Chapter 3


Interlude: The Rival

The darkness of the night sky was chased away by the fireball that exploded in the clearing briefly illuminating the warehouse with grotesque shadows.

The mission was supposed to be simple or at least as simple as a mission for the Aganju Guild. Apprehend a couple of thieves that has stolen some highly sensitive data from an Ogboni convoy had turned into an assault on what amounted to a fully armed military base in the heart of the country that nobody knew about.

I quickly jump down from my perch on the rafters twisting sideways to avoid the phantom blades that utterly destroy where I was standing. I send a couple of small fireballs to the general vicinity of the attacker. I hear a yelp, it seems my attack connected so I start running towards the attacker.

Someone screams from the other side of the warehouse. Finally I think to myself, the rest of the force assigned to this mission has begun their assault. I quickly locate the person that threw the phantom blades at me and as I bear on him, he is still trying to put out a fire on his trousers. I draw my ada and silently call on my elemental. My ada is engulfed with spiritual fire. It is time to finish this fight.

At the last second he notices me and parries my blade with a summoned blade of his. Dressed in a black camo with runic protections inscribed on it and the level of power he is displaying. This puts the final nail in the coffin of the idea that we were dealing with ordinary thieves. He is more likely to be a black ops soldier which begs the question of who sent him.

That however is a question for another time as I quickly make space to prevent him from taking off my head with his blade. I move back in and we exchange a couple of blows, he is stronger than me but I am faster. I dance around his strikes and manage to score a minor hit on his shoulder. His hiss at the burn from ina brings a smirk to my mouth.

He sees the smirk on my face and it annoys him and he charges at me, his blade gaining an ethereal sheen, I easily parry his thrust using the momentum from my motion to bring my ada in a slash at his neck. He manages to be faster and dodges it but not fast enough to prevent the ada from opening his cheek. Ina immediately sets on the open wound burning at it. I immediately follow with a strike that cleanly takes off his head.

“Akanni, Watch out.” I hear a shout before I am flying through the air, my chest in pain. I hit a wall and slid down to a heap on the floor, my blade away from my hands. I am in some much pain that movement is impossible. I then notice what did that, the most misshapen dog I’ve seen that stands easily taller than horses with horns. The bigger, uglier cousin to the Aja-Oro I fought in the forest with the idiot on the day of my initiation.

It begins to run at me intent on finishing me up. At this I summon all my ase shaping it as fast as I could. My entire body erupts in fire which provides a refreshing coolness to me and begins to set at healing my wounds. I also begin to throw fireballs at it hoping to stop or at least delay its charge but it ignores all of my attacks like it was nothing. I shape the fire surrounding me into a blade of some of the hottest fires I can manage under my present conditions. It is still very hot.

A wall smoothly rises infront of me and I hear a couple of shots ring out then the painful pitter of a creature in pain. The wall crumbles and I am left with a beautiful sight.

The dead creature and on top of it holding a smoking shot gun is Bisi dressed like I am in the stealth regalia of the Aganju Guild. She is perhaps the most beautiful person I know and she never looked better than right now saving my life.

“Well, get up we don’t have all day.” She says with a smile on her face. “Fun as it is saving your life, we do have a job to do.”

I am about to reply before I see him. Another one of the bandits, standing behind her as he is about to take a shot. She notices the change in my expression and is turning around to face the threat but she would not be fast enough.

I tap into my emi, changing my emi into ase and instead of fire I bring my authority on time itself. I will never be as good as Sade but I can manage to stretch time out for myself for a few seconds. Those seconds make all the difference as I hurl the already shaped blade of fire at the target. He sees it and panics, his shot going wide before the lance consumes him leaving nothing but ashes in its wake.

“Even.” I tell her as I stand and banish the firery state I was in. Nothing good comes from staying in that state for longer than I can hold it. I am fully healed and ready to get into the fight.

“What are you even doing here, you are supposed to be at the entrance.” I ask her as I scan for other enemies.

“Martins said to check on you, you had not reported in.” she answers as she adjusts.

That is as far as we got in our conversation before we hear a loud explosion from outside the warehouse. We hurriedly make our way to the entrance and is stop dumbfounded by the sight.

A giant armored man or creature standing at easily 30 feet is fighting all the rest of the Agaju guild that were positioned outside. In the few seconds we spent making our way outside 3 members of the guild already lay dead.

