Spirits of War

Many Days Earlier

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The sun hung lazily in the east casting a golden haze around, reminding everyone that it was morning. The wind as if in response, blew softly, parting through the lush fresh vegetation that bordered a village settlement.

All around was green accented with luscious hue of flowers and vibrant brown of trees of variant sizes. The trees bore different fruits with beautiful hue of colors all around. It was a sight to behold. As if that was not enough, the birds lightened the atmospheres singing various melodious tones here and there.

Butterflies did not lag behind too. They flavored the air with their brightly colored wings, adding life to the whole area..Here it seemed everything was competing for beauty.

A few persons walked to and fro around the forest region, busy carrying out their duties, some fully clothed, some especially males, moved with bare chest. The ones who were not fully clothed had white spirals about their arms and legs that glowed softly. Each and every one of them exerted a soft pressure on their surroundings.

These people could pass as just normal villagers doing what they do except for the fact that their dressing consisted of a dominant white color with white spirals on their arms and legs.

These people were in fact not normal people as humans were classified. They were spirit beings, occupying a plane of reality, free from the corruption of technology and man foolishness. Although their existence was partly to serve mankind but that did not mean they were lower beings.

They were in fact Irunmoles, created even before Humans ever walked the earth. The existence of Irunmole's spanned from the time of the great rebellion of Olosi(1). Even at that time, it was safe to say that the orisha was nonexistent.

Then were the days when Eledumare-The great trinity was still very much active. Eledumare as a whole was neutral universal energy until Olofin emerged from it into existence, modifying Eledumare. Following him were Olokun and Olorun who emerged later. Together they formed the Great Trinity. The great Trinity was the first existence of universal consciousness.

Comprising of Olofin(2) Olokun(3) Olorun(4), the trinity sought to create existence like themselves. And hence, set about creating the universes. Time was of no great importance to them as they were beyond the limits of time. Creating and creating, they built worlds and dimensions for other existences to occupy once they were created.

And then, they created the first Rebellion. They created Olosi to man the earth while they focused on other creations. Busy on their creations, they failed to take note that Olosi had fallen in love with the darkness and void he saw on earth and hence rebelled.

Olosi had thought he could mann earth and have earth know him as its supreme creator. So, he sought the darkness and created deformed creatures who would later be known as demons.

Then, he prepared to march against his creator, wanting to have the true power of creating perfections, as Eledumare did.

By then, The Trinity was aware and they struck out with rage and fury at Olosi insurrection. They refused to take his insolence and attacked him with righteous fervor, in the process, destroying many of the other worlds they created.

Mars was rendered to a desert land. Venus became even hotter as Lightning rained all about. But Olosi was made of the same immortality as they were. They created him equal.

It was The Trinity's mistake. They could not destroy him because he was the firstborn. The first conscious existence they had created. And Out of love for this first born, he was sealed.

Sealed deep in a dimension called Orun Apaadi(5). And then, the Demons he created were banished to the deepest recesses of Orun Apaadi to await their destruction at the end of time.

It was at this notion, Obatala was created, to take Olosi's place. But Eledumare would not make him as powerful as he made Olosi.

The trinity did not want another rebellion due to the taste of power. However, seeing as Obatala worked hard to set the pillars of earth In order for Eledumare garden- Earth, The Trinity created other beings to assist.

Beings with even lesser power than Obatala to mann the various sections of the world that Obatala had marked out. These beings were the first gods.

The Orisha

And then, man was created. Created into an already prepared world to live. The Orisha came down from Orun periodically to admire the pet of Eledumare, man and also to carry out their functions to mann various parts of the earth.

As man increased, the followers of Olosi who were demons had been escaping their bounds, and frequenting Earth.

Spreading darkness , bitterness and strife in the heart of man, corrupting Eledumare pet.

At dire times, Orisha would be deployed to arrest and bind the sinister demons back to orun apaadi and expel their influences from man life.

This made their work of manning the earth even more tedious. And so, the gods cried to Obatala ' This work is too much for us.'

Obatala thought and thought.

The Orisha were doing a great job. He could create more to increase their efficiency but Eledumare forbade him, restricting the Orisha to a maximium of 401 Orisha.

The only solution was to create a taskforce under the individual orisha. These beings he would create were going to be far lesser than the Orisha but yet capable of taking down demons in battles.

And so, he created the Irunmoles and divided them accordingly to each Orisha in Orun Emi Ogun(6).

The irunmoles were messenger spirits also and could be deployed by the gods to deliver blessings and prayers in their place.

However, going down to earth without crossing into Orun Apaadi which was the 1st heaven. The first heaven usually contained the sun, moon and stars and the other part that was Orun Apadi. While the fourth to seventh heaven was called Orun rere(7) and was the dwelling place of Eledumare, the Orisha and Irunmoles and alleged Spirit Humans.

So, to get down to earth meant crossing through realms of many neutral Spirit beings and then, to the unfriendly realm of demons and evil creatures. Therefore every Irunmole had the innate ability of a warrior.

Hence, they were called Emi Ogun.

Despite the fact that they were awon emi(8), their lives were similar to mankind.

They could fall inlove, marry, procreate, grow and eat. The only differences were that they had a very long span of life. A typical Irunmole lived an average of 4 centuries with lifespan at 8 centuries before dispersing into energies, at death, although, some had being able to live into a millennium.

They were also able to bend white light into any shape they wanted, crafting powerful weapons to fence away demons.

Aside from that, their exposure to the orisha and eledumare granted them supernatural abilities that manifested and became more pronounced with time and consistent meditations.

