1 Prologue: Onwu loses his eyes

There was a sense of excitement in the air as several figures crowded around a grand throne room, unable to stay still in their seats. The throne room itself was fast, with a floor made of glistening obsidian that danced with the myriads of gems encrusted into the floor. The pillars supporting the roof of the throne room were the color of oak wood, each pillar depicting an image of major events in the history of the universe.

The roof of the throne room was ever-shifting in its imagery, as the sight bore the very cosmos itself. Flitting around from star to star and the planets occupied therein, the roof was a window into the greater universe itself, with occasional glances back at Earth. This was the throne room of Chukwu, King of the Odanini, maker of the universe, Lord of the Alusi gods, where he might peer into the unknown in order to make his decisions.

Normally, Chukwu was a very reclusive deity, as his appearance made him stand out compared to several of the other gods. His body did not have a coating of skin as one might expect, rather, his body, though held by a frame in the shape of a man, also displayed constellations, black holes, stars dying and being born and galaxies moving about. His eyes resembled swirling superclusters and his 'skin' had a deep blue hue to it.

Chukwu in one of these rare occasions, since he was no longer living among mortals, actually had guests in his throne room, and he had to sit on his throne to play the part of hosts. He didn't like having a throne, he felt it too gaudy, but he had to play the part of the 'King of All'. Though none of his guests were mortal, they were all either gods or various animal spirits.

They were all unable to stay in their seats around the large dining table he had prepared for them and the food was untouched, which he found quite annoying, especially with the effort his servants had put into the food. But while they were all moving around, he might as well keep a mental track of who was attending.

The animal spirits were easy to account for, all of them were currently maintaining the appearance of the animal they represented, though slightly larger than the average of the species. Leopard, king of the animal spirits, was swishing his tail back and forth restlessly, sparing only a glance at Chukwu and the other animal spirits.

There was a woman starting to eye the food. Her skin color kept changing from a deep brown to the rippling dark blue of the ocean. Her neck was adorned with seashells and pearls, earrings made of green aquamarine gems hung from her ears. She wore a flowing blue dress, that like Chukwu's skin, also displayed various moving images. Hers though was the ocean itself, as images of whales, sharks and the fauna of the sea moved around her dress. She was without a doubt, the most beautiful woman in the room. Her pillowy lips, eyes a piercing deep blue, raised cheekbones and a curvy figure. Her long hair was wrapped up in a silk headdress that rose up and extended to the sides, resembling the tail fluke of a whale. This was Idemili, also known to the mortals as Mami Wata, goddess of the ocean and all its inhabitants.

Behind her, the spirit of the elephant was walking up to the table finally, flanked by floating Agbogho Mmuos as his personal retinues. Like most human-like mmuos, the mortal term for spirits, they were always pale in appearance and rarely touched the ground. The Agboghos were spirits of maidenhood and beauty and could easily be recognized by their oversized vertical helmets. All of their helmets had brown cowbells attached to the front and back of the helmets, while at the top were 6 circles, each adorned with the image of different stages in a woman's life. They themselves would only eat at the behest of their master, the elephant spirit. While Leopard may be the King of the animal spirits, Elephant was the regent of herbivores and subduer of monsters.

Actually taking a seat close to Chukwu's throne was another woman. Unlike Idemili who needed a headdress to contain her long hair, this woman's head was shaved. Her attire, however, was in stark contrast to Idemili's flaunting style. Hers was more muted, though she wore large gold earrings, and had golden bangles around her wrists, and golden arm bracelets, her dress was adorned in more warm, earthy colors. The dress, though wearing images, did not move like a film, instead, it was still, but it was images of the Earth, mountains, and plains with the occasional white of limestone caverns thrown in. She had a very gentle smile, that could hide a lot of ferocity, and as she sat and looked at the other gods and spirits, who instinctively cringed and started to move towards the table. This was Ala, the goddess of the Earth and Chukwu's best friend and the oldest deity next to Chukwu, the charter of the very stars, and the embodiment of the afterlife.

Joining next to her was the husband that Chukwu had made for her. The lord of the skies, and the god of thunder, peace, justice, and unity, Amadioha, leader of the non-primordial Alusi. He was shirtless, as he was wont to prefer. His rich ochre skin sometimes flitted between a deep red and a natural dark West African hue. He wore a long necklace of cowrie shells with a large ram horn affixed to it. Electricity crackled and danced all over his exposed skin, as he tucked in his long sky blue and brown lower garments while placing himself in his chair with as much dignity as he could muster.