Martins is jumping around the thing, sending sword strikes and flowing around its attack keeping it distracted as the rest of the guild are moving away from its direction, trying to get their bearing from what was clearly a surprise attack.

I immediately gather all of my ase available for my strongest strike, blending myself with my elemental and utter a single word.

“Ina.”

The world explodes in white light and a laser emanates from my body to strike at the giant at its calf, it brings it down a knee. I stop and stumble exhausted from the power behind that attack. The sheer durability of the giant disturbs me. That power should have burnt it to crisp. It however seems to have bought the rest of the guild some time.

Beside me Bisi is shooting her shotgun at it ineffectually too. Others are throwing their best long range attack at it generating some very exotic effects as the ground rumbles, the very air around it twists and turns in varying shapes.

I then notice Oyabi standing on top of the buildings. He says a single word not louder than a conversation and somehow I and everyone else hears him.

“Stop.” He says and everyone jumps back, nobody moving to attack the giant any longer.

The Giant then focuses its attention on him and takes a step towards him.

That is all it manages to do before Oyabi’s sword flashes out and the head of the giant rolls off.

The fight is over.



After the fight. We all gather in one of the buildings that remains standing. 20 of us were sent to on this mission, only 13 remain. This is perhaps the biggest loss of life since Oyabi took over as head of the Agaju guild. Everyone is acutely aware of this, even us the rookies. The tension weighs heavily in the air.

“So what were you able to extract from the prisoner?” Oyabi asks Martins.

“Well boss, not much. I can determine however that the package is no longer with them.” He answers. Oyabi’s eyes sharpen at this.

“Explain.”

“Seems like they themselves were robbed of it, seems like the Ghommids group Hanged Jackals waylaid them during their transport here and took it from them.” He replies as he moves to rest his back on the wall.

“The Hanged Jackals? They grow so bold as to attack humans. The lesson we taught them so quickly forgotten.” Dapo says with consternation in his voice. He along with veterans alongside Oyabi, Martins and a few others that was there when the first purging of Ghommids took place.

“This whole situation is stranger than normal. We just assaulted a mini military base that nobody knew of in Ijebu-Ode. The men we fought are no small fry either, they will fit in right with First Legion. This can only be the work of-“Dapo continues in his rant as his paces across the room.

“Stop” Oyabi holds his hands up, cutting him off mid-sentence. “That unfortunately is not our mission, I will send a high priority message to the
Kankanfo informing him of what we saw here, and he would deal with this. The package in the hands of the Ghommids changes things and we must hurry to get it back.” He stands up at this point and moves forward, taking his time to look us in the eyes. I unconsciously stand up straighter.

“However our mission is not completed. We are the Agaju guild and we must complete this irrespective of the loss we received here. There will be no time to wait for backup as time is a huge factor here. Our mission is to retrieve the package so now we must enter the Irunmale Forest, retrieve it and destroy the Hanged Jackals and all who will seek to get in our way for the very safety of our nation depends on it.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

I think it is more of a case of stark features overriding targarean. Although why it didn't overpower tully features is something.

moski5:


I dont know y most people think Dorne isn't strong
did yu read about the Targerian that took Dorne after losing so many men in battle he won only to die few months/years later
Do not underestimate Dorne

not underestimating. In manpower they are d weakest, they survive based on trickery, misdirection and deception plus they are experts on poison

moski5:
Dorne is 50k soldiers strong

they were bidding their time as 1. combined strength of lannisters, high garden n maybe Freys. also they want to avoid a full scale war except they ve dragons

Abel is mance, really?
Stanis Captured nah dont think so

how many lords knew dat was fake Arya I think none knew Arya is was always behind the scenes in the North

Dorne isn't 50K strong, they are barely 20k at most. The 50k is misdirection and lies perpetuated by them to make them seem stronger than they really are.

They cannot go against any of the 7 kingdoms outside of Dorne as they would be curbstomped.

Abel as Mance is a favorite theory for a reason. it has many points in its favor.

As for Fake Arya, check out the Grand Northern Conspiracy theory.

A.N Yeah I'm fine thanks for asking. it was some RL situations that needed attending to that delayed the updates. The last one was rushed cause I wanted to get something out there to get me back into writing.




I ignore her and turn my attention to the bag.

