Prologue
March 2019
Location: unknown

"We are quick to notice the cruelness of the world,
the wickedness of modern human.
But we are yet to learn about the rottenness that lies within our body,
the sickness of the heart."

The architecture of the hall reminds one of the old roman empire, with tall and strong pillars built magnificently to support the roof. The hall is spacious enough to accommodate a basketball court yet decorated with precious jewels that left one wondered how stinking rich the occupant might be.
At the center of the room was a king Arthur type round table with 8 chairs arranged in an orderly manner such that 4 chairs faced each other and at the extreme end of the table was a tall chair or what some one might call ‘’a throne” befitting a leader.
All the chairs were occupied except for one with a tag “ Mithra” in front of it, every other occupant had a tag in front of them which bear the names of the seven continents of the world “Africa, Asia, Antarctica, Europe, south America, North America, Australia
‘’let us begin , the hour has passed’’ A thunderous voice boomed out which belong to the one on the throne.
All the member stared at themselves and direct their gaze towards the empty chair, the one with the tag ‘’Mithra’’
In response to their silent question,the leader speak out again
‘’we shall wait no further, It is evident that Sigril, the custodian of Mithra will not be attending, so let's proceed, custodians’’
A silent moment passed around a while before the custodians of Asia raised his staff which signify his intention to speak , with a nod, the leader granted his request
"My lord,’’ he began in a thick accented English ‘’our political and economy sector are going as expected, the balance between the poor and rich is being maintained and no impending chaos as of that. However our environmental reports are getting scarier day by day and ... ‘’ .a rapid murmur went across the hall as other members were conversing in low tones among themselves.
A cold stare from the leader put an end to this.

The Asia custodian continued ‘’we have been receiving report of large glaciers being melted, gradual decrease of fresh water bodies and daily flooding in several areas, the mundanes have being going over it without any solutions but attribute it to the global warming phenomenon’’
The custodian of Africa also raise his staff at this point and his colleague, the Asia custodian took his seat
‘’My lord, this issue is getting worse and more troublesome, we have also been receiving numerous report about heat waves being spread across my continent, as if the sun decided to out shine itself on my people, seal level is increasing and coastal areas are being flooded, climate change is now inconsistent, we now have harmattan around july and doesn’t last more than 2 weeks; all these are also attributed as the consequence of global warming yet no solution in sight’’
Other custodians also raised their concerns, from drought and heat wave in north America to flooding and salinization of drinking water in south America, heat wave and winter flooding in europe and Australia, the culprit behind all this issue was agreed to be ‘’global warming’’
After the last speaker delivered his speech, the hall went silent for about a minute. then the voice of the leader boomed out again.
‘’custodian, you have all seen well, as the vicegerent of earth, I have foreseen this issues and also investigate fully on it; I must commend you for your due investigation however, I must also correct you from your erroneous assumption’’ he passed.
‘’the reason behind all this is not atmospheric or global warming as you all stated, it is a problem from within, the earth core temperature is increasing in a sequential mannerand this is the direct consequence of the handiwork of the people of mithra, the city in hollow earth. They have found one of the orb used in powering the multiverse and putting it to use to achieve a selfish end. The power of the orb is too much and can not be contained, thus, they are channeling the extra energy to their surroundings, the earth core., If this continue for a while earth and its inhabitants are doomed ,as when the energy of the orb is fully released, the temperate of the earth will be hundred times that of the sun , the heat will consume everything and form a gaseous layer of force around the orb"
"I have summon Sigril, the custodian of Mithra before this meting but he defied my order, being obsessed with the power of the orb. We cannot send our toops to Mithra as doing that will force Sigril to use the power of the orb against them and thus quicken earth’s destruction”
I have began searches for mundane who can go undercover to Mithra and if possible they can recover the orb,I have made some few choices to which I will pass knowledge of this meeting. Hope should not be placed on them as the probability of a successful recovery is 30%, thus,custodian, farewell to you, share no panic among your people lest hasten further destruction, let them continue battling with their erroneous assumption.
The vicegerent rise from his chair and others followed suit…..

