The Delicate Ripping of Worlds (Orphan #650)

[Mercuré]

╔═*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*═╗
The Delicate Ripping of Worlds
By Mercuré
╚═*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*═╝

[Mercuré]

╔══•●•══╗
Characters:
Kumi/Kilunzi Kubula Lesa: Deity of dreams
Mukoko Ngò: Leader of the clan
Ntomi Nyitu: A soothsayer
Ngàngà Diboka: A medicine cat
╚══《✧》══╝

╔══•●•══╗
Playlist (in order)
Star - Mitski
Black Mambo - Glass Animals
Midnight Sun - Nilüfer Yanya
Children of the Empire - Weyes Blood
Daydreaming - Radiohead
╚══《✧》══╝

[Mercuré]

THE WORD OF NTOMI NYITU

[Chapter 0, KUMI]

“Kumi,” Nyitu, the Ntomi declared, “The tenth gift from the spirits.” Nyitu stepped out of the moonlit pool into the crowd of cats. “We must prepare”

[Chapter 1, Ten Gifts in a Lifetime]

The cats returned to the clearing in which the clan resided. They had to travel through a thick layer of fog that seemed to suffocate the iroko trees and a wind that whistled through their leaves. Nyitu set off to look for Diboka, the ngángá, a medicine cat.

“What do you make of the fog?” She said as a way of greeting, a yellow feather on her tail indicating her gender at that point in time.

“With the Kumi coming, the nkisi are parting the world.” Nyitu spoke solemnly, “They are taking their claws and ripping through this realm into the realm of spirits.”

“I’ll light frankincense then...” Diboka spoke, trailing off before speaking again, “how will we prepare?”

“I will advise Mukoko Ngò to send out warriors across our territory tomorrow night. The moon should be at its fullest and a deep shade of orange. If it is not, the gift will not be ready. I myself have matters to attend to.”

Diboka frowned at the last thing Nyitu said, not understanding why he was being secretive but knowing not to question him. He changed his feather to a white one, male, and began to burn the frankincense. Nyitu left for the cave of the elders.

Nyitu stood at the mouth of the cave before finally entering. There, lined down the damp corridors were skeletons of the former Mukokos, all sitting upright, their masks placed in their skeletal paws. He went deeper and deeper into the cave and the skeletons became older and older, some with the wooden masks rotting or paint peeling. Finally he arrived at the Mukoko he wanted. This was the last Mukoko that had seen gifts from spirits. Well, that was false, the spirits had given gifts but not to the same scale. Two gifts in a lifetime was rare, let alone ten. Something big is coming, Nyitu thought. Will we be prepared?

Nyitu placed the herbs and pebbles he had been carrying in his mouth delicately in front of the Mukoko before arranging them with his paws. He bowed his head then and spoke, his voice echoing throughout the cave system, “Oh Mukoko, please grant me entry into your domain” Nothing Nyitu could sense answered. He shuffled in place unsure before finally speaking again, figuring he should assume it worked. “Thank you Mukoko”

[Chapter 1.5, Traveling]

It had worked. That night Nyitu fell asleep and immediately dreamed. In his dream he walked forward through a thick mud in darkness. He could feel each paw sink deeper and deeper. He kept walking until eventually pushing through some leaves to the light. There stood the Mukoko he had called for in the caves.

“Ntomi Nyitu, why do you request my presence?” the Mukoko boomed, his voice echoing despite the two of them standing in a wide open space.

“Mukoko, I need your guidance.” Nyitu bowed. “I am unsure what to do about the zumi, the tenth gift.”

“Is there anything to do?” the Mukoko answered.

“Are we prepared enough?”

“Do not worry. You have prepared well, my young Ntomi.”

[Chapter 2, The Arrival]

The next day all of the clan gathered by the pool of water. They had come just as the moon began to rise and sure enough it bore a shroud of vibrant orange. Mukoko Ngò strode forth from where he had been standing in front of the crowd and into the moonlit pool. Somenly, after a few moments, Nyitu and other cats of important rankings followed. They stood in their usual semicircle formation and waited.

Slowly Nyitu began to feel tired. He quickly became nervous and confused. How could he be tired? This was perhaps the most important moment in his life! A gift from the spirits he would help steer into this world. But quickly those worries began to fall away as well and he felt a deep calm that seemed to rise from the water, through his paws and up to his ears.

He watched as slowly the warriors surrounding the pool seemed to sink. They gracefully seemed to fall in slow motion until they were lying down, their bodies rising and falling as they slumbered. Distantly Nyitu thought that maybe they shouldn’t be sleeping. That this was important.

He looked to his right whe he heard a loud thud. Mukoko Ngò’s mask had fallen off his face as his head lolled forward. Nyitu turned away.

