The royal king of the land of Gwara Kingdom was pacing up and down in his palace.
He looked disturbed and was muttering prayers for his wife, the Queen of Gwara, for a safe delivery.
After a long and fruitless effort searching for the fruit of the womb, alas, God blessed the royal couple.
Now the queen was in the royal labor room, being attended to by professional medical personnel from various parts of the state.
The first scan, when the pregnancy reached its fourth month, showed the baby to be a girl, and the expected delivery date was a week ago.
King Obat married his heartthrob ten years ago.
A year later, he was crowned the royal king of the land of Gwara, a town located on the outskirts of Osun State, just a few kilometers away from Ile-Ife.
Power, wealth, and connections beyond his dreams were all at his fingertips.
He was blessed in everything except having a child.
Being a Christian and a deacon in an Anglican Church, he loved his wife dearly and vowed "for better or worse" in the presence of men and God.
For this reason, marrying a second wife was out of the question, even though African culture allowed polygamy and it was expected of a royal king.
Queen Mata was not only beautiful and well-trained, but she had also been supportive and stood by the king when things weren't half as rosy as they were now.
She sacrificed her time, dreams, and comfort for the king's goals.
After nine years of fruitless marriage, God finally blessed the couple.
At first, they thought the queen was sick because she was experiencing malaria symptoms, but she returned from the clinic with a pregnancy confirmation.
The news brought joy, not just to the palace of the Onigwara of Gwara land, but to the entire Gwara kingdom.
The people had waited so long for a successor.
Nine months later, the whole town welcomed the birth of twins, successors to the throne of Gwara Kingdom.
The twins were named Akira and Kira on the eighth day, according to tradition. Then, mysterious and supernatural occurrences began.
The first was a fire that broke out in the twins' room in the middle of the night.
The entire palace mourned as they battled the fire for eight hours, burning down the entire quarters.
Yet, when they expected to find the twins' remains, they were shocked to see them sleeping peacefully, unharmed.
How they survived an inferno that killed their two babysitters and a guard would remain a mystery forever.
Newly employed babysitters soon reported strange things to the queen.
Whenever one or both twins got angry or excited, fire would ignite from nowhere. The king and queen were baffled.
Strange and supernatural things kept happening around the twins, and there seemed to be no solution.
As they grew, their powers increased.
As soon as Akira and Kira began speaking, they told anyone who cared to listen about who they were.
They claimed to be supernatural beings with divine powers and magic.
They said they had once been born into this world but were killed during the twin killings that ravaged Africa in the 19th century.
Twins were seen as dangerous and powerful beings, even greater than witches, wizards, and cult groups.
Villagers believed twins posed a threat to the community because their ancestors claimed twins had strange powers.
Twins were seen as gods among men.
At birth, entire villages would be on high alert, seeing the twins as a possible danger or evil born into their community.
In some places, witch doctors would invoke spirits and perform incantations to kill the twins.
Their deaths were often confused with infant mortality. Cults of witches and wizards, which ruled most communities, ensured the twins were eliminated.
The consent of witch doctors and community leaders was central to these practices.
Every family was aware of what was happening since many had lost someone to it.
Some families had lost four sets of twins, others three, and some even more.
Sometimes, witch doctors prepared a poisonous liquid disguised as water, convincing the community that the gods were responsible for the children's deaths.
Women would endure unbearable pain as their children were murdered and were labeled "unclean" for giving birth to forbidden beings.
In some cases, emissaries—usually witches—were sent to strangle the twins or suffocate them under a calabash.
These practices extended across different ethnic groups, from the Igbo, Ijaw, and Efik of Nigeria, to the Kikuyu of Kenya, the Kung of the Kalahari Desert, the Khoikhoi of South Africa, the Akha of northern Thailand, and the Amhara of Ethiopia.
Twin killings only ended in some societies when British missionaries introduced Christianity.
The belief that twins were spirits of the returned began to fade.
But before that, human forms were viewed as mutable masks that spirits or animals could wear.
This belief was reflected in naming traditions, where children were given names that indicated which spirit had returned.
Kira and Akira possessed all eight arts of magic: abjuration, conjuration, divination, enchantment, evocation, illusion, necromancy, and transmutation.
Kira and Akira were not human but goddesses.
Elenu hunched over his television set with rapt attention. Things were happening so fast, and he needed to focus.
According to the Nigerian emergency management board spokesman, "Everything has been put in place to manage the shock and the impact of the comet."
"What a lie," Elenu murmured with a smirk.
Since the announcement hours ago about the incoming comet, nothing had been accomplished.
The only actions taken were the placement of policemen at critical spots and a sit-at-home order from the presidency.
Otherwise, everything remained normal. Citizens walked the streets, chatting about the events to come.
Elenu's office was fully furnished with electronic gadgets and furniture, adorned with art and drawings from various artists around the world.
He adored beauty and worshipped technology.
Suddenly, the lights went out. Elenu smirked again.
Blackouts were common in a country battling power shortages since independence.
"Zuma!" he shouted for his trusted colleague. Zuma had been with him for years.
Their bond was unique—both men had no family to call their own, a similarity that made Elenu feel a sympathetic kind of love for Zuma.
Minutes later, Zuma entered, dressed in his clean, well-ironed uniform and flashing his usual fixed smile.
"Nothing is working, boss. The generator engine is just dead," Zuma reported.
Elenu shot him a puzzled look and shook his head in disbelief. He had just purchased the generator a few weeks ago.
"There's fuel in it, boss," Zuma added, reading his mind.
Elenu laughed sarcastically and strode out of the office.