Elixir part 7 – An equilibrium for Melancholy 18-19 October 2025
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As she exits Melancholy, she stomps under the Earth and accelerates through its porous texture, only emerging when she has moved beyond the field of Melancholy. On emerging, she realises that there are men watching her carefully and speaking into their cuffs. They must be men of General Stein, she thinks and hurries her pace. Once she is really out of the field of Melancholy, the Earth is less porous and it is more difficult to stomp into it and travel through it. The Elders had once told her that they had made the Earth porous within Melancholy so that they could quickly move underground and replicate their system there in case the Earth started to overheat again or in case there were acid rains like it happened many decades ago.
She braces herself for the impact and stomps underground again while activating the propulsors alongside her arms and legs. The Earth isn’t as porous as within Melancholy but soft enough for these to help her sail through the underground outside of Melancholy. Again bracing herself for the impact, she emerges several meters away from where she first saw General Stein’s men. All of a sudden, someone attempts to cut her path and she realises it is General Stein. How did he get to know where she is she thinks but does not have the time to dwell on that thought. She quickly takes out the blades she had arranged right behind her shoulders and attaches them hurriedly to her feet before skating away, escaping General Stein’s clutch. She leaves him baffled behind her as he did not realise she had acquired that technology. These skates have nothing to do with the skates their ancestors used and are like thin knives that are activated by crystals creating a neat cut within any material that the user is gliding upon.
As she is sailing away far from General Stein and his men, she thinks back to how the adults of Melancholy felt so desolate and inadequate as they could not give the older Melancholists enough years to rejuvenate them or at least sustain them. Her formula was first conceived to use the teenage Melancholist years and while she did not plan on taking it all away, it was their sheer enthusiasm that caused too many of the years to be siphoned into her funnel. She wondered how she could obtain a mix of both the adults and the teenagers’ years without fully depleting either of them. She had arrived at her temporary residence and looked all around before entering to make sure that nobody had followed her.
It then struck her that all she had to do was put the teenagers in a state of peace or bliss so that their enthusiasm would not take over making them give all or almost all of their years instead of only a fraction of them. She still had two barrels of crystals of teenage years and one of adult years. She directed reiki towards the teenagers’ barrel and the crystals inside it started slowly transforming into liquid. She took two thirds of this liquid for one third of the liquid in the adults barrel and mixed these with her other ingredients. Sure enough, what she had thought of was indeed happening. She could see forming in front of her eyes a strong elixir, unique in its kind as it contained the joyous output of the teenagers heightened by the endurance and experience of the adults. She smiled to herself. The Elders were going to be very happy with what she had discovered…
Tales of the wretched: Ashok and his mother – Chapter four: Redemption flowing 7-8 October 2025
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Ashok slowly disengaged from Annie’s embrace attempting to put some distance between them and have a calm chat with her. His arms were still limp by his sides as he eased himself out of her clutch. He realised from her vice-like grip that it had been a long time since anyone had been kind to her. He thought about his mother again and how she had been helpless with nobody showing her any kindness while she struggled. This is how people were pushed into desperate actions because they felt completely disregarded by everyone around them. He sighed internally thinking that he had been too young to find a solution to their predicament and his mother had literally worked herself to death while reserving most of the food she could get her hands on to him. There had been no shelter when he was young, just places for single young pregnant women to go to until birth of their child.
He looked at Annie whose face seemed crestfallen as she wondered what to make of him pushing her away. He was not sure how to handle this as he had kept his feelings under wraps for the longest time ever, even while he was married, even when he was happy when dating his wife before he married her. He had always felt that if he gave in to his emotions it would be like a dam that might obliterate everything around him. He had hated his relatives for such a long time and with such passion that he was afraid of expressing any other emotion lest he get carried away and start expressing those feelings of hatred as well, be submerged by them and act only in line with what they released within him. At times he had felt that the hate was such that it would turn into a fire that would physically consume his heart.
- Annie, I just want to help you and your son but I have been a lonely man for such a long time that I do not know how to speak normally with people. - You did talk to me at the shelter - Well you see, that is different. At the shelter I have a role that I embraced and that is to help people in the shelter with food and blankets. I know the drill. It is unemotional, safe and almost always the same. I did feel sympathy for you because you reminded me of someone I knew a very long time ago but I usually interact with those who come to the shelter in a very mechanical way. There are no other emotions than perhaps a slight touch of pity. When I saw you at the shelter, it made something stir in me, something that I had thought I had let go a long time ago - So you don’t feel pity for me? - Not really. I am just overwhelmed by the need to keep you and your son safe.
After a long pause, he decided to tell her everything about his childhood, the desperate times when his mother could not sell what she had made, the resulting famine-filled days, how his mother had become so gaunt that she looked like a corpse, the absence of his relatives, their presence when she had died, his hatred of them, the orphanage that had saved him from the hatred that was eating him – at least for a while.
