Dzidzor found herself enjoying Wagadu than she ever thought she would. She enjoyed her classes so much- Introduction to the spirit realm, Introduction to the history of magic, Introduction to agreements and Plants Part 1. She had told herself that she would make Nkosi proud but it seemed that it would be harder than she expected. The students, their parents and some of the staff did not like her very much due to her outburst at the orientation but she did not care. The headmaster was on her side and the daughter of the most powerful chief in Ghana was on her side. Their hate did not touch her, no, it amused her.

Dzidzor had a proficiency for plants and very soon got her the admiration of their teacher, Ama Yawson. Esi affectionately called her Asaase Yaa, which just made Dzidzor even more proud of herself to be likened to a goddess. Esi was excellent in History and class was interesting as Esi would always ask questions and challenge the teacher. “I’m the daughter of a chief what did you expect?” she would say whenever Dzidzor would ask her how she knew so much history.

Esi and Dzidzor bonded on a lot of things other than class. Esi often volunteered to do Dzidzor’s hair, then teach her how to do it. They would spend hours pouring over magazines and newspapers, looking at different hairstyles and then do them on each other. Esi always made sure Dzidzor looked her best, not just in hair, but clothes and appearance as well. Dzidzor had an aversion to makeup and wigs and floral dresses because of Gloria. However, Esi showed her that those were not the only things needed to doll up. She taught Dzidzor the wonders of natural face masks and regularly washing her face, lotion, shea butter and oils. Dzidzor’s appearance improved within a few weeks that more often than not, would catch herself looking at her smooth and shiny face in the mirror. Even boys would openly stare at her and a few bold ones would call her asking for her number and looking for relationships. Even though she was not looking for a relationship, but it flattered her. After a few months, Dzidzor learnt to use eye pencils for both her eye and lips and oils to make her lips and bosom shiny. Esi would then apply make-up and put on her sluttiest dresses and they would hang out at outdoor bars and then laugh at the men who would approach them. Dzidzor had never had a girl-friend before and it would make her so emotional sometimes that she would lock herself in the bathroom while Esi would tease her from the other side.

Although things were going amazing for her, she never forgot her hunter. For the first few months, she would go to Nkosi’s office every week to ask about his whereabouts. Nkosi always had nothing. He said he had deployed men to look for Kafui. Nkosi said that Wagadu and the magic community would benefit from Kafui’s council since he was a very powerful man, he was the best in this field, that was divination and he was one of the few powerful seers and philosophers in the world.

“The man can look into the future” Nkosi said with quiet reverence “he will just look at you and then know everything about you. Like a spiritual Sherlock Holmes” When Dzidzor asked who Sherlock Holmes was, Nkosi was so surprised that he gave her The Complete Sherlock Holmes book “It’s the abridged version. It’s an amazing book. Besides it’ll help you work on your English.”

Esi had read it and even had a copy in her wardrobe “If I knew that you hadn’t read it like I would’ve given it to you. I have plenty books here. I haven’t even finished reading them”

After a few months, she would go to Nkosi every month for updates, he still had nothing. Esi and Nkosi tried their best to cheer her up and even though she was grateful, she still thought of her hunter daily.

With Gloria out of the picture, Dzidzor was able to relax and do her very best at school. After a year at Wagadu, Dzidzor had been promoted to level 2. Even though she wasn’t the first to have accomplished such a feat, it was still a rare one. It made most of her mates extremely jealous of her. They would openly stare and snicker at her in the dorm rooms and classrooms. Esi however was extremely proud of her and told her to keep her head down and ignore everyone else. Dzidzor dutifully followed Esi’s advice, until she met Caleb. Caleb was a Nigerian who had been boasting from orientation that he would be the first Level one student to reach Level 2. He said that both parents came from a long line of powerful witches and that it would be a breeze for him. Now he had a beef with Dzidzor, because she had foiled his plans. He and his family had sent complaints to Nkosi as to why Caleb had not yet graduated a level. They all came out void.

