The school did not recover.
Even after the lights came back.
Even after the noise settled.
Even after the teachers forced order back into the classrooms.
Something had changed.
Students whispered more than they spoke.
Eyes moved faster.
Lingering just a little longer than they should.
Everyone felt it.
No one understood it.
Shango sat still.
The lesson continued.
Words filled the room.
None of them stayed.
His focus wasn't on the board.
Not on the teacher.
It was on control.
His hands rested flat against the desk.
Still.
Deliberate.
No movement.
No reaction.
But beneath his skin—
Something pulsed.
Slow.
Steady.
Waiting.
Not yet.
He clenched his jaw.
That voice again.
Not loud.
Not demanding.
Patient.
Like it knew time was on its side.
The bell rang.
Relief spread across the room instantly.
Chairs scraped.
Voices rose.
Movement returned.
Normal.
Or at least…
What passed for normal now.
Shango stood.
Slow.
Measured.
He didn't rush.
Didn't join the crowd.
He moved with intention.
But as he stepped out into the corridor—
"You're the reason the lights went out."
He stopped.
Not because of the words.
But because of how they were said.
Calm.
Certain.
He turned.
She stood a few steps away.
Dark-skinned.
Slender.
Hair pulled back loosely.
Nothing about her stood out at first glance.
But her eyes—
They didn't hesitate.
Didn't question.
They observed.
"You're wrong," Shango said.
It was automatic.
Nkiru tilted her head slightly.
"No," she replied.
"I don't think I am."
Silence settled between them.
Students moved around them.
Unaware.
Unbothered.
But the space between them felt… still.
"You felt it too," she continued.
"Before it happened."
Shango said nothing.
"You didn't understand it," she added.
"But your body did."
A pause.
"That's when it started, right?"
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Nkiru."
No hesitation.
No introduction beyond that.
"And you've been… strange since yesterday," she continued.
"Not visibly. Most people wouldn't notice."
Her gaze sharpened slightly.
"But you're… out of place."A brief pause."Not like them.""Not like the cultivators either."
That word hit differently.
Out of place.
Shango felt something shift inside him.
Not power.
Not pain.
Recognition.
"You shouldn't say things like that," he said quietly.
Nkiru shrugged.
"Why not?"
"Because you don't know what you're talking about."
Another pause.
Then—
"I do."
Simple.
Direct.
"I don't know what you are," she admitted.
"But I know you're the center of it."
A group of students passed between them, laughing.
The moment broke.
But when they cleared—
She was still there.
Watching him.
Not with fear.
With interest.
"You should be more careful," she said.
Shango frowned.
"Why?"
Her gaze shifted briefly to the ceiling.
Then back to him.
"Because whatever happened yesterday…"
A slight pause.
"It wasn't just noticed here."
Silence.
The words landed.
Not just here.
Shango's chest tightened.
"You felt that too?" he asked.
Nkiru shook her head.
"No."
A pause.
"I understood it."
That was worse.
Much worse.
For the first time since the sky broke—
Shango felt something new.
Uncertainty.
Not about himself.
About someone else.
"You're not normal either," he said.
Nkiru didn't react.
"I never said I was."
Another silence.
Then she turned.
Conversation over.
Just like that.
"No questions?" Shango asked.
She paused.
Half-turned.
"I have questions," she said.
A beat.
"I just don't ask them until I'm ready for the answers."
Then she walked away.
Blending back into the crowd like she had never stepped out of it.
Shango stood there.
Still.
Watching.
Something about her—
Didn't fit.
And that bothered him.
Because for the first time—
He wasn't the only one.
Far above—
"They've made contact."
A voice echoed across the unseen.
"An anomaly."
Another responded.
"Remove her?"
A pause.
Longer this time.
"No."
"Observe."
Silence followed.
Heavy.
Calculating.
Back below—
Shango exhaled slowly.
The world was not returning to normal.
It was changing.
And now—
He wasn't facing it alone.