The weekend flew by like a shooting star, so busy that they'd both woken up late on monday morning, her mother had taken her out on a spending spree the day before, from the hair dressers, the spa, to the shopping mall and then to the movies, ending the day by returning her seized cell phone back to her.
They'd both yelled simultaneously from their rooms as they checked the clocks by their bed side, and rushed to dress up, in spite of everything, her mother still managed to make a sandwich for the two of them as she impatiently ushered her into the car, dropped her just in time at her school, and wheeled off without a backward glance.
Her friends were already there to escort her in as they laughed and shared weekend stories, shrieking with glee at the return of her confiscated phone, but instead of leading her through the school gate straight to classes like they did in first day, they led her instead through the school’s main corridor to the old ad
After the movie, they strolled noisily to the fast food café as they argued over the movie causing quite a stir.“So” Ayuba drawled, drawing her attention, “Am I forgiven?’’“Err, depends on what you did,’’ Omotola replied smiling.He was about to reply when she suddenly heard someone yelled her name with so much force, startling and cutting everybody mid sentences.The shoppers stopped to stare with their mouths wide open. A familiar looking youth strolled towards them, his tall frame and gold curls appeared out of place, they moved from his path as he made a beeline for the teenagers.Somewhere at the back of her mind faintly recognise him, also noticing he had no wing at his back, “was he supposed to have wings? Who does?” his shrunken face was far from healthy but his eyes burned with so much intensity as he called her name again.“Omotola snap out of this, all this isn’t real,’
She woke up before the rest of her senses, for a moment she panicked as she tried to take control of her petrified body.“She’s coming around’’ she heard Logan said."Omotola can you hear me?" she heard Binta cried, “Follow my voice, don’t let go.’’“Will you keep quiet,’’ Logan’s voice snapped, “don’t distract her, she needs time to take back control of her body.’’Following Logan’s advice, she willed her body back into motion and was rewarded as she felt her legs began to twitch; soon she was able to pull herself up.“You’re doing good Omo,’’ another voice she couldn’t identify said soothingly, “pull out the catheter carefully guys, she’s already choking.’’Omotola coughed as she willed her eyes open.She was waist deep in a pod filled with some sticky fluid, the fluid were all over her body, gulping precious oxygen, she sobbed in relieve as she felt her wings sti
‘’I am going to kill Mugabe,’’ Orchid growled as she struggled to clamber out, Obiora moved forward to assist his twin, lifting her bodily from the pod.“Get in line,’’ they all answered her in unison.“Sorry to interrupt the reunion guys but we have the whole Askari guards approaching on our floor.’’ Binta cried, her eyes colour back to their normal hue."Then we have to get out of here fast, Omotola said urgently "Amaka, time to redeem yourself, lead us out of the institute, you know what will happen to us, and Babybaby if we’re taken again.“That could have been possible before the alarm systems went off,’’ Amaka replied wringing her hands in fright; “the whole building automatically shuts down on itself, no one goes up or down.’’“What do you mean up, we want to go out, not up,’’ Omotola snapped,“You don’t understand’’ she cried; the institute is miles under the earth surface.’
Obiora charged, his crimson wings flaming, one of the sentinel thumped forward to meet him, their clash sent shockwaves throughout the length of the chamber.The robot sentinel recovered first and sent Obiora flying with an uppercut then moved towards his sprawled figure mechanically without giving him a chance to recover.Orchid dived to cover her twin, sending icy shards across the floor to slow it down while they all pulled back towards the chamber doors."Ouch, I think a tooth is loosed," Obiora groaned as the robot marched back to join it's partner."Serves you right for jumping straight in without a plan," Shettima chided. "Good thing they're not programmed to leave the chamber but we don't have time to spare either.""So what do we do?""Obiora, Binta and Orchid will distract them while I cloak the rest of us invisible, we'll then try sneak past, just try to buy us enough tim
The moat of simmering liquid looks to have been expanded; the doctors probably didn’t want to take any more chances. Shango sat waiting in the middle of the cage, an arm round a raised knee; his burning wings the only thing moving as they fanned lazily at his back.“You children must really love punishment to be back here so soon or Mugabe must be losing his touch.’’"No time for banter old man, we need to get you free or we’re done for, believe me, you were the last plan on the list.’’ Omotola said as she hurried round his circular confinement checking out the cell.Shango's laughter was full and gay.Amaka, Babybaby's handler stared up at him, both awed and petrified.He chuckled again, watching the sentinel's struggle with Orchid and co. "Your siblings are not doing too well am afraid, you are running out of time."Shettima winced at the sound of a sentinel slam dunked Obiora, he
