Seven Gates of Nakila

 SEVEN GATES OF NAKILA  

By Katele Kalumba (c 2015)  

-Prologue: The Un-Kindling  

In a time before clocks kept the pulse of existence, a profound suffering suffocated the land, transforming the very air into a pall of silence. From the depths of this collective agony, a being was not merely born but un-kinded. Dambudzo, the Singer of Stillness, emerged as a shape molded by darkness—an embodiment of despair that argued against the very fabric of life itself. In response, the Earth, grasping desperately for balance, planted a child forged of flesh and ironwood: Chizwanga, the Bone-Seed, the Mhondoro of life’s unwavering heart. Their conflict was not accidental; it was a cosmic duel of fundamental truths eagerly waiting for its stage.

Chapter 1: The Coup of the Broken Crown  

King Mwanapatasa reigned over a realm steeped in deception, his heart a ledger brimming with spite and betrayal. He saw the nation as a field to sow his ambitions, ripe for exploitation, and scorned the traditions that elevated Chizwanga. The throne room became a den of sycophants, a breeding ground for foreign agents peddling narcotics like Sombra, which lulled the populace into a sporadic stupor. Yet, in the shadows of his gilded cage, General Ndembuka—a blend of ancient lineage and modern strategy—was quietly orchestrating change. Guided by the whispers of Luejin, his wise outsider wife, who perceived the rot beneath the king’s facade clearer than any native, Ndembuka sensed that the problem ran deeper than mere tyranny. 

“The people do not hate you,” Luejin said, her voice steady as deep waters fed by the life-giving rains of a long-lost spring. “They are desperate, forgetting what love truly is.” Her words ignited an ember of hope within Ndembuka. Her insight cracked the malevolent mindset of Mwanapatasa, which sought to diminish feminine wisdom, perceiving women as tools to wield rather than minds to respect.

When Ndembuka’s Ivory Guard moved, it was neither a chaotic explosion nor a blood-soaked revolt; it was a surgical severance, cutting through the corruption like a knife through butter. Mwanapatasa fell, not with a climactic crash, but with the distant echo of a closing cell door—a fitting end for one who thrived on deception.

Chapter 2: The Sevenfold Crucible  

With a true son of Bayembe on the throne, Chizwanga’s ascent to the Seventh Gate began. Guided by the watchful Sanusi Luemba, he faced the Sevenfold Trials, each more harrowing than the last. He chose to sacrifice sacred forests for the nation’s survival (The Weeping Root), feeling the sting of loss deep in his marrow. He stood exposed before the ghosts of colonial atrocities as they flayed open his soul (The Mirror of Fractured Time). Each trial gnawed at him, relentless and unyielding, yet he always found solace in Luejin. Her wisdom became a guiding star amidst the turmoil. Her intelligence helped him navigate the political aftershocks, while her warm embrace re-knit the fibers of his fragmented spirit, reminding him that genuine strength lies in connection, not domination.

Even as Chizwanga waded through the trials, a brilliant young scientist named Dr. Aneni toiled in a hidden lab, marveling as her scanners illuminated the intricate geometry of the national anthem—a song forgotten in the smokescreen of oppression and lying rulers, yet pulsating with the power of history waiting to be reclaimed.

Chapter 3: The Stillness That Creeps  

But Dambudzo, as relentless as a shifting season, did not become idle during Chizwanga’s trials. His reach extended like shadows across the land, creeping in to snuff out hope. In a village perched on the edge of the savannah, silence fell not as a gentle shroud but as a strangling curse. Birds dropped from the skies, their charming melodies silenced. The wind ceased to whisper; its voice drowned in a void of despair. The people, once vibrant with passion, sat down and simply… did not rise.

General Ngabo stumbled upon this eerie tableau, encountering hollow eyes staring into oblivion. They had been convinced that resistance was futile—not by force, but by insidious persuasion. Simultaneously, the Sombra blight unleashed by a Mexican cartel allied with foreign powers seeped through the cities, transforming lively youth into apathetic shells once full of dreams. Bayembe faced an invisible enemy from both within and outside, its vitality siphoned by spectral forces that thrived on fear and submissiveness.

Chapter 4: The Traitor’s Heart  

As chaos unfolded, Tariro—once a bright student now shrouded in the fog of betrayal—received a dire directive in Moscow. He was tasked with utilizing his access to the anthem's historical research to discover a frequency that could undermine Chizwanga's connection to the land. His Russian handlers code-named it "Operation Afroboon." Remembering his grandmother’s lilting voice as she sang the anthem, that radiant truth weighed heavily on his conscience. The dissonance he now felt coalesced into a physical pain that twisted his gut. 

