Ahinta Asafo : 2

The beginning of Baaba's battles and a glimpse into the kakai world.

Later that day, the three newly accepted asafo warriors were direted to the armoury to get their weapons for an afternoon patrol. They picked out akofenas, afowatsenas and placed them in their scabbards along with their matchetes and other weapons. 

A message was broadcast across the village that a kakai gate had opened near the Kima lake. As the companies rushed towards the lake and Baaba was surprised at first to realise that she was moving just as quickly as the rest of them.'All those stamina building exercises have paid off',she smiled to herself. The pamo( banishment) weapons she wore felt weightless, compared to the training weapons she used during her asafo training.

Her smile vanished when she saw the kakai. These ones were more humanlike, only that some were completely pitch black and others bone white. They all carried afowatsenas, matchetes and plain akofenas. Even their elbows had blades. Suddenly 12 arrow length steel needles flew towards her face, forcing her to leap to her right at the last minute. Her eyes widened in shock as she realised that there were 12 of them all attacking at once!

Baaba drew out her matchetes and blocked a slash by one kakai from both sides. She slashed at it but the complete kakai dodged and thrusted an akofena at her throat, which she blocked. It exerted pressure on it's blade, its eyes expressionless. Baaba struggled to keep its blade and her own from reaching her throat.

Suddenly it released its grip and slashed upwards at her abdomen with it's steel clawed feet. Baaba leapt back, drew two arrows and released them at it. The kakai took one in the chest and turned its head to dodge the other. It then let out a barrage of its steel needles. Baaba leapt back, twirling her spear to deflect the attack and sped towards it from the right.

It attempted to block her attacks but she kept on attacking and dodging its slashes. From the corner of her eye, she observed her friends and the rest of the companies in similar one on one battles. The kakai slashed at her twice but she dodged them and finally pierced it in the shoulder with her akofena. Pamo spirals spread across it's arm and she slashed at the kakai diagonally across its chest.

The spirals spread over its entire body and it vanished, leaving behind a gust of wind that blew up the leaves on the forest floor. Seconds later,another kakai leapt at her, its slashes forcing her back as it sidestepped most of her slashes. It slashed her right arm, drawing blood. She responded with five slashes of her own as she fell back. It raised a palm to raise steel needles but she slashed at it again, causing both of its arms to be covered in pamo spirals.

She swung her machetes at its abdomen but it spun to its right and kicked against her drawn machetes, sending her backwards. It slashed at her wildly and as she slashed at it after blocking several times. As the blade arched towards it, it suddenly caught the left machete in its teeth and snapped it by biting on it!

Slightly shaken, Baaba blocked its subsequent attacks with a machete and an akofena. As it moved even closer to her, she noticed its attack pattern and sidestepped its next attack. She thrust her akofena at its chest. Pamo spirals spread from the impact point and spread to cover half its body. It stumbled back under the blows she rained down on it, till it was completely covered in pamo spirals.

As soon as it was banished, Baaba noticed a serrated spear fast approaching from her left. She dodged by rolling to her left as the spear landed on the spot she had stood at seconds ago. Baaba righted herself and spun to dodge a kakai's steel needles, her asafo batakari spreading out as she threw a spear at the kakai. Even as it got it, it clutched at the kakai as half of it was covered in pamo spirals.She let off two arrows at its retreating form, banishing it completely. 

Nearby, Twumasi stabbed a kakai and drove it into a tree with his spear, shaking off its leaves. He drew out an akorena and stabbed it in the head. There was a sizzle as the pamo spirals emerged on its skin and covered it completely. Two kakai rushed at him from the side but suddenly, took two arrows to the heads, then in the necks and another two in their backs. 

Naarkie sighed in relief that she had hit the kakai attacking Twumasi but suddenly spun backwards in time to prevent a forward slash from a kakai's akofena from beheading her.

She smashed through its blades and slashed its chest thrice, then noticed another kakai leaping towards her. Twumasi flung a spear at it, sending it back in midair. Twumasi blocked several blows from two kakai who attacked him together. He slashed at them with his machetes. Before a third kakai could move away, he slashed at it continuously, banishing it. He then rushed towards the kakai attacking in multiple directions with his spear. He stabbed one and dodged the remainder's synchronised attacks before banishing them as well, using his machetes.

Captain Afua literally walked past the kakai , slashing and banishing the kakai with a lone matchete, towards the kakai gate. A kakai rushed in from the side but without pausing , she slashed at it from head to toe, then deflected a steel needle barrage from the sides with both of her spears, before hitting the attacking kakai with them. A kakai, partially emerged from the gate and let off steel needles at her, but she deflected them and stabbed the gate with her akofena. Turning the akofena clockwise, the gates then abruptly closed.

She had awoken in darkness, not remembering what or who she was before that. What mattered was that now she existed and that she loathed the darkness around her. Even now,she heard the sound of steel claws scratching the walls of the crevice. Others like her had also awakened and were moving towards a glimmer of light above them.

Before she knew what she was doing, she was heading in that direction. Occassionally she halted and dodged stones and rocks falling which would have knocked down other kakai. The crevice was narrow, making climbing difficult. Occasionally, weaker kakai fell into the depths once more after fighting a stronger one during the climb. She did not mind stepping over fallen kakai, dragging down those about her and kicking down those beneath her.

Eventually she noticed three hollows in the crevice walls but above her a kakai drew out two matchetes from its palms and leapt at her. The two fought fiercely but Sum read her movements and slashed at it viciously, sending it hurtling down to the depths of the crevice. She reached the first hollow to face two other kakai. They watched her closely, their killing intent twice as large as her own. 

