"So, let me confirm your suspicions. I do, in fact, have superpowers," Eze began, breaking the silence.

Like he promised, a day had passed since the incident. And here he was, fulfilling her wish by revealing something she must have already known.

Yet, despite it being all the more obvious, it didn't feel real to her. It left a deafening silence in the room.

"Sorry," she said, finally breaking it. "I'm... really trying to wrap my head around you. Or around this."

"You can ask me anything," Eze replied, opening himself up.

"Who gave you them?" she immediately asked.

"Right for the jugular, huh?" he smirked. Anansi's anger flared in his mind, but Eze continued, "Well, I can't reveal that."

"Why not?"

"They might get angry and wet their pants."

"They? So they have no gender?"

"Can't confirm or deny that. Anything else?"

"Oh, uh," she fiddled with her fingers a bit. "Right. What exactly can you do?"

He stood and walked a few inches in front of her, then, he shot a thread at her library, pulling out a book called "The Tales of Ijapa."

"I can do that."

"Huh. That it?"

"You don't sound very impressed, ma."

"Well, I don't think that would be enough to get up to my window, sir."

He walked over to her wall and, with effortless ease, began to walk upwards, defying gravity. Chinwe's eyes widened, and she let out a prolonged "Woah" as he casually moved across the ceiling, completely upside down. With a flick of his wrist, he shot a thread and slowly lowered himself, stopping when his face was directly in front of hers, suspended in mid-air.

"And I can jump pretty high."

"God, imagine what Obinna would do if he saw all of this. I assume I'm not allowed to tell him?"

"You guessed right."

Her room burst open, and a tenacious, short lady stormed in, wearing a wrapper around her waist. "CHINWE!" she shouted, causing Eze to lose his balance and fall headfirst from where he hung.

"CHINWE, HOW MANY TIMES MUST I CALL YOU? GO AND WASH PLATE, NOW!"

Then, she slammed the door, leaving.

"I wish she could knock once in a while."

"That would take away her authority."

"Hang on, are you okay?" she asked, gesturing to his head.

"No. But if I was seriously injured, I was planning to head into the hospital anyway."

He started to head for the window frame when Chinwe stopped him, grabbing him by the shirt.

"I still don't really know how to feel about this," she said, her voice softer and more familiar.

He turned around and gave her a short, reassuring hug. He could feel her tension melt away. "That's on me. I should have been smarter about this."

"Agreed. Though, you should probably get some sleep now. Some LONG sleep."

He nodded, and with that, he crawled out.

All of the effort that came with holding in the pain hit him at once, as the daggers in his brain stabbed harder.

"Anansi, abeg now."

"Get ready to live like that for the next week," the spider said in a soft tone of anger.

"Oh, I'm more than ready," he said, feeling extra daggers being added into his brain.

"How many more loose ends do you want us to do before we round up this arc?" the spider asked, slowly turning Eze invisible.

"Just two. Let's head to the hospital."

And indeed, he swung there. He felt like an expert at maneuvering now, or at least he thought so. Soon enough, he finally arrived.

In the room, he saw all the students he had rescued, restrained to beds and seemingly still asleep.

Eze slowly shuffled toward his friend, the only one he considered a brother.

Obinna looked peaceful in his sleep, though his skin had taken on a slight yellowish tint. Despite that, he appeared comfortable.

"Anansi, is he well?" Eze asked, concern evident in his voice.

"We're looking at someone with jaundice. The chemicals must have done a number on him," Anansi replied.

"Jaundice... I don't know what that is, Anansi," Eze admitted.

"It doesn't matter really. He'll be fine. But don't expect to see him back at the orphanage anytime soon."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Eze’s heart sank as he looked at Obinna’s pallor. It really gnawed at him, each laboured breath from Obinna sounding ten times more painful to him. 'I’ll make this right,' he vowed silently, clenching his fists.

He left the room with a noticeable lack of swagger in his step.

But back in the room, the eyes of a girl seemed to open.

"Was that...my hero?" she muttered weakly. Forcefully, her eyes shut again.

. . .

Soon enough, Eze entered back into the orphanage through a window in the thirteen minutes, still using invisibility. He carefully manoeuvred through the hallways, ensuring no one noticed him. The orphanage was filled with the usual bustle of 4-9 year olds, but his presence went undetected. Finally, he slipped into his room and let out a sigh of relief, dropping his invisibility.

Moments later, the door creaked open, and Anjola peeked in with a concerned expression. Then, her eyes widened when she saw him lying on his bed.

"Oh, I didn't think you'd actually be here!" she exclaimed, rushing to his side. "When did you even come back?"

"Come back? I left?" Eze asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You're the dumb one between the two of us Eze. Well, we haven't seen you in 2 days!

"We as in the 3 of you, or we as in Sister Ulu?" he said worriedly.

"I would think she didn't know. I think I did a great job!"

Eze sat up, the weight of the day catching up with him. "Thanks for covering for me."

"Why?"

"Well, we haven't seen you since last night. So we've been trying to full Sister Ulu for the entire ay."

Anjola waved it off. "Of course," Anjola replied. "We've all been tense enough from being sealed inside the room for so long. We didn't want you to cause more trouble for everyone else."

"When you say it like that..."

Just then, Joyce walked in, her eyes narrowing as she saw Eze. "Where have you been?" she demanded.

"None of your business," Eze blurted out curtly, avoiding her gaze.

Joyce was taken aback by his tone. "Umm... okay, Chocolate?" she said, trying to keep her voice light. Indeed, she had some Chocolate with her. He gracefully accepted it.