The sentinel barreled toward Obiora and plowed unto his midriff with its shoulders, Obiora huffed as he was lifted up and the robot began to squeeze, with a roar he raise both his clasped fists up and smashed down on the sentinel's exposed shoulders. The impact buckled it nearly unto it's knees, stunned, it dropped Obiora who hurled punches at the Sentinel's armoured chest in rapid succession sending chirps of metal flying, the robot's visor gleamed as Obiora stopped his attack and backpedalled knowing what was coming, the laser beam gained the Sentinel a moment respite as Obiora took to the air, with a roar he will up the largest flame he'd ever created and flung it down at the robot.It recovered quickly, it's mechanical arm whirled and the hand was replaced by a foot long chain saw. Obiora dodged a swing meant to decapitate him, pivoted around a round house kick, he then grabbed the sentinel around the waist in a supplex hold and heaved.The sent
“Greetings Mugabe son of Mugabe,’’ his deep voice cut through the bleak silence like razor, “you have a reckoning to answer for, from the son of Oranmiyan, prepare to be judged.’’“All I have done, I did for science and how to make the world better, and yes I will do again given the chance.’’ Mugabe glared up at Shango in defiance, betrayed only by the tremor in his voice.“At the cost of my own freedom, freewill and years of pain,’’ Shango bristled, defend thy case better, mortal for your life and that of your people hangs in the balance.’’The doctor glanced back at his colleagues, for once emotion flashed through his impassive face.“The decisions was mine and mine alone demon,’’ he said, ‘’they were just following orders, my own grandfather started this project, the feud is between you and I pagan god.’’Shango growled. “the one who stole the keg of palm oil from the ledge from whence it was kep
Captain Idahosa groaned as the institute alarms wailed, there goes his uneventful afternoon."What's the status command tower," he growled over the comm device."Code red captain," a bored voice replied.He groaned again, those damn abnormal children, it irks him to call them children, as though they were any normal, they're responsible for 70 percent alarm activity in the institute since he got drafted to the askari.After the last encounter with them he had thought they'd at least get a few months of respite until the doctor's got rid of them, he had felt a grim sense of satisfaction after the askari overpowered the lot of them a few weeks ago, with their supposed superior strengths, his squad had portrayed the reason why they were elites, why would anyone need those pompous feathered monstrosities anyways, give his squad enough guns and they would hold the institute's most feared secret himself, the d
It was morning by the time doctor Chisom finished her story, the rest of the siblings save for Babybaby met them in the middle of the story telling and had joined in to listen.“You now see why I reacted that way when I first knew who you really were back in my office,” the high priestess address the youths with a grave voice. “In every age that a child of Shango was born in, Chaos was sure to follow, and in my era, there are six of you, actually there seem to be more of you out there somewhere.”They all looked up at this, mutual expressions of bemusement on each of their faces as they exchanged looks, Shettima was the first to speak up to voice out their collective thoughts. “what do you mean by more of us doctor, expect for perhaps Logan who we aren't even sure if he's still alive or not, we are all that is left of the 5th generation, the older ones died of overload.”“Presumably so because that might be what they've
From then on, the spirit of rebellion and independence began to spread throughout the kingdom. Prince Adebo was placed on the throne with the nominal title of King, but without the authority and power of a King. It was his misfortune to have come to the throne at such a time, and he held the scepter for only 130 days. Afonja the Kakanfo of Ilorin and Opele the Duke of Gbogun were the first to proclaim their independence, other chiefs soon followed their examples. This was the commencement of the break-up of the unity of the Yoruba kingdoms, and the beginning of the tribal independence. Tribute was no longer paid to the emperor, the throne’s messengers and courtiers no longer carried that dread as before, nor were they allowed to oppress people or enrich themselves with their goods as before.As the emperor's authority waned, so also the respect and deference previously paid to the citizens of the capital ceased; they were even treated disrespectfully and became the subj
She laid back, long after she had woken up, but she was not ready to open her eyes yet as she gathered her thoughts, her real body felt fragile compared to the warrior prince whom body she had shared in her dream. He was proud, powerful and had no single outa of the fear and the uncertainty that was her own reality. With a sigh she sat up to glance around the room she was sharing with Binta, it was just the second day since doctor Chisom had taken them to her home while they wait for Amadioha’s return.The high priestess/doctor was a kind host even if aloof and unpredictable with the way her personalities fluctuates at times, she lived in a large and comfortable building in the private senior lecturers quarters on the university campus ground, dropping them in to settle down while she had pretty much left them to their own device since. Omotola forced her body out of bed to see if she could find some leftovers from the large refrigerator, she had slept rather early, lon
