NEMO’S ASCENSION : THE ORIGINS OF THE SWAL CULT
 
 
Nemo looked around him, blood drooling from his mouth. Around him, no sounds, except from the scavenger birds coming to tear the flesh out of his former fieldmate's lying bodies.
The only reason he was still alive came from the misery of almost suffocating under his comrades dead bodies.
 
 
Again, the Mawindo tribe raid had proven to be too much to handle by the feeble defenses of the Wamezaji. He turned back and only the ruins of what used to be a village were still standing in front of him. The case who still stood were either burning or ready to crumble under their own weight. Survivors ? Yes, they were, but the amount looked so insignificant compared to the number of slaughtered bodies. And what chance did they have to see the next months ? The granary had been sacked and the fields destroyed in the offense of the foe. In the middle of the savannah, they were prey to the lurking beasts.
 
 
Nemo fell onto his knees gazing into the sun and talked desperately : Help us gods ! Give us a way to fill our belly and defeat our foes ! Give us a way to end this misery… Have the Wamezaji not been humiliated enough ?”
 
 
He then bent forward, putting his hands on the blood soaked land that proved to be so harsh. He waited, too tired from the fight and the loss to bother getting up…
 
 
Nemo heard a response, a deep tortuous voice started talking from his belly, making his whole bowels shake inside of him; “I can help with that…”. The young man didn’t flinch, feeling his belly squirming from the inside. “How could I trust you… we’ve prayed for our gods but are still waiting for a sign…”. Nemo then felt a hand touch the tip of head, “I, like you, used to be famished… for centuries… by my own kin…” the voice now in front of him, grumbled.
Nemo raised his head to look for the voice and started to crawl away, horrified by the monstrosity standing in front of him. “What-what are you ?!” Nemo whispered to himself. The horrible mass in front of him started to wobble “I am SWAL. Ravenous demon and holder of the gift of consumption”. “What do you want ?” Nemo asked, holding his composure while sitting on the ground. “I have a deal for you. A way to indeed fill your belly and defeat your foes…” said the monstrosity, pointing to Nemo's abdomen.
 
 
“If you, and your tribe, accept to devote your lives to my person, I’ll grant you the power not only to tame this devilish lands, but also to outstand any enemy that you wish to destroy. I’ll give you the ways to satisfy your hunger for revenge. I’ll make the name of the Wamezaji as frightening as death itself…” “Swear me fidelity, and you’ll never be hungry ever again”
 
 
“What about the other deities we are already praying to ? ”Nemo contested. “Ooooh, believe me… Those divinities disappeared a long time ago… Eaten by the same thing they had kept hungry for centuries…” replied the demon. Nemo looked at the ground, tainted by the blood of his fallen comrades… “I agree” the injured warrior whispered, letting a drop of blood fall onto the dirt. “Very well.” Swal simply said, before letting his gargantuan mass vanish into the void.
 
 
The young man stayed in silence, alone, for a few seconds. “What about now?”, he spoke up. “Patience;” his grumbling bowels whispered to him, “Your body will need time to assimilate my gift.”, “I’ll come to you when you’ll be ready for consumption… In the meantime, go to your people, and start spreading my devouring faith…”
 
 
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Nemo was patrolling around the village when he felt his stomach tremble with HIS voice.
 
 
The last few days had been terribly tiring for him. Not only the rebuilding of the village had been testing, but his attention had been turned toward the slow yet growing void digging in his stomach. As the days had been passing by, he’d crave for something to eat in order to fill this uncomfortable hunger settling in his belly. Had it only been for food, but lately his craves were suggesting him to move onto something bigger and… livelier. In his worst moments, he had been tempted to swallow some of their remaining cattle or worse… other people. Though, the irrealist dimension of swallowing such a thing whole had kept these thoughts unable to corrupt his acts.
 
 
“You are ready… Go to the northern savannah and I’ll show you my power…” his guts murmured him. “That is in the direction of the hyena’s territory, I should arm myself” Nemo warned the demon. His insides churned more violently “There is no need for such futility… Head for your destination right now… You have a hunger to satiate I believe.”. Nemo didn’t question the demon and started to head for the destination, only a feeble spear carved out of a branch in hand.
 
 
After walking for an hour under the sun, Nemo passed the first carcasses, lying around the dried trees. As he kept walking, his belly rumbled, “Find one of them… Isolated…”. Nemo didn’t reply and continued his way through the hunt field.
 
