After a round of cotton picking that without a doubt has all of Malcolm's predecessors rolling in their graves, he finished. Malcolm looked at the full basket in his hand and internally sighed at true misfortune of the job he had received this morning.
"At least I'm getting paid." Malcolm tried to comfort himself with the thought of material wealth as he proceeded to where a few of the farmers were meeting up to hand in their harvests. As Malcolm was walking up a voice called out to him. He turned in the voice's direction to see a brown skin young woman who's appeared to be around his age, coming his way. She wore a traditional tribal dress with a few bracelets and ornaments that gave off a slightly affluent air by Malcolm's reading. She walked up to Malcolm with a kind smile and red locks that covered her eyes just a bit,she looked nice in Malcolm's opinion.
"Are you the new farmhand that came in just yesterday?" She initiated politely.
"Yeah.. I guess that would be me huh?" Replied Malcolm plainly.
The girl tilted her head slightly at Malcolm.
"Is that some resentment I sense? You know black that's not a good attitude to carry with you day to day."
"A-are you lecturing me right now? Also how you know my name? Oh lemme guess the old lady told you about me huh?" Malcolm replied while the girl giggled slightly. Even some of the other farmers were looking on in slight amusment.
"Damn it all here just take the cotton and give me my pay will ya?" Malcolm extended the basket along with his free hand to the girl. The girl then handed Malcolm a simple iron spearhead while taking the basket of cotton. Malcolm raised an eyebrow at this slightly.
"What you hand me this for?" Malcolm asked quizzically.
The girl while maintaining a smile answered simply.
"You gave me what I need so I gave you what you need.
"So how would you know if I needed something like this?"
"You have the eyes of a fighter, willing to fight the world if you got to. Im sure you've been through alot and probably will go through alot more so I just wanna pay you with something that'll come in handy." The girl spoke with certainty in her tone looking at Malcolm with a warm smile that made him blush slightly.
"Oh..I see. Say I never got your name if you don't mind me asking?"
"Amara." She said cheerfully.
"Well good meeting you Amara. Names black." Malcolm holds out his hand but Amara waves past the hand to give Malcolm a hug.
Malcolm being caught off guard by the motion is still as a statue for a moment but then eventually hugs the girl back. The hug only lasts for a brief moment but in Malcolm's imagination the hug was eternal and everlasting in it's duration.
Amara stopped the hug and stepped back to look at Malcolm with a slight tilt to her head.
"Hey black what's wrong you look like your being soul searched right now? Is a simple hug really that foreign to you?" Amara questioned bluntly.
Malcolm snapped out of the haze quickly then apologized for the awkward pause. Amara giggles and wishes the Malcolm a good day. Then they each go their separate ways for the day.
Malcolm walks back to the rondavel he's staying in to find that the old woman was out at the moment. He asked some nearby locals and found out the old woman had gone back to Ashuwa city to a tribe meeting she had to attend.
After a bit of wondering Malcolm entered the rondavel and sat down in his room to meditate.
"From what that leopard told me one of the essential parts of reaching the first realm is to try and gain control over the spiritual energy within my body first. The easiest way is meditation apparently." Malcolm thinks back to his last conversation with the leopard before they went their separate ways.
"Now I believe I've told you enough for the meantime however as for that favor I've asked, the rest is up to you whether you can or not I won't pressure you in anyway. Safe journeys to you young man." The leopard spoke with a air of grandeur before departing.
Malcolm sat still in meditation for about 2 hours before a shrill scream alerted him back to reality. The scream came from a distance away but close enough that it couldn't be ignored. Malcolm got up and ran out the front door, along with him a few of the villagers ran to join his side. Weapons in hand they were as ready as those in the outer periphery could be.
"What's going on!" Malcolm spoke urgently.
"Must be those two faced hyenas again!" One of the men shouted.
"Two faced hyenas? Malcolm said quizzically.
"You'll see why their called that in a moment now let go!" The men nodded as they ran quicker then even Malcolm himself who slightly lagged behind, gripping the spearhead slightly in his left hand.
They came the borders of the village near the fields the men harvested earlier. Along with their arrival a malicious laughter could be heard with hyenas that indeed has two faces, the front being a hyena face and the back being a human face.
"As I thought everyone cover your ears up with some dirt and follow me." The leader of the group spoke up. everyone did as commanded except one man who asked.
"Wait sir why do we need to cover our ears up?"
"The two faced hyenas reproduce though infecting other beings with a virus that gets stronger the more you hear their laughter. Their quite weak in terms of physicality so even people at half step or below can take them just don't listen for too long." The leader explained while the man nodded, Malcolm was close enough to listen in on the explanation.
Malcolm didn't ask the question even though he was curious mainly because typically back on earth where he was from, asking too many questions could land you in hot water. Plus he trusted that the leader wouldn't tell them to do anything right now without a good reason.
Only problem was Malcolm's enhanced hearing that for the first time proved to be a disadvantage in this situation. To mitigate this he took lumps of dirt and used his thumbs to press the dirt deep into his ears. He could still faintly hear some noise but now it was more or less unintelligible as far as Malcolm was concerned.
Malcolm took a deep breath before charging forward. The villagers began to engage the two faced hyenas in an intense close quarter combat. Everything from axes,spears,knives, and swords were used along side shields. The only thing Malcolm had was a spearhead in hand as he ran forward.