Boom…boom…whack a heavy slap landed across my face.
‘’Kola, Wake up’’ a shrill voice yell at my face. I opened my eyes to see about ten people crowding in my little room, a quick glance at my door showed it has been broken.
‘’Iru orun wo niyen, lataana” One of my neighbor wife yelled at me.
“Mr Kola, What’s the problem, why will you drug yourself like that” An elderly man among the mini crowd retorted.
I took a glance at my wall clock and it revealed 2:45pm, then it all settled on me. I have been sleeping for more than 17 hours and a nosy neighbor who didn’t saw me observed my daily jogging alerted others and thus resulted in the whole hullabaloo.
After receiving different sermon about the bad effect of drugs and how life will still be good if I’m contemplating suicide, the neighbors dispersed.
Alone, the memory of the dream came to me as clear as crystals “Mithra… SIgril… Custodian. what type of nonsense is that, Am I okay so? Thank God its Saturday. Abegi make I go out catch fresh babe”.

More

“A drop of oil in a barrel of water,
a pinch of salt in a bag flour.
Of what importance is a single soul in the universe!
Nay, do not despair, for you are a unique brand,
a limited edition specially crafted for a task”

CHAPTER ONE
LOST

I don’t know how it started, where I was or how I got here. All I could remember at the beginning was me waking up from a deep slumber. Stepping into consciousness, all I saw was darkness, I strained my mind to grasp further but yet couldn’t reveal any form. Only then I realized my eyes were still closed. With a little effort, I pry my eyelids to disentangle from their drooling selves. A stream of white light rushed in, stimulating a thundering headache threatening to split my head open. At first all I could see were red clouds stretched in an uneven manner, not minding the aching numbness rocking my entire nervous system, I forced myself into a sitting position, I slowly observed my environment. Right opposite me, like a 100m ahead, was a barricade, no, a wall. I marveled at the structure of the unending wall, the last time I saw something like this was the documentary of the “ancient wall of china” on BBC.
“Welcome back, Leader”, A tenor voice jolt me out of thoughts. I suddenly realized, I may not be alone. A 180^o turn place me in front of six men whom I lacked description for on first sight.
Three black men of very tall height, well muscled and judging by their looks , are fit as bouncers in a Lagos night club. At the right end was an Asian guy with attire that would have made me laugh except for the knowledge of my situation and also looking at the wrapper he was holding firmly which revealed the hilt of a sword kept me in check.

At the left side of the black men was an Arab, in his mid-twenties judging by his look, putting on a stripe , colorful turban with a funny moustache that threatened to loose hold of my earlier stifled laughter. Beside him was a white boy, who based on his age and looks seems out of place in this weird crew, he was wearing a clear eye glasses that seem to rest on the stem of nose instead of shielding the eyes.
It was then that I realized that the men were also watching and scanning me through like an object of interest. A quick glance at their faces again seemed to trigger something in my head, the faces look so familiar yet I could swear I have never met this strange men before. Trying to figure out how possible for me to have seen an unseen them was my next thought when a voice jolted me out of oblivion again.
“Welcome back, Leader” one of the black men, the shortest of them yet taller than me was the one speaking. He had a familiar accent but all my thought were on the last part of his sentence “Leader”.
“So this people have a leader” I thought, with the belief that such leader would be directly behind me based on the direction they faced. I started turning, hoping to offload all the questions that have been exercising in my mind, I felt that “leader” would be my messiah out my weird predicament. I completed the turn in less than a millisecond hoping to meet the leader as fast as possible, but I was surprised at what I met in front of me.

