TITLE: The Tri-paternal Son EPISODE: 18 AUTHOR: Mynd As Ojoade rose to his feet, he realized that he could not really stand as even though he felt the energy within him grow, his body could not contain it and he sat down on the bank, his breathe was heavy and eyesight, dim. The clouds which formed as a result of the hammer were clearing out and the rays from the evening sun could be seen at their edges. The voices of the plants around him had gone quiet during the confrontation as even plants have fear within them. The air was still and charged at the same time while silence was everywhere. It was like there was a blanket of the area and it was gradually being removed as some of the plants started raisingtheir voices again. First the ones which were hurting screamed and then gradually, the healthy ones came around too. The river which was quiet as a result of the sudden increase in its temperature too regained her voice and she wailed and complained of the treatment melted at her by the parties. Ojoade remained sitting where he was without even stirring. He looked around and he was satisfied at his actions. He had waited and practiced all these years for the time something would come up and he did not fail. He had sent the creature into the abyss and that was all that mattered right now. he looked around and found the container where he put some water earlier and he took it to his mouth, he took a drink while still sitting and he felt some his strength come back. His arms started gaining strength and his eyesight was returning gradually. He did not realize the extent of the damage he had caused until he looked around well and saw patches of burning plants on the floor, the river had pulled back from the bank close to where the lightning struck while there was a huge black circle on the ground. The whole area was filled with an atmosphere of the aftermath of a huge fire and yet only a small spot was affected. Ojoade thought of sitting there to rest a little but decided against it, it would be better he found shade behind a strong tree as the plants and animals around the area were scared and it would be best to let them recover. It was good that most of them had short memory and as soon as they healed, they forget and forgive all harm done to them. Even the rivers and springs forget as time goes by. He got up and picked his bag. He checked to make sure the content were untouched as that was the chief purpose of him coming to the forest and it will be a pity if he had destroyed them in his fight. As he turned to walk away, he heard the river’s voice clearly as she cried out; “Why have you done this to us? You have killed some of my children swimming in me and my friends growing you also killed and we did not do anything to provoke you. I even gave you nourishment because I never thought you could be of harm and now you turn around without even saying sorry. Is that how wicked the heart of man is?” Ojoade turned startled. He had never heard a river spoke to him before and he always thought they don’t speak. He had heard them sing and call out to travelers to drink but never had one spoken to him “I am very sorry for any harm done to any of you. It was not my intention but that thing would have killed me and done worse to you if I did not protect myself so I was in a way also protecting you. I have met it in battle before and the scene left many plants and animals dead. Even humans were not spared. It is wicked and has no sympathy for anything but itself” Ojoade barely finished speaking when he heard a cold voice from a corner around him say; “You lie human. Did you even listen to what it had to say before bringing down justice on it? Did you try to see if it will harm you as you claimed? You just assumed that because it was evil once, it would always be evil” Ojoade looked around for the voice speaking and accusing him but he did not see anything, the voice was clearly not that of a plant or the river itself. There was another being around whose presence was hidden from him. He made a complete circle then he felt a presence around him. But it did not have a specific direction. Then he heard voices all around. Voices of a lot of beings speaking at the same time and all were speaking all around him. He formed his ring immediately as he brought the hammer back to his hand. Immediately the ring was formed, he began to differentiate the energy around him and realized that he was surrounded by spirits similar to the one he had just slayed. They were all around him but hiding probably scared f his hammer of just waiting for the right time to attack him. For a brief moment, he felt a string of fear pass though him but he tried hard not to allow it show, he kept making the ring stronger and waiting for when they will make themselves seen because he was sure there was no way they could attack him without showing themselves Ojoade also feared for his health. He knows his body is weak and he cannot fight for long else his body will give way. His power might be endless but his physical strength was not so waiting for them to show up might not be a great idea. A thought crept into his head and he acted to it immediately. Just because he could not see the did not mean he could not strike at them, if he pulled down a lightning bold