Ishe was zipping through the air at almost the speed of light in what he thought was the direction of the Brave Chimutengwende. He was retreating from the Voice that now had a body. The Voice had brought him to the physical realm from the light realm, and then revealed intentions to use him for some secret plan.
When he finally came to a stop, he was surprised that he was not met by his descendant and current Brave, Wendy. Instead, he had arrived in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, at the home of Rhode, who was a student of one of Ishe’s oldest rivals, the witch Miriro.
When he came to a stop, it was sudden and if he’d had a body it might have been ripped to shreds because of the speed he had been traveling, but instead he was treated to a show of streaking lights and colors as he flew that suddenly melted away and he was left with a scene inside of a dirty apartment. There were clothes all over the floor, and where there were no clothes, there was garbage; old food and empty disposable cups.
Ishe made his way through the apartment that he had never seen before and he wondered if his descendant, Wendy, was being held captive there. When he made it to the living room, he saw a strong young man with a curly, brown afro standing before the spirit Miriro, who noticed Ishe almost immediately.
“What is this?” she asked the young man, Rhode, who looked at Ishe confused.
“He’s obviously a ghost, he must be here for you,” Rhode said, annoyed. He had been a student of Miriro for over a year and she was mean. His real name was Joshua, but Miriro renamed him because she despised his name. He was eager to learn as much as he could about his newfound ability to see ghosts, and Miriro had taught him how to consume spirits to increase his power and form his own warped vadzimu of trapped spirits who were forced to give their powers to him.
“I don’t know him…” Miriro started.
“You know me, witch,” Ishe said angrily. “What have you done with the Brave? Where is Wendy?”
“Who are you?” Miriro said seriously and stared at Ishe. “You should announce your intentions soon, Rhode here is always hungry for spirits and I have the patience of a mamba.”
“I spoke words to be next to the Chimutengwende Brave,” Ishe explained, “and I was brought here.”
“We have not seen the yellow Chimutengwendes since they lost their great ancestor. We have no need for them, not until this one is strong enough to eradicate them from this realm. This should be good practice,” Miriro said to Rhode. “He must be one of them. Have your fun.”
Rhode’s physical body remained the same, but Ishe saw his soul morph into a huge dragon.
“He is such a stupid boy,” Miriro said smiling, “but he is strong. Not even the so-called Brave can manipulate her soul energies. He likes the dragon, it swallows souls whole.”
Ishe said an incantation that caused a continuous and controlled explosion at his feet and sent him flying through a wall and out into the day. Rhode’s soul dragon was close behind, and even though it roared and spit a huge blue flame after Ishe, no one outside in the vicinity of the apartment complex could see it. Ishe flipped over as he flew away so that he could see the dragon that pursued him, and he waited for the right moment, then he incanted to send a blast of energy at the soft underbelly of the soul dragon. It screeched in pain on impact and fell to the ground in a swamp. As Ishe landed, he incanted chains that wrapped the dragon. It whimpered in pain on the mossy grass.
“What have you done with Wendy?”
“She wasn’t lying,” the dragon groaned in the voice of Rhode. “The last time we saw Wendy, we helped her stop the Red Father and then we left in peace because there was no great ancestor to fight over. I can do cool stuff, but I’m not nearly as strong as Wendy. Miriro knows that and she wouldn’t risk a permanent banishment from Anesuishe.”
“Then why am I here, and why does the witch pretend not to know me? Surely you remember me, I was there the first time you attacked Wendy.”
“I remember Anesuishe and the old guy,” the soul dragon said earnestly. “I’ve never seen you before.”
Ishe thought about something Pomp had said in the light realm, when he was giving him advice on which version of the Angel to ask for help.
“You must choose carefully. Choose the wrong version of the Angel and you will be rejected before you can even make a request. And the journey to one is so exhausting that you really only have one choice. By the time you journey to another, the physical realm will have forgotten you and there won’t be any need to go there.”
Had the physical realm forgotten him? Maybe that is why the incantation had failed, the vadzimu and the Brave had forgotten him and he was no longer part of them. But if that were completely true, then none of the incantations should work. Maybe he still had hope to restore his history.
Ishe tightened the chains and the soul dragon screeched.
“Take me to the Brave. I know you can find her.”
“But Miriro will be mad…”
Ishe concentrated on the soul energies of Miriro and incanted an invisibility spell on Rhode that gave them days before she could track him.
“Then we must be quick,” Ishe said and he waved his hands. The chains changed into a harness that Ishe used to saddle the dragon.
The soul dragon said an incantation and then it’s eyes glowed red. A stiff wind blew past them and the dragon flew after it. Ishe would finally be reunited with the Brave.
PRL Serials 