“What’s in there?” I ask her. At this she gets the extra large smile reserved for when she wants someone to appreciate her.

“Bask in my awesomeness you plebian.” She says dramatically pausing for full effect as she points to the bag.

“In there is all the enchanted weapons and knickknacks you ever made, along with some toys I appropriated for this mission.”

I scarcely heard her before I’m on my feet and opening the bag. The thought of all my years of work lost like that was one of the major reasons of my depression after I was kicked out of the academy. I immediately begin setting them out.

My bow that I charmed to my will to always target my aim as long as I could see it, it was my first professional grade enchantment, the thing that set me apart from the rest of the class and kept me on the fast-track program. It was one of my more memorable piece of enchantment. My ada, ever sharp and even resistant to most magics, a joint collaboration project with Uncle Femi, my mentor before he was murdered. My hunters mask, a piece of red headband that constantly checks the radius around me for life and ase, a sensor device that saves me the stress of constantly doing it for myself, a necessity for all Ode in the forest, my modifications to mine providing additional range and masking my presence from the casual check of ase in the forest. My wrist band, a gift from my father, my only gift from him, it provides a dome shaped shield of ase around me providing a protection against all but the most powerful attacks like say a god decided to attack.

These items were some of my most treasured things from the academy and I could never thank Sade enough for bringing them to me. It puts me even deeper in my debt to her and also makes my plan for borrowing weapons from makinde unneccesary.

A long whistle from James shakes me from my reverie.

“That is some serious hardware.” He says with amazement in his voice.

I smirk as I begin to put them on my person. The bow slung across my back, the hunter’s mask and headband all worn. Sade looks approvingly in my direction.

“Yes, now you look like a proper Ode.” She says.

“How?”

“Well I do have some few strings I can pull and several more I can bribe or blackmail. I am awesome like that.” She answers to my unfinished question.

“Don’t know how to thank you for this.”

“You can just say I’m awesome and leave it at that.” At this a smile stretches across my face.

“you are awesome and the best friend a guy could ask for.” I tell her, sincerity in every word.

It is at this point, Makinde comes in with the rest of the bush babies.

“Okay guys, it is all set.” He announces his presence in that loud voice of his. He takes note of me and nods his head approvingly.

“Take it you will be not be needing the accessories I scrounged up then.”

At this I nod back to him, yeah it feels better to use weapons of my own making than any black market product he would have gotten for me.

“Okay planning meeting everybody.” Makinde says.

At this everyone gathers round the table and a certain seriousness descends on the group.

“So how was your scout mission?” James starts off.

“Scout mission?” I ask.

“Yeah, the usual passage will not be feasible this time.” Tola or is it Tope answers.

“Why is that?” Bankole asks his first question since putting me on my ass.

“Well there have been increased security patrols, which I think it has something to do with the package we are supposed to be retrieving.” Tope, yeah that’s the name, says as she looks at Makinde in a challenging light.

“Yes, it probably does, but still you don’t need to know what is in the package, you are all being paid well enough to not know what is in the package.” He answers her in a way that shows this has been an argument for some time now. Her frown at his reply lets us know this is not the end of the matter.

“Anyway, the scouting work has turned up some results, it is less than ideal but we should be able to skirt past the cordon and into the forest through Fury road.”

“Wait, did I just hear you right?” James said in a disbelieving tone. “You did not just say Fury road, that is literally the worst entrance into the forest. It is closest to some of the nastiest creatures in that forest and to top it off it takes us out of a direct path to the Ghommid village.”

She replies in a calm voice like one talking to a child, and just for that I decide I like her “Well, like I said it is less than ideal, it-“ she is cut off by James.

“Less than ideal, going into the forest without a full platoon is less than ideal, not brushin my teeth in the morning is less than ideal, what you are suggesting is suicide and I want no part of it.” He says this as he stands up and makes to leave.

Or at least he attempts to make to leave, Makinde grabs his hands before he could leave the table.

“You will sit down and do this, or should I take it that you are no longer honoring the bargain.” Makinde tells him, steel in his voice as he looks him dead in the eye. Now I finally see the criminal mastermind that has survived on the streets and risen up.

At the statement, James face pales and he sits down back, hastily making apologies.

“No, no not all, I will never go against the bargain, please forgive my indiscretion.” He mutters out, his voice quaking in fear of Makinde.

