Copyright, all rights reserved. You may not reproduce this work anywhere without the express permission of the author. This is purely a work of fiction, though the location exists, all other components are the result of my boredom. Just read and enjoy. Cheers.

The tour bus meandered its way slowly through the narrow highway. Well-appointed with distinguished tourists, it was the first public tour of an infant company, an ambitious project by an equally ambitious young man, with an ego the size of a comet.
Born of Nigerian parents in Benin City, James Omoregie had completed both his primary and secondary education in Nigeria before going to study finance at Harvard University. James had graduated Summa Cum Laude and had offers from quite a number of Fortune 500 companies, but in a move that stunned his family, he decided to return to Nigeria and invest in the tourism sector by starting the first tour bus company. His plan was to expand his line of tour operations to all the tourism hotspots in the country, and expose the otherwise hidden gems of Nigeria’s hinterlands. His company LeisureRoads had already raised a huge sum in investor funding and he had ploughed it into setting up shop with headquarters in Benin City.
This first tour had generated a lot of buzz, and to ensure the excitement remained and the novelty of the idea still remained fresh, he had conscripted a local celebrity from the blossoming Nigerian movie industry to be one of the guests on this first tour. The destination for the tour today was the mythical Osogbo grove in Osun state, a site that was unique in its art form, and yet had remained a mysterious puzzle, a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma for a long time.
The bus was a brand new luxury RV specially brought in from Chicago for this purpose, gleaming white, it was streaked on both sides by the company logo, a prancing pony with its hind leg firmly on the earth, staring forward. At the front seat beside the driver sat the young CEO, wearing an anxious look on his face. He had at various times been described as geeky, nerdy and plain. He had a face that could easily be forgotten in a crowd, and he stood at just five feet and five inches. But what he lacked in physical features, he more than made up for in the strength of his intellect and the size of his ambition. He was ready for business in Nigeria and prepared to take on any new or perceived opponents. He was really nervous about this trip and he hoped to ensure that everything went according to plan.

.

Standing beside him and facing the audience was Miranda. She was his executive assistant on this project and she was serving as the tour guide on this particular journey. Her father was Caucasian and her mother was Yoruba, but she had spent most of her life in the states. She had spent the last week holed up in her study in her suburban Texas residence, studying and doing last minute research on the phenomenon they were about to encounter, flying in only the day before to participate in this tour. Physically, she was quite an attractive woman with her veritable mix of races accentuating her soft features. She spoke with a slight Texan drawl, which made James wonder just about how much of her guests really understood, but it seemed most of them were caught on by her physical appearance. During the last few months she had worked closely with him, she had always favored official business suits, but for this occasion, she had on a pair of white shorts which did justice to her long legs and a plain t-shirt, bunched around her torso.
She was delivering a short preparatory lecture on the grove to the audience and they seemed to be hanging on her every word.
‘’The Osogbo grove is the last remaining of the sacred groves which used to be a part of every Yoruba settlement’’ she was saying ‘’there are about forty different shrines here and a river flows around it. This grove was almost lost to development but thanks to the work of Susan Wenger, it has expanded and is being totally maintained. It is a sacred grove dedicated to the goddess Osun and every year people from around the world who are her devotees troop down here to celebrate the Osun festival.’’
Her lecture was interrupted by a hand shooting up from the back of the bus. It was from a heavy set banker from somewhere in the northern part of the country.
‘’Yes Mr Hassan?’’ she responded to his cue, scanning through her passenger manifest to remember his name
‘’Yes madam, I heard only virgins attend the festival. Is that true?’’
There was a small chuckle from his corner and Miranda responded with a smile on her face’’
‘’I don’t think there will be many participants if that were true’’ She responded tartly
The chuckle was replaced by a loud guffaw and even James managed a smile.
‘’However,’’ she continued ‘’There is a longstanding tradition that a virgin lady must carry the ceremonial pot to the grove during the festival. She is called the Arugba’’
Another hand shot up from the back. It was the movie star, Tom Macaulay, a suave name for an equally handsome young man. He was a god on the screen, and rumors had it that he had changed his name from an ethnic one to his present one in order to modernize his appeal.
‘’Hey pretty lady, do you think they will let me shoot one of my blockbuster movies there? I could feature you in it if you wish’’ He winked at Miranda
Obviously, finesse was not one of his strong points, and Miranda was appalled at his brazen approach, but bellied it under a veneer of calm and professionalism.
‘’I am sure you have to seek approval from the government. You do know this is a UNESCO protected site?’’
That shut him up for a while as he struggled to remember the meaning of UNESCO.
A small mousy woman from the front row raised her hand nervously and asked.
‘’I heard there is a demon that eats peoples flesh there. Is it a fact?’’
There was a remarkable silence in the bus as fear crept unnaturally up the passengers’ spines, but it was dispelled by the mirth in Miranda’s voice as she laughed and answered
‘’There are a dozen tasteful fruits in there, I think any demon will prefer that’’
There was a nervous laugh from the crowd as the tension quickly dissipated, but no one in that bus could predict just how prophetic those ominous words would turn out to be.

kindly let me know if you are following.

It took all of two hours from the beginning of the journey till they got to their destination. The plan was to disembark at the rendezvous point and meet up with their tour guide a few kilometers from the grove and hike rest of the journey. At this time of the year, there was little if any activity at the grove, and James was hoping for a bit of privacy with his small group to conduct his tour and zoom off. Quick and easy was his motto for this trip, and he intended to wrap things up before evening in order to have ample time to return to civilization.
The first sign of things going way off plan was seen when they arrived at the rendezvous point. It was a clearing a few meters off the mostly deserted expressway with a weather beaten foot path leading through a tortuous route to the grove. The clearing was covered by dense canopies of baobab and mahogany, blocking out the penetrating rays of the sun, though it was barely nine o’clock in the morning, the ambience of the forest, complete with the call of monkeys and wild birds was at best eerie. The sparse tendrils of sunlight that snaked past the dense foliage provided the only source of light, though it had the additional effect of creating spooky shadows which bounced off the trees.
The bus rolled to a stop at the clearing, and dislodged its occupants who seemed a bit hesitant to disembark. In total there were twenty people on board the vehicle. James and Miranda were joined by Felix, the tech guy for the organization, as well as four thick set youth who hardly spoke a word of English, who had been recruited from the closest town to serve as trail guides and security. James had not been able to remember any of their names, he left that task to his trusted assistant. The driver was an old man they called General. No one really knew what his real name was, but he claimed to have served during the war and enjoyed every opportunity to regale his audience with gory tales of survival during those tumultuous years. At first, James had got into an argument with Miranda over her choice of chauffer, but she had prevailed in her decision. Not only was he a native of the area, he had a good knowledge of the roads and his claim of being an ex-service man was the icing on the cake.
“Look at it this way” Miranda had told him “we are paying a driver but we are getting a complete package of an ex-soldier who knows the terrain. It’s a win win for us”
James was forced to see the logic in her statement, but not before muttering under his breath something about fossils. Miranda knew when to ignore him.
Thirteen tourists were participating in this trip. Tom was the actor who never missed an opportunity to let everyone know who he was. He was already getting on the other passengers nerves with his abrasive personality. He had spent the entire journey talking loudly and usually unintelligently at many issues raised, hence they were relieved getting as far away from him as possible. In addition, there was the banker from the north, Mallam Sule, an ebullient individual whose talent for snide remarks and comments had endeared him to not a few co-passengers. The small woman who had asked the question in the bus was Naomi, a senior teacher in a secondary school. Teaching did not pay as much as she had expected so she had to save for months to make this trip. There was also a set of twin ladies who had pretty much kept to themselves, consequently, precious little was known about them. A new couple on honeymoon, an old lady who never stopped talking about her children in Germany and a few university students; who managed to stiff arm James for a students’ discount made up the fair assortment on that chilly morning.
As the group disembarked from the bus, James looked around for the trusted guide he had recruited personally and who had given him assurance that he would meet them at that spot, but as yet, he was nowhere to be found. There was a note of panic in his voice as he reached out to Miranda where she was standing and whispered desperately in her ears;
“I arranged for the tour guide to meet us here. Where is he?”
Miranda quickly scanned the environment and whispered back in low tones
“It’s obvious he has disappointed us”
James could see his well laid plans collapsing before his very eyes. Before he could show any visible signs of despair however, the ever resourceful Miranda took charge of the situation as she addressed the group.
“Welcome to the mysterious forest that borders our destination. You will each be handed a survival kit that contains enough food and water for the rest of the day. We are going to cross a river to get there and I will be showing you the sites when we get there so… lets go”
The group got prepared to make the journey inside the forest with the guides leading the way.
James heaved a sigh of relief as everything seemed to be falling into place. He glanced at his phone and noticed that there was no network coverage at this part of the forest. He shoved his phone back in his pocket, taking up the rear of the group and glancing one final time at the deserted expressway, followed them into the heart of the forest.

The sun was high in the sky when they finally made it to the grove. Checking his watch, he discovered they had spent about an hour on the way there. It would have taken far less time if Felix had not stopped at any tree he thought was notable and demanded that group photographs be taken. There was also the snag when the old lady had refused blatantly to cross the bridge connecting the grove and the forest. To her, it was a rickety contraption and she was afraid of breaking her old legs. At the end, one of the guards had to carry her across, though she kept screaming till she got to the other side, scaring off all the animals within a two kilometer radius.
“So much for observing the wildlife” James thought wryly within himself.
Arriving at the grove was almost like stepping into a different world. Where before, there had only been dense foliage and running streams, there was now out of nowhere a sprawling Neanderthal civilization. A collective gasp of awe rose from the throats of all the members of the group as their eyes beheld the ancient wonder. From the little of it they could see from their vantage point; a lowland on the eastern side of the flowing stream, the grove seemed to be made up of well decorated ancient huts, replete with carvings of miniature humans, animals and scary spirit creatures. The huts stretched round in a giant semicircle for as far as the eyes could see. The foliage here was sparse, the rays of the rising sun penetrating every crevice of the groove, glistening off the walls of the well preserved huts, causing the entire grove to shimmer and glitter in an outer worldly fashion. Drinking in this sight could take all of the day, and James quickly took charge of his group.
‘’Welcome to the last of the sacred groves that once dotted the entire landscape of this region. We will now separate into groups so we can explore further and when we are done we will assemble here again in preparation for departure’’ He said.
‘’Feel free to take pictures if you need to, but whatever you do, do not remove anything from here. It is a protected site. Thank you’’ Miranda added as she shepherded the tourists into three larger groups for easier navigation.
She would be handling one of the groups together with two of the guides while James would be taking one guide and the last group was herded by Felix, who seemed nonplussed at the sudden thrust of responsibility. Miranda had Tom Macauly, and the old woman in her group, along with a couple of students. The twins and Naomi along with two female students completed the group under James while the rest of the students and Mallam Sule went along with Felix.
After a few minutes to get acquainted with the members of their group, they each fanned out, their cameras clicking away as they went in different directions.
At the head of her group, Miranda was very disturbed. She had been told that at this time of the year, the grove was mostly devoid of much human activity. However, what she least expected was not to see a single human being there. From the initial contacts she had made with management of the area, she was told that she would find an old keeper close to the entrance, an ancient man who had dedicated his existence to ensure the grove was kept in pristine condition. He was so far nowhere to be seen as was no other human person. In addition, the sounds of the forest birds and wild animals which were rampant when they were in the forest had paled to a far off indistinct chatter. Miranda could not shake off the feeling that they were unwelcome intruders.
Behind her, Tom was remarkably silent. He had been quite chatty during the trip and so his silence was unusual. He was thinking hard, the gears in his brain turning at double speed. The truth was that acting was not paying off as it used to. Moreover, his days as an A-list actor were fast coming to an end with the emergence of younger stars in the industry. He still had appearances to keep up and he was in a financial mess. His love for wild women and booze did nothing to help the situation. He needed a lifeline, and when he heard of this trip, he had decided to take it as a means to clear his head. Coming here however had presented a different opportunity to him. Looking at this historical site, he just knew that there had to be something of immense value that he could obtain from here and sell off on the black artifact market. He still had contacts in the artistic community that would facilitate the transaction he just had to keep his eyes open for an opportunity to present itself. Coupled with the realization that they were the only ones in the grove at that time, he knew the odds were in his favor.
The little group came upon it suddenly as they rounded a sharp bend bordered on both sides by ceremonial huts. It was at the center of an open square, driven deep into the earth, weather beaten but every intricate design still obvious. Miranda had heard of it, but had not been prepared to see it up close. Opa Oranmiyan, the staff of the gods. Mythology had it that it was given by the gods to the first man to walk the earth. It was believed to have magical powers, and was treated with utmost reverence by the inhabitants of the city. The group inched closer to the staff, each of them drawn to it like a magnet. Ad they got closer, they could make out the intricate design on the glistening object of birds and animals as well as unreadable hieroglyphics. From the back of the group where he was standing, Tom smiled. Bingo, he thought. This will do.
They spent the next few minutes taking pictures and discussing the relevance of what was before then, and as the novelty wore off, they moved away to the next point of interest. So deeply engrossed in their sightseeing that they did not notice that Tom was lagging behind. When they had gone quite a distance away, he looped back to the staff, looking around furtively, he fished out an old carving knife from his pocket and got to work cutting off the head of the old staff. It took him a while, but when he was done, it fit nicely in his bag, and smiling like a maniac, he stole away carefully ensuring not to leave a trail, as he began his solitary journey to the bus.
. .
Deep in the bowels of the earth, underneath the burial hut in the sacred grove, a rumbling could be heard as an ancient power awoke, disturbed by filthy humans, its mission, recover and exterminate. Ebora with a savage growl had been disturbed.

aprokomania come and continue this lovely masterpiece naa,nairalanders are solidly behind.

Nostradamus:
aprokomania come and continue this lovely masterpiece naa,nairalanders are solidly behind.

thanks boss
will update soon
didn't know anyone even liked it