Ahinta Asafo 3

One bright and sunny day, the technical division of the 9th asafo company were hard at work, checking sensor readings linked to kakai paths and relaying messages between the various asafo companies on patrol.

Suddenly, a loud ringing sound resonated throughout the room. Ofosu checked the sensors with the rest of the division. 'Four kakai gates just opened on the north, south, east and west points of the forest and...sir...I'm not sure how to say this..but..'

'Then, just say it'

'The gates that were opened were sealed by the captains last two weeks!'

'Impossible' Ato thought. 'Once a kakai gate is sealed, it cannot be opened again. That has been confirmed over and over again for over three years.' . 'Inform the asafo of this immediately, Ofosu. Tell them...'

'Sir, the reopening of the kakai gate seems to have created some interference in our communications! Also, one of the kakai seems to be heading this way...alone!

In the eastern part of the forest, a kakai in a blue battledress rushed toward the asafo that faced it. With astonishing speed and strength, it mercilessly slashed several asafo. Their broken ndar(machetes) and akofenas clattered noisily on the forest floor. An asafo lunged at it but the kakai's adar(machete) slashed through her weapons and at the end of the swing slashed her chest.

The asafo fell back but ten more asafo advanced in her place. They only saw a blur of blades before they too collapsed on the village floor next to their fallen comrade.

'This isn't right!', thought Twumasi as he watched the kakai slash several of his fellow asafo. 'One kakai came through the gate but its taken down a dozen asafo and we've not been able to slash it, not even once!'

He struggled to steady his heartbeat but just then the kakai glared at him with immense killing intent. Five arrow length steel needles erupted from its fingertips and flew towards him but seconds later , Asafo Captain Ntim swung his machetes to block its attack. However they tore through his machetes and continued their lethal path toward the boy!

Twumasi did not know whether it was the impact of the machetes that slowed them down or the force behind his swing, but somehow he managed to avoid a direct hit as their serrated edges scratched his knee, shoulder and right cheek before they struck a tree behind him.

Ntim did not have time to wonder why his machetes had broken upon impact with the needles as the kakai lunged at him with its afowatsen. He leapt back to avoid the blow whilst unsheating his own afowatsen. Their blades clashed several times with such force that sparks rained down on the forest floor.

The kakai easily pushed against Ntim and swung at him again and again. He fought back fiercely , returning blow after blow from his foe, but it kept forcing him backwards. It swung downwards at his head viciously, slashing his straw hat and striking steel as the asafo blocked the blow that would have struck his head.

It then drew out a serrated spear from its left shoulder blade and swung and spun it at Ntim as he nimbly dodged its serrated edges. He blocked its lethal spins, then swung at it with such force that the spear was knocked out of its grasp. It bent back to avoid a slash from Ntim , drew out two pitch black machetes from its elbows and attacked him from both sides.

Ntim did his best to block these dual attacks but then his afowatsen was knocked out of his grasp and his battledress was slashed all the way through to his chest with both machetes .Ntim fell to the ground with a dull thud. The kakai stood over the captain, its bloodstained machetes raised to deliver the killing blow but it leapt backwards as five arrows flew towards it.

Twumasi fired more arrows at the kakai which it dodged as it raced towards him. Ntim rolled to his left and picked up the fallen afowatsen before lunging at the kakai. The kakai noticed this and rolled to its left, avoiding Twumasi’s arrows and Ntim’s afowatsen. As it peeled away, it let off 10 needles, five of which hit Twumasi and the remainder got the silver-haired captain. The kakai’s eyes widened in shock as the duo continued their advance toward it. Both of them swung at the kakai with their weapons but it blocked them with its own weapons.

They both forced it back but it then began to counterattack, forcing both of them back as they struggled to block its quick strikes,before fighting back. They made a sudden lunge at it from both sides in a synchronized attack and slashed its left arm. A tiny pamo mark appeared on its left arm. It suddenly struck at the two asafo, wounding them in the shoulders.

As they leapt back, Twumasi wondered how long the two of them could take it on before their injuries began to slow them down.

In the west, a kakai clad in a mauve battledress sidestepped Naarkie’s arrows and blocked a dual machete strike from Vuvor from the side. Several asafo were strewn across the forest floor, steel needles piercing their sides and limbs glinted in the morning sun. It pushed Vuvor back next to a tree, caught two of Naarkie’s arrows between its teeth and a third in its fingertips.


‘Such slow attacks’ ,it mused before flinging the arrows at lightning speed into Naarkie’s right shoulder!’. Vuvor swung her dual afowanta (sword like machetes) at the kakai but it raised its left leg and stopped the swing with its clawed feet!
t spun in midair and swung the other foot at Vuvor but she blocked the blow with her machetes. However the force behind the blow was too great and she was sent flying back. She thrust her spear into the ground, halting her flight. She noticed the large claw marks that were engraved on her machetes and as soon as her feet touched the ground, she let off three arrows at the kakai.