- Did you ever marry, she asked - I did, he answered - Did you love her? Did you have children? - I did love her but I guess the hatred inside did not allow me to love her properly. The love I had inside of me for her was like a shell, it was not bright and happy like she would have liked it to be. The hatred inside kept making a hole that neither my love for her, nor hers for me could ever fill and appease. Eventually she got tired of waiting for me to love her like she would have liked to be loved. Five years of a relationship that had the dull ache of unresolved hatred festering within it and she decided to move on. We never had children as she felt that I was broken and she thought that broken men should never become fathers. She had her own issues with her father who was never able to express love. It has been almost ten years since that day she decided to leave me. I guess it is best for broken men like me not to be in a relationship. - I don’t think you are broken. The man who left me with his child, that is a broken man. You don’t hurt someone you have loved unless you’re broken. Nobody who is whole would hurt another soul without reason. From what I have seen from you, you have only been kind to me and I did not see you hurt anyone else. You might have been badly hurt but you are not broken, not like what I would think of a broken man - Thank you Annie but I think she might have been right. There is this hole inside of me that never goes away, or at least not until that evening when I saw you feed your boy and something stirred inside of me, not until now when I saw how happy you were to be here. - Thank you for helping us. My boy had not had a good bath in so many months. They did not always allow us into the Bain des Paquis and I could not use them anyway during the winter months. I tried to stay under the radar so social services would not take him away - You can stay here as much as you want. You do not need to go to the shelter anymore, I will bring the food here.
Annie rushed and hugged him again and he let her hold him fiercely this time. His arms were still limp by his side but he started feeling like a stirring in his shoulders and arms which slowly twitched and his arms then rose to hold her around the shoulders, softly pressing her onto his chest. Her tears fell freely again on his coat and he sighed as he felt a stirring in his heart while he could see behind his closed eyes a slow glow that seemed to fill his chest. All the sadness of not having been able to help his mother seemed to soar from his heart to his eyes which brimmed with tears. As his tears mingled with Annie’s tears, he felt like a wall had crumbled within his chest. All the years of self reproach on his lack of initiative to help his mother flowed with the mingled tears, washing both their hearts from sadness and pain. It was as if redemption flowed within his heart and he smiled with gratitude for being able to help Annie and her boy.
The Malachite curse 6 : I know who killed Cuifen 15 August 2025
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Eu-Meh increased the pressure on Chow’s shoulders as this latter stopped in her tracks and turned around to face her.
- Don’t turn, don’t attract anyone’s attention, said Eu-Meh - What do you mean you know who killed Cuifen, said Chow - I said I think I know who killed her, though I am not certain - Tell me now, I cannot wait to hear this - Promise me first that you will not do anything as I only have a suspicion, not a certainty on who the killer is - Tell me, tell me or I will go mad - Calm down Chow, people are starting to stare at us - Let us go to your house and talk then
Chow could hardly contain her impatience and it was now her who was leading the way towards Eu-Meh’s house. She glanced back and saw Ju-Long scowling at them and she wondered if it was him, Eu-Meh’s nephew who had done it. She knew how hot headed the boy could be despite all of his aunt’s efforts in raising him to be a good young man. She had also overheard him speaking to his aunt of his aspirations regarding Cuifen and wondered if he had killed her in a fit of rage after she had refused his love. She too knew that Cuifen wanted to go to the big city and make a name for herself as a singer. Other people who had heard of Cuifen’s aspirations thought it a scandal but Chow had always wanted Cuifen to remain free-spirited and not weighed down by tradition like she had been, having to endure a lifetime of beatings because she could not divorce her husband. She would never have let anything similar happen to her beloved daughter but all of that was so far away now.
Chow’s shoulders heaved and she started to cry again, her ugly and usually expressionless face contorted into a hideously sorrowful mask as she let out a wail that seemed to never end. Eu-Meh grabbed her again by the shoulders and half-dragged, half-hauled her to her house. As soon as they entered, Eu-Meh removed her and Chow’s shoes and pulled Chow towards the kitchen. She sat her in front of the fire that she had left burning and prepared some tea for both of them. Chow was prostrate again, her eyes staring emptily at the fire in front of her. Eu-Meh thrust a cup of tea into Chow’s hands and slowly put her fingers around the cup so that she could actually hold it. Chow seemed to slowly emerge from her lethargy and looked at Eu-Meh with renewed tears in her eyes.
