Myths Truth or False
A story of the ages born out of a small village in central Kenya,an area at the foothills of the Aberdare mountains an area of high skies,green vegetation,plush bushes and tall immense trees,criss-crossed by meandering streams and a river with a modest waterfall.This ancient land bares many ancient myths and stories of god like creatures that roam the land,instill fear on it's human inhabitants and are part and parcel of the landscape,meaning that every grain of grass,soil or otherwise has been touched by these mythic creatures.
These creatures known to the Kikuyu people,africans that migrated to this area centuries ago are known as Irimu.Creatures that in reality are giants of different shapes and sizes,creatures with two,three heads,tails,large eyes and carnivorous teeth but are also known to take the likelihood of humans or any other creation in the area.
This is a story of trust,culture and morals,a story of self discovery and it starts in the month of October in the year 1950 where a British settler and his family nestled in a large farm in an area known as Muranga are expecting a visitor an American scholar who was going to try and uncover the mystery of the Irimu.A writer and researcher of African tribal Myths,Devlin Forster had travelled vastly within the African continent and had just concluded a lengthly project in Rhodesia( now Zimbabwe ) and had come across the Kikuyu Irimu myth through a man servant,a kikuyu from this same area of Muranga now working in a farming community in the country.Having decided to look into the matter Devlin contacted a friend in Nairobi,Kenya who in turn introduced him to the Mcoy family,the British settlers.The Mcoy's accepted his proposal of staying at their farm for a while so that he could do an extensive research on the myth.The Mcoy's who had owned and operated the land for over 110 years and knew the locals well,had heard of the Irimu myth,they had never belived the stories but knew well enough to respect the beliefs and customs of the kikuyu and did not dwell on it or even give a hint of disputing the matter.
Devlin thought it strange that he was going to start his new project in the month of October,haloween festivities practiced in his homeland were in full swing,ah! how he was going to miss it all.
Upon arrival at the Mcoy settlement Devlin immediately embarked on his research,having been refered to an old woman who was well versed in the myth.Wairimu as she was known,was part of a clan known for it's spiritual and occult activities a revered clan among the kikuyu people.Meeting Wairimu was a thrill for Devlin,he noted how frail she looked but was impressed by her energy and vigor.When he sat down on the wooden stool provided to him in her smoke filled hut,he noted all the wood and stone charms adoring the floor and walls.Wairimu explained that they represented all the Irimu's that she had encountered in her lifetime and that each one of them contained a little bit of each individual Irimu's spirit.Devlin in turn told her that they looked very much like gargoyles and other creatures that people from his home wore when celebrating haloween.In return Wairimu stated that maybe the celebration was for one and the same Irimu's of her homeland.Devlin found it quite preposterious that this would be the case.Wairimu told Devlin that in order for him to have a good hold on his research he will have to face an Irimu in person at a designated place and time and to his astonishment she stated that the Irimu were expecting him and have been for quite a long time now.Devlin found her statement funny,that this old primitive woman would want to scare him or even make him think that this mythic creature was real.How preposterous he thought as Wairimu continued by pointing towards the direction of the area where he would venture,an area miles away across the Abadere mountains,dense forests and small streams the place where he would meet an Irimu and Irungu her grandson would be his guide.
Although Devlin felt that this was going to be a wild goose chase,he trusted Wairimu and because for the first time he had been challenged towards meeting the real thing,he felt compelled to see it through.In all his research he had never had someone tell him so confidently that he would meet the subject in question,so he accepted the challege not because the thought that it would lead to something real,but because her conviction in the reality of this Irimu would make good writting material and the journey in itself would also provide some great insight of this ancient land.
Devlin found Irungu his guide to be ignorant and a bore,mostly because he Irungu did not talk much and his answer to each of his questions was glib and without definition as he wished it to be.Devlin concluded that he did not know as much as his grandmother had made it out to be.The journey in itself was trying and long,Irungu walked infront,saying nothing much in his broken english,this frustrated Devlin who got most of his insight on things through constructive conversations,his only consolation was that he knew that he would get to his destination in the end.The landscape was a wonderfull sight,Devlin noted how natural and primitive it looked,how creation can be so beautifull,how nature has the capability of uplifting ones spirit and imagination.There were plants,animals and insects in abundance,creatures he never imagined even existed,it felt good despite his current company.The days were hot but comfortable,the nights warm and felt even better,Irungu knew where he was going and like clockwork knew when it was time to rest or put up camp for the night.
