POV: Fatima
The ocean was screaming.
I could hear it from 10km away.
"She's down there," I whispered. "Pod 11. She's scared."
We were on a boat. A stolen boat.
Kwesi named it "The Anansi's Revenge".
No one asked.
Gorée Island was in front of us. And under it: a pandora dynamics underwater lab.
Glowing. Armed. And surrounded by Crimson Sky cultivators sitting on swords over the water like it was normal.
"They're not attacking us," Juma said. "They're waiting to see who wins."
"Love that for us," Dele said.
We had 10 now.
Me, Kunle, Dele, Iyanu, Zainab, Amina, Chike, Kwesi, Juma, Tsehay, Ọmọ.
11 tokens on the table back at the Tome. 1 left to get.
Gate: 76% and climbing.
Old Taju stayed on the boat. "I'll watch the goats," he said.
All of us was rendered speechless,"We had no goats"
I went in first.
The ocean knew me. It opened.
Pandora dynamic soldiers tried to shoot. The water ate the bullets.
Cultivators tried to follow. The current threw them back.
Inside the lab: white halls. Panic.
Scientists running.
And in the center: Pod 11.
But it wasn't a pod.
It was a reef. Coral grown into a sphere.
And inside: a girl. 15. Braids. Shells in her hair. Asleep.
"Nala," I said. "Yemoja's Inheritor. Ocean and Life."
The second I touched the coral, the lab died.
Power out.
Then the ocean came in.
Not flooding. Invited
Then suddenly i could feel a great surge of power.
*THE GUARDIAN*
She rose from the floor.
10 meters. Made of water, coral, and old bones.
Crown of shells. No face. Just tide.
"WHO TAKES THE TIDE'S CHILD."
"Her family," I said. I stood between her and Nala. "gods inheritors"
The Guardian looked at me. Then at the 9 behind me.
"PROVE YOU ARE WORTHY."
She hit us with a wave.
Kunle met it with metal.
Tsehay met it with 8 spears.
Dele split it with lightning.
Iyanu rode it.
Zainab made the Guardian see 100 versions of itself and get confused.
Ọmọ shot it in the knee with a sand arrow.
Chike made the water breathable.
Amina healed anyone who got cut.
Kwesi threw it a fish. "Peace offering!"
It ate the fish.
I stared speechlessly "ma'am you are suppose to be an all powerful being,why are you taking fish from some random naughty boy" i thought to myself
Juma walked forward. "Her fate is with us. Cut the thread if you don't believe it."
The Guardian paused.
Then it knelt.
The coral opened.
Nala stepped out. Barefoot.
She looked at the Guardian. "Mother."
She looked at me. "Sister."
She looked at the ocean. "It's time."
Nala didn't need to fight.
She was the fight.
She raised her hand.
The ocean outside rose 20 meters.
Pandora ships flipped.
Crimson Sky cultivators flew higher.
Elder Bai Chen just sipped his tea. "Impressive."
Dr. Selam's voice crackled: "Abort! Abort! The subject is uncontainable!"
Pandora dynamic evacuated. In 4 minutes.
We walked out with Nala.
The ocean carried us.
On the boat, Nala hugged me. "Thank you."
"You're safe now," I said.
She looked at the sky. "It's not safe. Not yet. Something is calling from above."
*BACK AT THE TOME*
We placed Nala's token on the table.
A pearl. It sank into the wood.
11 tokens. 1 dark spot left.
Atlantic. Pod 01.
The map changed.
Pod 01 wasn't on a map.
It was in orbit.
Moving.
On a pandora dynamics satellite called `ECLIPSE`.
"Space," Kunle said. "We need to go to space."
"With what?" Iyanu asked. "We don't have a rocket."
Ogbene laughed from his cell. "You don't. But he does."
Everyone looked at Old Taju.
He was carving the wooden mask. Almost done.
"Roads go everywhere," he said. "Even up."
"You can get us to space?" Zainab asked.
Old Taju held up the mask. "I can get you anywhere. For a price."
"What price?" I asked.
He smiled. "One story. Your best one. After we win."
*THE NIGHT*
We didn't sleep.
Nala sat with me on the roof. The ocean was calm now.
"The one on the throne," she said. "He's calling me too. Through the water."
"Us too," Juma said from the shadows. "Dreams of masks."
Tsehay was breaking rocks.
Ọmọ was hunting stars with his bow.
Kwesi tried to make a drone fly to space. It exploded.
"Science," he said.
Dele came to me. "You ready?"
"For space? No," I said. "For the end? Yes."
He nodded. Lightning in his eyes. "Then let's finish this."
At dawn, Old Taju stood at the gate of the Tome.
Stick in hand. Mask in the other.
Behind him: a road.
Not sand. Not stone.
Light. Stars. A path going straight up into the sky.
"The crossroads," Old Taju said. "Step on, and we go to Eclipse. To Pod 01. To the end."
11 of us stepped forward.
Above us, the Gate pulsed. 77%.
In orbit, something opened its eyes.
And the last war began.