After Maadili’s class, the students still had to sit through four more classes before their lunch time break. Luckily for them, apart from Teacher Bine and Maadili, the Academy did not have many strict teachers. Some of them even allowed the students to self study.

As Mwana was coming from one of the outdoor classes, he noticed that something precious was missing from his desk.

“Has someone taken my book?”

It was a book titled “Invincible in the Night.” However after repeatedly asking, no one answered him.

“Who stole my book?!”

At this point he was getting angry and exasperated. The book was very important to him as he had received it from his father. The book was a traditional hero’s journey that included a lot of knowledge such as Crystal Warrior classifications, various sword styles around the world, the journey of a hero, and a unique adventurous story. There were even sequels in the series, Book 2: “Across the Stars”, Book 3: “The Tired Journeyman”, and Book 4: “The End of the Road or a New Beginning “. It had launched a successful book franchise.

The author of this series, going by the simple name Funga, was rumored to be a great warrior who had long surpassed the highest level of Crystal warriors. However, it wasn’t the book’s illustrious origins that made it important to Mwana. It meant much more to him as it was the last gift he ever received from his father.

“Please, please return it.”

Mwana was very angry but he held his emotions back begging for whoever took the book to return it.

“If you have it, if you know it’s you, don’t be a thief. Just return it. Why ignore when it’s with you.”

However he got no response. Even when he got Cheza, Nyaga, and his other friends to help him search other people’s desks despite their protests, he still couldn’t find it.

Even when he had gotten to Maji 1’s desk, the main suspect in Mwana’s mind, he couldn’t find anything. Although Maji 2 was in the same class, he was a more straightforward character unlike the two-faced Maji 1. Mwana asked Maji 1 whether he took the book several times, “Maji did you take it?”

“What! Didn’t you refuse to lend it to me when I borrowed it? Don’t blame me for everything.”

Two more classes came and went before the lunch break and by then Mwana was in an extremely foul mood. He decided to go to the resident witchdoctor in class. The kid’s title as a witchdoctor was not for show as he was the son of genuine witchdoctor. Even though he was the same age as Mwana, Jua Motikatika was already a 3 Star Rank 2 Magician.

The Star System represented Magic Capacity while Ranks represented Magic Knowledge and a Magician’s Skill. In terms of magical knowledge and skill, the first five ranks were Magic Pupil, Magic Student, Magic Teacher, Magic Master, and Magic Grandmaster. Most of the students were only at the Magic Pupil level or were simply Un-awakened Magicians who couldn’t even use a simple spell unassisted. As for the teachers, they were only at the Magic Teacher level. A 9 year old like Motikatika having already reaching the Magic Student level made him a magic prodigy!

The Star System had 9 stars in total. A 3 star mage could be said to posses the innate capability of casting rank 3 spells as long as they have the knowledge. On the other hand, a 2 star mage who was also a rank 3 magician would not have the magical capacity to sustain rank 3 spells. These types of mages whose knowledge and skill exceeded their magic capacity would use things like magic crystals, wands, magic staffs, potions, etcetera to supplement their magic power and boost their magic levels.

When it came to magic, it was harder to increase one’s magic capacity compared to magical knowledge but most magicians would try to advance them at the same time. Only a few monstrous geniuses were born with their magic capacity already high. When it came to Mwana, he only had a low level 2 star magic capacity at the time. It was better than those with 1 star magical capacity but nowhere enough to make him talented in magic. As for his magic rank, he was just a Magic Pupil like the rest of the students.

As the class’ resident witchdoctor, Motikatika was always ready to lay down a curse at any time as long as there was a valid reason and he received a request. “There is someone who will lay an egg here today, haiya!” Some people thought he would first say some convincing words to get the thief to confess but he had already started pulling strange things from his sack to start the spell.

“Let’s do this pronto, I must make someone lay at least 3 chick-, no! at least 4 chicken size eggs today!” Although he genuinely enjoyed setting up curses, it also seemed like this was a form of training for him too. His limit had always been 2 chicken sized eggs.

A lot of the children were already excited watching him lay out the strange things including feathers, chicken legs, a ball of fur, some ugly plants and even weird bones. While Witchdoctors and Magicians both used the same source of power, the means they used it was different. Witchdoctors as their names suggested, were a cross between Witches and Doctors thus they had much stranger and weirder methods. Their medical knowledge was also extremely high rivaling that of Healers, Medicine-men and Herbs-men. In comparison, magicians could be said to be those who used magic in a standard and by the book manner.

Jua Motikatika, in particular was a strange boy. He wasn’t originally from Jua village. He was a ‘seedling’ his father left behind when he was frolicking while travelling around the Kingdom of Toro. For the first five years of his life, his father never knew of his existence. He was born in Mrogi village which was a strange place rumored to have contact with ogres, the Amanani. Motikatika had been promised to an ogre when he was young probably due to his high magic capacity which would make him a delectable snack for the Amanani once he grew further.

After that ‘promissory ceremony’, both sides of his head were shaved and he was branded with the ogre’s mark granting him some of its abilities but also acting as a tracking device. The ogre’s power within him would act as fertilizer in a farm boosting the growth of his magic so that the ogre would have a bountiful feast once it found him in the future.

Luckily for him, his father had found out he had a son through divination and taken him back to Jua village. At that time Motikatika was just 6 years old. He always wore a set of large beads around his neck which worked to counteract the ogre’s tracking spell. This was not a weak Ogre like what Jua Waya faced but a powerful high-ranked Amanani, the Two-faced Ogre prince.

