BOOM.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCyDzfdxvoX
Amina jolts awake, her chest heaving as if she’d been drowning. The sound isn’t just outside—it’s inside her skull, rattling her teeth.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtZPPv7evzO
BOOM. BOOM.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmkAEMBevvQ
She stumbles out of bed, legs tangled in her sheets, and crashes to the floor. The room tilts. Her mouth tastes like ash.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRYZ1MqeS4f
"Papa!" she screams, scrambling to her feet.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWQHN0dxUMP
The drums don’t stop.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq3Eb5X3xsR
She bursts out of her room, heart hammering, and collides with her father’s chest. His arms lock around her, steadying her before she falls.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEYN52fTk48
"Shh, nne," he murmurs, but his grip is too tight. "It’s the dibia. He’s here."
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTvqN3zWsWD
Amina blinks up at him, disoriented. "Now? But—I didn’t prepare, I didn’t even—"
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHvFKpnmkf5
"He doesn’t want preparation," Papa Chukwuma says, voice low. "He wants truth."
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM1Bctpqo8I
Amina turns—and freezes.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvsGeZaDiWx
Ifeanyi stands near the compound gate, dressed neatly, his jaw clenched. But Emeka...
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3yudyIJlvq
Oh God.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMq62yadScP
Emeka’s eyes are unblinking, his face slack. Dried mud streaks his arms like cracked earth. He doesn’t react when the drums grow louder.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ11TEOjlrAH
He doesn’t react at all.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpH382XvdSP
The dibia arrives like a storm given flesh.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoHHEqSOzdn
Six dancers move ahead of him, their bodies painted in white and red, antelope pelts slung over their shoulders. Their feet stamp the earth in perfect sync—THUD. THUD. THUD.—kicking up dust that hangs thick in the dawn light.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ64OrDWWw8k
The drummers walk backward, their hands a blur. The rhythm isn’t music. It’s a warning.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsSVQ9vgGuj
Amina’s mother clutches her wrapper, her lips moving in silent prayer.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2U3vw3Q2Xs
Then—silence.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡECHiZjMPda
The dancers stop at Grandma’s hut. For three heartbeats, nothing moves.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5HdSfET1eZ
Then a scream tears through the air.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbUcECZyejK
One of the dancers—a woman with bones braided into her hair—drops to her knees, clawing at her throat. The others circle her, chanting low.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIhvPP97ACp
The dibia steps forward.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJerYHBjs51
He crouches, dragging his fingers through the dirt. His nails leave deep grooves, embedding an ankh symbol —right at Grandma’s doorstep. Then he spits onto the symbol.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOGtDNkcNR8
The saliva sizzles like water on hot iron.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj5xqrtBMId
Grandma’s hut stays dark.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJrKBnAHlNP
The dancers move again, this time toward Amina.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTSVtwdYD5E
The lead dancer—a woman with a face painted half-white, half-black—locks eyes with her. There’s no emotion there. No pity.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4XMTjlLUDa
Amina’s breath hitches.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIMjcLLGT4e
"Papa—"
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnX8qsUWWXy
Her father’s hand tightens on her shoulder. "Let them work."
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4W7RUMBFT7
The dancer grabs Amina’s wrist. Her nails bite deep.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkqOGnrouxJ
"Don’t hurt her!" Papa Chukwuma barks.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡStzoUmfS8m
The woman hisses, baring teeth filed to points.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYVM3NWg5Ft
Then she yanks Amina forward.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbK2sXhBcxu
As they drag her into the circle, thunder cracks—but not from the sky.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8NwK9CLhwj
From her room.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc34tvVvbSQ
The walls shake. The window rattles. A gust of wind tears through the compound, howling like something alive.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmRSVY1KKeh
Amina’s lips move without her permission.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWcfgjN5QHE
"Ọ bụla mmiri ga-ezobe anya..."
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyYwQM5RIdY
The words aren’t hers. The voice isn’t hers.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8NpjiEpzcy
It’s the river’s.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNARnMok9mK
The dibia steps into the circle.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7gsfhVXZ7v
Up close, his eyes are black as holes, endless and wet, like a drowned man’s. His hair floats around his face, drifting as if underwater.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvdeww3yc8G
He doesn’t speak.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSSH0LvPhNB
He doesn’t need to.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrzYmkSR64U
Amina’s skin prickles. The chant spills from her lips faster, louder—
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3X2LhQcIqx
Then Emeka shrieks.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuXVdNAYZsG
"OGU M GBARA! Ọ NA-ERI M!"
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDW82s6RfiY
His voice is raw, guttural. His body convulses, arms flailing like a man possessed.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡESB4skBN7w
Ifeanyi and Papa Chukwuma grab him, pinning him down before he hurts himself.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1xlNRVTVln
The dibia doesn’t even glance their way.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1eAw4p90nq
He lifts Amina’s chin, forcing her to meet his hollow gaze.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBvZcmKoeo1
And finally, he speaks.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeJL1s6AHfO
*"You have been claimed."*
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKY6vEaGq3P
Two dancer women grip Amina’s arms, their fingers digging into her skin like roots seeking water. Against her will, her body moves—jerking, twisting—in perfect sync with the dancers. Her feet drag lines in the dirt, forming symbols she doesn’t recognize.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUXFLSjqaya
She sings in unison with them in the unknown language , but her voice isn’t her own. It’s layered, doubled, like two rivers merging.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡehgeWm12Mw
Then—chaos.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1935L1xwZA
Emeka snarls, his muscles coiling like a sprung trap. With a force no human should possess, he hurls Ifeanyi and Papa Chukwuma aside like rag dolls. Before anyone can react, he lunges at Amina, his fingers clamping around her throat.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJFTVtapsoZ
"Child! You are mi—"
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSb89GfScAA
The dibia’s staff taps his forehead.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc7BMDYwMIo
Emeka’s body locks. His eyes roll back, and he collapses like a marionette with cut strings.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡigJ7ENqoL7
"He has been claimed too," the dibia says, voice hollow as a burial drum. He slings his staff across Emeka’s back, and the boy convulses, gasping as if the wood weighs a thousand pounds. Two dancers pin him down, their painted faces unreadable.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOkjFQxd0pq
"Where are his parents?" the dibia asks, black eyes fixed on Papa Chukwuma.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyrNqPJb7lr
"His mother is at work. He has no siblings or father," Papa replies, voice tight.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEovZlWt7Nv
The dibia nods. "Then you will accompany us."
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLGfdi3TuHE
He turns to Amina, leaning close enough that his waterlogged breath ghosts her ear.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYY8KGHGVAX
"Alọwí ánọ́bị̀ dúnàte."(Rest, oh one guarded by thunder. The enemies are close.)
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3G8ppzondc
The words slither into her skull, untranslatable to anyone else.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx0aIIDY0iA
Then, louder, for the others: "A water demon holds them all in trance. She will not leave until she takes what she came for."
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGhYhOzTlxw
He lifts his staff, pointing to the market road. "Buy a scapegoat. I will trap the demon inside it and sacrifice the beast. Only then will this end."
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKCUOEpjRci
Before he can finish, Emeka’s body arcs off the ground, his mouth stretching wide in a silent scream—then he drops again, limp.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCLiNTy1taY
Grandma observes from her hut, her knuckles white on the windowsill. Behind her, the shadows ripple.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIA7t6R7Kps
Mami Wata materializes, her form half-transparent, flickering like a dying torch. *"This dibia has nerve,"* she sneers. "Thinking I’ll crawl into a goat like some biblical fool."
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzhozMtQssu
Grandma’s lips curl. "They’re onto us. It won’t be long now."
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhLM2cFEDTc
Mami Wata drifts closer, her voice a venomous whisper. "Then we kill Emeka. And the dibia. Tear down this weak barrier they’ve draped over your hut—it’s nothing."
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF8zCKdPRNf
Her fingers brush the wall, and the air shudders, the invisible wards straining.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKskcJ8aniL
"That talisman is the real threat," Mami Wata hisses. "The thunder coiled inside it… it’s not just protection. It’s a weapon. Forged by the gods themselves."
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuPaHWBxrD6
Grandma’s smile fades. "Then we take it from her."
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwmZmYvO1AA
Outside, the dibia’s drummers begin anew.
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh9SHUyW5CF
然後按「加至主畫面」