Zhandalee And The First Metamorphosis

-- Yes, mom, I brush my teeth and I go to bed, goodnight--

- Good night and sweet dreams – her parents answered.

TEMPORAL SPACE JOURNEY

She went into her room to go to sleep, it was a particular room because she had created it to her liking: she had put down a kind of thick green carpet simulating small grass, she then added on it some colourful cardboard flowers simulating a lawn, this lawn continued on the paintings on the walls on which trees and flowers were painted, the upper part of the walls was a blue colour like the sky, with some small cloud, its window was circular representing the sun, it was like being outdoors, the night was fantastic because as the light went out there were so many little phosphorescent dots that lit up simulating the stars and a bigger one round simulating the moon. It was a show of realism. she had done everything with her hands, except for the circular window that had been built by the blacksmith of the village.

She put on her bed like every night thinking about tomorrow, looking to the simulated sky, she turned off the light. In the darkness she saw in the background in front of her, among the many lights, another light turn on. She fixed there her glance because it would have not turned on, it was a phosphorescent object like the others, so it had to behave like the others. She turned on the light and everything seemed as usual, she turned off the light again but she turned it on a second later: something had caught her attention.

She jumped out of bed going toward the wall in front of her, she remembers of having painted a butterfly with her mother, and now it was not there anymore... Her glance froze thinking that the same morning a butterfly had leaned on her hand as soon as she woke up.

She remember well it was the same drawn, but how was it possible?

what was happening?

Suddenly the light turned off... she closed her eyes for a few seconds then before she opened them again a wind shook her hair. She opened them again: everything was real, the trees, the lawn, she was not frightened, she saw again the light lit up, she went to meet this light and as she went along it became more intense, this light came from a hole on the trunk of a tree, when she arrived she was amazed: it came precisely from a lock in a door on a tree. It was the same door of the attic!

Zandi knew how to open it but she was undecided whether to do it or not. Then she did not know how to go back and at this point she decided to continue, perhaps she would had have some answers about the strange things seen in the last days or about her two nightmares that tormented her night. So she took the pendant from her chest with the brown lit up stone placing it gently on the handle, the door opened a few centimetres, she opened it even more, everything was made of light, she was attracted by it, she immersed herself inside and the door closed.

When she opened her eyes she saw only darkness, she could not make out anything, not even a slight hint of light. she tried to move in the dark but with wonder even this gesture was prevented. Incredible, she could not move a muscle, she was motionless in the dark, she did not know what to do. She could barely hear a voice from the darkness, it was an imperceptible murmur, it was a cry of a man a few meters away from her.

But she could not see anything.

She decided to shake vigorously to be able to get rid of that immobility. With immense amazement she saw that this agitation made her able to see light showing a light like some veins, more she moved and more those cracks of light were enlarged, after a while a bit of darkness moved away from her face, she could finally see, she was esteemed and incredulous at what she could see from that crack. She thought to be in a statue with her shape, placed on an altar in a kind of church lit by a myriad of candles, in front of her an old man praying crying, the old gentleman had not noticed anything yet, he could barely scan some words, it was a prayer addressing to her, asking for grace not for him but for a person very dear to him.

Zandi continued to shake off that sort of skin made of a kind of chalk, with a powerful tug she brought down the upper part that covered her. At that point the man placed in front of her with a prostration glance, saw pieces of statue plummet in front of his knees. He raised his eyes seeing the girl shaking off more plaster and asking him for help. The man opened wide his eyes in a mix of fear and amazement, after a few seconds, started to scream running away, in the heat of escape he flew several times to the ground, but carelessly he continued his flight to get out of that place.

