Seyi's Return

<p>A few days after Akin's encounter with Ṣodipọ, he felt an uneasy sensation, a kind of fear that burned him all the way down to his soul. A fear that Ṣeyi was about to get hurt, the evening practice had just ended and he felt the heaviness of the same sensation burn with an urgency that screamed throughout his whole being. So, he decided to tell the Ifa priest, The Ifa priest is the only one who would listen to him and one of the few people whom Ṣeyi holds in high regard.<br/>"And what brings you to my home?" The Ifa priest asked the moment he saw Akin approach<br/>"It's Ṣeyi he should have returned by now he might be hurt," Akin said<br/>"The great protector<br/>Karawun Ṣeyi (shell of Ṣeyi)<br/>Without the shell, the snail cannot survive<br/>Without the snail, the shell is nothing<br/>Together they stand, asunder they fall <br/>They fight as one and think as one <br/>Because they are one<br/>The shell is the beauty of the snail<br/>The snail is the life within the shell"<br/><br/>"Well, I am an ugly shell," Akin said with a hint of humour<br/>"No you're not," the Ifa priest said with a grin "The beauty of a tree can only be seen when its flowers bloom and the flower of a tree can only bloom when the tree is mature"<br/>"Well, I am not a tree," Akin said not understanding the priest's proverb <br/>"Children of nowadays, never understanding a simple proverb," the priest said to himself "Well, Akin believe it or not a time will come when every damsel in this village would beg to be your wife"<br/>The words sounded so absurd that Akin squeezed his eyes to prove to himself that he actually heard the last sentence of the Ifa priest, in the end, Akin foolishly pretended not to listen or to believe the words of this old man. Ṣeyi once told him that the Ifa priest has the talent to confuse young men with complicated proverbs and ghost stories, he remembered his best friend saying that the older the priest becomes the broader his knowledge grows and for a young impatient fool like himself or Akin such knowledge is liable to give them a serious headache. Therefore, Akin simply walked away thanking the priest for his irrelevant wisdom, completely forgetting why he had come to speak with the priest in the first place, whispering a silent prayer to Olodumare that he would never be in a position where he would need to seek counsel from an old wise man again. <br/>Thanks to the wisdom of the Ifa priest Akin was able to forget about Ṣeyi's immediate danger, but the next day the uneasy feeling came back with a vengeance, the sensation vexed him throughout the whole day, eating away at his sanity and consuming his rest of mind. As the sun approached, the western sky Akin had made up his mind that he would slip out of the village before sunrise in order to help his best friend. At midnight something astonishing happened, a bright red light flashed across the horizon, followed by several red lightning strikes, the rumbling of thunder and the roar of a wild lion. There were continuous booms! And crashes and the earth trembled, disturbing all those who are light sleepers Akin included. <br/>"What's going on?" Someone who stepped outside said as he observed the strange phenomenon. <br/>"Warriors, Awaken the village needs you!" The Akọgun chanted in urgency <br/>The Balogun jumped out of her hut immediately giving orders to all the Ẹṣọs of the village, thankful that the Akọgun can summon all the able-bodied men within moments. There was an even louder roar followed by the sound of something making an impact with the earth and only seconds later, the earth itself trembled.<br/>"What do you think it is," the Balogun asked the Akọgun<br/>"This is the sound of battle, a battle between two emi o kunkuns (demons)" the Akọgun replied <br/>"Will the battle reach the village?" She inquired<br/>"Hard to tell" the Akọgun replied "Hard to tell, this red light is Agbara, a strange twisted Agbara"<br/>"All warriors run to your defence posts and defend the village," She commanded <br/>"Yes ma" the warriors responded <br/>The bright light finally deemed, it had lasted for over thirty minutes, causing widespread panic in its wake. In addition, from its source, one could hear the defiant roar of ten Lions in the heat of battle and the ground trembling in response. Finally, the light faded the sounds ceased and the earth became still, the madness had ended.