#The Swam

#By David Onyemaizu

"Curiosity Kills the Cat" - Old English Idiom

#Chapter 1

The journey had been long and tedious for the Maoism Group, as they journeyed from Tokyo to Nagasaki, the sole purpose of the journey embarked on by this group of travellers had been to propagate the tenets of Maoism in Nagasaki, Feng Wei who led the group alongside Ming and Jing Wo was looking quite weary with fatigue coupled with the fact that they were running low on food and supplies whilst still trying to avoid the Japanese army guards posted to all borders in the state to prevent the Maoists from gaining access to any part of the state...

"I'm so tired" Ming yawns loudly as the group arrive at Len's Pass, a sort of mountain passage where the old Temple of Buddha once stood, "C'mon just a little bit more, we'll soon get past this passage and will be on Lion Gate's Bridge which borders Tokyo and Nagasaki" stated Feng as he jumps down a slippery slope, "We just have to greatly avoid the Japanese Army, you know what happens if we get caught" Jing says as he swipes at a mosquito, "But I'm very tired, Feng we have Been travelling for hours now, can't we just stop by and rest? At least in this Buddha's Temple" Ming asked her voice really strained either due to cold or fatigue, "I think not, I have heard strange stories as regards this temple, let's just endure till we get to Lion's Gate then we'll camp for the night before crossing the bridge" Feng said, "but that's still miles away!" Ming retorted sharply "I think it wouldn't hurt to spend the night here Feng, stop being so superstitious, besides we don't want to get caught in the brewing storm forming up ahead" Jing stated with a smile on his face pointing at the now cloudy skies, "I have a very awkward feeling about this guys, but if you insist we can spend the night" Feng stated in resignation...

The three of them slowly approached the entrance of the Buddha's Temple, which stood like a huge giant on the mountain pass, years of wear and tear had rendered the temple quite old and looking like it could crumble at any given moment, they approached the entrance and Feng peeked in to see if anyone could be there, but wasn't surprised to find it empty except of course for the various statues that stood rooted firmly to the ground like the Japanese soldiers, "what's this?" Asked Ming as she slowly ran her fingers on one of the statues, "well those are the Onokiri, they are considered to be the guardians of the underworld in old Japanese Mythology, you guys don't still think we should leave?" Feng asked with a bit of concern and fear scribbled on his face, "Nope, it's cool in here man, what could possibly go wrong? You are just being to scared of a few statues" Jing said, "Yeah Feng, let's spend the night here the we move at dawn tomorrow" Ming stated as she hit one of the statues hard with her fist, "Alright then, but if anything goes wrong, I warned you guys and please let's refrain from touching these sacred objects" Feng said as they settled in for the night....

#The Swam

#By David Onyemaizu

"Don't awaken the unexpected" - Jamie Ferdinand

#Chapter 2

It was almost 3:45 am in the quiet Temple over looking Len's Pass just before the Lion Gate's Bridge to the East, Feng and Jing were already fast asleep having propped up tents within the temple and carefully holed themselves up in their sleeping Bags, Ming was however having a bout of insomnia, at first she had been able to sleep for about 2 hours but after having a really horrible dream she couldn't remember she had decided to explore the temple....

She first climbed the sacred altar and stared up at the massive Buddha statue and somehow it just felt funny to her that she felt the need to pay her respects to Buddha, for one thing she was never the religious type, she had always been indifferent to religious axioms and beliefs, putting her palms together she whispered silently "Amitapha" then giggled saliently to herself and proceeded to check the inner chambers in the temple....

On getting to the last row of block stairs downwards she found herself in a sort of inner sanctuary, and of course the door was closed and it didn't budge when she tried to open it, As she made to leave the sanctuary, the door opened and she peered inside..

Alone like a trophy stood a jar on a stone altar, shining and glowing in the intense darkness, Ming used her left hand to shield the piercing rays of light from petrifying her already dilated pupils, the jar stopped shining and she noticed she could see markings and engravings on the jar and the stone altar, she squinted and tried to decipher the words on the jar but could only make it one word "don't open" it read, she stared at the jar again and discovered that it's lid was heavily sealed, she shook the jar and noticed it was extremely light, "so what the hell could be there?" She thought to herself, she hissed to herself and carelessly balanced the jar back on the stone altar not even bothering to check if it was well intact, at that same moment her eyes caught a pile of bags which she quickly hastened to get to, she unfastened the rope securing one of the bags and almost screamed with delight to find that each of the bags were filled to the brim with gold!

Probably in her over excitement she didn't hear the jar roll from the stone altar and crash on the floor, she didn't also hear at first the heavy buzzing of black wild locusts as they gathered up in the air behind her and formed the shape of a smiling face, finally hearing the sound Ming turned sharply and fell into the pile of bags, she would have screamed but it only came out as a strangled whimper as the locusts descended on her and by the time they dispersed away what was left of Ming was just a charred up skeleton.....

#The Swam

#By David Onyemaizu

#Chapter 3 (Finale)

The first thing Feng Wei heard when he woke up was the loud buzzing sound, at first the sound felt like forgotten fragments of the dream he was having before the sound but all of sudden it felt too real to be a mere dream, he jolted up with a start and at that same moment heard the piercing scream of Jing, he ran out his tent in a manner devoid of order and almost fell on his face when he saw the black swam of the thing which was had devoured Ming and was now after Jing who desperately running as fast as he could "Run!!" Jing cried to Feng, whose paralysis caused by shock broke and he started running too, how they ran, and ran without looking back, away from the Temple, their mission to Nagasaki forgotten in the midst of the terrifying horror that had escaped from that temple, they were still running by the time the sun set and started its usual journey to the horizon overlooking Tokyo..

END...