Nothingness, well except the long wall that surrounded the horizon was what I saw. This got me annoyed. “Were they playing a prank on me?” I turn back with the intent of showing them the abusive side of me but a quick glance at their faces kill the voice in my throat.
Then the white boy stepped forward, stretched his hand out and with what seemed like an angelic moment at that moment, said “Hi, I’m Edward”.
With a glimmer of hope, I hurriedly reached out my hand to grab his. “I’m Kola” I replied.
“Who are these people? Where are we? How do we get here? What the hell is this place? and how do I get home?” I managed to rush all these questions within 2 seconds.
Edward stared at me with a confused look that made me wonder whether he is mentally touched . then as if he read my thoughts, his face dissolved into a smile, then I heard a giggle sideways, which grew louder to a kind of weird laughter. With a curios look, we all turned to the Arab to understand his source of joy.
After laughing and pointing to me for like 30seconds, he managed to speak in between the laughter .
“Is.. Is he.. Is he the leader?”
Then the three black men as if on cue join the laughter and the rest of the team followed suit.
Annoyance was an understatement to what I felt at that point. How did I become an object of ridicule? I collapsed to the floor back, my head in between my two palms covering both ear.
The splintering headache came again like an axe being delivered upon my skull, threatening to split my head into fragment and along with the headache, came my memory.
I remembered.

I will run to the northern pole
climb to the apex of 'Zuma
fight to the last drop of blood
‘cos it is me against the world.

Chapter Two
Weirdo

Date: July, 2019
Location: Ipaja, Lagos, Nigeria

I won’t bore you with details of the past but of what institute my present predicament. It all started exactly a week ago when I started having night mares about some funny but weird dude who introduced themselves as the emissaries of a shitty council. This leader I assumed [because he’s the one doing the talking] informed me to step in to a kind of dangerous wind which he called quick soil or something that the rest are waiting for me to obtain the orb. Being the fearful type I took to my heels with them in pursuit and thus I will then wake up only to find myself pushing or kicking my mattress and of course I will be on the floor. You may not see that as weird but I do because I was using a king sized mattress that is enough to contain 8 people of moderate size if they arrange themselves well. Also, the gentle sleeping type that is if I sleep with left side, I will surely wake up with it and some for the right side too.
The first time I had the dream, I ignored and thought it was the consequence of too much stress at work though I know deep inside that it was a lie.
I lived a comfortable life, completed my compulsory NYSC 8 month ago and was retained at the multinational company I served. The pay was good and the job was at supervisory level, so less stress and much perks. Also, I had no dependents, no siblings to support and my parents were well off on their own, so I had all the luck.
Give a young child a box of matches and he will make a destructive fire out of it. My own fire was the ladies working in the factory whom I was supervising. I had the cash, the looks and ready to spend both so they all strived to grace my bed every night. So the first day I had the dream, things took an embarrassing turn when “the lady of the night” was watching me delivering those violent kicks to the mattress. She later asked me before she took off whether I had epilepsy to which I nearly gave her a jonzing slap in reply if not for the vow I made never to raise my hand on a woman.

The second day came, and the scene was repeated, only this time, the girl of the night (of course, a different girl, trust your guy) was already packing her stuff and ready to abscond. When I woke up, she didn’t spend more than 5minutes of which she ensured no physical contact between us,
When I got to work that day, I started seeing people in clusters, thinking it was their usual gossiping attitude, I ignored them until I started seeing people shaking heads in my direction whenever I’m passing by, yet I paid little attention.
Later that day, while having lunch at the staff canteen, one of the casual staffwho respected a lot based on age difference and words of wisdom that sometimes emanate from his mouth, walked up to me “I’m very sorry about your health, Mr Kola” he said “I hope you’ve been to a good clinic”.
Dumbfounded, I stared at him for about 30 seconds after which I manage to reply him that I was okay and not sick.
He shifted closer to me, “No need to hide things bro, word’s all over the factory that you are epileptic”
“Who s.. said… said that..” I stuttered.
Then everything started making sense, the little gatherings in the morning, the head shaking, only me using the canteen table, no girl-girl to wink at me since I got to work.
I just stared at the idiot facing me with open mouth. “Is the world going crazy, Are you all mad?” I don’t know when I lashed out.
Having created a scene, I stormed out of the canteen and went directly to the Operations manager office asking for the rest of the day off.. I settled with my assistant and left the environment with anger still brewing in me. That was the best thing to do else I might go physical on someone and do something I may regret later.
In the comfort of my home, I had enough time to think thorough. “Am I really sick? What the hell is wrong with me?”
I took out my phone and googled the symptoms of epilepsy, I’m not having any. I also searched for “violent nightmares”, some result but does not match or fit my issues.
Why in the name of God will I fell off the mattress and be kicking it. I may need to see a psychiatrist but not immediately, I won’t be absent form work so s not to give meaning to the rumours being carried about that I was epileptic.
I continued with my normal routine except no more girl of the night, though the nightmare also continued, but it was becoming a norm. each morning, I will pick myself off the floor as if it’s normal to sleep on the bed and woke up on the floor. But on the 5th day, something else happened.

