Orphans’ Clearing
G.Forma
Copyright 2012 by G Forma
I
The Jungle Spirit
Its arrival at Orphans’ Clearing came just after sunrise. It had emerged from a trail that led back deep into the unexplored depths of the Congo Jungle.
At that time, L, the smallest and youngest orphan of the Clearing, was sitting in a tree just outside the Clearing’s circular perimeter, on a high branch that overlooked all of the clearing. He was the first one to see the creature when its skeletal frame poked through the shrubs on the far side of the clearing. He leapt down from his high branch, bounced to his feet on the ground and scampered towards Red-Brick Orphanage.
The lone building Red-Brick Orphanage, stood in the centre of the clearing, the home to twelve orphan boys. Three missionaries owned it, and lived on its upper floor. The three missionaries were Zeiko, Waldo and Grogg. Zeiko, the fattest missionary, was Spanish. Waldo, the quietest and the oldest missionary, was Dutch. Grogg the cruellest and ugliest missionary, with wisps of dirty red hair, pale flaking skin, and rotten teeth, was German.
The twelve orphans slept in hammocks in a room on the ground floor, directly below the missionaries. An orphan named N, had been at the Orphanage the longest. The other eleven looked to him for guidance, as a voice between them and the missionaries. Overtime he allocated new names to the orphans, renaming the other eleven B, D, E, G, I, K, L M, O, Q and R.
L arrived at his home in a daze and went into the room, where his brethren were still hanging and sleeping. His panting roused the orphans from their sleep. “Monsta, Monsta,” he shrieked at them, as they were climbing out.
N calmed him down. Then the orphans discussed the situation over with each other. N created a new pact for the group. The missionaries would not be informed of the creature. They all agreed with him, then continued about their day, yet stayed within a close distance of the Orphanage.
M was the oldest of the orphans and had the darkest, most sunburnt skin of the twelve. Unlike the others, he remembered his original name. It was one given to him by his tribe. An hour after he had agreed to the new pact, he made his way upstairs and told the missionaries of the creature. Even though he detested Grogg, he was mature in age, and so feared lying to any follower of such a dangerous god.
II
Table
That afternoon, the three missionaries ventured out of the Orphanage; as usual, Grogg was in charge. “Zeiko gather four rocks, four logs and put them where I told you to. Waldo, locate and use the old table-top.”
Grogg stood and watched as the two did what they had been told. Zeiko made a circle out of the rocks he collected, which completed the four seats. Within that circle, he made a square with the logs set upright. Waldo swiftly added a rotten wooden circular piece on top of the logs. GROGG then walked into the stone circle and delicately overlaid the wooden top with a beautiful turquoise cloth, which completed the table.
The missionaries stepped away from their work, and watched as the creature stirred from the bushes. It crept towards the table, stooped and then arched its naked empty body onto the rock-chair closest from where it emerged. It slumped its upper body against the table’s top, and started rubbing its slimy features ferociously against the cloth.
Once it had grown warm from the cloth, it began snatching the dried weed growth from the ground below it, manifesting clumps of it into sticks of purple incense. The missionaries took two steps back, and watched it work.
By nightfall, there was a large heap on incense on top of the table. The creature, now done with the task, stretched its skeletal arms outwards. It ignited the incense and scattered the burning strands three metres around the table, enveloping itself, the table and the rocks within murky blue smoke. It breathed in the fumes. The shadows of the surrounding trees, their roots, and all other plant-life within the smoke slowly began enclosing inwards, merging with the creature’s frame becoming an ever-widening monstrous form. A form that was only tangible from inside of the smoke.
Waldo was the first to step inside, and the other two missionaries followed him through the smoke. They sat on the remaining three rocks around the table and looked on at their morphing guest. When the end of its transformation came, they applauded at the result.
Content with their flattery, a renewed sense of pride and rebirth quickly surged through the entity. It worked smoke into lips, to relay its history and former existence to the missionaries, who all (especially Grogg) listened attentively as it whispered.
