Emeka and the Axe of Sango

第4話 Ogun

I couldn’t feel them anymore. My legs, that is.

        “This is the seventh floor and I can’t breathe anymore. I don't think a human is supposed to hyperventilate this much and it feels as though my life span got redced by ten years. Please tell me we are there already." I said gasping for air.

        “Don’t be a baby. Besides, we are only in the administrative part of the mill. We are not at the main mill itself yet", Oluaye said feeling good about himself. Obviously because he was god and had all the stamina he needed.

          I glared at him from behind as we continued. I felt ashamed because Chioma was not complaining. I wouldn't blame me. She was the daughter of the earth goddess, of course she was strong. We reached the eighth floor and Oluaye announced that we were at our destination and I collapsed to the floor causing people to stare at me. I was pretty sure my gastrocnemius and soleus muscles will have a growth spurt after this.

           Oluaye went to a nearby counter to get information and I could swear I saw him wink at the lady sitting there. Chioma came to where I was and started dragging me up.

           “Stand up will you? You are embarrassing me", she said while stealing side glances to see if anyone was looking.

             Oluaye came back with a grin on his face as he started walking down the stairs. I quickly sat up and stared at him in shock.

             “Where are you going?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

             “We are going to the main iron mill itself. I knew he wouldn’t be here.” He said as he started bouncing down the stairs and I felt like screaming. My legs were screaming actually and they were about to scream more.

              “You knew he wouldn’t be here but you brought us up this ridiculously high building anyway?” The exhaustion of it all was making me angry.

              Oluaye squeezed his face. “I just wanted to be sure. Now get your lazy ass up the floor or I will inflict a deadly disease upon you.”

              Several sparks started shooting off my body as I was getting furious and Chioma quickly grabbed me by the arm.

“Emeka calm down or you’ll blow us all up.”

               I shook my head as I felt a bit dizzy. “Sorry, I got carried away.”

            We headed down the stairs making our way to the main iron mill itself. Oluaye looked back at me trying to crawl on the ground because I couldn’t walk anymore.

           “For heaven’s sake", he said and walked towards me. He blew on my face and suddenly, my strength returned and I stood up quickly.

           “Whoa, what did you do?” I asked in amazement but he just kept on walking.

            We got to the iron mill entrance and luckily for us, luckily for I in particular, we didn’t need to climb any stairs. Oluaye had already rushed to tackle another man and they both almost fell to the ground. I turned and faced the other way so that it wouldn’t seem as though I was with him.

             The man pulled away and grabbed him by the neck and started strangling him.

            “You stupid fellow. I have told you never to jump me from behind again. Do you want to die?” The man said.

            “We are both gods, we can’t die. Good to see you too Ogun.” Oluaye said as Ogun released his hold on him.

            Ogun looked like he was in his early fifties. He had black hair with a few grey on them. He wore a black overall, the kind mechanics wore and he had a helmet in one of his hands. He looked at me.

            “You must be Emeka. Orunmila explained the situation to me. I am sorry you had to travel with Babaluaye over here", he said and glared at him.

             “It’s good to meet you Mr Ogun", I said in my most polite tone, wondering if he knew that people asked him to strike people dead with the ‘Ogun kill you' locution.

              He turned to Chioma and smiled. “The daughter of our esteemed earth goddess, it’s nice to meet you.”

Chioma curtseyed.

             He took us to a quiet part of the mill so that we could talk more.

            “So you need something to channel the energy within you. It wouldn’t be easy to make but I love difficult tasks. It’s what I live for.” Ogun said.

             But his countenance fell when Oluaye out of nowhere put his hands round his shoulder. Ogun turned to him with a stern expression and punched him but Oluaye was quick to react and blocked it. However, it sent him a few blocks back. I wondered what would happen if I was the one at the receiving end of that blow and I shook off the thought for I was pretty sure I would have been flattened into a pancake against the wall.

            “As I was saying before that runt interrupted me. I can do it, but it’ll take about a day for me to finish it." Ogun explained.

              I looked at Chioma, we only had four days left and we were past mid-day already. “I guess we can spare one more day. We aren’t going anywhere right now because we are all tired.”

             Ogun smiled. “You are right. Come on, I’ll take you to my place.”

             Oluaye scurried ahead of us followed by Chioma who turned back and saw me making hand gestures, describing something to Ogun who was nodding frantically.