Then there it was.

Gracefully stepping on the fog as if it was as solid as mud, feet sinking in but never quite falling out of the air, was a kit, a kubutama.

The kubutama walked forward and descended until it was just above the pool of water, in front of the cemicircle of cats. Slowly Nyitu’s vision began to blur and he could hear the Mukoko he had summoned the night prior chanting something to him. But what was he saying? It was as if he was underwater…. And that when Nyitu realized he was, he had sunk into the pool. And then suddenly his vision went black. Ya Makala Nkatu. Nothingness in the dark.

[Chapter 3, Traveling Once More]

Nyitu awoke into a world he immediately knew to be the realm of the spirits. He had never been of course but everything he had learned about the spirit world had held true. Something deep in the marrow of his bones could sense it as well. As if he was returning to somewhere no longer home.

Nyitu looked around as the world seemed to swirl. Eventually it righted himself but even then he felt uneasy, everything deep dark shades of unnatural purple and blue. The only thing that remained the same was the moon, its deep orange. Nyitu turned around unsure of what to do.
Then suddenly he heard a whisper through the mulolo grass.

“Ntomi. Ntomi come here”

Nyitu looked around, unsure.

“Ntomi come forth. Nyitu.”

Nyitu felt his heart skip a beat. His title could be seen easily by what he wore but his name? How did whatever was calling him know his name? Spirits can see more than meets the eye. Fighting off his fear, Nyitu waded through the deep grasses and leaves towards the voice. He felt his paws sink deeper and deeper into mud and suddenly remembered his dream. Just like the dream he came to one more set of leaves to push past.

Unlike his dream, Nyitu was not in an open clearing but rather he splashed into a pool, very similar to the one from his world. There in the middle something was bubbling. Against better judgement he walked forward and looked down. It was Nyitu from the real realm, under the water with bubbles of air leaving his mouth. Horrified and unsure of what to do Nyitu just stared.

“Do not worry for yourself young Ntomi.” The voice whispered. “Time is not the same here, you will get back before you drown.”

Nyitu turned around to see a young kit, a kubutama. Nyitu was so confused but all he could think of to say was, “Why do you refer to me as young Ntomi when you are little more than a kub?”

The kub laughed, “Ntomi Nyitu I am much much older than you.”

“What are you?” Nyitu looked at the kitten that was glowing, he turned back to look at himself slowly drowning underwater, “What is happening?”

“My name is Kilunzi, but you have called me Kumi.”

Kumi. The tenth gift. But how could this be a gift? Nyitu could feel a panic bubble in his throat as the reality of the situation sunk in. His soul was in the spirit world while he was drowning in the realm of the living. How would he get back? Was it true he’d get back to his body in time before he perished?

He pushed all of those questions away and asked again, “What are you?”

The kub laughed, “Ntomi, is it not your job to know all matters of the spiritual world? Do you not know my name?”

“Kilunzi… Soul.” Of course Nyitu knew the name but had thought nothing of it. It was a name that could be given for many different reasons. Here though he knew it must mean more. Before he could continue the small kub spoke.

“My full name is Kilunzi Kubula. The One Who Fractures Souls.” Kilunzi spoke with a voice Nyitu now realized sounded much older than a kub. “My realm is the Ndosi.”

Ndosi. Dreams. Nyitu thought back to how one by one all the warriors had collapsed, asleep. The strange peace that had descended over them all. Once more he looked back at himself under the water, “You’re no spirit, you’re a deity.”

“Yes.” Kilunzi smiled now.

“But I have not heard of you before I admit ... why?”

“I am not a deity from your region. I come from places that have things you don’t have words for. How would you say ‘snow’? How could I begin to explain to you all you do not know.”

“I am not asking for an explanation of all things, I am asking for an explanation of yourself, of the gift.”

“I can not explain it all now. All I can say is this world is fracturing-”

“Fracturing?” Nyitu interrupted.

“How do you think you got here? This world is breaking. I am breaking it. I am the One Who Fractures.”

“Why? Why all of this?! The gifts, the sleeping, the drowning, the fracturing of worlds, souls, dreams? Why did you bring me here to confuse me more?”

“I brought you here to do this.” The kub suddenly struck his paw out and placed it deep into Nyitu’s fur. He sank in his claws but before Nyitu could yelp he was back in the pool of water, back in the realm of the living.

Nyitu stood up and gasped for air. Coughing, he surveyed the area to slowly see all the cats waking from their slumber. By his side Kilunzi removed their paw from his fur. He rubbed his side with his paw and could feel the slick wetness from where Kilunzi had drawn blood.

[Mercuré]

Image 1: “The only thing that remained the same was the moon, its deep orange.”