I am surprised and I am not the only one, Sade quirks an eyebrow up at the exchange, the bush babies all exchange glances. It is Bankole’s reaction that surprises me, he is frowning. Whatever Makinde has on James must be really interesting and seems like Bankole knows about it and is annoyed. This mission is shaking up to be the disaster kind of interesting before it even starts.

“It is not a problem as long as you remember your place here.” Makinde replies and gestures Tola –err Tope to continue.

“Yes as I was saying, we make it in through Fury road at night when the patrols there at lightest, my sister here has gotten us a path in there but it only appear between 4 – 5am tomorrow morning so it would be a rush job. Hope you can get all you need before then.”

“So what of getting into the village? It changes locations and is hidden from all but official government visits.” Sade asks.

“Don’t worry, that is where James here comes in, also I’ve gotten us all badges of the office of , so it shouldn’t be a problem.” Makinde finishes.

“Any other questions?” He asks and at our silence “ I guess that is all, you can get some rest upstairs, it has been booked or you can do whatever you like. We will be moving at 11pm today. Well this meeting is concluded then.” He says as he stands

“Oh one more thing, Bankole I have gotten you what you requested, it should be waiting for you in your room.”
Bankole nods at him and he leaves the room.

“Okay I guess I can go prepare some of my stuff.” Sade says before disappearing from the room.

“You forgot your bag.” I try to say but she is gone in her time nonsense. One of this days she will learnit is just annoying and not in anyway cool to leave like that.

I carry the bag and leave for my room to prepare. The enchantments on my tools need to be supplemented and my body prepared.

It is time for the first phase of the plan. It is time to breach the Cordon.

A.N; This more than a week delay is something hopefully will not happen again. I've managed to write something up to get back into the swing of things so it should be a steady update rate from here on. Any tips on improving the distinction in the characters voices will be greatly appreciated



“So you were part of that expedition?” I say gesturing to the marks on James’s face.

His face blank he replies “Yes, and sorry but I don’t want to talk about it.” he pauses and leans forward to face me turning his face into a frown.

“Is that going to be a problem?”

My hand finds my trusty knife as I relax in my seat, my posture casual in a way as to allow easy withdrawal of the knife in case this turns to a fight.

“Oh not at all, I just wonder is all how someone who is supposed to be dead is sitting in front of me.” I say.
At this he sneers “I could ask you the same thing.”

“Touche.” I reply, my knife beginning to clear its sheathe “but that is not going to be enough for me, you see I have a problem working with someone who thought a whole sale slaughter of an human settlement was a good idea.”

“ And someone who summons an abomination has any ground to talk? Once I said it and now I repeat it Is that going to be a problem.” He says as his voice steadily rises in ase causing the lights in the restaurant to flicker and the sound of metals rattling feels the air.

“oooooooo, this is going to be good” tolu says with a smile on his face. I ignore him like everyone else and focus on how I can take on this James. My Mesh shirt underneath my jacket should provide some measure of protection against his attack. I curse my lack of most of weapons that have been seized by the academy. My trusty blade is all I have on me. It would have to suffice.

“Eh, you see, in that settlement was a friend, a mentor and you cowards butchered him into so many pieces that we couldn’t even properly identify him. The only closure was that all of you bastards were dead. So no it is not going to be a problem as I am going to rectify your situation.”

“Good riddance, I’ll-“That was all he got out before I jump at him, my ase uncoiling round me with the intent of skewering the bastard.
Or at least that was the plan before I am suddenly flying backwards. My ears ringing from the punch that I just received. I manage to stand on my feet. My eye finding the source of the punch that is still causing my ears to ring and a see a blurry Bankole on his feet standing beside a surprised james who already has some kind of weapon out. There is a moment of stunned silence before Tolu’s laughter, a grating sound in my ears.

“There will be no fighting here or within this team. And know this, I will personally put down the next person to start something.” His voice rings out with authority. He stares at me challenging me to disagree. I look away, I know I can’t take him, he was after all an Aja-Orun.

“Do you understand?” He continues, his eyes boring into mine. I mumble my acknowledgement much to the delight of Tolu whose hysterical laugh. He turns his eyes to him to which he quickly raises his hands up.

“we are cool, I’m cool, no starting shit at all, I got it.” He says

He then faces James who waves his hands and mutters his reply. It is apparently good enough for Bankole as he takes his seat after that.

