2.4 The Real Dogons

        It was too late to change her mind about any decisions she had made, Zara was barreling into unknown territory without any sort of preparation as she followed the boy down the rocky trail towards the plume of smoke, periodically shoulder checking for signs of legendary threats, but there was nothing to see other that the breathtaking beauty and harmony of Lemuria, surrounding her. Her thoughts returned to the boy, a Product no less, leading her to her next destination, she didn't know what to make of him, his hand felt warm, he seemed so well dressed, someone took great care of him, he certainly didn't seem like a Savage! Nothing about his home seemed savage, either. Sweet smells and delicious aromas beaconed as they neared his village. The beautiful sounds started up again, making her feel joyful inside. What was it?
         As they emerged from the trees the path levelled out to reveal a village perched on a lofty plateau, but these were not buildings she had studied in Fina U, this village was built with beautiful and colorful tents, and rising above them like a proscenium the largest cave opening she had never even seen in her text books framed the village on the plateau! Zara gasped in wonder, this wasn't taught in school, in her text books the Savages lived in tents, but not in such an amazing place and certainly not in tents like these!

         Terror gripped her mind once again as she followed the boy into the village of tents. Perhaps they were Savages but they weren’t the same Savages as depicted in her text books. These savages were artists, the tents were as beautiful as the little boy's clothes! Their cooking smelled delicious! There was no way these savages were cannibals!!! Were they?

         Her fears subsided a little as she followed the boy through the tents, distracted by the beautiful scenery. The village of tents wasn't simply nestled inside the opening of an enormous cave, the inside of the cave was like a honeycomb of dwellings, carved into the rock, or perhaps molded from clay. How was it even possible? She had never seen anything like it before! 

         The little boy tugged her hand and led her through the tents to an open area at the edge of the plateau, overlooking the vast view of the islands and sea below where the tribe was seated around a giant fire pit, dotted with cooking pots. Palms sweating, Zara searched their faces for someone or something recognizable, but they were all so exotic looking, many had ebony skin like the boy but that was not all. Some of them looked like gens, but they were dressed up like the savages!! There were Nefilim here too!! But she had seen them before, the way they dressed here wasn't very different.... She couldn’t believe what she was seeing! There were lots of products running about too!... 

         The hush that fell upon the tribe as the boy led her up to the fire pit was terrifying. What were they cooking?

         "Look! I found a refugee" her captor announced proudly.

         Refugee? Wide eyed, Zara scanned the tribe, trying to figure out their agenda, one of them looked familiar, she had never met him before, nor were there any text book references to match him to. His head dress was the familiar aspect, his clothing was much more elaborate than the other savages wore, was he the leader of the tribe? Then she spotted his sword, peeking out of the scabbard. She recognized the handle, it was unmistakable textbook reference material, that handle was mythological... Who was he? She couldn't remember...

         The boy bowed and introduced her to him with charming grace, he greeted her with a warm smile and an open hand. "Welcome to Kergal" he smiled. "My name is Vikkar, leader of the Dogon Tribe. Who are you?"

         "Dogon?" Zara went into shock, a fever flushed her body, she clutched her spinning head but it was too late, her knees buckled as she passed out, saved from her terrifying nightmare by a spinning vortex of darkness.

         A soothing sensation, a warm cloth dabbing her forehead aroused Zara from her sleep… Moments later a pleasant aroma stimulated consciousness… Where was she? She stretched out her fingers only to feel the cold earth... Dirt... A stab of pain shot through her head... For a moment she couldn't remember what had happened, or where she was… On the ground in the Foreman's office.... Flashbacks of Aquilla descending upon her in the cave.... Suddenly she woke with a jolt followed by another stab of pain, to behold the most beautiful set of hazelnut eyes she had ever seen, kindly smiling at her.

         Startled Zara glanced around, wide awake now. There was the Savage Product from her dream… 

         "She woke up" the little boy announced, jumping up with joy. "She woke up! She woke up!"

         The beautiful eyes belonged to a beautiful ebony skinned goddess, exotic yet hardly savage-looking. "Welcome to Kergal" she smiled, offering her a hand. "My name is Vida, what's yours?"

         Kergal? Zara knew where it was on the map... Gingerly she reached for the hand, ill with dread, trying to piece together the shocking reality she had awoken to. "My name is Zara" she whispered, "I'm from Infrastructure." 

        "Can you stand?" Vida urged.

        Not knowing what else to do, Zara held on to the hand on offer, found her feet and allowed herself to be lead once again, this time to a bench by the fire. The goddess wrapped her in a colorful warm blanket and poured her a goblet of mulled Moonwine.

         Zara didn't want to be rude, but she wasn't so willing to drink the wine without knowing more about it. "Are you… Actual dogons?"

         "Yes" Vida replied, smiling. "We're the Dogons with a capital D." Vida could see Zara was terrified, they all were, she understood where they came from. "Don't worry, you're safe here." She touched her shoulder, lovingly, testing to see if she had any memory beyond her name. "It looks like you have a head injury, did you come through the tunnel from Atlan?"

         "Yes... I think so…" Zara replied, deciding now to examine the goblet of warm wine for herself. She lifted the goblet to her face, breathed in the sweet aromas, it smelled good, not like the wine at the Grill, this was like no Moonwine she had known of before. She knew this had to be some kind of a trick, but Vida seemed to sincerely care... So did the little Product who really didn't behave like a Product at all...

         Dogons? Something wasn't right. They all knew about the tunnel? If she was already dead, she couldn't die again, could she? She took a tiny little sip, it didn't taste anything like the MoonWine she knew, either. This Moonwine was sweet, rich with exotic flavor and gave her a warm and fuzzy sensation, making her feel very alive inside. She pondered this bizarre reality, considering all she knew. These savages had slaughtered all the children in Culloom? How could they? 

         She dared not ask any more questions and avoided looking at them altogether in case they were like the Unicorns; dangerous to look at. How could they have been so cruel? And Vikkar was their leader?

         Vikkar… His name was godly, surely he wasn't the Vikkar, yet she couldn't remember which mythological character 'Vikkar' was. It was all too much to take in. Perhaps she did die in the cave when she met Aquilla? Perhaps this was The Promised Land after all? 

        She scanned the Products running around again, some of them looked like gens too… "Is Orien here?"