Sitting opposite from the table to Ala were two women who wore similar attire but could not have been more different. One wore a long shawl with images of peacock feathers as well as the colors of the rising sun over a dress bright in oranges and yellows. The other woman wore more silvery colors with images of civets on them. Her main dress was the colors of silvery moonlight and from both women, one could feel the light emanating from their attire and their very presence. They were Anyanwu and Onwa, the goddesses of the sun and moon respectively and while polite to the other gods and spirits, they both shot Idemili a withering look as the ocean goddess shook her adornments at them in a dismissive fashion.

The final god to take a seat with them was the most odd-looking, appearance-wise of them all. He wore green shoulder armor, with intricate designs looking similar to a tortoiseshell. His face was covered by a pale mask with red lines running from the eye slits. 3 horns jutted upwards from each side of the mask. His hair was wild and stretched all the way down to his back to his waistline, giving him a very shaggy appearance. His torso and lower body were covered in a mauve leather armor, long white gloves covered his arms, and attached to his shoulder armor was a long red cape, while in his right hand he held a scepter with a necklace of many cowrie shells. This strange god was Ekwensu, the embodiment of chaos, war, fair deals, bargaining, and trade. He was certainly the most eccentric of the gods and refused to take his mask off even as he was seated before Chukwu.

After a few minutes, all the guests were finally seated and all of them were setting their attention on Chukwu, who after giving a thankful sigh, rose from his throne to address the gods and spirits. His voice could best be described as a mix between a deep male baritone and a lighter female voice.

"To all my guests, this is a momentous occasion in the history of this world. The race between the dog spirit and the tortoise spirit is over with tortoise as the surprising winner."

The dog spirit whimpered as he lowered his head on the table in shame, his ears turning downwards as tortoise leaned back on his chair, pleased with himself, with Ekwensu clapping joyously for him, while some of the other spirits that had been left out of the loop of events were stunned.

Chukwu cast a quick side glance at Ekwensu and the chaos god immediately stopped and put his hands under the table in apology.

"This means that the question of what to do with humans has been resolved. They have chosen to give up their immortality for the sake of balance on the planet, there will likely be some who still object, but we will give some the opportunity to become spirits. Ala and I have already begun work on several different afterlives based on the lives these new 'mortals' once lived."

Ala made a gesture to the crowd by patting her stomach, causing a chuckle to spread through the crowd. Though it was a gesture, Ala was in fact, sitting with them and was everywhere, even under their feet. Therefore she didn't mean literally in the stomach of the avatar that stood before them.

This caused even Chukwu to broker a smile as he raised a hand to ask the rowdy bunch of gods and spirits to let him continue.

"But the question is, humans still need to be collected. Therefore, I gave Onwu the job of being the new god of death. He has been out and about and I have been informed that he will be on his way, most likely with several human souls, ready for their new homes. This will be a toast to Onwu for a good day on the job."

All the gods and spirits raised the cups of palm wine that all suddenly appeared in their hands, but did not drink, after all, it would be impolite to drink before the guest of honor had even arrived. The food was starting to form before them, dishes of soups of various plants such as okra leaves and peppers and various kinds of rice. There were, of course, meat dishes for the carnivorous animal spirits which the herbivorous spirits had to grudgingly put up with. No one touched their food at all, not even when there was a tapping at the great doors of the throne room.

Everyone rose expectantly, as the doors swung open of their own accord with a slight gesture of Chukwu's finger. Through the doors walked a man with ashen-grey skin. His facial features were hollow and gaunt and he looked extremely sickly, yet his gait betrayed that notion. Like Amadioha he too was shirtless, wearing only a long lower torso sash as his bony fingers shook with dread, and everyone could see why. Everyone had been looking to see a host of souls behind the god of death, but here he stood in the doorway, in front of Chukwu's presence, alone.

The throne room was silent, not enough a cough passed from anyone's mouth as they felt the room slowly start to get ever so cold. Even the lights from Anyanwu and Onwa's dresses were starting to dim. The coldness was deep, as freezing to the skin as the vacuum of space as the images on Chukwu's skin began to shine brighter and dance around rapidly. Onwu, knowing what he was in for walked slowly towards Chukwu, not bothering to take his seat at the table, only pausing when Ekwensu reached around and grabbed his arm, lifting his mask up to reveal a face with mismatched purple and green eyes and coal-black skin and large lips. Ekwensu squeezed Onwu's arm for support, but Onwu shook his head gently and pried Ekwensu's arm off his and continued walking towards his creator.

