CHAPTER 23: THE 2 STRANGE BEING'S VISIT TO ORKUMAGA.

CHAPTER 23: THE 2 STRANGE BEING'S VISIT TO ORKUMAGA.

Few months after Orkumaga had returned as a lecturer in Future Leaders University Benin City for graduating with first class, his parents called and told him that they would be visiting the village to see his grandfather and also his mother's parents and also said to him that they wanted him to follow them since he had not visited the village for so long. He agreed and asked them to fix the date they would want to travel but his parents told him to prepare and come back home as he was the one they were all waiting for knowing he had just been employed in the university.

Immediately Orkumaga finished talking to his parents on the phone, he dropped the call and went back to sleep as it was already in the night.

While Orkumaga was sleeping, the same weird beings who were always visiting his mother (Dooter) when she was pregnant for Orkumaga paid him a visit and for the first time since he was given birth.

While he was sleeping, he had a dream that 2 extraordinary beings with awful looking faces were stretching their hands over him to protect him but because of how unpleasant the 2 beings were, he started screaming and again, he heard a voice telling him to calm down and listen to them and then, he woke up from his dreadful sleep.

Opening his eye, he saw the 2 bizarre looking beings standing visibly close to his bed but at first, he thought he was still in the dream world but after staying awake for few minutes his eyes became clearer and then, immediately he realized that it was real and not a mirage as they were still standing, looking at him without uttering a word.

Because they were just standing without saying a word, and also considering how strange they were, Orkumaga began to tremble on the bed but nonetheless, they uttered no word. Orkumaga immediately pulled his duvet and again stood up and began to fidget, maybe to run out of the room but his legs were too enormous for him and he became powerless to move. While the 2 beings had made him powerless, he felt as if there were no bones in his legs.

After not been able to run out of the room, he asked the two terrible beings who they were but none of them answered him.

Again, he asked them what they wanted but when he asked them the second question, one of the 2 odd beings answered and said to him that they were there for him.

Still confused as to why such beings would be there for him, he asked them again to explain what they meant by been there for him and one of the 2 weird beings said to him that they had always been with him. When one of the hideous being had answered that they had always been with him even before and after birth, the answer alarmed Orkumaga and he marveled since they had never revealed themselves to him and Immediately he started shuddering but they (The 2 extraordinary being) again said to him in chorused eerie response that "We are not here to harm you but for your good"

As they said that, he asked them again "Which Good"?Immediately he asked them the question, they told him that they were with his mother through out the time she was pregnant and also when she was young and again said to Orkumaga that the reason all that had tried killing him previously failed was because what of the ring he had in his finger. It was seeming interesting after paying heed to them, Orkumaga still asked for more, still trembling. The two terrible beings again instructed to calm down and began to narrate how the old witch in the village had cursed his mother that she was never going to give birth and the curse took effect on her mother. Immediately they said the cursed took effect, and without allowing them to complete what they were about to say, Orkumaga chipped in and asked them who they were but they took no delight in answering the question as one of them continued talking. The 2 disastrous beings now told Orkumaga that, before they gave birth to him, his mother was married to 3 different spouses without getting pregnant but as the whole villagers back then were aware of her misfortunes, there was no single day without someone insulting her to the extent that even her friends back then before his birth turned their backs against her and became gossipers as all the 3 spouses took her back to her parents.

While they were saying these revealing stories, Orkumaga began to shed tears and seeing that he was becoming emotional, they cut the story short and said to him that, the same reason he was crying was the very reason they saved his mothet because they loved her even when she was a little baby and they said to him that it was their father that broke the barrenness curse and freed her to be eligible to give birth to him. They told him that they were the ones that gave rise to his mother (Dooter) going to the river at that hour of the night to fetch water again, repeated the second time that the old man by river she met that saved her was their father. After explaining how the curse was broken by their father, Orkumaga now asked them if they are telling him the truth but they proceeded by telling him that the ring on his finger they have already told him it was given to her mother to fix on his finger immediately after giving birth to him by their father. When Orkumaga heard that from the 2 weird entities, he became frightened but nonetheless, one of the bizarre beings reassured him that if they were there to harm him, they would have done that since without having to explain everything to him and again told him to believe in their love for him and his mother and then, they continued.... They told him to acknowledge that they were the reason he wasn't killed by the cultist in the school and also the assassins that were sent by the lecturer. Again, they told him that even when he was in nursery to secondary school, all that happened, they were there and again told him that, no one would ever harm him and go scot-free.

