The Mantis Corruption - Book Three - 24. Chapter 24 - Tchama & Olona

Tchama stepped up to the front door of the shop, pulled open the door, and its bell rang.

“Welcome to the First Organic Mechanic…” Olona started to say, but then she realized who it was. “Oh, hello! Tchama, I didn’t expect to see you today, since you were helping with the…” Her voice faded.

Tchama was covered in dust and bits of concrete.

“What happened to you?” Olona asked.

Instead of replying, Tchama said, “I’m here to let you test my arm, or whatever you wanted to do.”

Olona decided to leave her question for the moment. Tchama seemed very out of sorts. “Would you like a glass of water? Are you hungry? Have you been working all day?” Olona asked in quick succession.

“Water would be nice,” Tchama replied.

Olona filled a glass from a pitcher and handed it to Tchama. She looked her over and said, “If you’re up for it, we can test the strength of your grip again with a more substantial gauge, and then we can do the same thing with some of your other muscle groups.”

Tchama nodded.

Olona laid out a few instruments, lit a joint, and began her experimentation. She took detailed notes, testing the strength of Tchama’s individual fingers and several muscle groups in her arm and shoulder. Olona also spent a few moments determining the range of motion in Tchama’s joints.

The testing did not last long, but it drifted by for Tchama like a haze. Since losing her arm, her spirit had darkened, and the method used to save her kept popping into her mind. Tchama’s thoughts disturbed her. She knew that by consuming the photonova gland Ninyani brought with him from his village of Frostflower, she gained increased strength, but the near-invulnerable empowerment of her body felt like a curse.

It was not that Tchama was ungrateful to be alive, she was very grateful, but she could not help it that she felt like one of the hated Messiahs. The loss of her arm also weighed heavily on her soul, and the enthusiasm she once exuded was now almost extinguished.

Tchama was lost in her thoughts, and she wondered if she had been wrong in her thinking. She considered for the first time that it was possible what happened was a good thing. The mother of the little girl she saved certainly thought it was a good thing, and the woman did not react the way most people would have, learning that someone went through the Messiah enhancement; she was only appreciative that her child was safe.

Tchama spent most of the time since her enhancement wishing she did not go through with it, but for the first time, she began to feel grateful. Her dichotomous emotions were distracting her, and when Olona took her hand and stood there holding it, Tchama eventually made eye contact with her.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

Olona smiled. “I just said that we’re all done. Are you sure you’re all right? Do you want to tell me about anything? I could make us some food to…”

“I’m fine,” Tchama replied. “I’m just going to head back to the mystic’s house.”

“Okay, well, thank you for coming by and letting me satisfy my curiosity,” Olona said. “It was lovely meeting you yesterday, and you’re most welcome to come visit me here at the shop anytime.”

Tchama nodded and gave Olona a small smile. She made her way back out into the city streets, turned a corner, and entered Shifton. After a few minutes, she arrived at the home she shared with the mystic, his husband, and Lahari. Tchama entered, headed to the privy chamber, and she stripped off her dusty clothes.

She stepped under the overhead tap and cranked on the water. Tchama stood still for a long time with the falling water washing away the dust. Emotions flooded and overwhelmed her in the moment, and she sobbed.

She sobbed about almost dying a few months earlier; she sobbed over the loss of her arm, and she sobbed about needing assistance. Her tears flowed for the way she could not help but view herself as a cannibal. Tchama was also feeling a noticeable loss of connection to Dozi and Ilya, and Tchama was heartbroken over that.

There was something else, though, underneath her sadness, and it was breaking through to the surface. Tchama was feeling hope✪