Before I begin this story, I would also like to mention that it was strongly influenced by the story Roots. I highly advise anyone to go watch the four-part documentary of the new remake, or read the book Roots, by Alex Haley before reading this.
Enjoy~!
Chapter One:
The sound of a woman's laboured cries rang throughout the small village and across the land. A man, who had been fishing for his tribe stood, a look of excitement filling his face. His wife, Efe Jaheem, had been expecting a child for a long time now. It was to be their firstborn of many, or at least they hoped. But, each time they had tried, it was no use, and the baby had passed away.
This was their last chance before it would be Efe's fortieth year, and it would be too difficult and dangerous for her to birth children.
The familiar noise of drums beating rang in the man's ears as he dropped his fish in his basket, barely remembering to pick it up, and running swiftly to the their home where she was to give birth.
The beating increased at the climax of the birth, motivating the man to run faster, and take stronger strides over the land. The fish in his basket sloshed around, almost falling out as he neared the village.
Finally, he came to the hut, which had been surrounded by woman and men alike, all waiting to hear the good, or bad, news. He pushed past the people, finally making it to be front, only to have one of the elder woman block his way.
"Amari! Don't you know it is bad luck for a man to go into the hut while your wife is giving birth!?" The woman scolded. He chuckled, taking a few steps back from the door, as he remembered the old rule.
"Haha, yes, Iya(Mother)! I just very excited for my first born!" Amari replied, but respected his mother's words, and took a considerable step back. But, by the way that the man had been childishly bouncing on his toes, not seeming to be able to keep still, anyone could tell that he was very, very excited. This child would surely be spoiled with both of its parent's love.
The woman, Afua, chuckled at the man and headed back inside. For the next hour or so, all you could hear was several voices combined together, encouraging the woman with all her might to push the baby out, and then the drumming stopped.
And after long last, the loud cry of a child being born rang out. Amari shot up from his seat on the ground, waiting for several unbearably long seconds of pure suspense before finally the door opened.
"Come in," Afua invited him with a proud smile on her face. "And see your new daughter."
Amari barked a loud laugh of joy, hurrying into the small hut to see his wife, holding a small bundle in her arms. "You are a lucky man, Amari," his mother, Afua, exchanged smiles, although Efe's looked rather worn out. "This child has been blessed by the spirits. She is to be watched over by the lioness spirit, Kinium. She will grow to be a strong, powerful woman!"
Amari's smile grew even wider, "Please, allow me to see our child," he asked his wife.
"She is yours too," Efe reminded with a smile, handing the newborn to him.
The baby looked completely different than him and his wife. Instead of dark hair and eyes, she had orangey hair and green eyes, that matched ones of a lion.
Then his own eyes widened, thinking of a great name to name her. "Diata. Diata Jaheem," he turned to his wife, who had a grand smile on her face.
"I love it," she agreed. He leaned in close, and pecked her soft lips with a well deserved kiss.
On the seventh day after Amari and Efe's new daughter had been born, Amari took their new daughter out at night to a very familiar field, that their people called the 'naming field' on a beautiful brown horse. There were several large rocks marking the area, and the bright stars shining down from above.
After a while of riding softly, he stopped in front of the rocks, finding a more than perfect place.
Carefully, he lifted his seven day old child to the sky, "Your name is Diata Amari Efe Ekene Chimaka Berta Jaheem. Now, look around you, Diata. Do you see the stars in the shining in the sky? Behold, the only thing that is greater than you!"
He went silent for several seconds, before lowering his child and staring into her deep, luscious green eyes that reminded him of the bloom of plants after the rainy season. "Your name holds much power, Diata. Never, ever forsake your name or you will lose this power that is bestowed into you." The baby squealed, shaking her small fist at him, causing him to chuckle. "You are my daughter, and I will always love you. I will always support you. No matter what."
