Nafsi mtu alaye

Nafsi mtu alaye
~Swahili
Meaning:
Soul Eater

Gender: Unknown

Age: Unknown

Height: Roughly 3-4 ft

Weight: Roughly 45-50 kg

Bio:
Nafsi mtu alaye, a name given to this wretched creature by the local tribe in Rwanda. The “Soul Eater,” is only seen at night they say. It lurks around the shadows of the savannah with a small light leading its way. The locals say it is a soul that it suspends in the air, it’s soul. Hanging off the end, like a lure, a trap that many have sadly fallen into. The people here greatly believe in shaman magic and Nafsi mtu alaye plays off of that. It sits on the far outskirts of a village, just beyond the light and waits. The village I am visiting, Lombasa, has sadly lost many children to Nafsi mtu alaye. They go out to this radiant light, swaying back and forth, to and fro. Happily they gather food, tools, beads, to go pay tribute to this wandering soul. Singing and dancing a group set out towards the omniscient light, clapping and stomping their feet to a rhythmic tune. One raises a hand, silence falls over the small cluster. They stare out at the small orb, darting upwards to the heavens and downwards to the Earth. It starts to inch closer, ever so carefully. Inspecting these new life forms, it twists and turns around each of their legs, like a serpent. A child goes forth to grasp the light within her hands, it pulls straight back. Playfully she runs forward, no one makes a move. The light stops still suspended in silence and time above the child’s laughter. Silence, you can hear your heart beat in your ears, hear the lion’s low grunts in the distance. Two yellow eyes flick open, a low deviant laughter can be heard. The eyes are fixed, target locked. Its lips start to curl upwards, a large toothy smile stairs back. Then chaos, screaming, running, blood, sweat, tears. The small group flees back to camp, call to arms alert the whole village. By now it’s to late. One is missing, the little girl. She has disappeared along with the yellow eyes. All that can be heard is crickets now and a faint, low, bloodthirsty chuckle.
This is all that is known about Nafsi mtu alaye, not anything else. I myself am curious to know where it originated. I would love to witness this being first hand as well. The original sketch came from one of the villagers who was in the group when the attack happened. Half hyena, half anglerfish it seems. What an odd pairing, but it seems quite an efficient hunter. Perhaps it suffered the same fate as did Akrep, a creature that my group first ran across during this trek. I can only wonder what other creature’s are waiting for their stories to be told.


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Original art and story.
Done in mechanical pencil and coloured pencil.
I absolutely loved drawing this fellow and telling a short story along with it.
I hope you all enjoy viewing this beast as much as I did drawing it. c: