The light around the entity did not expand.
It tightened.
The forest felt it first.
Then the shadows.
Ojadili could not move.
His body refused him.
The ground felt far away — like he was sinking into something that only looked like unearth.
His vision blurred. Shadows stretched and warped, crawling across the soil like liquid ink. The trees around him bent unnaturally, whispering voices he couldn't understand. Even his sense of up and down betrayed him—gravity seemed a suggestion rather than a
Ugomma is still wrapped in the shadows coil.
Same with Obiagheli.
Udonkanka choked, his own shadow pressing against his throat like a hand that did not exist.
The Shadows whispers filled the clearing.
Not loud.
Not soft.
Wrong.
Then—
They stopped.
All of them.
At once.
A presence had entered.
Not approaching.
Not arriving.
Already there.
Barefoot.
Still.
Smiling.
The hairs on Ojadili's arms stood on end. Even from a distance, Chi radiated a calm authority that the shadows seemed to recognize. His tattoos shimmered faintly, sparking like distant stars. Every step he took was deliberate, measured, as if the earth itself awaited his command.
The shadows turned.
Not slowly.
Not cautiously.
Instantly.
Like something in them had been pulled.
After the entity speech.
The merged shadows spoke .
"Who are you?"
The question came from everywhere.
From the ground.
From the trees.
From inside the air itself.
The figure tilted his head slightly.
Bones cracks.
"I am what I am."
As unconsciousness fully takes away Ojadili. He remembers the voice .
It's no other than Chi .
Nothing happened.
That was the problem.
Then—
The shadows attacked.
Not movement.
Not charge.
Decision.
They collapsed forward as one.
The ground beneath them darkened — not covered, replaced — like something beneath reality had pushed upward.
Forms followed.
Too many.
It stretched across distance without crossing it
—and were suddenly closer.
They were not fast.
They were already there.
They surged toward him.
Toward the figure.
Toward everything.
The figure stepped forward.
It arm strikes chi—
But broke.
Not struck.
Not deflected.
Broken.
Like something that had no right to exist there.
Everything stopped.
Just for a fraction.
Then the shadows adapted.
They flattened.
They shifted.
They rose again—
behind him.
Chi smiles remains .
It angers the Shadows the more .
Humans could not touch shadows.
Shadows could not touch him.
That's the irony.
"You don't learn , do you?"
They reacted violently.
His voice carried weight, soft but absolute. The whispers of shadows quivered in response. Even the forest seemed to tilt slightly, leaning as if straining to hear him.
Trees tore from the ground.
Rocks lifted.
The forest turned against him.
" Now. You have learn" Chi muttered as the trees and rocks smashes him.
The pains , he felt it .
The shadows couldn't wait for him to recover as they picked up Ojadili 's spears and throws at him the exact second the dusts cleared.
and shot toward his throat.
He caught it.
Between two fingers.
Paused.
Looked at it.
"You can still leave " He begin to preach .
They didn't.
They wrapped him.
All at once.
Arms.
Neck.
Torso.
Layers upon layers.
No space.
No light.
No him.
It was not pressure.
It was removal.
The world began to agree—
he should not be there.
The trees leaned away.
The ground stilled.
Even the light hesitated.
For a moment—
He almost disappeared.
It felt as if the shadows had gain absolute victory .
Then—
Something inside the darkness pulsed.
Not light.
Not fire.
Not force.
Presence.
The shadows wraps looses him immediately.
Chi stepped out.
Untouched.
They just helped to clean the dusts from their earlier impactful attack .
"Still crude."He continues.
" I understand that all of you here don't want the fight especially the kids among you "
The ground trembled.
The shadows gathered again—
denser.
Heavier.
They rose.
Towering.
It's arm rubbed and attaches with sands and stones.
too large
too heavy
too much
It slammed down.
The air burst.
The ground cracked.
The world recoiled.
If that hit—
It could smash an elephant.
It's bone to a pulp .
Chi raised one hand.
Stopped it.
Mid-air.
Silence.
The air quivered around his palm. Even the wind seemed to pause, and the leaves froze mid-rustle. For a heartbeat, the forest itself held its breath, awaiting his next move.
"As I said," he murmured,
"This is uneven. I understand your plight but..."
"Use your power," the shadow Leader voice replied.
Trap.
Same thing that happened to Ojadili.
Power backfires.
Chi saw it.
Chi's gaze scanned the forest, assessing threats that hadn't yet arrived.
He's eyes begin to reflect like diamond .
His divine energy begins to grows as his tattoos sparkles .
He stepped forward anyway.
Straight towards them.
The Shadows leader smiles
But he lands into the center.
Where they had earlier done the technique to merge .
His palm pressed inward.
Something broke.
Not outside.
Inside.
The mass collapsed.
Shattered.
Separated.
The shadows fell apart.