 
Then, he found it, just beneath him, about 40 meters away from him. One of the hyenas was occupied gorging on its recent hunt. “Catch its attention, and let it come to you…”. Nemo made a quick howl, forcing the beast to look in his direction. As the hyena caught the side of a potential new meal, it started to laugh frantically before launching itself to the young tribesman's pursuit. Nemo started to get in a defensive stance, holding firmly his spear. “Don’t attack it ! Let it come and when it jumps at you, let your instincts finish the job.” Nemo threw his spear in the grass as the sneering animal was getting closer.
 
 
Finally, the hyena got in reach and violently jumped at Nemo. “Now !” his insides urged him to catch the animal. Nemo grabbed it, fearing to be torn in shambles by the beast’s claws. But when his catch tried to stab him in the arm with its claws, Nemo’s skin got so resistant it hardly made a dent in it. “Feel the power of the Devourer running through your whole being… Now, claim your prize !”. Nemo suddenly felt a violent urge to eat the animal, to satiate his lasting hunger. Upon entering a trance, his mouth started to expand out of proportions. His whole jaw broke away in order to create the space needed to engulf the animal head. And down the animal started to go. After a few very hard swallows in order to gulp the predator down, the whole creature had made its way to Nemo's stomach.
 
 
The amount of new sensations, mixed with the adrenaline of the hunt and the heatness, triggered an overwhelming dizziness through his body. As his insides adapted to the freshly ingested living being, Nemo fainted under its weight…
 
 
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The sun had started to hide behind the hills when Nemo finally opened his eyes. Though the sky was tainted in crimson shades, he couldn’t see the light of the sun. A lumpy mass was blocking the light. As he tried to sit up, Nemo felt a weight on his abdomen slowing his progress. It was only after managing to straighten that the warrior, feeling the squirming mass sitting in his lap, understood the origin of his weighed body.
 
 
His belly. It was enormous. Obscenely bulging in front of him as something inside, heavy and moving, was bulging its surface.
 
 
“Soon, its soul will join my rift. Soon, nothing but the bones will remain in this world…” vibrated his belly. “What happened?...” Nemo asked. “You have defeated your foe and filled your belly. That beast that thought to have you for dinner, is now stewing inside of you, its spirit waiting to join ME as its physical envelope is being taken away by the strength of your stomach…” The young man stood up, managing his position as his legs had to bear the weight of two beings now.
 
 
Nemo couldn’t take his look away from the squirming mass he was sporting. “What do I do now ?” he asked. “You have completed the ritual, proving you were worthy of my powers and my strength. You and your people are now bound to me through the gift of consumption. Come back to them, and teach your kind the existence of this new might running in their blood. You’ll be rewarded by an unstoppable army of insatiable warriors, devouring everything on their path…”. “Won’t they be repulsed by this new appearance ?” said Nemo as his belly was prominently sticking in front of him. “Be proud, of this belly you are now carrying, for it will soon become the proof of your domination upon those who wrongly defied you. They shall be impressed by the size of their soon to be new leader… Mlaji Kubwa”.
 
 
The freshly fed prophet nodded and went for his tribe.
 
 
“Enjoy your coming domination… I’ll come back in several years for a payback…”
 
 
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The war raging between the Mawindo and the Wamezaji was close to the end, as the devouring tribe had made its way to its enemy’s headquarters.
 
 
As the inhabitants of the village were running away, the Wamezaji warriors were progressing through the burning alleys, their garnished sagging guts testifying of a total victory upon the helpless enemy.
 
 
Medu was waiting in his hut, sitting on his wooden throne, guarded by two of his men. As the echoing screams finally settled down, the overbearing silence that followed made him tighten his grip on the handles of his seat. After a few minutes, the barricaded door started to bounce. One time. Two times.
Only Nemo’s figure was perceptible through the fumes of the fires when the doors finally burst opened. The warchief walked in the direction of Medu, his over decorated bulging abdomen jumping out of the smoke with a slow yet assured approach.
 