After laying out the items in a star-shaped formation, Motikatika started chanting. Seeing things get serious, the culprit had no option but to come forward quickly to avoid falling victim to the witchcraft.

The culprit stood up and interrupted Motikatika. On seeing who it was, Mwana already expected it, ‘this snake!’

As expected, Maji 1 was the culprit who stole the book.

“Maji did you take it? I kept asking yet you played the idiot?” Mwana was so incensed that he immediately started screaming at Maji 1.

“Playing the idiot? Who’s the idiot you leech?” Throwing back the book aimlessly, Maji 1 did not seem perturbed at all by Mwana’s anger as he replied with a smile on his face. Naturally he was aiming at Mwana’s sore spot. Mwana's family was basically the poorest in the village after his father’s death. The cost of treating his mother and sister’s sickness as well as his uncle’s injury was a bottomless financial pit.

With those words, the conflict had already started. Mwana proceeded to call Maji 1 a snake but the latter shot back even more viciously, “What do you know you yapping leech? People like you are the reason my uncle couldn’t marry a second wife haha. Now we have to hear him cry about it all the time at home. Your family is just a bunch of useless freeloaders in the village. And so what if your uncle is a veteran? Which family doesn’t have a veteran? Even your mother is just useless and isn’t active in the village, and you? You are just a low-level con man!” Maji1 1’s nasty statement was followed by the entire class exclaiming.

“Weeeeey!”

“Eish!”

“Maji 1, stop it you are going too far!”

“Why is he provoking Mwana so much today when he is the one in the wrong?”

"Fishy."

Maji 1 was known for being extremely pretentious. He was always smiling amiably while plotting behind the scenes so it was not surprising to hear him speak in that manner. However, he was obviously taking things a notch higher so as to rile Mwana up.

This fellow reminded people of a cockroach, slow at times but fast when it counts; annoying; seemingly harmless but secretly harmful. He was known for his two-faced snaky personality. His nature was like a cockroach terrorizing you at night. The whole situation reminded Mwana of a particular night when he went to hang up his sleeping covers only to hear some cockroaches scratching the door. Whenever he lit the light, they would scamper away and hide; but in the darkness, they would even overrun him under his blankets. For that entire week he only dreamt of these creatures. He would try to kill them as they entered the house as they were slow but they would suddenly accelerate when they reached the door and hide in the room. It could be said that in this world, his two most hated animals were snakes and cockroaches both which Maji 1 embodied.

“That’s it!” Mwana shouted while flipping his desk. He walked over to Maji 1 as the latter stood up looking ready for a fight. It was then that his friends came to try and hold him back. Both Maji 1 and Mwana were being held up as they screamed at each other. Although Mwana smelled something fishy with Maji 1’s sudden courage, he couldn’t take insults to his family lying down.

More than a few insults peppered the heated argument as words like ‘idiot’, ‘prostitute’, ‘garbage’, ‘m*th*r******’ , ‘****s*ck*r’, were thrown around. Even some insults too colorful for the ears of kids their age let alone coming from their own mouths, could be heard.

“You dare insult my mother!” Maji 1 was yelling back. He seemed more worked up now compared to his laid back attitude before but he soom clamed down again.

“You insulted my parents first, you rat!”

“You rat.”

“Yellow fever ****.”

“Yellow fever ****.”

“You, you!”

“You, you.” Indeed after calming down, Maji 1 found a way to aggravate Mwana even more by simply mirroring his words and actions. He was extremely insufferable. This was a type of way children would insult each other by repeating what the other person said in an extremely annoying and grating voice in order to mock them.

“The only reason you talk is so that your mouth doesn’t stink,” Mwana was still letting insults fly and trying his best to escape his friends’ grasp and attack Maji 1.

Cheza chose the moment to remind Mwana to keep his cool, “You give someone an emotional reaction and they will hold power over you.”

However, Mwana could not stomach an insult to his own mother. It was always an instant fight among boys whenever mothers were mentioned in an argument. “He insulted my mother! No one can back down from a fight where one's mother is smeared. A mother is Sovereignty! Let’s see what gives him the confidence.” Although Mwana suspected Maji 1 had an increase in strength giving him a momentary high and boosting his confidence to instigate a fight with him, he could not back down. Immediately after his words, Mwana tossed down his right Moon bracelet before taunting Maji 1.

“Imbecile, stand up if you dare?”

“Is that a challenge?” Maji 1 asked with a smirk. In the Jua and Mwezi villages, the Moon Bracelets were a sign of belonging. Before a friendly spar, fighters would bump their bracelets together. However, in case of a conflict, tossing ones bracelet to the floor was considered issuing a challenge. In response, the challenged individual could also toss down their bracelet to accept the challenge.

“Why? Are you a coward?” To make sure Maji 1 would not refuse, Mwana even taunted incredulously, “You are truly a coward aren’t you? A true chicken.”

Naturally the next instant, Maji 1’s bracelet also hit the ground.

“Challenge accepted!”

New Words

Funga – to close

Motikatika – African folklore from the story: THE WOMAN AND THE OGRE. Motikatika was betrayed by his own mother for her own survival when she was caught by an ogre fetching water from its territory. To save her own skin, she promised her baby to the ogre. Morikatika had both sides of his head shaved and forced to wear giant white beads so the ogre could identify him in the future.

Mrogi – Sorcerer

Author's Note: The vaccine pain is on another level, be ready not to use your left arm from at least 2 days.