CHAPTER SEVEN- IN ANOTHER’S DREAM.

It was not that difficult to tell the Spirit worlds apart from the human world, Uloma thought as she walked down the hall, in a building that was technically not there, as it only existed because they could all agree that it might, and they could all agree that it might be there, because they could all collectively agree that they were standing inside of it; Cosmic law 201. One thing could be said for the realm of Death: it was not dull, despite its lack of color.  The hall Uloma walked down was peppered with beings that even the imaginative humans could not begin to conceptualize. A boy waved his fire for arms at Uloma. 

“Echi, how is it going?” 

Uloma waved back at him. He roared and crackled. His communication, easily understood by every being in the realm, defied common construing and stringing of words. 

“Oh, stop you, my hair is not that shiny, and you are fishing for compliments.” 

Echi’s head of fire flickered as he roared and crackled, sending sparks into the air. Uloma laughed. 

“Okay, okay, it is true, your hair is looking particularly shiny today. Are some of your humans celebrating the festival of light?” 

Uloma asked, and Echi crackled in response, his blaze shifting from amber to light green and then to a sickly yellow. 

“It must be lucky to come from a family that has human worshippers.” 

Uloma teased. 

Echi roared and engulfed Uloma, who swiped at him, giggling. 

“Go away, please. Echi, now you are just bragging.” 

Uloma laughed. 

“See you at the hang-out later.” 

Uloma waved, and she walked away, still giggling. Speaking with Echi was one of the easiest ways to turn your soppy day around. Uloma smiled to herself, returning a nod to a twig creature. Around her, whistles, roars, crackles, whispers, and languages and dialects rebounded. Strange was what the humans would call them, Uloma, who compared everything to the human realm, thought, but this was a realm for the misfit. Death accepts every creature, and so does the realm of Death. The trouble was, as misfits go, Uloma seemed to stand out particularly well. It did not help that her mother ran this realm. 

Another day in training and learning, another day to show how glaringly different she was. She would usually be doing this walk with Ekama, but even that pleasure she was no longer privy to at the moment. She should have stayed back in her palace, she mused, but Emenike had sent a messenger bird informing her that he was aware that she skipped Emenike’s 'Mysticm class,' and more than one of the Emenikes on your case was not something she would wish on anyone. Okay, maybe on one person, she thought as the familiar dread traveled down her metaphoric spine. She felt it even before she saw her, that depressive shroud snaked its way toward Uloma. Uloma rolled her eyes in anticipated exasperation. 

“Hello, sister.” 

A sweet, tiny voice behind her said. Uloma sighed loudly and debated walking away to avoid the drama; it was too late to pretend that she had not heard Asi. Ignoring her could save her a lot of physical and mental decline, she reasoned. But everyone knows you could not ignore Asi. 

“Asiya.” 

Uloma said, turning around to Asi and her gang of minions, Teni, and Tenyi. Calling both girls a gang might sound a little excessive, but Uloma noted, not for the first time, that the word 'gang' was created specifically for these girls. Both girls made of literal clay easily towered over everyone in the beings-littered hallway. They stood on each side of Sprite. Ekama was the one who came up with the name Sprite for Asi, ages ago, and it had stuck, mainly because it suited her perfectly. Uloma gave her sprite-like sister a weary smile. 

“You look well, for a dead girl.” 

Asi said, her green clothes were shiny as usual, and shades of brown peppered the patterns drawn all over her body. The girl was the most infuriating being in all the Universes. Uloma counted the seconds for the joke Asi had made, to get through to Teni and Tenyi; she did not want their snigger and guffaw to cloud her response. 

“Oh, Sprite dearest, clamping down with your fangs, are you?” 

The innocent look Uloma contrived to keep added to the fury on Asiya’s face. The sickly green she insisted on wearing was beyond Uloma. Everything Asi did annoyed Uloma. 

“I will kill you.” 

Asiya snipped, narrowing her eyes at Uloma, which was rich, Uloma thought, because none of her sister’s powers worked on her, but leave it to Asi to never stop trying. 