As soon as he was completely free, she slipped on the ground from the four steps on which she was, she got on all fours raising her head and rolling up, she turned around, there was nobody. It was a kind of sanctuary, perhaps someone knew where she was. She thought in what way she had arrived there, she began to wander around trying to understand something, when innumerable voices presumably directed towards that place approached from the bottom of the sanctuary near the entrance. Immediately she hid behind the altar with a short run, remaining hidden she could see the centre of the room through a small crack. Unexpectedly she saw the main door opening, hundreds of people of all kinds and ages went in, half of them were armed with torches and from the upper part of the door we could see that there was night outside. In front of the crowd there was the old man escaped by fear. When they arrived near the altar, the old man showed the statue’s crocks on the ground, waving his hand.

--You can see, the woman came out of the statue taking life, Look Look! -- The old man started.

A well dressed man came out of the crowd, he stood in front of him exclaiming:

-- Are you sure about what you're telling us, Mosi? Are you drunk as usual and you're looking for an excuse to get rid of the sacrilege you've committed? Surely you dropped the statue and now you want to escape from the penalty. Where is the girl you're quoting? I do not see anyone – He ended turning to the crowd.

The old man, taking some crocks, exclaimed:

--You have to believe me, I'm not drunk, believe me, Nassor, and you all too. I repeat, I was here praying under the statue, and she appeared answering to my prayers, believe me --

But the crowd expressed itself only with an incomprehensible murmur, Nassor ended it climbing the four steps next to the pedestal where the statue stood, he turned towards the crowd, and opening his arms he pronounced:

--Silence! I said Silence! - and the crowd became dumb.

--It 'clear that the old Mosi has told a lie, even if we can understand his despair caused by the disaster happened to his daughter, we cannot ignore this serious act of destroying the statue of our beloved deity. So as your tribe chief I ask you all, people of the Zebenjo tribe: do you believe in Mosi’s words? who believes in him raises his hand, who instead believes that this is a ruse to exculpate immense sacrilege that he has committed keep it down --

Nobody raised his hand, the crowd approached Mosi who at the same time knelt on the ground with a low incredulous face, unknowing why no one believed in his truth. The crowd began to shout at him phrases like:

-- Ashamed! Now you will unleash the revenge of our dynamism caused by your affront --

- You are a drunk! How could you done a similar thing! --

-- You deserve exemplary punishment --

-- Doing so, you destroy our hopes –

All these phrases were shouted as they approached to the poor old man, when he was surrounded by people, Nassor interrupted the crowd:

-- Stop! Stop! Go back silence! -- the crowd slowly obeyed, then Nassor continued:

--It is decided: Mosi will be imprisoned by the will of the community, he will be judged by the tribes' s wise, they will be the fairs to give him what he deserves.--

At the bottom of the crowd a small hand was dimly seen by Nassor, it was extended in the air, the crowd followed the look of their chief, and a corridor appeared among the people. Mosi now on the ground full of despair, looked at the corridor and with a glance from the bottom to the top he saw his daughter, his daughter Efia, she went on difficulty with the help of a crutch, she kept her eyes closed and with her hand stretched out in the air she exclaimed:

-- I believe my father, he's never been a liar, he's a good man and he does not deserve you to treat him in this way -- She slowly approached his crying father kneeling with him and she hug him continuing to say:

--Let him stay. If he says he have seen something, it is true and if he says he was not the one who dropped the statue, he says the truth --

--Yes, but where is the evidence of what he says?,-- a man of the crowd exclaimed.

-- Look, here and there the answer to his action, I'm blind and I can barely move because of a witchcraft, otherwisa I'll help you finding the proof, but I cannot, You have to look for --

--There's no girl,-- Nassor interrupted calmly.

--I'm sorry but he will be judged at the presence of the three wise men, they will decide what to do, it does not longer belongs to us, I'm sorry. Hey! you take him and lock him up, at dawn we will take him to the wise men. --

Meanwhile, Mosi turned to his daughter, hugging her and kissing her:

--Why did you get out of bed, it's dangerous but what came to your mind? –

While two men were taking him to lock him up, they were struck by lightning, they stayed like statues of salt, with a jump they knelt lowering their heads to the ground. People followed them like a sea wave, everyone were prostrate on the ground with the face to the floor, everyone except Nassor who was giving his back to the altar with Mosi and his daughter. The tribe chief frozen by the incomprehensible behaviour of the crowd turned as if he was a single piece, with him from the ground the old kneeling man turned himself. From the back of the a shadow of a female figure appeared gradually becoming most defined to the crowd, at the end the figure showed itself totally to the people.

