Zuri looked at the screen of the table in the center of the ship. In one hour, he would have possession of the scepter, but he couldn't wait. Underestimating humans is the greatest of all mistakes. Why not teleport there now?
He quickly commanded the awaiting hoorays to press the teleporting mode on their bodies. Immediately, the space was empty except for the two ship pilots and the codebreaker.
Kira and Akira lay on a bed beside each other, deep in a trance. For a minute, they lay transfixed, eyes open, lips partly moving and whispering strange incantations.
A few seconds passed; both twins stood from the bed and walked hand in hand towards a circle drawn in the middle of their room.
In the circle was a popular symbol: the Eye of Horus.
"We call on the elements of fire and water, of air and sand. Let the power in the scepter draw us to wherever it is."
Both twins shouted at the top of their voices.
Suddenly, the room filled with smoke that seemed to come from nowhere. A few seconds later, the smoke cleared, and the room was empty. Kira and Akira had just disappeared.
The invaders appeared inside the Church of Shango, a magnificent building covering an acre of land.
The inside was adorned with 3D tiles and decorations. The chairs were well-arranged, facing the altar a mile away. The invaders walked boldly towards the altar, each step bringing them more confidence. A few more strides, and the scepter would be destroyed forever.
Zuri walked rapidly towards the scepter. Ten more steps. Nine. He doubled his pace. A step more, he raised his human-like arms and stretched them towards the scepter. Suddenly, a blinding light flashed in his head. He immediately saw himself in a strange iced land filled with mystical creatures and beautiful birds. It happened within a twinkle of an eye, then it was gone. So was the scepter.
What had just happened?
He looked into the eyes of his fellow hoorays and immediately realized they had all been tricked. Without wasting more time, he pressed the button below his wing and called his codebreaker inside the ship to rewind time and discover who had the scepter and where it was.
Of course, he knew where the scepter was heading and had divided his team into five units of ten hoorays. Four units would be transported to all the strategic locations where the scepter might pass.
Failing the first mission was a bad omen, one he was ready to rectify at the cost of his life.
When they landed on the ground from the boat, Brenda thanked the two men who had come to rescue them.
"We are indebted to you," she said after introducing herself and her members.
All through their time on the boat, her team had been silent, reminiscing about their near-death experience.
Except for Bobby, the predictable hulk of flesh, who had been chattering with the two men, asking questions and satisfying his curiosity. He had asked about the river where their jet had crashed, and the men narrated a beautiful history of the town and the mysterious myth surrounding the river known as the Osun/Osogbo River.
Originally settled by the Ijeshas, a subtribe of the Yorubas from Ibokun, twelve miles east, it remained a small town subservient to the Ijesha kingdom of Ilesha. By the late 18th century, the influx of Oyo-Yorubas who fled from the Fulani conquerors brought amazing changes to the quiet town. In 1840, a battle in Osogbo became a turning point in the history of the town. The infantrymen from Ibadan, armed with European rifles bought from coastal tribes, were able to defeat the Fulani invaders.
With the construction of the railway in 1906 from Lagos to Osogbo, Oshogbo became a major collection point for cocoa and palm oil produced in the surrounding areas.
In the town of Osogbo lies the river where Brenda's jet had landed when the blackout occurred.
The Osun/Osogbo River flows southward through central Yorubaland in southwestern Nigeria into the Lagos lagoon and the Atlantic Gulf of Guinea. It's one of the several rivers in local mythology to have been women who turned into flowing waters after some traumatic event.
The river, named after the most popular and venerated Orisha, Osun, holds an annual traditional worship at the Osun shrine near the Osun River at Osogbo, which has become a popular pilgrimage and an important tourist attraction.
Osun, reportedly one of the wives of Shango, the Yoruba god of thunder, is noted for providing for the needs of the people, giving babies to barren women, and changing the lives of many. She is the goddess of divinity, femininity, fertility, destiny, beauty, and love.
The river has its source in Ekiti State, where the Osun-Osogbo sacred grove, the principal sanctuary of the deity, is located. Osun is one of the 401 Yoruba gods.
When they landed on dry ground, Brenda thanked the two men again.
"Thanks again," she said to the tall, handsome-looking man in a strange uniform.
The man responded with a nod and a bewitching smile.
Brenda offered her hand to the other tall, well-shaped man who seemed to be drooling over the other man.
"I'm Brenda," she said.
"Zuma is my name," he responded.
"This is my colleague Bobby, our two pilots Andrew and Roland, and our priest, Sebastian," Brenda mumbled.
"What's happening over here? Has the comet landed?"
"Yes," Elenu replied, offering his hand for a shake. "Everything is not working anymore. Planes, cars, guns, electricity, phones, computers—I mean everything. It's a miracle you survived the crash."
Bobby grinned. "Yeah, we are used to such," he replied.
"How to get to this location?" Brenda asked, bringing out a map and pointing to a location in the western region of Nigeria.
"Ile-Ife?" Zuma asked.
"Yes," Bobby replied.
"Quite easy," Elenu said. "If cars or trains were working, then it's just a twenty-minute journey." Elenu paused and thought for a moment. "Why heading there?"
"A bit classified," Brenda replied.
"I see," Elenu said. "Does it have anything to do with all this?"
Brenda nodded. "You bet."
"Then you need a bicycle and weapons. This place went crazy immediately after the blackout," Elenu said with a smile. "I have a place in mind."