- Who was it, she said - I told you I think I know who it is but I am not sure. Do you remember Fang, the little girl who used to come and play with Ju-Long when he first came to my house after his mother died? - I am not sure, what does she look like? - It is the young girl whom you might have seen at my house when I first introduced Cuifen to Ju-Long. She was also at the burial today, sitting just behind Ju-Long. A young girl whose braided hair was topped with jasmine and peonies. - Why would she want to kill Cuifen? Why now? - I think she never forgave Cuifen for stealing away Ju-Long’s heart. After he had met Cuifen, he never bothered to meet with Fang again and every time he received written messages or gifts from her he just threw them away in front of the door. I have seen her many times cry when she saw those discarded items and have scolded him many times for being so cruel to her but he could not care for anybody else than Cuifen. She was his whole life. - Why would she kill her now if not before? - The night of Cuifen’s murder, Ju-Long had come back home in a very sombre mood. He looked so angry that I later thought that maybe he had killed Cuifen but it was not the case. I overheard him some days ago fighting with Fang and he was telling her that whatever she had done, it would not make him love her as he would always love Cuifen and not her even though Cuifen was dead. - So did Fang tell him she killed Cuifen? - No, but from what I heard, she had seen him watching Cuifen and Ming-Hoa in what he thought was an embrace, not realising that Ming-Hoa had actually assaulted Cuifen. When he had started retreating, disgusted and angry, she popped out of her hiding place and tried to take his hand but he had broken away and started running towards his home. Later on, she had told him that Cuifen had not been embracing Ming-Hoa and that, on the contrary, she had been struggling to get rid of him before he covered her mouth to stifle her cries and caused her to faint. - I still don’t understand. Why did she kill Cuifen and how did she do that? - I think that she had tried initially to help Cuifen by pulling away Ming-Hoa by his hair and hitting him on the head. It might be that later, on seeing Cuifen lying still and helpless, she decided to get rid of her rival in order to win back Ju-Long’s heart.
Chow jumped up with amazing agility for her age and started to run towards the door. Eu-Meh realised that she meant to go and attack Fang and rushed towards the door blocking Chow’s exit. The two women stood face to face, one with her face contorted with rage and the other with dismay that she could be the reason why Chow might commit a murder. She would have to find a way to calm her down although she realised it was going to be very hard to reason with Chow now…
《芒种》音阙诗听/赵方婧 官方高画质 Official HD MV丨Grain in Ear丨Mang Chủng
The little girl woke up with a feeling of dread. Her mind was still fuzzy and she did not remember the events of the day before but she knew that something was off. She sat up in her bed and as she took in her surroundings, the memories flooded her mind and she remembered how her mother had lain in a pool of blood and urine with her father attempting to bandage the wound in her head. She jumped out of bed and ran to the room next door to catch a glimpse at her mother through the square but there was nobody in there. She found out from the maid that her father had taken her mother to the hospital where she would stay a few days until she was healed.
The little girl turned her head towards where she sensed the Bogeyman was forming. As usual, none other than her could see the Bogeyman. She slipped her hand into his and tugged it in the direction of the lion’s den, her father’s favourite room in the house. They had called it the lion’s den because her father would bellow out of it for them to stay quiet when he was in there meditating and they were making a lot of noise. His bellowing strangely resembled the roar of a lion. Her father never bellowed against the whimpers or screams of her mother though. She wondered why. Did he not hear them or did he choose to ignore them? There was nobody in the lion’s den either.
The maid came out of the kitchen and chastised her for not listening. “Did you not hear when I told you that your father has taken your mother to the hospital?”, she said. “I thought it was already done before and that he was back”, the little girl said. The maid frowned, displeased, and went back to the kitchen to cook the first two meals of the day. She always cooked the first two together, breakfast and lunch, so she had time on her hands when she had to tend to the chores in the house. The dinner was always cooked fresh as her dad was back from his work and he did not like re-heated food. Normally, in their family tradition, the maids never cooked as it was always the lady of the house who had to cook and the maids only did the chores and especially the cleaning. It was considered very low class to allow the maid to cook for the family but they had no option as her mother was unwell and her father would not be able to cook as he worked.
Several days passed and her mother was back home. She seemed healthy and happy and the little girl was beyond herself with happiness as she had her mother back like she was before. Before she had claimed that her in-laws were poisoning her, that is, and she had been extremely ill, vomiting and feeling feverish. Her dad had given her mother pills to vomit and once her stomach was empty she seemed to feel better but she had never trusted the maid or her in-laws again, so much so that she became totally paranoid and would only use vegetables that she herself bought from the market. The little girl shook off those sad memories and clung to her mother with renewed happiness. Her little brother also joined in although the maid had been trying to keep him away from his mother since he came back from his time at his grandmother. The mother beamed at her two younger children and held them tight against her bosom and the little girl squeezed her younger brother’s hand. She was so happy he was back and that her mother was alright.
