Nya’s perspective:
A few minutes ago:
“How can this be such a failure,” Nya thought to herself
She was expecting the clans to compete for the nebulous grant, she hoped the Nabagereka was, somehow, right despite being so vague in this project. But who could have expected they would work together all the way TILL someone asked ‘Who will get the “Innovators” budget’. Nya screamed internally at the clan meeting to not get discovered “They were so close! Now I have to sit here silently as these brilliant minds open their minds to the world only for me to reject them all”
Nya can remember the words of her best friend and Nabagereka, Aziza.
Aziza: “If we can make a city of Innovators, we will receive a grand gift. I can’t say much about it and we must be vague in our intentions but I have faith that my people will figure it out”
Nya had tried to ask for more information and to make the crown’s intentions clearer, but she simply repeated the words Nya hated the most
Aziza: “I can’t. The cursed gift won’t let me”.
But the dye was already cast, ‘Make a City of Innovators’ was Nya’s task now, and she would succeed no matter how long it-
Just at that moment, Nya felt an oppressively strong force approaching at a blindingly fast speed. It was a familiar feeling, one she developed while she was in the abyss.
Pure Power. Back then that feeling always precluded the arrival of an abyssal beast, or worse.
She looked at the twins, Jamba & Tish, as they felt the same thing.
Whatever that was, it needed to be stopped!
Nya stood up,
Nya:” I’m afraid I can’t continue this charade any longer and I must quickly leave to…Attend to other duties. But before I go I will say what I can about today quickly: This is not what Her Majesty wanted to happen. Please try something else.”
Nya then turned to the governor and quietly commanded “Keep them calm, and let no one follow me.”
Nya and the guards walked quickly but calmly walked outside.
“The last thing I needed was a Panic to start,”.
As soon as the trio were outside the workshop, Nya turned to Jamba
Nya:” Jamba, I need you to cast a tracking spell-”
Jamba:” Don’t need to mam,”
Nya: noticed the scars closest to Jamba’s ears were glowing red,
Jamba:” I can hear a commotion coming from the warehouse district.”
Nya: “Good work. We’ll take the roofs so we don’t get slowed down by people on the street.”
Tish & Jamba: “Yes mam.”
And with that, the three jumped nearly 5 metres onto the roof of a nearby building damaging the in the process cobblestone path.
When the trio arrived, they were shocked at the scene
Before them, a large rectangular 2-story brick and iron warehouse was seemingly melted in half. It was as if the structure was made of paper and it rained on one side. All that remained was half of its outer walls, top-story ventilation windows and its concrete foundation.
A crowd of workers and muscle-bound debt slaves had formed, with the slaves marked with the signature red branding around their heads showing their debt amount and slave type.
Nya and the Guards hopped down from the roofs and approached.
“Does anyone know what happened here!” Nya shouted in a commanding tone.
Instantly everyone looked at her and, seeing the royal guards next to her, bowed and parted to reveal 3 slaves and 4 workers.
“We only arrived in time to see the aftermath and something eating and melting the warehouse my lady” A man from the crowd explained “Those seven were inside when it started.”
6 of the men were on the ground, clearly in a panic.
Nya and the guards approached the men, and as soon as they did they could hear their mad ramblings.
“The darkness… The darkness… The darkness…” one of the workers rambled while rolled up in a ball
“W-we.. mustn't disturb them… they hunger” another repeated in a foetal position
“Gods preserve us… Gods preserve us… Gods preserve us… ” the last traumatised worker chanted while staring at the ground. The slaves were rambling things in their mother tongues, (they must have bought from different nations). The last worker, while shaken, seemed to have more control of themself as he was the only one standing and facing the Representative; a Fisidamu man, as well built as a gorilla and sporting a missing eye.
Fisidamu man: “Greetings my lady, I am one of the foramen assigned to this warehouse. My name is-”
Nya:” I’m sorry Mr Foreman, but we simply don’t have time for manners. What. Happened. Here.”
Nya didn’t need to ask how he survived. She could just tell that the man had seen far worse somehow. Perhaps he was a soldier of some kind? Not important right now.
