GODS, TYRANTS AND MONSTERS

MEN OF THE WORLD

"Nijahoeba!" his mother yelled as sixteen-year-old Nijahoeba walked inside the small room.

He found his mother carrying a heavy basket and quickly took it from her pale and thin hands.

"Here, let me help you." He said with a smile. "You already have your hands full," while looking at his mother's pregnant belly.

She smiled softly. "This is nothing compared to the world I will carry once I am GOD.

Nijahoeba's face changed.

ONE WEEK LATER...

His eyes looked at the beasts that were drawn on each page. One beast caught his eyes, it was a black, thin beast with long hair and no face.

"Naamah, the Mistress of deception and illusions." Captain Sulton said.

"Naamah?" asked Nijahoeba, Captain Sultan nodded.

"You never want to run into that Upper being. She will drown you in sweet fantasies while she devours you slowly." 

Memories of the night he had lost Odo returned. He shook them from his head and closed the book.

"About Arina, what will you do to her?" he asked Captain Sulton.

"Nothing for the moment."

"You killed her grandfather...why did you do it?"

A sigh escaped Captain Sulton's lips. "She told you already? Poor lass!"

He then poured some wine on his glass.

"It was a job. I was paid to get rid of him." He finally spoke.

"Reece was a plague in Yada. He and a few others were trying to overthrow the church. Believe me, I had been paid by his son to kill him."

Nijahoeba looked at him in disbelief

"I was an assassin before. I traveled the lands, killing people for money. That was my way until one night." A smile appeared on his face. "Who could have thought I would see an Upper being?!"

"You saw an Upper being?"

"Yes, the Lord of the seas himself. He felt my cries, he chose me...I don't know why but he chose me!" he concluded.

**
The approaching footsteps alerted Arina as she ran to the steel bars and held onto them.

Nijahoeba appeared, his long hair tied into a low ponytail. He carried a plate of food and a mug of water.

"Feeding me won't make me forgive you!" she spoke spitefully.

"Good day Arina," Nijahoeba said.

"How amusing! So this is? You are one of them now? A Sulton man?"

Nijahoeba handed her the food from the bars and she quickly took it.

"He killed Reece Burdett! My grandfather!" she said once more, gobbling the food.

"There's a large city ahead. We are going to stop at it for some refreshments. Please behave unless you want to stay in the ship."

A rude laughter escaped Arina's lips.

"Normal man? Is that what you want to be? A normal man doesn't save a believer from an angry GOD, they don't survive the clutches of a beast, they don't take care of women! Is that what you want to be? a power thirsty, ruthless and dangerous man? The sort that kill women and children?" she asked putting her plate and mug on the floor.

She then walked towards Nijahoeba. "You have saved me so many times. Odo...you did everything to save him...Nijahoeba, why do you want to lose all that?"

"I want a family...children...a wife! How can I have that with this thing in me? Huh?" he answered.

"Do you want to have a family that you won't even be able to protect from these savages who call themselves Upper beings?"

He couldn't answer.