After a few days that her mother had been back home, her health started worsening and she had spells of vomiting as well as episodes of deep paranoia where she would clutch the maid by the shoulders and shout at her that she would kill her because she was poisoning her again. She mostly did this in the morning after the father had left but once she started screaming and punching the maid before the father had left. The maid was wailing and asking for help from the neighbours who had come down to see what was causing the ruckus. The father shut the door after asking the neighbours to let him settle the family problems on his own. He turned towards the mother and dragged her to the room where he had kept her before. She started screaming and trying to pull away from him but he kept his grip on her. He opened the door, pushed her in unceremoniously and locked the door behind her. The mother started pleading to be let out but her husband stayed inflexible. The maid gave her a wicked triumphant smile and went into the kitchen sniggering.
On his way out, the father gave the maid the key to the room stating that she should accompany his wife to the toilet whenever she needed to go there and that she must allow her to shower every morning and every evening if she needed to. It was so hot outside that the mother usually preferred to shower twice a day. The maid uttered a low hmpf in consent, not daring to say anything to the father even though she doubted her capacity to handle his wife on her own. She thought that she should ask the older girls to help her with their mother rather than handle things on her own. She went to them and told them they needed to help her with their mother as she was too strong and it would be risky for the maid to let her out on her own. The little girl stayed in her room, listening to everything that was being said.
Shortly after the father’s departure, the mother said she wanted to have a shower. The maid went fearfully to the room and called the older girls but only the eldest came together with the little girl. “Go get your older sister”, said the maid to the little girl who just blinked at her quietly. The maid yelled for the second sister but there was no response. The mother started yelling that she needed to go shower so the maid opened the door cautiously letting the mother out. As soon as she was out, the mother tried to catch the little girl who ran away as her mother’s eyes had turned ablaze. She was yelling at the maid but also at her daughters. She kept saying that the household had turned wicked and everyone had to run away or die. The little girl saw from the corner of her eyes her little brother crawling towards her mother. Before she could do anything, the mother had grabbed her brother and was holding him above her head in an attempt to throw him on the ground.
Suddenly the little girl felt the neighbours brush past her and swiftly retrieve her brother from her mother’s arms. The neighbours ran with the little boy upstairs while the mother turned her attention to the eldest girl and started dragging her outside the house, saying that they should all die. She attempted to clutch the little girl too but the second sister who had run in hearing all the shouting grabbed her younger sister and both of them ran towards the house of the neighbours on the other side of the street. None of the neighbours had, however, thought of retrieving the eldest girl from the clutches of her mother who was now dragging her towards the pond next to the railway station. The little girl looked back at her eldest sister who was squirming, screaming and trying to escape the clutches of her mother. She called to the Bogeyman and there he was, right next to her eldest sister, forcing her mother’s hand open and freeing her eldest sister. She looked on as the Bogeyman gave way to her father who seemed to walk through the Bogeyman and rescue his oldest daughter. Her eldest sister was sobbing in the arms of her father while the Bogeyman looked on seemingly undecided on what to do. The little girl called to the Bogeyman and he flew towards her. As he reached her, she raised her arms and embraced him. Slowly the Bogeyman returned her embrace before softly dissolving into her…
She decided to get back to her flat and read a bit to take her mind off the events of the evening. She was glad that the bulky man’s body had been taken away as neither Manas nor she had the time to tend to that. She looked around her before opening the door to her building and stepping in. She recognized a faint smell of bleach and wondered what it might be. She quickened her step and reached her flat door. Something seemed off. She looked again at the door and realized that the stones in front had been moved about again. Somebody was in her flat and it surely wasn’t Manas as he had left towards the tube and could not have come back to the flat before her.
She pushed the door ever so slowly, hoping that the person inside would not know the door was opening but she realised this was futile as the corridor was lit while the room was half plunged in darkness.
- Come in, said a voice from what seemed to be the middle of the room. - Who is this, she said - A friend, or to be more precise, a friend of a friend
She entered the room very slowly, her eyes fixed upon the middle of the room where she could make out the form of two bodies sitting on her couch. Only one of them had spoken though and it seemed to be the one on the right. She was about to turn the switch on when the man spoke again asking her not to turn on the light.
- Close the door first, he said - Why, she said - Just close the door and then you can turn on the light.
She closed the door behind her feeling a tad more vulnerable as she did, realising that she would not be able to rush out as easily as she would have been able to, had she left the door open. She switched the light on and turned towards the men, letting a gasp out as she did so. On the couch sat side by side, the dead crumpled bulky man and another man she had never seen before. Before she could say anything, someone else came out of the kitchen and she found herself face to face with the man that she had identified as Younes.
I thought you were warned not to meet Manas again, said Younes - I heard the warning but nothing was said about when Manas would come himself to see me - You should have asked him to leave - You should know Manas is not a man to be trifled with or told what to do - Yes, I get what you mean but you still should have tried to make him leave for both your sakes - Well he is on his way to Cameroon now, isn’t he?
