All sentient life is connected. The appendages may be different, we may eat different things, and live in different universes, but at the end of the day, we’re all one big family.
It’s time to explore the branches of the multiversal family tree, and today, we present:
(Node 5 Prime 5 Earth Year 2024)
The Old House
– Issue 3 – Owuo’s Mark
Before going to the Fonlands, Ariel went back to the house, and her uncle went with her. They landed in the backyard of the old house early in the morning before it was set to be demolished.
“You got too many secrets, unk,” Ariel said, her massive wings casting a shadow over the middle-aged man. “Tell me everything about this house and that Vodun you pissed off since you dragged me into it.”
“Owuo is not a Vodun…,” Roy started, but Ariel interrupted.
“Don’t ever say that name again, you know better. And I know plenty of Fonlanders who will disagree with you. Now, tell me what’s really going on. Was it just the spoon you stole?”
Roy shook his head and motioned for Ariel to follow him to the house. He stopped when they were close to it. “When I was a kid, my family lived here. I was born here, but I was the age you struggle to remember as an adult, like three to four. That house has four bedrooms, and when we were here, my mama and daddy had their own room, my oldest brother had his, and I was in a room by myself, so my two other brothers shared a room even though I was the youngest then.”
Roy walked to the sole window on the side of the house and looked at it, his face was sad like he was about to cry.
“Why did you have your own room?”
“Cause I was sick all the time. And I mean all the time. I think that’s why I’m the way I am now. Even back then, I spent most of my time alone, coughing and struggling to breathe. We was so poor back then, there’s never been HVAC in that house, and mama and daddy used to use kerosene heaters to keep us warm but that just made everything worse.”
Roy got quiet and looked down. Ariel wondered if he was crying and then she saw the tear on his cheek. He wiped it eventually then continued.
“I know they did their best, my parents were probably still just kids themselves back then, but it seemed like everything around me was poisoning me, like I was always on the verge of death. I’ve always known death, I’ve always recognized the sound of his voice.”
Ariel fought back tears, the reality of her uncle’s childhood was sad, but the last thing he said was strange.
“The first time he came to me, I was four years old…”
“But you told my mama that you got mixed up with Owuo because of a book and you stole the spoon to help a friend.”
Roy nodded, moving his head quickly. “I haven’t told anyone the truth, and I didn’t want you to know. You’re a Supreme Mmoatia, Ariel, and I know about Zana. I wouldn’t have insisted she come here with you if I wasn’t sure she could protect herself. Which means that my sister is a daughter of Pultine, I knew there was something special about her when I met her. And I knew that she could never know that I am marked by Owuo.”
He turned his back to her and lifted the long-sleeved shirt he wore. His brown skin was dark, but there was a large orange-brown circle on his back between his shoulder blades, and there were creeping, dark purple veins that seemed black at first glance and snaked out in all directions.
“What is this, unk?” Ariel asked as she took steps back. “What is going on?”
“I’m not evil or anything, and I only mostly lied to Bonita about what’s happening. I did steal the spoon and I brought it back to the house, hid it under the porch, but I was like six. I didn’t really know what I was doing, I just thought it looked cool, it was big and shiny. I didn’t even realize who Owuo was. He was my imaginary friend until I went to high school…”
“High school?” Ariel asked incredulously. “That’s a little old to have imaginary friends.”
“But he wasn’t that imaginary.”
“So, wait, back up. Why were you marked by death when you were four?” Ariel asked. Roy had lowered his shirt and she slowly approached him.
Roy sighed and looked away from her. “Because I died when I was four. I got really bad pneumonia and if you hear anybody in the family that knew about it tell it, I was in the hospital for a few days, came home, and was sick in the bed for about a week before I recovered. But I died.”
“Why are you here now then? I don’t get it,” Ariel said with frustration. She paced a little in the grass in front of him.
“I died in the hospital,” Roy explained. “I was hooked up to these machines and I couldn’t breathe. They were putting that thing down my throat and it hurt so much, but they were panicking and rushing to save my life, they actually killed me. I was a spirit in the hospital and I went right to my mama and I saw how sad she was and it made me sad. But then I got pulled back to my body and I sat up right when the doctors and nurses were saying I was gone. And I saw him, standing in the room with those dead eyes and that smile. He talked to me for the first time when I was at home and he told me that I was special and he wanted to be my friend. I didn’t ask why, it was just good to have someone who could be around me without fear of getting them sick too. He told me stories, he was so funny, and he always knew how to make me feel better. He took me to the Fonlands, to Lêgba’s Disc. I used to think it was all just dreams I had. I convinced myself. But when I was in college, a friend told me about a creepy strange fiction book that they thought I would like because I was into that kind of stuff then. It was the strangest book because it was about me, it was about how I died and defied death because I wouldn’t go to him after I saw my mother’s sorrow. About how Owuo was drawn to the hospital because of my defiance, intent on dragging me to the land of the dead, but when he saw me, he decided that I would be his favorite human and I would bear his mark, meaning that I cannot die because I already belong to Death. The book doesn’t explain why, it just tells the story. And then I read about the spoon, the one that I took not knowing what it really was, and I realized that I’m Owuo’s pet, running the maze for his amusement.”
Ariel shook her head slowly as her uncle told his story. In all of her time with the Mmoatia, and everything she had learned about the darkness in the Fonlands that she would battle as a Supreme to protect the Disc of Agê, she had never learned of Earthers marked by Owuo. She had always assumed that Owuo only tortured Earthers, and reveled in their misery before taking them to the land of the dead. But if her uncle was telling the truth, then Owuo mingled with humans like Pultine had. And she wondered what kind of magic her uncle could wield.
“I didn’t realize that all the bad stuff that was happening around us when I was growing up was my fault. That spoon marked Monroe for some bad energies to swirl around and I wanted you two to retrieve the spoon so that you could conquer Owuo and be out of his reach.”
“But the spoon would mark us,” Ariel said.
“No, not Mmoatia, not the children of the large flower. Age has always been very vigilant about warding her Disc against the evil that was born on Lêgba’s Disc. If a Mmoatia seizes an object of Owuo, they can use their magic to hide it from him and the things that are made of and attracted to his magic. I thought it would have been easier for you both to grab it and get out, but I underestimated him. This house is an artifact of Owuo now. They won’t be able to tear it down, he won’t allow it. We have to hide the whole house.”
“I don’t know anything you talking about, unk,” Ariel said. “How am I supposed to hide a house? I got wings and light hands.”
“You spend too much time with the Fonlands Mmoatia, you don’t know the witchy ways of the southern Mmoatia and umbatia. The offspring of Mmoatia on Earth are natural spellcasters. You’ve been to the swamp?”
“You have?” Ariel asked with astonishment. Apparently her uncle was more versed in the affairs of Fonlanders than she was.
“I know about it, but I’m not a spellcaster.”
“Spells? Mmoatia don’t do spells. We don’t have to.”
“How do you get to and from the Fonlands?”
“We cast portals…” Ariel started and then laughed. “Ohhh, ok, I see now. Well, I have to go to the swamp to learn the spell because I don’t know how to do what you’re asking.”
“Go, I’ll stay here and try to keep anybody from getting hurt. I think you should take Zana with you, but I understand that she is reluctant.”
“She may have fucked up whatever death sent after her, but she was freaked out. She said she was done with all of this. But Leilar will be happy to help. I’ll bring her back with me.”
With that, Ariel cast a portal to the umbatia swamp.
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