The kakai slashed two of the arrows in midair but the third arrow hit her in the knee which prevented it from slashing Naarkie. It let off five steel needles at Vuvor which she attempted to block by twirling her spear. The needles tore through her spear and struck her in the side! She stumbled backwards, breathing heavily but still managed to doge a spear aimed at her head.

Naarkie struggled to rise but her wounds made it difficult. She drew out her spear to pull herself up. She walked past her broken machetes and akofenas, her breathing ragged. She let off five arrows at the kakai but these were thrown back at her as well as a serrated staff. She rolled to the side to dodge them approached the kakai from the side and thrusted the spear at its chest.

It caught it with its left hand, wrenched it from her grip and knocked her away with it. It drew back its arm to throw it at her when Vuvor gripped it , wrenched it from its grasp and slashed both of its arms with the weapon. Needles shot out from its arms but her akofena slashed them and slashed her face.

A pamo spiral spread across its left cheek as it slashed the spear into half and let off several steel needles, forcing Vuvor to dodge to her right and dodge several swings of the kakai’s machetes. ‘Her attacks pattern is hard to determine’ Vuvor observed. ‘She glanced at a very worn out Naarkie. ‘The child only has a few strikes left and communications are scrambled so calling for reinforcements is not an option anymore’. ‘I have to find a way to end this soon and help the others’. She rushed at the kakai at the same time as it did. The clang of their blades rang throughout the forest.

Danso’s company and three others heard the clash. ‘Even the western sector of the forest is under attack’ Danso noted as he crossed blades with a kakai in an indigo battledress. It tried to hit him again and again with its twin spears as Danso dodged and parried its attacks. With a vicious swing, it struck Danso’s machetes with enough force to send him skidding backwards. He used his spear to stop this movement but just then, the kakai lunged at him.

Its blades glinted in the afternoon sun as they began to descend upon him. He stepped back quickly to avoid it from slashing him from head to toe and escaped with a torn straw hat and a scratched forehead. Captain Kuukua leapt towards the kakai and swung her machetes at it but it blocked this attack with its own ebony black machetes. It nearly forced Kuukua back but by then, she had already released her grip and was attackingfrom the left with a low sweep of the blade as she bent forwards .

he nearly took a direct kick in the head as she raised a machete to block the kakai’s attack seconds before its claws impacted on the machete. It nearly brought the machete to her head and sent her spiraling theogh the air. Halfway through trying to balance herself, Danso lightly stepped on her shoulder and let off three different arrows at the kakai.

The kakai dodged and struck at Danso who defended himself with his bow, as he was out of arrows. He blocked a swing of the machete from the right with it and drew out his machetes. He swung his machete at it but it sidestepped him and slashed his back. Grunting in pain, he spun around to thrust it with his spear. However his spear thrusts were dodged by the kakai which sliced through it with its own serrated spear.

With two quick swings , it slashed him with his machetes and sent him hurtling into a tree. Slightly dazed, his eyes widened in shock as the kakai threw a spear at him….which was deflected by Kuukua’s spear. She attacked the kakai with her spear as it leapt back continuously to avoid her attacks. Danso struggled to rise, staggering when he finally did so.

He could not believe his eyes when the kakai slashed the asafo captain thrice, driving her back as she struggled to stay on her feet. The kakai watched the two asafo warily , its chest partially covered in pamo spiral marks and its eyes glinting in the afternoon sun.

Baaba and the kakai faced each other silently, even as scores of wounded asafo lay on the ground around them. It wondered how she was still alive but when she assumed a fighting stance, it was surprisingly familiar to that of their Panin Kese, Sum (Darkness)! Baaba sped towards it and swung her akofena at its neck, before it could even think of blocking. Enraged, it swung it's serrated spear at her, as it pivoted to the left, the akofena's blade missing it by inches.

Baaba dodged the swings with ease, rolling to her left as several steel needles burst forth from it's hands. She spun her spear deflecting the needles away from her fallen colleagues and back towards the kakai who sliced them to bits with it's claws. At that very moment, Baaba let off three arrows from her bow which the kakai slashed as well as it lunged at her.

Baaba swung her akofena at its approaching form, at the same moment as it drew out two akofena from it's palms and struck at her, forcing her backwards. It slid across the ground, its blades swinging at her feet. Even as Baaba spun away to her left in mid-air, with her akofena striking that of the kakai, her weapon begann to develop noticeable cracks.
'Two or three hits might weaken it further' thought Baaba. 'I need to end this quickly'.