Younes smirked but said nothing. The man on the couch beckoned to Younes to hold the bulky man still. She realised that the bulky man’s clothes were smelling of bleach and it looked like the floor of the room had been cleaned up with bleach too. They had very likely removed the blood that must have flowed from the bulky man. She wondered whether they had cleaned up the road as well. The man came towards her very slowly and purposefully. He took her by the shoulders and made her sit on the armchair opposite the couch.
- Do you know this man, he said, pointing towards the bulky dead man - No, it looked like he was following Manas and me, and he seemed to have a gun, perhaps to kill us both - Very likely. He is a hired killer that Al Shabab have used in the past. He can easily kill western targets as he is a Brit who looks very inconspicuous, and the target does not even realise anything before it is too late.
She mulled over this thoughtfully, realising that they had been lucky that his gun had become noticeable, and Manas had shot him before he could kill them. This did not explain, however, what Boko Haram’s Nigerian members were doing with his body in her flat nor why they were waiting for her. The man who was towering over her looked at her keenly.
- You are wondering why we are here and why this body is here - Yes, I am not sure what you want to achieve, really - This is a second warning to you and let it be the last. We have taken pictures of the dead body in your flat and if you won’t stop meeting with Manas, we will send the pictures to the police and there will be witnesses to claim that you had shot him. We have a lot of people who would love to be witnesses to incriminate you. - Well don’t you think that Manas would get embroiled in this if you were to really try to frame me? - Manas might never find out or he might never be able to do anything about it. Do not make this harder than it should be. - Okay, she said, swallowing her pride and anger, realising she could not fight them
Younes and the other man got a large plastic container which they folded the bulky man in before taking him out of her flat. She did not know what they were going to do with him but was just relieved that they were all out of the flat now and she could collect her thoughts. She looked at the couch expecting there to be some stains, but it had apparently been perfectly cleaned up and even if there had been any drops of blood, it looked like nothing had happened there. She went to the couch, putting her nose where he had been sitting but there was no smell of bleach. Perhaps there had been no blood left to drip there then. She went to the door and locked it before trying to put the latch on as her hands trembled. How was she going to get out of this one, she thought…
Goya Gumbani - Chase the Sunrise (feat. Yaya Bey & lojii & Fatima)
The old souls chronicles 4 : pulsing grief 29 April 2024
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Tony wonders whether Aron is aware that he has now fully become a different being from the other youngsters and young adults. Aron sees in his searching eyes the unspoken interrogation.
- I always was different and even wondered if I was a freak because I had these stronger feelings that were considered as undesirable within my community.
- You are not a freak, Aron. You feel more than others although nothing as near to what we old timers felt, the feelings that all of the world had before strong negative emotions were frowned upon. We never imagined that things would go as far as to stop us even from grieving the death of our loved ones. Now we are just relegated to the role of donors of “funny feels”, “happy feels”, “quirky feels”. In brief anything that is more on the happiness scale and nothing that can touch the extreme sadness scale
- I know what you mean. I have been studying you and your wife for some time now before you went rogue and disappeared. It was a godsend when I learnt of your presence in that restaurant. What an opportunity to finally meet you and make the request for the deeper emotions.
- Why did you want to access this range of emotions?
- Ever since my wife died, I have been having this strange bubbling of emotions that felt like nothing I ever experienced before. Sometimes it’s like a rock was laid on my chest while I was sleeping. I could barely breathe and felt like a pit in my stomach but nothing near what I felt when you gave me the pulse.
- We normally don’t give that range of emotions to youngsters like you because they have a very strong effect on your psyche. With the seclusion of the deeper range of sad emotions, there aren’t many psychologists left so it is difficult to get regular appointments with one.
- I don’t need a psychologist. I can handle my emotions
- Very well. Here is the pulse tube which I have filled with the energetic imprint of the grief I pulsed through to you. Make sure nobody else puts their hands on it and call me if you are in too much pain. I will come as quickly as I can to grant you the solace.
Aron takes the tube containing the precious pulse and bids Tony farewell before leaving the library. As he is on his way back to his home, he thinks about his wife that he might see again in her preternatural form. He decides that he will let himself feel the full extent of the grief as experienced with the help of Tony. This time, he would be using the pulser and would not have Tony’s rapid intervention with soothing solace but he knows he needs to do this for his own sanity. No more half-lived emotions dragging him into a recurring downward spiral. It is now the time to experience it fully within his own house, while looking upon the ethereal form of his wife and put this behind him forever.