Diata had grown into a beautiful yet quite dangerous child. It was custom for all the children to learn how hunt and fight so they could become warriors for their people. Diata, having been a hotheaded, yet loyal, child from birth had been delighted with the idea of fighting for her people. She had a blood thirst for violence and fighting so it was no wonder why she wanted to protect her people so badly.
Sometimes, her father would jokingly blame it on the animal spirit her soul was connected to, which was practically true. The lioness in her demanded a fight and she welcomed it, bringing back whatever bloody animal to her mother to cook and serve to her family and many cousins.
Everyday of Diata life, she was told how important she was, but more-so the importance of her name. Diata took this with great pride, even taking her father's own words as her motto that motivated her to grow and get stronger as each day has passed.
"Your name is your weapon when you are weaponless. It is your shield when you are unprotected. You, Diata, must strengthen your name, because the more strength you put into your name will not only make you physically stronger, but mentally stronger as well."
Diata and her father were closer than two strings knotted together, as her mother would frequently say. Whenever he got the chance, he would invite her to hunt or train with her. Diata adored her father. He was trustworthy, loving, and cared for her in ways that she couldn't possibly imagine!
He taught her how to live off the land, showing her which plants were dangerous and which weren't; which ones would heal wounds and which would poison them. This shaped her to be a rather intelligent daughter, wanting to learn all that she could.
She wanted to be the best in her village, even better than her rival cousin, Akinyemi, who was also blessed by an animal spirit, Ikooko(wolf). They had an... Interesting love-hate relationship. He often loved to tease her how the wolf was better than a lioness, which she would counter how a lioness hunts for the lion while a wolf heavily relied on his pack. This often resulted in messy fights between the two that never truly determined a winner.
There had been a few others who were blessed by the animal spirits as well, including Ade, who was blessed with Erin(elephant) spirit, Amuzu, Abila(Zebra) and the twins, Akata and Amara, who had the Akata(Hyena) and Pireri Aja(Prairie Dog). The six of them hang out often. Often seen in their animal or human forms playing games to entertain themselves.
Although the only ones who had been truly related were the twins and Diata and Akinyemi they all were practically siblings, growing up together and rarely ever apart.
One afternoon, after midday, Diata had been particularly bored. She had left early with her father that morning to training and hunt. Together, they had caught a game of fish for dinner which her mother and aunts were preparing. They sent the children away so they could have some 'adult time' and chat amongst themselves.
Diata laid on the grass with her friends. "I am bored," she announced loudly.
"Well, what do you expect us to do?" Akinyemi irritably asked.
"To play a game!" She rolled her eyes, making a childish face at him.
"What do you—" Akata began.
"—Want to play?" Amara finished. They frequently finished each other's sentences.
"U–Uhm..." Ade spoke up, twisting her large elephant ears shyly. She had always been a pretty reserved and quiet. "Could... We play hunt and feast...?"
Diata grinned a toothy, sharp grin, "That sounds like a great idea!" She cheered, hanging her arm around Ade's neck, receiving a small squeak of surprise from her. "I'll count!"
The other children nodded, enjoying the idea of this. "Don't go past the tall trees," Amuzu warned, crossing his striped black and white arms over his chest. He was the oldest, having just turned his fourteenth year, and wisest of the group, but he normally sat back, expressing his opinion only when he thought it was truly necessary. "Father said that he saw someone suspicious walking near there."
"Don't be a bore~," Diata laughed, crossing her strong arms over her chest. "The adults are always worried about that. It was probably a traveller trying to get to the Cloud People. Besides, that was a long time ago, we should be fine now."
Amuzu gave Diata a frown, "I think we should go back to the others. I—"
"Come on, Zuzu!" Diata sighed, "Look. If we don't go past..." She paused, thinking for a second, "The tall grass. That's not too far the big trees with the red leaves on it, right? We should be fine, and if something happens, we can always come back here, or to the village, okay?"
