Night had fallen at the oasis. While the others slept, I wandered to the moonlit pool, too restless to find sleep with tomorrow's battle looming. I knelt at the water's edge. Across the camp, Jabari's low voice rumbled in a hopeful story to lift spirits. Amina lingered nearby, her watchful eyes on me. Before sleeping, Nkiru had warned that this night the darkness was thick with memories. I felt it too – an uneasy weight in the air.
I gazed at my reflection in the still pool. "Ancestors, guide me," I whispered. Only silence answered. My own eyes in the water were full of doubt. I shut them, fighting the gnawing fear.
A sudden hush fell over the oasis; the night insects and breeze went silent. I opened my eyes to see the pool turning black as ink. A faint light glowed within its depths, rising and coalescing into the shape of a man standing on the water.
A broad-shouldered man in ancient robes stood glowing before me. I knew that stern face from our lore: Obasi Dike, the first Guardian of my bloodline.
His eyes glowed softly. "Obasi Mensah," he greeted in a deep echoing voice. I bowed reverently, my heart pounding. He lifted his staff and pointed to the dark water. "Witness the truth hidden from you," he intoned.
The pool shimmered and scenes appeared: a brilliant star fell from the heavens long ago, shattering into a glowing crystal. Our ancestors thrived under its blessing. But as the crystal's light began to wane, a great shadow – Nyos – came from the sky to claim it. My ancestor stood against him. "I did what I had to," he replied heavily, voice tinged with regret. I watched Obasi Dike, desperation on his face, hand over the fading crystal to Nyos's grasping darkness. "I bargained away the star's light in exchange for our lives," he confessed.
In the vision, Nyos roared in triumph as he took the star's power. But then my ancestor thrust his staff down; golden light flared and a rift yawned behind Nyos. With a final push of will, Obasi Dike forced the monster back through that tear in reality and sealed it shut. Nyos was banished – but at the cost of the star.
The images faded and the pool turned still. My heart pounded. The proud legend I knew had transformed into a story of desperate sacrifice.
"You... you gave away the star's light?" I whispered, aghast. The truth was shattering.
The spirit's voice gentled. "When the star was gone, only a sliver of its essence remained – bound to my blood by the mercy of the Earth. That spark of light became the power passed down to you, the gift that has sustained the seal on Nyos through the generations."
I felt as if the ground had opened beneath me. Everything I thought I knew about my family's triumph was shattered.
"You carry the last light of the star within you," he intoned. "Nyos comes to claim it and shatter the seal forever. To stop him, you may have to do what I could not."
He fixed me with a sorrowful gaze. "Nyos will come for the light within you. If he takes it during the eclipse, all will be lost. To prevent that, you may have to destroy that light yourself... even if it means your own life."
The weight of his words stole my breath. Sacrifice my own life-force? My blood turned cold.
The first pale glow of dawn crept into the sky. The ancestor's form began to waver. "I'm sorry to lay this upon you," he said softly as he faded from sight. "The choice will be yours."
As the spirit vanished, the night sounds rushed back in – the rustle of palm fronds, a distant birdcall. I remained kneeling by the pool, stunned. My knees finally buckled and I sank onto the damp sand. Everything felt impossibly heavy.
In a short while, my companions would wake expecting their confident guardian. How could I face them with this secret? How could I tell Amina and Jabari that to save them, I might have to give up my life?
Golden light began to edge the horizon. I looked toward that coming dawn and felt no comfort – only the crushing weight of the truth I now carried alone. For the first time in my life, I felt truly small beneath the sky – like a single mote caught between the forces of light and dark, being slowly crushed by their weight.