Elixir part 6 – Rounding up the adults 8 April 2024
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She was so pleased to see that everyone seemed to be in high spirits. It occurred to her that she had only tended to the Elders and the young teenagers but she had not addressed the issue of the adults of Melancholy. She wanted to ask the Elders but realized that they had become so much younger that it was hard to tell who were the Elders and who were the teenagers, especially that the teenagers no longer felt sorrow as they did previously. One of the Melancholists who looked very familiar beckoned to her and she realized that this was the Head of the Council of the Elders. She smiled at him, happy about his transformation and he smiled back. She asked him what he thought about dealing with the adults of Melancholy and he said he needed to think about it before he could give her a response. The adults of Melancholy never performed a sacrifice of their years for others as they would become too old even if they did that sparingly and their sacrifice would not give enough years to the Elders. At the same time, they felt guilty that it was their teenagers who performed their sacrifice.
She realized that she needed to address this issue as the adults were half-way in between the Elders and the teenagers and felt inadequate. Their teenagers happily executed the sacrifice and their sheer enthusiasm in doing so was what made them lose their life instead of transferring an acceptable number of years to the Elders. She thought that they could probably lessen their contribution and combine it with the contribution of the adults but somehow they always seemed to get carried away. She signaled to the Head of the Council that she may have a solution to the problem of the adults and could create the elixir with a part of their sacrifice if they wanted to and that would lessen the price that the Melancholists had to pay her for the Elixir. The Head of the Council mentioned that he preferred paying her with energy boosts and diamonds rather than having to use the years of the adults and teenagers of Melancholy. She accepted the payment and said she would be on her way out.
Whenever she left Melancholy, the stopping of the energy field in the compound to allow her to leave was automatic as the energy field bore the imprint of the tracer she left when entering. This was connected to a gridline that stopped the electricity when she was about to leave the grounds as the Supreme Guard sent the impulse when she had finished her work and was about to leave. They never explained to her exactly how it worked as they did not want anyone to know the secret of their security measures, even her who had helped them so much. When she arrived, however, she had to signal her desire to enter well before she went into the grounds of Melancholy so that they had the time to pick up her energy tracer and compare it with the one they had stored for her. Such a process ensure that they were aware at all times who it was who entered or exited the grounds.
She looked at the bag of diamonds. They would be useful for harnessing the life force that she was able to gather either from volunteers granting years of life or the cosmic energy that she was able to harness into electrical balls. When pinged into the electrical balls, the diamonds split into powder while gathering the electricity within their particles. It was these particles that she used together with other secret ingredients to make the elixir. The energy boosts that they gave her were used to keep together all the ingredients in one thick liquid which was the final form of the elixir that could be carried around in a safe format rather than in the extremely volatile one before she added these boosts. She thought that she might need to have someone who knew how to make the elixir in case she was no longer able to make it. It would not be easy to find someone who would have the skill and be at the same time reliable and discreet. She would probably need to look for that person among the teenagers of Melancholy…
Am I a cheap bastard my Angel, he said smiling with that beautiful smile that made her heart beat faster.
Of course, not she answered while throwing herself into his arms. How are you, she whispered her head buried against his collarbones.
I am well and so happy to see you in a single piece, he said.
She found out that he had been informed about Abdelkader’s visit and his intention to see her and scare her off. She also found out that the Head of Boko Haram in Nigeria had asked both Abdelkader and Manas to step up the operations in the UK. It would seem that they wanted to have a significant event on the 5th of May at Westminster to mark their stronghold in the UK. The earlier bombing had not been significant enough and they had received confirmation that the bombing had not been strong enough to completely destroy the tracks and Transport for London would be repairing everything in a matter of weeks. They had hoped to cause more damage than that and that is why the Boko Haram cell in Nigeria was connecting with the followers in London to inflict more damage, especially at that date as the next day would see the crowning of the new King. They wanted to make sure those plans were thwarted.
- Why are you telling me this, she said
- I am telling you so that you do not take the tube that day and the day after as more attacks may follow above ground.
- What if I told the ATU or the local authorities
- If you tell them then we will both be dead. There are several Muslim policemen and a few of them are followers of Boko Haram although you would not know this by looking at them. The information is bound to come back to them and if they identify you then this would lead them straight to me and they would report me to the cell in Cameroon or Nigeria.
- I can imagine I would be dead but why you`? Aren’t you their leader in Cameroon?
- My credibility took a blow when you informed the authorities about the projected bombing of Westminster after I had informed you. This time I will not be able to escape suspicion as most of the cell members know that you are my girlfriend. They will be sure that it was me who informed you.
- Why do you not forego this life my love. I am sure that if you gave it up the ATU might actually be able to use your skills to catch other terrorists. You are an incredibly intelligent man and I know you have the physical capacity to keep up with ATU members
- I cannot do that my Angel. This is the life I have chosen for myself because our countries have suffered under the colons and Muslims have been repressed for so long. In Cameroon the situation flares up sometimes and we have to make ourselves heard. We have to be a force to reckon with so that the West may listen to our demands.