--Have you have seen I'm not a liar?, here it is she – Mosi interrupted the silence.

--Yes, the old Mosi is right, he says the truth, I followed everything from here and I tell you that what he says is the truth. I cannot explain how it happened but he is not a liar – Zandi continued advancing cautiously.

--Therefore it's true what you say, the prophecy is coming true now – He finished the sentence bending as a sign of obedience to Zandi, then he turned to the crowd shouting emphatically

--Our deity shown itself to us, it is here to free us, finally -.the crowd was screaming with joy.

Then the tribe chief turned to Zandi, bending and asking what she wanted. Zandi replied that she wanted to rest and be in peace.

-- We host you -- Efia pronounced.

Zandi agreed and together they pulled up the old Mosi and set out to get out of the temple, walking among the people prostrate towards them, the three people slowly moved towards the cabin of Mosi.

As soon as they reached the old shed and having closed the fragile door made by straw with twigs of a tree, the old man rested his little daughter on the bed, and he prepared another bed to which it seemed that no one long ago rested the tired body.

--Here, my divinity, I know it's very humble but I have nothing better to offer you – Mosi said with a bow.

--Stop it! I'm not what you think, I'm not a divinity, I'm a normal girl and even if I do not know came here, I assure you that you are wrong, there will be an explanation to everything that at the moment I do not know-- Zandi answered sitting on a kind of stool.

- Oh yes you are, we expected a sign and you are here, even if sometimes everything seems a case it is not completely in this way. I am now old I do not think about myself but about the future of the village and my family --

--But are you only two in this family?-- Zandi asked

-- At this moment yes, but once we were not just two, we were a beautiful happy family, we lived thanks to the fruits of the earth, I cultivated the field with my two sons Oji and Sef the small Efia helped my partner Taja. The village was flourishing and peaceful, there are good people --

-- But where are we? Which is the name of this place? -- the newcomer asked.

--We are at Zabenjo,-- the old man replied.

--I know this, but which is the name of this land, of this zone? –Zandi said.

-- Ah yes, this is called the land of Africa, but not Africa of north, Africa of south, and you will surely come from here because you speak our language, our a dialect is spoken by few people, only in these areas is used.

-- I cannot believe it, I cannot speak any language other than Italian, maybe a little English but surely I do not know any African dialect. How is it possible? I do not come from here, maybe my origin, but I lived for thirteen years in a land far away from here, called Sicily – Zandi finished leaning her elbows on her knees and putting her hands between her hairs.

--See, these powers do not belong to an ordinary man, only a deity possess these gifts -- the old man underlined.

Then Zandi asked:

-- Excuse me, tell me what happened to your family, to your village and why it is in these bad conditions? Maybe there will be a connection, because I saw you, in a kind of vision I had when I was at school, I heard your prayers --

The old man smiled, he sat down beside his resting daughter taking her hand in comfort and he began to tell:

--We lived in peace, when one day some men came to our village talking a strange language, they got out of metal means of transport, they told us they would bring wealth and work, but we already had everything. They began building houses on the mountain sacred for us. We tried to prevent the desecration of sacred places but they did it by force. Even now they are eviscerating our land looking for a yellow metal called gold. They took possession of our happiness, my daughter drank the water rising from the sacred mountain as always, but drinking that water she has fallen ill and now she cannot see anymore and she limps. Now that water has become a bearer of death because they pour from their constructions malodorous liquids, fortunately we use water from the wells that allows us to drink without getting sick. The fields are not as florid as before, the plants died because of the smoke they give off. Since then everything got worse. One day my wife and I went to pick some fruit very far from here where we could find the good one not contaminated for our sick daughter, and we left her to our two children. So when we arrived to a quiet and full of fruits place we began to grasp filling our baskets, my wife heard a voices of a child coming from a crack where there was a kind of hot steam, in an inlet in the ground. She called me and we went to the origin of the voice, we did not see anything but we heard a murmur of a small child, when she leaned out she saw him: he was a little baby of a few weeks, he was naked, it was a mystery. My wife, smaller than me, entered in the crack where there was the baby, I felt something strange but she went instinctively, she arrived to the child, she took him slowly in her arms trying to go out with him, but when she was approaching me a blaze came from the ground jumping me back. Immediately I went back to them, my wife was clinging to a rock near me but she was dying, she barely was able to put the baby next to me, then she looked at me telling me to take care of him, and that she loved us, me and her children, and then she fell into the creek, I stayed with the baby in my arms shouting the name of my wife-. Mosi stopped for a few seconds to wipe away the tears and then he continued:

-- The baby was strangely unharmed, I took him home in desperation, from that moment in my house the happiness disappeared. We did not know what to do with the child, we asked around if someone had lost a child but no one could tell us nothing, so we respected the last wishes of my wife Taja, we took the child with us and we chose together a name that began with the initial letter of my wife Taja: we called him Thiago --

Hearing that name Zandi jumped out of the chair, saying:

--Thiago? Tell me Mosi, had him at his neck a necklace with a pendant similar to mine? -- she extracted from the shirt the pendants with brown and blue stone.

Mosi open his eyes wide.

--Yes, he had one like these, but he had a red stone set in .--

--When How many tome is passed from that fact? – Zandi interview.

--Behh, about eight years ago,-- Mosi said.

- And what did happen to the child and to your children? Tell me- - and the old man continued:

--One day, the men who came usurping our land, arrived with great means and they destroyed half the village, my children defended our people, because they wanted to send us away to build a road for making their vehicles pass carrying the earth. They fought but they did nothing. They pointed a means to our house, out there was the little Thiago who played, his brothers stood before him to save the baby and they disappeared in front of the truck that had not stopped. In a moment there was a kind of deafening whistle and all the means caught fire inexplicably. The bad people ran away to call other men, they arrived here in hundreds with weapons looking for my children, but they escaped to the north telling people to warn me that one day they would come back, since then I have not seen them and never heard of them. At that moment I had gone with Efia to the three wise men looking for help to heal her, as soon as I came back they beat me because they thought I knew where my two children were, but I did not know anything, they destroyed my family -- the old man plunged into a continuous cry, Zandi tried to comfort him, staying close to him, then she said:

--You'll see everything will go better,-- then she added after a brief pause:

-- I thought for a moment Thiago was my brother, but it cannot be 'cause at this time he should be about nineteen years and not eight, but it is strange that he had the medallion, it is strange. – Zandi ended thoughtful.

--Rest, it islate, tomorrow morning with a clear mind we will think about what to do, -- Mosi said with a paternal expression.

--My father's right, tomorrow we'll see,-- Efia added.

--I thought you were sleeping,--Zandi said, laying down.

--Sorry if I'm not so much of company tonight, I'm very weak and the path to the church has tired me a lot, but tomorrow I'll recover a bit of strength to help you—Efia said.

--You're right, Efia, goodnight! -- Zandi said.

--Goodnight,-- the other two answered in unison.

Mosi arranged the last things in his little house, then he closed the door putting him on his bed.

The inhabitants of Zebenjo passed that night with a smile of hope printed on their faces, in fact we could smell a different scent that in recent times, the air of abandonment and distrust had changed, even the stars seemed more bright, those stars Zandi observed through a crack of a small window, in her mind still echoed many questions: why was all this happening and why right to her? From time to time the noise of crickets in the night was overwhelmed by the noise of large trucks, but the questions ended with the arrival of sleep.

