I thought the water would smash into me, but when I opened my eyes, I stood in a white room. Well, “room” wasn’t exactly what I would call it. It was more a space where nothing existed except me. I wasn’t even standing on a floor; it felt like I was walking on air.
My feet were bare, my pack was gone, and I was wearing a billowy emerald kaftan. How am I supposed to learn if I have no weapons? I rolled my eyes. I was going to seriously hurt Makai when I left this place.
I stepped forward because that was the only thing I knew to do, but there was nothing except whiteness, a blank canvas. I kept walking until my feet began to tire. As soon as my mind registered the pain in my legs, it was gone, the exhaustion replaced with renewed energy. Was this some type of endless void? Was this supposed to teach me patience? Or was this a punishment that only I had to go through?
Give me something. I stopped in my tracks as a shadow moved to my left. I thought it was a trick of the eye, but then it moved again. I heard distant sounds, like an object was crashing onto hard ground. I turned to my left to see a scene, blurry at first and then expanding as it came into focus. It was almost like a picture hanging on a wall, a picture of a wooded area and clearing. My stomach seized as I recognized the place.
I didn’t want to go there.
You don’t have a choice, Nsi said to me. Everyone must see.
I closed my eyes and willed the scene in front of me to leave, but the crashing and grunting sounds only grew louder. I took a deep breath, opened my eyes, and stepped up to the animated painting-like structure.
I gripped the edge of the image and pulled myself up with all my strength, then crawled into it and plopped down on the ground, my kaftan covered in dirt. I stood shakily and walked forward through the maze of trees to where I heard the noise growing. I came to the clearing but hid behind a jackalberry tree.
The sound of a gurgling stream drew my attention past the clearing. A figure was draped on the ground, one of its boots on the grass while the other sank into the water.
I began to walk toward the figure when something hit the tree I was standing behind. Whoever it was stood and picked up a sword. I walked around the tree to get a better look and gasped. It was Mama; she hadn’t changed at all. It was uncanny how much we looked alike—we had the same dark skin, dark eyes, and the set mouth that always seemed to be determinedly fixed in a straight line. Her hair was braided, growing past her shoulders in the time since she had left me.
The expression on her face was serious; this woman was a warrior.
“Mama?” I managed to say before I felt the tears stream down my face. What is this? Is someone playing a trick? This wasn’t like the visions the Book had given me.
She was real.
She didn’t respond to my question. I said it again. She looked at me and tore her sword from her side, then threw it right at me, and I gasped. The sword flew through me like a blast of air, and I felt nothing. I looked down in shock but was brought back when Mama ran in my direction. She ran so fast that I didn’t have a chance to move. She rushed through me as if I were a shadow.
Shouts came from behind me. I jumped behind the tree again, understanding that I was looking at the past, looking at my mama fighting in Chidani. Terror grew in my chest at what I knew was coming, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away. The clearing swarmed with mmo, some of them materializing from smoke and some of them falling from the trees. I glanced at my side. Where is my sword? I needed to help Mama, to keep her alive. If I could do that now, maybe she would come home.
Mama picked up her sword and began to move, so fast that I could barely see her. She was an amazing fighter, much better than I was. The mmo crowded around her, and she destroyed them as if they were mere nuisances. She twirled her sword like an extension of herself, as if it belonged to her, then cut them down in complicated arcs, so quickly that they died as soon as they materialized.
One of them kicked her from behind, and I started forward. I picked up a fallen branch and tried to jump into the fight to help her, but every time I struck out, my makeshift weapon turned to black smoke. I stumbled back and continued to watch. I felt helpless, unable to do anything to affect the past.
“No, I can’t see this,” I mumbled as I turned to flee. An invisible barrier stopped me from leaving the clearing. I was forced to look at the fight. Two of the mmo tripped Mama up, and she fell to the ground, crying out. They climbed on top of her, beating and scratching her with long nails. One of them wrenched her sword from her hand and threw it to the dirt.
“Mama!” I yelled, but to no avail. She couldn’t hear me; she never would again.
Mama rolled to the side, kicking as she did. She moved again and struggled to her feet. She used her fists now as her weapon, moving so fast that wind kicked up in the clearing. By the time she had grabbed her sword again, they had all died. Two more materialized in shadow, and she fought them. I heard a noise behind me, pulling my attention away from the fight.
An explosion sounded, like something had ripped open the sky. A red light almost blinded me as I looked upward. Someone, shrouded in shadows, was descending from the sky. The figure dropped to the ground, its boots digging in the dry dirt. It unsheathed a long sword and calmly walked toward Mama, who had cut down the last mmo.
