Il-Kelma by Mario Cordina

Il-Kelma

The Holy Book of the 5 Races of the Human Race

&

The Legacy of Mario Vinczenzo

Mario Cordina

The Book of Marju of Ghasafar

Or

The Book of Marju The 1^st Ruler of the Land of The Pyramids.

Il-Gabra

(The Collection/The Harvest)

The following is a set of accounts which were given to me by the Higher members of the Bird society which are most dear to me and by the members from our brothers from the Black Earth region.


These are the accounts which I Mghallem, the humble servant of the late Marju of Ghasafar will hitherto present to future generations.


The emotional bond between a parent and a son and the mother of that very son and his father – a father in absentia as I proved to be is one that I cannot explain. To one so full of words as myself, such a feeling of regret and remorse leaves me empty, the words turn into complex logarithms I cannot decipher and are replaced by an inexhaustible grief. An irretrievable grief, something that went wrong and cannot be put right.


I must confess that in quest of bravery and self sacrifice, however holy and heroic it might seem, I failed as a father. There are few doting fathers who can say that they never knew their sons and few sons, however rebellious they may be, for whom their father is but a name.


I grew up as orphan, but my parents were dead. My son grew up unfathered and yet I live. It is my guilt and shame that wipe the floor of letters and logical sentences, so I will let these papers throw some light on Mario, my son, who I shall affectionately and rightly dub ‘ Marju, the Bird Man, son of Cindy from the Land of Ghasafar and Mario, Lord of the Light, from Huta, son of Pitru of Anda and Cleofa from Ala, the last knight and prince of the Rix of Gold, Blue and Green, the human who had gambled and lost the struggle for the future of mankind on a game of Senet


Accounts from Ghasafar


Following the Lord of the Light’s stay in the village, which in those days lay around the Ghasafar Oasis at the edge of the Sahara, the Bird people our citizens changed their way of life. A child was born unto Cindy from the family of the Great Bird Spirit Qaws, daughter of King Gawwi the Scarlet and Queen Ajkla, son to Mario Lord of the Light, the human who became our protector spirit. The son will hereafter be referred to as Marju, a diminutive of the name Mario, a name by which he was affectionately known.


Naomi, a princess directly from the line of the spirit Qaws, suffered the title of the Betrayer who sold the Lord of the Light to the Dogs of Zama when The Lord of the Light was still a human. She tried to bury her grief and shame by declining to wear any feathers. Most of the citizens followed her example.


One day, The Lord of The Light graced the Land of Ghasafar with a second visit. He was received as an honourable guest. Songs, displays and gifts were bestowed on their most distinguished visitor. The Lord of the Light in return publicly forgave Queen Naomi who later dedicated her whole life to the human question, arguing and defending the fate and survival of the human race and helping to set up a human colony at Memfes which later grew into a powerful empire in The Land of The Pyramids. The Lord of the Light also used this occasion to publicly christen his son and left his offspring and the mother of his child under the care of the citizens of Ghasafar till his return.


All future generations waited for his return, which however infrequent and unannounced was known to occur. The village, especially the one by the Oasis of Ghasafar would light up candles at night and lit up a road from the tunnels to the Oasis, for he was known to come by night. Rumours had it that he sometimes visited Cindy by night and left before dawn.


Many of the citizens of Ghasafar followed Cindy’s example and accepted humans. Intermarriage became common. Many shed their wings and either lost their power of flight or regarded it as undesirable. Feathers were deemed unclean and in extremist circles were hidden or shaved off. Men and women proudly portrayed their human form and tried to hide their feathery features. In fact the youth were more human than fowl. They dreamt of going to Memfes where Bird people were highly cherished and lived with and as humans.


According to the statutes laid down by our great Queen, “We owe a lot to humans. The human race will turn this world upside down and we will turn with it. What is more, we will help them in their path. We are in spirit closer to the Human Race than to any other race on this earth.”


These words and other such beliefs upheld by the citizens around the Land of Ghasafar broke relations with other bird races and strengthened the bonds with the people at Memfes.


This was a forseable circumstance once Marju became the rightful ruler of Memfes. During his rule, The Land of Ghasafar and Memfes merged into one. It was the beginning of The Land of the Pyramids, an empire that would outlast time.


Marju was born human in form. Only a pinkish crest ran along his dark hair on his head. Cindy, his proud mother was never far away from her son’s side. She never uttered anything but loving words for her son.


“He was a normal kid, fond of games and fun, with a talent to sing like a bird and speak like a human. He was known for his ability to learn the languages of other creatures and races in a very short space of time.”


“There is nothing much to say about his childhood for he was like every other kid in the village. The first account that we have is that we have of him is that of his fifteenth birthday when the great Lord of all Fowl, Qaws came and carried him away. His mother Cindy never revealed her son’s whereabouts. The village waited in trepidation and impatience for great things were expected of him.


A letter was found after his death. “A few words about myself. I have left this note at my mother’s Katlema, the cavern that was our dwelling, the only home, I will forever carry in my heart. I have left this note in the vain hope that my father will read it one day.”


“I have never known you, just as all creatures will never get to know their creator. I know what my mother and all the villagers here know about you. All that you have done for the right of a race to survive. I am proud to be your son. It has been explained to me over and over again that you are a man with a mission, the most noble mission of all, that you sacrificed everything you had in your life to achieve your goal and your goal is the good of the human race. I have been brought up to respect your choice. My mother has only words of praise and she misses you dearly. I await the day to see her in your arms and I await the day to meet you my dear father. However life is short and I have been called upon to help your cause. Any kid would openly and readily enter the role that I have been asked to fill. I will do you proud father. I promise that I will do so not for myself or for my pride or for my honour but to carry on your example of self sacrifice, diligence and honesty. I will keep your eye of Osiris to give me strength whenever it falters, courage whenever it dims, to show love where there is hate and to put wise words into my tongue when they are needed. Speak for me, act for me. I am but an instrument in the mechanism that will save mankind. Tomorrow Qaws, an acquaintance of yours will take me away from everything I know to a vast unknown. My mother told me that you too were carried off into the unknown and that I am only naturally following the trail you have already taken.”


Your Son.


Queen Naomi announced that Marju would return for his 18th birthday. There were many preperations for his return in the manner of the citizens of Ghasafar. A platform was decked with pink flowers which was the colour he came to be known by, as Cindy’s pink feathery head had stamped such a tell-tale streak through the middle of his hair. The picture of Zaren, the most important painting at Ghasafar was placed in a prominent position on the main stage. Dances and parades were rehearsed with much enthusiasm and the village was flooded with many citizens from neighbouring villages, as the great day neared.


And he came, his pink streak flaming in the sun, carried airborne by a fleet of birds that clouded the sky. The villagers and those present were excited to see how much Marju had grown, a man of promise. The festivities went far into the night showering the guest with gifts as he embraced his mother with moving tears of joy in her eyes. Cindy delared that when a woman has two men in her life, two men assigned for great things, it is a great honour and yet a burden to bear. “There is nothing that a woman in such a position dreams of more but to see her men return home. It is my love for my son that speaks and it is a love above any other.”

Marju’s stay however was brief. After a couple of days, a large regiment of men, dark and strong came to the village from the south and took him away. The birds who had brought him followed suit. Queen Naomi and her entourage also joined them. It became commen knowledge that they had gone to Memfes to establish a human settlement there under the hand of a powerful ruler, Marju of Ghasafar. Cindy remained at home.