The mountain path twisted like a serpent's spine, its jagged edges whispering tales of travelers who never returned. As dawn broke, spilling golden light over the peaks of Uru, Ayomide and Tayo stood before the entrance to the Eye of Nok—a forgotten temple built by starwatchers before even the first kings of Odanjo had been crowned.
Its gates loomed tall and etched with constellations. Stone guardians flanked either side owls with obsidian eyes and wings that looked ready to snap into motion. Wind howled through the narrow crevices, carrying voices that didn't belong to the present.
"You sure this is it?" Tayo whispered, clinging to the star map like a lifeline.
Ayomide nodded. The cursed blade hummed faintly at his hip, resonating with the magic embedded in the walls.
"If the Reaper and Orunfelu were taken anywhere… it would be here."
They stepped inside.
The moment they crossed the threshold, the temperature shifted warm and heavy with the scent of burning incense. The floor beneath their feet shimmered with runes that moved like ripples in water, forming new constellations with every step.
The Eye of Nok wasn't just a temple.
It was alive.
Suddenly, the stars on the ceiling aligned and projected a radiant beam of light that struck Ayomide in the chest. He staggered as memories—ones not his own flooded his mind.
A woman dressed in emerald robes stood before a council.
Her voice echoed through the chamber:
"We cannot allow the child to be raised in Odanjo. His blood is a key. If Kasim learns the truth"
The vision vanished.
Ayomide gasped and fell to his knees.
Tayo knelt beside him. "What happened? What did you see?"
Ayomide stared at the ceiling. "Something about my birth. They… they feared me."
Tayo blinked. "You think your curse came from Kasim?"
Ayomide shook his head. "Worse. I think it came from my mother."
🧩 A Hall of Echoes
They pressed forward into a circular chamber carved with a thousand mirrors, each showing a different version of the same person, Ayomide as a warrior, as a tyrant, as a child.
In the center floated a cube of crystal, pulsing with memories.
Ayomide reached out.
The cube split open and projected another vision:
A crying baby. An argument between two women, one cloaked in gold, the other in blue feathers.
"He must be hidden.""The stars say he will destroy Odanjo!""Only if left to Kasim!""What if he chooses to follow him instead of fight him?"
The blue-feathered woman gasped. "He has the mark. He will awaken the Blade."
Ayomide's hand fell to his chest where the faded scar had always pulsed.
The same mark.
"This temple… it remembers everything," he whispered.
Tayo was staring at another mirror, pale. "You need to see this…"
Ayomide turned to look and saw his father.
But not as he remembered.
This version of his father wore Kasim's sigil. A general in the tyrant's army. Leading raids. Burning villages.
Ayomide's voice was hollow. "They lied to me."
Prison of Time
They moved deeper until the corridors gave way to a vast underground sanctum its walls carved with celestial clocks, ticking backward.
There, in a suspended crystal orb, hung the Reaper.
Her limbs were limp, her armor cracked. But her eyes… burned with violet fury.
"Don't come closer," she warned, voice faint but sharp. "It feeds on your thoughts."
Ayomide stepped back.
A presence crept into the room. Not footsteps, not sound but dread itself.
A figure in tattered robes emerged from the shadows. His face was hollow, half-covered in stardust and rot.
"The boy returns to the womb of memory," he crooned. "You are not ready for the truth."
Ayomide raised his sword. "Let them go."
The being laughed a sound like glass breaking. "You were always meant to kneel. Your blood sings with Kasim's will. You are the seed he planted before death."
"That's a lie!"
"Then let the temple prove it," the being whispered and vanished.
Suddenly, the walls pulsed red. The time-runes unraveled. The mirrors began to shatter one by one, until the room was nothing but blinding white.
Ayomide blinked
And found himself in a memory not his own.
The Origin of the Curse
He stood in the throne room of old Odanjo.
Before him stood Kasim the Dread, alive and terrible, wrapped in shadow armor.
And beside him, a woman.
Ayomide's mother.
"You promised you wouldn't harm him," she cried, clutching a baby swaddled in green silk.
"I promised nothing," Kasim sneered. "You bore my heir. His fate belongs to the stars."
"He won't serve you," she spat. "He will destroy you."
Kasim's eyes blazed. "Then let him try. I've marked him. The curse will awaken only if he defies me. And when it does… he'll destroy everything he loves."
The vision shattered.
Ayomide staggered back into the present, gasping.
The Reaper was staring at him. "You saw it."
Ayomide nodded. "Kasim is my father."
Silence filled the chamber.
Even Tayo was stunned.
The Reaper closed her eyes. "Then you carry more than the curse. You carry his soul in your veins."
Ayomide's fingers curled around the Blade of Burdens. "Then I'll burn it from my body."
A new voice echoed across the sanctum.
"That would be... unwise."
From the side corridor emerged Orunfelu, badly wounded but alive.
He limped forward. "Ayomide, listen to me. Your lineage does not define your fate. But if you let rage guide you Kasim wins."
Ayomide turned to him. "How do we destroy the curse?"
Orunfelu pointed to the temple's central star core. "You must enter the Heart of the Eye. There, the temple will show you who you truly are. But beware the truth may not be what you want."
Ayomide stepped toward the glowing core. The Blade of Burdens was now blazing with golden light, resonating with the runes in the chamber.
He turned to the others. "Stay back. This is something I must face alone."
Tayo gave him a solemn nod.
The Reaper whispered, "You have more than a curse, Ayomide. You have a choice. Make it count."
He stepped into the light.
His body rose, suspended in air as energy surged through him. His mind split open and the temple began to speak.
"You are born of shadow and flame. Of prophecy and rebellion. The curse was never meant to punish you… it was meant to choose you."
Visions exploded before his eyes:
Himself crowned a king, sword raised to the sky.
Himself standing over the Reaper's body, stained in blood.
Himself merging with the curse becoming something neither mortal nor divine.
"You are the fulcrum," the voice said. "Your choice will shape Odanjo's fate. Light or darkness. Mercy or vengeance."
Ayomide screamed as the power surged
And then…
Darkness.