             “Have you met Hephaestus before?” I asked Ogun.

             “Ah, Hephaestus. My old friend. Of course I’ve met him. we are gods of the same field', Ogun said in a tone that made me realize how much he respected the Greek god.

             “Wow, I can hardly believe all this is real. I mean I used to read about you guys in novels and books. And now I am standing with you. I wish I could meet the Olympian gods too", I said with dreamy eyes.

             Ogun noticed this and smiled. “Keep sticking around us and you will meet them soon.”

             I gasped as he walked past me to the Limo that was still parked outside the mill. I ran after him as we drove to his estate. I wasn’t really surprised anymore. The gates opened automatically and we drove in. He directed the driver to where he would park and as soon as the driver stopped, the Limo started going underground until the surface above us completely disappeared.

              We came out of the car and followed him to what looked like a mini train on a rail. It was as fanciful as those cable cars and we all got in. It drove for a while and came to a stop to connect to another vertical cable and we started going up. I gasped and looked at Ogun as he shrugged and flashed a grin. We got to the top and the elevator door opened and we all stepped out. The lights turned on automatically as Oluaye skipped ahead of us like a child. We got to what looked like the living room as the chandeliers blazed to life. The sofas looked so expensive, it felt like a crime punishable by death to sit on them.

            Oluaye rushed to the fridge and grabbed a drink and Ogun glared at him. “You are always like this. Won’t you offer these two something to drink first before thinking of yourself?”

             Oluaye rolled his eyes and turned to us. “What will you two lovers have?”

            “We are not lovers!” Chioma and I said in unison.

             I requested for Origin while Chioma requested for Star Radler, the red fruit type. I was given two bottles of the beer while Chioma refused the second. The drinks were so chilled I thought I would freeze to death just by holding them.

            While we were drinking, Ogun asked for my phone and I gave it to him. I didn’t know why and I didn’t ask. He tinkered with it for a while until the phone split apart and rearranged itself again. He handed I back to me and I stared at him in confusion. I turned on the phone and found that the features had changed and the memory capacity had changed to the infinity sign meaning the memory would never run out. The camera lens became so bright and clear that you could see the skin cells through them (That last bit was exaggerated).

            "Oh my God, I don’t know what to say! Thank you.” I said, grinning like a kid.

             “I thought you didn’t know what to say", Oluaye said amidst sip and I glared at him.

              Ogun stood up. “I am going back to the mill. I need to start working on Emeka’s tool so that it’ll be ready and you guys can continue your quest. So get some rest. My butler will show you your rooms.”

              “Your butler?” I asked in surprise because I hadn’t noticed anyone else the entire time we were there.

             Suddenly a man in his sixties walked in wearing the cliché butler outfit. Ogun left through the elevator we arrived in as the butler took each of us to our different rooms and thankfully, I didn’t have to share one with Oluaye.

              By this time it was already evening and I was lying on the bed thinking of the quest ahead of us. The day was already over and we had two more days left to complete the quest. Suddenly, the entire room started shaking and pictures on the wall fell to the floor and broke. I quickly scrambled up and ran out of the room as everyone else was already standing in the hallway.

             “What is happening?” I asked dodging the painting that almost split my head into two.

              Chioma ran to me and grabbed me by the hand and dragged me out of the path of skull splitting paintings. We ran to where Oluaye was standing as we all made our way to the top of the building where the sitting room was because staying underground during an earthquake could be very risky. My phone beeped and I checked on it. The map of the world spread out on the screen. It zoomed in on Borno state.

             “Is that the source of the earthquake?” Oluaye said peering into my phone.

            “When did you… nevermind. I think that is the source of the earthquake." I said, wiping dust off my hair

            “That’s our destination in the first place. What is going on there?” Chioma asked while dusting her hair too.

              By now the earthquake had stopped and we were all sitting on the sofa in the sitting room. I was eating a slice of cake I got from the fridge while Chioma was taking fruits. Oluaye was having some beer and whispering something to himself.

             We watched the news at 8pm that night. The reporter stated how the entire country experienced the earthquake and we all looked at each other. It made sense, if we could feel all the way here, then other states would too. The elevator bell dinged and the doors slid open as Ogun walked in carrying a small leather bag which he tossed to me.

