Into The Dark
Chapter 2:
An Old Evil
I am not Walter Disney, nor am I related to Disney in any way, except for being a fan of his work. 'Into the Dark', chapter 2: 'An Old Evil' is property of Troy Wong, a.k.a. Chookooblash, and is not to be resold or posted on any other site without my permission.
I hope you enjoy reading my stories. Long live the king!
They say the day your child is born is a day you will never forget. Have you ever wondered who 'they' are? Well, that's me and the Inner Circle, of course, silly! I don't see a bunch of dim-witted meerkats sitting around, thinking up proverbs and prophecies- do you?
Anyway, on with the story. I can assure you that King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi would never forget the night their son, Simba was born. It was exciting indeed, but that is another story, for another time.
They had asked me to present the young prince to the Great Kings of the Past the morning after he was born. I accepted it right away. I could not wait for it. Hard to believe, maybe, but then, you haven't seen much of me, have you?
Alright, don't scare me. Well, I was so nervous, and anxious, and having flying insects fluttering around in my gut- I just could not get this idea out of my head. I looked into the Dream Pool every day and night to see if he had been born, and, as a result, I was the first to know- first, even before Mufasa! By the time poor Zazu had gotten to my tree, I was halfway there… Late, as usual, but, well, you know.
As I lifted him up into the air, and the clouds broke apart, a blinding light shot down from above, and with it came the voices of all the Great Kings of the Past I had ever heard of, and some that I hadn't. A beautiful roaring scream erupted from the crowd below, mixed with cheers and whoops. At that point, I became very confident that Simba would be something special.
That's what they had told me, at least. And they were right, with the death in the gorge, and the return, and the defeat of Scar, and the returning to power. But they told me something else, too. Their words were burnt into my memory like stones that have been left in the sun all noon do to skin when they are pressed into it.
Their booming voices united, and spoke to me in a language that no one else knew; a language that no one else could even hear.
Translated to your tongue, they said, "Great Shaman Rafiki of the Pridelands, you have saved our kingdom one hundred times over by the point of your staff and the palm of your hand. An old evil returns to the land at midnight, tomorrow. It will once again take the residents of our holy land, and their first victim will be the one you know as 'Varapena'. They will attack with force, and by the dark of night. They will attack without warning, and they will take her. Please, Great Shaman Rafiki of the Pridelands. Raise that number from one hundred to one hundred and one. Save our holy land once again."
When they stopped, and the light lessened, I nearly fell over. You may have seen me. Oh, wait. Silly of me to say that. You wouldn't know, right?
But, Varapena? She was a lioness in the pride. Mufasa's pride. I could not bear to see her taken by this evil the Great Kings spoke of. When I brought Simba back down onto safe ground and returned him to his parents, I saw her eyes staring back at me. She had a smile on her face. I think she must have seen my close shave on falling.
I could not tell her. The Great Kings' messages and visions were for theirs and my ears and eyes only. The best I could do was to try and stop it from happening. But that meant that I had less than two days and a night… Not good at all…
xxx
"Great presentation, Rafiki." congratulated Varapena, with a smirk on her face.
Rafiki smiled back in a curious sort of way. "Why the wide smile?" he asked, frowning comically. Vara burst out giggling. "Ah! I knew it!"
She managed to stop herself at that point. "Sorry, I just can't help myself."
"You saw me, did you not?" asked the shaman, curiously.
"Didn't everyone?" She just couldn't seem to get that smile from her face.
Rafiki hated to be the one to give in and mention his 'fall', but he had to. He could see it in her eyes that she knew, but he did it anyway. Even if you normally know what someone is going to say, it doesn't mean you can't pretend that you're able to have normal, productive conversations.
"You saw me nearly tripping." said Rafiki.
"Oh, what are you talking about?" she asked in return, with a strong hint of sarcasm in her voice.
She burst out in an uncontrollable fit of joyous laughter another time, and the two embraced in a friendly hug. They hadn't seen each other in months now.
"It is good to see you again, Vara."
As they backed away from each other and the hug ended, Rafiki's face darkened. He clutched his staff with both hands and held it so that it was a perfectly vertical line; a sign of worry.
"What's wrong?" asked Varapena.
"Oh, nothing." And suddenly, Rafiki's face brightened. "I hate to say goodbye so early, but I should be going now."
"Really? Must you?"
"I'm afraid so."
"But… Why?" she asked. Varapena was that kind of inquisitive person that always had to know everything.
"Just some very important business. You know. Conference with the wildebeests, a chat with the elephants… I'm a very busy baboon, you know." he replied in a lighthearted way.
