Dioha had quickly made up his mind while Ogalé had shared the happenings of the last eighteen years to him. The girl was born to human parents but at an early age she was left to roam the streets. Which was a blessing in disguise as she was immediately adopted by a reclusive seer who dwelled in the human territory. It was at this seer's place that Anu had made contact with the girl for the first time physically.
Subsequently,more contact was made over the years as every six months psychic barriers and power dampeners had to be reinforced. Series of potions had to be brewed, the scar on her wrist had to be reopened. As she grew into her teens, incantations became important in the power suppression exercise. She was growing in leaps and bounds. She was showing far more promising signs at an early age. Though her training was controlled and truncated,she still exceeded expectations for someone her age. At eighteen she was already capable of influencing the two seer elements; water and wind.
Dioha smiled bitterly when he learnt of this. Here he was, needing his full strength in order to protect her and himself, yet having barely enough. There she was, having all her powers amplified than normal, thereby making her a beacon to enemies in the dark. Almost as if Fate was playing a sick game with their lives. Dioha was certain the council would discover her soon unless he was there to distract them for as long as possible. His appearance there would most certainly make the whole council concentrate on him. First they would want to know how he made it back into the world so quick. Next,they'd want to know what it was like in the afterlife. If they ran out of things to find out from him, he'd press them on finding who murdered him. It was a serious crime and no Watcher would take it lying down. The culprit,and his accomplice had to be found and made an example of,so others would desist from attacking their spiritual leaders. But first before going to the Chamber of Echoes he needed to journey into the human territory to see her.
Humans dwelled in a faraway land. Their lifestyle and existence was not much of a mystery to the entire Ngamé population. They may look exactly like the Ngamés but they weren't the same. Humans had no gifts, no powers. True some of them were talented, but talent does not amount to power. Like one of them invented a gun centuries ago, while some others have modified the weapon over time. They relied solely on objects and external factors for their survival. Their strength did not come from within. To any ordinary Ngamé,humans were weaker and far beneath them. To a Ngamé,a Watcher was a spiritual leader with the will and blessing of the gods, while to a human a Watcher would be tantamount to a god.
This was not to say there were no dangers in travelling into the human settlements. Ogalé would have tried to dissuade him if he knew. Humans were oblivious to the fact that the Ngamé race existed. One or two sightings, reports, and claims have hinted at the possibility of there being superhumans dwelling among them. Theories,of these superhumans not being just a few,but an entire race dwelling in some far off place. The human governments of course,always squashed these stories and give out the maximum sentence for this crime; death. Wide scale knowledge and belief of such existence would only create panic, resulting in chaos and possibly, war. Hence, both governments (Ngamé and Human) placed a tight restriction on leaving the borders. It is not entirely certain if the Human government know and believe in the existence of the Ngamé race.
This meant Dioha would have to be inconspicuous,drift in and out, not attracting attention to himself. Dioha understood how difficult this would be. Creating a human alibi was easy, covering one's tracks wasn't. To undertake this journey, Dioha had to find someone who knew the human settlements very well, understood their laws, and could get out of trouble without having to fight. Dioha didn't know anyone who met that criteria but he had heard of a certain mercenary who had travelled frequently across both worlds that he practically knew it like the palm of his hand. Dioha decided that in order for his plan to succeed, he had to sought him out. Thus Dioha began combing the city.
Upon leaving Ogalé,Dioha encountered a gang of thieves. The five hoodlums converged on him in an alleyway,wanting to relieve him of money they thought he had. Turned out he had nothing so he nicely asked them to leave or get hurt. They laughed at his seeming stupidity. They reminded him they were in charge not the other way round. They were all Empathoses who performed together as a band,so it wasn't so surprising when one of them started strumming on his guitar while the rest came at Dioha. Each was humming a different tune that blended melodiously with the guitar notes. The music slowed Dioha down and restricted his powers a bit, a clear sign he was still not strong enough,but they were no match for him.
Dioha shrugged off wave after wave of images as the music assaulted his senses. His scenery and bearing constantly fluctuated between reality and projected fantasies. The five were not strong Empathoses so Dioha easily exited each projection immediately after entering. When they realised he was stronger than they were, they swarmed his brain with over a thousand projections. At this point, Dioha was exiting one false reality into another immediately. They would have defeated him at this point,but luckily, Dioha had help. Lanre.
