TRAILING SHADOWS - Chapter 194

“Refine me till my eyes are clearer for that which must be done. Refine me.” He added, his eyes closed.

But just as he began to relish the flow of the fire seeping into his body, the fires suddenly crackled and vanished, the towering height of the flames reduced into nothing but sparks at the pit hole.

Asoju Lekan opened his eyes at this and gasped. But as he did, the aura of someone familiar slammed into him. He sighed now, his face looking dejected. He had been found.

The aura that enveloped the Asoju now was that of a warm welcome, like the sensation that engulfed one when one did have a bath of hot water on a cold day. It was that exciting but then again, if one did tarry so long in the hot water, one would inadvertently begin to feel the heat rise and seep into the body.

And in this case, Asoju Lekan could feel the shimmering rage that was hidden in the feeling of warmth that enveloped it. The atmosphere suddenly became tense, like as a gloomy presence had come upon it and he did not need to be told who would have such an aura like that.

It was the WarPrime, the only one who could, by himself, suppress the flames of an Eternal Fire Pit, the Prime of the Land of War, one of the toughest, if not the most powerful Prime in all of the Realms of the Irunmole.

But for political reasons and because of the land of Obatala, due to the hierarchical position of the God of Light at the top of the Orisha order, the Elder was placed as the leader of the other realms. But if the terms of power were being considered, the rightful one who was the most powerful of all of them would be the War Prime.

And the Warprime, Asoju Lekan girmacd, was definitely not in the best of moods around him today. That was that. And he faintly had the idea why he was here.

No, not faintly. He did know the reason why the Warprime had decided to come to grace his presence, much to the fact that he had to suppress the Eternal Fire just to have a meeting with him. He knew all too well and the thought of that made him shiver. Itw as this very reason why he had decided to keep to himself these past days. What he had decided to come out here so that he would not be in the line for the questions that would come his way, without fail.

Without the explosive force of the Eternal fire beneath him, Asoju Lekan found nothing with which he could leverage on to stay afloat. And without fail, gravity exploded on him immediately, his whole mass hurtling downwards in a flash. Even as he was falling, Asoju Lekan closed his eyes, waiting to embrace the fires that would swallow him  whole the moment he landed right into the pit, which was the destination he was falling to.

but he was expecting it, such a demise would be much better for him than for him to face the might and the fury of the WarPrime over that matter.

Alas, just as he was only a few inches from falling down into the pt, a sudden force knocked into his sides, pushing him over the edge of the pit. He coughed out as pai racked into his side.

The War prime was to be blamed for that but then again, the War prime had not even used the whole of his power but a minute fraction of it and yet, he was in such pain already.

he coughed out, shaking his head and trying very hard to get rid of the stars that were forming and twinkling in his subconscious as a result of that hit. Now, landing on his stomach, he sighed, putting his hands to the ground and then getting himself up on his fours.

“Grrr…” Asoju Lekan strained, forcing himself to rise, on a knee under the force that was trying to knock him down to the ground.

Under this forceful aura, he strained, trying his all to resist being knocked down to the ground, the pit of fire being in front of him. As a result of this, he could not bear to bring his face to look up even as the shadow of who was to be the War prime drifted over to him. The only thing he could find himself capable of was just to grimace and grit his teeth under the power of the War Prime.

“Hmm! Asoju Lekan… I see you have been keeping busy these days.” The words of the War Prime resonated into his ears.

Lekan did not reply, he was too intent on trying to resist the depressing force.

“On a normal day, I would applaud you but then again, now is not the time for this. You decided to come to one of the hottest Eternal fire Pit just so you could discourage anybody who was sent to summon you from ever getting to you. How clever!” The gruff voice of the War Prime sounded again, a clapping sound accompanying the last of his words. ” Really clever of you. But then again, you did not think that I would be able to come to you, did you/ You forget that the Eternal Fire Pits are mandated to respect the authority of the one in charge of this realm, right?”

Asoju Lekan grimaced once again.

‘Idle talk aside, I am sure you are aware of the reason why I am here, are you not/ Your charge, Tayo… ” The War Prime paused in his words. “The one who was the friend of the son of the Elder, Sunday. You must be aware of what he has done of late, are you not?”

Asoju Lekan lowered his head now. He put his left hand on the right extended leg while the left knee made some cracks on the tarred road, just a few inches from the Eternal fire Pit which was in front of him.

he knew all too well what the War prime was going to say. The mission that his charge had been entrusted with had not gone according to expectation and now, the boy, Sunday had fled. It was a taboo for such to happen and the ultimate punishment for that, well, he did not want to think of that.

that had been the reason why he had kept to himself all this while. Because he dreaded ever having to come to face with the fact that Tayo would have to get punished for his sake.

That boy, he had gone through a lot. The least the War Council of the Ilu Ogun could do for him was to not use him like the pawn that they thought him to be. It was not easy for one to turn on nes friend but Tayo had done that. He had given the exact location for this Sunday of an Irunmole.

If not for the interference of the one who was Kalagar, the Lightning Sage, then the Assassins who had been on to him would have definitely gotten their way through with the execution of Sunday. And then, the prophecy and the fate it spelt out would have been avoided. But alas, such was not the case.

“One would have thought that the fact where your ward had come to us, about the location of Sunday proved his loyalty to the mission and the council of War. But that was only a lie.” The voice of the War Priem sounded again to Asoju Lekan from where he kneeled, coming from the air, above him.

“But then again, we have to consider that it did take Tayo some time to contact us again. That was not the plan. It was to contact us immediately he could see Sunday but your ward had chosen to get familiar with him and as such would have allowed that to influence his decision. And when he did make up his mind to contact us, that is, after I had come over to have a word with you then, you know what happened next?”

“What?” Asoju Lekan strained himself to say. ‘That boy did as the Council requested of him. He was pitched against his one and only friend, so far.”

“Ah!” The War Prime exhaled out. “That must have been the reason then. That means he truly is not innocent then.”

“What? He did as requested.” Asoju Lekan frantically said.

“But then again, because he was pitched against his one and only friend, like you say, he decided to manipulate the events against us. And he did it so well that one would not have to blame him for anything wrong. Whereas, he waited till Kalagar was in the scene and then bet on the fact that the Lightning Sage was touchy and then used that to undermine the mission of the Assassins. Even when we had given him  a mission where he did not have to execute the lad, he still let his feelings get in the way.”

“That is not true.”

“Nothing you say is of weight. You confirmed my thoughts already. And anyone who puts personal feelings in the way of an impending war must first be eliminated. Tayo Must Die. And all who are with him or aid him.” The War Prime said and then the whole pressure vanished.

Asoju Lekan looked up now, his eyes widened but the War prime had long vanished from the spot already.