BEFORE THE BEGINNING (A Short Story)

BEFORE THE BEGINNING
A Short Story

CHAPTER 1

ABODE OF THE GODS

It all began in the mythical palace of the great God, (Yamba) .All were seated according to ranks,The God,Yamba himself, sat on his majestic throne, flanked on both sides by the other gods. Seated by his right hand side was Kunlung the Snake god,followed by Kolwi the forest god, and Layangye the eagle god.The others seated, were Parkatak the Lion god and Monjengumyu the goddess of fertility.
There was a roar of murmuring going on in the palace, Yamba stamped his left foot on the ground in anger, and a very deep pit appeared where his foot hit the ground; hot choking smoke gushed out! And all was quiet! Then suddenly the beautiful goddess of fertility arose and came unto the God Yamba pleading for mercy and so, the wrath of Yamba was abased.Then with the wave of his hand, Yamba commanded the pit to stop emitting smoke and also disappear. All of this happened in a very small period of time that cannot be understood or calculated by mortal men, it can only be understood by immortal beings. With the disappearing of the smoke came a reverent awe upon the gods, for the great Yamba.
Kunlung the snake god, cunning as ever,said, “Oh father, forgive your children, we are only excited about the oncoming festival, those mortals are really preparing for it and from the look of things, it’s going to be greater than last year’s own”. With these words from Kunlung, Yamba was so pleased that He promised to send Kunlung on the very prestigious errand of going down to the abode of the mortals to see how far they have gone with the preparations. The prestige of the role is the glory in representing Yamba! The goddess, Monjengumyu who had always been bestowed with the prestigious role became a bit jealous, but nevertheless congratulated Kunlung and so with this came the closing of the meeting at Yamba’s palace

ABODE OF THE MORTALS

The chief priest of the Eku shrine was busy making preparations for the cleansing ceremony before the great Eku festival, at the Eku shrine; he had been at the shrine far longer than usual, the messenger of Yamba who he (the chief priest) has been expecting for over a week is yet to arrive and this was bothering the priest; he solemnly went to the altar at the far end of the shrine, knelt and with great trepidation began to implore Yamba to be merciful and send his messenger as usual, “when a child is hungry, it runs to it’s mother, when a father beats a child,it runs to its mother, Great Yamba,you are our mother, we come to you, please do not turn deaf ears to our pleadings”… with these words the priest kept on praying and pleading…suddenly, a great rustling and hissing sound came from the direction adjacent to the altar of Yamba! Even before the priest could see it, he knew his prayers had been answered, so he fell on his face in reverence to Yamba and his messenger.
Kunlung slithered to where the priest was laying and with his tail patted him on his head, the priest getting the hint,lifted up his face, and there was Kunlung in human form! The priest was so surprised, because since he assumed the role of the chief priest of Yamba some 36 rains ago, he has never seen a male god messenger, it has always been the goddess of fertility, Monjemngumyu that brings messages from Yamba.
Before he could utter a word,Kunlung spoke, ” I know you are very surprised but I am he whom you are waiting for, the messenger of Yamba.Now, let’s see how far you have gone with the preparations “.