“Oh, come on, Asi, we are Death or will be someday, and Death cannot kill, we are what happens after the killing is done, even you should know that.” 

Uloma smiled sweetly at her sister. Asi folded her tiny hands across her small chest and stepped towards Ulo. She was standing head to breast with Uloma. Uloma could see when the sinister glint in her eyes turned even more menacing if that was possible. She dragged her eyes across the scar on Uloma’s hand, the only thing that followed her from the human world. 

“Ah, what is that line across your hand? Who knew marks incurred when we are wearing our human body can follow us even as Spirits.” 

Asi smirked, her stare holding Uloma’s stare. 

“What are you talking about?” 

A voice behind Uloma said, echoing Uloma’s thought. Uloma would have also asked what her scar had to do with anything. 

“And here I was wondering if you had managed to lose your bodyguards like you lost everyone in your life.” 

Ekama lunged at Asi but was held back on time by Abali, who appeared as if from nowhere, Uloma noted somewhere at the back of her mind. Everyone in the hallway was openly watching them now, but Uloma did not care. Asi had no right to talk about her parents. Tenyi and Teni were Asi’s minions for a reason; they looked like they were ready to attack as well, their half-intelligent heads sending off warning grunts. Ekama had once asked if their head smoked whenever they came up with an original thought, and after a few minutes of processing this, they attempted to snap off Ekama’s head. None of them was a match for Asi, though, Uloma knew that more than anyone. Asi was her sister; she had inherited the powers that Ulo only dreamed would come to her one day, too. 

“Asi, what are you talking about?” 

Uloma’s voice was almost pleading now. It did not matter how much she thought she knew about her death; there just seemed to be something else she was not aware of, wasn’t there? Asi shrugged; her hands still crossed over her chest, unfazed. 

“Children can be possessed, right? Why else would that child trip you?” 

Uloma felt as confused as her face looked. 

“Why? Why would you play small tricks like that?” 

That feeling of dread was returning. The feeling that came that first day when she woke up at the edge of Life, near the Forest of Darkness. The same feeling that had crawled its way into her stomach when Ekama revealed her secret. 

“Well, if I must...” 

Asi started but was cut off by Ekama. 

“Ulo, let's go.” 

She warned, but that dread was just now clawing at Uloma’s chest; she had ears for only her sister. 

“Ulo, Ekama is right, let's go.” 

Abali seconded. The fact that they were both acting as if they knew something she did not did not assuage her growing dread. 

“Asiya, tell me.” 

Uloma said in a clipped voice. 

“Uloma, I said, let's go.” 

Ekama stepped in again. 

“Ulo, please.” 

Abali said, leaning very close to her ears, like that would change anything. He honestly did think she was one of his creatures, she thought angrily. 

“No, I am not going anywhere.” 

Uloma shot back angrily at both of them. 

“Ahh! You stubborn goat.” 

Ekama said as she curled her index finger in front of Uloma, a gust of wind pulled Uloma off her feet, and left her floating just above the floor level. Ekama started walking, and Uloma was spun around, protesting angrily. But she had no control over her body as she fell in step with Ekama. Fury kept her mouth sealed because she sensed that whatever was going to come out of it at that moment, directed at Ekama, would cause an even bigger rift in their friendship. 

“You, hateful stripy little sprite, come anywhere near Ulo again, and I will beat you into the next century.” 

Ekama said, pausing and turning back to face Asi. Asi narrowed her eyes at Ekama as she continued walking again. 

“Oh, be my guest, use your power on me, try me.” 

Ekama called angrily over her shoulder. 

“Whatever, bye, baby sis.” 

Asi shouted after them, laughing in that sickly-sweet, evil laugh that Uloma hated so much. 