“Hey you!” Caleb called to her as she was heading for the library to get books for her change in class. Dzidzor turned, not saying anything, her shoulder-length beaded twists moving with the movement. “Did you not hear me call you?” now he was about a meter away from her “Are you deaf?” The students who normally walked with him laughed. Dzidzor realized that he just wanted to intimidate her, but she would not let him. Even with just sandals she was a full head taller than him and she had grown a bit wider as compared to his scrawny stature. He could try to intimidate her, but she planned that if he lay a hand in her, she would make sure his back met the ground. “Don’t you know you have to great your elders?”

Like students from families where everyone graduated from Wagadu, they believed in a certain hierarchy in the magic community. These terms were actually termed to be non-progressive as they tended to bring down other people, but there were people who cared more for the old ways because they benefitted them. There was the high Afa, those whose families all have abilities and went to a high-class magic school like Wagadu and the middle Afa, those who some family members do not have abilities and did not go to or went to low class magic school. Then there was the low Afa, or Benafa, the ones like her, who were admitted for special reasons. Since she had renounced her family, she had no family gods, no family protection, she was all on her own. Parents were uncomfortable with people like her, because it disproved everything they taught their children. Children were taught that without family, you are nothing and if there was a sacrifice you had to make, it was to be for family but then Dzidzor came along, fine and perfect without any family, breaking the record of being the first in 5 years, to move to level 2 in just a year. With all this in mind, Caleb wanted to further tradition, even in the face of an anomaly; he was an Afa and she Benafa and thus did not care her level. Dzidzor stared him down and turned to walk away.

“No one walks from me” he snarled reached her arm. Dzidzor timed his approach and shifted out of his way, making him clutch thin air “Stupid bitch Benafa!”

Dzidzor did not need this "Say whatever you want to say Caleb. I’m busy”

“My father says that people like you deserve to be put down” his friends nodded in agreement. She was not intimidated; this was not her first gang attack.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“I suppose that is why he is a level 4 at 56 years old” Dzidzor scoffed, forcing a smug smile on her face. Caleb’s face turned into a mask of fury.

“You are only saying this because of Nkosi,” he said bridging the gap between them until he was looking up at her “you are nothing, you are a Benafa. I am higher than you. Everyone knows you’re going to level 2 because you have sex with Nkosi. Ashawo!”

As soon as he called her a whore, she begun to see red at the corner of her eyes. She felt her body shake until she felt her books drop for her hand. Caleb’s friends saw something on her face and took several steps back. There was fear in Caleb’s face but he did not want to show it. Then she heard the sound of drums, and from the expressions of people around her, they heard the drums too.

“I am not afraid of you!” Caleb shouted, but fear cracked his voice.

“You should be” but it wasn’t her voice, it was a man’s voice speaking through her. She lifted her hand to grab his neck, but he jumped out of the way and fell into the sand shaking. Her entire body felt like lead, like she wasn’t in control, but the man speaking to her was. With her hand still outstretched, the wind begun to blow in earnest, picking up soil. She was amazed at the power - she was not able to do this before. The drums got louder and she heard the voice that spoke through her in her ears now chanting in beat with the drums,

Kill

Kill

Ku

Ku

Kill

Kill

Caleb screamed as blood fell from his nose and eyes. Then Dzidzor begun to freak out. She was sure he had learnt his lesson; now how could she turn it off? The intensity of the drums increased, until it was in sync with her heart beat. She heard a maniacal laughter from within her.

“Stop!” the laughter continued amidst the chanting “I said Stop!” she knelt down and closed her eyes, willing the spirit to stop the attack. Then everything got quiet.

Dzidzor waited to open her eyes because she was afraid that she would see Caleb’s dead body or Esi’s frightened face or Nkosi’s disappointed face but when she did, she wasn’t sure she was at Wagadu at all. The land was plain and filled with clay. Even the sky seemed like it was made from clay. There was nothing in the land, just a giant expanse of clay. There was no wind as well, or anything in the sky, even clouds. It was empty. Dzidzor begun to panic. Where was she? What had she done? She heard a rustle behind her and she turned.