The moment she landed, the kakai let loose a barrage of steel needles, unlike anything Baaba had ever seen. She spun away, even as her spinning spear snapped under the attack. The needles whizzed past her as she drew out weapon after weapon to protect her vital organs. The deflected needles struck the earth, raising dust and turning young trees into wet sawdust.

Panting heavily, the kakai was shocked when the Baaba leapt through through the dust cloud, her arms and legs bleeding, with an afena raised and aimed at its chest. At her speed, even if the kakai killed her then, the momentum would carry her forward. No matter what it did, Baaba would plunge the afena through its chest and banish her instantly.

Kuukua stumbled backwards and struck the ground with her weapon, keeping her balanced. She took a deep breath and exhaled even as the kakai lunged at her and at the last moment, moved her shoulder in the path of the blade. Her spear pierced the kakai's chest at the same time its akofena pierced her right shoulder, banishing it completely.

Vuvor pushed against the kakai seconds after their blades clashed, sending it sprawling. Before it could act, she slashed it repeatedly, ignoring the desperate slashes it made on her abdomen until it was banished.

Ntim swung at the kakai with both afowatsen from the kakai's right whilst Twumasi swung from the left. The kakai blocked the attacks easily. Then Twumasi slid across the forest floor, his weapon arcing toward the kakai's feet. It leapt backwards, away from Twumasi but Ntim had already leapt to its right, with both afowatsens arcing toward its neck. Ntim landed before the kakai was banished in midair, generating a burst of wind.

Twumasi's radio crackled twice, "Kakai...at...technical...division". 'This was a diversion' Twumasi realised. 'Supi Ntim (turns out Supi is captain, and Tufohen is the general of the combined asafo companies) 'we need to go back.'

7 kakai advanced toward Ato, letting off steel needles at the asafo's devices, their weapons and buildings. 'Destroy everything else', ordered Bu, a kakai panin. 'Seize Ato, he will help us with the invasion'. 5 asafo smashed through Ato's equipment and lunged for him. Ato blocked several needles and deflected the rest away from his staff. The doors began to close as lockdown procedures were implemented and he faced the five alone.

One snapped his akofena like a twig but he stabbed it with the stump, banishing it. Two kakai attacked him simultaneously but he blocked their attacks with one afena. He swung from left to right, keeping them away from his blindspots. He snapped one's afena with one swing that caused the blade to move upwards, slashing the wielder and blocked an attack from behind with his blade. He swung quickly, scratching the kakai as it moved away from him in fear.

He lunged at it from below before it could react, slashing across its abdomen from the right side. Even as it was banished, the last two let off their steel needles forcing him to dodge expertly as the projectiles tore through everything else in the room. He spun himself into a corner, and a large kakai swung a large akuma (axe) at his head. Suddenly Vuvor burst through the glass windows of the room, lightly landed on the axe head before it could complete its swing and slashed its head.

The fourth kakai made for the window but a sandaled foot knocked it backwards. The Tufohen landed on the kakai and stabbed it once, banishing it. Bu and the other kakai headed for the breaches that brought them to the forest but Asabea slashed at the other kakai. Bu shoved the wounded kakai into Asabea and swung her sword to impale them both, but Baaba threw a spear and snapped the blade like a twig and struck the earth beside her.

Baaba drew out her bow and arrows and hit Bu in the chest five times, each arrow inches away from the other. The breaches suddenly closed even as Ato and Vuvor depressed a switch on their key holders. 'Your calculations were correct, Vuvor. It's almost ready.

Why were the kakai after you?' Twumasi asked.

'They thought I could help them invade Earth without waiting for the Spiral to grind to a halt" 'It wouldn't have done them any good though'. They would have needed Vuvor as well'


That night, the hospital beds were full of the wounded. Baaba found it hard to rest, particularly since her friends were as badly injured as she was. In the Big Hut, next to the hospital, Ato gave his report, 'At approximately 2pm today, 10 kakai opened sealed breaches, 3 began taking offensive action and 7 of them began looking for our weapons, our breach sensors, and composition of our companies.

'I thought you told us that when a breach is sealed, it could never be opened.' Asabea growled.

'That happened because the Spiral between our worlds is growing weaker by the second and not by the day, as we once thought. In time, sealing a breach will be impossible. If we don't act now, all the kakai will enter our world without setting off our sensors. The fact that their entry caused interference with our communications foreshadows this. Once the Spiral stops moving, our world will end.' noted Vuvor.

'That's the bad news' said Ato. The good news is that, the 'Final Project has been completed". We'll simply have to finish all our preparations in three days.

My asafo company has created a temporary lock , which was why the breaches earlier today closed suddenly. It will hold only for three days and will bar all access to the human world by kakai. Three days to forge new and stronger weapons to replace the ones damaged, complete advanced weapons training for the advance and rear guard. In three days, we will venture into the kakai world.