 
“I have no other choice but to bow down in front of you.” said the local tribe leader as he put a knee on the ground, “Take our riches and our food, but please, do spare our people…”. Nemo’s face appeared more clear as the fumes were spreading away, “But it is exactly your people that we need. You once relentlessly attacked our village to take these riches and food you are now proposing.” “I have, mistakenly… But you have the knowledge that suffering such a threat isn’t thinkable for anyone… Which is why I now implore your-”, Nemo doesn’t let the defeated chief end his sentence. “You once stole our food to nourish your tribe, I will now steal your people to nourish mine.” Nemo calmly answered as he took a strange terracotta bottle attached to his thigh. “Capture the remaining preys and drag them to the village. They’ll nourish our men for the coming weeks” he ordered his warriors. They took Medu’s guards away and left the hut “Yes, Mlaji Kubwa”.
 
 
Nemo drank the content of the bottle without stopping then wiped his mouth before his belly started to make strange noises. The bulbous organ became more and more audible until its content started to violently shift around, as an horrifying muffled scream resonated through the moving skin. Nemo’s belly started to visibly shrink as the voice in it faded away in pain, finally reduced to a large layer of belly fat covering his abs.
Nemo laughed as he rubbed his abdomen,”Swal will be delighted to rip the soul out of your soon to be melting body…”. He licked his lips and approached his tetanised enemy with a gaping mouth.
 
 
Medu was paralyzed by the horror he was witnessing. He stayed tetanized, unable to stop the engulfing shadows that started to surround him.
 
 
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Nemo was lying in his bed, the head of his wife resting on his chest as she was caressing the taunt surface of his belly.
 
 
The room was abundantly covered by riches. Silk tapestries were spread across the walls as coins and golden ironsmiths spreaded all over the ground. The ceiling was sprinkled with gold lining which came in all directions. The bed sheets were a colorful mix of silk blanket, shading from the crimson red to the citrus green and the bed itself had its share of refined pillows surrounding it. All these refined garments were contrasting with the raw and wild structure of the hut, made of wood, straw and bones.
 
 
“So, what soul did you offer to our deity today, my virile land devourer ?” Gwendoe asked as she gazed teasingly in her husband's eyes. “A lost one. Some pagan I met on the way to the pit.” Nemo replied, softly stretching. The woman, only covered by a bed sheet, poked several points on the reachable side of her lover's gut, “Are they still…?”. “Let’s check it…” Her swole soulmate grunted, before giving a firm smack on his stomach. As Gwendoe let her palm pressed against the bulging flesh mass, she could feel the weakened yet still present movements of Nemo’s last prey. “Swal has yet to take their soul to his rift…” she smiled.
 
 
Nemo puts his hand on her belly in turn, “And how is our future warrior feeling in there ?”. Gwendoe laughed as she curved her back, in an attempt to make her eight month pregnant belly even more prominent, “They’re concentrating their strength to impress dad once they get out of here !”. Nemo laughed “Good. He shall become a great fighter under his older brother’s reign !”
 
 
They blow the torches before letting the silence of the night settle as they drift asleep…
 
 
It was still dark when Nemo woke up from the building squirms coming from his gut. “What’s happening in there ?... he should be gone by now…” he murmured. “Indeed he is. He already came to my rift and is now resting close to me…” The half asleep leader immediately straightens in his bed, surprised by a voice he hadn’t heard for years, “You’re back !”. “I never left.” Swal grumbled through Nemo’s abdomen. “You and your kind have been very effective over the last years… My dimension and myself are now filled with pulsing souls, resting for eternity at my service…” “But though your harvest has been fruitful… My rift still lacks a form of soul, the purest one… One that wasn’t scratched by the hurtful hands of life.” Nemo asked, “ And where can I provide you a soul like this ?”. “One of those souls is still forming right under your nose… take a look at your wife…” The gorged man turned his head to look at Gwendoe, beautifully sleeping between the silk blankets. “When this baby will be born, their perfect spirit will be given to me…by you.”. “What ??” Nemo protested. “Indeed, you will eat this newborn before the dawn of their birth day… so I can welcome their flawless essence into my lair…”. “No… I can’t !” the prophet protested again, “ I can’t eat my own child !”. “You’d then dare to disobey me and break our pact ?” “If such a thing was to happen, I’d have to take back what I gave you many years ago, I’d throw disarray onto your village and I’d surely bring you back to your knees just like when we met…” “The choice is up to you…”. “You never mentioned anything like this !” Nemo started to raise his voice. “Your belly may be full, but your head rattles with emptiness… I told you I’d come for a payback… Do as I say or bring demise over the Wamezaji once again…”. Nemo’s belly burbled a last time before the silence of the night came back. Nemo was breathing heavily as another voice started talking. ” Hmmm, who are you talking to…?” Gwendoe murmured as she moved under the bed sheet, her eyes still closed. “Noone, honey… I just had a nightmare…” the agitated man baffled.
 
