Ẹni tí kò bá gba kádàrá, yóò gba kodoro.

Whoever won't accept his destined lot per time would end up with nothing

He opened his eyes and suddenly, he wasn't himself anymore, he felt shorter, his joints were smaller and more rigid and his body felt heavy and seemed to weigh him down. His eyesight seemed different somehow, the colours were all toned down to an almost greyscale. He looked around and he was in some kind of throne room, but this wasn't the one he had been when he and Sango had shared minds. Something was off, he thought. There were more art pieces in this one, drawing on the walls that seemed to depict a story that Odion didn't know. Pottery was arranged beautifully around the room, all crafted with inscriptions and drawings intricately drawn on them. Odion started walking and he knew he wasn't in control but it still felt like it was him controlling the movement. Whose mind was he in this time?

A voice spoke in his head, a raspy voice. I am Nwa Aniga, the long enduring.

Odion was no stranger to voices in his head by now but it didn't make it less discomforting. He instead decided to focus on the scene, maybe he could learn something from this turtle.

I'm a tortoise, foolish boy, the voice said in a cantankerous tone.

Odion inwardly rolled his eyes as he/Aniga began to walk along a long corridor beside the throne room. As he walked, he started to feel anxious, scared even and Aniga's thoughts began to flow into his.

What if something goes wrong? What if I have misjudged his situation? What will I-?

Aniga stopped short of the door at the end of the corridor and took a deep breath, trying in vain to calm himself. The door was a tall and wide one, adorned with bright sparkling jewels, it was made of a dark wood that seemed strong and hard.

Aniga rose his hand and knocked on the door and only then did Odion realise that he didn't have hands anymore. These were front feet and Odion looked down and found that he was walking on hind legs. Gods, why didn't he connect the dots earlier. He was a turtle!

Tortoise, and if you ask me, it's definitely an upgrade from your flimsy limbs. Now shut up and watch, the voice said.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Odion started to panic. He suddenly felt uncomfortable and scared. How could he be a turtle? What kind of turtle could even talk?

Odion was about to ask more questions to the voice when the door opened and he saw who had opened the door. Odion knew immediately that this was a thunder god. His eyes were a light grey, and he had a short wispy beard that seemed to move like storm clouds. Where Sango was built like general, this god seemed to have a runner's physique. He wore nothing but a simple garb and a golden wrapper that was tied from his right shoulder to his waist and yet, he still looked impressive. He was easily over six feet tall and Odion/Aniga had to crane his neck to see his face. Odion knew who it was without his name even being said. Who didn't know the name of—

"Amadioha, my lord." Aniga said as he bowed down.

Amadioha's face was emotionless and resigned, like thunder clouds, rearing up before a storm. He beckoned to Aniga to rise with a simple hand gesture and walked slowly into his chambers. As he walked, thunder and lightning seemed to shift with him beneath the folds of his garb. Odion looked closely and realised Amadioha's skin wasn't even properly brown, it had a greyish tint making him look like he was part of the storm clouds. Which in a way, he was.

Amadioha said nothing for a while and Odion could feel Aniga's nervousness build up inside of him, waiting, in anticipation for what his lord was about to say.

Amadioha splayed his fingers before speaking, as if to stretch them. "What do you think of Sango's incoming arrival today?"

Aniga thought carefully before he spoke. "Sango is a wise deity, he means no harm. He may be the god of war but he believes that our involvement in this mortal issues may—"

"Our people are dying by the second!" Amadioha said with rage standing up from the throne in the middle of his chambers his eyes glowing a dangerous grey, the colour of flashes of lightning before a storm. "I hear their cries in my mind every single second, how can I not do anything about it? Will Sango stand aside and wait if it were his people?"

Aniga recoiled at his outburst but still managed to maintain a calm tone despite the fear Odion could feel from him. "Sire, I suggest that we at least hear what Sango has to say to try and avoid a war that could destroy all of us."

The light in Amadioha's eyes didn't die but he seemed to calm down a little as he sat back down with a grim expression. "We will see."

The scene changed fluidly like water and suddenly, Aniga was in a room that looked like an armoury. It was a small room and it looked like most of the shelves had been stripped bare of the weapons that once held them.

The war had begun, we needed to be ready.

He was anxiously searching for something, muttering to himself asking where it was. He bent down low and used his claws to remove the wooden boards on the floor that was marked with a strange symbol. Aniga let out a breath of relief as he saw a deep brown rope that seemed ordinary enough. As soon as Aniga touched it, though, it seemed to become longer and took a golden hue, transforming into a golden chain glowing with an aura that could only be spoken of as divine. It illuminated Aniga's face brightly, making him close his wrinkly eyelids a little, almost squinting. As he was about to put the rope into his shell, he heard a creak behind him.

Before he turned, he already knew who he was. He felt the fear before he could see it. Eshu