              “I don’t need to ask cause I’ve already seen the looks on your faces.” Ogun said as he walked straight to the fridge to grab a drink.

               I unzipped the leather bag and brought out a silver baton. I actually didn’t know what it was made from, but it looked like silver to me. Its length was as short as a normal baton and I was starting to wonder if Ogun gave me the right object. Ogun understood what was on my mind and smiled.

               “Run your power through the baton and see what happens", he said.

                I nodded and let a little power surge through my hands into the baton. It suddenly vibrated and hummed with power as it sprang to life. It took another form as it extended to 188cm length with the tip like that of a fork and the rear like the tip of a spear.

              “Woah!” I exclaimed feeling the air rush out of my lungs. It was truly breathtaking.

              “A trident?” Oluaye scoffed as he sipped his beer “Poseidon is going to kill you if he sees this. That’s the symbol of his power, you can’t just copy it.”

              “In case you haven’t noticed, this is not a trident. It's a Quadent. Of course I took Poseidon’s feelings into consideration. My weapon has four umm… whatever those pointy things at the tip are called, but Poseidon’s has three. So you see?”

               I looked at Ogun grinning from ear to ear. He far exceeded my expectations. My height in centimeters was 185cm, so the quadent was just 3cm longer than me. It was perfect. I stopped channelling my power through it and it shrunk back into a baton and I returned it to the leather bag.

               “You both should get some sleep. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow", Ogun said as he started walking upstairs. I ran after him because something was bothering me.

                “Ogun, how do I use the weapon? I know there is no time for practice and all that, so I was thinking you could give me a hint or two.” I said while twisting my hands nervously.

             Ogun smiled and placed his hands on my shoulder “There is no need for that, young man. When the time come, you will know what to do." He said and went upstairs.

             “I will?” I asked myself because I didn’t know I could use the weapon without even knowing it. So much for hint. What's with gods and throwing random movie hints. That sounded like an Avatar quote.

              I went to the couch and slumped into it. Oluaye was already snoring and I just shook my head. He had it easy for him. Tomorrow I would continue on a quest that screamed danger and death and I was fighting with a power that wanted to make me explode.

              Chioma came to sit beside me. She put her hand on my thigh and looked into my eyes.  “I know this isn’t easy for you. I know what it feels like for your life to turn around in just one day. But I want you to know that you are not alone. We will be together the entire time.” Then she kissed me on the lips and threw my world and vision into a colourful frenzy. She pulled away and walked downstairs to her room leaving me with a stroke. 

              I finally woke up from my daze and looked in the direction where Oluaye was sleeping and I could swear he was smiling. That guy was probably awake and watching the whole thing. We just gave him another bag of opportunities that he could use to tease us to death. I went back to my room and somehow everything was back in place as if the earthquake never happened.

            I laid down on the bed with my hands behind my head staring at the ceiling which suddenly turned into Chioma’s face and was coming towards me but I shook myself out of the delusion. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep and like always, my subconsciousness drifted away.

            I was in the same place like last time. But this time around, everywhere was filled with cracks and smoke rose from them. I wasn’t in Sango’s prison but in a different place all together. I looked up and almost shouted as I saw Sango’s axe hanging right up. I shouted because I thought it was falling, but it wasn't.  The axe was humming with power and every once in a while, it would charge up and send lightning into the cracks on the ground and the ground would shake. I figured that it was the source of the earthquake, but what I couldn’t figure out was why whoever was behind this would want to send lightning into the earth.

             As soon as I turned, I was face to face with a strange man. He was also bald like Sango but had a meaner demeanour. He wore beads on his neck and steel braces on his wrists. Forget when I said we were face to face, he was a lot taller than me, like the other gods apparently.

            “You must be my brother’s son." He spoke to me and I looked around to be sure I’m one he is talking to.

            “Wait, you can see me? “ I asked feeling confused.

He walked around and observed me.

            “Of course I can see you, nephew, but the only reason you are still alive is that I can’t touch you.”

            “You called me your brother’s son, should I assume you are talking about Sango?” I asked him.

            He let out a menacing laughter that echoed throughout the place.

            “Of course I was referring to Sango. You reek of his essence and power. But wait, that’s not all.” He sniffed around me. “Yes! You also reek of that Ibo thunder god. What's his name again… Amadetek!”

“You mean Amadioha.”  I corrected.

