His Ramblings:Broken Reflections

They stopped in front of a huge door, and Josh could hear the water running from outside. He assumed they were outside bathing chambers, surprised as to why they had stopped at such a location. He turned to look at the young woman who refused to share her name with him, with a questioning gaze.

She looked back at him and asked, "Why are you looking at me in such a manner? If you have a question, ask. I cannot read minds." A hint of annoyance leaked through her voice. Subconsciously rolling his eyes, Josh remained quiet, waiting for everything to play out.

Soon, two female servants came out of the room and bowed deeply in front of them. One was old, and the other young, both with a deep resemblance to one another. The older one spoke in their native tongue. Josh stood watching the young woman speak, or to be more precise, address the servants. After she was done, the servants nodded, and one gestured for him to follow.

He looked over at the young woman, seeking confirmation, and she gave him a subtle nod before adding, "After they are done, they will bring you to me." With that, she turned around and left. He watched her walk away for a brief moment before turning around to follow the two servants inside.

Inside, it was as he had predicted: a huge pool of steaming water lay at the center of the room. But instead of it being a room, it was much more appropriate to call the place a cavern. The rocky walls were wet from the steam, and above, where there was supposed to be a ceiling, were twisted roots that connected at the center.

Besides the pool were baskets of spices, herbs, and some other substances he did not know. Besides them was a small, three-legged pot, which was sealed, so he could not make out what was inside.

"Sir, can you please take off your clothes and step inside the pool?" Having been raised in a noble house, he was used to being bathed by servants. In no time, he was butt naked and inside the pool.

The water inside the pool was refreshing. He found himself having dropped all his guard down as the water calmed his raging thoughts, coupled with the servants' touch. The experience could only be described with one word: rejuvenating.

And unbeknownst to him, the servants kept on adding all the stuff in the baskets, and soon they opened the little pot. Suddenly, the air became heavy with the metallic tang of blood, causing Josh to snap open his eyes and lock eyes with the older servant, who held the pot in hand.

"What is that?" The maid ignored his question and proceeded to pour the contents of the pot inside the pool. He watched as the servant poured what appeared to be blood inside the pool, and right after, he began losing consciousness. The world became darker and darker until his eyes shut.

"Ngwana wedu, ufikile ekhaya," a voice called out from a distance, and he could hear loud chanting. He opened his eyes slowly. Even though his vision was still blurry, he could see that this was not where he was just moments ago. He seemed to be in a forest, and not far from him, a man sat leaning on a tree.

He patiently waited for his vision to adjust properly, and by the time it did, he had already deduced that this was some type of spell conjured by the pool.

Shockingly enough, the man leaning on the tree was of the same race as the people he had just met, but strangely, he was dressed in an old-fashioned trend that the high nobility, like his father, liked so much. Tailcoats with cutaway fronts and tails, formal trousers with a high waistline, and a white dress shirt with a top hat and white gloves.

The man stared at him with a pained expression in his dark brown eyes before eventually sighing and calling him over: "Approach, kid. I do not bite... unprovoked, that is." The man's voice was husky, and he spotted a neat gray beard with a nose piercing.

Putting his fears aside, Josh approached the man and sat down beside him. "You seem tired. I'm guessing life has not been treating you good, huh, kid?" Josh was not expecting the man to start off a conversation in such a manner. He found himself nodding on the brink of shedding tears.

The question, although asked in such a straightforward manner, affected him deeply, since he had never been asked such a question by anyone ever since his mother died. Tears began flowing down his face uncontrollably, and when he tried to wipe them off, the man stopped him.

"Let those tears fall, boy. To be a man, one has to understand the importance of being vulnerable. Cry your eyes out; there's no one to judge you here. Let the burdens of your soul flow away with your tears." Upon hearing those words, Josh stopped holding back his tears and cried earnestly. The man took out a cigarette case and took one out and started smoking.

By the time his cigarette went out, Josh had stopped crying, and now sat staring ahead with an empty gaze. The gentle breeze of the forest seemingly calmed his head.

"I am called Sipho, which translates to Gift in High-Borne. I believe you want to know how you ended up here when you should have died at sea?" Josh nodded, his arrival at this foreign land had been bothering him, and the fact that the captain and the rest of the crew died because of his selfish ambition to pursue unattainable strength.

"Yes, I would like to know?" he answered. Sipho took out another cigarette and lit it before continuing the conversation.

"Well, you see, kid, the seas and our people have a long history of friendship." Josh turned to him, fascinated, and asked, "Friendship?"

"Yes, the relationship between the Mesa and the sea is very deep. Long ago, one of our ancestors made a deal with the sea spirit Badu Larohua to protect and hide our people from the High-bloods after a terrible war broke out, and for ages since, the sea has been our companion and protector. A Mesa cannot die at sea, and for every lost one, the sea guides them back home."

Seeing the confusion on Josh's face, Sipho added, "I'm not here to give you a history lesson, kid, but instead, I'm here to guide you. Born of two opposing bloodlines, you are very special, kid. This place here is the ancestral plane, and I am your assigned guardian to help you navigate the road ahead while uncovering some ancient mysteries along the way."

"My words are confusing, but do not forget them, Joshua. When you return, tell them these three words: Ngi yamkeliwe ekhaya." Sipho stood up and threw away the cigarette he had and began walking away. Only to stop a few feet away and turn back, "See you soon, kid."