There was a man, a tall man, his skin the darkest she had ever seen. He was naked, except for bright kente tied delicately about his waist. He had muscles all about his body, she did not think he had any fat under his skin. He looked old, his wrinkles like those in new kente, but his hair was dark like the night, absorbing every light that it caught. His hair was bundled into locs that he tied into a high ponytail on top of his head. It was so high that some of the locs fell onto his face. His lips were big and square and had such impressive cheekbones, but they were nothing as compared to his eye. They were a flaming furnace. One hand delicately cupped his face while the other that kept it upright was embracing his torso. He stood like a woman; delicate grace was an aura about him. He stood there, an anomaly, male and female as one.

He looked at her for a while, taking in her appearance and she begun to squirm. She wore jeans and a white t-shirt with sandals which was woefully inadequate to his presence.

Even if she had not been taught, she knew she was in the presence of a god. She dropped to her knees and let her forehead touch the ground. The god said nothing for a while then said,

“Rise up my child” his voice was deep like a well startling her. She was about to rise when she remembered something she had heard the priest say at church. He was saying something about how no one saw God and lived. But then he wasn’t God, he was just a lesser god “Yes, I am. The one you call Jehovah is my father” Dzidzor felt more reluctant to get up when she knew he could read her mind “There is nothing hidden here. This was the first world before your world”

Dzidzor need not be told that this was the spirit realm.

“Your Holiness, I do not mean to offend thee,” Dzidzor began cowering “but I am not worthy to be in your presence”

Her father told her that before a god visited someone, you needed years and years of practice and training. Also, women on their periods were unclean and gods did not like to visit them. her father did not even allow women in his hut since it was his altar, he went to the women’s hut. As she was on her period, she was not ready to get kicked or hit by a god because he did not realize that she was unclean.

“I never visited the man you call your father” Dzidzor looked up in surprise “None of us did. He went from the way, and brought disaster to himself”

It could not be.

Her father always boasted to people around that he was always ‘having tea’ with great gods, and they would give him wisdom and guidance. If what this god is saying is true, then her father was a liar.

“Men are born liars. There is deceit in their heart. They utter images of things which are not things and slay their fellow man for it” the god cocked his head at Dzidzor “Except you. Why is that?”

She did not know. She stood up and pulled her white t-shirt down. She was marveled by the fact that it was not dirty. She gained courage from the way he looked at her, like an equal and not one higher.

“Who are you, you marvelous being?”

“You have prayed to me often; in your pain you cried out to me. You wondered if I liked human blood”

She almost turned and run away “Mawu”

“I prefer Lisa” She made the posture to kneel again when he stopped her “Enough. I did not come here to be worshiped.” She straightened herself, not knowing what to do with her legs “I have a job for you Dzidzor, the Courage.” Lisa then told her everything he wanted him to do for her.

Dzidzor’s head was swimming with information. She could not do this, she was just recently promoted to level 2, this sounded like a job for someone in level 10 “Do you accept?”

She thought for a while. Lisa had faith in her, which encouraged her to have faith in herself. The job was big, very big. She did not think Nkosi could even do this.

“I’ll do it” Lisa nodded, pleased with her.

“Good. Trust no one. Everything you need is inside of you. You know where to find me”

Dzidzor was about to ask where she could find him when she found herself falling.

It went dark again, then a bright shining appeared blinding her. With the light came the pain.

She cried out, not knowing where she was. When she opened her eyes, she was in the infirmary with Nkosi looking down at her. She tried to sit up, but her head felt so heavy.

“Keep calm, I’m here”

“Nkosi,” she begun, her breathing finally slowing down “Nkosi I saw…”

“A god, yes my child,” he said smiling at her. He pulled his loc behind his ear and Dzidzor marveled on how much he looked like Lisa “Which one?”

Trust no one, Lisa’s voice echoed in her head, but everything you need is inside of you.

“What happened to Caleb?” Dzidzor said, trying to buy time to think of her answer.

“I will handle everything” he looked calmly at her, waiting for her answer.

As she looked into his eyes, she saw an image of a burning furnace in them. Lisa had spoken.

“Lisa”

Nkosi’s eyes went so wide they looked like saucers. Then he frowned deeply then begun to pace the room.

“Are you sure?” Dzidzor nodded “Maybe it was Mawu…”

“No, he specifically told me Lisa”

Nkosi looked at the girl in front of him, looking as innocent as an initiate could be. She did not know what was coming.

She was in grave danger.