I stand and move to take my seat. The awkward silence is very awkward.

It is thankfully broken by the arrival of Sade who is dragging a very large bag behind her.

“Whats with the stuffy tension here?” She asks to nobody in particular.

“You really missed.” Tolu excitedly tells her. “ See your dumb friend and new guy were all doing this really pathetic testorone filled pre-battle showdown but as they were about to clash, this guy that never talk” pointing his hands at Bankole “lays a one punch smack down on the dumb friend and then sent them to their seats like babies. Now they are busy sulking.”

My teeth start grinding unconsciously, I really want to punch that guy.

She drops the bag on the floor with an heavy thud and rushes to where I’m seating. Her hands poking at me.

“I hope the big bad Aja-Orun didn’t hurt you too bad right.” She says as she examines me. I try to push her hands away but she is having none of it. She then slaps me at the back of my head

“hey, whats that for?” I exclaim.

“that is for being stupid were I’m not there to record.”

James and Tolu burst out laughing.

“and stop sulking, I know you think that you are brooding but really its sulking and it does not suit you.”

The journey to the campus gate compound was quiet. Most of the school population were still indoors and there was nobody to disturb me. The chance to get my thoughts in order was something I really appreciated.

The Gate compound was located close to the Male Residency Tower. A squat building with most of its facilities built underground. It provided the school access to the portal network that provided rapid transport across the country and even some international locations. It is another very useful feature leftover by the Orishas during their reign.

It was invented by Ogun to allow the Orishas instantaneous travel across their budding empire. It is one of the most powerful pieces of enchantment created as it fundamentally breaks the laws governing mankind irreparably. As almost all things built by Orishas it was meant only for the orishas, the power flowing through the portals would very easily tear a man to pieces or just lose the person in limbo. Thankfully after the Red Night, enchanters managed to create a loop that stabilizes it enough for human travel so now it serves as a very fancy transportation system. Despite its versatility and speed, most people are still leery of it as the protective enchantments can fail, this means it is not a very popular means of transit.

I soon enter the building and make my way down to the Portal room 4 with thoughts of the fates of past travels on my mind and there I meet the late night shift, an old woman would rather be anywhere else than here.

“Present your papers.” She tells me, sounding like the life has been sucked out of her.

I walk up to the desk to present the papers that Makinde thankfully had prepared for me beforehand. I stand and wait, inspecting the portal as she peruses the papers. It is basically an elevated circular chamber protected by elder glass.

After looking at them, she stands and directs me to the chamber, I enter it as she listlessly goes through the standard procedure before suddenly stopping to ask if I had ever used it before, I reply in the affirmative and she punches in the co-ordinates to the location Makinde gave me.

As she does this, the glass door locks me in and the pressure in there starts to build and I am hurling through a reddish vortex, hearing inhuman screams and my nose assaulted by the smell of burning bodies.

Suddenly it all stops and I fall to my knees, struggling to catch my breath. That is another reason the portal method of transportation isn’t too popular. I pick myself up staggering away from the chamber into another portal room somewhere in Ijebu-Ode.
I manage to sort out my papers here fairly quickly as although it is busier than the campus room, it is still fairly empty. After doing that I leave the building.

Ijebu-Ode had been my childhood home during the time before my father got promoted to a Named Eso that made moving to Ibadan necessary. Its inhabitants are very proud of its history. It was one of the first towns during the Red night to overthrow the Orisha-led government. It became an active outbed for the early warriors then and a constant thorn to the Orishas, noted by the Orishas as trouble makers. If you hear my dad say it the troublemaking did not stop.

I find the rendezvous point very quickly, Makinde had picked Greenhouse, the country most infamous eatery/club. The food there is amazing and relatively cheap although most of the notoriety comes from the fact that it sells more than just food. It serves as a nexus point for almost all criminal activities in the state. You can buy information if you know how to ask and the right price to pay.

The government has gotten tired of trying to shut it down as that would cause riots in Ijebu since it is treated as a monument and physical representation of the struggle in the people against their gods.

I soon enter there. The greenhouse is empty save for the barman who is cleaning up, bankole who appears to be in discussion with another man

I don’t recognize and Tolu, the bush baby boy busy wolfing down Ofada rice.

