The Return of the Universal Tamer Chapter 2-My Name Is Kudzai Mhike

The present day was a pleasant era, well sculpted with the appearance of a cosmopolitan and bustling modern city. It was the true definition of fine engineering and exquisite architectural appeal. The city of the current era was unfortunately burdened with constant overcast and intermittent rains and at times, heavy storms. However, though nature had given it the cold shoulder, the city thrived on serenity and a socioeconomic stability that even had those considered dirt poor by propriety's standards to be plump and scarce of starvation. This was the loot from the past wars, the emblem of the fruit of their labour. It was a city known as Sky Colossus, a city bound in a peninsula with thriving naval activities and rich marine life. It was the central intelligence of a federation of 4 nations that called themselves the Tamerians, for they had tamed their enemies and obstacles of the past. Such was the establishment of the victors of the old war, a victory they relished with gluttonous tongues.

The accolades of the forefathers of this city did not engulf the mind of Kudzai Mhike, the 14 year old with dreams of becoming a renowned film maker, free from his father's intransigent set path for his life. As one destined to be involved in the military, taking over from his father, he wished to allude such a dreaded fate. Little did Kudzai know that his exposition into existence was meant neither for his father's aspirations nor for his pa.s.sion for the arts. The world on the other hand had bigger plans for him and soon he would realize that life had cultivated him for greater conquests. Conquests he would only achieve through his own personal journey as an adolescent in Sky Colossus.

Kudzai lived at the out skirts of the inner city, in an area close to the peninsula sh.o.r.es, but not remotely detached from town life. He was the son of a vice admiral, and thus his house reflected the setup that would be expected from a military family. Kudzai's home was like a fortress: imposing walls encompa.s.sed the vicinity like a dot inside a ma.s.sive square. There were gun men posted on each corner of the walls, the kind that gave the impression that they would shoot first, no questions asked. High calibre anti-tank turrets were all allocated to each corner of the wall. Tower lights and a few military personnel did their rounds, guarding and patrolling the Mhike estate, an element that made the house feel like a facility than an actual home. This excessiveness was a product of Kudzai Mhike's father's insatiable desire to have his home secure and protected. It was a commendable quality, but one that went beyond reasonable limits. The outlying out posts that were 100metres away from the main house did not do well to ease the already set intimidating atmosphere that the well-armed men gave at the gate: RPGs were displayed with no shame and heavy a.r.s.enal was flaunted outwardly as if they were at a gun expo. These were all now nonent.i.ties to Kudzai who was brought up in this estranged environment. His relations.h.i.+p with the patrol officers was no different from how anyone from a normal home interacted with their gardener; it was purely not a spectacle in his eyes. His house on the other hand was quite picturesque, a beautiful mansion that to his mother's credit, blended well with the jar head tone, but still looked like a cutting edge design fit for wealthy people. The lavish balconies with uniquely designed banisters that had ancient Greek inscriptions with limestone and marble being its key components, was without a doubt, spellbinding. The air conditioners were mounted near sections of the walls that were close to windows. The swimming pool was covered by a black fibre net, showing emphasis on how house hold order was the norm at the Mhika estate. All the hostile and exquisite household features of the home gave off an ambivalent vibe, but this was not the case for those who resided in the house.

Kudzai had a consistent habit of waking up at 5:00am for his usual light work outs in his bedroom. His brother, Tendai, usually woke up about the same time to pump some steel, a tradition that made them bond as siblings. Kudzai had the consistent routine that involved:

3X100push ups
3X200situps
3X100tricep dips
3X50squats with dumbbells

It was something he grew accustomed to, having been raised by a father who believed that inversion drills were a good pa.s.s time for an 8 year old. The sweat drenched his body; however, his natural musk didn't give off a repugnant odour, something he had to owe to his genes. After he completed the task, he began to stretch his muscles at the same time as he heard his brother's grunts and subtle moans due to benching 140kgs. It always puzzled Kudzai that his brother could do a full weight lifting workout session without having anyone place the weights on him in the reposed bench pressing position. The fact that Tendai did 5 sets of 30reps, working on his chest, shoulder, biceps, triceps and 180kgs on squats, 250kgs on dead lifts, made him feel so mortified. His brother was an evenly toned muscular athlete with somehow an austere but pleasant face, almond eyes, a chiselled nose and a high and tight haircut which was relaxed. Tendai didn't do exercises side by side with his little brother for he feared that his prowess would greatly belittle the youngster. Kudzai's workout session to him was purely light to him. Nevertheless, he still admitted that even an adult would have a hard time doing his brother's 900 sit ups everyday routine. After cooling down, Kudzai, the ebony, and light in complexion 5.9 feet tall, toned, and athletic boy, left the s.p.a.cious corner of his room that made any type of body workouts applicable. His curly combed black perm had always given him the pretty boy look, which his brother at times jeered as effeminate for a son of a vice Admiral. Kudzai barely took the jokes seriously and always replied, "Girls these days like metros.e.xual men." Tendai was always left speechless upon hearing such a defence and blamed it on the advent of popular culture. As he moved from his corner, he dropped his 6kg dumbbells on top of his bed, which was against the wall on the right side of the room. His room, which he shared with his older brother, was a rectangular prism with two opposite adjoining rooms, one being the bathroom and the other being the fun room where all the gym equipment, home theatres, and video games were allocated. The man cave had pictures of Reverie's finest movie stars, a hobby of Kudzai who had a desire to flood the walls with blockbuster trivia. The fitted wooden shelves and ledges on Kudzai's side had lots of fiction based books and non-fiction film and acting books. These things were complemented with trophies and awards for sports like fencing, swimming, primary school gymnastics, basketball, athletics, and shooting. These were extra-curricular activities he cherished, but he was wise enough to not over indulge in all forms of sports, as he knew all too well the importance of balance. His side of the wall also had pictures of him and his brother fis.h.i.+ng, wearing swimming trunks at a barbecue after a swim and one of him flexing his once flabby muscles as a kid alongside his brawny brother. These were memories he cherished and were the things that made him smile whenever he was in a bad mood. In contrast to his beloved interests, his brother's bed, which was directly opposite his own, leaving a valley like s.p.a.ce in the middle, had a totally contrasting aura compared to his side. The ledges and the shelves had his car keys, a Ford GT40 to be exact, and a box of cards, which was a facade for it really contained condoms. Weird tokens and statues from other federation countries that Tendai got from travelling around the world and trophies from sports like VR (Virtual Reality) hunting, rugby, athletics and tennis, were all fitted to his side of the room. Wallpapers of scantily dressed super models, fast cars of the present futuristic time and self-motivational wallpapers were common on Tendai's side of the bed. The door to the hall way was close to Tendai's bed, which was a translucent sliding screen door. It was always an issue when people entered without knocking for Tendai; he had to always deal with the morning jump scares from time to time, which disturbed his rest. Due to having been instilled with an appreciation for interior design by their mother, the plywood walls were varnished, the ceramic black and white tiles were complemented by the incandescent light bulbs. This was all the boys' initiative. Their sense of style coming from their mother's side and sense of order from their relentless father, in the end made their butler Morgan Freed feel as if he was of no use to them at all.