[Mercuré]

THE WORD OF KILUNZI KUBULA LESA
[Chapter 4, Mayinda]

Kilunzi could feel the wetness of blood on her paws. The slip between Kayengele (The realm of the spirits) and Ntoto (the realm of the living) for others was disorienting but for her felt as natural as slipping on a new jacket. In her vision she could see the spirit world still and the same pool, Nyitu no longer in it. She looked to her right where he now stood, bewildered, rubbing his side. She looked into the Mayinda, the space in between Kayengele and Ntoto and saw the spirits gathering around them, chattering excitedly. She was particularly good at looking into the Mayinda as it was the realm of one of her parents. Where she came from the cats had called it “the liminal.” Mayinda or Liminal it all meant the same to the spirits.

Fracturing her way through worlds was easy. All she had to do was sink her claws into the right place and just like that, that scratch, it split the world a little bit. She could see them now, the little cracks in the Kayengele and Ntoto, the little piece that fell off where she and Nyitu slipped through. As she watched they began to repair themselves until once more the realms were whole. Now fracturing souls…that was a whole other business.

As the cats began to orient themselves they looked at her, floating just above the water and lightly glowing. Maybe she was more attached to mortals than she thought because it amused her greatly the way they stood, slack-jawed.

Kilunzi looked into the Mayinda again and saw the spirits were getting restless, they wanted to see what would happen. I listen to no one, but fine. I can begin.

“My name is Kilunzi Kubula Lesa. I am the Kumi.”

Gasps from the warriors could be heard while others continued to stare. She continued, “I am being punished for taking fruit from the holy Nsaba Ya Nsayi,” more gasps, “but my fellow Lesa have been merciful and for my punishment I will spend many moons here aiding this clan. The Lesa smile upon this clan for its piety and its offerings.”

As she spoke she realized she had floated down and was now sitting in the mud, kneading her paws nervously. Her claws were out. She looked up and saw all the fracturing. None of the other cats could see of course but she watched the spider web of cracks across the sky, the world blurring between Ntoto, Kayengele, and Mayinda. Pieces of the worlds were falling into each other. A piece of the Mayinda fell onto her and suddenly she was back there, then.

[Chapter 5, Nsaba Ya Nsayi]


Kilunzi was watching her past self. She watched but couldn’t scream, couldn’t warn herself to stop. It was like she was behind a clear curtain, separated only slightly from herself.

The plan was simple, grab the kola from the tree and leave. She unclenched her claws as the worlds began to repair themselves.

Kilunzi remembered how she thought it would be easy. How she had watched the realm repairing itself as if she had all the time in the world. To be fair, time was a foreign concept to her… why had she been so stupid? Of course she couldn’t grab a kola. No matter how much she wanted the Mazabu Kinabi, the sacred wisdom.

She ran forward to the tree. She floated up and grabbed a kola nut. Mazabu Kinabi. Without thinking she sank her teeth in.

Kilunzi watched herself begin to eat the kola nut with disgust. She had been so eager to attain the sacred wisdom she hadn’t considered why it had been hidden from her.

There were suddenly noises, shouting amongst spirits. She could now see them after eating the nut. The Ntoto too… So many worlds underneath her paws. She was overwhelmed by this new knowledge. Immediately faces began to swim in front of her vision. Why had she done it? They demanded. Why?

And now she fractured worlds. Others slipped or glided through worlds, they had eaten the Kola nut when they had been granted it, they hadn’t stolen it so their methods were more peaceful. Kilunzi on the other hand had to tear and gnash her way through worlds… Speaking of gnashing and clawing she needed to get back, she had to help the clan that Nyitu belonged to. As much as she hated being told what to do, being the Kumi also gave her purpose, she was cherished, they would treat her like the god she was. She turned away from the past version of herself still chewing on the kola nut.

This was the problem, wasn’t it. She ripped throujgh worlds so easily that even when she didn’t want to she would fall into other worlds. Getting back was a little harder. Kilunzi quickly looked into the Ntoto to see her form there still floating. She looked around and found a suitable tree. She took a deep breath and then stuck her claws in.

And then she was back. The Ntoto was characterized by its red and green hues, nothing like the purple of the Kayengele or the wispy grays and soft colors of the Mayinda. Once more she was addressing the Moyo Buala, the clan.

“I will live amongst you and I will aid you, but I am still a deity,” she paused to let her words sink in, “The Lesa and Spirits will punish any that attempt to disrespect me.”

With that she stepped in front of the Mukoko Ngò, “The realm of dreams is ours to command”

[Mercuré]

Image 2: “As the cats began to orient themselves they looked at her, floating just above the water and lightly glowing”