 
Gwendoe rolled to her side, drifting back to sleep. Nemo was overlooking her, a worried look pointed at his wife’s belly, while his own let a long audible growl out…
 
 
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Gwendoe was clinging to the bed sheet, her screams being heard from the outsides of the hut. Three weeks after Swal's last appearance; her child was ready to see the world. As the shaman was surveying the birth, Nemo stood next to her, holding his wife's hand so she could press on. Though this moment should have been one of complete joy and exaltation, a glimpse of concern and firmness was still perceptible on his face.
 
 
The once again new father had had his whole mind focused on a terrible dilemma. But did he really had a choice at some point ? He couldn’t risk the fate of the whole tribe for the life of just one. He was going to eat his own child, for the sake of everyone else.
 
 
‘’It’s a boy, Mlaji Kubwa ! You’ve just had a second son !” exclaimed the shaman as he held the baby in his arms. Nemo reluctantly smiled as he took the baby the sorcerer handed him. He hold his new son against his chest and felt his insides subtily squirming, “Remember…Before dawn…”.
 
 
In the early afternoon, as the whole tribe was napping over the feast prepared for this glorious day, Nemo sneaked back to his hut. Gwendoe, still recovering from her hard work, was sleeping on their bed. Next to her rested a straw braided basket. As he approached the strongly conceived utensil, the sneaky father could see his son, wrapped in many ragged sheets, his sleeping face looking so relaxed. “See? This is the face of a pure soul…” murmured Swal, breaking the relaxing sight who managed to appease Nemo’s mind for a few seconds. Nemo didn’t respond and simply grabbed the basket before leaving the hut.
 
 
He had walked for about an hour, when Nemo finally reached the pic of a cliff. He sat on a rock and laid the basket next to him. A few meters above was standing a small shrine, made out of stones, sticks, and hyena bones. Sitting in the blazing sun, the air was heavy with the heatness of the afternoon and echoing sneerings in the background. “Just like you did seven years ago…When you first experienced my gift of consumption… Give me this soul and the Wamezaji will be cleared out of their debt to me…” Nemo kept staring at the small altar, the first tribute ever rose to his deity, out of the remains of his first prey…
 
 
The night had just settled when Gwendoe finally found the strength to get up from her bed. As her blurred vision finally cleared out, she was surprised to see that her son had disappeared from the hut. She got out and started to look around. “Where’s Nemo ??” she asked a few warriors patrolling, trying to contain her growing panic. The soldier shrugged out of their ignorance and Gwendoe kept walking at a fast pace across the village.
 
 
Her worried demeanor finally relaxed when she reached the Chief’s Hut. By the side entrance, she could see her husband, deeply seated in his throne, the basket of their child placed on the table siding it. Though the night had engulfed everything in the darkness, the torches siding the throne were softly lighting the ruler and his surroundings. “Is our little boy doing good with his daddy?” she said with a relieved smile on her face. She came closer to her husband, but upon searching the straw miniature bed, she found nothing under the light fabric rolled inside. “Where is he ? Where’s our child ?” she asked Nemo, insistently looking at him. Nemo kept gazing in the void and blandly replied “Do not worry, he’s with me… He’s learning the hard law of Swal…”, his hand tenderly rubbing his swollen stomach. Gwendoe's eyes stopped looking at her husband's face to lay on the distended bump she hadn’t noticed in Nemo’s lap. Finally understanding the bloatedness of Nemo’s belly, her eyes widened when she saw it experience small lumps on its surface. “Please, tell me it’s just another meal kicking in there…” she shakingly asked, fearing for an answer. “Yes, the meal our son has sadly become… A pure soul to appease Swal hunger… A pure soul sacrificed to save the Wamezaji”. Nemo finally found the strength to look at her in the eyes, “Your belly exists to give life to this world, mine was transformed to take it. It’s the vicious cycle of Swal’s Cult…”
 
 
Gwendoe did her best to contain the mixture of panic and powerlessness overwhelming her, before eventually leaving. Nemo stayed awake the whole night. He kept company to his son as they were both experiencing a fate they had not expected…