CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO-ABSENCE.

“Have you lost your mind?” 

The grip on Uloma’s hand was firm, too firm. She tried to pull her hand free, but Asiya held on to her, eyes blazing with unconcealed fury. She had seen Asiya in many states, but this was new. Asiya seemed to grow feet taller as she glared at her. Her hair and clothes darkened from their vibrant purple. 

“What were you thinking?” 

She growled. Uloma heard herself whimper. It was such a pitiful sound, but she couldn't help it. Asiya looked like she was about to erase her. She felt like a mouse facing off a cat. 

“You were not thinking. That is the truth. You never are.” 

“But I was only trying to fill them in.” 

Uloma protested, still trying and failing in her attempt to pry her wrist from her sister’s grip. Asiya swung the hand holding onto Uloma in a swift movement. It happened so fast and without warning that Uloma’s hand swung freely and aggressively for a second before she realised Asiya had let her go. She pulled her hand to herself, inspecting it for bruises. Sure enough, she was sporting angry purple and red rings where Asiya held her. She sucked in a breath as if the sight of the bruise was a punch to her stomach. 

“I don’t understand why you are suddenly so angry. You did not complain when I started telling them.” 

“I did not?” 

Asiya spat at her. Uloma could barely see her iris.  

“You did not think it pertinent to mention to me and Mother first that the other girl can walk minds as well? I was there with you.” 

This was not fair. Uloma tried to protest. This anger was making it hard for her to feel and think. It was consuming, penetrating, but how could all that anger be directed at her? What exactly was Asiya crashing out so hard about? Asiya shook her head at the protest, which she saw was about to spill out of her sister. 

“I was there for you. The decent thing to have done was to trust me at least.” 

“I do.” 

Uloma protested, her voice shaking in frustration and something else. Asiya’s eyes had hurt as well now. 

“I wanted to tell everyone everything at the same time.” 

“You put our family in danger. If anything happens to our sisters and Mother because of your stupidity today, I will not forgive you.” 

Asiya grew as she made her threat, her voice echoing, carried by the breeze and everything around them. Her feet vanished under drapes of darkness. Uloma shivered. Feeling fear pull in her stomach, for the first time in the presence of her sister. 

Asiya floated off, leaving Uloma in despair. As she faded into the distance, the despair vanished as well. Asiya had used her powers on her, Uloma realised, and her guards had been down enough that she had let it happen. She had not only commanded her body, but also her emotions and her perception of Asiya. Uloma threw herself down in a crunch, breathing in to clear her head. 

The air smelled of salt, earth, and rain, she thought as droplets fell on her. 'Hurt her family.' Asi’s words came back to her, but how could just telling her friends about Oma hurt their family? She jumped to her feet. She was barely upright before she was running, her feet pounding the earth, desperate to reach their destination. The truth glared at her as she ran, beads and hips swinging; one unnatural daughter was bad, but two brought prophecy to life. One unnatural daughter of death could cause a class battle in their realm, and even war among the realms; two would upturn their reality as they knew it. 

She had not only declared to her friends that she was the prophecy, but she had also shared a glimpse of the end of reality as they knew it with them. The universe knew everything; the one thing it did not know was Death birthing children. Death had told her as much. 

~ 

The entrance leading into Death’s shrine was shadowy and smelled of herbs. Uloma raced through, not sparing a thought or glance. She reached her mother’s shrine panting and heaving. Rain dripped from her hair and her clothes. The rain had intensified as it did in this realm whenever it pleased. 

She walked through the entrance, pausing with a start at the ambush of people awaiting her arrival. She should not have been surprised; still, she was. She had come here to summon her mother, and only her mother, but instead, there were her friends, Asiya, Eligwe, and Emenike, watching her with varying expressions. Only Abali held her gaze with support. 

“You called Emenike?” 

Her voice sounded accusatory to her ears. She could hear the betrayal dripping off every syllable of her question. Her heaving chest was no longer from the distance she had run. She tugged at her wrapper, matted and plastered to her body, willing the hurt and betrayal to come loose, too. 

“Uloma, I am here on behalf of your mother, who is indisposed at the moment.” 

Nothing is new there, Uloma thought, glaring at them. 

