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Evenings on Asamu Island were continued chopping down the tree. The
filled with nothing but bird chirpings and islanders were wailing, begging them to
cricket singing. Except for tonight, it was stop at once. But their pleas were to no
anything but tranquil. Parachutes were avail, the troops did not understand, nor
seen coming down from above, the loud did they care about their hand signs, the
stomping of heavy-duty boots, and the islanders did not comprehend the troops’
grating voice of the superior commander alien language. Ultimately, the tree fell.
yelling “Go! Go! Go!” disrupted the The islanders ran out of tears, and the
melancholy of the night. With no ears, troops acquired what they had come for,
hearing was not something the Iradaus endless diamonds. Inside the tree, there
people were familiar with. The arrival of the were virgin diamonds that had yet to see
pale-skin intruders, with olive-coloured the face of Earth, formed over millions of
eyes was brought to attention when the years.
islanders were forcefully removed from
their homes. Blinded by sackcloth, the Now that the troops had gotten what
now turned hostages Iradaus people lost they wanted, the islanders were merely
two senses. With no concept of friend or futile objects waiting for their demise. The
Nibif’s foul, they were left dumbfounded, as to islanders did not falter when facing their
death albeit the troops’ cruel and inhumane
why they were being attacked, and why
there were people from the outside world.
ways of torturing. To the Iradaus people,
Gift were removed. Horror was written all the Nibif tree was what they lived for.
At the break of dawn, the blindfolds
With their homeland destroyed, choosing
death was liberation, it was the only way
over the Islanders’ faces’. Hundreds and
and reunite with their tribe.
thousands of animals laid breathless in to embrace the arms of Nibif once again,
Written by Benedict Koo front of them, some with missing tusks,
skin or even tails. Some of the creatures’ To this day, no one knows where
jaws were still open, signalling a gruesome Asamu Island is on the map. The tales of
For millennia, the Iradaus people and its branches are used to build shrines. death that left them in agony. The islanders the Iradaus people are left untold and the
had been living peacefully and silently in Wild animals and plants depend on the were beginning to be aware of their mythical creatures native to the island
the woods of Asamu Island. Disconnected tree for food, and in return their withered situations, a few of them tried to untie remain native. Thousands of years have
from modern society, their lives were and lifeless bodies will eventually return themselves. It did not take the troops passed since the attack, green leaves
modest, but nevertheless happy. Living to the arms of the Nibif tree, repaying long enough to notice them and throw have started to sprout near the Nibif tree.
in an autarky system, the Iradaus were the kindness of the tree in the form of punches at them without mercy. It was not Whether it was caused by the remains
isolated from outside trades, religions, nutrients and fertilisers. The Nibif tree the people, nor the animals that attracted of the inhabitants, or the intruders, one
languages, and belief systems. nurtured life on the island, it was a beacon the soldiers, it was the tree. thing’s for certain, is that life will always
of hope and identity for the islanders. The find a way.
Yet, they were never truly alone. Iradaus tradition of sacrificial ceremony A dozen of troops swung their
The Iradaus souls are connected to one took place annually where children of age axes directly towards the Nibif tree’s
another through a sacred tree, as the locals gifted both their ears to the tree, in hopes trunk, their cheeks turning apple red as
called it, the Nibif tree. Its leaves cure of getting blessed by the almighty entity. sweat dripped down. When the soldiers
scarlet fever, its roots provide fertile land, got exhausted, another batch of troops
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