            “Ah! Yes. That one. I told my brother countless of times to get rid of him, but he wouldn’t listen. There should be only one thunder god. But no, what did he do? He went and made a child with him.” He said and spat out in disgust.

             I was also disgusted by the manner in which he said it but I still didn’t get what he was saying.

          “What do you mean made a child with Amadioha? I am human.” I said.

           “Not for long young man. You see when two gods combine their essence… well never mind. That information is not going to do you any good, since you are about to die.” He said and laughed maniacally.

             I edged back from him “What do you mean I will soon die?” I asked as fear filled my body and I couldn’t breathe.

           “You’ll see. Oh and tell the two gods you are staying with that Aganju says hi." He concluded as my subconscious got pulled back into my body. I woke up to a burning room. I got out of the bed and bolted for the door but it was shut and would not open. I reached for the leather bag and pulled out the silver baton and ran my power through it and it extended. I concentrated more power at the tip and with a lightning blast, the door shattered and I ran out.

          Ogun, Oluaye and Chioma were just rushing to my room to see what was happening. I was sprawled out on the floor just outside the room gasping for air. Oluaye rushed to me and placed his hands on my chest as smoke came out of my nostrils and I was able to breathe again. I opened my eyes slowly and looked around.

          “Guys what happened?” I asked as my brain felt foggy.

          “You’re asking us? You are the one who was sprawled outside a burning room. You tell us", Oluaye said.

           I tried to remember what happened, but I couldn’t. nothing made sense to me as I tried standing up and staggered a bit. Ogun helped into the sitting room and I was given a glass of cold water to drink as I relaxed on the sofa.

“What time is it?” I asked, rubbing my head.

“It’s 6:28am.” Chioma said and I quickly sat up.

           “What? This is the third day? We only have two days left? OMG!” I said as panic filled my chest.

           “Calm down young man. I’ve already arranged a means for you guys to travel to Borno state as fast as possible.” Ogun said.

          I turned my head in his direction. “What means Is that?”

Ogun led us to a place where a jet was waiting.

          “Wait… none of us can pilot that thing. Why do I feel like this is a bad idea?” I said.

           Ogun waved his hands. “Don’t worry about piloting anything. The jet will be on auto pilot the entire time.”

           I sighed. I felt as though I was in the X-men and we were about to take our jet on a secret mission. I was getting hyped. 

           We went back into the house and packed clothes. Ogun got us extra clothes to wear. I wore a sleeveless black turtle neck and black jeans on black canvas. Oluaye saw me and nodded in approval like I expected he would. Chioma wore black too— a black legging with a black singlet together with her black jacket and sneakers. Oluaye winked at her and she glared at him.

            “I see you are both ready. Now once you enter the jet, you are not expected to do anything because it won’t stop until you get to your destination. So just kick back and enjoy the cruise", Ogun explained.

             He pressed a button and the Cargo door opened. Chioma and I started making our way up the jet when suddenly I heard a sound that brought back memories that sent chills down my spine. It sounded like the footsteps of a lady in heels. At first it sounded as though she was walking, then it increased its pace and the footsteps got faster.

“Ogun!” I called out.

            “Go! Now’s your chance to leave. We will hold them back.” Ogun shouted and pressed a remote that closed up the jet’s hanger door. The last thing I saw was Oluaye thrown against a wall. That was scary, but a bit satisfying.

             With the hanger door closed, Chioma and I rushed to the inner part of the Jet, took our seats and buckled in as the jet started rising. The door above opened and it rose above the estate and zoomed off. I looked at Chioma, we both had the same worried look on our face. But we knew we had a bigger mission ahead so we just put away whatever worries we may have.

           The jet was equipped with snacks and drinks to last someone for ten years, give or take. I was already wolfing down some meat pie and Coca-cola to increase my sugar level a bit because all the recent events seemed to have depleted it.

            Chioma was eating pie too and I couldn’t help but notice the way she took little bites and nibbled on them. She caught me staring at her and I quickly turned away and stared ahead. What the hell was I doing? I wondered.

            “Do you remember anything about last night?” She asked.

            “Last night? Did something happen?” I asked while chewing my meat pie.

            “The kiss?” she asked, raising her eyebrow and I almost choked on my snack.

            “The kiss? What ki…", I stopped halfway because there was an explosion in my head that made me recall that she kissed me the previous night. I was so taken aback that I didn’t realise my mouth was hanging open.

