Red Eagle

Sequence 1

Moise runs through the forest, spear in hand, panting heavily as she tries to put some distance between herself and the SDF personnel who have been shadowing her for an hour. Her progress is held back by the surrounding bush which gets thicker and thicker.

She struggles to move quickly without her spear being snagged by branches and resorts to frantically clawing and swinging her spear at whatever is in her way.

Behind her, she hears the rustling of leaves and turns around to see a ring of fire from the darkness followed by a bullet slowly moving towards her.

She watches it slowly turn the side of a tree beside her to splinters, and instinctively deflects the bullet moving towards her chest with her right gauntlet.

Moise runs to her left, keeping her head low as bullets fly all around her.

One bullet grazes her left thigh, revealing a wad of explosive gum she had gathered from the library.

With few places to hide, she dives into a small hole and lies flat as bullets fly inches away from her ears.

Frightened by the flashes and loud noises she cries "This is just like that nightmare, is this how I die, alone and in a strange land?".

As a storm in the distance begins to form she wipes her tears, looking up at the sky, thinking "No, I made a promise to my friend and while my Lord lives within me, I refuse to die!".

Her heart beats faster, her eyes and hair glow brilliant blue which fills the surrounding forest with blinding light, distracting her attackers.

Taking advantage of this distraction, Moise throws a wad of gum from her skirt into the side of a tree, then blasts it with lightning.

The explosion causes flaming branches and splinters to fly and burn trees in the surrounding area.

She shoots more trees around her, causing more fires and spreading confusion among the SDF men as the forest fills with thick smoke.

Moise gets up and with a furious rage, starts slaughtering the SDF men one by one, her approach masked from eyesight and thermal imaging by smoke and intense flames.

She finishes off the last man by throwing a knife into his throat as he shoots blindly into the smoke.

Exhausted, Moise drops her spear and kneels on the charred ground as heavy rain douses the fire around her.

She looks up at the stormy sky saying "Thank you", just as a red dot and three helicopters emerge from the clouds.

As the red dot gets closer she sees a fiery winged creature, holding a sword, charging straight at her. 

She shoots a bolt of lightning at the creature but misses. Thinking quickly, she summons her spear from the forest and blocks the winged creature's sword strike just in time. 

Fire and lightning dance in the rain as the two parry each other's attacks.

Another black creature with eight arms drops behind her and starts shooting in her direction.

Moise dodges these attacks, and sensing an opening, knocks the winged creature off its feet with her spear.

Before she can kill it, several bullets whizz past her and she retreats into the forest for cover.

"I'm almost out of spark" she says as her eyes and hair slowly dim.

The winged creature flies overhead and cuts off her escape by setting large segments of the forest ablaze.

Behind her the black creature is jumping from tree to tree, looking to pounce on her.

With flames burning all over and nowhere to run, Moise remembers her dream and screams desperately, "Please get me out of here!".

A bolt of blue lightning descends from the clouds, engulfing her and dragging her out of the forest.

The bolt drops her on the flat roof of a shopping complex in Onitsha near several rumbling generator sets. 

Too tired to get up, the smoke, bright lights, and noise eventually overcome her and she passes out on the roof

Sequence 2

Moise wakes up, disorientated and gasping for air.

She tries to move but quickly notices she's in a bright white room, restrained to a wall, her arms and legs spread apart in separate tubes.

In front of her she sees several people, some stand armed and ready to fire at the slightest hint of trouble.

Moise groans and tries to break out of her restraints but they only pull tighter around her limbs.

She starts to panic and shouts "Who are you? What do you want with me!?".

An old man, dressed in white, holding a staff with a flaming blue eye, steps forward and speaks in her own language;

"I am the Prophet, sent at the command of my master, we are the defenders of this world.

You are not of this world, who are you and why have you come here?".

Moise, relieved to hear her language, responds on the verge of tears, "I don't know where I am... or what brought me here.

In my world they called me Moise.

I was the daughter of a great king and blessed by the gods but my father was poisoned and my destiny stolen from me.

Now I live like a vagabond, attacked at every turn".

Prophet moves closer and gently wipes off a tear from Moise's left cheek saying, "A lost child in a strange land, such a sad thing.

Please forgive us for the misunderstanding, we would rather have you as an ally than an enemy, for the sake of both our worlds.

If you refuse we can not guarantee your safety within this world.

Will you join us?".

Moise responds, "For the sake of my people, I will ally with you, but do not mistake this compromise for kinship".

Prophet turns to the people standing behind and says "She will join us".

One of the men, Dele Bankole , steps forward and asks, "How do we ensure her compliance? None of the means we tried have worked so far".

Prophet replies, "I shall invoke the book".

A woman standing behind Prophet and Dele paces forward protesting, "Why don't we exhaust all possible options before doing something so drastic!?".

Prophet responds, "The magic she holds in her heart is one of the most powerful and dangerous I have encountered. Do not let this opportunity pass you by".

Dele turns to the woman saying, "Amina, do you trust me or not?" to which she sighs and turns away, nervously biting her nails.

He then turns to prophet and says, "Bring it out".