Amuzu stared at the ten year old girl, who gave him a broad smile. He sighed, "Fine." Everyone cheered loudly, "But be careful, and stay on lookout."
"Got it," Diata smirked. "I'll start counting..." As soon as she covered her eyes with the palms of her hands, everyone shifted to their animal forms. "Ready... Set... Go!" And then everyone darted away.
Diata had counted up to sixty before racing after the others. She had a bit of a idea where some of them were hiding, Ade always his near the ground, because it was hard for her to climb anywhere high. And she is afraid of heights. Akinyemi would probably be easy to find to, but he runs fast, and it would be hard to get him. Plus, she had no clue where was.
Amuzu and Akata would be rather difficult to catch as well, seeing those two were the fastest out of all six of them. The hardest to find would most likely be Amara because she could hide underground and over ground. Luckily, Amara and Akata were pretty much inseparable so if Diata found Amara, she could surely find Akata and vice versa.
Diata looked at the sun, nearly midday. According to their rules, she would have until the sun reached the tips of the trees to find them before she would have to forcefully surrender.
Diata smirked, she was always ready for a challenge, of course, and headed out of the high grass and into the wooded area.
So far, Diata had found four out of five of her friends whom were hidden: Ade, Akata and Amara, and Azumu. As she suspected, Ade was the easiest to find and Amara and Akata were together, per usual. Azumu had been forced to forfeit because he had to go to his mama. This only left Akinyemi, who was surprisingly hard for Diata to find, although she'd never admit it to him.
"Akinyemi~!" Diata called playfully. Because she had found the majority of the hiders, she was granted permission to go into physical animal form to catch him faster. "Come out, please!"
She stopped on the ground, listening for any kind of movement. Akinyemi was clever, she knew that he knew that she couldn't take heights very well in her physical animal form, since she was small and her claws weren't fully grown yet, so staying higher was his best option. She also knew that his balance was definitely not the best, so she didn't think that he would risk going high, or at least too high and get to the point where he would fall off.
She frowned, he didn't seem to be anywhere! She couldn't even smell him! "Akinyemi, where are you!?"
Then, she heard a soft growl of frustration. She quickly went towards the noise, which seemed to grow as she got closer.
She ran past a few trees to find a very irritated Akinyemi, with his foot stuck in shiny snare. He struggled, biting at it as hard as he could, with no avail. Diata giggled, making herself known. Akinyemi turned to her with an angry glare.
"Do you need help?" Diata teased and be bared his teeth at her.
"I'm fine!" He snapped, shaking his foot to get the shiny thing off.
"What is that anyway?" Diata asked, actually curious as to what the device on his foot was.
"I... Don't... Know!" He tried to pull away, only to have it not go anywhere. "Ugh! It's not coming off!"
"Go into your human form," Diata suggested, and he rolled his eyes.
"Don't you think I've tried," he huffed. "Why don't you do it!?" Diata rolled her eyes at his slight aggression, but changed to her human form anyway, and tried to forcibly pry the trap off. After several seconds of grunting and groaning, Akinyemi was finally able to slip his foot out and fall a few feet forwards. He scrambled away from the trap as it snapped shut, Diata quickly moving her fingers before it took one with it.
Akinyemi morphed to his human form, rubbing his foot cautiously. "Can you walk?" Diata asked, actually concerned for her cousin.
"I... I don't know. It hurts a lot," Akinyemi frowned. The shiny thing had left large markings on his foot. It would need some treatment. Akinyemi was lucky his mother was a healer.
"Here, let me see," Diata said. She would sometimes spend time with her aunt as she was healing a few of the warrior's backs from the sun wounds.
Remembering what she had said, Diata closed her eyes, and focused her energy into her hands. Slowly, a greenish hue seemed to spark and grow around then. She put her hands on his foot, as she has seen her aunt do. Sweat beaded her head as she tried to control her energy, but it was quickly getting away from her.
The green hue sparked then sent a large shock between the two of children, causing them both to fall back. Diata's head collided with a nearby tree as Akinyemi simply hit the ground. "Hey!" Akinyemi growled, "I thought you said that you were going to help!"
"I was trying," Diata huffed, rubbing her head sorely.
"Humph! This is why wolves are better than you cats! A wolf would never mess up like that!"
"I'm not a cat!" Diata snapped, gritting her teeth sharpening in irritation. "I'm a lioness! And wolves mess up all the time, lionesses don't need to worry about who's not getting their full beside them because they hunt alone, you dirty dog!"
Akinyemi opened his most to argue when suddenly he heard a branch snap beside him. Both of them turned sharply to the sound, their animal-like ears picking up whatever movements they could. Another crunch made their eyes widened.
Akinyemi growled lowly, his blue eyes shining with bloodlust but Diata stopped him. He was injured. It would be stupid to go in whilst hurt!
She motioned the other way with her head, signaling for him to go. He glared at her, which meant a definite 'no way'. She simply pointed to his ankle, which had been swelling and lightly bleeding now, and frowned. He scoffed quietly, looking away. Deep down, he knew she was right, but his pride would never let him admit it.
He gave her a worrying glance before shifting into his wolf form and scurrying away as fast as he could. Diata stood up, ready to face whatever it was to come. The least she could do was buy Akinyemi time before he got to the village. And if she was taken away, her mama and papa would certainly save her.
She didn't realize how much of a bad idea that was until it was far too late.
A man stepped out from behind the trees, and Diata's green eyes narrowed immediately. He was very tall, and his arms rippled with strong muscles. He had a long, sharp, silvery, object in his hand that certainly looked lethal. He had dark eyes and dark hair, but the thing that surprised Diata most was that his skin was... Different than hers. It was the color of the tall grass during mid day, which certainly different from hers with was darker than the bark of a tree. If the situation hadn't been so tense, she would have questioned him on it.
Then the man started to speak in a strange tongue. Diata gave him an odd look, cocking her head to the side. She did not understand his words at all. The man glared at her, saying the words he had spoken to her again, but once again she did not understand.
Maybe he was confused? She thought, "I do not understand," she tried to tell him, but this seemed to make the man even angrier. He called behind him, and then two other, large just as burly men stepped out from behind him, all holding different sharp, shiny objects.
They exchanged a few words to each other before turning back to her. Disgusting smiles twisted their lips, making chills run down her back. She moved away, from them, only to back into a tall tree. She look up... It the tall trees with red leaves, the ones that Amuzu had warned her about earlier! She cursed herself for not realizing sooner.
Now she realized that these men where very, very dangerous. She quickly turned around, and began to run the opposite direction she had sent Akinyemi. The men pounded behind her, easily catching up. She ran faster, her father's words echoing in her mind.
"You have the blood of a lioness in your body and in your spirit. When you run, you harness Kinium's power and run! Run like a warrior!!"
She morphed into her physical animal form, and darted past the trees. Because of her small form, she was able to climb under things and jump over roots easier.
A sharp, black object was skillfully thrown in front of her, nearly impaling her small body. She yelled in surprise, scurrying away from it, turning to go the opposite direction, only to have her body grabbed by the collar and dragged into the air. The man's nails dug into her fur, making her scream in pain.
She morphed back into her human form, the man still had a hard grip on her neck, nearly choking her. He grunted unrecognizable words to his partners before he fished a dirty rag out of his pocket and shoving it on her mouth and nose.
Diata squirmed and moved, but the man kneed her in the back, tightening his grip on her throat. Diata knew how to swim very well, so she was able to hold her breath for a long, long time, refusing to breath in whatever was on the rag.
Unfortunately, the other men began to kick and hit her when she had desperately refused to do so. After several minutes of pure panic and slight suffocation, Diata was forced to breathe and the blackness on the edges of her vision grew and everything turned black.