Chapter 9

Ayoola's POV.

The time came for me to go back home. I packed my stuff and told Tumi that I was leaving.

“Take care. You know this place gets creepy during the eclipse. Get home and lock yourself inside. I send my greeting for your sister.” She waved me goodbye.

The moon and the sun were visible across the sky. It was only a matter of time until these two become one, unleashing the spirit of death upon the unfortunate. It was almost like a myth to many people in this town. Only a small portion of the people here knew that it was a real event. Yet I chose this day to see my sister, Adisa. She had been out of town for months on end. It was almost like she was avoiding me. I knew she was doing all that to survive. Being a dark shadow among humans was not easy. At least on this day, I knew exactly where to find her.

I made sure that no one was following after me. I looked up at the sky one more time. I had a few hours before the eclipse. I wanted to meet my sister and fill her in on all the details of my day. Hopefully, this would melt the glaciers around her heart.

The trees of the forest were so high that it shielded me from the sun. It was almost impossible to see the sky above you. There was an undeniable power among the trees that flowed into me. It was so close to me yet far. It was far because I could not access this energy despite being a guardian.

I was a guardian of who knew what. For many centuries people like me used the energy from nature for magic. When we passed away, our magic would seep right back in the ground then back to the trees. Unfortunately, this cycle was disturbed, stripping us of our source of power.

I longed to feel the energy of the trees, and just of nature in general. Being surrounded by nature and being unable to access its divine powers left a hole in my heart. It was like living without a purpose.

These trees were a constant reminder of the story my mother would always tell me about people like me. At least in those stories, we were the good guys. We were called Walezi, in Swahili, by our own. Meaning guardians. Mlezi was what we called a guardian. Our powers came solely from nature. We harvested it and used it. In the end, we returned it. In the eyes of many humans, we were witches. They saw us as a threat and lived every day with the promise to wipe us off the surface of the earth. It was not always like that. There was once harmony between us.

I had reached the cave. I removed the vines that hid the entrance of the gave, yet I was unable to enter. There was a barrier spell. I knew then that Adisa was not back.

A Spell.

The cave was sealed with a spell. Adisa had sealed with a spell to stop anyone from entering.

I sat on a rock near the cave, my shoulders slumped. I had waited for months to see my sister, letting time fly by was like letting an opportunity slip by. Everything in me longed to see her face, to hold her and tell her that I was sorry that she was going through this alone. I lived a decent life when she was here hiding in the dark.

Something came flying toward the cave, before I could react it landed on the floor, sending a large amount of sand into the air. I looked over at the body lying on the floor. Judging by the muscular back that was slowly lifted off the ground accompanied by a groan. It was a man. I slowly walked around the body to see the face.

His eyes fell on me as he lifted his face. Those eyes... I recognized him. He was the man with the steel hand.

I gasped in horror.

Was he here to kill me?

It could not be because someone dragged him here. A thin stream of blood flowed on the side of his mouth. Sand covered his face. Adisa emerged from the trees, unlike the steel man on the ground. She was still clean. Her afro was high and thick like a crown.

Her eyes were white.

I knew she was under the influence the dark magic. My sister was a dark shadow, a guardian who made a blood sacrifice to the Queen of shadows. Unlike many, she did that to save me. She walked as if she was on the water, with her hands clasped together. From the corner of my eyes, I saw his hand reach out for me. I fell back in an attempt to run away. His hands fell on the ground.

Adisa raised her hand in the air. He began choking on his saliva right away. I watched how she got close but not too close to him as if she knew he was a threat. A strange darkness enveloped me when Adisa put her hand on my shoulder. She was my sister yet I could not deny the overwhelming darkness surrounding her. The dark magic was eating her inside out. She could not see it but I could. I sensed it.

"Are you okay?" I knew she meant no harm to me but with every passing day, her voice lost compassion. She could not come off as caring regardless of how she worded her concern. Her words did not carry emotions, mainly because she was turning into stone.

I looked up at her and slightly nodded. She lent me a hand to get up. My skin crawl as it came to contact with her. It was almost like I came to contact with dark magic itself. Many guardians chose to wait for the day their magic, real magic, would return. Others were driven by the hunger for powers and sold their souls to the Queen of shadows to access dark magic.

For a small instant, dark energy filled me, the type of energy that consumed me, along with that came voices. I let go of her hand, and it all disappeared into thin air.

"This man." I pointed at the man behind me.

"Is it... Are you going to kill him tonight?" Today was the day of the eclipse. The Queen of shadows would send the spirit of death upon her worshipers, the dark shadows. That spirit would make the body it possessed to kill any living thing at sight. It had been the reason for many mass slaughter for ages. The more people became aware of this ritual caused more dark shadows to find new strategies to keep their identity hidden. In the daylight, it was almost impossible to spot a dark shadow, a new dark shadow. With time and age when their eyes become completely white, they easily stand out, like Adisa.

To keep Adisa hidden from the world, we found this cave. During the day of the eclipse Adisa would make a barrier spell that would last for the whole night, she would seal herself in with a human body... Her kill. We traded the life of the many for one. She did not just kill anyone. We picked specific people. Vicious people.

"I'm still deciding." She said, lifting her finger. Something lifted the body behind me in the air. She moved her finger in the air, and the body was carried inside the cave.