BOOM.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoYUY4ovRV0
Amina jolts awake, her chest heaving as if she’d been drowning. The sound isn’t just outside—it’s inside her skull, rattling her teeth.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUURA6K1TrO
BOOM. BOOM.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNkArwb9Ob9
She stumbles out of bed, legs tangled in her sheets, and crashes to the floor. The room tilts. Her mouth tastes like ash.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf6NKChcBCN
"Papa!" she screams, scrambling to her feet.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQpX45kBsf2
The drums don’t stop.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA5oWCbZqQE
She bursts out of her room, heart hammering, and collides with her father’s chest. His arms lock around her, steadying her before she falls.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfWtyQBGcmj
"Shh, nne," he murmurs, but his grip is too tight. "It’s the dibia. He’s here."
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnx3Un4usrW
Amina blinks up at him, disoriented. "Now? But—I didn’t prepare, I didn’t even—"
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqPranPcHg0
"He doesn’t want preparation," Papa Chukwuma says, voice low. "He wants truth."
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWUWcIRukN9
Amina turns—and freezes.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyvn4UMfXw0
Ifeanyi stands near the compound gate, dressed neatly, his jaw clenched. But Emeka...
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5fBLA4Gpb8
Oh God.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyzDRyRPZ8H
Emeka’s eyes are unblinking, his face slack. Dried mud streaks his arms like cracked earth. He doesn’t react when the drums grow louder.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWSHgmpbor9
He doesn’t react at all.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlPeNGEaR7A
The dibia arrives like a storm given flesh.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQqdffkvzKJ
Six dancers move ahead of him, their bodies painted in white and red, antelope pelts slung over their shoulders. Their feet stamp the earth in perfect sync—THUD. THUD. THUD.—kicking up dust that hangs thick in the dawn light.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL5PgNJxGYk
The drummers walk backward, their hands a blur. The rhythm isn’t music. It’s a warning.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1anqObebJP
Amina’s mother clutches her wrapper, her lips moving in silent prayer.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWtl6unhP1F
Then—silence.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIp4VKz7fYE
The dancers stop at Grandma’s hut. For three heartbeats, nothing moves.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8QCaVt3a5K
Then a scream tears through the air.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXi5FgVCRIC
One of the dancers—a woman with bones braided into her hair—drops to her knees, clawing at her throat. The others circle her, chanting low.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWDWx5KiBlv
The dibia steps forward.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHjzuLus4WI
He crouches, dragging his fingers through the dirt. His nails leave deep grooves, embedding an ankh symbol —right at Grandma’s doorstep. Then he spits onto the symbol.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKYLPPUpSNz
The saliva sizzles like water on hot iron.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3S8cqj2CkJ
Grandma’s hut stays dark.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJw4jCkAWkj
The dancers move again, this time toward Amina.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu57L2LOcQk
The lead dancer—a woman with a face painted half-white, half-black—locks eyes with her. There’s no emotion there. No pity.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOba0h7NNBB
Amina’s breath hitches.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCh9BxgXK54
"Papa—"
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzc3uaN5ZV2
Her father’s hand tightens on her shoulder. "Let them work."
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCRPKndlAQw
The dancer grabs Amina’s wrist. Her nails bite deep.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjvujcEbtJs
"Don’t hurt her!" Papa Chukwuma barks.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv7kRrcG2ET
The woman hisses, baring teeth filed to points.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYpe18rt8fM
Then she yanks Amina forward.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTxjRmvtYGn
As they drag her into the circle, thunder cracks—but not from the sky.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4TONxS50f0
From her room.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡktcELdue6a
The walls shake. The window rattles. A gust of wind tears through the compound, howling like something alive.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3mRwUUA3oC
Amina’s lips move without her permission.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD2Zdxir8RA
"Ọ bụla mmiri ga-ezobe anya..."
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJM97VmRTzw
The words aren’t hers. The voice isn’t hers.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAzW1Pdxeof
It’s the river’s.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTQN9zGIAHK
The dibia steps into the circle.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ69rjwFvfqj
Up close, his eyes are black as holes, endless and wet, like a drowned man’s. His hair floats around his face, drifting as if underwater.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmEi80AkcCe
He doesn’t speak.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb1v4bEivQJ
He doesn’t need to.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡli8mwVJ4eq
Amina’s skin prickles. The chant spills from her lips faster, louder—
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg0TFLsN8sD
Then Emeka shrieks.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0WKAQVIfXN
"OGU M GBARA! Ọ NA-ERI M!"
