11/5/2024
The moon hung low, casting silver shadows across the cracked concrete and faded chalk markings of the training field. The air smelled of sweat, blood, and burning resolve. Christopher collapsed onto his back, arms splayed, chest heaving.
Kevwe leaned over him, stretching her arms lazily.
"You dey try small-small," she said with a smirk, "but e still be like say you dey dodge real pain."
Christopher turned his head, panting.
"I'm not dodging."
Kevwe snorted.
"Na lie. You dey fear. I see am for your eyes. You wan run before the fight even start."
Silence settled between them like fog.
Christopher slowly sat up, brushing dirt from his arms.
"I'm scared because I don't have powers anymore, Kevwe. I'm the only guy born in a whole matriarchal bloodline. No magic, no gifts — nothing. And now my sister's trapped. The monster who did it? She knows how to win."
Kevwe tossed him a water bottle.
"Ehn, so? You think say na power dey win war? Chris, na mind. Na grit. You dey let fear blind your eye. You be soldier, guy — whether you be man or woman."
Christopher drank slowly. Her words sat heavy on his chest like armor he didn't know how to wear.
---
Later that night, long after Kevwe had gone inside, Christopher lay on a thin mattress in the guest room. Moonlight poured through the open window, casting pale patterns across the floor. The city around him slept — but something in the stillness pulsed with unease.
The wind stirred.
A single pink petal floated in from the window. Strange.
He sat up as the petal drifted into his palm. It pulsed softly… like it was breathing.
Then, a voice —
soft, familiar, desperate.
"Christopher…"
He froze.
"I'm still here… I'm trapped in Esse's dreamweb, and I don't know how long she'll keep me here."
His breath hitched.
"She's the reason your father disappeared. I don't know how, but she's always hidden more than she lets on. This — this is bigger than us."
A long pause. Then:
"Even without your magic, you've always been the brave one. Stronger than you think. You're the only one who can reach me. The only one she fears."
Christopher clutched the glowing petal.
"Come find me… it's too late ."
The petal burned white-hot — then disintegrated into shimmering dust.
A loud bang echoed — Kevwe kicked the door open, wild-eyed, a machete in hand.
"Wetin happen? I hear voice. You dey talk to ghost?"
Christopher looked up. His voice was steady now.
"She's alive."
"Who?"
"Ehogsa. She sent me a message. Esse took my dad… and she's next. I can't let that happen."
Kevwe tilted her head, raising a brow.
"So wetin you go do now, superhero wey no get power?"
Christopher stood. The last of the glowing dust curled around his feet like a blessing.
"I'm going back. Power or not — I'm done running."
Kevwe grinned, wicked and proud.
"Ehn? Omo, this one go mad o. Better make we start dey pack."
---
12/5/2024
The sun hadn't yet risen, but the wind carried the scent of something old. Something awake.
Christopher tightened the straps on the satchel across his chest. His mother's old charm was tied to it — a torn fragment from her altar, stitched with the symbol for return.
Kevwe, barefoot, stood beside him. Her arms were folded tight, but her eyes betrayed the storm inside.
"So... na like dis you wan just waka go?" Her voice cracked. "No full plan? No backup? You dey craze."
Christopher glanced at her with a soft, tired smile.
"If I get any more plans, I'll talk myself out of it."
Kevwe exhaled sharply through her nose.
"You sure say you dey ready?"
He hesitated, then nodded.
"I don't have a choice. I don't know how long I have. Ehogsa's trapped in Esse's dreamweb — and you know how dangerous that is."
Kevwe stepped closer, placing something into his palm — a small, crude pendant shaped like a bird.
"This one na from my papa shrine. If your spirit wan scatter, this go hold am small. No too trust am, but e better pass nothing."
"Kevwe…"
"No talk. Just make sure say you no go die, you hear me so?"
She gripped his shoulder tight.
"You be the only boy wey come out this bloodline. You carry plenty wahala for back, but you no be mistake. You hear?"
Christopher's throat tightened.
"I hear. I promise."
He stepped back, then lifted his hand and whistled — a long, whispering tone that cut through the cold.
The earth trembled.
From the trees, a shimmer of mist began to form. Slowly, the creature emerged — long-limbed, ethereal, stitched with bark and bone. Its face was a mask of glimmering silver. The same creature that had rescued him from the forest that night everything fell apart.
It bowed.
Christopher looked at Kevwe one last time, then climbed onto its back.
"I'll come back with her," he said.
Kevwe wiped her face quickly.
"You better," she muttered.
The creature leapt — vanishing into the mist, wind spiraling in its wake.
---
The kitchen no longer smelled of food. Now it reeked of smoke, herbs… and burnt regret.
Esse stood over a boiling pot, fingers smeared with ash and dried blood. Her movements were precise, deliberate — every ingredient dropped like a curse. The final herb hissed as it touched the brew.
Behind her, chained to a rusted chair, Ehogsa flinched. Smoke slithered through the room like a living serpent.
"Still hiding him from me," Esse muttered through clenched teeth. "I've tried every locator spell. Every chant. Nothing."
Ehogsa coughed, her lips cracked, her eyes defiant.
"You won't find him. You can't stop him. He's special. That's why you hate him, isn't it?"
Esse didn't answer. Instead, she spat into the pot. The color shifted — from blood-red to an unnatural green. Her eyes glowed the same shade, old magic crackling through her veins.
She leaned over the cauldron, whispering in Edo:
"Christopher, fi emwen vbe oghe!"
(Christopher, show yourself!)
The brew shivered… then turned violently clear. Like water. No face. No ripple. Nothing.
Esse screamed and flung the cauldron across the room. It hit the wall with a metallic crash, a final burst of smoke hissing into the air.
"How is that possible?!" she roared. "He has no magic! There's no witch powerful enough to block this. No one—unless…"
Her voice faltered.
"Unless it's blood," she whispered.
Ehogsa smiled through her pain.
"Finally. You're not as clever as you think, sister."
Esse's lip curled.
"Mother never told anyone about him. She hid him because he was an abomination."
"A boy," Ehogsa said softly. "The only male born from our bloodline in centuries. You were jealous the moment she looked at him."
Esse spun on her, fury igniting her face.
"I hated him because of what he brought! Our father — dead! Our mother — silent. She let that man — his father — live, after what he did."
"You think Christopher's father killed our dad?" Ehogsa asked, shocked.
Esse's hands trembled.
"He didn't just kill him. He erased him. And Mother said nothing — because she had already chosen the boy. She gave up her immortality for him. For a child who should have died."
The air stilled.
Ehogsa's eyes filled with tears.
"You're not doing this for justice. You're trying to fix what nature didn't erase. That's what this is?"
Esse's voice dropped cold.
"I'm restoring balance. He is the crack in the mirror of our legacy."
From the shadows, Onome stepped forward. Her voice was calm.
"Then you'll need something stronger than blood magic."
Esse blinked.
"What?"
"Use the Obsidian Codex."
Onome crossed the room, eyes unreadable.
"Our magic is strong, yes. But that book… it's far more powerful than anything our bloodline carries. If you truly want to find him, it's your only chance."
Without another word, she disappeared into the darkness.
Esse stared at her scorched spellbook… then at Ehogsa, bruised and bleeding — but smiling.