They instinctively forged blades from their bodies at the same time as she did and rushed towards her. She dodged their attacks and struck at them both. One fell instantly but the second released arrow length needles at her, hitting her in the face. She staggered towards the edge but suddenly released 10 steel needles of her own, hitting it in the neck.

Her extra eyes, wounded from the attack, grew dark and hardened. She pulled the remainder from her cheek and sat on the hollow floor ,panting heavily. She trained for a while, forcing her body to forge numerous weapons and used them on the hollow walls that night. She left a collapsed hollow behind and climbed to reach the next one.

This time, there were 6 kakai that attacked her from above, using the walls to break their fall. She attacked them using steel needles , akofenas, machetes and a serrated spear. All six fell as she reached the next one. She attacked the 6 other kakai waiting for her. Blades ripped into her side but she pressed on, blocking some of the attacks and dodged the rest.

They were more skilled than the first kakai she had faced but in the end, they also fell. She trained twice as hard as she did the first time, before setting off to the final hollow. She backed into the wall as four kakai came hurtling down, before continuing. 8 kakai glanced at her.

'Another weakling,' one of them snorted, its eyes pitch black with white pinpoints. They fought her for 3 days and three nights. On the fourth day, Sum emerged from the crevice, wounded and struggling to breathe. She was the only kakai on the surface. She had destroyed all the hollows and her eyes finally began to show white pinpoints. Her stripes faded, leaving her as black as coal and she felt herself lose consciousness, unsure of whether she would see the light again.

She was yanked back to the present by the faint sizzle in the atmosphere of a new kakai path being formed. 'Ap)' she called. A kakai with several black akofena slung over her shoulder appeared immediately. Sum drew out an akofena from her shoulder. 'A new kakai path has appeared just north of here. Use my akofena to render it active'.

'Yes, Panin Kese (Great Elder) Sum' Ap) replied.

'Listen closely', Afua warned as the Asafo sped towards a kakai gate one Monday afternoon . 'According to the 10th company, only two gates were opened along a kakai path today but the 4th company there states that a third gate just opened and that 6 kakai emerged from each gate!'

'18 kakai in all', noted Baaba as she burst through the bushes and spotted them overwhelming the 4th company. 'More will keep coming through if the gates aren't sealed in time'.

Two kakai noticed her but before they could let off their steel needles, she let off two arrows at them. As both companies began to drive them back, Baaba and Twumasi fought side by side, with Twumasi blocking long range needles with his spear.

In turn, Baaba blocked the kakai's lunges and swings at them with her akofena and machetes. She cut a path through the kakai, as she blocked their attacks.

Her movements were a series of blocks, and short as well as long range attacks. She let off a stream of arrows for kakai who were far off, and used her machetes and akofena to slash and thrust through kakai that were near her. Their intent killing intent was matched by her own desire to banish them. 

She saw their attack patterns and responded with blocks or by dodging them.Her attacks soon became impossible to block, breaking through their defenses. 

Suddenly, a kakai was in her face, its eerie looking eyes seemingly gazing at the depths of her soul. It was too close for her to raise her sword to block its attack, so she spun to her side, as it snapped at her face. She swung at it and the force of their blades upon clashing, drove them both back.

Before it could recover, she slashed it multiple times, banishing it.

A kakai swung a machete at her head but all it cut was a bit of her hair before she stabbed it in the chest with her akofena and slashed it with her machete 5, times banishing it. 

On her left,there was a blur of movement as Twumasi slashed at kakai in all directions with his machetes. He stabbed a kakai with his spear, banishing it and in one fluid movement, spun to his left and flung a spear at another kakai that fired steel needles at him. 

As he slashed five more kakai, he rushed toward the fallen kakai, snatching back his spear seconds before it was fully banished.

Upon noticing the advance of the captains and the other asafo, the remaining kakai began to fall back, but the companies began to outflank them, blocking their retreat on all sides. It wasn't long before all of them were banished.

Suddenly, Baaba noticed the telltale metal claws of a kakai, emerging from the gate. The kakai leapt from the gate and lashed out at Baaba with its claws. Baaba broke its blades with her machete after breaking its claws. After banishing it, she lunged at the gate as a kakai reared its head out of the gate. 

Baaba stabbed it with her akofena, banishing it instantly. She then tried to turn her akofena to seal the gate, but found that there was now a huge amount of strange pressure on her blade!

She could barely turn it clockwise to close the gate but gritting her teeth, she used both hands and struggled to turn it. The gate began to slide shut until it was completely closed with a loud clang. It then began to fade away. 

Panting heavily, Baaba slowly sheathed her pamo akofena into the scabbard that was slung across her back. The skies began to darken, as rain clouds appeared and rain began to descend from the heavens.

'The attack two hours ago was ....unexpected' , Ato said during a safohenfo (asafo captain) gathering. 'Not only did the gates and the kakai numbers triple in three days but more kakai attempted to come through the gates. 'We are all aware of what will happen if we encounter a breach of kakai numbering over 20'

There was a thick silence that hung in the air. 21 to 40 kakai would have to be quelled by all the companies...and even then the chances of succeeding were slim.

'According to the technical divison of asafo company 9, these gates were opened along three active kakai paths. Normally the gates open along one kakai path. The fact that there were three gates on three separate kakai paths means that the Spiral is weaker than we previously thought....and that the kakai have greater control over the creation of kakai gates from their end!'