While they were explaining how everything happened and had unfolded, Orkumaga remained silent without saying a word but when they finished, he thanked them for showing him love and care but again asked them the reason they did all they had done to protect him but they replied saying to him that they care for those that deserves care and love and they saw the pains his mother was going to experience in her life even when she was young. After telling him the reasons they all did that, The 2 bizarre entities again told Orkumaga that there was one more thing left for them to tell him and Orkumaga on hearing that, told them to go ahead and immediately one of the strange being shouted " The final battle" as he shouted the final battle, Orkumaga again asked what he meant by saying that but the other one advised him to calm down and listen to them. When he calmed down, They told him that he was going to have a final war with the sorcerers in his mother's house as he was about to travel to his mother's village to visit them. When he heard that, Orkumaga began to quiver but the 2 beings advised him to believe in them that they were invariably going to protect him. When he heard as they (2 Bizarre Beings) assured him of always being with him again, he thanked them and instantly they made him to sleep and disappeared. Early in the morning the following day, Orkumaga travelled to join his parents as they planned. When he arrived home, his parents welcomed him but his face was not like someone who had visited his parents and immediately his father, seeing that written all over his face, asked Orkumaga why he was not happy but he said it's nothing. His father, again argued with him that he was not saying the truth but he ignored him.

In the night, as they all sat together talking before going to bed, Orkumaga asked his parent to tell him what had happened before his birth but they were all astonishingly confused and so, none was able to give him the correct answer and then his father Mr Martins asked him what he meant by the question but he told them that he would love to know what happened to his Mother when she was young and pleaded to be told the whole story.

Immediately Dooter heard that, she couldnt hold back the tears without saying a word but Orkumaga, seen that his mother was crying, asked her why she was crying when she knows he wants to know what happened but his father told him that his mother would not be able to tell him all that happened to her but Orkumaga still insisted that he wants to know.

As his father was trying to convince Orkumaga not to coerce his mother willy-nilly to tell him what they have already kept it away from him, she dried her tears and began to talk.

She narrated everything that happened starting from the witch been in coven and how she was not aware of the cursed to how she became matured to when she got married and couldn't give birth because she couldn't get pregnant and also the reproaches from the people to how she was saved by the old man in the village she met in the river when she went to the river in the night to fetch water. She explained everything as it happened. What happened after she got married to Orkumaga's father after the Old man had said she was going to get a husband and also to what happened the time she was pregnant. The weird beings that were always visiting her and again went back and told him about the ring the old man gave to her to fix on his finger immediately after giving birth to him. She explained all the old man had said he (Orkumaga) was going to be but as she finished, Okumaga again asked her why she was crying but he said to him that it was because all the old man had said have already came to pass and again, said to him that she and his father are now proud of him as the old man had said .

When his mother finished narrating her story, Orkumaga again asked his parents why they kept it from him but his father (Mr. Martins) said to him that it was not necessary for him to know the pains his mother passed through in her life but again said to him that they were going to tell him at the right time.

When his father finished talking, Orkumaga began to tell them about the same unusual beings that they also appeared to him and all they have said but his father hearing that, agreed with him and said that the 2 extraordinary beings were always visiting his mother when she was pregnant for him( Orkumaga but he never believed she was saying the truth at first and again, confessed that as the strange beings also appeared to Orkumaga, he is sorry to have ever doubted his wife (Dooter) from the first time she started telling him about the unnatural beings visiting her. He promised her that henceforth, he will never distrust her again and again ended up by saying even if he understands what she's saying is a joke, he will believe her.

When they all finished talking, Orkumaga again thanked his parents and told them he wants to go to bed immediately they prayed and went to bed.