~ 

Uloma knew where they were headed without even asking; they materialized in a field of corn. Row and rows of browning, dying corn stalks, that never bore any new corn, to be precise. But it was Ekama’s favorite place to hang out. It was not the real Field of Hunger, though it was reminiscent of the real thing, a depiction of human hunger; the creatures in this realm generally avoided it. Even Uloma, with her love of the humans, found this field a little off taste, but Ekama could roam free here. It was the only place on the campus she could completely engulf with her powers. Here, she could cover the grey sky over the field, with dark and even greyer clouds, and her rippling breeze could roam freely over the leaves of the browning stalks. 

“Put me down.” 

Uloma said in what sounded like a growl. Ekama looked sorry; it was helpful, mainly because it was her look that was keeping Uloma from swallowing Ekama whole. 

“Talk.” 

Uloma encouraged both her friends, but even the nonexistent ears of the corn could hear the threat in her voice. 

“You are an idiot, you know?” 

Ekama sniffed. 

“A big fat cow. You hear me? You never listen, even when it's for your own good. What sort of a goat are you?” 

Ekama shot at Ulo. So much for looking sorry, Uloma thought angrily. 

“Who asked for your help?” 

Uloma shot back, her hand across her chest like her sister’s had been. 

“Repeat what you just said, and I will give you the beating that I was saving for your sister.” 

Ekama raised her open palm to Uloma’s face, her breathing ragged. Both girls sized each other up for what seemed like ages, neither conceding to the other. Stubbornness was a unifying force that was obvious. 

“Are you just going to stand there saying nothing?” 

Uloma turned on Abali when it became clear that neither of them was going to give in first. Abali shook his bald head and made to open his mouth to defend himself, but was interrupted by both girls. 

“Then go away!” 

They both yelled at him. He shook his head warily at both of them again and vanished. They both awkwardly watched the space where he had disappeared from, like they had not expected him to leave. How useless, he was always the peacemaker or the fire diffuser, how dare he abandon them now? He was a traitor, Ulo decided as she walked over and sat on one of the ant hills behind her, Ekama angled over awkwardly as if she still hadn’t decided how much of her anger to let go of, and sat herself beside Ulo. They sat there in an awkward silence for what felt to them like an eternity, both looking holes into the space directly in front of them. 

“Did you truly believe that I betrayed you?” 

Ekama finally asked, interrupting their silence. Uloma regarded her friend for a second, watching her grey eyes, which were electric with current at the moment. Uloma could see when she looked closer how those pupils whirled as if they were not aware that pupils were not supposed to do that. She smiled at Ekama and shook her head. 

“No.” 

She said.  

“Not for a second. I just needed someone to be angry at. By the second day, I could already see how silly it was to have even imagined that you could betray me.” 

Uloma grinned tersely at her friend. 

“I am still mad, though. I know that there was no way to warn me, but I also know how logical you are, so I know you wouldn’t have tried.” 

Ulo wanted to keep the hurt out of her voice, but she was doing a poor job of it. 

“You should have tried Kams.” 

Ulo said her testy smile was back, but Ekama could see how shaky it was. Ekama’s wind whirled around them in response, threatening the corns. 

“I am so sorry, Ulo.” 

Ekama volunteered, returning the smile, but the whirl in her eyes had no smile in them. 

“For what exactly?” 

Uloma asked. She knew her friend, practical as ever, would not think that she should apologize for not trying to warn Uloma. Humans had a problem receiving messages from other beings. They were generally too invested in their selves to see past their noses. There were a few who were sensitive, but those were adept at signs and omens, more than anything. There were exceptions, of course. Rare exceptions. Uloma’s human form hadn’t been one of those rare exceptions. 

“For everything, Ulo.” 

Uloma nodded her understanding because she did understand. 

“Me too.” 

Uloma said, smiling sadly back at Ekama. Just like that, they were back. Everything was great again, even Ekama’s wind was subsiding and becoming her usual playful breeze. 

“I would say you are like a sister to me, but at the moment, Asiya has left a bad taste in my mouth.” 

Ekama said, and both girls started to chuckle, which turned easily into laughter. Uloma noted how good it felt to laugh genuinely again with her friend; their laughter helped to dissipate any lingering awkwardness. 

“Your sister is something, though.” 

Ekama said between laughter. 