<br/>"I hope Ṣeyi is safe," An uneasy Akin said, "because the light came from the same direction Ṣeyi went when he went on his Iṣẹ"<br/>****<br/> Stop <br/>Ṣeyi kept on running because running was the only option he had, "How did I get here" he wondered, The forest, was dense, filled with a lot of shrubs and small trees, he could not see anything in the dark but for the eyes of his pursuers over the distance. The twin red glow represents the phantoms of the night "I'm dreaming again, and they're coming" he panicked<br/>Ṣeyi tried his best to wake up from the traitorous nightmare, but to no avail, that summoned beast landed a decisive blow. Now he's in trouble, something deep down in his soul tells him that if he is unable to conquer his dream here and now, there is a possibility that he will never wake up to see the light of day. "So I will run," he thought, after all, the odds are against him, running is the only option; it is the logical thing to do. "I am not afraid," he growled, "Ohun meji l'o yẹ Ẹṣọ, Ẹṣọ ja le Ogun, Ẹṣọ ja o ku si Ogun" (One of two things benefits an Ẹṣọ, the Ẹṣọ must fight and conquer, or The Ẹṣọ must fight and perish) he quoted assuring himself that he is more than ready to fight. The beasts moved rapidly gaining more ground than Ṣeyi could cover; it seems like these beings are getting more efficient at tracking him down by the day or is it by the dream?<br/> <br/>"Ṣeyi," he said talking to himself, "there is no point running, they will catch up anyway, so what is the solution?" And as though by reflex, he answered his question "Pray!" <br/>As he ran, despite the discomfort and the awkward position, being that he was running, Ṣeyi whispered the only word that came to his heart "Help!" And like an answer to his prayer, Olodumare sent him a memory, a vision that he had long forgotten. The word of the Ifa priest "fear" the word echoed through his entire being. One of the beasts whizzed by trying to rip a chunk of flesh from his right arm another lacerated his left shoulder with its sharp claws, "How are they able to catch up" Ṣeyi wandered. Despite the pain, Ṣeyi didn't stop, "Why fear?" He wondered, "But I am not afraid," he reasoned <br/>"F-E-A-R!" Echoed again and this time with purpose, telling Ṣeyi that he is a fool for not figuring it out yet <br/>"But I am not afraid!" Ṣeyi shouted in frustration, "I am not afraid!" The frustration gave birth to anger, a sudden volcanic fury that consumed his entire personality. He concluded that it is pointless to run, better to die fighting like a rampaging Rhino than running like a mindless chicken. So he raised his hand in a commanding tone and shouted the first word that came to his mind <br/>"STOP!" <br/>The word came out before he could carefully think of what to say, What he had intended to say was "if you want a fight, then I'll give you a fight" instead he shouted "stop" and the surprising result happened to Ṣeyi's shock, the beasts stopped and stood at attention waiting for the next command. <br/> Ṣeyi was completely at a loss for words, he couldn't believe his eyes, yet, how could he say that this was not happening now, How could one word control an army of evil spirits, "Fear!" The word echoed again. The driving force is fear, he's not the one who's afraid of them, he had never been afraid of them. Then it hit him, it was the other way around, they were the ones afraid of him, afraid of what he could do. So out of fear, they decided to kill him in his dream only to regret it later because now their fear is exposed. With a great deal of self-confidence, Ṣeyi walked towards the Beasts wary of their claws, to his intense relief, not one of the beasts dared to attack. As he walked through the crowd of monsters he noted that for some reason they were reluctant to touch him and some of the beasts still had the urge to attack the fear driving them in the last desperate effort to end it all. Uncertain of the consequences, foolishly Ṣeyi decided to press his authority by giving them a command, something to encourage their fear. "I'm hungry," he said foolishly "Fetch me some food" In reply to Ṣeyi's absurd request, all the beasts fled screeching in fear, vanishing into the night leaving Ṣeyi alone never to torment his dreams ever again. <br/>*****<br/> Pounded yam <br/>"Iyan!!" Ṣeyi exclaimed, as he jumped out of his sickbed to consume an entire bowl of pounded yam and vegetable soup, Then he washed his hands drank some water and fell back to sleep with his usual exclamation "Gbabẹ!!"