POV: Juma
Addis Ababa was loud.
Not with noise. With threads.
Every person had one. Gold, red, black, silver. All pulling in different directions.
And above the city: one thick black thread. Tied to something underground.
"Stop staring like that," Zainab said. "You look creepy."
"I am creepy," I said. "I see fate. It's my job."
We landed the Tome Express on a rooftop 2km from the target.
Pod 05. Inheritor of Moremi. Path of Sacrifice and War.
Pandora had her in the basement of the African Union HQ.
Because of course they did.
"Plan?" Kunle asked.
"Plan A: Walk in, ask nicely," Kwesi said.
"Plan B: Don't," Dele said.
"Plan C: I set everything on fire," Iyanu added.
"Plan D: I scam them," Kwesi said again.
Everyone ignored him.
Old Taju wasn't with us. "I have errands," he said. "Tell the Queen I'm bringing her goats."
We didn't ask what that meant.
*THE AU BUILDING*
Security was tight. Pandora +Ethiopian special forces.
And on the roof: 3 cultivators from Crimson Sky Sect. Watching.
"They're not here to help," Zainab said. "They're here to see if we die."
"Good," Kunle said. "Let them watch."
We went in through the basement.
Fatima made water. Chike made mist.
I looked at the threads. "Left. Then down. Then avoid the red one."
"Red one?" Amina asked.
"That's the one that ends in death," I said.
We found her.
Pod 05. But this one was different.
It wasn't glass. It was iron. Chains. Runes.
And inside: a woman. 25. Shaved head. Scars. Eyes closed.
She looked like she could bench press a tank.
"Pandora didn't just imprison her," I whispered. "They tortured her."
The moment we touched the pod, alarms screamed.
"ANOMALY BREACH. CODE BLACK."
Doors blew open.
. 60 soldiers. 4 Iron Titans.
And behind them: Director Ogbene's second in command. Dr. Selam.
"You," she said. "You shouldn't have come."
Kunle broke the pod.
The woman stepped out. Didn't speak.
She looked at the chains on the floor. Then at us. Then at Pandora's people
"Who are you?" she asked. Voice like gravel.
"The Tome of Ascendant," I said. "We're here to get you out."
She nodded once. "Good. I'm Tsehay. And I'm pissed."
Then she moved.
She didn't have powers like Kunle's metal or Dele's lightning.
She had war.
Every punch broke armor. Every kick cracked concrete.
She took 3 bullets to the chest and kept going.
"Is that all?" she asked dr selam
Dr. Selam pulled a device. "If I can't have her
Tsehay was on her before she finished.
Snapped the device. Snapped the doctor's wrist.
The fight was over in 2 minutes.
We didn't kill anyone. Tsehay just broke things until they stopped moving.
Then she turned to us. "You're recruiting?"
"Yes," Zainab said.
"Good," Tsehay said. "Because I have a score to settle. And I need an army."
She looked at me. "You're the seer. What do you see?"
I looked.
Her thread was gold. Thick. And it was tied to 4 others. To us.
And to something below us.
"There's a ruin under the AU building," I said. "Same as Nairobi. Older."
Tsehay smiled. "I know. I felt it in my dreams. That's why Pandora put me here."
We went down.
The basement turned into stone stairs. Then into a tunnel.
Murals on the walls. Kings. Queens. Gods.
And in the middle: a gate. Like Nairobi's. But this one was open 12%.
"PROJECT YORÙBÁ GATE," Zainab read from Pandora's files. "They've been here for 10 years."
The Guardian appeared.
Not a lion this time.
A woman. 3 meters tall. Skin like obsidian. 8 spears floating around her.
"WHO ENTERS THE QUEEN'S THRESHOLD."
"Moremi," Tsehay whispered. "The Queen who sacrificed herself for her people."
The Guardian looked at Tsehay. "CHILD OF SACRIFICE. DO YOU WISH TO CLAIM THE TRIAL?"
"Yes," Tsehay said.
"THEN YOU MUST GIVE SOMETHING."
Tsehay didn't hesitate. She cut her palm. Blood hit the floor.
"I give my pain. My anger. Take it."
The Guardian nodded. 8 spears flew into Tsehay's chest.
She screamed. Once.
Then stood.
Now she had 8 spears orbiting her too.
"Trial passed," the Guardian said. "Take the token."
A bronze bracelet. It fused to Tsehay's wrist.
The Guardian turned to us. "THE OTHERS. DO YOU WISH TO TRY?"
Kwesi raised his hand. "Is there a trial for snacks?"
The Guardian threw a spear past his head.
"...No."
"Pass," Kwesi said.
We didn't all do trials this time. We were still recovering from Nairobi.
But we watched. And we learned.
As we came back up, Pandoras people were waiting.
With Crimson Sky cultivators.
And with something new.
A mech. 15 meters tall. With Pandora's logos and Qi arrays.
"Collaboration," Dr. Selam said from a speaker, one arm in a cast. "How do you feel about our newly improved mech"
We all turned our faces to elder bai chen
Elder Bai Chen was there. He looked tired.
"We were lied to," he said. "Again."
Then he stepped aside. "We will not interfere."
"Appreciated," Kunle said.
The mech fired.
Tsehay moved first.
She caught the blast with her spears. Threw it back.
The mech's arm came off.
Dele hit it with lightning.
Iyanu lifted it 20 meters and dropped it.
Kunle walked through its chest.
I cut its fate thread.
Zainab made the pilots see their families.
Amina healed civilians.
Chike made the air toxic to Wosam only.
Fatima flooded the basement.
Kwesi... Kwesi stole the mech's AI and made it play afrobeats.
The mech shut down.doing a death spiral and twitching on the floor
We left Addis with 9 demigods.
Tsehay didn't talk much on the flight back.
When she did, it was to me.
"You saw something in the ruin," she said. "Didn't you?"
I nodded. "The Gate. It's not just one place. It's a network. And at the center... there's a throne. And someone sitting on it."
"Who?"
"I couldn't see their face. Just a mask. And a stick."
We both looked at Old Taju, who was asleep in the corner. Eating plantain.
Tsehay sighed. "Figures."
Back at the Tome, we added Tsehay's token to the table.
9 tokens now. They pulsed.
A map appeared above them.
12 points. 9 lit. 3 dark.
"Nairobi, Addis, Accra, Sahara," Zainab said. "And 3 more. Cairo, Dakar, and... the Atlantic."
"The Atlantic one is Pod 01," I said. "The leader pod."
Ogbene, in his cell, laughed. "You'll never get it. It's not on Earth."
Everyone went quiet.
Old Taju opened one eye. "Then we go somewhere else."
That night, Kwesi tried to use his token on the vending machine.
It exploded.
"10/10 would do again," he said.
Tsehay trained until 3am. Punching metal.
When I asked why, she said: "Because the next thing we fight won't care if I'm tired."
Juma and I stayed up late. Comparing threads.
"The Gate is 74% now," he said. "It jumped after Addis."
"Because we freed her," I said. "Wosam is losing batteries. So they're opening it faster."
"Then we need to move faster," Juma said.
From outside, we heard Old Taju singing.
An old song. About roads. And crossroads. And tricks.
I didn't sleep.
9 down. 3 to go.
And the war hadn't even started yet