These abilities also were a vital point in determining who lorded an Ilu Orun.

Each Ilu Orun was was presided over by a prime. A prime was the most powerful Irunmole in any Ilu. Assisted by 2 Alphas, A prime would maintain peace and decorum in his domain as well as keeping the focus of everyone on Eledumare via his intermediary, Obatala.

Except in Obatala ilu orun.

Just as the Orisha were subject to Obatala, so were the various ilu orun subject to ilu orun that obatala presided over.

And that Obatala Ilu Orun, the system of governance was different.

Instead of a prime assisted by 2 alphas, Ilu Orun Obatala had an Elder who oversaw things , assisted by 2 Primes who were in turn assisted by 4 Alphas.

At the center of this ilu was a huge all white building that served as HQ which housed the summit meetings of all the other primes. It was still building that The Elder dished out missions and assignments to all subordinates. All of that making Ilu Obatala the highest ranked Ilu in all of Orun.

Meanwhile, in the middle of thick vegetation were three persons walking on a pathway that snaked its way through the forest.

The man in the middle was very bald and very aged. Sporting a bald head with grey beard that ran from his earline down to his chin , with increasing size. He wore a white robe that had luxuriant white collars that fell around his shoulders. In his left hand was a staff with which he used to steady himself as he walked. He was The Elder

Beside him, at his right was another aged. Though not as aged as he was but one could safely say, this man was middle aged due to the taut face and silver beard at his chin that he tugged at occasionally. He also had a huge sword behind him.

At the other side of The Elder was someone very much younger and less experienced. He had a carefree manner unlike the others who had grave expressions. Behind them, were three irunmoles in glorified battle mood. Their aura was constantly oozing out, scaring away potential danger before it got any closer. They were the Elite Irunmoles who had higher ranking than the regular irunmoles and were assigned on guard duty for The Elder.

The carefree one, pinched on a reed of grass, pulling it as he walked along. Gazing intently at the reed, he crafted it into various shapes.

"Elder, I still don't understand why we have to walk over to Ilu Ifa when there are better ways of getting there faster." He grumbled.

The Elder kept silent and clenched harder at his staff. Seeing this, Maerius, the third prime jumped in.

"Ah, be silent, Sunday. You haven't even crossed to the second half of your life and you are still complaining."

"Ah.. I am 130 years old already. Almost at the second half. Its not until I reach there before I can complain over this injustice." He chewed on the reed now.

"Eh… ewo le leyi. (9) Who should be complaining? We or you that still has the vigors of youth. " Maerius shook his head.

"Children of nowadays eh. Emi o mo nnkan to shey yin oh(10)" He added , still shaking his head.

"I am not a child" Sunday retorted, red lines crisscrossing his temples already.

"Da ke si be.(11) It is because of you we are making this trip." Elder cut in sharply.

"Your destiny seems tainted already. As your father…"

"Don't you dare go there. Don't you dare call yourself my father. The only thing you care about is how to save your face." Sunday interrupted, pointing the half chewed reed at The Elder.

As he did so, the irunmole behind him unsheathed their weapons as light flashed about in their hands. They quickly moved into formation, forming a semi circle around Sunday.

"Leave us."The Elder raised his staff. Turning slowly, he stopped to face Sunday.

"What I do ,I do to uphold to uphold the glory of our existence. I do what I do to protect you. Because, I… AM.. I AM YOUR FATHER"

Sunday chuckled sadly as the guard irunmoles slowly fell back.

"A father who knows nothing about his child is not worthy to be a father. Ewo ni.(10)" He spat out.

Third Prime swallowed hard. Sunday and his father had never been on good side. It seemed what Sunday has always wanted was recognition but the father, treating him as the last child would waive him aside. Always.

Perhaps ,If Elder had paid a little more attention to Sunday, things would not have generated to this extent.

They wouldn't even have had any need to make the trip.

Recently, a seer had given a prophesy about Sunday. The seer had gone close to Elder, ignoring all the guards around her. She had spoken to him thus.

'First Prime, The Elder. Out of darkness came light. Out of nothingness came existence. A son you'll have will bring the reverse of the case. Prepare all of Orun. Sound the battle cry, for Your own, carries the speck of darkness. "

That was it. And for decades, He had been careful, trying to watch every of his children. Particularly the male. After all, the seer had said 'a son you'll have',

And just when Elder thought the prophecy was failed, Sunday began exhibiting strange characters.

So, he really didn't blame the elder. Not that he appraised the way the elder distance his self from Sunday.

But rather, he felt if The Elder had been more caring, a lot would have been prevented.

ROOOAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWRRRRRRR…

A roar boomed through the air as dark tingly aura shot out in all directions, breaking Maerius' series of thoughts.

In front of him was a prickled bane winged wolf, towering over at them at a height of 9feet. The wolf was drooling as he approached the party, licking its mouth.

"Prickled Bane Winged Wolf…" Maerius muttered under his breath.

" Defensive triangle. "

In a split second, the guard irunmoles had released their auras, maxing it to repel this sinister beast. But it just didn't work. They were moving to surround The Elder and Sunday inside a triangle when the wolf charged…

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(T/N)

(1)owner of the left part.(2)Owner of the secrets.(3)Owner of the seas and waters.(4)The Lord of the skies and galaxies.(5)Realm of the unpure. Hell

(6)Realm of the spirits of war-Another term for Irunmole (7)Realm of the pure. Heaven (8) The spirits(9)Which one is this one? (10)I don't know what is wrong with you.(11) Be quiet there.(12)Third Prime , return. Spirits of war, Return…(13)Light Saber