Bí ìgbà bá ńgbáni ká máa rọ́jú, bó pẹ́ bó yà ìgbà ńbọ̀ wá gbani.

If time afflicts, one should persevere; eventually time will favour one.

Odion woke up with sweat on his face, his heart still beating wildly. He looked around his surroundings but it was too dark and he was too dizzy for him to make any sense of it. He sat up and his hand instinctively went to the back of his head, trying to see if his wound was still bleeding. He was confused, as his hand came back dry—what the hell was going on? His eyes were starting to adjust to the darkness and he was starting to see more of where he was. It was some sort of cavern buried deep underground. There were objects around that he couldn't make out quite well in the darkness but there was something in the room, he could feel it. The same way he could feel Sango and Eshu. There was a god somewhere around. He smelt moist stale air and he itched his nose out of irritation. Where was he? What was this place?

He tried to stand up but his legs failed him and he slumped back down on his backside on the marshy earth. Okay, let's try this again, he thought. He used his hands to steady himself as he slowly but surely planted his feet firmly on the ground. Now that he was standing, he needed a way to get out of this place, and fast. He was making his way to what he thought should be the cave wall when he felt something slither past his feet. He jumped backwards in alarm, eyes wide with shock. What was that?

He turned his head left and right but he knew it was of no use—it was way too dark and he couldn't make anything out. Whatever the creature was slithered past him again and this time he whipped out Sango's dagger, it's ethereal light filling the cavern. Why hadn't he thought of this before? Sango's dagger could serve as his light source, allowing him to navigate this hell hole he had stepped in. He silently cursed himself for being so stupid. He raised the dagger up to his eye level and proceeded to moving towards the cave. He walked slowly and tried to avoid making any noise so as not to alert the creature of his present location. Something was strange about the cave walls, though. There seemed to be some inscriptions engraved on the walls. Odion looked closer and raised the dagger closer to the walls and realised that they weren't inscriptions at all, but drawings. He saw strange figures, displayed in different stories.

He saw young figures with fangs protruding from their gums, feasting on a human being. Odion's heart skipped a beat, Ogbanje. He saw another scenario where there seemed to be beings all seated around a large table. This must be the pantheon of the gods, Odion thought. He looked hard at the image trying to discern where Sango was or even Eshu but he couldn't make any of them out. These gods looked a bit more different, they had sterner looks on their faces and their demeanour was calm but vicious. Odion had a sinking feeling of what he had stepped into. He was about to step sideways to see the next image when the creature slid past him again, he slashed his dagger downwards but his blade met nothing but empty air. Whatever it was, it was fast.

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Odion walked in the direction he saw the creature move, he treaded carefully, moving slightly to avoid tripping on the numerous rocks around. He heard it before he saw it. He spun around and slashed his dagger towards the ground, he saw that his blade was about to hit whatever the creature was until he heard a cold stern feminine voice speak out from the darkness that stopped him in his tracks.

"I know that you were not just about to kill Éke." The voice said.

Odion spun on his heels and he saw one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. Odion gaped at her, she was tall and had a sleek figure. She wore a light brown dress that went all the way down to the ground but where it was supposed to stop, it just connected with the earth so it was like she was sprouting form the ground itself, as she moved, the earth around her seemed to move with her. With her hands were clasped in front of her coupled with her regal look, Odion would've thought she was a queen. Odion was about to say something when something red in the woman's hair caught his eye. Odion looked closely at the woman's hair and realised that it was a red ruby quartz. He looked more closely at her hair was braided and twisted down her back and it was adorned with brightly coloured jewels. As she stood, a creature slithered to her feet and circled her, almost protectively. Odion's eyes had adjusted well enough to the darkness so that he could make out that the creature was a huge brown coloured python as lengthy as Odion was tall. Something clicked inside Odion's head, this was the same woman that was there at the riot.

"Am I dead?" Odion asked incredulously. "And why do you have a snake as a pet?"

The woman smiled, an action that only took a tiny fraction of her face. "You're not dead...yet, you were just knocked out for about twenty hours and as to your second question,'' she said as she stroked her python, "why not?"

She waved her hands a little and behind her a throne made of earth materialised from the ground. On the armrests, there were two lion heads and the throne seemed to be adorned with moving figures. It was like there was a scene playing underneath the thin film of earth. She sat down on her throne and crossed her long legs. She put forward her right hand a little and twirled her fingers and a less than noble stool appeared before Odion, he rolled his eyes and sat reluctantly.

"I've been watching you." The goddess said calmly.

Odion shifted nervously. "Why does everyone keep saying that? Do you guys have some kind of large television that you use to watch all of us lowly mortals?" Odion said in a mocking tone.

The goddess simply cocked her head but Odion could see a hint of a smile in there.

"You would have no way of knowing this but you come from not one but two great spiritual ancestral lineages," she said evenly, "hardly if ever is someone like you born. You have powerful blood pumping through your veins, boy. Most of the gods are watching, so we can know which one you'll be."

"Which one?" Odion said.

"Our uniter," she said gravely, "or our destroyer. You have great potential to be either."