which is scattered, he might hit some of them and that would reduce their number. If they did not show themselves, he would simply strike at them in the blind until they all ran away. He raised the hammer up and bolts of lightning gathered in the clouds which had formed in the sky, he held it for some seconds and even the hammer itself became so charger, bolts escaped its surface and flewinto the surrounding. He was about bringing down the hammer when he heard a familiar voice “Don’t waste your strength fighting us thunderer. You should save it for the real enemy” The voice that said it was unmistaken to Ojoade as only one creature has that cold icy voice which carried hatred in them and it was the creature he thought he had sent intooblivion some minutes ago. “Put the hammer down and we can discuss this. We are not here to fight you but to ask you to join us and fight an evil that is plaguing your home” Suddenly, he saw the creature standing in front of him, its cloaks as dark as usual and the face totally hidden, there were creatures which looked like it too all around, some were on the trees and some were hovering about the allowing the wind to toss them around. Your home is threatened with death and your people are in danger. The form of danger that cannot be fought by humans alone and you will need our help to conquer this evil. Ojoade stood with the hammer still raised and it kept getting charged. He could now feel the physical strain of carrying the hammer as the energy within it increased and the intensity in the charged clouds also increased. If he brought the hammer down right then, he knew he would hit each and every one of them and send them into the abyss but they did not look like they wanted to fight him, instead, they just stood there waiting for his decision. He brought it down slowly but did not leave the power within it as he might need to call on the bolt at any point. “What is wrong with my home and why would you offer to help me? You would be please if everyone died would you not?” The creature did not raise its head neither did it say anything but a voice replied him from one of the creatures “Because your home is also home to us. We live in the rocks and trees all over the same place you call home and that is under threat right now so we had to fight for it. Unfortunately this type of threat is too strongto fight alone so we need to come together” Ojoade spoke back; “Why should I even listen to what you have tosay? For all I know, you might be lying and trying to make me drop my guard” “That might be true but I assure you, we are not trying to kill you. Something stirs backhome and you need to get back fast before allis lost. Many of us here are still served by families and we have sworn to protect them so we cannot just leave them to their peril even if it means the end of us but we have to fight to win and with you, the chance is greater” With this, the creature picked up a leave and threw it towards Ojoade and said The myth says I cannot harm a human which I am bonded to and this leave as a gift mean I am bonded with you. A gift from a spirit means I have sworn to serve and protect you so you can be sure that we are not going to harm you or let you come to harm if we can avoid it Ojoade stood there surprised because not only did this creature offer him a leave but the other spirits were holding one thing or another to him. At first he thought it was a trick, they had to have a plan to attack him soon and the gift thing would only serve as diversion and they would soon show their plans. He thought of what the creature said about his home which he also shared with them being in trouble and his mind went to Tunde, if there was trouble at home, Tunde would be in trouble too but he had left home just days ago and there did not seem to be any trouble. In fact the only event of importance was the blast and the blast wouldnot be the first that would be done. He looked from one creature to another and he remembered the old myth where it is said that a spirit binds itself to you when it offers you a gift. That was how men got spirits to serve their families in the old days and once the spirits were bonded to the family, they never leave them. They are bonded to the families and protect them as long as the family serve them and feed them. He looked at them all and something inside him told himthat he had to believe them. The fact that none of them had tried to even come forward was surprising though. The ring of energy was still around him and he said; “Okay I accept. Now what evil do you say is happening back home and why would beings like you fight to save it?” “You seem to forget that a lot of us are bonded with families and we serve them but this evil has come as a threat to them all and we must fight it else we lose our purpose. Some of us like the one you just tried to destroy, don’t have a family but he lives in a rock there and that rock is under threat so you see we have to fight to survive right now” He then wondered how the creature was able to survive his attack so he turned to it and asked; “How were you able to survive that bolt? It struck and I saw it” The creature said; “You did not hit me, you hit another creature which I place there in place of me to see if you still had your