The 5th day
The nightmare came as usual, with the men making their weird request, followed by the hot pursuit. However , they caught up with me(unlike before where I woke up at that point)and warned me that I only had one day to accept their request voluntarily after which they will be forced to use any possible means to accomplish their mission. After waking up, I became more fearful, why are they giving me ultimatum? What will happen after one day? Am I going to die? God forbid, I’m yet to sample all those girl-girl in my factory? These and many thoughts are what was bombarding through my mind.
After finishing the day’s work, I decided to pay a visit to the white garment church that used to terrorize the neighborhood with their loud speaker every time they are having service. Upon entering the church, the overwhelming aura that welcome me set my mind at rest that surely my solution lies within. After waiting for like 5minutes, the busty, beautiful lady that welcomed me informed me that the oluso (shepered/pastor) is ready to see me. In my head, I was glorifying the Creator while following the lady for creating such beautiful daughter of eve. Chai! White garment babe dey fine no be lie.
I was completely engrossed in admiring the backside of this well sculpted work of the Creator that I failed to realize that I’ve been standing in front of oluso for close to a minute. A cough of attention from the oluso brought me out of my thoughts
“coughs… hmm…young man, they said you want to see me”.
I snapped out of my obsession , remembering my troubles, I quickly knelt
“Oluso, e gba mi . I have been having this crazy nightmare…” I explained the whole story to the man of God up to the ultimatum part.
After thinkin g for a while, the oluso asked me to kneel while he prayed, he later gave me some soap and candles.
“Bro Kola, you have been jinxed b some external forces. The evil ones are disturbing you, take this soap and candle. Take a bath with the soap immediately you get home and light this candle one after the other from 10pm till day break, you must not sleep till then after which you can sleep. I thanked the oluso and held the items dearly as if my life solely depend on it. I followed the instruction to the last details, observing vigil till 7am then I slept.
I woke up few minutes after 12pm.
No nightmare, no waking up on the mattress.
“ At last I’m finally free” I mused to myself .
‘’This oluso is indeed a powerful man, he is our own Elijah, Elisha all rolled into one, i must carry some serendipitous offering to him this evening . Meanwhile, I must celebrate my breakthrough and what a better way to do this than to get a girl of the day at least to compensate for my few days celibacy.”
After taking my bath, put on a clean polo and jean, I headed for a popular joint in Ayobo, planning on the way how best to spend my time without knowing that fate had other plans for me.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Ignoring the cheap ladies catcalling at the entrance of the motel, I went straight to the bar where I saw my caliber of ladies having discussion like regular friends on an outing.
Being an expert in the game, I settled for a dark tall lady with busty chest that turns men head sideways, I signaled to her using my hand and after checking me out properly, she walked up to me in a sly manner. I bargained with, stop a bike and took her home.
We hardly got inside before I started rough handling my “bountiful package”. After the pre-intimacy of kissing, smooching and the rest, we hurriedly UnCloth to take swipe at the “main course”.
Then it happened.
It started with a low rumble like a grumbling stomach, then it became louder and more louder, the walls started shaking, elongating and turning at the same time.
I couldn’t believe myself, I pinched myself hard on the thigh to make sure I wasn’t dreaming, but was surprised to see Vivian, the lady with looking scared too. Then I know, this was no dream. I made a dash for the door pulling the lady with me, only to be stopped by a whirlwind right inside my room exactly like that of my dream. Out of the mysterious whirlwind, stepped out three men, those shitty emissaries that gave me sleepless night. I nearly collapsed due to fright but Vivian could not hold it much longer, a loud thud announced to me that she has fainted.
I immediately devise an escape plan with seconds. My plan was to dive to the gap between the men and the door thus escape to safety.
AS if sensing my thoughts, two of the men position themselves against the dorm while the third man moved closer to me.
“This is it” I thought. “If I must die, it must not be an easy one”.
I summoned all the remaining courage in me and threw out a punch but the man easily caught my hand and dragged me with it directly into the whirlwind. I resisted with all my might but my effort was useless against these strange men. Immediately I got into the whirlwind, my fear heightened and I felt some rush of adrenaline.
With that, I made a last attempt to jump out of the whirlwind, this seems to infuriate my captivators as one of them hit me at the back of the head with what look like a soft punch. But the impact of the punch was so heavy that I felt as hit by a trailer.
I lost control, the floor seems nearer, oh! I was falling. I blacked out!