"Brother you gotta teach me the secret to lifting planets," he said, as he trotted to the door, which could only show Tendai's legs due to it being slightly open.
"I told you that it's too early for you to do so, your bones still need to develop before you can even consider heavy stuff."
"Come on, cut the c.r.a.p, we both know that there is a secret to lifting such without using your taming abilities." he said, pus.h.i.+ng the door wide open. Tendai had just completed his set, but unlike his young brother, he reeked of foul things after a workout. Kudzai ignored the foul stench and proceeded to converse with him.
"Come on brother, real talk."
"Since you insist, do you know why that comic book hero captain America is such an awesome hero?" asked Tendai, in a patronizing manner.
"Because he beats people with a steel frisbee?"
"No silly, he just took the ultimate steroid injection and became the man!" he said, chuckling at the absurdity of his remark. Kudzai couldn't help but laugh.
"Well brother I want to grow naturally and attain the strength without cheating."
"My dear boy, um not telling you to get horse growth hormones, um telling you that since you're eager to jump to my level, take supplements, and then become a monster. If you take that advice I honestly see you posing for Muscle magazine in a red speedo."
"Always with the early morning addition of 'Tendai with the burns', I thought you weren't into drugs?"
"It's an aid not a health hazard, take some when you now want to seriously lift planets... lift me up," he said, raising his hand for Kudzai to lift. Kudzai yanked him up, but was startled by the grip of his brother's hand which had latched onto his hand, almost crus.h.i.+ng his fingers.
"Hey cave man, ease up on the grip."
"Oh sorry about that," he said, releasing the grip once his body was upright, "but I have to admit though, it's the first day of school at St.Calteco high, and you exercise as if it's just another day. Aren't you at least happy that you're going to a mixed school?"
"Um not gonna become a philanderer like dad, um gonna be different."
"I know how you feel and I feel sorry for mom, but um not asking you to be a player, but have fun at school. At least we can forget about last year."
"Don't worry bro, I won't give anyone a concussion at your old high school, I won't let that happen again."
"Hey that kid said some nasty stuff to you so you don't have to feel bad if you didn't know your own strength." he said, with a grin, showing no concern at all for the boy his brother punched at his former school. Kudzai realized that his brother would always be on his side not matter what, even if he felt responsible for having over exerted himself over something like giving his cla.s.smate a concussion.
"Hey Tendai, dad had to go for that meeting and state security conference in the North federation. Do you have an idea when he is coming back?"
"Probably in 2 weeks' time, I hope you're not hoping to be engrossed in mischief."
"Look who's talking, says the guy who had Melissa McCarthy b.u.t.t naked in the house. You know that Barbara's mental image of you is now messed up right?"
"Okay, okay, um not a saint, but we can't have two bad boys in the house, being genuinely good is your gambit."
"If you say so boy scout. On another note...," he says, changing his tone from being jovial to something more meek and stoic, "Tendai, I know that in the past years we settled to change our destinies and to be free from dad's iron clad rule and um happy that we have both decided to follow our pa.s.sions and to strengthen our resolve. How far with your side of the plans bro?"

Kudzai had struck a chord when he had begun to talk about the things that had personally strengthened their bonds as brothers. Both Kudzai and Tendai were sons of a well renowned war hero of the past war who was now ranked as vice Admiral in the navy. Their father was autocratic and patriarchal in the sense that he believed that his sons had to carry on his legacy: the Mhike military family hegemony. However, they had their own individual aspirations for life; Kudzai wanting to be a film maker and his brother wanting to venture into the IT and business management world. Regardless of their set goals, their father was of a contrary mind towards their beliefs. Though their father insisted on their involvement in the military, from a logical based stand point, their father wasn't entirely wrong. For one, Kudzai and Tendai were groomed into a military and soldier like upbringing. Their father at one point made them live in a barrack for 6 months as part of their so called 'grooming'. Regardless of the number of the myriad award ceremonies, tours to dock yards and various military inst.i.tutions they had grown up seeing, their aversion to their father's plans lied not entirely on their individual desires but mostly on their mutual hatred for the man. To the world, he was a hero, but within closed doors, he had many disturbing skeletons that his immediate family only knew about.

"Don't worry bro, with the money I made from my friend Matthew's AI interface project, I can safely begin operation moving out. Even if dad b.i.t.c.hes, he won't be able to do anything about it because I would have made it on my own. He won't use guilt or the same old 'you're using my money' line to confine me."
"That's great bro, your words make me want to work hard," he says, gleefully with a hint of emotion, "I think we can prove the world wrong and follow our dreams." This made Tendai warm inside, seeing his brother support him without question, the definition of unconditional loyalty.
"Well, the other part of the plan is me being loaded enough to take care of you and getting you to film school and whatever crazy things you want to do. Our father might be uncompromising, but if you work hard and I work hard we can make the dream come to life." The dream! The dream! It was always what they both wanted to achieve, the euphoria that came from believing and taking baby steps to achieving it. The dream was the only subject that drove Kudzai into an effeminate state of softness, for in his mind, his dreams were more real and larger than life itself. The small talk eventually digressed to girls, lewd talk and his favourite TV shows that he enjoyed watching with his brother. Music and video games were the last of what was discussed. The time spent on idle talk pa.s.sed until it was almost 6:00am. It was about that time that Kudzai had to go take a bath and prepare for his first day at his new school. In form one he had gone to an all-boys boarding school that had made him constantly grapple with seniors who wanted to size him up by using seniority. This unfortunately ended with most of them being sent to the infirmary after a brutal beating. His last offense at his former school involved him dislodging another boy's jaw after punching him in the face for having said something offensive to him. He was expelled and got the beating of a life time from his father. This was now a new term for Kudzai and as he soaked himself in the warmth of the shower, was.h.i.+ng away the grime and sweat, he had only positive prospects for his first day at school.