powers and you could control it, we had to be sure you still wield the power we thought you wield before we could approach out” Now, Ojoade’s curiosity was raised as he asked; “What evil is at home that made you so scared?” The initial response he got was silence and then the creature which had spoken to him earlier responded. How do we explain this to you? “Well you can start from the beginning and stop at the end because if I don’t know what this is about, what makes you think I will follow you anywhere?” Not even if you are told your son is also in danger? At the mention of his son, something stirred within Ojoade. “What has happened to him?” “We cannot say but one thing is certain and that is everyone back home is in the danger of death. We have to go back to face this danger together or else we will all fall before it individually” Ojoade’s mind ran back home to his son and for once, he did not bother to think of what the danger was. “That must mean we have to get back fast. It took me days to get here and we better get going now so we don’t arrive too late” “We spirits don’t travel like you mortals do. One of us will carry you and we would be back there in minutes, instead of the days it will take you to travel back on your feet” No sooner had he said that that one of them came forward and his shaped turned into that of a horse. Ojoade stood in front of it but hesitated to get on its back. “I understand that you beings can travel through solid objects without the object obstructing you but I have a human body and the same laws don’t apply to me” Ojoade said, looking around at them. The horse replied to him. “I am not traveling by land, this river passes through a forest close to home and we will ride the river. Then we get down and we get on another river which takes us to the base of the hill which you call home. We thought it will be wise if you went home first just in the event that you need to take any of your charms and amulet” Ojoade got on the horse as the spirit got on the river and the world seemed to pass Ojoade by at speeds he never knew possible. ************************************ Naturally, Lekan would have thought he was in some kind of dream or someone was playing a joke on him but the conditions inside the room were too real. The air was still and he could smell on himself the smoke from the fire in the forest he was running from. He heard a sound as the window shut tight and nothing else seemed to matter. He tried to scream but there was no sound from his mouth as he felt his saliva go dry. The woman was dressed in a sort of loose gown and her face looked old but her arms looked like that of someone who was just in her prime. Her eyes were red and her nostrils seemed larger than normal with each breath looking like flames. Those eyes. As red as the blood that he saw in the cabin where his men laid dead. Her arms hung at her sides and the finger nails were long and curvy. The sight to him looked like he was in a dream or trance but the pain in his ankles told him better. She got to where he laid down and circled around his head then went back to the back. Lekan looked up and saw her coming towards him again but this time, the wind in the room picked up. Plates fell of a cupboard and the window was closing and opening at a high frequency. The space between her fingers were engulfed in a bright light that illuminated her arms as it there was an electric bulb there and that was when Lekan remembered that he was still carrying the gun he picked from his office. He got on his knees, pulled the gun out, pointed it at her and squeezed the trigger. The gun was a semi automatic so he had to release the trigger then push it again before another round could be fired and he did that perfectly in quick succession as the room was filled with the sound from the gun. The woman still came towards him and this time, her speed increase while Lekan continued shooting. He kept on firing until he heard a click signifying that the gun was empty. The woman was now close to him and Lekan made a quick dash for the door when he heard her fall to the ground. Lekan turned around slowly and saw her on the floor motionless as the wind inside the room stopped and the window opened. he first thought of running out but he remembered the fire that chased him inside but the thought of what he saw in the hut too scared him. He walked towards the door and the smell of the burning forest hit him once again and he decided against it. “At least, I could tame this evil” he thought to himself as he turned around. He walked towards the body of the woman cautiously until he was standing above her. She did not appear to be breathing as her chest was still. The color of her skin was pale white as though she had no blood within her veins. Her fingernails which was long some moments ago seemed normal and he began to wonder if he had imagined the whole thing. He began to doubt him seeing her fly because she looked like someone who had died in the room sometime ago but the broken dishes on the floor was evidence he did not imagine anything. He walked away from her and started to examine the room, nothing seemed out of place, it looked like where an old woman who lived alone would stay. He walked inside and examined the pots and the mat on