- I thought it was all about killing kafireen and increasing the number of Muslims
- That too, my Angel but also letting the countries that do not allow Muslims to practice their faith properly know that they may not continue what they do.
- But the UK is not one of those countries.
- The UK has another purpose. It is an important financial center. Our purpose is to cripple the most financial centers the West has and then put at the forefront those centers that Muslims are backing. This is also why I was in Dubai. It was possible to assess how far Dubai could go. I also went to Malaysia to assess whether they could take over parts of the operations.
She fell silent. She simply could not understand how a man as intelligent and loving as Manas was could be a terrorist and align with the dogma taught by them. She understood in part the anti-colonial aspect as she too came from two countries where colonialism had left deep scars in the countries and the looting by colons had impoverished them. Yet she could not see herself as capable of being a terrorist. Then again, if she kept quiet about the projected bombings, was that not terrorism by absence of communication to the authorities. If she did mention something, though, she would not even know if she was mentioning it to one of the followers of Boko Haram who had infiltrated the police. It could also be Al Shabab followers. Should she risk her own life in order to save people she had never met? Would it be possible for her to live life without any regrets if she did not mention it at all and attempt to stop it?
Manas could see she was torn between different decisions so he took her by the shoulders and told her that it would not change a thing as they would just change the date and both of them would be dead for nothing. He tried to make her see that it would all just be pointless and their families would also suffer from the fact that they would no longer be alive.
She pulled away from him. She felt all at once exasperated with his convictions and so drawn to him that she only wanted to be back against him again. She told him she was not sure she could just leave things as they were even though she risked being killed. She could not let him be killed though and she knew for having undergone it how horrible their methods were when punishing someone. They would no doubt punish him much more than they had punished her as he would have been the cause for their plans to fail. She threw her arms around him and cried against his chest. I know it is difficult for you he said and held her closer.
Wael Kfoury ... Kifik Ya Wajaai
A terrorist to love – part 10
12 February 2023
The driver grabbed her by the arm and took her to the cab. He lowered her head before pushing her into the cab. It was so symptomatic of how policemen put their prisoners into their police car that she wondered if he was a policeman on an errand for Boko Haram. She looked up at him after he had sat behind the wheel again. She could see in his eyes a flutter of recognition of what she was thinking. At the same time there passed in his eyes like a shadow of guilt and that persuaded her that he was indeed a policeman but perhaps also a hired gun for Boko Haram. He lowered his eyes so that she could not decipher anything in them.
- You are an English cop, right, she said
- I am in no mood for your mind games, he answered
- No mind games at all. I would just like to understand
- There is nothing to understand. I am a devout Muslim and am doing my part to cleanse the world of the kafireen (non believers). We will soon prevail. Our numbers are growing and we have struck into the heart of the financial system in the UK. The same will happen also in the US and other western countries who do not respect our religious beliefs.
- How can you kill people who are also God’s creatures. Is Allah not merciful and desirous of preserving the creatures he created?
- You know not what you say. Shut up you poor excuse for a Muslim. You have no right to speak of Allah and what Allah wishes for humanity. I know all about you and your involvement with the ATU. I also know how you bewitched Manas and weakened him first in Cameroon and then now in the UK. My superiors may not think much of your prowess, but I can see how you are bringing down a great man and an excellent strategist for our Jihad. If I were to have my way, you would not last long and Manas would then be fully occupied by our Sabil (way) to the higher realms.
She chose to keep quiet as she realized that the driver was a zealot and he might kill her if she went too far. He visibly had no respect for the Boko Haram hierarchy and was only drawn to the cause in order to be able to kill the most kafireen as he could. She had seen countless times men like him, so devout to the cause that they would take matters into their own hand regardless of whom they were supposed to answer to. Their leaders were of course unable to punish them overtly as they would then be questioned on their motives and might also lose a large part of their following if it were known that they had castigated a devout follower because he had killed a kafir. There were fine lines within Boko Haram just as there were in the ATU. In reality, the two organisations had quite a lot in common although they were working on opposing sides.
Her mind drifted back to her time at the ATU when she was charged with finding Manas and either bringing him to justice or making sure he died. It had been at a wedding of one of Manas’s cousins and she had yet gotten the order to take him down regardless of who else died with him. She had realised at that time that she would not be capable of doing that and hurting several people who were very likely innocent. There had not been any intel, indeed, on the cousin who was getting married and in all likelihood he had nothing to do with Boko Haram and most of the marriage party were but innocent bystanders. She remembered her boss’s anger at the fact that she had not planted a trigger and left but there was no way she could have done such a thing. She had killed many people but it had been during face-to-face confrontations with terrorists and other armed followers.