Moments later, Bolu strolled in, past the Eze, focusing solely on Joyce and Anjola. "You two, we're being called back to the living room."

Anjola glanced back at Eze. "See you later," she said softly.

Joyce gave him a small wave before following Bolu out.

That was until, Bolu came back in.

"God knows what's going on with you."

And then, he left again.

Eze lay back down, staring at the ceiling. The weight of the day's events pressed down on him like a humongous cinderblock. But at the very least, it was over for the most part. As he closed his eyes, he could hear Anansi's voice in his mind, a mix of irritation and amusement.

"That was quite the welcome committee."

"Yeah," Eze muttered. "They're good people."

"Do me a favour and beat your chest a bit. I want to stretch my legs." the spider requested.

Eze smiled and did as Anansi requested. He placed his hand on his chest, feeling his heart beat steadily beneath his fingers. Then, he hit it three times in a row. Almost immediately, a powerful gust of wind began to swirl around the room, ruffling the curtains. The air crackled with energy, and shimmering light, a mesmerizing blend of blue and black, began to coalesce in the center of the room.

As the final sparks of blue and black faded away, the spider materialized fully, its eyes gleaming. It was Anansi, the ancient trickster, who stood before him, albeit the same size as a normal spider.

Anansi stretched his legs, each movement deliberate and graceful. "That never gets old," he remarked, his voice a low, resonant whisper that seemed to echo in the still air.

Eze was thinking something else entirely. "These last few days have sucked. Why did you have to drag me into this?" he asked.

"Oh don't drag back the plot of our story Eze." the spider replied. "We've come this far. And you're doing... above average so far."

Eze glanced at his hands, contemplating. Then, he lay back down again.

"You know Anansi, I'm tired. I'm sure you already know, but I'm really tired. These last few days have been incredibly bad for me. I've gone through awful parkour in Iyana-Ipaja. I've experienced life flash before my eyes, whether it be from your earlier headaches. Or from fighting against those...abnormal boys. Or from this entire kidnapping thing and the actual real-life bullets I had to dodge."

The Spider looked like it wanted to speak. Eze continued, however. "And trust me, it only gets worse from here is what you wanted to say, right? Yeah, I get the gist of that, I really do. Doesn't mean I'm happy, but I do. But I need something from you Anansi."

The spider perked up again. "Mhm?"

"Assure me, Anansi, that you know what you're doing. That you're not just making things as you go. That you're not a useless writer, for this useless story. Do you have a plan for our story?"

Anansi gave what one could only describe as a smile.

"You have grown in these last few days. And the space beyond the sky is your limit." it started.

"I can't say for certain I know what I'm doing. I started this story spontaneously after all. But I won't just abandon it and leave it to fend for itself. I can assure you Eze, even though I don't know what I'm doing, I have a goal. I have a structure. And most importantly, I have a plan."

Eze returned the smile. "Good enough for me." He turned over, his body finally relaxing, ready for sleep. Something he'll be doing a lot.

"And now, we can finally end this arc."

. . .

"Walk." a man in black said, with a gun pointed at them.

In a dimly lit, abandoned warehouse, shadows moved eerily along the walls. The air was thick with the scent of fear and desperation. The kidnappers, who had terrorized the children, were now bound and gagged, their eyes wide with terror. They had no idea how they ended up here, but a good idea of who wanted to see them.

The air was thick with an ominous presence, and the faint, eerie glow of distant streetlights cast long shadows on the ground.

From the darkness, a figure emerged. Titan.

He was a short man, all things considered. His eyes glowed with an unnatural light, and a sinister smile played on his lips. They watched as he put on his reading glasses The kidnappers recoiled, sensing the true horror that stood before them.

"Welcome, gentlemen," Titan's voice was cold, sending shivers down their spines. "You’ve caused quite a bit of trouble, haven’t you? I see that the goods that I ordered aren't present with you."

One muffled whimper escaped the gagged form, a desperate plea swallowed by the suffocating silence. Titan, a monument of inhuman power, raised a hand. Dark energy, thick and viscous, writhed around him. As his fingers reached out, shadows danced a ballet, tendrils coiling around the whimpering figures.

Then, a mechanical monstrosity rose from behind him. It dwarfed the scene, a towering titan of steel and veins that stretched at least a hundred feet towards the unforgiving sky. But this monument didn't groan or grind. It screamed.

It screamed with the combined agony of a million tormented souls. A million wasted potentials. A million squandered lives. It was an amalgamation of despair that clawed at the very fabric of reality. The kidnappers, their eyes wide with a terror that transcended human comprehension, felt the icy grip of annihilation closing around their very existence. They thrashed, clawed, anything to escape the suffocating dread, but their struggles were as futile as a gnat against a hurricane.

This was just a part of the true might of the soul harvester.

"You see, every action has a consequence," Titan continued, his voice dripping with malice. "And your actions have led you here, to me. And I, I will fight every obstacle that impedes me, and what I want."

The dark energy intensified, a tangible force that squeezed the very life from their bodies. Some were completely torn apart, removing their consciousness from our reality. Others, were now lost in the cacophony of the machine's torment. Their souls ripped raw and exposed, were offered up like a grotesque feast.

Their bodies crumpled, empty husks devoid of the spark that once defined the human in them. Titan, his face devoid of emotion, simply watched. The machine behind him, its unholy chorus momentarily stilled, pulsed with a malevolent satisfaction, its hunger momentarily sated.

"And so it begins," he murmured to himself, a frown on his face.

"Now, what was that about that boy?"