<br/>"Now that was unusual" the Balogun chuckled <br/>"See" Akin gloated, "I told you that Ṣeyi cannot resist mama's pounded yam" <br/>"Be silent boy" the Ifa priest growled, "What would you know about healing" furious that his home-made concoction was bested by a bowl of pounded yam<br/>They had all been anxious about Ṣeyi's well-being; Ṣeyi had been unconscious for two days after a serious battle with an evil summoner who had the king of the local village under mind control. Ṣeyi had suffered many wounds, according to the reports, yet when the Ifa priest examined his body, they found not even a scratch. Ṣeyi recovering from his comatose state is nothing short of a miracle. The Balogun allowed Akin to stay beside his friend now that Ṣeyi was fine, She could now tend to other things, so she left the shrine ordering her Osi-Balogun to summon the team captain in charge of Ṣeyi's mission. She could have listened to Raṣida at the time they had arrived, but being too anxious about Ṣeyi's well-being she had to dismiss the usual report. Now Raṣisda stood before her, a tough-looking woman in her late twenties, well-built frame, strong eyes, dark skin and long plaited hair, several chanted beads attached to her hair and a strong killing aura.<br/> "Report!" The Balogun commanded, "Your mission was a simple social visit, why did you risk the lives of the members of your team"<br/>"Forgive me, Balogun" Raiṣida pleaded, "But most Iṣẹs are far more complex than we had imagined, The local Oba was being manipulated by an external force and Ṣeyi was the only one who realised this fact" <br/>"You mean someone was influencing the decisions of the Oba?" The Balogun inquired<br/>"Yes! A summoner, he's the one we brought in as a prisoner for questioning" Raṣida replied <br/>"How was Ṣeyi wounded?" The Balogun demanded <br/>"The moment we discovered the summoner was controlling the Oba, we challenged him and forced him to free the Oba's mind, he was a far stronger opponent than we had earlier anticipated. He had the ability to summon horrors from the nether realm" she said, rubbing a scar on her right arm "Ṣeyi saved some of us during the battle; 'switch' is a very effective chant. Then Ṣeyi did something very stupid"<br/>"Why am I not surprised?" The Balogun commented to herself "What did he do?"<br/>"He insulted the summoner, abused his pride and pushed him to the point of frustration" Raṣida responded "The furious summoner performed a translocation chant on both himself and Ṣeyi so that he could fight the boy in a one-on-one battle"<br/>"And what were you doing at the time, why didn't you perform a reverse translocation on Ṣeyi?" The Balogun snapped <br/>"The summoner blocked my Agbara flow before he left, plus he shielded the location, we spent the whole night looking for them"<br/>"And throughout that period I believe Ṣeyi was locked in battle with the summoner" the Balogun pointed <br/>"I believe so," Raṣida replied Shamefaced <br/>"How did you find him?" The Balogun inquired <br/>"Three nights ago, a very strong demonic aura radiated close to our location along with the sounds of battle, I trembled, my first assumption was that the summoner had brought forth a beast that even he could not control to face Ṣeyi, our first instincts was to follow the strange aura to its source"<br/>"How strong was the Demon aura?" <br/>"Very strong Balogun, it had a red glow and illuminated the entire forest, we could even hear the scream of the demon"<br/>"So that was the cause of the disturbance," the Balogun observed "Continue"<br/>"When we got to the source of the red aura, we found both Ṣeyi and the summoner unconscious, Apart from his coma Ṣeyi appeared to be unharmed all his wounds from the previous battle had vanished, The boy had a lot of if he truly defeated the summoner"<br/>"He does," the Balogun agreed "Thank you for bringing him back alive, you're dismissed"<br/>"On the contrary Balogun, he's the one who brought us back alive," Raṣida said with a half-smile as she left the presence of the Balogun.<br/></p>