The creature had crusty grey skin covering its flesh, a grey flower head with a face in the centre and a worm-like body. It also had large muscly arms, fingernails as long as Abeni’s entire forearm and the most chilling grin she had ever had the displeasure of laying her eyes on.

At the sight of its smiling face, her parents swiftly jumped into action. Her mother frantically pushed Abeni back to the other side of the tunnel and away from the creature, while Baba turned towards it with an expression she didn’t think she’d ever seen him make.

One of body-encompassing, soul-inducing hostility.

It was then that the creature, five times the size of her father, charged towards them from that distance. Dashing with a speed so fast it’d reach them in moments. Oh no! What should she do? What could she do?

Iya was now turned towards the creature, standing still as she held her hand up and used what Abeni assumed was her ability, while her father was looking towards some nearby sand, likely using his ability too. When would their abilities start, though? That thing would reach them soon! They had to run! Oh no, it was already here!

But despite the terror Abeni felt at its approach, her parents looked calm. And with good reason because just as the creature neared them, the sand wrapped around its body like a fluid yet inescapable cage.

It made gurgling noises, clearly bewildered, angrily twisting left and right before screeching when her mother raised her hand towards it. Probably due to the bumps slowly rising on its skin, and the blood that had started pouring from the crevices in its body.

Abeni didn’t know much about the abilities they were all born with. She knew she was an eniyan, a human in English, and that all of her race was born with some kind of supernatural ability that could awaken at any time. But it was a secretive thing. Most people didn’t openly display what exactly their ability was unless they wanted to compromise their own safety.

So, due to her being a bit of a blabbermouth, up until now Abeni had no idea what her parents’ ones were. But what she did know was that they were even more amazing than what she expected! That creature probably wouldn’t be able to get out of that one anytime soon!

When her mother fell back, maybe to regain her energy as her father kept holding it in place, Abeni walked forward to where they stood. Wanting to let her know how cool that was. “Iya! That was amaz—!”

But her mother flinched at the sound of Abeni's voice and instantaneously gripped the white-haired girl’s arm so tightly that it spooked her. “Abeni! What are you still doing here?”

“…I-I just wanted to help if I could—!”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Her father yelled from a few paces in front of them. “get out of here and don’t look back! This is not the time for games!”

Abeni looked away from them with frustration. Why were they being like this all of a sudden? It was still her birthday and she just wanted to help! She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she just ran off without looking back at the villagers they just told her to be wary of. She loved them—

Abeni blinked and by the time her eyes opened again, she heard her father scream her name, sounding startlingly closer than he had a moment ago. Ouch. Ouch! The side of her face hurt! It hurt so much! Why did it hurt so much? No, look!

The creature’s hand released its grip on her as her father trapped it back in the sand, making Abeni drop to the ground. Why would it hurt? It couldn’t have been poison or venom. She probably wouldn’t be able to think with that kind of pain, right?

Oh…she must’ve been bitten.

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“Abeni!” Before the white-haired girl could even comprehend it, her mother pulled her from the source of the pain, sat her on the ground and put those same hands towards the right side of her face without hesitation. “Don’t be afraid, baby. I won’t hurt you. I’ll fix your ear so it’s as good as new, I promise.”

“Ugh…” she was bleeding, wasn’t she? Abeni looked up at her mother, watching Iya’s furrowed brows and wobbling bottom lip, starkly contrasting from how she was grinning at her only minutes before. Why was this happening to them?

“Honey! Honey! The ẹda is escaping! Tiwa!” Abeni looked to her left where her dad was struggling to keep the creature still. So, he hardened the sand around it, squeezing its body with clumps upon clumps of grains until finally...the thing stopped moving. Was it…over now?

“Tiwa, I can’t hold this for long!” Apparently not.

“Hold on! Can’t you see I’m saving our daughter? Cellular acceleration isn’t quick, you know!”

“I know…shit! They said there wasn’t gonna be even one ẹda left in the region after the hunt last week!”

Suddenly, the creature made a gurgling sound again and stuck its now veiny, stiff hand out of the hardened sand. From then on, it didn’t stop using its long nails to part the sand, as if driven by intense hatred. Was this how the innate savagery that her parents trained her to deal with manifests in non-eniyans?

Was it being driven by the curse? Those veins…it must be the curse.

“Well, what do you expect?” Iya replied. “It’s those villagers! They’re incompetent! We’re some of the only good junior manipulators they’ve got!”

“I know that!”

Her mother sighed just as she finished healing Abeni, eyes softening when she noticed her daughter’s overwhelmed expression. Still staring at the creature.

So, without missing a beat, Iya pulled Abeni close and tightly wrapped her arms around her. “I’m done. I’m sorry I couldn’t…but your ear should still work fine, baby. I need to go now. I love you.”

Once again, Abeni found herself frustrated at her own powerlessness. There must be a way to do something. She couldn’t just…she couldn’t let them do this all on their own!

And as if her mother could read her mind, the woman frowned, kissed her cheek and told Abeni to escape the inner tunnel once more. Before rising to her feet and running towards Baba to do the same coordinated attack as before.

“We can do it, darling!”

But the truth was, they couldn’t.

Abeni held her right ear, feeling the bite-sized flesh missing from it as she watched them fight. All of the bumps and bleeding didn’t seem to be hurting the creature enough to make it stop attacking them and somewhere deep in the pit of Abeni’s stomach, she just knew it would be the one to win this fight.

Think.

Think!

Its worm-like body was made up of a bunch of wrinkles...they had to be loosely attached together somehow to allow for that level of flexibility. So, that must be its weak spot. Maybe Abeni could stab its body! But, wait...she couldn’t move? Why was it that her mind was racing with ideas but she physically couldn’t move?

Her survival instincts were telling her to run, but there was no time for that! Her mother’s spell wasn’t working anymore! The injured creature just escaped the sand and impaled a fatal hole in her loving, caring, strong father’s abdomen with its teeth! One so large, so life-ending that she could see the wall through his body.

If she did nothing then—!

“Run, my child!” Her father cried out, blood following his words.

Abeni snapped out of her train of thought, body shaking, alarm distorting her young face into one of horror at the gravity of the situation.

If she left…with the direction this fight was going...would she ever see them again? It happened before in those village hunts her father just mentioned. Multiple parents dying and leaving their children to fend for themselves. It was ‘normal’, they said.

Please no...she couldn’t live through that. If she left…“No, I’m not leaving you! Baba!”

But it didn’t matter what she wanted. “Abeni! Honey...” her father collapsed onto the ground, coughing up more blood much to her dismay as the sand fell limb beside him. He wiped his mouth clear and sent a grin her way, trying another approach. “I love you...but it looks like it’s time for us to...part. Hap-happy birthday.”

No.

“No—!”

Her mother’s voice pled, mouth forming a rough smile even as the creature rushed her, slicing through her chest with its razor-sharp nails at a speed that Abeni doubted could be healed. “Baby! Please! Run!”

She couldn’t help but back away then, tear ducts finally bursting without permission with a stream of tears that she had been holding back. As if needing to release this stress. This sorrow.

And Abeni didn’t want to…she didn’t think it was even possible for her to leave without them…but, looking at their smiling faces. She knew that if she didn’t…they would all die.

Perhaps if she left, they would be able to focus better.

Perhaps…they would survive past this.

So, Abeni ran away. But alongside the sound of her footsteps, both the sound of her mother’s body and the massive creature falling echoed in her eardrums.

[Current Total Beings In ‘Abeni’s Army’ – 1]