Kadian

The Great Finale

Chapter 50

“Wait a minute, wait!” Zuri screamed, but no one listened.  She pushed past the crowd, and dove straight into the tapestry.  Everyone began to scream even louder, until they heard Zuri shout “I’m fine!”

A confused silence fell over the villagers.

“But how?  How are you alright?!” a man asked.

Zuri stepped in and out of the tapestry, observing herself every time.  “I don’t know.  I just saw that he went through, and came back fine.”  She pointed at Mohassen.  

“Oh yeah,” everyone murmured.  

“I think these things are getting angry,” Daewon said as he ducked and swatted at a large hoard of petals that had been swarming and pushing the backs of the villagers who stayed further behind.  “Maybe they want us to walk up Shango's path?  But that's insane!”

“We shall do as they wish,” Mohassen commanded through tears.  The villagers obeyed, but very slowly.  

Everyone held hands tightly as they stepped up Shango’s trail.  Some looked down at their homes, amazed to see them from such a new, dangerous angle.  This was the trail that everyone had lived in fear of, that everyone had kept their children from.  The trail that people had lost their lives on.  

Children paused every now and then to curiously admire the red and silver streaks in the solid soil.  Anyone near an elder held onto them tightly to assure that they didn’t fall.

Mohassen took a deep breath and held Kadian even tighter when he reached the top.  The blue petals brushed his cheek, so he stepped on to the stone floor with little fear.

He looked around the wide, smooth, grey floor, stunned.  A wave of deja vu hit Mohassen- Shango resembled a familiar landscape, but he wasn't sure where he had seen it before.  Mohassen found it hard to believe that everyone had feared this place so much in the past, for it was almost beautiful.  Still, he felt uneasy, and the villagers must have felt the same- a couple fainted when they touched the stone floor.  Mohassen’s eyes quickly darted up, looking for lightning.

After the last man had been aggressively shoved in by the petals, both colors swiftly floated towards the center of the vast floor, and zipped upwards.  They began to spiral around each other viciously, until the blue was no longer discernable from the pink.  Their lights grew brighter and brighter, until it was painful to look at them.  The moment the villagers shielded their eyes was the moment that a beautiful, inviting green display appeared in center of the floor.  

Bright lime vines and leaves intricately decorated the sides of the display, and a key lime satin cushion lined the inside.  The rounded glass shone with a brilliance, and carefully opened itself as Mohassen walked towards it with Kadian in his arms.

It was too much for him.  He began to sob when he realized that she would never breathe again.  

“It’s alright, baby boy,” an old friend of Omose’s said encouragingly.

“She would’ve wanted you to be the one,” Zuri sobbed.

“Come on Mo,” Daewon gently urged.

“Let her rest, son,” Zee choked.  

Mohassen shakily laid Kadian down in the display.  He went to smooth her dress and hair, but they both did so by themselves.  The case snapped shut before he could touch her for the final time.  When he realized that laying her dead body down would be the last contact he ever had with her, he cried even harder and fell to his knees.  

No one was sure when the blue petals had returned, but they took the shape of a body, and the body made its way towards Mohassen.  The strong arms lifted him up.  Mohassen frowned as he looked at the petals.