the floor and they all looked normal. He kept his inspection on until he heard a voice behind him. “You thought you killed me. You were wrong”. It is said that no matter what happens, the blood inside the veins of a living human under normal health conditions cannot freeze, except a cold liquid is passed directly into the veins but at that moment, Lekan felt his blood go cold, every hair on his body stood up and his head felt heavy. He felt his heart stop and a very unfamiliar chill ran down his spine from his brain. A sudden fear took over him and he felt his own hands shake as a result. It was a long time since he had known fear but this day was beginning to become all he did not expect. With his back still turned at the voice, and the door which was the only means of escaping the room, he thought of what he could do even though his brain was useless at that point. His mind ran to his gun and that was when he realized that his brain had become completely useless. For starters, he already dropped the gun beside the woman, secondly, the gun was empty already and thirdly, he just emptied a full clip on her and she did not die so what is the assurance that the gun would come in handy? It would be pointless thinking of the gun as the line of thought should be how to walk out of the house unharmed and sane. He stood still, not moving, fearing for the worst but still his mind did not want to accept what was happening. An image flashed in his head and he imagined those long nails he had seen earlier digging deep into his back and he slowly turned around. It took him a long time before he could completely turn around as he was overcome by fear and unwillingness to accept what was happening. He looked up and saw the woman’s head at the same level with his. There was no doubt that the old woman was either floating or she standing on a small stood because when he had seen her body on the floor, she looked bent over but now, it looked like she was the same height as him. Her face was white again and her eyes were red almost looking as though they were on fire. Her whole face looked like a portrait; too unreal, but again, real. The wind inside the hut had picked up again but he could not feel it as his nerve endings were pulling away from his skin and he was beginning to lose it when he heard her speak some words he could not understand. The words sounded like the local dialect but he could not make out the words. She raised he left hand and brought it forwards towards Lekan and he saw the light between her fingers come towards his face when his brain decided it had had enough and Lekan slipped into darkness. ****************************** The spirit carried Ojoade through the course of the river and the voice of the river filled his head. He looked around him and saw that there were more spirit creatures than he originally thought. Most of them flew across the land not hindered by physical obstructions, the just went through the trees and everything else. Within minutes, Ojoade heard familiar voices which he knew was the almost silent voice of the plants around his village. He was surprised that they could have covered that much distance in such little time and the spirit got off the river and started to walk across the land. The spirit turned its horse like head to him. “The journey will be slower as we make for the next river” “I thought you are a shape-shifter, can’t you just change to a giant bird and fly across?” At this time, the creature which had addressed Ojoade at the clearing, the one he fought, was beside them. “We would have loved to do that but we have to stay close to the ground, we don’t know who and what might be lurking around” Ojoade agreed with them as they made their way across the bush and Ojoade felt his physical strength return. He had not dissipated the ring of energy around him even though the spirits were bounded to him, he did not believe they would keep their oath and he was ready to fight them at any time. They walked for some minutes as the night slowly crept around them until they got to another river and continued their journey at superhuman speed. The stones, while in Ifaferanmi’s hands were brownish but immediately they left his hand, turned white. For the brief moment that they were in the air, the stones emitted a form of light from within and when they hit the ground, they stuck to it. They did not turn and bounce around like stones normally do. Ifaferanmi on his part did not move, he just sat in front of the stone with his face turned down, watching them. All around the room, the atmosphere changed. There was a new source of energy from nowhere and everything seemed to develop a mind of its own. The bones piled up in one corner were floating around and the roof seemed like it would be blown upwards as it caved in, as though something was pushing it out but still, Ifaferanmi did not move. He just sat there watching the stones. The butcher obviously worried about the events moved closer to the elder and said in a voice that betrayed his fear “What is happening?” The elder who was also scared but hid his fear better replied. “I don’t know. But I know there is a message for us”. Suddenly, the chalk on the floor lit up and went in flames so Ifaferanmi was enclosed in a ring of fire and the