She chuckled. "Alright then. I'll see you later… Hopefully it'll be a shorter wait than two months this time, yeah?"
"We may meet sooner than you expect."
"Does this have anything to do with my birthday in a week?"
And with that, his face darkened again. Her birthday in a week. For one, he had totally forgotten. And for another thing, these evil beings were due in the land at midnight, the next day. It was all in his hands- whether she would celebrate her 24th, in lion years, of course, or whether she would fall, so close, yet so far.
"Just be careful tomorrow night, okay? Stay here. Do not go anywhere. Just stay here."
"Yeah, yeah. Seeyah, Rafiki."
"Goodbye."
xxx
Rafiki rushed from Pride Rock, all the way back to the Tree of Life as fast as he could- as fast as he ever would. When he reached his destination after a record time, he climbed up the age-old trunk of his home, grabbed several strange-looking flowers, herbs, and various 'magical' items.
He leapt back down to the ground with unnatural swiftness, landing as quietly as a feather lands on water, then darting into the circle of trees that surrounded the Dream Pool like a speeding bullet.
Once inside, he set down his items, and sat down himself, then looked into the crystal clear waters of the pond. Its purity and tranquility were like a light illuminating the darkness in a cave; lights amongst the darkness of the world. The mirror created a perfect reflection of Rafiki's face, and as he stared, the eyes of his counterpart began to look like they were observing him. But there was no time for that.
Without any disturbance, the water began to stir and ripple like miniature waves at a miniature beach and in place of Rafiki's reflection formed the shining face of another mandrill.
"Barkara." greeted Rafiki.
"What makes you call upon me, Rafiki?" asked the creature.
"The Great Kings have warned me of a great evil returning to this land. They are known as the Evil Ones. -"
"The Evil Ones?" asked Barkara. He seemed worried. Rafiki had never seen him worried, at all.
"How do you know of them?" asked the shaman.
The face in the pond paused. "That is none of your concern. What do you want to know of them?"
"I want to know how to stop them."
"Stop them? Oh, no. You cannot stop the evil ones. When you banish one, ten more rise to take its place… You can only slow them, and even then, when you pause to look at the bigger picture, you are actually helping them."
"Are you sure of this?"
"Yes. I swear on my honor as a past shaman and your mentor. But there was one strange incident… It was before I had ever met you, even before you had been born. The Evil Ones had invaded the forests of the lemurs of the Inner Circle overnight. Loperi had sent a single messenger to call for help. We, the mandrills, were closest to their sacred forests, and so we were the first to arrive. It took us just five minutes to get there, but by that time, they had taken everyone… It was terrible. But the thing is, they never returned after that. The kingdom was safe again."
Rafiki seemed to be puzzled for a moment. "You are saying that the only way to stop them is to sacrifice thousands?"
The spirit sighed. "So it seems."
"That is not right. There is a way to stop anything and everything…"
"It is good to see that you still remember my old sayings."
"I keep that one in mind all the time. That is why I find it hard to believe what you are saying."
"And why would I not believe my own sayings? I know there is a way to stop these things. It is simple- we just have not found that way yet."
Rafiki temporarily silenced himself to allow everything to sink in before saying, "Thank you for your knowledge, Barkara."
"Until next time."
They simultaneously nodded before Barkara's image blurred and faded away like water being poured onto the ground at noon.
xxx
I spent the rest of that day summoning and communicating with everyone from the Great Kings of the Past to sprites and spirits of the land. But, no matter who I questioned and queried, they all said the same thing that my mentor, Barkara had said. I was beginning to lose hope.
After just a short time, I remembered that I had to paint the picture of Simba onto my tree. I could not postpone it. This was very important. When I had completed my task, it was morning, just past midnight. It had also been raining without stop for hours. I had spoken to every single being that I could communicate with through the Dream Pool, and that included all of the Inner Circle. I had gotten nowhere, and I had wasted the whole day. Now I had to speak to someone else.
Lions were out of the question. Mufasa and Scar were the two oldest lions there, and they knew nothing of the subject. Hyenas? Leopards? Hippopotami? Crocodiles? Jackals? Wild dogs? Rhinoceroses? No. They were all too young. I knew no hyena, leopard, hippopotamus, crocodile, jackal, wild dog, or rhinoceros that was older than me. They may well have had their parents, grandparents, or great grandparents tell them of the Evil Ones, but that was uncertain, not to mention unlikely. I had to go to someone reliable, and I had to choose wisely, because I had less than twenty four hours left.
'But what about the herd animals?' I then asked myself. I thought it through for awhile, but then I found what had been right in front of me the whole time. I had to go to the wildebeests. Their Elders had astonishingly good memories, and they loved stories. They would exchange their true tales like we exchange words.