Mama stared at the figure with pure hatred. “Amina, you won’t ever get the Book!”
I gasped, and my heart raced faster as Amina took off the hood of her agbada. She looked just like Ramala, but where the queen’s eyes were kind, Amina’s were full of hatred. She walked tall and sure, as if she had all the time in the world. Her hair flowed down her back, corded into a long braid, like a striking snake.
A sly smile bloomed across her face. “I’m stronger than you. I’ll have the Book. And then I’ll take over both worlds.”
“Never,” Mama spat.
They began to fight, clashing against each other. The dirt moved so fast that I could barely see.
“Help me,” someone said. I jerked my eyes to the creek past Amina and Mama, to the figure lying on the grass. The voice was familiar; it was like rain on a dry plain.
“Daddy?” I croaked. I ignored Mama and Amina’s fight as I walked over to the creek, trying my hardest not to turn around and run again. I had to face this; I had to see this. There he was, almost fully submerged in the water. His hands clutched at the wound in his chest, right where his heart was. His sword lay on the wet sand in front of him.
I reached out to touch his face, praying that I would be able to. But my hands passed through him. I couldn’t even touch or hug my parents one last time. Anger built in me. The light in Daddy’s eyes began to dim, and I tried to force myself to look away, but I couldn’t. A large object fell next to me. The sounds of the fighting faded until I could hear nothing but boots sloshing through the mud. I looked down.
It was the Book, shining in golden light. I didn’t even turn around. I knew what had happened. Mama was no longer alive, the Book no longer a part of her. I stilled my breathing and felt the anger leaching from me, replaced by determination. My heartbeat returned to normal, as did my breathing. I felt for the music of the air, just as Makai had taught me. It was a haunting music, as if even nature knew that evil lived here.
“As I said, I will have the Book.”
When I thrust my hand forward, it was immediately swirled in shadows. My sword appeared there; I wasn’t even surprised. My kaftan drifted away in the wind to be replaced by my soldier’s clothes. I stood and, with all my strength, thrust the sword at the approaching Amina.
The image shattered as my sword connected with her chest. I could see nothing but shards, as if the vision in front of me were a mirror. I stumbled forward as the shards pierced me, although I felt no pain. The shards turned to shadows, swirling around me in a vortex, blowing against me so hard that I thought I would fly away.
A figure kneeled in front of me, shaking violently.
It was Zion; his shoulders shook from the force of his cries. I stood and faced him, wiping his tears away. He refused to look at me as the tears continued to fall.
“It’s over now,” I said, helping him to his feet and wrapping him in my arms as the winds blew around us.
I hoped I was right.
Aliyah was waiting for us when we returned. After the swirling shadows dissipated, we stood at the opening to the cave, the lake flowing behind us. I didn’t know what to say. I stumbled over to my corner and turned my back to them. I couldn’t stop the tears from falling. There was relief there, too; at least I had been able to see my parents one last time. I wondered if Mama had even known that the mmo had killed Daddy before she ultimately lost her life, too.
I guess it didn’t matter; wherever they were, they had each other.
I wished my sword could have killed Amina for what she had done, but I knew it was just a vision to teach me that the past was the past, the future my destiny. And I couldn’t meet my destiny if I was weak, if I was holding back from what I needed to do. Someone sat next to me as the tears continued to fall.
“What did you see?” Aliyah asked.
“Nsi,” I said, although I knew she wasn’t referring to just him. “There was a lake and rickety stairs. And then there was a vision.”
She handed me cloth from her pack. “Use this.”
I wiped my eyes. As the tears dried, so did the confused emotions.
“You don’t have to tell me what you saw,” she said. “It must have been … powerful.”
“Did you pass the test?” I whispered.
She nodded. “I … I don’t think I liked this one, though.”
We joined Zion at the roaring fire. The three of us ate in silence and watched the now placid lake. Zion seemed to be trying his hardest not to look at me, but he had passed his test, too.
After we had eaten our fill, I went to the lake. I pictured my daddy at the creek, submerged in water as the light drifted from his eyes. I was glad that I hadn’t seen him or Mama actually die; I had seen them doing their duty to protect the world.
After washing, I rested on my heavy pack along the edge of the lake. I closed my eyes, forcing myself to find sleep.
When we woke up the next morning, the cave had unsealed, and Kali waited outside for us. His gaze was somber.
“Your training is over,” he announced.