were in a nightmare that wouldn't end. The next victims  might be the whole of his family, and the murderer wouldn't be Unkur. Annas wouldn't think about it, the thought of it gave him goose pimples.

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