Foreman: “A-ah? Y-yes my lady. We were doing our last inventory checks while moving in a few last-minute deliveries when 2 massive black eggs just appeared through the roof, leaving a perfect hole where they seemingly entered and landed on opposite sides of the warehouse.”
Nya: “How did no one notice these ‘eggs’ before and as they entered?”
Jamba: “Likely an invisibility spell that ended as they entered, mam.”
Foreman: “Uchawi! Gods above, that explains why I didn’t end up like them.”
Tish:” Why’s that?”
Foreman:” It’s my blessing mam, ‘Sound mind’, Lets me survive mental attacks. Saved my hide many times in the army”
”She was referring to what happened to them” Nya said as she gestured to the still-crazed group of 6 on the floor
Foreman:” Oh yes, Sorry. One of the eggs shot some black waves towards us. Said something in our minds, couldn’t make sense of it, but I could just feel it wanted us gone. We ran outside but as soon as we made it out the six collapsed and I started hearing sounds of metal breaking and bending. Then half the building started to collapse”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Foreman paused
Foreman: “These black tentacle things shot out from the crumbling building and sucked in the falling rubble….then I saw it in the light of the evening sun”
Nya:” What.”
Foreman:” A woman. In the egg!”
Several of the workers, slaves and Jamba gasped followed by a loud smack and a familiar “Ow!”
Nya thought carefully: “It might be a victim of the creature, but the foreman said it was only the 7 of them inside. It might be some kind of malevolent spirit sent by someone to hinder the city's construction or perhaps one of the noble clans or a rival nation?.”
The Foreman continued:” She had parts of her missing, more accurately, cubes of her missing. She turned to me and, while I couldn’t see her face, I could see she was missing a cube of her head!”
More gasps followed, along with another slap “OW! I didn’t even gasp that time!”
The Foreman: “She then raised her hand to her mouth, as if trying to shoosh me and the egg floated to the other non-destroyed side. I was too frightened to move.”
“At that point, we started arriving and we dragged them over here” the same worker from before interjected “For a while now we’ve seen the black tentacles that Jengo talked about, seemingly, licking the building remains to what it is now.”
At that moment a blue glow showed from the structure.
Nya:” Jamba. Tish. Let's go”
Nya pulled out a long rectangular-shaped Brass blade from her black official clothes. The blade had a copper centre, with a leather grip and a small lever near the grip, a golden jackal engraving could be seen emerging from the square steel guard and designed to look like the jackal attacked whatever dared to be in front of the blade.
Foreman:” An Anga! And that's the White Jackal’s own Anga!”
The Foreman looked at Nya in her administrative clothes, of course, he would recognise her once she pulled out her blade. Even without her white armour, any military man or woman would notice her signature Long Anga.
Jamba & Tish followed Nya without a word. It was just like they used to on that fateful adventure they went on with the now Nabagereka.
Nya, Jamba and Tish approached the light with the utmost caution.
Nya Had already charged her blade, Jamba Had his Shock spear ready and his scars were glowing a light red, a spell formation developing in his mind. Tish had pulled out her compact bow and notched an arrow ready to shoot.
Together they approached.
Just before they crossed over the mostly melted wall Nya spoke “Don’t attack unless they do. You felt that power as they passed. The City could end up as collateral. Fighting is the last thing we should do.”
Jamba and Tish: “Yes, Mam”
The trio crossed over. And nothing could prepare them for what they saw.
The warehouse was picked clean, as if looters had stolen everything that wasn’t nailed down, then the things that were, and only left rubble and dirt. What remained were strange black tendrils as well as small weirdly holed cylinders that were attached to some of them.
As their eyes followed the tendrils to their source, a sized oval of Ebony dark metal greeted them and behind it, a thick web wall hid the rest of the building. The ‘egg’ had clearly started cracking as the origin of the blue glow was clearly inside. A wave of black energy suddenly washed over the group, along with the urge to leave. But they resisted.
Again the energy hit them. But they started approaching.