            “So do you remember?” she asked, frowning her face.

            “I forgot about it because of the smoke and all but now I remember.” I said while shifting my leg to and fro.

“And?” she said looking at me expectantly.

            I fidgeted with my meat pie. “Well… I umm.” I didn’t know what I was supposed to say in such kind of situation. “I think I liked it." I finally said.

“You think?” she said squeezing her face.

           “No, that’s not what I meant. I erm…” If there was an eject button, I would have pushed it and get thrown out through the roof of the jet. (Wait… there really was an eject button so scratch that thought).

            She turned her face in the opposite direction. “Never mind, forget I asked.”

             I sighed and slumped back into my seat and closed my eyes. I knew I had screwed up the conversation pretty bad. What was I even supposed to say in that situation, 'I loved it, let’s do it again?' I wondered.

             Suddenly, there were numerous thuds on the roof of the jet and we both unbuckled our seat belts and stood up. It sounded as though someone or something landed on the roof. We both looked at each other setting aside any misunderstanding and decided to go into combat mode. I grabbed the silver baton from the leather bag and held it in my hand. Everything was quiet for a few minutes but got disrupted when one of the creatures clawed off the roof of the jet allowing itself and others to jump in which threw me into a frenzy as it felt as though the air was being sucked from my lungs.

            The creatures had vulture heads with human bodies and long talons that would slash one to ribbons if one got cut with it. I edged backwards. Chioma brought out her sling.

            “Hey careful with that!” Chioma warned and I turned to see what she was talking about. I didn’t know my quadent was already in full length and I almost shanked her with the spear tipped end.

            “Sorry I didn’t realize...“ My sentence was cut short as a stone sailed past me and killed one of the creatures which was almost about to slash me into kilishi.

            “Get your head together, Emeka! We are under attack here.” Chioma shouted at me.

             One of the creatures jumped at her and with lightning speed, I threw my quadent and impaled it with the spear end and it exploded into dust. Somehow, the weapon appeared back in my hand. My eyes widened because it returned as fast as I threw it. I regained my confidence and started impaling one creature after another. One jumped at me and I know it would be regretting that decision in hell right now because I used the fork end and turned it into monster shish kebab and it exploded into dust.

            More creatures were beginning to crawl in through the hole on the roof and we were getting tired of fending them off. I positioned the quadent at them through the hole as they were crowding and fired off a blast that fried them without exploding the jet luckily. And most importantly, I didn’t feel tired or light headed.

            “Umm… Emeka", Chioma tapped me and I turned in the direction she was looking at. Dark clouds were gathering ahead of us and it was rumbling too and I knew what that meant because my body was tingling. I could feel Sango’s power building up ahead of us. But how was this even possible?

            “I have to get up there.” I said as Chioma looked at me as though I was crazy.

            “Are you mad?” she asked with a shocked expression.

             “Maybe I am. But looking at that cloud, I can feel a tremendous amount of energy gathering and if that lightning bolt hits this jet, there is no way you and I will make it.”

             “I don’t like it. What if you can’t stop it?” she asked with a worried expression.

           I smiled. "Let’s be positive dear. Now hold on to something.”

          I deactivated the quadent and positioned it on the floor of the jet and activated it again. It sprang me through the opening on the roof of the jet and I landed and almost slid off to my death. But somehow it was as though my shoe was magnetized and I managed to stand my ground or perhaps my jet in this situation. I held my quadent in readiness to intercept the lightning.

         “What am I doing?” I asked myself. But It was already too late for regrets as the blast fired off from the sky and I shook off the delusion and released all the energy I’d been keeping under control and fired it upwards through the quadent. The two blasts collided creating a shockwave mid-air that rocked the jet. The blast from the sky seemed to be overpowering mine but I didn’t give up. With one final shout, I poured in everything I had and the two energies created so much static pressure and exploded. The blast sent me flying off the roof of the jet as it spun uncontrollably in another direction.

           And there I was falling in mid-air not knowing how far I was from becoming a  human tomato paste on the side of the road, on top of a building or on the water surface. My vision was getting blurry and I couldn’t even open my eyes well. It was as though all the strength had disappeared from my body as I felt numb all over. My eyes finally closed and my consciousness faded as I fell into a dark void and everything went blank.