Lanre,Dioha's invisible companion, was on hand to direct Dioha. Lanre was not affected by the music. He became Dioha's eyes in the real world when the projections from the five Empathoses flooded Dioha's brain and view. Together they weaved and dodged, and attacked their assailants. In less than five minutes Dioha was down to the last Empathos. With each kill, the frequency and strength of each projection reduced till Dioha no longer needed Lanre's voice to guide him in the fight. He could see the last two clearly despite the music, and swiftly ended their lives. When all five were dead, Dioha proceeded to search and loot them. He found a compass, several small knives, a wristwatch and 1,000 silver coins. The money wasn't a large sum but it was better than nothing. At least it wasn't copper coins. With the money, Dioha was able to get new and fitting clothes. As the Avatar for the God of War, his taste was expensive but due to the funds available he had to settle for something modest. He was dressed in black pants and a white long sleeves shirt. On the shirt, he wore a grey long sleeves sweater and strapped his trophy watch on. He still had 300 silver coins left on him which he used in paying the Transport Agency to teleport him through their teleportation chamber to Acčra city.
In Acčra,he repeatedly came across a name, Helen Phay. The locals believed she was the one Dioha sought. This was very confusing as Dioha believed the rumoured mercenary he had heard of was a man. To make matters more complicated, the next town referred to the mercenary as a man and pronounced his name as Hell and Pay. No one could describe how he looked. After visiting two towns in one day, Dioha used the teleportation device again to get to another region. His interactions here went pretty much the same way his visit to the first region and gone. Helen Phay or Hell and Pay was a mysterious fellow and nobody knew his face and whereabouts. Four days into his search, Dioha was sitting in a very lush bar. In four days, he had visited three regions. He was currently in the Northern Region,a region under the Scaven Protectorate. His wanderings and findings in the other two regions led him to here.
Over the last three days he had visited numerous bars and taverns. These places were the best spots for getting information or possible leads. The loose lips of people after a few drinks was very essential for getting juicy bits of news. Dioha was currently sitting close to the counter, trying to pick up lines and phrases connected to his mystery man. He had no heightened sense of hearing and wished he did, or had a Scavenian to do that for him. A well dressed aristocrat sauntered into the bar. He looked around,a bit lost, and on spotting Dioha sitting alone, briskly walked up to him.
"May I join you sire?" He asked and pulled a chair before Dioha could answer. His accent was very foreign and bland. It felt like he was from everywhere and nowhere at all. His clothes were fine, nails clean and polished. This was a well fed man from a rich home. Possibly his family had history in the running of the city. He was wearing an ash tuxedo,his white shirt crisp and sparkling underneath. Every now and then he fussed a lil with his tie, either making sure he still had one or it wasn't out of place. Dioha was a little offended he didn't ask for permission before sitting. Dioha decided he was going to ignore him if he tried starting a conversation. The newcomer signalled the bartender over.
"Can you pour me some scotch?"
"Very well sir"
"Thank you"
As the bartender went to pour the drink, the aristocrat turned to Dioha.
"My name is Christopher and boy! You look very young to be here. How old are you?" Dioha ignored him, keeping his cool. Moments ago this punk had called him 'sire' when the bar was not dimly lit and he had been close enough to clearly see. Dioha felt a bit insulted but decided to act cool. He was here on a mission and nothing would stop him. Christopher,unfazed by Dioha's snub, jumped right into a lengthy discussion about politics. His assertions and remarks received approval from some few persons who heard him. Some pulled their chairs closer to him. In a space of five minutes half of the bar were agreeing and reechoing his words.
His concern was the rulership of the Empathos tribe. The Empathoses were the least respected tribe in all of Ngamé. They were fraudsters, swindlers, prostitutes, thieves. In fact 80% of the crimes in Ngamé were orchestrated by them while the remaining 20% was shared evenly by the others. Christopher believed the problem was because the tribe had a weak Chief. Someone opposed that the Empathos had always been that way even before the current Chief was elected. "Come on guys. You're not seeing the picture. You all agree with me that Enforcers are very strong right?" Christopher asked. The house chorused their agreement.
"Well, look at them. With all that insane strength, they are supposed to be the ones making all the trouble. But no. They are in privileged institutions, the police, the army, and other high places. Their Chief has made that possible by imposing strict laws on misconduct. But we don't have such amongst us."
The crowd screamed in agreement. There was a feverish, fervent excitement about them. Dioha would have attributed it to the drinks but this was way more than that. Dioha could sense it. This guy was likely an Empathos. He ticked all the right boxes. He was very eloquent and could sway people easily. And he referred to the Empathoses as us, a clear sign of identification. Only problem was, Enforcers could not be swayed. So while people were screaming their lungs out, Dioha remained calm trying to determine if this stranger was a threat to his mission. In the heat of the noise and drama, Dioha noticed three men who were sitting away from everyone. Like him, they too weren't moved. And they were eyeing Christopher dangerously.