Chukwu at this point sat back down onto this throne, which was slowly growing larger, as was Chukwu himself, slowly rising to the height of the giraffe spirit. Onwu stifled the lump in his throat and carefully knelt on both knees in a submissive posture. Chukwu's words sounded pleasant, but everyone in the room was flinching at them, even Ala who could deal with him the easiest was very uncomfortable.

"Onwu, my dear death, I am so glad to see you. We had a feast prepared for you." Chukwu said, gesturing at the food which was starting to freeze over with a false smile.

No one could mistake the barely contained anger behind the words, and no one wanted to interrupt lest they be caught in their creator's wrath, so they moved not an inch for their fellow god.

"I was under the sincere impression that I assigned you a job, and even gave you powers that came with it. Yet here you are before all of us, empty-handed, with no mortal souls to share this food with us. This is quite embarrassing Onwu." Chukwu emphasized, his every word sending a chill down the spine of the god of death.

"I-i don't have a good explanation, my lord." Onwu stuttered, nearly choking on his words.

Chukwu cocked his head quizzically, "It sounds like you have somewhat of an explanation, I think everyone here would like to hear what you have to say."

Everyone could see that Onwu was sweating, as a small puddle had already formed beneath his prostrated face.

"When I went to the mortals, I went to them all, rich, poor, young, old, male and female. I told them that I was there to collect them, and they each told me they did not want to die and gave me reasons to go to other groups to collect from. I went around like this multiple times so I thought you might have the answer, my lord. When I look into the eyes of children and babies, I found myself unable to take their souls."

Chukwu was actually stunned, at a loss for words, but to everyone's horror, he started laughing uncontrollably.

"This has got to be the silliest thing I've ever heard. A god of death stopped from doing his job by the manner of words and cute faces. Alright, I think I know the solution to your problem Onwu."

Onwu jerked his head up with a grateful look on his face. Further behind him, Ekwensu sighed with relief.

"Y-you do my lord?" Onwu asked with hope in his voice.

"Yes indeed," Chukwu said with a dark smile, and at once everyone in the throne room held their breath, "The problem seems to lie with your eyes and ears. Can't have a death god unable to do his job because of things the mortals trick you with."

In a flash of lightning, and the sound of a hole in the world tearing, both Ekwensu and Amadioha were standing in front of Onwu, looking up at Chukwu with pleading looks on their faces.

"Lord Chukwu, if I may. This course of action does not seem just." Amadioha suggested, "Perhaps Onwu just needs personal time to adjust to his role, I am quite certain he will adapt in time."

Ekwensu and Onwu both gave grateful nods to Amadioha, who himself was sweating, Chukwu simply stared at the three of them blankly.

"Tell me Amadioha, can you speak to me of justice when the lands are going to be overpopulated, is it just to let the mortals eternally starve and suffer because they cannot die of hunger because there are too many mouths and not enough food? While you are right about legal justice, I am talking about justice that saves this world, and the mortals. If I do not punish him for his mistakes he will continue to fail. So I will not ask again, you two, step aside."

As Chukwu rose from his throne and walked towards Onwu, Ekwensu and Amadioha tried to stand firm but as Chuwku reduced his size and looked them in the eye, they found they could not hold his gaze and shamefully stepped aside.

What happened next was seared into the memory of every god and spirit present. Onwu started screaming, clawing at his eyes and ears, trying to hold them down, but to no avail, with a burst of light, his ears and eyes flew from his face, the brown divine blood flowing from the hole in his eyes. Ekwensu caught the stumbling Onwu, catching the now blind and deaf god, as the eyes and ears floated in the palm of Chukwu's left hand.

"From now on" Chukwu declared in a booming voice that no one could mishear, "Death shall be blind and deaf, to ensure that everyone's soul is collected without any bias."

Chukwu looked at the crying Onwu, who was holding and grasping at everything around him, as Ekwensu held him up. Ekwensu, in turn, stared at Onwu's eyes and ears floating in front of him, before they disappeared. Risking a glare at Chukwu he guided Onwu to the dinner table, to help him with his meal.