“Good morning Sir John.” I greet the Bar man. He glances in my direction and gives a small nod before going back to cleaning the glasses. He is one of the owners of the place, having been there when it was first founded. He doesn’t look a day different from the last time we met shortly before the relocation.

“Please the usual.” I tell him and move towards where the group is seated.

“hey Shegge.” Tolu says practically shouting. I frown. “Can I call you Shegge? I feel like I should call you shegge, It just fits you know, your scruffy dressing and the way you look just screams Shegge and if we are going to be entering the forest of doom together we should be able to use nicknames right? So Shegge it is then.” He finishes with a smile on his face. The frown on mine deepens

“No, don’t call me that.” I say as I drop into an empty seat beside bankole and I nod in greeting to him and the partner.

“Fantastic then, Shegge it is.” He continues intent on annoying me. I debate the merits of reaching over to punch him, as I am going through the cons which are very small I am interrupted when Bankole chooses to speak.

“This is the last member of the crew, James, he is an expert on the Ghommids having served on several of the diplomatic missions to the Ghommid kingdom.” I suppress a snort at the diplomatic, the only diplomacy that went on was the Die or Obey kind.

“Good morning, happy to have you on board.” I say as I extend my hand to shake him. His grip is very strong. I take a closer look at his face which appears to be riddled with scars but on closer examination i see it is the war marks of the Ghommid kingdom given to only those they respect. I can count on a single hand the number of people that the government has on record to have received them and they are all dead. This makes this James fellow very interesting.

The idea was that the first scene of each chapter is from the perspective of another character, to show us things the segun would have missed or can't see due to the first person limitation. Will try and make that clearer. I really appreciate the offer to edit and I'm looking forward to it.

Segun
My Father used to tell me “A kì í ti ojú ogun wẹ́fọ́n.” It was one of the few things he remembers from the forgotten Language. A saying that was told to him by Akara-ogun himself during the Battle for Ibadan at the tail-end of the red night. It was loosely translated to One does not wait until the heat of the battle to start looking for palm-leaf midrib. it was funny considering at the time Akara-ogun said it, they were frantically searching for some key that was supposed to be very important to their defense then. It was stories like this that he would tell us when I was much younger.

He would sit down on his big armchair and I would sit on his laps and listen to the deep rumble of his voice as he spoke, sometimes I would put my ear on his chest and listen to the strong steady beats of his heart. Femi would be disturbing Bolanle, my mum would shout to stop him while breastfeeding Biodun and Niyi would look on with a smile on his face as he read a novel. Things were perfect then, the family had its problems but those moments were the best times of my life.

The saying was one of that stuck with me as I grew up, one of the extremely rare pieces of the forgotten language I can say out aloud and for that I cherished it and took it to heart. The importance of proper preparation can never be understated. This is why it was immediately after the meeting I started my preparation.

Most of my already enchanted weapons I managed to retain thanks to the resourcefulness of my sister but some crucial pieces like my hunter’s mask were still missing. I had started the process of making a new one but making materials that broke the laws of nature on a long-term basis were extremely difficult to do even for someone of my skill.

However that is not the only method of preparation available to me, another saying of my father was "All things are ready, if our minds be so."

For him the importance of mental preparation cannot be understated as it was only when one was fully prepared that the true potential of one’s ase can be released to the fullest.

This is why I spent the night in my room meditating, trying to achieve a proper balance of my emi and refirming my right as Olodumare’s chosen creation to rule over all of reality. The meditation turned out to be my longest ever. A total of 7 hours was spent in the trancelike state where balance is achieved. Coming out of it I was fully rested and ready to take on the world.

The surprise on Matthew’s when he wakes up is something to cherish. He has always been the first to wake in the room. His mouths sputters for he is at a loss of words.

“Close your mouth before the flies get in.” I tell him as I chuckle. It is not always one gets to catch him speechless.

“But …But…Bu…….” He continues as he struggles to form a coherent statement. I continue laughing as I open my box looking for clothes that I have not had reason to wear since entering this new phase of my life.

“This is IMPOSSIBLE.” He finally exclaims. His finger pointed at me as he narrows his eyes in suspicion.

“Who are you and what have you done with my roommate?” He asks, before realizing if his suspicion is correct he might be in trouble after which he adds “There are security guards nearby and I’m not afraid to call them.

“Oh stop with your whining, it is me and just because I woke up early doesn’t mean I’ve been replaced. I don’t think I’m that bad.” I say, bringing out the cloth I’ve been searching for.