Another wave hit them, this time it almost felt like it was scared. But they continued.
Another wave, it was clearly afraid and it felt like it was begging this time. They were 4 metres away from the ‘egg’
The last wave hit them, it was filled with annoyance, fear, and determination. The egg cracked open, and as it did so the fragments got sucked into the centre, turning it into…a woman?
An ebony-black metallic woman was inside.
Her midnight black dreadlocks flowed to her shoulders and contrasted with light that had now turned golden.
Her arms were sleek and dainty, like flowers moving in the wind.
Her breasts were like snow-kissed mountains.
Her body carves; a meandering river.
Her hips were so smooth, they could weave through a field of millet without touching a single stock.
By all accounts. She was a beautiful sculpture of the ideal woman… made out of some weird ebony metal.
Tish: “Jamba stop drooling. This isn’t your favourite brothel.”
Jamba: “Oh come on, she's just a statue!”
”An obscene one at that.” Nya added
Tish: “THAT ONLY MAKES IT WORSE! Now… COVER YOUR EYES BEFORE I STICK AN ARROW IN THEM!”
“~But it's part of the job~” Jamba parroted in a sing-song voice “Can’t let my guard down even in front of a sexy statue”
Suddenly the statue started moving
“At least I don’t have to feel bad about flash-banging a perv” Statue said in an almost ghostly voice
The trio froze
Nya:” Did the statue just..?”
Nya shook her head to refocus
Nya: “Doesn’t matter. Who are you and what do you want!”
At that the two Guards also refocused.
The Statue looked uncomfortable at their glares and quickly started covering her privates “At Least the creature had basic decency ” Nya thought
Statue:” For you to look down… first.”
The light was starting to fade away and behind the woman, they could see a similar ‘egg’ but this time they could see through it and, just like the foreman said, there was a woman inside, exactly as the man described… but she was only a head, arms and half a torso.
Nya: ”What, or who is that behind you!”
Statue:” Look down and I will tell.”
”Why?” Nya said slowly, full of suspicion
The statue paused as if thinking of a valid response.
Statue:” I’m nude! A-and I would like to dress without an audience”
Nya stared intently with more suspicion.
Statue:” Look down and I will tell you everything you want to know”
A moment passed
Tish: ”Mam, what do we do?”
Jamba:” I know what to do.”
Nya thought for a moment, the statue’s request was reasonable and she was sure that Jamba’s staring was only making things worse.
Nya: “10 seconds. I can’t spare you anymore without risking my people”
Statue:” Perfect! I agree.”
Jamba:” Aww”
Tish:” Shut it, brother.”
The trio looked down…and noticed something…strange cylinders with holes in them…
“What are those” Nya asked softly
Statue:” FLASH-BANGS MOTHERF-”
And in an instant, the world went white and a deafening ringing filled her ears
It was a long time till the world came back into focus and Nya could hear again.
The statue woman was gone along with the ‘egg’ and a huge hole in the wall Nya looked around
Tish was recovering but her brother lay on the ground still squirming. “He must have heightened his senses for a battle. I hope” Nya naively thought.
Slowly Nya could hear moaning and groaning from outside. When she went to check, she saw everyone clutching their ears or eyes.
Nya:” That woman must have used those ‘Faash-bangs’ on them”
Tish:” WHAT!?!”
Nya signed in Hunter’s speech that she was going to alert the guards
Tish:” OKAY! Oh wait…”
Tish signed back that she understood and was going to take her brother to a healer
Nya: “Tonight is going to be a long night.”
Chuma’s perspective:
few hours after the innovator demonstrations:
Originally Chuma was going to head straight home after going to the pub but he decided to take a walk in the fields and be in his clan’s partron god’s, Ouno, domain that had made his work home take a little longer but it wasn’t like anyone was waiting for him back home.
As Chuma entered his Spatial Studio he could smell something… metallic?
”Don’t move.” a ghostly female voice suddenly spoke.
“I hate trials,” Chuma thought to himself as a dagger was pressed to his throat and he noticed something black was in his bedroom. “I should have just stayed in the village.”