We The Shadow: Origins

Native in a Foreign Land: Amani Naaji

"This... This is not my home..."

Those words slipped out in the air, uttered by a young, caramel brown toned woman. She fell down to her knees in disbelief, her long onyx black hair falling over her face.

After a moment of disbelief, Amani raised her head, looking out to the bleak landscape before her. She let out a small sigh, adjusting the black kaunakes around her waist. She tightened the robe around her shoulders, covering up her chest.

What was once a lush cedar tree forest that spanned for leagues in every direction, had been reduced to a mere fraction of its former self. The expansive viridescent estate was now confined to a quarter-field, bringing a tear to the young Sumerian's eye.

Standing to her feet, Amani let out a deep sigh. She had found herself standing at the outer edge of the Forest of the Cedars of God, far from the city of Uruk that she had grown up in. Deciding that it was pointless to stay around here any longer, she turned on her heels but was immediately smacked in the face with a sight she had never seen before.

As Shamash's light beamed down from above, she turned to look along the beaten path below as the roaring sound of heavy machinery caught her ear. She crept closer to the edge of the road, looking down to see strange machines moving along the road, completely unassisted.

Was this some magic she had never encountered before?

Needing more information, she reached into her pocket, sending her left hand through a small, invisible gateway. When her hand returned, it was holding a small slab of hardened clay. On the piece of earth, pictographs had been drawn, depicting a message directed at Amani.

Reading aloud, she followed the writing with her finger, "By the time you are reading this, Young Amani, you will find yourself in a foreign land. But this land is not so different to our home. Please, continue the will of our people for as long as you live, we are still alive."

After absorbing the message, Amani placed the slab back into the invisible portal it had come from. She fumbled around in the invisible air, finally pulling out a filled waterskin, drinking from it until she was content.

As she made her way down to the roadside, a blaringly loud noise shrieked at her from her side. Upon instinct, she used both hands to pull herself through an invisible portal, slipping away from whatever danger was coming her way.

A few moments passed and eventually Amani decided it was safe to return. Emerging on the other side of the road, she turned to see that one of those unassisted machines had stopped in the middle of the road. Now that they were stationary, she could see them in a clearer light.

Their bodies were made from a dull material and upon touch, it felt hot under Shamash's light. There were extremely fine glass panes fitted into the machine, for what purpose Amani did not know and as she looked through them, she saw that the interior was much different to the hard shell of the exterior.

"!يا إلهي"
("Oh my goodness!")

A voice caught her ear and as Amani looked up, an old man was standing in the middle of the road, looking her way. She did not recognise the words he was speaking but from the look on his face, he seemed relieved.

"I thought I hit you!" The man only shook his head, moving over to a machine as he prepared to climb inside.

Before he concealed himself within the machine, Amani stepped forward, "I. thought. oh. my. goodness. you. hit. I."

Amani was always known to be a quick learner among her peers and within the city of Uruk. Although she did not remember how she had arrived here, those memories would return as her mind adapted to this new, although, native world.