“Nope, not believing. My legion of alarm clocks beg to differ so again I ask identify yourself.” He says as he stands up and edges closer to the door.

“Eh okay, I’m the great Ajantala come to add your face to my collection.” I reply in as dead a voice as I can manage as I turn to face him, my face twisted up in a likeliness of a snarl and my hands raised up like that of a zombie.

“Oh okay, it’s you.” He replies as he calms down and goes back to his bed. Seeing the disconnect on my face. “Well no-one else can come up with such a ridiculous story, really? Ajantala the face collector?”

“Wait what? You are willing to believe that I have been replaced in the middle of the night at the most secure places in the country but unwilling to believe in Ajantala the face collector?” my voice indignant

“Yup, there is highly improbable and outright impossible, by the way how come you are up this early?” he says waving away my indignation and curiosity shinning on his face.

“Yeah about that.” I say as I begin to put on my hunter’s garb. A forest green material interwoven with enchantments by some of the greatest enchanters in the country to protect the Ode in their missions in the forest. It is ultra-soft to the skin yet will prevent against all but the most powerful physical attack against the wearer and even some reality warping attacks. It is a perfect camouflage as it blends in with the forest. A powerful boon to all Odes.

“I have to go for a while, something personal came up.”

“Something personal that you need to wear a military grade suit for?” he asks with skepticism in his voice. He always was sharp.

“Something like that and no it isn’t what you think. I’m not working for the government or a spy or anything like that.” I reply trying to forestall his next line of inquiry. Ever since my arrival he has assumed I am undercover in the school especially since I beat up a gang that was trying to rough us up that one night.

“Yeah, just a failed student right? A failed student that still has his military attire and hardware.” Disbelief coloring his every word.

“My case was a bit special. See, can you cover for me. I have permission to leave but you know how lecturers are.” I say as I put the finishing touches to my attire before wearing a black jacket to cover it.

“Sure sure sure, do take care of yourself on your not government work.” He says as he stands to head to the bathroom.

“Thanks, I appreciate it.” I reply and walk out the door to face the unknown and hopefully achieve my goal

whitemosquito:
So, ur saying that these last two updates are the Same scene..just written from two different charactrrs' perspective?

Not exactly the last two updates, it was supposed to mirror the scene when sade enters the room by destroying the door. Will have to make it clearer.

kosby001:
Well written and wonderful contribution from the readers. What I just believe is we all trying and know one is perfect at the moment.
Like most commentators have pointed out you need to watch the tense and be careful with the use of some grammatical terms. Secondly,will advice that before you start any write up, itemised the list of your cast nd prolly locations, have then written somewhere for easy reference should in case your settings are beginning to contradict themselves.
Welldone...

Thanks a lot. I recently just started keeping a list of the side characters when I realized I was confusing some of them in my head. Like what grammatical terms are you referring to?

oluamid:
I'v only seen episode 1 of season 5 but I really wonder what the show Arya plans to do. I mean no Winterfell and the Vale is practically not home for her. So how will they jump from the ceaseless wondering to the Bravoosi House of many faces.
.

Uhmm...she found the House of Many faces fairly quickly and I don't think the show is going to diverge much from the books concerning her. So for plans she will probably become a kickass assassin and start killing everyone

The scene I first wrote, I didnt like it at all so I decided to scrap that and go with sade. It was meant to be only her views on the nature of friendship. A reflection of what she was thinking as she sat beside segun in the meeting. Getting the words to write it was didn't come out in a meaningful way so I ended so I just rewrote it to get this which im not satisfied with but I've missed enough days that I don't want to risk missing another one.

A.N: This part was incredibly frustrating to write that I just to give up and post it like that or I won't have posted anything for a while.

CHAPTER 2


Interlude: The Friend

I am a good friend.

I’ve been told that it is one of my few redeeming qualities, that my loyalty to those I consider my friends is unquestionable and uncompromising. I’ve also been told that it is my greatest flaw and would lead to my downfall. Both statements are things I believe in.

This is why, when Bolanle called informing me of what Segun is planning to do I immediately drop everything I was working on and take the first trip down to Ile-ife. That kind of decision making is why most people say I’m a crazy genius and don’t think about the consequences of my actions. This kind of statement on the other hand, I consider to be ludicrous.