I set off to find them.
xxx
Rafiki spent the rest of the night with the wildebeests. He spoke to the Elders, and they had told him the same thing as everyone else had, plus one bit of extra information about the dark magic that the Evil Ones used.
He had to leave before his young friend, Kithara woke up. To him, it felt wrong to leave without telling her a new story- it had become like a tradition. But he had to. There were other things to do, and other people to meet. Being a shaman didn't mean you could sit around all day. Just like the king, Rafiki had to help keep the peace, even if that meant that he wouldn't be as concentrated on saving the kingdom.
Like a sudden downpour came the night of the Evil Ones' arrival. Rafiki had planted his mind into a deep state of meditation. This way, he could sense all the good and bad forces in the land, and beyond.
He waited for hours on end. At some point, he even thought that they weren't coming. However, when in meditation, one second in real time could stretch for hours, and vise versa. Plus, the Great Kings didn't lie.
Suddenly, he felt a strong pressure coming from the Northern Border, and cries of pain. The hyenas. They were the ones screaming. Something bad was happening. Rafiki began to breathe harder, subconsciously frowning.
This evil was different. There was a good chance that the approaching darkness was the numerous Evil Ones, but he needed to be sure. Many things came from the north, most of them, bad things.
Normally, spiritual threats would speak to him, or, at least, he would hear their thoughts. Not this time. These things seemed to be inanimate, just moving like brainless automatons, obeying their master's orders. It was confirmed. It was definitely them. He had to get up.
But he couldn't.
His muscles cramped. He could not even open his eyes. He could not scream out in pain. Even being so close to the Dream Pool and being surrounded by his magical items did not help. But it didn't make sense. If they did not speak to him, why did they create evil vibes?
Pure evil.
Could it be? If it was, then the kingdom was in more trouble than he had thought in the first place. Pure evil could not be banished, or stopped, or destroyed. It was equal to pure good, and this type of evil could only be destroyed by the vessels that carried it.
He tried to force the darkness away. If it got any closer, he would not be able to move at all. The freezing would no longer be mere cramps. Maybe entering a deep state of meditation was not such a good idea after all.
But how was he to know? He had never encountered it before. It was only spoken of once on the smooth surfaces of the Tree of Life. A single drawing made by an ancient shaman. The paint had been smudged so much over time that all that was left there was a patch of black soot covering the rest of the picture. Maybe that was what the sage had intended.
The evil was fighting Rafiki. It was resisting his mental banishing.
Trembling in pain, the shaman opened his dry lips and uttered, "I call upon the Great Kings… to assist me in banishing… this… evil!" shouting the last word with agonising force.
"I call upon the Great Kings to assist me… in banishing this evil!" he yelled.
"I call upon the Great Kings to assist me in banishing this evil!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs.
His eyes snapped open. He was no longer in meditation, and the evil was no longer interfering with his ability to move. The Great Kings had saved him once again.
Rafiki looked around. It was raining. It looked like it had been for quite some time. But there was no time to worry about the weather right now. All he grabbed was his staff before leaping through the trees and heading to the north.
xxx
He had passed Pride Rock. He could feel the shadows growing thicker, growing stronger. Rafiki was getting closer.
His panting grew harder, and it felt like acid was eating away at his legs. The shaman stopped to catch a breath. The air rushed down his wind pipe and flooded his lungs. Sweet relief.
A rustle erupted from the grass ahead of him. Slowly, he moved his staff towards his left hand, and grabbed onto it. Trying to slow his breathing, he looked around, moving only his eyes.
Something huge burst through the grass in front of him. It flew through the air like a dart, over his head, landing behind him. Then it turned around to look at him. Its eyes shone bright white.
"Reveal yourself!" shouted Rafiki.
There was a dramatic pause as the shadow moved closer. "Rafiki?" called a familiar voice.
"Why do impersonate people I know?" The thing moved closer. Rafiki backed away cautiously.
"No, Rafiki! Don't go! It's me, Vara!" shouted the voice. Indeed, it was Vara.
"Vara?" he asked, somewhat astonished.
"Rafiki, we have to go! We have to go now!" she yelled, sounding frightened and worried, all at the same time nudging Rafiki away from the north. "Rafiki! Run!"
"Vara. Vara. Wait." he repeated, trying to sound calm.
Vara looked at him, with tears of terror streaming down her eyes. She was a wreck. "We need to go- now!" she yelled, one last time.
Rafiki shushed her. They both looked around. "Vara, be calmed. There is no one here."