CHAPTER 21 - GATHERED TOGETHER

Eruvwu, Ovie, and Ese arrived at the tree their faces all gloomy and sad. They looked at the tree; it was as tall as the clouds, with a large stem, the murky smell of wood and the fresh smell of nature filled the environment, looking at the tree lightened their mood.

As they looked around and saw their mates, who were injured, some with missing arms and legs it turned their smile back to sadness.

"What happened, why are your faces all gloomy?" Okoro asked.

"Migwo," they greeted in unison.

"Did you seen Egbo, Akpobor, Miracle, Great, Ejiro, Apovwe, and Egounor on your way coming? We are complete except them to start going back to the tribe"

At the mention of Egbo their faces turned sorrowful,

At the back the other children were discussing silently, "didn't I tell you guys that they are not strong, they aren't meant to be the geniuses of the tribe, the only reason they were given that position was beacuse they were the Elders children. Akpobor isn't even meant to be there, the elders are just biased."

"What happened?" Okoro asked his heart beating faster.

"He died," Ese replied, the whole area quickly turned obsolete of noise.

Egbo had died, one of the greatest genius in the tribe had died, the son of an elder had died.

"How did he die? Explain quickly!" Okoro spoke in a desperate tone.

Ese responded, "on the second day of the hunt, we had barely hunted any animals and our results weren't good, so we had decided to hunt a stronger animal so we could get a better result and have the chance of crossing a threshold with the chief help.

We looked for one we could fight, but the forest just seemed like it was empty, until we stumbled upon the territory of a bear. At first, we didn't think of fighting it because fighting something with that strength was suicide.

We tried running but it followed us, we realized we couldn't keep running then decided to fight it, it was in that fight we lost Egbo.

He planned to distract the bear while we attacked it, but its skin was as tough as steel, each time it swang its paws at us it felt like it could destroy boulders easily.

While distracting the bear, he got hit in a vital spot near his heart, causing him to spit out blood, some time later he told us he could barely breathe, and he died due to lack of breath.

"So where is his body and what about the bear?" Okoro spoke in a sad and dissatisfied tone.

"Ofcourse we buried his body, and we left markings all the way to this place through the trees, and if we hadn't killed the bear we wouldn't have been here, we made a vow not to rest till we kill the bear or die with it" Ese spoke with tears already coming from her eyes.

"That's a good thing to do, as the tribe says always avenge a fallen comrade, it might not be immediately but you shall always avenge them" Okoro spoke in a serious tone.

"What about your other tribemate did you see any of them?" Okoro asked.

"No, we didn't see anyone" they responded together.

"But I think I saw someone being chased by two apes and a panther, with the speed hw was running he must have crossed the threshold of speed" someone spoke quickly.

"Those darn apes tribe" Okoro spoke his face contorting with anger.

Whoever was being pursued is unlucky, those apes rarely let go of their prey, and he was also being hunted by a black panther those mysterious and devious predators of the dark.

" I hope they are safe somewhere" he said with a hint of pity in his tone.

URHOBOS GATHER ROUND!

By tomorrow we shall be leaving the forest returning back to the tribe, anybody not around will sadly be left behind. But we would come back to search for them or their remains.

I'm not the only one here, my tribemate your senior Efe is here, she's guarding round the tree searching for any potential predator on their way to the tree.

As Okoro were speaking, they all felt a cold breeze move past them.

Bang

I cloud of smoke covered the tree where something landed.

"Cough, cough, I don't still know how to control my speed yet" miracle spoke coughing.

I could be in serious danger for my lack of control.

Everybody quickly gathered around the tree, as they saw Miracle upside down, the way he crash-landed.

"Is this really a miracle? He was the one who didn't even like to train, when it was time to train he was always nowhere to be seen. But now he has crossed a threshold, and not just any ordinary one; a threshold of speed.

"What happened?" Efe who was guarding the surroundings came quickly to access the situation.

"Migwo" they all bowed their heads acknowledging her.

"Miracle, was running an couldn't control his speed then he crash landed into one of the trees" one of them spoke quickly.

"Oh, that's what happened, I thought a predator had entered the surroundings" Efe breathe a sigh of relief.

"So you have crossed a threshold?" Efe asked looking at miracle.

"Yes I did, I crossed it when I was being pursued by two apes" miracle spoke in a slightly nervous tone.

"Wow, your lucky to be alive it a very rare thing for apes to leave their prey alive or surrender to it, but you're here right now" Efe spoke as she smiled at him, she was genuinely happy that he survived.

The tribe all gathered near the tree and started telling their tales, then suddenly the air stifled, the air felt heavy, some people were already having difficulty in breathing.

Okoro and Efe turned as they faced the direction the pressure was coming from as cold sweats ran down thier backs.

Step step step step

They had clenched their weapons, preparing to give it their all until they saw what was there.

Is that you Akpobor?