I am most definitely not crazy as all my actions are methodologically planned and considered to achieve the best result, just because some people die or get stuck in time for life and that was just a one time thing, doesn’t mean I didn’t know it could happen, it simply meant that was the best result possible. I am also not a genius, it is just as a result of having all the time in this world and the next to consider my every step before making it.

So my dropping everything at the research centre and coming down here was as a result of several hours of planning and considering all possible scenarios before reaching the conclusion that this was the best path. I simply had the benefit of being able to compress those hours into a single second.

My choice to blast the door off its hinges wasn’t only for the dramatic effect although it was very cool. It also allowed to keep their concentration off the tell tale sign of me applying my time ase. The world freezes in the moment and I slip into the room to observe the people there.

The three kids with their weapons drawn. I mentally check the database I lifted of the centre years ago to match the faces. I register one and bring it to the forefront of my mind. It is the bush babies. They were part of the children taken in the spree of the infamous Ayeni kidnappings. Supposed to be a sacrifice, the children 30 in number were left in the Irunmale forest. There was a lot of calls to find them and the Ode certainly tried, some of the Ogboju Ode even lending a hand but resources where stretched thin back then and it ended quickly. It was 12 years later when only the 3 of them walked out of it. Forever changed and never to age again, the forest had made its mark on them.

I take note of their weapons, the ase brimming in it is extremely dangerous and is the work of a very high enchanter. It might be something of importance later on.

I notice the man next, Bankole, one of the infamous Aja-Orun and I am a bit unnerved when I see despite my actions he seems to have noticed me.

I feel it, there is another person hiding in the room. The skill at stealth is very good and I wouldn’t have noticed it if not for the stillness that I caused. Mysterious. I like mysteries and especially figuring it out. I could unravel it but I don’t want the person to notice I’ve noticed him or her so I let the cloak be.

It is then I focus my attention on the reason for being here, Segun Odeolu. His face as stern as the father he despises, he has the same build as his brothers, very muscular and tall. A true genius, his ability and skill in enchanting marking him out as very powerful person in future. A shame what was done to him, he had the potential to go all the way to Kankanfo.

Looking at him reminds me of simpler times, when our clique of friends would gather at his father’s house. We would play games and when night fell, we would gather our mats and head to the roof where we would count the stars, it was really beautiful.

Now he is cut off from almost all he knows. no longer in on the secrets and jokes, his friends being forced to shun him to avoid being tainted by association. It would have been a very painful decision for him and even though right now he hides it behind a smirk I can see his pain. Such pain can lead to something terrible especially now that all he has is his insane quest to heal his brother.

It is why I managed to quickly wrangle out of the centre. I am here to support him and help him in it before he gets killed foolishly and to kill him before he dooms us all.

I am after all a good friend.

XXXXXXXXX

A.N: No part today, was a bit lazy so instead I have decided to give a basic breakdown of the current political system in Oyo.

Oyo is ruled by the Oyo Mesi. A supreme council made up of 7 principal officials.

The Bashorun - The Prime Minister.

The Laguna - Secretary of State. Heads up the nation's foreign affairs ministry.

The Agbakin - The Attorney General. Heads up the Legal affairs of the country.

The Samu - The Finance Minister - Head of the National treasury and in charge of all matters relating to finance.

The Alapini - Representative of the Ogboni on the council.

The Akinniku - Head of all Internal Security.

The Are-Ona Kankanfo - Head of the Military.


Below the Oyo Mesi is the General Council which is a parliamentary body whose members are voted in by the public every 5 years alongside the Bashorun.

The other members are chosen from the individual ministries and ratified by the General Council who can choose to reject a particular candidate for the position in the Oyo Mesi.

The System is repeated on the State level with it's Mesi having the following differences
The Oba - Bashorun of the state
Balogun - Akinniku of the state
Eso - Are-ona of the state


For the Military Side

The Are-Ona Kankanfo is basically the Defense Minister and usually the strongest ase User in the Military. Chosen from the High Esos by the entirety of the Esos.

The Esos - These are the Generals in the Military and whose number at every point in time must be 70. The High Esos are the 16 named Esos who are in charge of the various departments and arms of the military. The rest of the Esos are the field generals and state heads of the military branches.



It is still very basic and I didn't put some details up due to spoilers. Expect an extra large part tommorow.