Chapter 2: The Village
He and the old woman had come to the village now. It had not changed since he was there last. The old woman followed him directly over to the Shamans house. One would think a Shamans cabin is the biggest in a village. Well, normally it is, but here it was not. Most people in the village lived in one of the five big houses in the outer limits of the village. Only a few people had their own houses. The Shaman was one of them. He lived in a quite small cabin in the exact center of the village. It laid there because of tradition. The Shamans cabin have always laid there, in the middle of the village, in this part of The Negative Dreamstate.
Mongswai was guided to this cabin, where a young woman sat by the fire and when they entered, she raised slowly, and Mongswai could now see, who she was. It was the Shamans daughter, NeeNee. She was tall, slim and brown, her skin darkened by the Sun. She had long, shining black hair and a pair of dark green eyes. The Shaman entered from the other side of the cabin, using the backdoor. This cabin was possibly the only cabin in The Negative Dreamstate that had a backdoor. It was highly unusual, because most cabins there look much like the ones in most African villages. Clay huts with a roof of palm leafs or other big plant parts.
When the Shaman saw, who had come, he was very happy: "Mongswai, my friend. What brings you here. We have been waiting for you a very long time. Is not that right, my dear?" he said, turning to his daughter. She turned her head to her father, nodded, and then turned again, to face Mongswai. "Since you helped me from that coma, as you called it, two year ago, I have been waiting for you to come back.", she said. "Many young men have been asking for me to become their life companions, but I have been waiting for you. I will follow you where you will go, ever." Mongswai was taken completely by surprise by this. Not that he had someone in the real world, that he wanted to be married to, but the simple fact, that she, the most beautiful girl he had ever met, said this to him.
"Are you sure about this", Mongswai wanted to know. She told him, that she was as sure as a person could ever be. She said, that she the first minute had had a small bit of doubt, but now she was determined. It had, after all, been two years. At this point she took his hands in her own and said: "Two very long years". "You know I am an adventurer, and could never be in one place a long time", Mongswai asked. Again, she said she knew it, and that she was determined to follow him.
She asked him to go with her to the place she called her own in the cabin. She showed him what she had made in the two years. The small place was covered with clothes, weapons and other things needed on long trips in The Negative Dreamstate. She said: "I knew you would come back sometime, and therefore I have chosen to make things for journeys in Abode..." she said, when Mongswai interrupted her: "What is Abode?" he wanted to know. She asked, if he really did not know the name of the planet he was on. He then asked her, if he could tell her something, that she could never tell anyone. "You will always bee able to tell me that kind of things. From the simple reason, that I trust you to offer the same thing to me, should I ever have the need", was her answer. Then he told her his story. Her reaction was unpredictable. She looked him deeply in the eyes and asked him: "Are you sure this is the truth. The real truth and nothing else. I need to know. Because if you wrong me, things will go you very bad. I was told my future by the old woman in the house in the forest, who died five years ago. Long time before I ever knew anything of you. She told me, that a man from another world would change the course of my own and many others lives forever. Are you the one?" Mongswai could not believe what he had heard. He must have stood for a long time, for NeeNee asked him, if he was all right. He shook his head and said: "What, yes. Yes, I'm all right. What did you say". She said it again and he could not believe his ears. He said, that he would think so, but he did not know. He was sure, that he was from another world, but he did not know anything of that prophecy. "No, how stupid of me. If you are from another world, you would not know either the name of Abode or The Prophecy". The way she pronounced it indicated a spelling with big letters.
During that night, the tribe was introduced to the man, who had once saved the life the Shaman and, not least, the Shaman's daughter from the Eternal Sleep. It was also announced, that NeeNee had chosen her lifemate. This was a very big evening in the village. It had been almost 4 years since the last big party nearby. The people normally used every occasion to celebrate, but it has been very low the last couple of years, because only one child had been born in the village in nearly eight years, and that child had been twisted in the mind and had killed it's parents at the age of 3 and had fled into the woods. Mongswai found out now, how the old woman in the forest had died. NeeNee leaned over to him and whispered into his ear, that the child was the murderer of the old woman. It had ripped her stomach completely and had fed on her. The only way, they knew, it was not a wild animal, was, that the child had been caught in the act. It had made a quite special exit. It had simply run through the wall. Those walls was said to be the strongest in the village. Either it was just a saying, or the child had strength of many men. "Some of the men here have tried to break the walls before this, and once after. They could not do it. Either the child had been very lucky and hit the only weak spot in the wall or he is a serious threat to us", she said. Mongswai had smelled the humus and he said to her, that he would like to help them in the fight. She told him, that many men had tried before, but not succeeded. Only one had been killed. "Well, we suppose that he is killed. He disappeared from the expedition he was on and was found a week later with his stomach ripped in pieces. The same method as on the old woman. We expect but know nothing of the child", NeeNee said and continued: "Well, this is no time for sorrow. This is a day of joy. Let's have some fun!" Then she raised from the seat: "Let's dance", she said and pulled him up from the seat and on to the place in the middle of the circle they sat in around a big fireplace. The music was soothing and as they danced, the music raised in tempo, and when all was in the dance, the music nearly began materializing. It was so strong, yet silent. So powerful, yet still. Everybody danced in one way. At first Mongswai was nervous, but as people started to dance more and more, he fell into the rhythm, and started to trance together with his, he thought, bride-to-be. Truth was, that this dance, themselves starting it, was the actual ritual of unity, that they performed. In the eyes of the tribe, they were now one. A unity. The rest of the night they danced. They were the last two standing. The warm summer-night sounded with the screams of pleasure that come when the unity of man and woman is full.