members moved back while only the elder stayed close it. Although the fire was high, the elder noticed that it was not burning and no heat came from it. He turned back towards his members. “You don’t have to move back, it is harmless. There is nothing to fear” He hardly finished when he heard a female voice. “You have everything to fear and much more” The man drifted through time and space and did not really know what happened for the time he was knocked out but suddenly, he felt a light hit his eyes. The light came with a strange voice which was humming in some language he understood but her voice was barely audible, perhaps it was his brain which was not working well he thought. Then the light was obstructed by an object, the light seemed to be bright for because he saw the red color of the insides of his eyelids when his eyes were closed. He opened his eyes slowly without thought to what made him loose consciousness. His eyes opened slowly to see a face staring down at him. The face looked female and old and just as he began to grasp the face he remembered the floating woman and his gun. He was without memory of all that had happened prior to the time he entered the room and even after. He did not remember shooting at woman and that she got up and was about to touch him. His eyes focused on her face and he saw that it was the same face that had tried to touch him which sent him into oblivion. The same face was looking down at him but this time he was elevated. Either that or she was kneeling down in front of him. He blinked wishing it was all a bad dream but when his eyes opened, she was still there looking into him and then suddenly, her face was gone as she moved her head away. The head was replaced with a little bowl which was brought to his head and he heard a voice. The same voice that spoke some words to him before he fainted. But these memories seemed strange like they happened centuries ago The voice said clearly; “Can you raise your head? If you can, do that and take this drink. It will help you feel better” Like a child who was instructed by a nurse, Lekan elevated his head a little and the bowl was brought to his mouth and tilted so a sector was between his lips and a hot burning liquid flowed into his mouth. He triedto tighten his lips so as to stop anymore fromentering but as though the person could readhis mind, she spoke out again; “You have to drink it all so your mind can focus. It tastes bad I know but you have to drink it” He parted his lips in obedience once again and more of the liquid flowed in. he felt like vomiting and his throat was burning and his tongue protested the bitter taste of the liquid.The horrid smell went through his air duct to his nose and the smell made his brain twig. He felt his consciousness return at an incredible speed as suddenly, he could not remember what he was doing there but he sat up quickly using his hand to block the bowl from delivering and further. He looked around and saw that he was in thesame room but he was on a bed. He turned to see who his nurse was but she had turnedaround to place the bowl in another corner. He looked at her and she looked the same was the person who was flying around looked but she looked bent and he began to feel like he had been dreaming. She bent down to place the bowl on the ground and she turned around saying; “Your strength will return to you fast. But youwill have to drink some more later. The roots are the best for bringing back the minds of those who are petrified” Lekan placed his legs on the ground as he wanted to test his legs and see if he would be able to use them in case he needed to run from what had happened previously but it still felt more like a dream. He placed his shoeless feet on the ground and felt the cold floor. Strength came to his legs as he planted them firmly into the ground. The woman was now looking at him and she said; “I see you feel strong in your legs. I had to take your shoes off when I was carrying you to the bed; I placed them over there if you need them.” Pointing in the direction of the door. The cold floor is good for you though. Get more strength into you that way, you need asmuch fresh air as possible. Lekan smelt something afar as though there was a fire and the smoke smelt fresh. He looked towards her and said; “What is burning?” “There is a bush fire; a terrible one and you were running from it when you ran into my house” He felt his mouth move again; “I must have fainted as a result of the smoke into my lungs” The woman came closer to him and asked; “You need to take in fresh air but unfortunately, the air outside is fouled with smoke from the fire and it will do you no good. You should stay her until morning and you will get your strength back. With any luck,it will rain this night and the fires will stop” The woman continued; “Do you remember what happened before the fire? Who started it and how it spread so fast?” Lekan tried to see how it all happened without luck. His brain was trying its best to help out but it was stuck on some facts. He knew he had seen the woman and she tried to touch him. She had been flying around the room where he now sat on the bed but it was inconceivable. People don’t fly. To be continued in the morning. Gudnyt
Posted on: Sat, 04 Oct 2014 21:48:26 +0000