Weaker.
Scared.
For the first time—
They hesitated.
Then they ran.
As they try to flee but also re-emerge when they regain their strength
Chi sighed softly.
"Let me help you "
He stepped forward—
and stamped.
The earth answered.
A ripple moved outward—
silent—
absolute—
Everything it touched—
When drift off far apart .
Gone.
The clearing returned.
Broken.
Breathing.
Alive.
Chi exhaled.
He turned.
Walked to Ojadili.
Knelt.
He checked his pulse .
Good.
Ojadili gasped, his lungs fighting to fill. Muscles trembled violently, heartbeat hammering, sweat stinging his eyes. The clearing smelled of charred earth and displaced shadows. His vision swam, slowly stabilizing as reality reasserted itself.
Two fingers pressed against Ojadili's chest.
He uses Ojadili thunder power to jerk him up.
Ojadili felt the surge of energy like an electric jolt, raw and blinding, lifting him not just physically but mentally, from the disorientation and near-erasure of his being.
Ojadili gasped.
Life returned.
Chi moved.
Ugomma.
Obiagheli.
Udonkanka.
He checks their pulse.
All good .
Silence again.
Then—
Ojadili looked at him as he rises slowly .
His voice cracks.
"You saved us."
Chi paused.
Ojadili reached out—
and pulled him into an embrace.
Tight.
Human.
Unfiltered.
Chi froze.
Just for a moment.
Then allowed it.
"You saved us," Ojadili repeated.
Behind them—
Udonkanka groaned.
Too quick .
"My palmwine…"
He stands up.
Then staggers and almost falls again.
Looked around.
Saw Chi.
Frowned.
"What happened?"
Ojadili inhaled—
Chi spoke first.
"You slept badly."
Silence.
"That makes no sense."
"It rarely does."
Udonkanka stared harder.
"…Where do I know you from?"
" My friend from a distant village ." Ojadili lied.
Chi extended his hand.
"Ogwuma."
Udonkanka took it.
"Udonkanka."
Their palms met.
*****
Their palms met.
The contact lasted less than a heartbeat.
But it was more than enough.
Something resisted.
The forest did not disappear. It bent.
Edges softened first—like a painting left in rain. Trees stretched, then folded back. Distance lost shape. Sound fractured.
A dark energy signal shot straight to the Heavenly Realm, to the circle of power around the Nine Gods' throne.
A breath echoed where none was taken.
Their grip tightened—not by choice.
Ojadili saw it—not with his eyes, but deeper.
The space between Chi and Udonkanka stretched—too far—then snapped back.
Reality corrected itself with a loud thud.
White. No ground. No sky. No direction. Only presence.
Ojadili stumbled, but did not fall. There was nowhere to fall.
Chi stood still, as if he had always been there.
Udonkanka's expression shifted. Confusion left first, then humor, then the man. What remained was older.
So did Chi .
Before them, is an entity . Not built. Not summoned. Declared. A throne. It did not rise. It simply existed.
On it sat something that made existence feel like an afterthought.
CHUKWU.
No introduction. No announcement. No movement. Yet everything acknowledged—not from fear, but recognition.
Then_
A memory not remembered struck.
Ojadili was the only one who witnessed it fully, but he could not compreh
Fragments broke loose—names that were not names, places with no world. A bond—before flesh, before breath, before time chose direction. Brotherhood. A promise. A duty.
"You—" Udonkanka spoke.
Chi spoke at the same time. The same word. The same knowing.
Then—something moved. Not wind. A glitch. A force passed through them—clean. Precise. Final. It did not erase violently. It replaced. Memory collapsed. Meaning dissolved. Recognition—cut.
The throne faded. The white broke. The world returned. The forest. Their hands still joined. They released at the same time. Silence.
"...Strong grip," Udonkanka said slowly.
"You too," Chi replied.
They replied normally because in their minds nothing had happened.
Ojadili hesitated. A faint, heavy feeling lingered. He looked at Chi. For a second—too long—something almost surfaced. Then it was gone.
Chi tilted his head slightly.
"Be careful with that."
"With what?"
"Gratitude."
Ojadili frowned.
"That makes no sense."
"It will." Chi turned and started walking. Ojadili followed. The others gradually regained consciousness.
---
Heavenly Realm
Ani sat in her throne. She had summoned Amamiheuwa, the goddess of wisdom, to deliberate on the prophecy.
As she stepped into the circle of power,
light bent—not away, but around her.
The ground stilled beneath her feet. Darkness was acknowledged.
The evidence that Ekwensu was among them had gathered.
The dark energy hovered—signaling—but did not rise. Did not fall.
Ani's pulse quickened. She hadn't expected this—especially now, alone. Fear prickled at her mind: she could be drawn, erased.
She looked up to identify the source of the signal.
"Amamiheuwa?"
-