Djemi History

Taken From "First Book"

Before the men came, us djemi used to live in the caves on an island. We do not know where this island was because that was before we were given our gift. I remember these caves well as I spent most of my life in them. There was an entire community of tunnels that all connected in the heart of the island's mountain. We were a community that lived to help one another and so it was when the men found us. We were not smart enough to realize to stay away from these foreign creatures so in the night while they slept we climbed out to where the ground is soft and the stars shined over our heads to investigate the new visitors to our home. The man who was watching first saw us then alerted his comrades. They found us docile and were quick to pack a few of our more curious brothers and sisters into their wooden caves and take them away. They did not return for many cycles of dark and bright but when they did they brought many more men.

I remember the first time I saw a man was then. They came into my cave and herded us out with fire. The sun made our eyes hurt and we were eager to move into the wooden caves where it was dark. The wooden caves felt strange under our feet. Hard and moist. We could not imagine that they would want to hurt us so we went along with them without resisting. We were on the wooden caves for a long time, many of my siblings didn't survive. Many more were burned in the bright sun. and when we were herded out of the caves (thankfully it was at night) Me and my siblings were led out and inspected by a human, a female. The men bowed to her and showed her much respect, We understood that the respect was for us as well as her, we couldn't have been more wrong. 

That was the first time we had chains clasped onto us,we are strong so we didn't mind their weight, we thought they were gifts at first. Then we were lotted off and sent to the homes of their elite in order to serve them. I was kept at the docks in order to move fish from one wooden cave to another. If I was unable to do this fast enough I was whipped. Everyday I was pulled out onto the docks when the sun was low in the sky, even then it hurt us but we had the motivation of the whip to keep us running. The pace they demanded was practically a sprint they had seen how fast we were able to move and they wanted nothing less. They would pack my back with as much as three barrels of fish and I would have to sprint over a kilometer to the fishery and sprint back. It was exhausting work and I would repeat this until the rising sun was too much for the djemi to bear. Then we were packed underground and made to work hauling out the dredge and rock from mines that other djemi had spent the night digging. We would be given one bright of sleep after every ten cycles.

After many months of work for these creatures I was loaded up again onto one of the wooden caves and made to pull an oar through the water. I pulled with everything I had in order to help out the people who we thought were friends to the djemi. Every time the cuffs of the chains began to tear at my hands I would try to fix them I would be given lashes and I would be made to pull even harder. After cycles of this I would be given time to rest. We were given plenty of time to sleep and to be honest it was better than working the docks. During our sleep we would all dream of our home's caves. It was there that the figure appeared to me. It was neither man nor djemi. Even when I looked right at it all I was able to see is a figure. My mind could process what I was seeing. Then he handed me the gift and for a moment I saw him. His eyes drew the whole of my new found attention. They were black, not in the same way a djemi's eyes are black either. A djemi's eye's are coloured black, his eyes were black because there was nothing else there. Then he was gone and I was suddenly woken. The wooden caves were clear and everything I saw was comprehensible after that. I even noted their language. After a while I was even able to understand most of their words and mimic a few when there was no one around.

Sharing the gift was a simple task, all I had to do was Lay my hand on another djemi and they would receive it. They were able to pass it on after that just as I was and soon all the djemi in the cave were gifted. We picked up their language together, Everything we learned was multiplied when we were able to discus it together in our own tongue. We were finally able to see our torture. How much we were hurt, we remembered. It became our mission to learn how to escape, and to get our revenge for our siblings. We had learned everything we could from the depths of the cave and when we were brought up to clean the deck we were able to learn even more. Always more, learning was an addiction and we all took to it, learning and teaching and being taught. Then came the time that we reached Shirria. We had learned what we needed to break free and we were able to see that this place would be a fitting new home. So it was there that we made our stand. That is where we made the first steps in our revolution.