“I know. How did she manage the possession of another being?” 

Abali said out of nowhere, his crows crowding him. 

“When did you get here?” 

Uloma asked him, surprised. 

“Just now. But forget that one. How is your sister so em...?” 

Abali started but stopped himself in time, before he said something that would have either girl, or worse, both girls, turning on him again. 

“Cool? Evil, but yet cool?” 

Ekama helped him. Evil was not a word they ascribed to in their realm, but they had all three agreed a while back that, for Asiya, they could make an exception.  

“It's annoying. It makes me hate her even more.” 

Uloma sighed. 

“Yes, I see why, I mean, Ulo, your whole family is cool, well, your whole family except for you.” 

Ekama said and floated away from Uloma before Uloma could get a proper hold of her. 

“Come back here now!” 

Uloma yelled after her. 

“Mhmmhm. If you want to catch me, float after me.” 

Ekama taunted. 

“Kams, you are just as evil as my sister.” 

Ulo yelled. 

“Can’t hear you from wayyyyyy up here. Sorry, oh.” 

Uloma gave her friend’s disappearing, floating back the stink eye, just like Asiya would. One day, she would float like Kams and fly like Abali, just like Asi. When that day comes when she finally has her powers, her first act would be to kill all of them. This thought brought a happy grin to her face. 

“Stop dreaming, Death does not kill, it is what happens to people after they are killed.” 

Ekama’s voice echoed all around Ulo, carried in the breeze surrounding them. She was laughing so hard that her echoing laughter bounced through the rustling leaves. 

“Shut up.” 

Uloma yelled into the air. 

“Still can’t hear you.” 

Ekama’s voice came back to them. She was laughing hard, and so was Abali, so Uloma closed her eyes and plotted their death. 

~ 

I know I have taught you better than to plot your own sister’s death and the death of your friends.” 

“Mother.” 

Uloma breathed in confusion. How was her mother here? 

“Why do you always come to this place?” 

Enwu asked her daughter, gesturing with her elegant, heavily beaded hand to the dark grove of trees, each branch stretched out to blanket the other, as if at war with any light defiant enough to filter through. Uloma did not have to look around to know where here was. She could smell the sour sweetness that always brought her comfort. Ekama had her corn field on their campus, and Uloma had this place. 

“Mother, I told you before, I like it here, and I don’t know why.” 

Uloma said, her eyes drinking her mother whole. She was trying to be calm and collected, but everything inside her was giddy; her mother always had that effect on her. It did not matter how succinct a course of action she had; it all went away in the presence of her all-encompassing mother. 

“Well, it's not safe. So, it should not feel too comfortable.” 

Her mother’s rich voice scolded, her eyes unafraid to show disapproval, giving off a heavy sense of disapproval. 

“Mother, we are in the realm of Death; nothing here is truly safe. And the most dangerous thing in this place, Mother, is the dying odaras.” 

Uloma sighed, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. 

“Don’t sass your mother, Uloma, daughter of All that Ends. Come here.” 

Her mother commanded. Uloma found herself gravitating towards the giant, chubby woman with the threaded hair designed to draw attention. She couldn't help it; it was Mother, after all. 

“What is going on, Mother? I was just with Abali and Ekama.” 

Uloma asked as she stood before the intimidating, herb-scented woman. 

“The friends whose death you were plotting?” 

Her mother asked with raised eyebrows, and she clicked her tongue, making a throaty, disagreeing sound at her daughter. 

“I did not mean it, mother, you know that. Deaths cannot kill even if I wanted to kill them.” 

Uloma pointed out. Her friends sometimes deserve to go extinct. 

“But you can.” 

Her mother said with a look that sent more confusion into Uloma’s already confused mind. What did she mean? Everyone knew that, as intimidating as DEATH, her mother was, she could not take away or give life, and neither could her other, smaller realizations, her daughters.   

“What do you mean?” 