Introduction: Fellowship of the Six

A cough of attention from one of my companion brought me back to the present.
The previous mocking look on their faces has been replaced by a more serious one.
With my regained knowledge, I believed the first thing to do was to introduce myself to my estranged crew but as if sensing my thought t, the more jovial of the black men began.
“I’m Musa, Son of Audu, descendant of the great Uthman dan fodio, I’m a skilled combat fighter and I’ve featured many times in International wrestling competitions “ He paused.
Pointing to the black guy at his left side “This is Mantu, a descendant of “Askia the great” of old Songhai empire that once ruled West Africa, People call him “The Beast” for some obvious reason.
Turning to his right “This is Asa, His full name is Lt. Colonel Asa Mangogo, He is the youngest of his rank in the combined ECOWAS forces”
I kept nodding throughout Musa ‘s speech as if I’ve heard all he was saying before but to be honest with myself, my mind was still struggling with reality.
The white American stepped forward grabbing my hand for a shake the second time.
“I’m Edward James, Particle Physicist at NASA, I have 2 PHDs and four bachelor degrees all in Quantum Physics field”
“Four degrees..” I stuttered not understanding how such a young guy could achieve such feat.
“Yeah” Edward said proudly. “Quantum Engineering, Molecular Kinetics…”
The Asian stepped forward shoving him aside, disrupting Edward speech in the process.
“I’m Takamayoto” He uttered flatly.
“And? “ I muttered, asking him to complete his introduction like others.
“That’s all you need to know but you can call me Taka for short” He said.
I was amazed at the way he spoke, no emotion, same cadence, just like a machine.

I sensed they were also waiting for me to introduce myself.
“I’m Kola” I rased my hand in an Hi manner. “From Nigeria and a nobody” I concluded.
I heard a giggle sideway, from Mantu.
“You cannot be selected to head this team if you are a nobody, tell us the plan, How do we begin?” Musa enquired in a respectful tome.
I was about to go on another rant of how I’m not who they think I was, that what is happening was a case of ‘Mistaken Identity’ when I heard it for the first time!
“FIND THE ORACLE” A tiny voice whispered, so low that I barely heard it properly.
I turned back to see who said that but saw no lip moving.
“FIND THE ORACLE” The voice spoke again, this time very loud and clear.
“You mean we have been waiting for a dumbass since all this while” Mantu said in an angry mocking tone.
“Beware, Mantu” Asa warned sternly.
“Find the oracle” I shouted, I don’t know what came over me, it seems the words have a life of their own. It came with such that all attention automatically shifted to me.
“What?” Asa questioned.
“Find the oracle” I repeated, even though I don’t know what that means.
“That settles it then, Let’s proceed with our mission. We should get into the city to see what the oracle means.” Musa said in an encouraging manner.
My already racing heart calmed a little, I let out a little smile. “God bless Musa” I thought.
At that moment, A stream of light shone at the extreme end of the horizon, accompanied with a distant eerie voice, approaching and getting louder every seconds.
“HIDE” the voice in my head said hurriedly.
I did not waste time before speaking up this time.
“Hide” I yelled.
Since we were in an open terrain, the only place to hide is near the city wall, upon realizing this, I took off running towards it, while others followed suit.
After running for like 30 seconds, I glanced back because the eerie voice is now very loud, I could see the brightness has almost reached us.
“RUN FASTER” The voice spoke again.
I repeat the instruction to my team.
I started feeling a little at the nape of my neck.
Oh no! we will soon be caught.