₦airaland Forum

leahcimzil:
-PROLOGUE-
The figure stood alone by the water front, staring at the flowing stream, his eyes reflecting the light from the moon. Adorned from head to toe in a single piece of white clothing, his left hand clutched tightly unto a crooked stick. By his side was the package the priest came for, but the aura around the god standing by the waterside, made the visitor keep his distance.
“You should be more subtle in your movement Sage” the figure spoke, quietly
“Why is that prince? I mean you no harm, so I have no need for subtlety” the sage replied, although surprised at the prince’s adept hearing
“Even the lightest footsteps of the gods, disturb the affairs of the world.” The prince muttered to himself.
“Why have you come here Sage?” he asked
“You know why, your highness”
“To remind me of my failure?” grief etched on the Prince’s face. As he slowly turned to face the priest, struggling to keep a smile on his face, although failing abysmally.
The priest gasped at the grief on the god’s face, taking a step backward, and then as quick as it came it was gone, replaced with that fixed smile
“No your highness, to remind you of the future.” The sage said “your highness, the child has to leave, he is not safe here” he continued
“I promised his mother-“, the prince said, weeping quietly as he let the grief that had threatened to show moments ago out
“And by sending him away your highness, you are keeping your promise, don’t you see it?” the sage interrupted.
The prince stared at the sky, the tears slowly crawling down his face, his dark hair was slowly turning grey at the helm, and the sage cringed, as he witnessed this metabolism as it took place. He knew more than to disturb the prince in moments like this.
After a long while of staring at the sky, the prince finally cleared his throat, as he bent to take the basket on the ground
“He is going to leave” the prince said, “but you are going to be there with him, you are going to watch him grow, you are going to guide him in the affairs of our kind, and when the time is right, I will come for him” he continued.
“Yes your highness, all you have asked of me and more shall be done, as I eagerly await you” the sage said, bowing to a knee as the prince placed the basket at his front.
“Go now, she is really close by, I can sense her” the prince said, with obvious urgency in his voice
“Yes your highness” the sage replied. He arose from his subservient position, grabbed the basket and was gone in the twinkle of an eye, leaving no trace of ever being there.
The prince turned east, facing the approaching storm as he readied his weapon.

********
Somewhere in Lagos Nigeria.

The horn of the school bus blared for the umpteenth time that morning, the sound of the engine starting signified that the bus driver had run out of patience and was willing to leave Tunde behind.
“Abeg wait oh”, mama Tunde screamed from her one room apartment, as she hurriedly dumped, Tunde’s lunch into his lunch box. She grabbed his arm, running outside to catch up with the now moving school bus
“Haba Timothy, so you cannot even wait for a few more seconds” she said, pushing open the door of the school bus for Tunde
“You know say na only your son I wan pick na”, Timothy the driver replied, shifting the gear into drive.
The school bus was barely out of the street when the trailer appeared from nowhere, hit the bus on its high speed, and dragged it for more than a mile before it finally came to a stop.
All occupants of the school bus were pronounced dead at the scene.



Mark had barely left his home that morning, when the rain started. He felt uneasy about going out this morning, and from experience, he knew better than to ignore his intuition but he also could not afford to not be at work that morning. The Auditing team from New York were coming in today and as the senior financial manager he had to be there. He gently avoided the puddles of water that were now forming on the road. He had decided against taking his car that morning, so as to beat the traffic that was inevitable because of the rain. A decision he would come to regret…or not.
He hurried along the road occasionally jumping over puddles of water, which were now spread over the road. He did not see the okada coming towards him until the last second. His reflex took over, as he jumped out of the way of the on rushing motorcycle, twisting his ankle as he landed in one of the puddles, his head hitting the tarmac.
Autopsy reports afterward stated that, had the ambulance gotten to the scene a few minutes earlier, Mister Mark Arturo might have survived the accident.
“Dead men have no regrets”.

The Lagos State Emergency Medical Service, recorded a total of two hundred accidents, with the dead numbering well over seven hundred on this very dark day. Analysts will later try to find why in all of the accidents that occurred that day, there were no survivors.