Kalifa Ramla

**Kalifa Ramla** is a major character in the **Into the Dark** *series*, Dante's former mentor and teacher who is responsible for training, educating and preparing him. Born into Sierra Leone her village was besieged in a civil war between the rebels and the government forces, she is eventually recruited into a rebel battalion where she becomes a child soldier and rape victim of her Commandant. Eventually the majority of the rebels are cornered and forced to surrender to the UN troops leading to Kalifa attending missionary school and eventually being sponsored to emigrate to the United States of America. Due to her experience she quickly finds employment as a member of the elite criminal organization as an assassin and a black market arms saleswoman, while keeping her cover as a real estate saleswoamn. It was during this tenor that she meets Dante.

## Biography

Early Life as a Guerrilla Combatant
A civil war is breaking out in Sierra Leone. A young girl, Kalifa, lives in a small village with her mother, father, older sister and baby brother. Kalifa's village is located within a buffer zone enforced by ECOMOG troops. The family (and subsuquently the village) is informed that the government has fallen to a coup d'etat and military-aligned rebels have seized control of the country. With rebel forces headed towards the village, many people flee the country for safety. Kalifa's father buys safe transport for his wife and youngest child, but has to stay behind with Kalifa and his eldest daughter. Rebel and government ravage the village. While the rebel soldiers flee, government forces stay to round up the remaining "rebels". Kalifa's father and older sister choose to surrender willingly to give her a chance to flee. The commanding officer forces Kalifa's father to watch as the other soldiers rape Kalifa's sister in front of him (which Kalifa sees). Horrified Kalifa escapes into the jungle.

After wandering for an unspecified amount of time, Kalifa is caught up in a guerrilla skirmish. The Revolutionary Democractic People's Front (RDPF), a rising rebel faction in the country, adopts the scarred child into their ranks. Initally she assists the rebels by translating, preparing food and doing other odd jobs, however, the Commandant, their battalion commander takes Kalia under his wing to become a child soldier. Following an intense initiation process where she is forced to butcher a captive enemy soldier in "revenge" for the deaths of her family with a machete, she becomes a fully-fledged member of the revolutionary militia group. Kalifa becomes stronger and more hardened overtime adjusting to this new life of constant war. One night, the Commandant summons Kalifa into his quarters and rapes her. Ella, another of the Commandant's rape victims, comforts her as she feels betrayed and broken. Preacher an older soldier, gives Kalifa brown-brown and various other drugs to lift her mood.

Kalifa and Ella take part in a number of bloody battles and ambushes over the course of the guerrilla warfare campaign. The battalion's victories earn them a summons to the rebel headquarters, where the Commandant, accompanied by Preacher, Kalifa, Ella and a few other soldiers, go to meet with the RDPF faction leader, Dada Goodblood. Goodblood informs the Commandant that the United Nations is becoming more aware of the civil war and thus he is now stripped of his command. The Commandant's lieutenant, Preacher, will take control of the battalion, and the Commandant will be given a staff position under the rebel leader. The Commandant views this as an insult, and leaves to "celebrate" his lieutenant's promotion at a brothel. While the soldiers (except for Agu and Strika) spend the night with the brothel's women, one of the women fatally shoots Two I-C. The prostitute professes that it was an accident, but the Commandant and his men shoot the women and leave the city with the battalion.

Now on the run from their own faction as well as their enemies, the battalion suffers heavy losses. Airstrikes and supply shortages kill many of them, including Ella. The remaining members of the battalion take shelter at a gold mine for several months, hoping to find gold to pay for supplies. Ammunition runs out, leaving the group with no way to defend themselves from encroaching enemy forces.

The younger members of the battalion are sent to a missionary school in a safe part of the country. Agu stays away from the other children, who play games and enjoy the comfort and safety of the school. Agu is tormented by what has happened, and has nightmares about it. After much time has passed, Agu tells the school's counselor that he has done some terrible things, which he fears will make her see him as a "beast." Instead he tells of how he used to be a good boy from a family who loved him. The final scene shows Agu finally joining the other boys as they swim and play in the ocean.

At the age of fifteen, Sheva was sponsored and offered a new life in the United States, given a new passport and a seat on a private jet with one of the missionary teachers as her legal guardian.

## Personality

Kalifa has a sadistic personality, having no remorse in slaughtering soldiers of the United States National Guard, agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation or members of the Atomwaffen Division showing happiness when inflicting pain on them. Like her mother, Kalifa has a very sharp intuition about the feelings and desires of people, which she exploits to the fullest manipulating others into helping her cause as seen with Noro, Kanae and Seidou.

Her twisted personality is mainly due to the abusive nature of her father and overall harsh upbringing. According to Lt. Dante Bishop, she is a woman filled with despair and intense hatred towards the world around her, having abandoned hope long ago. Although this is mostly true, she strongly believes in creating a society where ghouls will not be persecuted for existing is worth fighting for and will do anything to fulfill this ambition, regardless of what she has to do.

## Skills and Abilities

Kalifa is a formidable martial artist and one of the strongest people in the **Into the Dark** *series*. She is a master of White Lotus Kung Fu, which is considered to be the deadliest style in the world. Her skill and combat prowess was noted to rival Carmelo Jones who was known throughout the world as the best martial artist and swordfighter in the world. Kalifa was easily able to defeat Dante Bishop initially, who is a skilled martial artist in his own right as well as killing the man who taught her White Lotus kung Fu.

Luna is also skilled in tracking, camouflage and eavesdropping, and has access to guns, grenades, and a combat knife, implying that she has received military training as well.