"Why do you love me so much?" Mansa asked Oma with her sweet voice. Her beautiful white eyes were fixed on him; she didn't want to blink an eye to miss his body language that would accompany his words.
Oma turned his back on Mansa and faced the mountain at the east. He always turned to face the mountain at the east of the village whenever something dear to his heart moved him to act. It was a ritual he had kept practicing since he was seven years.
The sun was rising on the horizon and the beautiful morning sky was wonderful. The fresh breeze from the sea so much pleased his soul.
"I love you so much because whenever your heart beats, I feel it in me. We have one heart and one soul," he replied. "And just as the sun rises everyday, and the waves of the sea never stops, I will continue to love you. My love for you is like this huge mountain of the east, never shall it be moved.
"Mmm, your words so sweet," she said, and embraced him at the back. And as she did, Oma felt the sweet, soft touch of her two mammas at his back. "I love you too. I will always love you," she added.
Oma turned and held her in his arms, and kissed her on the forehead. He so much loved her, and he used every opportunity he got to prove to her that the love he had for her was as deep as a bottomless pit. Mansa loved him too, and she had her own way of proving to him that her love for him was everlasting. Perhaps, there was no love as perfect as theirs on earth at their time.
Except the two of them, no one was at the beach that morning. Everything at the beach looked lovely just like Oma and Mansa—the waves of the sea kept tumbling beautifully ashore, the horizon looked beautiful, the breeze was fresh, and beautiful marine birds were flying on the sea. It was as if nature was blessing Oma and Mansa that morning. They loved nature and nature loved them. And that made their love appear more divine than canal. Oma and Mansa loved going to the beach every morning. It was there that they continued to strengthen the deep love they had for each other. It was usual for onlookers of the two lovers to see them there almost every morning.
"I will do everything you ask me, to prove that I so much love you," Oma said with joy, ready to prove to her that he so much loved her.
Mansa stared at Oma, and when she blinked her eyes, tears started flowing. "I know you love me but you can't do everything for me," she cried. "Look behind you in the sky; you can't stop what is about to happen."
Oma turned and looked into the sky, and there, far away in Mookoo, blue smoke was spreading throughout the world from the biggest and the tallest tree in on earth. It was the end of another millennium, and another misfortune was about to befall mankind.
"Yes, I can't stop it from happening but I can protect you from any misfortune that it is carrying. Let's run back to the village," he said to her.
Oma and Mansa ran back to Subasu, their village, to tell the people what was about to happen. But when they got to the village, the villagers had already gathered at the village square. They had seen the blue smoke in the sky coming from Mookoo, and they knew what that meant. Oma ran with Mansa and locked themselves up at a hidden place.
At the end of the previous millennium, it was recorded in writing that, ninety-nine malevolent spirits accompanied the smoke, and destroyed more than half of all the food crops on earth and that led to famine in the whole world. It took two years before the famine was defeated. The end of every millennium came with its own misfortune, and so, no one could predict what was to happen at the end of the next millennium. It was therefore impossible to prepare against such misfortunes.
The smoke spread everywhere in the sky, and soon, disaster struck—ninety-nine huge frogs with wings flew across the sky and croaked. The frogs were as huge as buffalos. Their wings were like that of bats. They had ugly big eyes. And they smelled so bad that, as they flew high across the sky, people held their noses on earth.
The frogs flew and croaked, and unleashed hornets from their mouths on earth. And whoever the hornets stung grew sick and died. There was much wailing and grieve on earth.
The evil frogs flew for an hour in the sky, and when they were done causing harm to mankind, they flew back through the blue smoke to the huge, tall tree that stood in the forest on Mookoo island.
In Subasu, many people died. Among the dead were the parents of Oma and the parents of Mansa. The two lovers, though happy that they survived the calamity, became struck with grieve when they learnt that their parents had died.
The people of Subasu mourned their loved ones after they had gotten them buried. Oma and Mansa buried their parents, and hoped that someday on earth, such evils would cease on earth.
Burying all those who had died on earth required hard work because many were those that died. The people that remained on earth worked so hard and buried the dead. All the dead were buried after seven days.
Humans everywhere on earth grieved, and wished to see a day when such evils would no longer befall mankind. But their wishes were probably going to remain as they were, mere wishes. Because, no one was brave enough to take the bull by the horn; everyone was afraid to go to Mookoo to fight the evil beings that lived on the island, and chop down the evil tree.
The count down to the end of another millenium began. None of the people alive at the time would probably not live to see the end of that millenium, but just like what their ancestors did, they would pass on the task of keeping the time till the end of the millennium when another disastrous misfortune would befall mankind.