One of the hyenas jumped past the defense line the villagers setup and appeared in front of Malcolm. The hyena had a few scratches on it already but that only seemed to heightened it's aggression as it leaped at Malcolm teeth first.
Malcolm without wasting a moment dodged to his right for a few meters. The hyena slid on the ground for a moment before turning around to face Malcolm.
From what Malcolm could glee from the expression of the two faced beast, it seemed to be laughing louder and louder. Malcolm could almost here the laughter clearly, he knew he had to be fast so he charged forth spearhead in hand.
He thrust forward going for a stab however the hyena dodged and ran around Malcolm to give him a quick bite on his left leg.
"Fuck!" Malcolm shouts in pain and anger.
He performs a quick spin with the spearhead in a reverse grip to try and strike down at the hyena. However once again it ran around till it got to Malcolm's back once again and gave him a bite on his butt cheek this time.
Malcolm in pain and anger now, kicks his right leg backwards which actually hit the hyena sending it back for a distance. Malcolm taking the brief moment of reprieve feels his wound and sure enough a good amount of blood could be felt going down his leg. Malcolm grips the spearhead tightly while the hyena gets up and the front of its head switches out with the back head.
The face he sees leaves Malcolm shocked for a moment. The face he saw was of a young woman with red locks that slightly covered her eyes. It was Amara from only a couple of hours earlier. Amara's face looked at him and from what Malcolm could guess from the mouth movement she was laughing like there was no tomorrow.
"I wonder how your real laugh sounds?" Malcolm muttered quietly with a gloomy air.
Malcolm walked forward towards the hyena,which in turn walked towards him. They both quickened their pace to meet each in the middle. A clash of man and beasts, a tail as old as the savanna itself.
Malcolm extended his free arm out as if offering it to the face of the girl. The girl like any beast took a bite from Malcolm which didn't hurt too much in Malcolm's opinion. Yet he knew something was up once he started to feel a sudden urge to laugh from within.
A sharp gaze came to Malcolm's eyes as he raised the spearhead to thrust forward and finally stabbed the beast in the neck. It struggled for a few moments bitting deeper into Malcolm's hand in the process. Malcolm stepped closer and pinned the beast down on the ground. He took the spearhead out and stabbed again and again.
For a couple of minutes straight he stabbed and stabbed until the two faced hyena stopped moving. He got off to see that the girls face had a peaceful smile that reached her eyes. Malcolm stood still for a moment then shut Amara's eyes and gave a small prayer to the deceased.
The leader tapped Malcolm's shoulder to bring his attention back to the fight going on all around him. Malcolm understood the situation so he nodded and got back up to fight once more. He looked at the face of Amara one last time then ran to where the the most conflict was occurring.
"I need to get stronger and quickly." Malcolm thought to himself inwardly.
Disregarding his wounds he found a lone two faced hyena and what he saw made him shutter in horror. The hyena which had a human face, was currently chewing on the body of an infant. Blood covered the whole face like a mask, flesh was hanging off the lips of the beast like wet noodles. Then the sounds of bones being chewed on finally set Malcolm aflame. A hatred settled itself within Malcolm's heart that no matter what happens he had to kill this creature.
He charged towards the beast while the beast feeling the killing intent emanating from Malcolm began to run away in clear fear for it's life. Malcolm gave chase without delay.
It was surprisingly that Malcolm was able to keep up since hyenas can run on for a long period of time. However due to a combination of his enhanced stamina and adrenaline, along with a deep well of anger at the situation, this caused the hyena to be the one lacking in endurance compared to Malcolm at the present.
As soon as Malcolm got close he tackled the beast down on the ground. The pair rolled on the ground for a few moments till Malcolm stood on top of the beast. Said beast began scratching at Malcolm bitting and clawing trying to get away but Malcolm didn't care. At first he simply began stabbing the beast over and over but evidently this hyena was tougher then the last one. After more struggling which included Malcolm also starting to bite and scratch the hyena back managed to stabbed the human face in the eye. The spearhead piece through the eye and hitting the brain. Finally all at once the beast became still.
Malcolm took in heavy breaths, leaning back till his back was to the ground. The sun had only started setting at a slow pace. Its radiance beeping down at the savage scene. Casting a clear contrast from the beautiful bright sunset to the grim brutality that just occurred. Only now did Malcolm truly understand that this world was not just as bad towards the helpless as earth,perhaps it was maybe no not maybe, it is the most unforgiving to the helpless.
The young man layed in a growing pool of his and the two faced hyena's blood. All while still feeling that urge to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. He could feel every little bite, scratch and cut all along his body. The pain made him wanna laugh and cry but why shed tears for himself now? Nothing will change if he wallows in his own misery and the part that wanted to laugh maybe that had merit after all.
"Cmon nigga it's time to get up." Malcolm tells himself quietly.
He rolled to the left and used his legs and hands to slowly lift himself off the ground. Once he stood up he also took the dirt out his ears and listened out for a moment. No laughter could be heard any more.
"I guess it's all done then." Malcolm sighed deeply then turned around to look at the two faced hyena corpse.
"I almost forgot that's one of the things the leopard mentioned he needed."
Malcolm walked to the corpse then with alot of effort and grit on his part, he cut off the head of the beast wrapping it up with some of the hyena's skin and attaching it to hang off his hip.
With the last of his energy he slowly marched back to the small hamlet, with new scars that run deeper then any bite or claw.