Ato soon arrived at the hut and plopped down onto its stony terrace. He tried his best to remain calm yet couldn't stop grinning like a little kid at the prospect of being able to manipulate fire.
Well, not quite to manipulate... Summoning it would be just as good.
Ato's mind wandered back to the forest. Somehow, it had seemed almost alive, as if it were a living, breathing creature. And Ato didn't doubt that, not for one second.
Kweku walked out of the hut, having just finished cultivating.
"Where have you been?" asked the older boy.
Ato responded simply, "Walking."
Kweku did not buy that.
Nevertheless, he sat down beside his friend—for he truly considered him one.
Despite the fact that he was currently planning using the poor boy, Kweku still thought of his slightly awkward teammate as a friend, or at least as close to a friend as he could get in the life he planned to live from here on out.
"Alright." Responded Kweku, not bothering to continue the subject. As he stared into the air, a sudden thought came to his mind.
The higher ups... Were less interested in Ato than he thought. Which was a fact that didn't make a lot of sense.
Ato was a double-root, he was supposed to be a top priority, and Kweku knew for a fact that the servants of The General were not one to ignore a potential loyal soldier. So why did they choose to ignore Ato?
May be it had something to do with his origins? Ato was, afterall, a former Fante citizen and Kweku had seen enough of the average Ashanti citezen to know how deep the Xenophobia ran.
Having determined his answer, Kweku looked up at the afternoon sky, and at the place where Ato was.
Where he should have been.
"That asshole..."
***
A tall woman walked into an opaulent hall, the bright rays of the sun piercing through the tiny windows. The Walls were covered in intricate symbols and drawings. Each sybol was meticulously drawn by the numerous servants within the compound using spirit-coal dust.
Large life-like wood statues stood motionlessly at either side of the hall, each one depicting the same figure: A large, muscular beast of a man.
Said figure stood at the far end of the hall, looking at what seemed to be a large map. The map was split into two sides one coloured red and the other coured yellow, a few splotches of green, orange and red were thrown in as well, along with a few dotted lines and symbols representing transport routes and major settlements and battalion stations.
The large man wore an equally massive Batakari, with humongous trousers made of an almost metallic substance, at his side stood an intricate blunderbuss, which seemed more of a decoration than a weapon.
Said man also had a strange prescence about him, as if he were something other than human.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
He wore his hair in the unmistakable Rasta style, its coils extending all the way down to his lower back.
The man turned round to face the woman, an impassive expression on his face.
"My daughter, have you brought me good news?"
The woman straightened her back unconsciously, dealing with the General was never easy, even more so now that she was-
"Father!"
Through the door came a little boy, holding a limp creature by its tail. Despite the boy's bruised and beaten appearance, he seemed quite overjoyed.
A slight shiver ran down the woman's spine, and a low growl began emanating from the General, sensing that he would act - and violently at that - the woman dashed forward with blinding speed, easily transporting the boy out of the room before his father could get him.
[Bewilderment]
The boy's gaze quickly turned blank, before soon returning to its original state. He then simply walked away as if nothing had happened.
She quickly returned to the hall, finding the general as impassive as before. The good thing about dealing with a Bediako, was that their rage, violent as it was, quickly subsided.
"I have nothing to report, Sir." She stated. "Everything was ordinary at the Southern Sector."
"Very good." Responded the General. "And what of the Dwarf Settlement?"
"They have remained within the evil forest, Sir. And only occasionally enter the 15th Slave Compound."
The General nodded approvingly.
"Come." He said, and led her towards the large map. "What changes should be made?"
The woman began to point out several errors and inaccuracies in the map, and as she did so, the General began editing the map. A smal bracelet of beads on his arm began to gow, and the structure of the map began to change. Soon, the red portion took up more than half of the space on the map, and the spots of orange and red began to dwindle.
This excited the General.
After dismissing the woman, the General stared intently at the map.
"The Emperor shall be greatly pleased."
***
Ato sat on the soft grass, watching intently as Akasi meticulously arranged 4 ornate calabashes on the ground. Akasi wore a large deer-skin bag.
He retrieved several items from the bag; A flask of alcohol, a small, powder-filled calabash, and a tiny vial containing a strange crystal.
He brought out the crystal from its vial, placing it into one of the calabashes. And then retrieved from his bag a pestle, which he used to grind the surprisingly brittle rock to dust. Then, in another calabash, he poured in a small amount of alcohol. The sweet yet sharp smell of the liquid wafted into Ato's nose, causing his lips to curl with delight.
He then poured half of the white powder into a separate bowl, and swished it around for a bit, seemingly checking for impurities.
Afterwards, he finaly began adding all the components into the fourth calabash, starting with the alcohol, and then the powder. The mixture slowly began to fizz, bubbles steadily rising to the surface.
The boy waited for the mixture to calm down, and then finaly added the ground crystal.
There was an instant reaction.
'Bang!'
A thunderous shot like that of a gun startled Ato, who at that point was in somewhat of a daze, busily commiting the intricate procedure to memory.
Many more came soon after and by the end, the ornate clalabash looked quite charred.
Ato leaned over to peek within it, and there he saw the final product; a black powdery substance.
"So, what do we do with this?" Asked Ato, violently resisting the strange urge to feel the powder.
"just wait."
Akasi brought forth horse-tail whip, which was in a noticeably worse condition than the one Ato currently had, being quite worn and dusty and fraying noticeably at the edges.
The boy reached forward to grab the bowl, but suddenly paused.
"Give it to me."
Ato chuckled, and then tossed the whip in his hands to the boy, who caught it with ease.
"There, now tell me what to do."
Akasi handed him the frayed whip, and then instructed him on how to ignite it. First he was to completely cover it in the powder, ensuring that every part was covered. Then he was told he had only two options, to hold it under sunlight, or to create a spark to ignite it.
"I'll use the spark method."
He was handed what seemed like two rings each with a center stone of a dark, rough substance. Ato was to place these rings facing each other on the thumb and index finger of his left hand, and then snap.
SNAP
A tiny spark flew off the surface of the center stone landing on the black powder, and instantly setting it ablaze.
A large, fist sized flame roared in his palm, Ato could feel the heat from the flaming whip, yet it did not harm him in the slightest.
A large grin found its way to his face.
"Perfect."
He'd found his solution.