“Ulo, you exposed yourself and your family to danger, but worst of all, you have exposed your friends to danger by telling them.” 

She had done many things to disappoint Emenike. This was the first time she felt that he was genuinely disappointed in her, though. The golden light of the room was a contrast to his silver robe and greyish-white beard. He looked at her from behind the glasses she and he, and everyone in that shrine, knew he did not need. 

“I am sorry, but I was only trying to be transparent.” 

“Uloma, there is no secret to the Cosmics, except the Cosmics, and that is a good thing. It is a balance that should be maintained. But then, prophecies occur every other millennium, and we wonder fleetingly about them, without paying much attention, because they do not concern our realm, as we cannot have futures. The prophecy of the two shook up the realms a little, but centuries passed, and it went forgotten.” 

She had not noticed it at first, but as he spoke, the other Emenikes had appeared, lining up the ample space of the shrine, until they were casting shadows in a space that had known nothing but the golden glare of rays from an unknown source. Asiya was also dripping with shadows. She wore her anger like a shroud. It covered her, barely leaving any room for Asiya’s frame. 

“I am sorry I changed everything.” 

Uloma cried. Elegwe’s eyes stayed on her, but she could not read them. Her eyes darted from one set of eyes to another. Ekama held her gaze for a second, and even though it broke Uloma’s heart to see the look on her friend’s face, she did not want to look away; she wanted her friend to see her, Uloma. She was still the same, but Ekama did look away, her face falling as one does when the flame you are staring into is too hot to keep looking into. 

“I did not mean for any of this to happen.” 

She whispered, with a voice wet and choked with tears. The Emenikes turned their collective attention on her. It was a sensation unlike any other. It felt like forces made of walls and stones bore down on her, and she felt herself resist the urge to crumble to her knees. 

“You defied orders, advice, instructions.” 

Emenike shouted, but she heard it in the voice of all the Emenikes. Her eardrum rang from the strain of the boom of their speaking at the same time. 

“I am sorry.” 

She repeated, looking at Asiya, hoping that she would forgive her eventually. But she was sorry for more. She should never have existed, and for that, she was sorry. 

“You are leaving at noon tomorrow. The preparations are complete. Your Dragons from the realm of the Dragons are here to escort you. And Eligwe will create a portal that will allow you to travel through his realm. The Heavenly are expecting your passage. We send a message of your coming, as we stand here.” 

Her Emenike’s voice was softer. He did not speak through his other realisations. His disappointment was replaced with pity and kindness, but neither made her feel good. She did not want pity from anyone. 

“Before any one of you leaves, you will swear an oath of secrecy in the name of Death. To avoid a repeat of Uloma’s actions.” 

Their voices sounded through her. She would have felt better locked in a talking drum while someone mercilessly beat at it. The gasp from her friends at the revelation from Emenikes made her want to crumble even more. An oath was sacred, and sacred was not a thing associated with Cosmics. But she knew they would take the oath for her. There was nothing she could do to stop the insanity. 

“We will take the oath.” 

Abali announced. He was holding Ekama’s right hand, and Ogba was holding the other hand. They were trying to share their strength with Ekama. Uloma realised. Oaths went against their very nature. She was asking too much of them. 

“You were callous, Uloma.” 

Emenike from Premodern Runes told her he watched her with the gaze of someone rightly deciphering your thoughts. The guilt weighed against her chest, pressing down on her, until she felt something twist and snap within her. 

“I did not want to say anything, but you badgered me.” 

She turned her gaze to Ekama. 

“You all looked at me and acted towards me like I was breaking the bond of our friendship by not telling you everything.” 

Her eyes swept over the faces of every sombre being in that shrine. She felt tears sting her eyes, but she held them back. She could not win, could she? Tell them or not, she was the bad Cosmic. 

“I am sorry that I put you all in danger, I truly am, but I am tired. Every action I take is wrong. Whether I listen or not, I get it wrong. It is not easy being a secret or carrying around one. But I am tired of not being right; of never doing the right thing.” 

She turned around and swept out of the shrine in the same manner she had come in. She heard Abali call for her to wait, but she did not turn around. She did not want to watch them take an oath that would do nothing but drive a wedge between them and everyone they knew, including themselves.