III
First Kingdom
I am a spirit that once belonged to the oldest and last king of the now deceased race of ogres. In those days past I ruled as King Kronos, king of all kingdoms. My castle was physically founded on portions of flesh I hewed from my dying father, and its surrounding walls were made of the hundreds of bodies of anyone who dared oppose me in my rise to power. Your kind was weak and served primarily as the main food source for my race. Yet throughout the camps of men, there existed a prophecy of our fall at the hands of a great flood, and the maker would place the world back into the hands of man. The life of an ogre is long and mighty, and so the consumption of one’s flesh would bring great vigour and temporal immortality. I swallowed all of my children, and I grew fat. When the flood occurred, I floated on top and washed onto a beach.
Arriving towards the tragic end of its tale, the creature lamented, its initial sense of euphoria was over. No longer wishing to continue at its own leisure, it looked at the scum it sat with, all of them filled with greed much like the men of old who continually sought a magic dagger for its back. It searched their eyes, and continued its story. Its personal believed truths began wavering with theirs.
What I did not know, was that one son, had been hidden away on a manmade boat, a boat with a design gifted by great creator to withstand the flood. This son grew up, with an eternal lifespan he achieved what generations of mortal men could not. He searched the world and found an ogre-slaying sword.
He located the skeleton of my city, and found me, alone, bloated and fast asleep on my old throne. Cowardly, he drew the sword and plunged it through my stomach. My eyes opened for the final time and saw his cold grey eyes gazing back. I then drooped and unleashed my bowels onto the floor. This marked a new age of gods, as his brethren crawled free from their inward tomb and they were subservient to their saviour and brother. The Unification between men, for assisting the saviour to my old throne, and the freed gods had begun.
Bereaved of a body, my spirit became lost in deep foreign growth. I was doomed to venture through the tangled wilderness, alongside feral beasts and other abhorrent creatures derived from the seeds of the lowest branches.
In the deepest depths of the jungle, I formed a set of tablets and carved the words of the angelic tongue into them. The words that had been taught to the seers of old; words that could be heard by the gods.
I created a game.
IV
The Great Game
“I would very much like to see these tablets” stammered Grogg. His eyes were sparkling from the moonlight snippets through the smoke. The creature fixated on Grogg only, the king of the Orphanage. and knew that it had already won the game that would be shortly proposed. Instead of showing Grogg the tablets right away, it cunningly explained the terms of the game first. “If I win the game, I will nourish myself on the flesh of the orphans. Unlike you three, the orphans descend from the disowned son of the man who survived the flood. He mocked his father and the divine union of gods and men his father helped realise. The new gods marked him and all his generations that were to follow, with black skin. A patterned threat, to those who would dare attempt to disrupt the Unification.
Now if an
y of you were to win you would, by my rules, sit closer to your god and king than any other. In your case it would be above every saint that has been or will come, and you will be allowed access to the bed of the King’s Queen forever after.”
With hardened hearts, the missionaries agreed to these terms and to the game. It then began running through the rules of the game, yet the greed of the missionaries was far greater than their concentration. Within minutes of listening, they demanded that the game commence.
The creature arched itself. Its ribcage uncoiled and exposed its heart, which had a large hole inside of it. Three rib bones curled into the hole and then reappeared with twelve tablet slabs, four hooked to each rib. It then unhooked the tablets off the ribs with its smoking hands. The ribs quickly recoiled back to their former state, while the tablets were placed onto the table. Six of the tablets were white and these were to be used by one player; the other six were black, and to be used by the other.
They began playing the game. When the black tablets were moved, they were seen to leave an oily square stain outline on the tablecloth, whereas the white tablets left no trace.
Within hours, N and the rest of the orphans, desired to know what was happening within the smoke. D, known for his trickery, brought forth his collection of sticky