Determined to maintain his cover, he began transmitting double—providing just enough truth to be credible while secretly funneling vital intelligence about the Kutz administration’s insidious plans to impose a "humanitarian no-fly zone" over sacred sites and the abominable Russian psychic warfare schemes to a hidden drop for Ngabo. Layers of deception wrapped around him like a second skin, as betrayal gnawed at his very being.

Chapter 5: The Unraveling  

The combined assault against Chizwanga reached a deafening peak. Dambudzo, fortified by Russian technology, unleashed the merciless "Ancestral Silence," muffling the voices of the ancestors upon whom Luemba relied. The old seer found himself adrift in an ocean of quietude. In the crushing despair of the moment, Tariro was caught, his last, desperate transmissions fading into static and uncertainty. As Chizwanga stood at the precipice of the Seventh Gate, the connections he had built—the lifelines to his ancestors, his people, and, most devastatingly, to Luejin—snapped like threads under immense pressure. The profound loss shattered him; he felt her essence diminish into nothingness, leaving him fragmented, no longer a unified god but three broken selves struggling for identity.

Chapter 6: The Empress Revealed  

Amidst this collapse, Dambudzo manifested before Chizwanga, a figure shrouded in tranquility. "You see?" he whispered, his voice smooth as silk. "All connection is an illusion. All struggle is absurd." But just as hope danced on the brink of extinction, Luejin, thrust back by the psychic shockwave, stood tall. She did not gaze upon Dambudzo. No, her focus shifted to the land, and in that moment, the land seemed to respond, an ancient dialogue rekindled.

A soft glow radiated from her—a beacon in the dark. The hidden codes of the anthem—mapped by Dr. Aneni—ignited, blazing to life through Luejin. She became the living embodiment of this music, not as a mere summoner but as the rightful queen who had returned. She was the Hidden Empress, not birthed from Bayembe, but having chosen it so completely that she had forged her identity into its very core.

"You are not entirely wrong, Dambudzo," she proclaimed, her voice resonating in harmony with the heartbeat of the earth. "Suffering exists; I know it. I accept it, for it is woven into the very fabric of my being, just as you are woven into this world." She did not assault his stillness; instead, she opened her arms, embracing the bleak truth and weaving it into the vibrant tapestry of existence.

Chapter 7: A Liberated World of Equals  

Her act of sovereign acceptance became the catalyst. The severance was mended; Chizwanga felt her love surge back—not as a mere tether, but as bedrock. His fragmented selves—Traditional, Spiritual, Modern—realigned, harmonizing in a higher octave. He arose, not merely as her protector but as her consort, their combined power a force to be reckoned with—his potential for growth intertwined with her ability to forge connections.

Confronted by the integration of strength rather than opposition, Dambudzo began to fray, his suffering finding refuge in this new understanding. On the global stage, Ngabo, armed with Tariro’s final insights, artfully unraveled the web of foreign plots with stunning public precision. The world watched in awe as the so-called "backward" nation deftly outwitted its would-be conquerors, emerging with a grace that left them dazed and humiliated.

Epilogue: The Peacock's Grandeur  

Bayembe did not rise as an empire bent on domination; it evolved into a paradigm of equality. King Ndembuka guided his people with thoughtful governance, drawing on the wisdom cultivated from the union of the old and the new. Luemba taught the ancient ways, now rich with Aneni’s revolutionary science. Ngabo led a military force that was as much a bastion of culture as it was a fighting entity, defending the sanctity of their heritage. Tariro, rescued from the clutches of betrayal, emerged not just as a hero but as a man reborn—restoring the lost connection to his heart.

At the heart of this reimagined society, Chizwanga and Luejin roamed among the people—not rulers perched on high, but symbols of the entwined power of the feminine divine and the masculine spirit. They represented a liberated world of equals, a place where power did not emanate from oppression but thrived through mutual compassion and respect. In this reality, the spiritual and scientific harmonized, and the past and the future engaged in a profound conversation.

The land flourished with extravagant vibrancy like a peacock, displaying its myriad hues—bold, flamboyant, and unapologetically brilliant. Their anthem transformed into a song of joy, not obligation. Each note stitched together a beautiful tapestry, a world that learned to embrace its own complex and liberated truth—a truth birthed in the crucible of trials and triumphs, steeped in love, and immortalized by the feminine divine.