JAGUNLABI✔

PART TWO : CHAPTER ELEVEN

TENIOLA

The scene before me made choked sobs escape from my mouth. Several men and women with metal collars fastened on their necks and shackles on their feet, shuffled in rows towards ships anchored at a beach in the distance.

Desperate pleas of  "E jowo, e saanu wa! Inira yii ti poju. E tu wa sile," filled the air. They begged, "Please, have mercy on us. This suffering is unbearable. Let us go."

It was a sight of despair and mind numbing sorrow at a beautiful coastal settlement which looked very familiar.

An instinctive self assessment revealed that my body was clothed with a shimmering, white robe. Golden trinkets were on my ankles and wrists, and my skin sparkled but appeared to be transparent.

I rushed to console an elderly woman who wept in the street, but she was unresponsive. When I stood in front of a man standing guard with a tall spear, he did not batt an eyelid. I was invisible.

Spinning around, I discovered that Elenuina, my dragon was gone, and I was alone. Defenseless yet my senses were heightened. The sharpness of the ocean breeze, the light fragrance of the flowers and the richness of the bright, blue sky above. Wails and moans filled the air, and my eyes filled to the brim with tears.

At the sight of some captives stumbling, falling and not rising to their feet, my tears flowed fast and free. I took a deep breath and my chest expanded with air so fresh it startled me. Not a hint of motor exhaust or the aroma of street side food. And no music, roadside vendors or other entertainment.

An almost forgotten memory, a flashback from a mysterious messenger resurfaced...

"At the Point of No Return you will find the answers you seek."

"At the Point of No Return you will find the answers you seek."

My mind flashed like a neon shop sign at the importance of the message, but it had not actually dawned on me what it meant. I turned around and saw several huts in the distance. Some of them were on fire and pitch black smoke billowed into the air. The cries of villagers who had lost their property and loved ones echoed in the wind. Tall palm trees were everywhere, and their large palm fronds provided shade around them.

The crack of a whip and screams of agony followed by a loud command to "Keep moving or be whipped again!" forced me come to a painful realisation.

I was not in just another fantasy realm. I was at a coastal settlement in Nigeria during the brutal, slave trade era. The question I needed to answer was, why?

Just as Elenuina had said, I found myself in a place of unspeakable pain and suffering. Weeping and gnashing of teeth, but not in the great beyond. When I responded that it sounded like Hell, it's response was, "Indeed it was for those who endured it, but you must retrieve the key."

Perhaps I should stop wondering why I was sent back it time to the slave trade era, and find out how to 'retrieve the key'.

Unfortunately, that led me to another puzzle. Where and what was the key. Considering everything I had passed through since the emergence of my spiritual gifts, I knew that one plus one was not always two. Another thing I knew what that things were often hidden in plain sight.

My residual knowledge led me to take a step back. The traumatic scene set my nerves on edge and troubled my mind. Both circumstances were unfavorable for receiving any kind of revelation. It would be a great misfortune if my epic, spiritual journey was in vain. I willed myself to close my eyes and breathe.

I am not sure if my meditation took a few minutes or over an hour. The time travel must have interfered with my ability to perceive the duration between events. However, when I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw sent shock waves through my body.

From the top of my head to the tips of my toes, horror at the sight of a lady in a shimmering, white robe. Golden trinkets were on her ankles and wrists, and her dark skin gleamed with radiance. Several people bowed in front of her and she sat on an elaborate throne set with white diamonds.

When she cast a glance in my direction, my mouth fell open.

The lady was me.