The last song of the ancestors

After meeting again, Akachi and Spin Bomb talked animatedly. Feruzi listened to them both, amazed at the news they were telling him, at the ordeal each of them had been through. Under his hood, he smiled a few times in silence. It was a way of camouflaging the pain of losing his old friend.

He had always considered Nyatui to be a problematic guy, and he didn't agree with him on anything. However, he would be missed. He was a medium of fiber. The two of them had been companions in the old Circle of Sages. The institution to which he had contributed was now his enemy.

He would have liked to have listened to Yerodin, the Sage of Knowledge, his disciple. Feruzi considered it an outrage to die after his student. He knew how impermanent, unpredictable and unfair life was. The old man didn't notice the coming and going of people in the canteen. He hadn't touched the lunch in front of him, and only woke up from his torrent of thoughts after being tapped on the shoulder by Spin Bomb.

“Master Feruzi, you haven't eaten. Are you all right?”

“Thank you, Spin Bomb. You're a good student. You have a very hard shell, but a soft heart inside.”

She crossed her arms, turned her face and puffed out her cheeks. She was proud of herself that her master recognized her sensitivity, but she didn't want to admit it.

Akachi found the situation amusing. The firework sword maker was short-tempered, but still an admirable person. Her harsh manner was a way she had found to protect herself from disappointment, from others and from the world. She had dreams, and they had died in tears and hopelessness.

She watched Feruzi and her friend, unable to imagine a scenario where the girl could be apprenticed to that taciturn old man. The master of suspicion was introspective, but had a firm character. Totally different from the irritable and noisy young woman he taught. It was an exotic combination.

“I saw the scars, but I didn't quite understand what training Spin Bomb went through. Can she bind spirits too, Mr. Feruzi?”

“Well, she…”

“Don't say anything! It's a secret. I'll reveal it when the time is right.”

“On ‘D’ day, at ‘H’ time.”

“Don't stuff it, Akachi.”

Feruzi pretended to eat something. He'd lost his appetite. The food wasn't wasted. It was hard to come by in those circumstances. Spin Bomb ate the rest greedily. The young woman had put a lot of effort into her training.

After lunch, Feruzi dismissed the pair of youngsters. He felt too old to babysit them.

The artisan took the medium to meet people with whom she had forged a friendship. Akachi noticed that some people had learned to make firework swords. Instead of bamboo, they used aluminum tubes. There was a whole production line. Spin Bomb corrected the measurement of the ingredients for one of his apprentices.

“Wasn't that a secret art of your clan?”

“Yes, but now that practice is tainted with blood. That's it, it's all over. I don't even care anymore, damn it! I wanted to fill Ojwang's ass with all those swords and…”

“It's okay, there's no need to get upset.”

“It's fucking fine! It'll only be okay when we kill that son of a bitch. Come on, I want to show you my hideout.”

“Aren't we already in a hiding place?”

“Stop being a pain, kid, let's go.”

At dusk, Spin Bomb took Akachi to his favorite place in the rebel headquarters. A makeshift staircase made of scaffolding had been built into the wall. They climbed to the top to watch the sunset. On top of the hexagonal wall, they sat down. A twilight breeze stirred their hair.

The sky began to turn red. The first stars shone through the pink clouds. For a few moments, there was silence. Only the sharp whistle of the wind could be heard. Akachi and Spin Bomb's hands groped along the wall until they met. The two looked at each other in surprise. Each turned their face to one side.

The girl quickly pulled her hand away. She began to giggle. She was feeling silly in that situation. Akachi made her feel like that, in a mixture of euphoria and sentimental confusion. Close to him, she felt a thread of hope for better days. He chased away the shadows of the bad days.

The medium raised an eyebrow. He couldn't admit that she was laughing at him. He lowered his head. He crossed his arms, uncrossed them; he didn't want to appear insecure. He fingered the concrete with his fingertips. He looked at Spin Bomb and couldn't help himself. He laughed along with her. They both laughed until they lost their breath.

“What's happening to us?”

“I don't know, I just know it's…”

Ah, bro! This is the springtime of youth, when nature calls men and women to their responsibilities.

“Uargh!”

“What is it Akachi? What the fuck, I got scared!”

Spin Bomb put his hands on his chest. His breathing had become heavy. Her breasts were rising and falling under her blouse.

Between the couple, Fenyang had appeared. He had the same smile as Master Cat in Alice in Wonderland. Akachi waved his hand to ward off the spirit. The Ori Guardian stepped aside.

“I'm sorry, it's just that Fenyang appears overnight without warning. This mediumship thing still scares me. Despite the time, I haven't managed to adapt well.”

“Damn it, Fenyang, fuck off! Stop acting like a haunting. You fucking ghost. I wanted to hit him so badly.”

“He's gone.”

“Are you sure?”

“I think so.”

“That's all it takes, a snooping ghost. I don't know, I wouldn't get used to a ghost on my shoulder.”

“It's strange at first… but then you get used to it.”

The pair looked at the horizon again. Night had fallen and cast webs of shadows across the land. The stars shone, far apart, authentic in their brilliance and individualistic in their position. The medium imagined how lonely a star must be, that even within a constellation, it lived alone, without touching others.

Looking out over the barren expanse in front of him, after a lonely unpaved road, Spin Bom saw the favelas. The place where she had taken refuge and the people who had welcomed her no longer existed. They had entered the cycle of ancestry, whose subject's death is not an end, but a new beginning.

The artisan always saw human life as a firework. It begins to burn brightly, throws high sparks everywhere, then weakens until it loses all luster. He raised his head to the sky and pointed at the stars.

“In my clan, the elders used to say that we invented fireworks to imitate the brilliance of the stars.”

“It's a poetic vision, I think.”

“Now those same stars are being used to destroy things and kill people. It all sucks, Akachi. I wish everything would go back to normal.”

“It's not possible, Spin Bomb. It's not possible.”

“Don't be pessimistic, not now.”

“Pessimistic? I'm being realistic, with you, with me. Change happens, it's necessary. Some people are afraid of change and others want it to happen too quickly. This whole war started because of that. What we're going to do is balance things out a bit.”

“Do you think that's possible?”

“Yes, I want to try. But I can't do it alone.”

“I'll help you. Without you I'd be like a silly cockroach in the dump, hihihihi.”

Spin Bomb punched Akachi lightly on the shoulder. Then she turned her face towards the stars and blushed again.

Azekel's grandson remembered their first meeting. He was lying unconscious in a pile of garbage, amnesiac. He had been saved. But the danger had not ceased. Hyena-mutants appeared and tried to snack on the two teenagers. Instinctively, he used his mediumship abilities and saved Spin Bomb.

She had taken him into her home on Chrome Hill. Now they were there, united by chance, but firm in their resolve to put an end to those days of sadness, the only thing a dictatorial government can produce. The interim president was not just an enemy of the mediums, he was the symbol and tool of the destruction of a happy life. At least, everyone thought they were less unhappy before he arrived.

Akachi clenched his fists. He had to restore hope to the people of Ilu Nla. It was a great responsibility. At first, he had refused. He was afraid he wouldn't be able to fulfill the mission. But he could no longer turn his back on it. The power of the Spiritual Key of Faith had allowed him to walk again, now he could walk wherever he wanted. He would continue towards the future.