She lifted her eyes again and caught the driver looking at her. She looked away, not wishing to ignite again his fury against her and his anger at the thought that he was not allowed to kill her. She could see from the corner of her eye that he was still looking at her seemingly ruminating murderous thoughts about her but she chose to steadfastly look away waiting for them to pull up to her building. Soon enough she found herself next to the building and the driver came out, opened her door and tugged her out of the car unceremoniously. She let herself be hauled out and quickly started walking towards the building hoping that he was not following her. She heard the car start before pulling away and sighed a sigh of relief. When she reached her flat, she could see that someone had got in. The rocks that she put in front of the door to check whether someone had got in were moved about. She opened gingerly the door and looked into the room. She did not have any weapon with her. She decided that if anybody would have wanted to kill her it would have already been done by Abdelkader, Younes or one of their followers. She went right into the flat yelling come out now you cheap bastards. Her heart skipped a beat as Manas emerged slowly from between the plants on the balcony…
Sweet Blasphemy – Dhafer Youssef
Elixir part 5 – A new generation of Melancholists29 January 2023
Courtesy pinterest.com
The Supreme Guard of the Melancholists reached out to Amelia in the early hours of the next night saying they would escort her from her home to Melancholy, ensuring that she would not be bothered by General Stein or his men. Although this seemed like a great solution for her safety, she also realized it would mean her giving up the secret of her second home to the Supreme Guard and she would then be either under surveillance or easily taken out of her home with no possibility to react in time as they would have the knowledge of exactly where she lived.
She phoned them back saying she would meet them in front of the second exit of Melancholy to the back with all the vials she had made. In the end, they had to accept her conditions as she was the one who held the solution to the chronic problem of dying teenagers in Melancholy. Amelia took all the vials of Elixir and put them in a couple of plastic bags which she placed carefully in her sling bag. She headed out of her apartment from the window of the 1st floor which gave directly on a straight ledge and slowly lowered herself to the ground from the pipe that was tapered to the wall leading down from the ledge. She looked around but could see neither the General nor his men. It was true that she had only rented this home a fortnight ago so nobody would know about her whereabouts yet.
As soon as her feet had taken the first step outside of the security of her home, she quickened her pace almost breaking into a run. She walked hurriedly along the early risers in her town who were mostly farmers bringing in their crops from far away, bakers hurrying towards the making of the daily bread and beggars eager to catch a loaf of free bread or some groceries which were left over from the night or brought in by farmers. At the end of the street, she could see some people who looked like neither of these usual early risers; they looked like trained mercenaries. While it was mainly General Stein and his men who pursued her for the Elixir, she realized that there could be others who wanted to just steal some vials from her and sell them on the black market.
She rushed on, heading to Melancholy that stretched beyond, shining dazzling gold and green, sometimes rainbow colour as it shone on. She could now see the backs of General Stein’s men. She stomped on the Earth, trying to make as little noise as possible while she sunk into it. She counted several hundred meters before she emerged again, all the while alerting the Supreme Guard that she was penetrating the grounds of Melancholy. She always had to notify them that she would be stomping through as she would otherwise be electrocuted by the energy field they surrounded Melancholy with in the air and within the ground. They did not want anyone to sneak into Melancholy without them knowing it. As she emerged, she could see the Supreme Guard on one side and on the other side the Melancholists both young and old. She realized that these were only the Elders of Melancholy and their young teenagers.
Amelia rounded up the Melancholists present and told them to stay around her in a circle within the grounds of commemoration where a slab indicated yearly the sacrifices of the Melancholists. She asked them to open up their noses and mouths and to also press on their sides, concentrating on their hearts. She mentioned that it was necessary to do all of this at the same time to maximise the effect of the Elixir. She arranged the Elders to one side in a semi-circle and the teenagers to the other also in a semi-circle. They all silently did as they were told and waited around her with abated breath.
She took out of her bag three vials of the compounded Elixir and put them on a slab of stone in front of her. She prayed slowly the prayer of cosmic healing and broke the first vial. She could feel the Melancholists take in a sharp breath of the Elixir. She broke the second vial and could feel all the Melancholists chests dilate while their minds seemed to break into a humming of contentedness. She prayed again and broke the third vial of Elixir and could feel a pulse heave through the Melancholists before a wave of energy shot through the crowd of Melancholists and seemed to implode into their ranks then breaking through their ranks lending all their bodies a shiver. She looked around her at the Melancholists and all she could see was youth and beauty everywhere. She smiled and the Melancholists smiled back at her. This was now a new generation of Melancholists. Her potion was much more potent than she ever thought it could be…
Lisa Gerrard & Marcello De Francisci — 'Until We Meet Again' (Official Video)
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