Shortly after Olobiri’s second challenge that morning, he rounded it up by pulling down his under cloths and defecated on a Ivie branch, the emblem of Arualan’s office in the presence of the entire Benin army, an insult to his person, bringing an outcry of outrage from a hundred thousand mouths, in a blind rage, Ise had charged him unarmored and was quickly followed by the members of his age sect, not daunted; Olobiri had calmly wiped himself with the leaves, and arranged his cloths before Ise had covered the distance, stooped calmly under the sword meant for his head, grabbed hold of Ise’s midribs, broke a rib and stabbed it upward toward his heart, the poor boy had died on the spot.It had happened so fast; his sect members took it as an act of Juju sorcery and had beat a hasty retreat without bothering to retrieve his corpse.“Your boy was a fool of fools Ologboshere Obosa, Iyase Ekpengba sneered, ‘’now his bleached skull has been
Omotola felt herself once again being carried across a dusky sky on strong hardy wings, but the wings were not her own, it belonged to a white-backed vulture, she was the vulture and yet not the vulture, she felt like she was just sharing passage, just an observer and not the one behind the wheel. she soared effortlessly on; her keen gaze swept over the West African savannah below, missing nothing.A herd of gazelles leapt across the Omehrvon River, she had no idea how she came to know the river’s name but still she knew. Her host’s keen eyes watched as each herbivore tried to outleap its companion in a vain show of virility. It was mid rainy season, with plenty of supple grassland to graze on. The herd was strong and its calves healthy. A weak or ill stray for it to stalk was less likely as its gaze sought out other prey, the belly of the vulture; whose body she was currently habituating rumbled in anticipation at the thought.Next, she saw a pride of lion
Russell’s journalDec 24, 1887.It's Christmas Eve, but the festive atmosphere that was supposed to come with the spirit of yuletide is lacking, replaced instead by fear and uncertainty.Another moment of respite has allowed me a bit space to continue writing, not since the last time our sojourn had gotten more perilous, and the split between the factions that made up our party had only gotten so much worse that I am beginning to doubt if we still have the same goals or still looking for the same thing, we’d only stopped just to eat and to get some sleep.The native porters and trackers had already fled as soon as the intent was known that we were expected to enter into the sacred groove, now we spent the better part of our precious times hurling and dragging our own baggage’s behind us instead of spending it in research. Now here we are, at the mercy of the sponsor’s personal trackers and his band of unruly mercenaries.Qui
Amadioha led them through a narrow passage from the back-office corridor and stopped before a large door, he muttered a few words under his breathe before opening the door to a serene environment, a stark difference to the rowdiness they’d left behind in Onitsha market.The siblings filed out the office door as they gazed around in wonder, they knew that they are no longer in the city of Onitsha, the enormous billboard hanging in the distance informed them that they were within the campus ground of the university of Nigeria, Nsukka. The Igbo deity led them briskly down the campus walkway as they took in the sights and impressive faculty buildings, one of their professors from the institute claimed to have been from the university, like everything they’d known, their knowledge of the famous university had been from hearsay and video clips.Amadioha strolled unconcerned on through the bustle of students and other academics, it was as if they were invisible to
The light led them on to the edge of the Onitsha market just as they were sighted by another party of their pursuers. Ducking quickly into the crowded market in the hope of shaking them off among the bustle, the glimmer of light seems to pulse brighter as they drew nearer, leading them onward through the cloth merchants shops, down an alley and then to the electronic storefronts of the market where it finally settled on one of its buildings where a man stood waiting as if he was expecting them.At first, they stood unsure of their next move just as they heard the shout of the Askari guards ordering people to clear from their path. In Panick they quickened their paces until they had moved within hearing distance of the man who halted them in their tracks with a commanding voice. On closer inspection, he looked middle aged, portly and jovial looking but at that moment, his cloudy face was not looking welcoming.“I’ve been waiting for whoever’s responsib
The Askaris skidded to a stop in unison as they warily appraised their targets in defensive stances; they drew stun rods instead of the large guns strapped behind them, a safe bet that the children were still wanted in one piece; the harsh breathing from the Elite Askaris helmets visor was the thing betraying their rigid postures. One of the Askaris stepped forward as he reached up to his helmet, the tinted visor slid up with a hiss to expose his grinning face. The siblings started in recognition.It was Miguel; one of the Brazilian twins, the sparring pair at the institute drill hall. They were last seen right after Obiora had injured the both of them when his flaming feathers manifested.“You,” Obiora snarled, his long-buried resentment for his old tormentor curled up his throat.“Hello to you too amigo, still yet to have that fiery temper of yours under control?” Miguel chuckled, “I’m a little hurt my friend, you don’