With that, he continued walking away, and with every step he took, Josh's eyes became heavier until it was all black again.

...

Josh opened his eyes to find himself in a different room than the one he was in. This room was enormous, with a white ceiling and a huge golden chandelier. It had black and gold walls. Josh tried to stand, and a gentle hand pushed him back down. The young maid came into view and politely smiled at him.

"I have to check your condition before you can get up, sir." With that, she placed a hand on his temple and chest, and she closed her eyes. He felt a gentle wave internally, as if a soft breeze was passing inside his body. Within a short amount of time, she opened her eyes and gave a smile to Josh.

"Alright, you are good to go. Come on, follow me." She moved towards the door, and he followed behind her. They had dressed him while he was still unconscious, but Josh did not mind that one bit.

He walked slowly behind her, trying to evaluate everything that had happened to him so far. With every step he took, Sipho's words kept ringing inside his head: "Ngi yamkeliwe ekhaya." Those words, which he could not even understand, kept his mind busy.

He followed the servant through the long hallways and up the gigantic stairway until they reached a giant door at the end of a certain hallway. Two male servants stood outside, looking fierce.

They stopped in front of the gates, and the maid spoke to them in their tongue. Josh noticed that they stopped and only saw the guards nod and move to open the huge door for them, or for him, as the servant bowed and left him alone.

As the massive stone doors creaked open, Josh stepped through the threshold, his eyes adjusting to the warm, golden light that spilled from the room. The air was thick with the scent of papyrus, myrrh, and sandalwood, transporting him to a realm of ancient wisdom.

Before him lay a grand, sturdy desk, its walls lined with towering shelves crafted from polished cedar. The shelves groaned under the weight of countless scrolls, their yellowed papyrus leaves adorned with intricate hieroglyphs that seemed to dance in the flickering torchlight.

At the room's center stood a majestic, ebony-wood desk, its surface inlaid with a mosaic of lapis lazuli, carnelian, and turquoise. Behind the desk, on a stately throne-like chair, sat the man he had met earlier at the garden, and beside him stood the young woman who had brought him to the palace. There was also someone else - a young man with short hair similar to his, and an eye patch covering his eye. The clothes he wore were of a much darker tone than the rest of the people he had met, but the design was still the same.

While Josh was busy studying him, it seemed as though he too was studying Josh in return. The door closed behind him, and the young woman walked over to him and bowed before him. Josh, not knowing how to react, bowed in return.

The young woman smiled a bit and turned to face the two men opposite them and began introducing them to Josh. "Joshua, you have already met the leader of our island village, Chief Bheki. He is the one who oversees this whole village and its people, and beside him is his right-hand man and trusted advisor, Siyabonga, and I am Princess Larona."

She introduced the chief and his advisor to him, and Josh bowed deeply and introduced himself. "Greetings, Your Majesty. My name is Joshua Belling, and I hail from the Unified States. My arrival here was purely accidental. The ship I was traveling in..."

The young advisor, Siyabonga, cut him off. "House Belling, you say? I have met the head of House Belling a couple of times before, and I must say he is a very honorable man. So, tell me, how are the two of you related, and how did a half-breed like you come to being? Who are your parents?"

Josh suppressed his shock at the advisor's words. The number of dark-skinned servants available in the Unified States were only ten, including his mother, and these servants were only available for the high nobility, meaning there was only a single dark-skinned servant in each of the founding houses. House Belling lost their servant when his mother died.

So, could the advisor be a servant of one of the founding houses? Because only then would it make sense when he says he had met his father a couple of times before. But that would also confuse him more.

"I am the bastard son of High Lord Belling and maid servant Anko. My birth was not supposed to happen, but thanks to the eternal grace of the Creator, I was born. My mother always called me a child of the ages, but I still do not know what she meant."

Josh finished speaking, and he was surprised by the way they were staring at him. The princess had a hand over her mouth with tears in her eyes, the chief stood from his chair and approached him slowly with an unreadable expression.

Stopping in front of him, the chief asked in a low voice, "You are Anko's child?" Josh slowly nodded, his heart racing. He had already deduced that this was more or less the place that his mother mentioned in her stories. And the reactions these people were giving him only added to his dilemma.

"Yes, I am." He responded, a lone tear ran down the chief's right eye.

Baffled, Josh asked, "Did you know my mother?" Wiping away the tear with one fluid motion, the chief answered, "Your mother was my daughter, Princess Anko. But before we delve deeper into that topic, there is something we need to confirm. What did your guardian say to you?"

The chief's words replayed themselves inside his mind, "Your mother was my daughter. Princess Anko." Then why did she have to die alone in a foreign land? Is that how princesses are treated here? Josh questioned himself as he stood in shock until he snapped.

"A princess? My mother? The one who died alone in pain? And you stand in front of my face telling me she is a princess?" The chief looked down, not daring to meet his eyes, and instead, it was Siyabonga who retorted.

"Know your place, outsider. You are addressing royalty. Disrespect will not be tolerated!" The words were spoken in a calm voice with a deadly intent.

Josh paid no heed to the young man's words. With a rage-filled heart, he tore through the chief with words. "What father would send their daughter to suffer in a foreign land as a maid servant while he sits back and enjoys the wonders of royalty all by himself? I refuse to accept you as my mother's father!!!"

The chief looked up at him with guilt and pain reflecting in the depths of his eyes, and his lips moved to utter a single word. "Enough."