She asked her imposing mother, with skin darker than starless nights, and whose eyes were so dark and piercing that they were an abyss to look into. There were no wrinkles on her ageless face, even though a look at her and you knew that here was a creature time ran alongside. She smiled her disarming smile at Uloma, and everything in all the universes suddenly had meaning; Uloma suddenly had a meaning. Uloma sighed, mother’s effect. 

“Oh, enough questions, I dropped in to check on me, little girl.” 

Her rich voice bustled, her face a thousand suns. 

“Mother, I am not little anymore, please answer my questions.” 

Years of similar encounters gave Uloma a little chance at resistance. 

“Shush.” 

Her mother said, slapping her lightly on the cheek. 

“Look how thin you have become. Are the servants not feeding you? I will have to have a word with them.” 

Enwu cooed, turning her daughter’s face from left to right in her chubby palms for inspection. 

“Mummy, you are not listening to me.” 

Uloma whined. Her mother was a whirlwind; she came once in a blue moon, swept Uloma off her feet, and vanished again into her busy world of responsibilities. It has always been this way. And Uloma was swept along every time; she could not help herself. She lived for these meetings, the chance to be held or even regarded by her mother. 

“I am. I am. Come here, hug your mother. I have missed my girls.” 

Uloma sighed as her mother literally and figuratively enveloped her. Her mother’s soft skin acted as a pillow to Uloma’s exhausted soul. Enwu held her daughter for longer than usual, while Uloma tried to hold back the tears from all the pain that had been her life lately. How could one person feel so much like a balm? 

“Come sit.” 

Enwu said, pulling her daughter to her side as if she would never dream of ever letting her go again, but Uloma knew better. Enwu gingerly waved her hand, and two stools materialized in front of them. Both stools looked finely crafted, like their owner.  

“Mother, you still carry your stools around?” 

Uloma asked, smiling. Her mother shrugged and pulled her daughter down on the small stool. She sat her near-giant self on the larger stool. Enwu scooted while still sitting on it until she was directly behind Uloma, which was such an ordinary thing to do for a creature like Enwu that Uloma felt herself smiling sadly; these were ordinary things she never got to see her mother do. 

“But mother, how did I get here?” 

Uloma insisted, turning around to peer up at her mother as if suddenly remembering again. 

“How would I know? This is your dream.” 

Enwu said, gently turning her daughter’s head around to face forward, and resting it on her grey-wrapper-covered left lap, in one swift move. 

“How have you been, baby?” 

Her mother asked, changing the subject. Trust Enwu to dodge her questions, Uloma thought somewhere at the back of her contented mind. She had wanted to tell her mother how she had been doing, but now, in her mother's presence, she was unsure. Had she been so sad? 

“Well, I was with my friends one second, and then I am here. I don’t even remember going to sleep, mother.” 

Uloma sighed contentedly and snuggled into her mother’s chubby knee. Her chin enjoyed the cushiony feel of her mother's herb-scented skin. She sighed again. To be in her mother’s arms forever, where nothing can hurt her. 

“You will understand when you wake up.  Look at the state of your hair.” 

Enwu fussed, combing her hand through her daughter’s hair. 

“A good braid will keep for a time.” 

A wooden comb was being gently run through Uloma’s hair. Where had the comb come from? Uloma wondered vaguely, her mind unable to focus on anything. 

“Mother, I have questions.” 

Uloma whispered sleepily. 

“Ulo, I am not quite a god, and yet I exist on the same plane as them. The difference in chasm between me and them gaped so wide that it was a hole in my existence. I envied those obnoxious beings and their capacity to procreate. But where I went, the end came, and I could never make a new life. And then something changed, and you came along, Ulo. You are the greatest thing about my existence, and I would give it all up for you, in a heartbeat, if it would not mean the end of the universe as we know it. You understand that, right?” 

“Asi came before me, mother. “ 

Uloma reminded her mother sleepily. 

“Asi and all your sisters would exist whether I tried or not. The universe makes younger Cosmics and gods, so that the circle is balanced. You are my blood, would have been my blood, if I had any. You were not born of me, like your sisters, but by me. Now go to your friends, my beautiful girl. Time should be starting back up right about now.”