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcLRwWd4pFR
His voice is raw, guttural. His body convulses, arms flailing like a man possessed.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYw01BtKq8c
Ifeanyi and Papa Chukwuma grab him, pinning him down before he hurts himself.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg4SkkVuOdi
The dibia doesn’t even glance their way.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3K7PRWBh8q
He lifts Amina’s chin, forcing her to meet his hollow gaze.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1zDXH7Ywtq
And finally, he speaks.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqxk4NtPeeP
*"You have been claimed."*
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsNg53uUkIY
Two dancer women grip Amina’s arms, their fingers digging into her skin like roots seeking water. Against her will, her body moves—jerking, twisting—in perfect sync with the dancers. Her feet drag lines in the dirt, forming symbols she doesn’t recognize.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCgfoA226kO
She sings in unison with them in the unknown language , but her voice isn’t her own. It’s layered, doubled, like two rivers merging.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbam7LkkDT9
Then—chaos.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj5cejODcj8
Emeka snarls, his muscles coiling like a sprung trap. With a force no human should possess, he hurls Ifeanyi and Papa Chukwuma aside like rag dolls. Before anyone can react, he lunges at Amina, his fingers clamping around her throat.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYUfpgcpsap
"Child! You are mi—"
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBe13fydkOX
The dibia’s staff taps his forehead.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb1T1T2eeQo
Emeka’s body locks. His eyes roll back, and he collapses like a marionette with cut strings.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡodXZdxsky9
"He has been claimed too," the dibia says, voice hollow as a burial drum. He slings his staff across Emeka’s back, and the boy convulses, gasping as if the wood weighs a thousand pounds. Two dancers pin him down, their painted faces unreadable.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSiKE9Jye9L
"Where are his parents?" the dibia asks, black eyes fixed on Papa Chukwuma.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXysWBJDqQZ
"His mother is at work. He has no siblings or father," Papa replies, voice tight.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVPQxqdi0hF
The dibia nods. "Then you will accompany us."
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxOwKdvang7
He turns to Amina, leaning close enough that his waterlogged breath ghosts her ear.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzl52hN6bNa
"Alọwí ánọ́bị̀ dúnàte."(Rest, oh one guarded by thunder. The enemies are close.)
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ13ak5tfE95
The words slither into her skull, untranslatable to anyone else.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9mL3RjnNvz
Then, louder, for the others: "A water demon holds them all in trance. She will not leave until she takes what she came for."
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ0qvqr2pKQ
He lifts his staff, pointing to the market road. "Buy a scapegoat. I will trap the demon inside it and sacrifice the beast. Only then will this end."
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCHGCCkdCJI
Before he can finish, Emeka’s body arcs off the ground, his mouth stretching wide in a silent scream—then he drops again, limp.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡek4qM1fZnV
Grandma observes from her hut, her knuckles white on the windowsill. Behind her, the shadows ripple.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUBGKlAa171
Mami Wata materializes, her form half-transparent, flickering like a dying torch. *"This dibia has nerve,"* she sneers. "Thinking I’ll crawl into a goat like some biblical fool."
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnonZUijzmX
Grandma’s lips curl. "They’re onto us. It won’t be long now."
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6eVHOWatyv
Mami Wata drifts closer, her voice a venomous whisper. "Then we kill Emeka. And the dibia. Tear down this weak barrier they’ve draped over your hut—it’s nothing."
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdjAM5ZOF9d
Her fingers brush the wall, and the air shudders, the invisible wards straining.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFTmi2w7YWM
"That talisman is the real threat," Mami Wata hisses. "The thunder coiled inside it… it’s not just protection. It’s a weapon. Forged by the gods themselves."
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6HQqOpMVtG
Grandma’s smile fades. "Then we take it from her."
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJcDWccD8MZ
Outside, the dibia’s drummers begin anew.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0mFIvo7Vgb
→ Request update
and then Add to home screen.