Prophet dips his hand in his cloak and brings out a large brown book, lined with spikes, gold trimmings and a single ruby cut into the shape of an eye at the front.

Prophet leaves his staff to levitate and flips through to an empty page then raises the book to Dele saying;

"Whosoever signs this page makes a blood covenant, only dissolved upon the death of one or mutual agreement of all signatories.

You shall not kill the other lest you lose your own life, do you agree with these terms?".

Dele responds "I agree" and places his index finger on a marked section of the page which cuts him and signs the document with his blood.

Amina walks up from behind Dele and places her hand on the book saying "I agree as well", to the surprise of everyone in the room.

Angered, Dele turns to her saying, "What are you doing?" and Amina replies, "I said I would always be right behind you didn't I?" removing her bloody palm from the page.

Prophet walks to Moise and tells her the same, after a moment of thought she agrees, cutting her lower lip with her fangs and spitting her blood on the page.

The ruby on the cover glows and the book violently snaps shut as Prophet says, "It is done".

Holding her bleeding hand by the wrist, Amina turns to the researchers behind her and shouts "Well don't just stand there, bring her down and take her to the lower cells. We will continue this in the morning".

As the researchers blindfold and restrain Moise to a trolley, Dele grabs Amina's hand saying, "Does it hurt?".

She pulls it way and replies coldly, "I'll heal".

Dele simply sighs and walks out of the room to attend to other matters leaving Amina to tend to her wounds, physical and emotional.

Sequence 3

Moise, who's now being carted blindly through the facility, starts to think, "I can smell water, and salt, lot's of salt. I wonder what kind of magic these people are using".

After several movements the trolly stops and Moise's restrains fall off her hands, allowing her to remove the blindfolds.

She finds herself in a white room with only a bed and a similarly white desk beside it. To her left she sees a door and behind her, a transparent wall with orange pathways occasionally lighting up it's surface.

She carefully inspects the room running her fingers over the walls saying "These walls, it's almost like they are, alive".

As she says this, a section of the wall opens and two drones come out to takes the restraints away.

Moise crouches in amazement and grabs one to get a closer look at it. She giggles while playfully pulling at it's arms as it struggles to get away.

Her fun is disturbed by the faint vibration of footsteps moving towards her cell followed by the sound of knocking on the wall.

Moise hastily gets up, dropping the drone to face two young men staring at her from behind the wall.

They talk between themselves and taunt her as she stares at the glowing red eyes of one of the boys.

One of them tries to speak to her on the intercom but it doesn't work, the other ignites his hand with a large burst of flame, startling Moise.

Moise responds by sending a blast of lightning at them. The intense flash and loud bang shakes the building and shocks the young men, sending one falling to the floor in fright.

Fortunately for them, the lightning gets absorbed by the wall, leaving a glowing blue figure which slowly fades.

Not wanting to escalate the situation, the boys leave Moise alone and go back to their individual cells adjacent to hers.

Moise hisses and continues inspecting the room.

She pulls out drawers to scan the contents, pushes every button she sees, drinks water from the bathroom sink, and finally, looks under the bed for any hidden items or passages.

After finding nothing of note, she decides to sit down on the soft foam and is shocked by how comfortable it is.

Digging her claw into the bed frame, Moise lies down, happy to sleep in a warm bed and not the cold floor for once.

In the morning she's woken up by the smell of food and turns to see a plate of beef, a small loaf of bread and a cup of water sitting on the drawer beside her.

Amina, who is standing just outside her cell, uses the intercom to tell her, "Good you're awake. I didn't know what you liked to eat so I played it safe".

Moise stretches and rubs her eyes saying, "Your accent is atrocious".

Amina laughs and replies "Please be patient, I just learned it last night".

Moise asks, "Who taught you?" as she bites into a piece of beef and Amina responds, "Prophet laid the groundwork, I studied books to know more and I have so many questions to ask you".

Swallowing the meat, Moise asks Amina "Do you have any beer?".

Amina sighs "If you talk with me you can have as much as you want but you'll have to clean up first, do you need any help with that?".

Moise quickly finishes her eating and replies "I know how to use your shower, I'm not an animal".

As Moise enters the shower Amina tells her "There's pads under the sink" and calls several SDF guards to her side.

Moise gets out of the shower, wearing the same clothes to see several men waiting for her with guns and restrains.

Annoyed, Moise tells Amina "I will not be subjected to such, if you want my help, treat me like an ally, not a prisoner".

Amina sighs and sends the guards away, then says "DIVA, initiate lockdown protocol for levels four and three, give me priority access".

DIVA replies "Acknowledged, lockdown has been initiated" and floods the building with red lights.

Amina lets Moise out of the cell and says "Alright let's go".

Moise cautiously steps out and follows Amina. The atmosphere is tense as the two move through the facility without saying a word until they get to the interrogation room.

Amina leads the way and tells Moise "Please sit" as she takes her own seat across the table in the centre of the room.

Moise looks around for a bit then sits while Amina puts on her earpiece, saying, "So Moise, let's talk".

Moise asks, "What do you need to know?" and Amina replies, "Everything".

The End?