On the thirteenth day of as a matter of factly Irungu anounced that they had come to their journey's end.
The village was small with a few huts scattered around a small area,there were no children playing around infact there was not a soul in sight and this was very parculiar because this was not the norm when one comes across an afican village in the late afternoon.Devlin made Irungu aware of his observation but all he got from him was a deep grunt.Devlin obsetrved a mist an odd looking mist hovering above the whole village,a gray mist with spotty white specks all over it, and a distinctive rainbow running on top,curious how low to the ground the rainbow was,Devlin had never seen anything like it and the only thing he could think of was that there must be some scientific reason.Irungu sat his belongings right outside the village area and made a fire,he also sat some figurines on the ground around the fire.When Devlin asked Irungu why he had done so,the answer he got back was that single grunt.Meanwhile nobody came out of the village to greet them and it was still and very quiet,Devlin in frustration conluded that he indeed had ventured on a wild goose chase,he tried to walk towards the village but Irungu stopped him,scolding Devlin in anger,letting him know that it was not time.
Darkness set in and as the night went on,Devlin noted how much warmer it felt at this particular place and how much he felt at peace,indeed it was better than any of the nights before,he could not even remember a night that felt better in his life.At dawn Devlin was woken up by Irungu's incoherrent chanting,a mumbling of words he could not comprehend,what he saw when he finaly opened his eyes drove him into a dark abyss of unconciousness,he had never been so shocked in his life.Around staring down on him was his father now dead three years and his grandfather who he had only seen on a photograph,how could this be? This was too much to bare,he felt light headed as a warness came across his whole body and then there was nothing.
When he awoke,Devlin was alone on a cot in a dark space,with a flicker of a fire going,he looked around and noted that he was in a hut and apart from the fire and the cot that he lay on the hut was bare.He stood up with unease his legs shaky,thinking about the image he had seen of his dead father and grandfather and concluded that he had imagined it or dreamt it all.None of his belongings were in the hut and annoyed he figured that his guide Irungu had drugged him with the food he had provided,robbed him of his property and thus the bad dream and hallucinations.Devlin finding strength walked outside in anger and ready to do battle.He was set back with what he saw,sitting facing the hut he had just walked out of was his father and grand father accompanied by twenty-five other people he could not recognize.Irungu stood behind them all,the only one standing,while the rest sat in a semi circle a fire lit in the middle,Devlin felt faint again but managed to keep himself out of darkness with the help of a voice so familiar,his father's voice,calling on him to sit down on a wooden stool in the middle by the fire.He must be still be dreaming Devlin thought but it all seemed too real.
It's time,Devlin heard his father utter,it's time for you to die as you are so that you can live as you realy are and Irimu,the Irimu in you must live.What?What is he talking about,dying me die!Why should Devlin have to die,what Irimu what kind of nonsense is he talking about?
Devlin my son,he heard that so familiar voice say,you have always been and always will be an Irimu,we come from a very long line of Irimu's and dying today does not mean dying in the sense of the mortal human death,but the death of the mortal so as to gain your immortallity as an Irimu,you can always change yourself into human form but your Irimu self will become the dominant form.As this words reached him everyone else except Irungu began to change and transform into gigantic creatures all of them including his father and grandfather began this hidious transformation,his father with two heads,his grandfather with a head of a scorpion.The larger they got they gushed out vomit that rested well onto Devlin and in turn he felt better than he had ever felt,stronger with a vison so clear so vivid,he felt his hands shake while feeling the changes taking place in and around his body,Devlin heard himself scream and not with a voice he recognized,he looked at Irungu who was jumping up and down,Irungu Irungu what is happening to me? Irungu shouting back,Devlin i just brought you back home,Wairumu and i are the gurdians of your kind,the Irimu,live well Irimu my job is done as Devlin noticed his third head pop out of nowhere.