In the dream: Zandi fell into the water of the sea, after being oriented she saw from above a great confusion, suddenly she saw other people falling into the water at the bottom where she was, in front of her there was a child, she was herself when she was a child, like a mirror that reflected her in her movements but in another age. The tranquillity of the dream vision was interrupted by a great commotion and by 2 arms that take the image of her bringing her up to the surface. At that confused scene she wakes up.

The morning….

--According to you, which powers can have a deity? -- Zandi's ears heard, while she had her eyes closed at the light of the morning sun.

--SSShhh! Biko, you wake up her, you're always the usual little sensitive boy! -- a sweet female voice interrupted him.

--She's waking up,-- Biko said

--It's true, -- Ima replied turning to Efia.

-- Good morning -- Zandi exclaimed sitting on the bed.

-- Good morning to you – Efia,Ima and Biko replied.

--Zandi, they are my two closest friends, they're called Biko and Ima, they're twins and they're about our age, I hope we did not bother you,-- Efia said.

--No, you did not bother me, I'm glad to meet you,-- Zandi replied.

--The pleasure is ours, dear divinity,--Ima said.

--You will save us from the invader with your powers, I will help you,-- Biko added, interrupting the words of Ima.

--Stop Biko, do not stress her with your speeches, I’m sorry, Zandi, he is impetuous but he is a good boy, sit here at the table among us and drink a bit of infusion that prepares my father with herbs, just in the morning my father came out to collect other ones – Efia ended.

--Apologize him – Ima replied giving a black look to her brother.

Zandi got up from the bed and sat down next to them at the table, she took a cup in which Efia pour an infusion, and tasting it she said:

-- It's really good. Biko, I'm not the divinity you're looking for, I'm sorry, and I do not have any magic power, I do not know what I'm doing here and why I am here, I want to be clear, I'm sorry, I think there's a reason to explain the fact I am here and I'll have to find it. --

--Take some fruit, there is a lot, this morning they have brought it for each person of the village, they have brought it as a gift for you. you know, in these days it is difficult to see so much fruit because fruit trees keep dying, -- Ima said.

--What makes plants die?—Zandi asked in a tone of curiosity and regret.

--The invader, he's killing us all, he has come from hell and he wants to bring us all with him, but I'll fight him with all the strengths I have! -. Biko said battler.

--Who is this invader, Efia? Is he the same your father told about last night? --

--Yes, he is him,-- Efia replied with resignation.

-- But the trucks that I felt this night, where do they go?- - Zandi asked

--Ah, you mean the vehicles with wheels carrying loam?-- Ima added

-- I tell you – Biko interrupted her --They go to the sacred mountain, they dig tunnels underground, they pull out a bag of land that load it on these trucks, then they go down to the valley directed to the place where you cannot access, because there are very high walls, they enter in there and then they come out empty. From that place comes out so much noise and so much bad smell. I can tell you that the source that passes in the middle of this construction enters clear water and comes out stinking water with a horrendous colour, the same water that Efia drank for the first time, making her hill in this way. Even animals die, but unfortunately where the water is good, it is difficult to access for anyone --

--Can we go there?-- Zandi asked, -- but first I have to find a phone to call my father and mother in Sicily, they'll be worry for me not seeing me this morning, do you know where I can get a phone?—

--What is a phone? – Ima pronounced.

-- It is a thing that allows you to talk with people very far away, it is so little, -- Zandi said simulating the size of the phone with her hands.

--I understood,-- Biko interrupted. –I know what you talk about, I saw it to the invaders when they came with the trucks, they used it to communicate with each other. Come with me, not far from here there is a house where we deliver the written letters, there must be one of those gadgets. --

-- It is mail, can we go there now?-- Zandi asked.

--Yes, we can go if you want, -- Efia said.

--Let’s go, please,-- Zandi said, rising from the table.

They came out from the hut, they put Efia in a rudimentary wheelchair that she used when she had to cover long distances, but before starting Efia wrote on a piece of paper something and put it in Biko's hand saying: